Kaylana, on the other hand, selected a large plate of eggs and bacon and followed her to their usual table, the alcove where a few secluded tables sat.
Zane strolled alone through the cafeteria door a few moments later. Aurora hadn’t talked to him since the attack on the Apollo Alliance shuttle, when for some stupid reason she’d made out with him.
That first kiss had been perfect. Sweet. If you didn’t count all the things that had come out of his mouth five minutes prior. And the following make-out session had been anything but sweet. Aurora had never been more turned on in her life. She probably would’ve given him her virginity right then and there if he hadn’t stopped.
“Babe, you look a little out of it. Are you all right?” Kaylana asked, bringing her back to the present and to the fact that she held a spoonful of yogurt in front of her.
Aurora put her spoon down. “Yeah, just nervous and over-thinking everything, as usual. I have the XT-101 flight today.”
“Oh, right, I forgot about that.” Kaylana looked at her, momentarily forgetting her breakfast. “I’m sure you’ll do great. I heard you muttering procedures in your sleep last night.”
“I did not.” Aurora laughed. “Seriously, I’m really worried about who I’ll be partnered with. What if it’s Sky?”
“That would suck, even though he’s a total hottie. But it’s not like he can do anything to jeopardize your flight.” She shrugged. “Besides, I thought you said he stopped verbally harassing you.”
Aurora nodded. Sky’s behavior toward her had changed over the past few weeks. He had gone from an overbearing, arrogant know-it-all, to a calmer, more reserved instructor. He still watched her like a hawk and reprimanded her when she messed up, but now he didn’t publicly humiliate her when he did it.
“Yeah, that’s true. And if all goes well, I won’t even need my teammate’s help.” Aurora stirred the yogurt in her bowl and glanced back up to the front where Zane held a plate overflowing with food.
She dragged her gaze back to Kaylana, not wanting him to see her staring. She couldn’t avoid the topic with Kaylana any longer. “Zane just walked into the cafeteria alone.”
Kaylana glanced over her shoulder and spotted Zane, who looked around for a table to eat at. “That boy is weird. Maybe his childhood really messed him up.”
Aurora had heard the gossip of Zane’s past. She’d even heard a rumor that on his first day here he had beaten up a security guard for looking at him the wrong way, but that was just absurd. She knew better than anyone not to believe everything she heard.
“I know you’re still mad at him about the whole spoiled brat thing, but he did apologize,” Aurora said.
“Yeah, and then you made out with him.”
Aurora’s shoulders slumped. “I know that was stupid. I mean, it was also good. I just . . . ”Aurora shrugged. “I really feel like he likes me, but something’s holding him back. But we did agree to be friends.”
When Zane reached their alcove and realized they were the only ones there, he stopped walking It wouldn’t have surprised Aurora if he sat down at a table by himself, but he eventually made his way toward their table.
Now that he was closer, Aurora saw that he was wearing the designated Apollo Academy T-shirt, running shorts, and tennis shoes required for physical training. Coach Harris seemed to really enjoy testing what Zane could handle.
A few moments later Zane stood in front of their table with his tray of food in his hands, looking down at the two of them. “Do you mind if I sit here?”
Kaylana spoke up before Aurora had the chance to intervene. “Of course we do.”
Aurora smacked Kaylana’s shoulder. “Don’t be rude. You can sit here.” She gestured for Zane to take a seat and gave Kaylana a pointed look when Zane took a seat by Kaylana, probably just to annoy her.
The instant Zane sat down he began shoveling food into his mouth. Aurora wasn’t sure if he was eating so quickly because he was really hungry, because he was trying to avoid speaking to her, or because he wasn’t used to having all the food he wanted. Aurora hoped it wasn’t the latter, even if it meant he was still uncomfortable talking to her.
When he noticed they were watching him instead of talking, he quickly put his fork down and looked embarrassed. It was the first time she had seen such an emotion so obviously written on his face. Aurora watched in fascination as he took a sip of his orange juice, resumed his usual blank face, and only then had the courage to make eye contact with her. She hated that he thought he needed to wear a mask around anyone, especially her.
“Do you have physical training this morning?” Aurora asked, trying to prove that they could be friends. From his clothing, he obviously did, but the conversation needed to start somewhere and that was the only thing her mind came up with. And Kaylana was staring at something else.
“Yeah, I’m scheduled for a virtual marathon in an hour.” Zane put his juice down.
Aurora loved running. It was the only physical training that she enjoyed, but a marathon was crazy. “Whoa. What did you do to piss Coach Harris off?”
Zane only shrugged his shoulders, so she tried to make polite conversation again. She was going to get him to open up even if it killed her. “Where do you like to run at?”
Zane scrunched his eyebrows like he had never considered this before. “I usually just program the run for a standard track”
Aurora frowned.
“Why? What do you look at?” Zane asked.
“Oh, I usually program it for a night run on a deserted country road.” Damn, that sounded lame. Embarrassed by her honest response, she tried to explain. “It’s peaceful, and it gives me time to think.”
Zane nodded. “I’ll have to give that program a try. Maybe I’ll use it today.” He looked over at her roommate. “Do you use that too, Kaylana?”
Kaylana wasn’t listening, and her head was still turned away from them. It was unlike her to not talk for this long. Aurora looked in the direction Kaylana was focused on. Oh, Aurora thought as she saw who Kaylana was so intently looking at. Akemi had walked into the cafeteria sometime during their conversation.
Aurora cleared her throat and tried to get her attention. “Earth to Kay.”
Kaylana gave no indication that she heard her. She looked over at Zane, hoping he was clueless, but as always he was way ahead of the situation, already understanding why Kaylana was not paying attention.
Aurora burst out laughing. Kaylana was openly staring at Akemi, regardless of the fact that his roommate and best friend sat at their table witnessing it all. She was still laughing when she looked over at Zane, and to her astonishment there was a small smile on his face. The joy she felt seeing Zane smile caused her to laugh even harder. No, that probably wasn’t the sanest response, but she blamed it on the nerves.
Aurora’s constant laughter finally filtered through Kaylana’s blank stare. “Huh? Did I miss something?” she asked, totally oblivious that she was caught staring and daydreaming at Akemi.
At her dumbfounded look, Aurora continued laughing. Her stomach was starting to hurt. At the same time both Zane and Aurora replied, “Yeah.” Aurora swung her eyes over to Akemi, who was walking toward them, and Kaylana finally got the joke.
“Oh, sorry. My mind must have been somewhere else.” She started to look self-conscious then just shrugged her shoulders and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Aurora wished she could be more like Kaylana; the girl was never embarrassed by anything.
Aurora’s techiwatch beeped. If she didn’t get going, she was going to be late. It felt like things were beginning to get better between her and Zane, and it would have been fun to watch Kaylana and Akemi interact, but flying was more important.
“Well, I gotta get going.” She bent down to give Kaylana a quick hug.
Kaylana hugged her back. “Good luck. Come find me the second you get back.” She winked. “You’ll be great.”
Aurora hugged her friend again and pulled her close to whisper that they would
be talking about Akemi later. With one last smile, she glanced at Zane. As their gazes locked, she couldn’t understand what exactly was written in his eyes. But she didn’t have time to contemplate it.
AURORA
When Aurora made it outside, she found that everyone was already there, waiting for her. Of course, every head turned to look at her, the late arrival. Sky was there too, giving her his usual I’m-disappointed-in-you look. His blue eyes looked her over in a very unfriendly way, and Aurora felt rocket ships blast off in her stomach.
The group loaded up in the large hovercar that would take them to the Apollo Alliance SpacePort just a few miles away.
When the short ride was over, she stepped out, a peacefulness settling inside her. Wind blew across her face, bringing with it the smell of briny ocean air, synthetic jet fuel, and oil. Aurora took a huge breath. Looking up at the beautifully clear sky, she realized she couldn’t wait to get up there and prove to herself and everyone else that she belonged.
The SpacePort was crawling with activity. Shuttles and various aircraft were lined around its main circular dome. Aurora felt better knowing that the SpacePort was continuing to operate normally. If they weren’t going to let the TerraRists bother them, then why should she?
Enraptured in her surroundings, she didn’t realize that all was quiet. When she looked around, she found that the other cadets were already following Lieutenant Colonel Jackson into the flight department. She turned quickly to catch up with the other students and didn’t see Sky looking back at her with a curious expression until she ran right into him. It was like hitting a brick wall.
Heavy hands steadied her, and she took a step back, intending to apologize, but stopped short when she caught sight of Sky’s scornful face.
He was a really cute guy, but Aurora found his face unattractive when it was twisted in anger. Granted, she seemed to be the only one capable of really setting him off because he was extremely popular with everyone else. What is it about me that makes him so angry?
“You need to stop daydreaming and pay attention to where you’re going,” Sky barked before walking away.
Aurora didn’t mean to run into him. Apparently, whatever she did to rile Sky up, he did the same to her in return. She stomped forward, trying to catch up to him.
“What’s your deal?”
Sky stopped and turned back to look at her. “I need to know you’re not here because of your father,” he stated, as if he were doing the Apollo Academy some sort of huge favor. He began walking away again, but she kept pace next to him. She tried to think of what else she could say to convince him that she belonged here, but there wasn’t enough time for this conversation again. She let it go for now. It wasn’t anything new anyway.
As soon as they walked into the briefing room, Lieutenant Colonel Jackson began briefing the class on the day’s flight. “All right, cadets, today we’re going to partner up in teams. Remember the purpose of these training flights is to minimize pilot error during life-threatening situations. You need to accustom yourselves to making fast, accurate decisions. When you’re piloting the shuttle, you will have the lives of ten other people in your hands. So today we will test your decision-making abilities. Remember your procedure flows, and you’ll be just fine. So let’s get teamed up and review.”
He pulled out an electronic tablet that held the team list. The Lieutenant Colonel looked down at the record briefly before he began calling out names. Aurora stared at the large bold T’s that branded the tablet as a Titon Technologies product while he called out names.
“Jeremy, you’re with Burner. Nathaniel, you’re with Vapor. Rick, you’re with Bug. Jean-Pierre, you’re with Guano—”
“Guano is Ewan’s call sign?” Rick asked, a smile lighting his face.
All of the graduated cadets went by their call signs, and the stories behind them were usually hilarious. Aurora wondered what hers would be.
“Yeah, because he’s bat-shit-crazy,” Jeremy responded before falling into a hysterical fit of laughter.
“All right, settle down.” Lieutenant Colonel Jackson continued, ignoring the guys’ whoops and hollers. “And lastly, Aurora you’re with Sky.”
Aurora barely kept her groan of frustration to herself. Of course she was teamed up with Sky. In fact, he probably ensured that they would be teamed together, just so he would have the opportunity to scold her.
Lieutenant Colonel Jackson pulled up a visual display of the XT-101’s cockpit and continued with the lesson. “Jeremy, would you recite the electrical fire in-flight emergency procedure?”
Jeremy nodded his head and confidently rattled off. “The autopilot flight control unit will handle most basic types of emergencies. However, if that fails, you would manually select the master switch to off position, close all vents in the cabin, activate the fire extinguisher, and turn all non-essential electrical equipment off—”
Lieutenant Colonel Jackson nodded his head and cut off any further commentary. “Good.” He looked around the room, selecting his next participant. “Rick, what are the emergency rapid decompression flows?”
Rick, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head, ticked items off his fingers. “Throttles to idle. Pitch to just below never exceed speed. Begin descent to twelve thousand feet. Verify proper oxygen flow to mask.”
Aurora rolled her eyes. Typical male pilots. She listened and visually went through each procedure in her head, better preparing herself for the flight ahead. Even with an autopilot, everyone was required to know every single emergency procedure because autopilots were not one hundred percent reliable. She listened intently as the boys arrogantly answered each question thrown at them.
She sometimes wished she had their total confidence.
When Lieutenant Colonel Jackson was satisfied that they were all prepared, he released the class. “All right, everyone, go pre-flight and remember, if you forget everything else you’ve been taught, just remember to keep your knots up. I’ll see you safely back on the ground.” He walked out, heading to the ground control room, where he and the on-ground pilots would direct and monitor their training.
Aurora didn’t move when everyone else stood up to leave. She was too busy watching Sky, as he followed the Lieutenant Colonel out the door. Before he left the room, he turned, meeting Aurora’s stare. Heat rushed to her cheeks as his challenging eyes met hers. She didn’t give in to the urge to look down, determined for Sky to see her as his equal.
ZANE
Zane’s footsteps pounded on the moving treadmill below him, making a consistent beat, while sweat dripped down the back of his shirt and made it cling to his skin. He was only halfway through his run, and as usual his heart rate and breathing remained steady. By this point he had usually worked himself into a panic over his unknown medical condition, wondering if his heart rate was right or if he was supposed to be breathing harder.
Normally he was so in tune with his body that he never paid attention to the virtual world displayed on the screens that surrounded him. Sometimes he didn’t even bother to turn the screens on and ran with blank white screens, but today he decided to take Aurora’s advice and selected the night country road option.
He had to admit there was something relaxing about running in the middle of nowhere where the stars twinkled in the black velvet sky above his head. He had never been anywhere so isolated or an area that allowed the stars to shine so brightly. Outside of his astronomy class, anyway. He had lived his entire life in the overcrowded Orlando metropolis and didn’t think anywhere like this even existed anymore. There were even trees in the distance.
No wonder people wore their alternate-reality tech all the time. If he hadn’t seen the resulting addiction and consequences first-hand, he probably would have tried them out a long time ago.
The freedom that came from running in such an open space allowed him to clear his head. He imagined how fresh the air would smell and almost felt the night breeze cooling his hot skin. He wasn’t even paying at
tention to his body because of how freeing the scene was. There were no skyscrapers pressing down on him and no people to avoid. The open space allowed him to let go of his thoughts as his body maintained its meticulous movements.
There was something to love about running like this. He now understood why Aurora’s face lit up when he mentioned running. He felt free, calm, and like he could even become a better person. He seemed to be literally sweating away all of the stress and negativity that had been accumulating in his body.
As his mind lost its usual sharp focus, he let his thoughts drift to Aurora. Her soft lips. Green eyes.
Zane shook his head. When he’d found out who Aurora’s father was, he’d thought she’d be a spoiled brat. She was a little naive but nothing like he imagined an heiress would be. The day he’d followed her to the Apollo 1 launch pad he’d meant to finally push her away, but that wasn’t what happened at all. He’d left feeling closer to her than he had felt to anyone in his life.
Aurora gave him hope. They were going to be expected to save the world, and she was giving him a reason to other than his own selfish needs.
The lights came back on, interrupting his thoughts, and the country trail and night sky returned to the white screens surrounding him. He looked down at his techiwatch in amazement. The run couldn’t possibly be done yet, could it? He stepped off the treadmill and wiped his face on the towel he left on the corner chair. He also took a sip of water, even though he didn’t feel dehydrated. He felt fantastic and thought he probably could’ve run ten more miles.
He gathered his things and stepped out of the virtual running room only to walk right into Dr. Stevenson.
“Oh, sorry, Zane. Didn’t mean to surprise you.” Dr. Stevenson looked a bit embarrassed. “I was probably standing too close to the door.”
“No problem. Hope I didn’t get you wet.” Zane wiped the sweat dripping from his face and walked down to the couch that was in the hallway.
The Apollo Academy Page 12