Page 47 of Take My Place

“Can’t wait.” Lucas smiles and heads off in the direction of the cafeteria. I waits until he turns the corner, then wait some more, wanting to be sure he isn’t going to double back and follow me to check I really am going to see the music teacher.

Once I am absolutely certain no one is paying any attention to me, I walk to the gym, desperate to find out what Archer has to tell me.

The gym is a large, redbrick building which stands on its own away from the main building that houses most of the classes. Behind it is a small copse of trees which provides perfect cover for clandestine meetings. It is also out of bounds, since those same trees meant it would be easy for students to be snatched without anyone noticing, and the Academy is marketed as a safe environment for rich students. If we get caught, we’d be lucky not to be suspended.

I glance around, checking no one is watching before I walk around the side of the gym building and out to the back where Archer is already waiting for me.

When I see him, my stomach flips. Damn, the man looks fine.

“Archer! What’s all this about?”

“Not here.”

Archer puts his arm around me and guides me, moving further away from the school to where no one would be able to see or hear us. My skin tingles at the feel of him being so close to me. This man has always been a danger to me in more ways than one.

A horrible thought suddenly occurs to me, and I stop dead in my tracks.

“Where are you taking me, Archer? Is this your twisted way of getting revenge on me for what my father did to you? Are you going to take me somewhere you’ve got men waiting to hurt me?”

“What?” Archer looks at me, confused. “No. Of course not. I’d never hurt you. I can’t believe you’d think that about me.”

He looks so downcast I immediately regret what I said. “I’m sorry. But you can’t blame me for thinking about all the possibilities. This town seems to run on a diet of vengeance. What are we doing out here?”

“There’s a CCTV camera that monitors the back of the gym,” Archer tells me. “I have to get you somewhere it wouldn’t be able to see us. In case you haven't noticed, I am standing directly beneath it in the blind spot, but with both of us there, there is a chance it might have caught the edge of one of us and have the guards come check us out. We need to be somewhere completely safe.”

“That makes sense. But haven’t we gone far enough yet?”

“Not quite.” Archer shakes his head. “We need to go deeper into the trees so no one can see us. The guards patrol the path round the back of the gym and they can still see us from here. If we go a little deeper into the woods, there’s a large dead tree which has been hollowed out. We can sit inside it and no one will be able to see or hear us. Then I’ll explain everything. I promise.”

“Okay.”

Archer reaches out his hand to me, and I take it, following him down a narrow path through the trees. It takes about five minutes to reach the hollow tree he told me about, but once we get there, it’s obvious it’s the perfect place for a secret meeting. A few cigarette butts dot the ground, evidence that some other students snuck out here when they wanted to do something which would be frowned upon by the faculty, but we are the only ones here as Archer leads me inside the tree.

The ground is soft and comfortable, the tree surprisingly large enough for the two of us to sit next to each other and stretch our legs out without being crisped.

“All right, Archer,” I say. “So what’s so important you had to bring me out here and risk us both getting suspended?”

“Jeez, Ivy. Nice to see you too.”

“Of course it’s nice to see you, Archer. We haven’t really had a chance to spend much time together since I came back because I’m with Romy. But you made such a big deal about how we had to meet in private, I thought you’d want to skip the pleasantries and get straight down to business.”

“I’m sorry, Ivy. I’ve just missed you. I didn’t realise how much until we got out here. But you’re right. I should just tell you the news and not expect you to be happy to spend time with me.”

He looks so miserable. I want to pull him into my arms and let him know how much I’ve missed him, too, but I have a feeling anything I say would just dig me even further into the hole I am already in, so I say nothing and let him continue.

“What do you think about the new guy, Lucas?”

“Not an awful lot. Not yet. We’re meeting for coffee later and I thought I’d pump him for information then.”

“Good luck with that,” Archer says.

“Why? What do you know?”

“The guy’s a liar. Whatever he tells you won’t be the truth.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because his name’s not Lucas Donatello.”

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