“I’ll impress them with my flying,” she returned loftily. Jo snickered. “Right. As if there was a male alive that cares about that. That will just intimidate them, and you’ll never get a boyfriend like that, Andie. The men want to be the big, strong ones. You need to make them feel successful, not incompetent,” she lectured.
“I don’t want a boyfriend anyway,” Andie defended. “It will just distract me. I don’t need that right now. When am I going to have the time?”
“Oh, there’s always the time,” Jo suggested. “It doesn’t take much to keep a man happy.”
Andie rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Jo. You know that’s not me.” Jo was silent and thoughtful for a moment. Andie finished packing her clothes and pulled open her desk drawer. It was a jumbled, cluttered mess. With a sigh, she started to sift through the contents.
“You may hate me for saying this, but I’m going to anyway,” Jo began again. Andie paused, looking up at her friend in bewilderment. “I think you don’t want a boyfriend because you are secretly in love with Casey.” Andie dropped her box of mini magnets to the floor with a clatter, spilling them in every direction on the floor.
“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” Andie retorted indignantly. “Casey’s more like a brother. You’ve got it completely wrong. That’s not it at all.” She dropped to the ground and started to collect the scattered magnets.
“Are you sure?” Jo asked probingly.
“Definitely,” Andie asserted, keeping her face to the floor. She could feel the heat flooding her cheeks. Really, what had gotten into Jo? She liked being with Casey a lot. But that was it! Nothing more!
“So it wouldn’t bother you if someone else dated him?” Jo’s voice came from the bed.
“Not at all.” She finally regained her composure and reappeared above the bed. Jo was leaning back and staring at the ceiling.
“Well, that’s a relief then,” Jo told her with a smile. “So he’s fair game. Just watch, one of the University girls will snap him up just like that.”
But Andie didn’t like the sound of that either.
♦
When she met Casey at their bench a couple of nights later, Andie tried to study him objectively to see what other girls might see in him. He was tall and lanky, just past six feet tall, but to her surprise he was starting to fill in a little bit. He didn’t look quite like the gangly kid he had always been. His sandy hair flopped into his eyes, making him look a little bit like a shaggy dog, and he hadn’t shaved in a few days. She grimaced. Casey liked looking so disheveled so he wasn’t mistaken for some enlisted boy just waiting to be ordered around by the brass on base, but it wasn’t her style at all. But maybe some girls liked that look? She did have to admit that he had very nice eyes, though. They were startlingly blue, laughing eyes that crinkled a bit at the corners. Right now, they were sparkling mischievously.
“Do I pass inspection?” he asked with a grin. Andie came to herself and blushed. She hadn’t realized she was staring. She looked away and self-consciously slid onto the bench next to him. There was no way she was going to admit what she had been doing. Casey didn’t pursue it though.
“So are you all packed?” he asked.
“Mostly. I still have a few more things to box up,” she sighed heavily. The packing had gotten old after the first day. She had never realized she had so much stuff!
“I’m done too,” he told her proudly. “Nothing to do but lay around until it’s time to move.” Andie raised her eyebrows. “You’re not leaving for Omphalos until a week after me,” she observed. “Aren’t you going to need any of that stuff?”
“Nah. I’ll be coming home for breaks all the time. I’m leaving most of my things here.” For a moment they sat in silence. It was so strange that they were both finally going to be leaving home. Suddenly, Andie didn’t feel nearly as grown up as she had a few minutes ago. Was she really old enough to leave home for good?
“I’m a little nervous about enlisting in the Armada,” Andie confided to Casey. “It’s like I’m signing my life over to someone else. But I’m so excited that I can’t wait. Finally, I have a chance to prove to everyone that I can take care of myself.”
“Seriously, can you take care of yourself?” Casey smirked. “Just because you can fly a ship doesn’t mean you can feed yourself.”
Andie laughed, leaning back on her arms. “Good point,” she conceded. “Well, I’ll be getting paid enough to feed myself, even if someone else has to cook it,” she amended. “I just wish that we could still be together,” Andie continued, more seriously. “It gets lonely without you, Casey. Nobody sees things quite like you.”
“I’ll be going back to Omphalos with you this time,” Casey reminded. “My first term at the University starts right after yours.”
“Speaking of going back to Omphalos, don’t you owe me dinner when we get there?” Andie prompted.
“Oh, I really hate to lose a bet,” grumbled Casey.
“Too late. You’ve lost.”
He thought for a moment. “How about double or nothing? Now you have to make it through your advanced training.”
Andie laughed at his challenge. “I don’t know why you just don’t buy me dinner now and call it good. I’m never going to give up.”
“Maybe. A lot of people never make it through their Academy training,” disputed Casey playfully. “Maybe I’ll be able to save face. Let’s make it worth it though. If I lose, I’ll pay for your graduation fling.”
“Graduation fling?” Andie repeated in puzzlement.
“Academy grads always do something wild for graduation. So I’ve heard anyway.”
“And if I lose?”
“You pay for my graduation fling once I make it through the Academy,” Casey offered.
“What, five years from now?” Andie asked incredulously.
“Why not? You don’t think you’ll be able to pay up if I give you five years?” questioned Casey teasingly.
Andie sighed heavily. “If I don’t become a skiff pilot, it may take me five years of working maintenance to afford it.” They laughed together at the idea of Andie changing light bulbs for the next five years.
“What are you really going to do if this doesn’t work out, Andie?” asked Casey seriously. Andie didn’t hesitate. “Find another job as a civilian pilot, probably based out of Omphalos. I’d even take a job out of Zoria if I had to.”
Casey looked away. Andie guessed he didn’t know what to say. She didn’t either. If she took a job that far away, she probably would hardly ever see him. Of course, once he graduated from the Academy and got his own assignment, they probably wouldn’t see each other anyway. The two of them sat for a few minutes in uncomfortable silence. Finally, Casey returned to the subject of her new patrol position, and her spirits abruptly lifted. She spent the rest of their evening together repeating to Casey everything she had learned about her upcoming training from Scott.
♦
The Academy wasn’t at all what she expected. For some reason, since she had attended flight school at the Academy, she thought it would be somewhat similar. It was, in a small way. But the program for Armada pilots was much, much harder.
It started with at least a five mile run every morning before breakfast. After breakfast they had the morning briefing, where they got their flight assignments for the day. Flight time was scheduled for either the morning or the afternoon, with class and simulator time filling in the rest. Late afternoon consisted of more grueling physical training, and the evening after dinner was filled with the review session where they analyzed each other’s flights for the day or class unity activities. Usually Andie was too tired to do anything more but fall exhausted into bed so she would be able to drag herself up before dawn the next morning.
However, one week in came the part that made it all worth it.
At the end of
the first week, the class chose the ships each pilot wanted to train for. Open positions were filled according to the pilot’s class rank. Since Andie was number three on the list, she got what she had always wanted—a skiff.
Skiffs were the most light, acrobatic, and dangerous of all the space or aircraft that the Armada used. They had no long range capabilities, but they were armed to the hilt with both lethal and non-lethal weapons. Skiffs were mostly used for crowd control, and for missions where quick penetration of a civilian area was needed. They were not shielded, as most other craft were, to reduce the weight and keep them quicker, but it left them vulnerable to attack. Because flying a skiff required more of the pilot’s own skills and less reliance on a flight computer, she wouldn’t actually be able to fly one until she had logged at least 100 hours in the simulator. Still, she eagerly looked forward to it, and it made the long days a little bit easier.
♦
Several weeks into the term Andie awoke at dawn, unable to go back to sleep. She raised her head to look at her alarm clock and then pulled her blanket over her head, but it was no use. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get back to sleep. It was the weekend; a morning when she didn’t have to get up and run, yet her body still stuck to the regular schedule. Finally, she groaned and dragged herself out of bed. A glance at Kelly’s empty bed told her that she wasn’t the only one who had adjusted completely to the new schedule. Kelly was probably already out for a run. Unlike Andie, Kelly actually enjoyed it. Andie, on the other hand, considered running a chore. No way was she going to run on her day off.
At breakfast she debated what she would do with her precious free time and finally decided to visit Casey. He had come to visit her the first weekend, but she had been so sore that she had lain on her bed the whole time unable to move while he told her all about his classes and his roommates. The second weekend she had been mired down writing disciplinary essays for every mistake she had made during the week. Fortunately, this week she had not made quite so many errors so she actually could return his visit.
The University of Omphalos campus was scarcely a mile from the Academy. Andie decided to walk, but even still she arrived on campus before most of the students were stirring yet. She wandered around a bit aimlessly at first, trying to remember Casey’s directions to his dorm. The campus was vaguely familiar; when Jenna had first come, Andie had traveled with her parents to help her get settled in. The grounds were beautiful. The paths were laid with hexagonal pavers and lined with planters filled with late-blooming flowers. Trees shaded the walkways and guarded the stiff buildings of muddy brown brick that housed the classrooms. Eventually, Andie reached Casey’s dorm building. She knew immediately she had the right place. The Jensen building was a large, imposing mass of cement with small square windows like pockmarks on the surface. Casey had described it to her and added his opinion that the architects ought to have been shot. Silently, she agreed with him. The building was one of the ugliest she had ever seen.
Within minutes she was knocking at the door to Casey’s apartment only to have it opened by a sleepy young man wearing nothing but underwear. He peered at her hazily. “Do I know you?” he asked, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.
“I . . . I’m looking for Casey Morten,” Andie finally managed, trying not to look down, her cheeks scarlet with embarrassment.
“Oh, yeah, Casey. He’s still asleep. Come on in.” The young man was clearly waking up himself, but he still didn’t seem self-conscious at all as he waved Andie toward the couch in the small common room. She sat primly on the couch, looking curiously around the room. It would have been a nondescript sterile dorm common room, but already the boys living here had left their mark. Clothes were draped over most of the furniture and books were scattered all over the room. A box with half-eaten sausage rolls sat on the small end table next to the couch. Several other empty food cartons cluttered the floor. Half-filled cups were perched just about everywhere there was a clear level spot. She wondered if it was the remains from a party the night before or if none of the roommates had bothered to pick up after themselves since they moved in.
The young man was bending over and rummaging in a small refrigerator. “You want a drink?” he asked, his voice muffled. Andie averted her eyes from his half-exposed body. “Um, no thanks,” she answered in a slightly higher-pitched voice than normal.
“You sure?” he asked again, straightening to sip out of a can. Andie nodded. He turned and headed for one of the side doors. “Just a sec, let me wake Casey up for you,” he called over his shoulder. Andie sighed in relief as he disappeared. Hopefully he would decide to get dressed before he came back out.
From the cracked door she could hear his muffled shouts. “Casey! Hey Casey! You got a girl looking for you!” Idly she picked up a textbook reader that was lying on the couch next to her and flipped on the screen. “Modern Literature of Montambique,” she read aloud. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t want to go to college.” She scrolled through the pages without much interest. Apparently the current trend for literature on Montambique leaned heavily toward haranguing essays. She tossed it aside just as the young man returned. Thankfully he had pulled on a pair of pants.
“Casey says he’ll be out in a minute. He wanted to jump in the shower,” he informed her, casually dropping into the couch next to her.
“I’m Drake,” he offered, his eyes raking her body. “You Casey’s girlfriend?”
“Uh, no,” Andie answered. “Just a friend from home.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of you. You’re Andie, right?” he guessed with a slight smile. “You go to the Academy.” She nodded in surprise.
“He mentioned me?”
Drake rolled his eyes. “Only once or twice a day. Don’t they let you sleep at the Academy? I don’t think anyone around here gets up before noon on the weekend. Maybe even early afternoon.”
“I didn’t realize it was so early. I’m really sorry for waking you up,” Andie apologized.
“Hey, don’t be. You won’t hear me complain anytime a pretty girl comes knocking at our door.” Andie blushed again and looked toward Casey’s door, hoping he would come rescue her from this situation. Something about Drake made her acutely uncomfortable. Surely Casey had meant to take a short shower?
“You don’t look old enough to be in officer training,” observed Drake as he kicked his legs up onto the chair across from him. “Are you some kind of whiz kid who graduated from the University while the rest of us were just finishing up secondary school?”
Andie laughed at the thought and shook her head. “I never went to University. I’m a pilot, training for an Armada patrol.”
“A pilot, huh? I’ve always heard pilots are good in bed. Is it true?” Drake asked suggestively. Andie shifted uncomfortably away from Drake. “No idea,” she answered without looking at him. Was Casey meditating in the shower? What in the whole black universe was taking him so long?
Finally, after enduring several more racy wisecracks from Drake, Andie was saved by Casey’s entrance. “Hey, Casey!” she greeted eagerly, jumping to her feet. His hair was still wet and his shirt was damp, and judging by the deep purple shadows under his eyes his night had been a late one. For a moment she was sorry she had come, but he greeted her with enthusiasm. “You survived another week!” he congratulated. His eyes dropped to his roommate, still lounging on the couch. “I see you’ve met Drake,” he added.
“Yeah,” she responded lamely, unable to think of anything civil to add to that.
“I’ve been doing my best to soften her up for you, mate, but I think you’re out of luck with this one,” Drake lamented. Casey glared at him.
“Oh, shut up, Drake,” he retorted. Drake just laughed.
“Come on, Andie,” Casey continued motioning toward the door. “Let’s leave this lech to his own thoughts. I’ll buy you breakfast.” Gratefully, Andie escaped out the door.
The on-campus café Casey chose was deserted except for two other solitary students. Andie ordered an omelet, two pastries, sliced ham, milkbread, and juice. Casey had contented himself with just a toasted sandwich, and he eyed her spread of food with awe. “Don’t they feed you over there?” he asked in wonder, as she heartily worked her way through the food.
“If you worked as hard as I do, you’d be hungry too,” Andie replied as she munched on the crusty milkbread. “Besides, you’re paying for it so I might as well go ahead and eat my fill,” she continued with a grin, gesturing at her collection of dishes. Casey just shook his head.
“How are your classes going?” she inquired, as she made her way through the second pastry.
“Fine,” Casey shrugged. Andie smiled knowingly.
“You’re acing everything like always,” she guessed.
“It’s just school,” Casey dismissed. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Sure,” Andie laughed ruefully. “Wish my parents felt that way about it.” She saw the question in Casey’s eyes and changed the subject.
“How’s the Denicorizen class going? Are you actually going to learn to speak it, do you think?” This actually earned some enthusiasm from Casey. It was his favorite class, and he went on and on about the challenges of learning his first foreign language and how interesting his professor was. The professor who taught Casey’s class was actually a native Denicorizen refugee who had come to Zenith as a child. Andie listened with little interest in the Denicorizen language; mostly she just liked hearing Casey’s excitement. She was glad he was enjoying his class.
After breakfast, he showed her around his campus. Andie appreciated the tour, but she felt no envy for Casey. In her opinion, the Academy was much more exciting. As the morning wore into afternoon, Casey invited her back to his common room. “I think my roommates are having a bunch of people over—you could come hang out with us.” Andie thought of Drake and shook her head. “No, I’ve got a couple more essays this weekend. Plus, I told Kelly I’d go to the Academy dance tonight. We always go to the dances.”
The Legend of Sirra Bruche Page 5
