The Academy's G Chapter 33: An Act [1]

Chapter 33: An Act [1]

Nova placed his hand on Lucas’s shoulder. The hand of a man transferring a sacred burden.

"Alright," he said, his voice carrying the specific gravity of soone who has moved through grief and arrived sowhere that feels like acceptance but is actually just a different kind of drama.

"I get it now. You’ve won her over." He nodded slowly, eyes sowhere distant, like he was looking at a version of his own future that no longer existed.

"So it’s your responsibility now. Keep her happy. Don’t ss this up. I’m trusting you with sothing precious."

Lucas stared at the hand on his shoulder.

"Can you stop being weirder than you already are," Gideon said, from the side, his voice carrying the mild exhaustion of soone who has accepted his friend as a condition of his life.

Celia had her arms folded and was looking at Nova with an expression that had moved past irritation into sothing more clinical. "Forget weird. At this point he sounds creepy. Like a pervert."

The invisible arrows hit Nova in the back one by one.

He turned toward them slowly, face twitching. "Why," he said, with a kind of strained calm, "can you two never just let a mont exist? Is there so rule that you have to comnt on every single thing I say?"

"Yes," Celia said.

"Absolutely," Gideon confird.

Nova opened his mouth. Closed it. Pointed at both of them. Closed his hand. Gave up.

Lucas had stopped listening approximately thirty seconds ago. His thoughts were doing their own thing entirely. ’I need to talk to Sylvia. Alone. But there is absolutely no scenario where these three leave us alone even for a seco—’

"Oh and by the way," Nova said, turning back to Lucas with a sudden new energy, pointing at him with the conviction of soone declaring sothing at a press conference,

"don’t think this is over. I’m not giving up. If I ever get the chance — and I will get the chance — I’m coming for her. Fair warning. Stay on your toes."

Lucas’s eye twitched.

’Oh great... as if I didn’t have enough problems already... now I’ve got this guy declaring a romantic war on .’ He forced a stiff smile, internally screaming. ’Soone... anyone... just please drag this guy away from .’

*****

The corridors were quieter by the ti they finally dispersed, the academy settling into its nightti version of itself, the sound of footsteps carrying further than they did during the day. Lucas walked back to his dorm alone, letting out a long breath that he’d been holding in various forms since the forest.

’In the end... I didn’t even get a chance to talk to her alone...’

He reached his door. Unlocked it. Stepped inside.

Reached for the light.

"You took long enough."

He hit the light switch and spun around in the sa motion, the voice arriving before his brain had finished processing that soone was in the room, and—

Sylvia was sitting on his bed. Arms crossed, one leg over the other, the complete composure of soone who has been waiting and has no strong feelings about having waited.

Lucas’s back found the wall behind him. His feet had moved without his input. "S — SYLVIA—"

"Why are you yelling."

"HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO REACT WHEN I SUDDENLY FIND A GIRL IN MY ROOM!?" He caught the volu, brought it down, tried again. "And why did you even—no, forget that, how did you even get in? The door was locked."

She pointed at the window without changing her expression. "It was open."

Lucas looked at the window. Looked at her. Looked at the window again. They were on the third floor. "You climbed in through the—"

"You wanted to talk earlier and couldn’t," she said, moving past the window situation entirely. "So I thought we should just do it here."

’In my room?’ Lucas thought. ’She is sitting on my bed in my room like this is a completely normal thing to do.’

Sothing warm moved up the back of his neck that he imdiately decided not to acknowledge. He cleared his throat. Pushed himself off the wall. Crossed the room and sat in the chair at his desk, putting the maximum reasonable amount of furniture between himself and the situation.

"Right," he said. "Yeah. We need to talk." He looked at her directly. "What was that back there in the interrogation?"

"Of course, lies" she said simply.

"I know they were lies, that’s not—" He pressed his hand to his forehead. "Do you understand what you’ve started? We have to maintain this now. In front of everyone. If we slip once, if even one person starts looking at us too closely—"

"I know that."

"Then why—"

"Did you have any better excuse back there?" She raised one eyebrow slightly. "Did you?"

Lucas opened his mouth. Closed it.

The silence confird it.

"Exactly," Sylvia said. "In that room, with those options, it was the most believable answer available. I made a call." She held his gaze, steady and direct. "I’m not apologizing for it."

Lucas clicked his tongue softly. "I’m not asking you to apologize. You saved us, I know that." He leaned forward slightly, elbows on his knees. "But Sylvia — we have to actually act like it’s real now. Both of us. For however long this takes."

She looked at him for a mont.

"I know what I started," she said, quieter now, the edge of sothing more honest underneath it. "I thought it through before I said it." A pause. "I’m fine with it. It’s an act. We run it until things settle down and then—" she tilted her head slightly, the faintest trace of sothing teasing at the corner of her mouth—

"I’ll just dump you."

Lucas stared at her. "...Dump?"

"Dump." she confird casually. Completely unbothered by the word.

"You’re going to dump ?"

"Once it’s no longer necessary, yes." She looked at him with the mild expression of soone explaining sothing straightforward, a barely noticeable curve forming at the edge of her lips. "Aww, don’t tell

you were imagining having

as your girlfriend forever."

"No!" The word ca out faster than he intended, and with considerably more energy than the situation required. He straightened up. "Why would I want that?"

"You wouldn’t?"

"Exactly."

"Good."

"Good."