Academy of Misbehavours

Chapter 5

The Plan

"I don't know about this." Fa Jinn said, nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

Fa Jinn and Hideki were in the sleeping area of the dorm rooms. There were only a few students in the boys' dorm room. Some laid about, catching up on some sleep while even fewer just hung around talking to their fellow students. The lack of activity gave Hideki and Fa Jinn the confidence to have their secret conversation.

"What don't you know about?" Hideki aggressively whispered. "We escape, then we guilt our parents into taking us back. The plan is perfect."

Fa Jinn looked down to the ground. "My parents aren't the kind of people you can guilt into doing anything, especially when it comes to me."

"Then we'll guilt my father into taking me back and adopting you as a second son." Hideki said.

"You're joking right? You know the laws of our country..." Fa Jinn said.

"We'll figure it all out but for now we need to escape." Hideki said.

"If I were you, which thank my lucky stars I'm not, I would not do that." The boys heard a voice say.

Hideki recognised who the voice belonged to and looked up to see Kadan peeking over to them on the top bunk bed that Fa Jinn was sitting under. Shivers born of disgust went through Hideki's spine when he saw Kadan's n*****s, as he realised that he must be wearing his underwear only. He was surprised that no one had ever reported the boy for public indecency.

"Now you're eavesdropping on my conversations, Kadan?" Hideki accused.

"Not really," Kadan said disappearing behind the upper bed bunk to rest on his back. He placed his hands under his head and looked up at the ceiling while speaking to the two boys below. "I was just lying here in my bed when you two disturbed my rest with your stupid conversation."

"So in other words you were eavesdropping," Hideki confirmed, "and what do you know of what we're talking about?"

"I know it's not going to work." Kadan said, still looking at the ceiling above. "You and the fat one have not been here long. I, on the other hand, have." Kadan said with his voice taking a more serious tone. "I've seen two escape attempts fail and if you go through with this, yours will be the third."

Hideki bit his lower lip in frustration and he stepped on the bed under Kdan's top bunk bed and looked over at him. As he had guessed, Kadan was only in a speedo, a black and white striped one. He ignored the other boys half-nakedness and spoke. "Maybe you should not butt into this. I'm going to get out of this place. You just watch."

Kadan sighed and backed down by turning his body away from Hideki. Hideki smiled smugly at having won the argument and he got off the bed to speak to Fa Jinn again. "We can do this, Fa Jinn. You just have to believe it." Hideki said offering his hand.

Fa Jinn looked at his confident friend. He did not want to go along with this but he did not want to leave Hideki to do it on his own either. Fa Jinn reached out and took his friends hand, cementing there deal to escape from the Academy together.

/

The Walk for the day had begun. A dull pain had already made itself present in Hideki's legs but Fa Jinn had it much worse. Fa Jinn was already finding it difficult to breathe let alone continue walking forward. They walked side by side for a few more miles before Fa Jinn's legs began failing. He fell to his knees as sweat from his brow dripped to the tar road under him.

"I... I don't think I can go on, Hideki." Fa Jinn said.

"Good." Hideki said

"Excuse me?"

"The last time we did this, you disappeared." Hideki began. "I wondered why and then I realised it's because you did not finish The Walk, didn't you?"

Fa Jinn nodded weakly.

Hideki smiled upon seeing that he was right. "Have you ever even completed a single walk?"

Fa Jinn shook his head again, ashamed at his lack of accomplishment.

"Why?" Hideki pressed but when Fa Jinn was about to answer Hideki interrupted him. "It doesn't matter. If you've fallen, The General or the Major will probably be here and dish out some abuse before he takes you out of The Walk. I'm guessing after you fail, he'll take you back to the Academy. You'll probably arrive there early. That's when you'll sneak into the main house..."

"Wait what?" Fa Jinn asked.

"...you'll sneak into the main house and try to find a rope. I've made an escape plan but we'll need a rope. It's your job to get it."

Just when Fa Jinn was about to protest, Major Jiang appeared. He bent over to Fa Jinn and patted him lightly on the back. "Are you okay, Fa Jinn?"

"I... I think I'm struggling to breathe again."

Major Jiang nodded. "Come, the medical van is not far from here." He said helping Fa Jinn onto his feet. When he got him to his feet, he looked at Hideki. "What are you doing standing here Hideki? The Walk is not over for you."

Hideki tilted his head to the side as a thought entered his mind. "My chest is also feeling tight. I think I'm struggling to breathe too."

Major Jiang narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Hideki. "You better walk on, Kimoti, because if you don't, I will put you in a training regime so severe that you will know the definition of the phrase 'I'm struggling to breathe' intimately." Mr Jiang said in a very threatening tone.

Hideki involuntarily gulped before walking off as quickly as he could.

/

The medical van was more of a white and red komvi with a bed and some medical equipment. Fa Jinn was lying on the bed while the nurse looked at him. He was turning beet red as one of the most beautiful women checked up on his health. He had his shirt pulled up while the nurse listened to his heart beat and breathing with a stethoscope. Fa Jinn had come to know the nurse as Nurse Yin Ying, his biggest crush. She wore a white nurses uniform and a hat with a red cross on it.

"We should really get an inhaler for you Fa Jinn. If you push yourself too hard, you'll only exacerbate the effects of your asthma.'

"Nonsense," a voice was heard coming from outside the van. In walked The General. He had his dark shaded, circular shades which hid his eyes. His thin eyebrows would have drawn attention to his bald head if it was not for the serious look on his face, his muscled arms that made themselves known by bursting out of his short sleeved navy blue shirt. As always he had on his high black army boots and green camouflage pants. He made The Academy's senior staff uniform more impressive than the average student or staff member.

"General." Yin Ying said, acknowledging the authoritative figure. "As I was telling Fa Jinn, he would have an easier time if we had his medication here."

"I have contacted his father multiple times. He has promised to give us the funds for his medication soon." The General said without his stern and neutral look changing. "Nonetheless, Fa Jinn's weakness is caused by his weakness and nothing else. Just look at the energy he has uselessly accumulated." He said pointing at Fa Jinn's stomach.

Fa Jinn rolled down his shirt, his face turning redder at being embarrassed in front of the nurse. Nurse Yin Ying gasped at The General's comment. "General..." She began in a scolding tone.

"No excuses, Captain" The General said before learning in closer to Fa Jinn. The boy involuntarily leaned back but the back of his head met the wall and he was trapped with The General's face closer to him than ever before. Fa Jinn could see his frightened face reflected in The General's black shades. "I had asthma when I was your age and I never allowed it to slow me down." The General leaned back, giving the boy his personal space back. He sighed without his expression changing, "You can take him back to The Academy," he said as he left the van.

/

Fa Jinn arrived at the Academy in the van. Academy protocol stated that he had to sit in the van until the last student finished The Walk. He had gotten used to waiting but this time he had a mission to complete. He had to think up of an excuse to get out of the van early. He would have felt more confident if Yin Ying was present, however she had to stay behind in order to safeguard the health of the other students. Instead, Major Jiang was the one who had driven him back to The Academy. Fa Jinn watched as a stream of students walked into the Academy to receive their reward for completing The Walk, ice cream. He licked his lips and imagined how the ice cream tasted before he snapped himself out of it and reminded himself that he has a mission.

"Major Jiang." He said.

"Yes?" Major Jiang said looking back over to the backseat from his.

"I... uhh... I need to pee." He said, thinking of the lie on the spot.

"So hold it in." The Major said, returning his eyes to his book that rested on the wheel. "You know you are not allowed to leave this van until the last student completes their walk."

"I... I know but... but I really really really need to go. Please." Fa Jinn begged.

The Major was quiet for a moment as if considering if he should allow him to go. Fa Jinn became hopeful that his lie may work. "If you're desperate," the Major began, "then you can pee yourself right now."

With that Fa Jinn's hopes were dashed. He gave up and sat quietly. He waited a few minutes while building up his courage to ask again. The truth is, the more he lied about needing to go to the toilet, the more he felt pressure in his bladder telling him that he needed to go to the toilet. "Sir, please." He begged.

A smile spread across Major Jiang's mouth. He closed his book and looked back at the boy. "How fast are you?" He asked curiously.

"Uhm... I'm not sure." Fa Jinn said, obviously confused.

"How about we find out. I am willing to let you go to the toilet on one condition: you have to go and be back in under five minutes."

"Five minutes?" Fa Jinn said thinking about it. 'If I run, I may have a chance. I could make it in five minutes.' He thought to himself. "Okay, I'll do it."

"B-u-t," Major Jiang said, "if you aren't here in five minutes, then you'll have to give me something important."

"Like what?" He said too quickly and then remembered protocol for speaking to a superior in The Academy. "Like what, sir" He said softer.

"Your dinner." Major Jiang said smiling.

"Not my dinner sir. Please." Fa Jinn begged.

"That's the deal, cadet. Now, are you going or not." Major Jiang heard the sound of the van door slam shut and he saw the chubby boy outside running. Major Jiang fumbled to get his stopwatch out to set it to count down from five minutes.

/

Fa Jinn gave it all he had as he ran across the grounds of The Academy. He was beginning to panic which made his asthma act up. He ran past the main house on the way to the toilets before he remembered that he was not really going to the toilet. He turned around and cautiously peeked in the main house through a window and saw a small kitchen. When he was sure that there was no one in the house, he continued to sneak in. He rushed in, remembering that he had five minutes to complete his task. He tip toed to room after room, looking for a rope. He was tempted to give up when he could not find anything. He looked into a cellar and saw a rope hanging on a metal shelf.

It was red and thinner than the ropes that he had seen in movies. He grabbed it and coiled it around his shoulder across his chest. He rushed downstairs and suddenly stopped mid way when he heard the door to the house open. Two arguing women entered and Fa Jinn instantly recognised their voices, they were the lunch ladies. He recognised that voice anywhere, it was the cafeteria ladies. He bit his bottom lip as he decided whether he should come out of the cellar or stay inside. He heard the voices approaching, he guessed that they were leaving the kitchen and moving deeper into the house.

He decided to tip toe out of the cellar in hopes of finding an adequate hiding spot. He retreated into a completely new room and ducked behind it as someone appeared in the hallway. He looked around and saw that he was in the lounging area of the main house. He looked at the flat screen TV that sat on a dark brown wooden curbit. The television had plastic plants on either side of it. He looked at the flat screen television longingly, remembering how long ago he had actually watched television.

One of the ladies walked into the living room forcing him to duck behind a couch to avoid being discovered. His eyes went wide when he saw a piece of the rope sticking out from the couch he was hiding behind. He reeled the rope in just before the woman looked his way. The woman threw herself on the couch while reaching for a remote. She turned on the TV, while commenting how great this house is.

Fa Jinn gritted his teeth as he felt his heart begin to race. His chest got tight as he audibly struggled to breathe. He tried to muffle the sound of his laboured breathing with some of the red rope around his chest but it didn't help. Even his own hearing was deafened by his inhales and exghales. He needed to get out of here before he was discovered!

At first, the woman on the couch could not hear anything but then she began hearing the almost inaudible and unsteady breathing noises. Initially she brushed it off as coming from the show she was watching but then the sound seemed to be coming from behind her more than it did from the television in front of her. She turned her head and looked behind the couch to see no one there. Her eyebrow c****d up in confusion. "Must be from the tv." She said to herself before returning her attention to the screen in front of her.

Fa Jinn had moved behind the arm rest of the couch before the lady could see him. He was starting to care less about being discovered and more about getting out of the house so that he would be able to breathe again. The stress was making him worse, in fact it was the stress that triggered his current condition. The woman was summoned back to the kitchen by her freind and he took the opportunity to look for other exits. He saw a doorway that led to another room at the far corner of the living room. He stumbled through the doorway only to be in the dining room. It had white curtains with plant like patterns, a long wooden table with silver and peach decorated chairs but most importantly, it had a door at the end that led to the outside. he almost ran to the door and got out closing the door behind him.

His breathing improved exponentially once he was outside. He placed his hands on his bent knees as he took grateful gulps of fresh air through his mouth. As he stared at the ground, he noticed two shadows growing towards him. He looked up to see to whom the shadows belonged to and saw two boys. Both boys were taller than he and one was taller than the other. They both had the blue camourflage uniform with army boots and a navy blue shirt underneath just like Fa Jinn and everyone else at the Academy had. Their Hair was short, as if having recently grown from being shaven all of. Fa Jinn knew the boys well. They were the boys that got punished along with him and Hideki during Hideki's first day at the Academy. The boys were Hun Jin Yeng and Saun Sot.

"Well well well, Fa Jinn. Nice to see you made it out alive. We saw you enter the house a little while ago and thought we'd stay to see what would happen or... what you'd steal." Hun Jin Yeng said.

"I didn't steal anything." Fa Jinn said defensively before trying to walk away from the boys. Saun Sot grabbed the rope coiled around Fa Jinn's shoulder and pulled it free towards him.

"Hey!" Fa Jinn said turning to the boys and softening up with fear once he saw their serious faces.

"What's this rope for?" Saun Sot asked.

"Uhm... it's for... uhm... someone." Fa Jinn said.

"Uhm someone?" Hun Jin Yeng said in a mocking tone.

"Yes," Fa Jinn said thinking of a viable lie. "Major Jiang, yeah, he sent me to fetch the rope."

"Then maybe we should take this rope to the Major..." Saun Sot said.

"No!" Fa Jinn interrupted.

"I knew you were lying. We'll take the rope until you tell us why you stole it." Saun Sot said.

Fa Jinn stepped forward to protest but was pushed to the ground by both of them. From his sitting position on the ground, Fa Jinn watched helplessly as the boys walked off with his ill gotten item. He sat there for a little while before he remembered that his five minutes were almost up. He got up and began jogging for the van.

Major Jiang saw a distance image of Fa Jinn running for the van. He looked down at the stopwatch in his hand and grimaced upon seeing that there were twenty seconds left. He knew it was unlikely that he would make it, few kids could in the amount of time that was left and the distance that still had to be covered. However, knowing that Fa Jinn would fail to meet his deadline did not deter him from hoping that he wouldn't. H even began quietly cheering him on in the car.

"You can do it, Fa Jinn." He said.

Fa Jinn seemed to be going strong until his run became a jog which eventually degraded into a slow walk. And just like that Fa Jinn had lost the bet and his dinner.

/

"They did what?" Hideki asked outraged after Fa Jinn re-laid to him how he had lost the rope. It was already dinner time and they had reached the front of the cafeteria line and scooped food into their plates.

"Yes, they took it. Things aren't going well, maybe we should just give..." Fa Jinn began

"No!" Hideki said as they found empty seats at one of the cafeteria tables and sat down. Hideki sat opposite Fa Jinn, who had piled up his plate with the maximum food that anyone in the Academy could have in one sitting. "Listen, I'll tell you what we'll do..."

"What you'll do about what, Hideki?" Major Jiang said appearing behind him.

Hideki looked up at Major Jiang, surprised. "Mr. Jiang! Uhm... we were talking about sleeping arrangements in the boys' dorm."

"Okay." Major Jiang said. He looked over to Fa Jinn and smiled. "Awe, thank you Fa Jinn! You dished up? Just for me?" He said in a happy tone, the happiest Hideki and anyone nearby had ever heard him.

Fa Jinn looked at the Major in confusion. "Excuse me, sir?"

Major Jiang took the plate from Fa Jinn. "Remember our bet today?"

Fa Jinn moaned at being reminded about the bet and his stomach joined him by grumbling loudly.

"Move over, Kimoti." Major Jiang commanded Hideki which he complied, feeling annoyed.

Hideki slid over the bench while the Major replaced him in the original spot. The Major began happily eating Fa Jinn's food in front of him and made sure that no one offered Fa Jinn any of their food. He also ensured that Fa Jinn could not fetch more food. Major Jiang began making small talk, a task he was incredibly good at. Unlike most authoritative figures, he was not talking to them or lecturing them but he was having a genuine conversation with them. Although he did reveal as little as possible about himself while learning a lot about Hideki and Fa Jinn and any other student who would occasionally wonder into their conversation. Hideki could not help but like The Major more and more. Except for his current sadistic behaviour of forcing Fa Jinn to honour his promise, he seemed to be a good guy.

Major Jiang finally finished Fa Jinn's large portion of food as the cafeteria closed down and all the students who were not on dish duty had to vacate the cafeteria. Hideki and Fa Jinn walked outside in the cool night air as they spoke about what they would do.

"We'll have to talk to Hun Jin Yeng and Saun Sot tomorrow." Hideki said.

"Assuming I make to tomorrow." Fa Jinn said holding his grumbling stomach.

"Cheer up Fa Jinn. We'll sleep peacefully tonight then we'll wake up tomorrow morning." Hideki said trying to make his friend feel better. "And you know what The morning means: breakfast!"

Fa Jinn's face lit up happily. "You're right! We need to sleep so that we can have breakfast soon!" He said running towards the dorm.

Hideki could not help giggle. "Hey! Wait for me!" he said, laughing as he chased after his friend under a sky full of stars.