Wintercrest Academy

Late Night Convos

Their suite is . . .well, a suite. He and Mr Ariel would share a rom while Kaia would have one all to herself. Their room is in the middle of the rooms of the students from Kentwood and Trinity. Within the hour before the exams, Mr Ariel orders food and they eat and run through a few questions. Bren’s getting so dizzy, his head is a wild disco hall, and —

           “Woah!” Kaia’s hands are on his shoulders, keeping him from falling. Just like she did before they came upstairs. “Bren, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

           No. Everything. He shakes her off in a sloppy motion and reaches for water.

           “Bren, what’s the matter? Do you feel sick? Should we go to the hospital?”

           “No,” he says when he’s emptied the contents of the water bottle. “I’m—fine. I just . . . I’m just nervous.”

           “I’m nervous too but I’m not on the verge of passing out. Bren, are you well enough to take the exams?”

           Heck, yes! The competition is the reason he’s in this state anyway. And why the heck is she so concerned? The little nuts and tea episode—which he actually threw out except for the eye mask— was already enough show of concern. More than enough.

           “I’m fine,” he says in a way that means he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, and they return to studying. In an hours’ time, they move to the examination hall and sit.

           “Hey,” Kaia whispers even though the hall is dead silent. He faces her with furrowed brows. "If you start feeling dizzy, just rest your head on the desk. Only one of us needs to pass this written stage. I’d do my best so you don’t have to punish yourself.”

           Before Bren can process the sweet yet bitter words she just said, she’s turned away and the examiner is yelling instructions. Her voice lingers in his head long after the exams begin. True to her words, he feels so dizzy, the words in his paper intertwine and dance around like they’re having a party. But he’s Bren, he can’t let down his guard for her. No way. So he keeps writing, even though he’s not entirely sure if his hands are scribbling on the paper or on the desk.

                                                                                   ****

           “Calm down. It’s just me,” Kaia says as Bren grabs her arm with so much force, it hurts. “I was trying to place the blanket on you. It’s a little chilly.”

           He blinks away the sleep. His hair is mussed in a cute way and his eyes are bloodshot. He releases his grip slowly and then reclines in his seat. “Why are you here?” sleep makes his voice rough and deeper.

           “To study.” Kaia holds her book up for emphasis before taking the seat beside him. She had a good sleep after dinner and didn’t want to read in her room, so she came out to the living room to meet Bren already there. It’s a little past midnight.

           “Go back to your room. I want to be alone.”

           She snorts. He must be delusional. “I’m sorry, but this is a shared suite. If you want to be alone, go somewhere else. Or you can go into my room if you want to.”

           “Eww.”

           “The point is,” Kaia snaps. “I’m not leaving this place for you. We don’t have to study together so you wouldn’t even notice me.” With that, she slips on her headphones and after a few minutes, she feels Bren’s finger poke her shoulders.

           “Yes?” she presses pause.

           “Turn that thing off! I can hear your music playing. Rosco always does this and it’s so annoying. I can’t believe he’s not here yet I have to deal with him.”

           “Okay.” Kaia shrugs, takes off the headphones and starts playing the music aloud.

           “Dude!”

           “Shh.” Kaia places a finger on her lips. “You’d wake Mr Ariel.”

           “Can you just—”

           “Stop whining, Bren. You hate me, I know. It doesn’t bother me. But your hatred towards me wouldn’t stop me from being a decent human being. Why won’t you get any sleep? Are you trying to sabotage yourself? You were barely holding on in the examination hall today even after I told you I’d take care of it.” she hits pause and the room goes silent again.

           He grunts. “You can’t just ‘take care of it.’ It’s a dual effort.”

           “Exactly! That’s why I was concerned about you. We’re a team. I’m supposed to carry on for the both of us when things are hard for you.”

           Bren stares at her, a pensive look on his face as his jaw twitches, clenches and then relaxes. He wouldn’t be Bren if he didn’t work his jaw muscles all the time. “Mind your business, Kaia.”

           “Oh I am. But like you said, this is a dual effort. If any of us messes up tomorrow, we’d both be affected. Isn’t it normal that I show some form of worry about you? You didn’t use those eye masks, did you?”

           “I didn’t have to. My eyes are fine.”

           “Yeah, so were my scraped knee in middle school until the injury kept bleeding and I had to use a band aid.”

           He gawks at her, like he can’t possibly believe what’s going on. “Why would you reject a band aid?”

           “Because I didn’t want anything on my knees. If I had a band aid on, my Dad wouldn’t let me swim until it healed. It was summer and my friends were going to the pool. You must know how that felt.”

           He makes a weird sound. “You were a strange kid. Still are.”

           “Some may phrase it as ‘smart.’” She grins, and when Bren stares at her too long, the smile falters. “What?”

           “Why are you at Wintercrest? Why did you just —leave your old school? I’m pretty sure you were thriving there.”

           She nods. “I was. And if I could redo things, I’d probably still be at East Side High. Or not. Wintercrest is a catalyst for my pre-med dreams. That’s the only reason I’m here. To make myself acceptable for Harvard. Not to fit in with you rich kids. Or to be a threat to you.” An emotion crosses Bren’s face. One she’s unable to place.

           “What do you want to do later in life?” she asks when the silence has stretched too long.

           “I don’t know.” And he truly sounds uncertain. Like he actually doesn’t know. Huh.

           “What are you passionate about? You want to run for the Olympics?”

           He makes a derisive sound, like she said absolute rubbish. “That’s not going to happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I see myself doing—so many things, it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing. And sometimes, I see myself doing nothing at all.”

           He has a faraway look in his eyes. Is Brennon Kang opening up to her? Is he being—vulnerable?

           “Hey, it’s okay to not know.”

           “Easy for you to say.”

           Now, she makes the derisive sound. “Just because I want to go pre-med doesn’t mean I would become a doctor later in life. What if I never get into Harvard? Or what if I do and then something else sparks my interest? What if I graduate pre-med but never get accepted into medical school? The odds of our plans sinking through the roof are high. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen to them. Everyone’s just—doing the best they can.”

           “At least you have something planned out. You have a focus. A choice. Some of us don’t have that. Plus, you’re smart. Harvard would want you.” he mumbles the last two sentences and though they warm Kaia’s heart, she’s fixated on ‘a choice. Some of us don’t have that.’

           She reaches out and locks his fingers in hers, giving it a comforting little squeeze. “No pressure. Everything would fall in place.” He hasn’t pulled away? Woah, shocker! He’s looking at her like there’s something in her face he’s searching for, and when his lips part like he’s about to say something, when his head leans ever so slightly in her direction, he gets a phone call. He detaches his fingers quickly and when Kaia peeps at the caller, she sees Shira. Ugh, vulnerable Bren is gone, and she may never meet him again.