The academy first days read online free

If you’re new to the Ghost Bird Series, here’s a way to get the books at a lower cost.

Friends vs. Family

(PSSSsssst, if you have Scribd, get it there. It’ll count as only one book!)

(PPPSSSTTTtttt, same as above. If you get this on SCRIBD, it only counts as one book.)

Also, check out the Meeting Sang series – the boys’ POV stories that run concurrently with Introductions.

Not a day goes by that I don’t get e-mails asking what my characters—especially the boys—are thinking at certain parts in the books. My fans seem to be endlessly interested in the thoughts and feelings of these fascinating boys, especially in relation to their new friend, Sang Sorenson.

To that end, Meeting Sang is the answer to this huge fan demand of wanting to get inside the boys’ heads. This alternate point of view version of Introductions, the first book in the Ghost Bird Series, starts with Kota, then Victor, and will continue on in a series of shorts that will follow all the boys.

I hope you enjoy these peeks into the minds of Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke, North, Dr. Green, and Mr. Blackbourne as they meet Sang Sorenson for the first time.

The stories are released free to subscribers. Make sure you’re on the list!

If you’re new to my books, you may want to start with Introductions, which is free for download.

MEETING SANG: KOTA

Kota Lee has been trying for weeks to get the girl up the street to notice him. She’s beautiful and intriguing, but seems incredibly shy. Too shy. Every time he tries to get close, she dodges him, like a skittish little bird, flittering away out of his reach.

Troubled by her haunted looks, he’s tried to give her some space, respect her need for solitude. Still, he can’t forget those eyes that are haunted and–he thinks–maybe hiding secrets.

One dark night as thunderclouds are rolling in, he’s driving home late and spots her standing in the road. It’s too late for her to be out for a walk and the pack on her back tells him what she’s doing: she’s about to run away.

She could get hurt, or worse, disappear forever. He can’t let her go; he’d never forgive himself if he did.

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MEETING SANG: VICTOR

Victor Morgan hides from the public whenever he can. It’s not that he’s a recluse; he hides to avoid rumors and throngs of teen girls throwing themselves at him because of his fame. When his team of friends is assigned a job at a new school, it’s his one chance to finally be just Victor; not a local celebrity, or that guy whose parents have a huge house and lots of money. He wants to be normal, to be able to blend in and not worry about what everyone else is thinking or what they may want from him.

Things change when he meets Sang Sorenson. She’s beautiful and clever, though she hides her intelligence behind a veil of shyness and insecurity. But with just a look, she makes him say the stupidest things.

Only things are wrong in her world. She’s hiding something dark and terrible, the evidence of it in her haunted eyes. He barely knows her, but he’d give everything to help and protect her. Whatever it takes to keep her safe, he’s in.

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I turned and my heart dropped into my shoes in horror as I faced a bristled Mr. McCoy, the vice principal.

“You have a nasty habit of running into people, Miss Sorenson,” he said. He brushed at his brown suit coat as if I had soiled it. “You should watch where you’re going.” His chubby cheeks protruded and his watery eyes squinted at me.

My finger fluttered up to my lower lip. I receded. Silas came up behind me and I stopped so I wouldn’t bump into him, too. “I’m so sorry, Mr. McCoy.”

His small eyes slid down to my skirt. I snapped to attention, putting my hands to my thighs to show him my skirt was well within regulation. He scowled, looking back up at me. “Goofing off in the hallways is not permitted.”

“We were getting our IDs,” Silas said. “And now we’re heading to our next class.”

The bell rang and the hallway moved into action with students shuffling off in different directions.

Mr. McCoy cleared his throat. “Follow me, Miss Sorenson. I believe there’s a detention slip with your name on it in my office.”

“I don’t believe an accident is a cause for a detention, sir,” Silas replied.

I bit my lip, reaching back to touch Silas’s arm, silently pleading with him to not press the issue. I didn’t want him to get a detention, too.

Mr. McCoy turned to him, squinting into Silas’s face. “You’re one of Mr. Blackbourne’s kids, aren’t you?”

Silas glared back at him. “I’m from the Academy.”

“Not now you aren’t,” he said, his lips curling into a sneer. “Don’t think for one minute I won’t give you detention, too. Or worse.” He jerked is head back to me. “I’m going to let you go this time. The next time I see you, you better keep your head down. I’ll be watching.” He glanced once more at Silas and stalked down the hallway.

I let go of the breath I’d been holding. “Silas...”

He shook his head and grabbed my hand. “Come on,” he said. “We’re going to be late.”

We slid into class at the last minute and took two seats near the back. I collapsed into the chair, panting. Mr. McCoy was going to be a problem.

“That was the vice principal, right?” Silas asked, tilting over the top of his desk to talk to me.

“Yeah,” I said. “I can’t believe I ran into him twice.”

“I don’t think this was your fault. He was watching us from down the hall and when we got close, he leaned into you. He was waiting for this.”

My mouth fell open. “He was looking to give me detention?”

Silas’s lips pursed and he shook his head but didn’t say anything. Whatever it was, I was sure I wanted to keep clear of Mr. McCoy. What stopped him this time? Was it Silas or the lingering name of the Academy that made Mr. McCoy recant his promise of a detention? Was he afraid of the Academy?

F lirting

While the teacher was going over the agenda, I shifted my feet under my desk. I stopped short, hitting what I thought was my book bag. I checked so I could move it. Silas snapped his feet from under my chair, his knee knocking into his desk top. He covered his knee with his hands and he sucked through his teeth once.

“Sorry,” I whispered to him. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought I hit my book bag.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, and put his head to the desk. He let go of his knee, but I could tell he was uncomfortable. He had to tuck his legs in an odd angle. The desks weren’t made for someone so tall.

“Hey,” I said. “If you need to stretch your legs, go ahead and put them under my desk.”

He sat up, his cheeks tinted red. With his black locks against his face and his olive skin, it was really handsome. “I don’t want to be in your way.”

“Don’t sweat it. Stretch your legs out.”

He did, leaning back in his seat until his feet were sticking out from under my desk. I moved my feet until I had one on each side of his legs.

“There,” I said. “No big deal. I’ll just know it’s you down there. If I kick you, I’m sorry.”

The corner of his mouth curled up. “Ditto.”

We sat like that through class. On occasion I would rock my ankle, forgetting he was there. My heel would gently bump into his leg. He didn’t jump like before. At some point I was unconsciously leaning my foot against him. When I realized I was doing it, I froze, unsure if I should move it quickly. I didn’t want to spook him again.

He never said a word about it.

When the bell rang, he walked with me through the hallway. “My next class is near yours,” he said. “Victor’s on his way, right?”

I nodded. “He should be.”

We ended up pushed together on our way up the main stairs. Silas moved me until I was standing in front of him. I didn’t understand why until I noticed how squished we ended up being. I was standing so close to the girl in front of me that I could smell the shampoo in her hair. Silas kept himself so close, that when I had to stop suddenly, his chest bumped into my head.

The stairwell was going to be a problem. Too many students needed to get around it and everyone was in a hurry. Silas kept a hand on my shoulder the entire time and I was grateful for it as I felt unstable. I thought for sure at some point I’d trip and get trampled.

When we were on the second floor and close to my next class, Dr. Green appeared in the hallway right outside the door. “Oh!” he said, looking up and smiling. I relaxed as his gentle gaze caught my eyes. Out of all the teachers I had come across that day, I knew Dr. Green would be my favorite. I remembered how kind he was with me at registration. It seemed strange he would teach a class. He looked the same age as Mr. Blackbourne, nineteen at the most. His soft green eyes lit up with recognition. “Hello, Miss Sorenson. And Silas, you’re not in my class, are you?”

Silas shook his head. “Not this time, doc.”

“It’s a shame,” Dr. Green said. “Learning a third language would look good on a resume.”

“What's the other language you know?” I asked Silas.

“Greek,” he said, his dark eyes sparking.

“You’ve not said one word to me in Greek,” I teased. I was embarrassed that I didn’t know this. I knew he was from Europe but I never got the chance to ask where he was from and while on occasion he did carry an accent, his English was so fluent that I often forgot.

“M'aresei o tropos pos gelas,” he said, and he waved goodbye as he walked on toward his class.

I looked to Dr. Green. “Do you know what he said?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know Greek,” he said, a slight smile on his lips. “But it sounded romantic. Are you two dating?”

I flinched out of surprise. Are teachers supposed to take an interest in students like that? I blushed but shook my head. “Oh no, we’re friends,” I said.

He nodded and adjusted the green tie at his neck. “Ah well.” Was he disappointed or pleased? It was difficult to tell.

I found a couple of desks near the back and took one, putting my bag in the seat behind me for Victor. I was tempted to take the back but the guys seemed to enjoy sitting behind me. I wasn’t sure why but I didn’t mind.

He slipped in at the last minute. “I hate the trailers,” he said, moving my book bag out of the seat and to the floor for me.

“Me, too,” I whispered to him.

Dr. Green stood at the front of the class, writing his name in Japanese on the board and wrote it in English below that. “Good afternoon, class,” he said.

I said a soft good afternoon, but no one else in the class joined me.

Dr. Green laughed. “I think my class is missing. Did no one show up today? I’ll have to mark everyone as absent. I believe I said good afternoon.”

The room chorused a low murmuring ‘good afternoon’ in reply.

“This won’t do,” Dr. Green said. “I’m here to teach you Japanese. I can’t very well teach you English, too.” He folded his arms behind his back and walked up through an aisle between two rows of desks. “We’ll be taking a lot of time to discuss Japan and the culture and of course, the language. You’ll be practicing with your classmates.” He made a loop around behind the back row of desks and strolled toward the front of the class. “As such, I think right now is the time to select a partner. I want you to work on a project for me.”

There was a collective groan. I glanced back at Victor, his fire eyes flickered at me. We already had our partners.

“Groaning is not a word,” Dr. Green said. “In this class, we use our words to express ourselves. And get ready for it. A month from now, we won’t be using English at all. If you can’t say it in formal Japanese, you won’t be able to do anything. That includes permission to leave my classroom.” Dr. Green rocked on his feet in front of the room, a soft smile on his face. “Let’s hope I remember to tell you what the phrase is first...” He shook his head. “But for now, pick a partner. I want you to prepare a list of things you both already know about Japan. I want to see how much my students know about the place we will be studying.”

“What do you know about Japan?” I asked Victor, turning in the seat to face him.

He shook his head, a slight smile on his face. “They grow rice.”

I reached for a notebook and a pen in my bag. “Do you want to write it down?”

“You write,” he said. “Your handwriting is nicer.”

“How would you know?”

“Girls always have nice handwriting.”

I smirked at him, plopping the notebook on his desk. “I want to see yours.”

He took the pen from my hand and wrote something in the notebook. He flipped over the notebook so I could read it.

Japan grows rice.

“It’s not bad,” I said, being honest. I’d read worse. His was legible.

“But you probably write all swirly and with hearts and stuff,” he said, fiddling with the medallion at his neck.

“I don’t use hearts,” I said. “Unless you want me to.” I took the notebook and wrote our names at the top of the page. I used my plainest writing for my own name and wrote his in a girly script, using a heart over the “i”.

“He’s going to know you did that,” he said. “He knows my handwriting.”

“Yeah but no one else will,” I said. “And we have to pass it up at the end of class, right?”

His eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t.”

“I already did.”

He rolled his eyes, reaching for the pen in my hands but I put it behind my back.

“What’s wrong? I like your name in hearts.” I was feeling good. I thought I would like this class and I was happy Victor was there with me to share it. It was the first time I wasn’t feeling so nervous that day.

He smiled but his cheeks tinted red. He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Stop being so damn cute.”

“Victor?” Dr. Green said.

Dr. Green approached my desk. I spun around to sit properly.

“Dr. Green.” Victor sat up, pulling his shoulders back to face him.

“If you’re going to flirt with Miss Sang in my class, it must be done in Japanese.” Dr. Green brushed a lock of his sandy-colored hair from his forehead. “I believe you were saying she is cute? In Japanese, you say kawa...”

“I’m not doing that,” Victor said, interrupting him, blushing again and turning his head away.

Other students listening in started to giggle.

“No?” Dr. Green looked at me. “Well in that case...” He picked up my hand. His warm fingers wrapped around mine delicately. “Kimi ga ite shiawase. Koi ni ochite shimatta.” He bowed his head, puckered his lips and hovered at the crest of my knuckles as if he were about to kiss my hand.

The whole class around us started to gasp.

He stopped a millimeter away and his breath teased the back of my hand. He gazed up, smiled at me and winked. “That is how you talk to a lady.”

I felt my cheeks and ears getting hot. “What does it mean?” I asked, my voice catching.

“When you figure it out, I’ll give you a free A on your next test.” He let go of my hand. He stood fully, putting his hands behind his back again and headed to the front of the room. “Are we finished? I don’t see pens and pencils moving. Please don’t turn in a paper with just two or three things. I am hoping my class is brighter than the average student population.”

Whispers filled the room. Eyes focused on me and I slid further into my seat, unsure how to respond. So many questions popped into my mind.