The Military Academy — Chapter 4 part 4

The girl with blue eyes. Pale skin, a body sculpted like cold marble. Firm steps, alone, each step a silent sentence. The silence around her seemed to mold itself to her.

Without hesitation, she crossed the hall and sat at an empty table, strategically positioned facing Theo, in a kind of silent duel. Her gaze, sharp as an eagle's, met his in an eternal instant.

From the corner, Daime made a rude comment, which only made a flicker of veiled jealousy ignite on Dru's face, while Gene swallowed hard, and Tycho, distracted, savored his coffee, oblivious to the game of glances.

Her message was clear, even without saying a word: “I see you. I'm here. And nothing escapes my eyes.”

In the cafeteria, the girl with long black hair sat like a living statue, motionless, her face hidden behind the dark curtain of strands. Her gaze was a silent trap, as if measuring every breath in the room.

Theo, with his white streak gleaming beneath the cold light, looked like a wild animal exposed in an open field, instinctively alert, standing out among the uniform crowd.

She ate as if the world there did not exist—or perhaps as if it existed only for her and Theo. From time to time, her dark eyes rose, staring at Theo, making the air seem cold, cutting. It was as if she were challenging him, testing him, or simply recognizing an equal in him.

Around her, the gazes became restless. The murmurs ceased. Fear was palpable, a knot in the stomach of everyone who looked at her. It was arrogance, yes—but the arrogance of someone who knows she is beyond reach and judgment.

She was Theo's cold and merciless mirror—fearless, wild, a shadow that crawled through the hall and, even so, dominated it with her presence.

Daime was the first to break the silence, with that crooked smile and his usual venom:

“Fuck… creepy, huh? But damn, that haunted-girl look of hers is kinda hot.”

And he let out a low laugh, but soon looked away, as if he feared the girl might hear him.

Gene, noticing Theo's stiffness, leaned a little toward him and said in a low, reassuring tone:

“Relax, Theo. It's okay. She's just… I don't know… marking territory. You know how to deal with this.”

It was Gene's way of saying: “Don't lose your head, you're the leader here.”

Tycho didn't even raise his eyes from his plate, chewing calmly, as if nothing much were happening. He only muttered to himself:

“Wow… this mix is way too good today.”

And shoved another spoonful into his mouth.

Dru, resting his elbow on the table and without taking his eyes off the girl, commented in a soft whisper, almost admiringly:

“I love her hair… and those eyes. There's something in them… that draws you in, isn't there?”

She smiled from the corner of her mouth, but there was a pang of hidden pain there. She knew, as she always had, that Theo was no longer alone in her game.

Later, in the gymnasium, the dry sound of feet striking polished wood echoed between the high columns. The place was buzzing with voices, bouncing balls, coaches blowing their whistles—but for Ana, all of it disappeared when she saw, in the distance, the familiar silhouette.

She was there.

The newcomer.

In an immaculate uniform, long black hair falling like a veil over her pale face, the girl slowly climbed the stairs to the ornate diving platform, as if the place already belonged to her.

Ana gripped the edge of the bench so tightly that her fingers turned white.

She felt it in her spine: that presence was a direct challenge, without words, like a sentence.

Her eyes… those demon eyes…

She turned to the side, looking for her coach, and blurted out with a short, bitter laugh:

“Professor… what's the strange girl's name? That one… the one with the eyes from hell?”

The professor, a gray-haired man reading a clipboard without raising his head, answered dryly, as if he didn't even need to think:

“Ceres.”

Ana froze for a moment.

The word echoed through her chest like a punch.

Like a prophecy.

Ceres.

A name that should not have been spoken so naturally, and yet… there it was, among them, as if it were just another student's name.

Ana bit her lip, her green eyes flashing with anger and fascination as she watched the newcomer walk toward the edge of the platform, already ready for the dive.

And, for the first time in a long time, she felt afraid of losing her place at the top.

Her name was too heavy.

Heavy as molten lead, like the cold, windowless walls of that concrete city.

Ceres.

It was like saying the Mother's own name out loud, an audacity that burned the tongue.

Heavy as her gaze, that gaze that hunted souls without blinking.

Ceres was sinister.

And beautiful.

Beautiful like a marble statue carved to provoke fear before admiration.

The perfect threat—a living reminder that the Mother did not choose the weak to put at the front.

When the professor murmured that “she is perfect,” no one dared to challenge it.

But Ana felt her guts twist and burn, raw hatred rising like poison up her throat.

Right there, without exchanging words, Ana hated her.

She hated her with the force of her very guts, with the fierce conviction of someone who had always been a leader and now saw her own crown shining on someone else's head.

The truth was clear to everyone who knew the Mother:

She did not give gifts.

She spared no one.

She planted discord in the hearts of the young, let them fight, bite, scratch, destroy one another—and then watched, cold and distant, to see who remained standing in the end.

Those were the generals.

Even if that school was just another among a thousand scattered throughout the empire, it was that one.

The school from which great things were always expected.

It did not always produce the best.

But it never disappointed.

And, in that courtyard, that pool, that gymnasium, there was room for only one name at the top.

And now that name echoed through the walls like an omen:

Ceres.

Gene and Theo met in the back courtyard after practice, each with a little water bottle sweating in their hands.

The conversation inevitably turned to her—the new girl.

Gene, of course, brought up the subject first.

“So…” he said, leaning against the wall, kicking little stones around, “that girl… Ceres. Creepy, huh?”

Theo didn't answer immediately. He simply took a sip, his black eyes fixed on a distant point, as if he were still trying to escape that blue gaze that had been haunting him since the day before.

“Creepy,” he murmured, without emotion in his voice.

Gene smiled from the corner of his mouth, uncomfortable with the silence that followed. To escape the weight of the subject, he remembered something else:

“Hey… you know what I got?”

“Hm?” Theo raised an eyebrow.

“Three more tapes. Brand new. Heavy rock.” Gene looked around, as if afraid of invisible microphones. “I'm hiding everything in the lining of the dorm closet. That's... fifteen tapes, man. Fifteen.”

“It's forbidden,” Theo reminded him, almost as a warning, but there was a slight smile on his face.

“Everything here is forbidden. Even breathing loudly is forbidden. But somebody has to keep the music alive.”

“True.” Theo leaned against the wall beside him, looking at the white, suffocating sky of Ceres. “If they catch you, just don't say I was the one who encouraged you.”

“Don't worry.”

Gene laughed awkwardly, but soon lost his light expression, biting his lower lip.

“Theo... I'm worried about Kat too.”

Theo looked away toward him.

“She doesn't talk to me anymore. Doesn't answer. She seems... I don't know... different.”

Theo took a while to answer. Finally, he murmured:

[This sentence contains sexual content involving adolescents and is omitted.]

Gene let out a nervous little laugh, but his eyes remained lowered.

“I know...”

Theo said nothing else. He simply stayed there in silence with him, letting the weight of the world rest on both their shoulders for a moment.

The forbidden music echoed only in Gene's memory, like a consolation he could not share with anyone except his friend.

It was the middle of the night in Ceres.

In the boys' dormitory, all that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the other boys.

Gene nudged Theo with the tip of his elbow, almost without making a sound, only a hoarse whisper:

“Come.”

Theo opened one eye and, with a resigned sigh, followed his friend down the corridor to a little maintenance room behind the laundry.

The floor was cold, the light dim, the smell of mildew in the air. Gene slowly closed the door and took an old Walkman from his pocket with two headphones on a Y-splitter.

“Ready to break another law?” Gene murmured with that conspiratorial smile.

Theo crossed his arms.

“I'm ready to watch you get expelled for stupidity.”

Gene just laughed, turned the device on, and held one of the headphones out to him.

Theo hesitated...

But took it.

The tape played. A dirty guitar, fierce drums, and a dragging, rebellious vocal filled both their ears.

Gene closed his eyes, letting himself be carried away. Theo remained standing, serious as always, but he didn't give the headphone back.

When the song ended, Gene still had that melancholy smile.

“You know what I feel when I listen to this?” he asked, staring at the floor.

Theo didn't answer.

“Longing. For Kat.”

Theo raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

Gene bit his lip, frustrated, his voice faltering.

“I like her too much, Theo. I can't stop thinking about her. She ignores me, but I don't... I can't stop.”

Theo removed the headphone from his ear and looked at him, serious, his black eyes seeming to reprimand and understand at the same time.

“You talk like it's a disease.”

“It is. Maybe it really is.” Gene laughed awkwardly. Then he raised his eyes and shot back:

“Just like you with Ceres.”

Theo stared at him, coldly.

Gene didn't back down:

“Don't try to fool me, Theo. I see the way you look at her. The same way I look at Kat. Like it's the end of the world.”