The Calm I
"19"
I glare at the broken sign above the door for a moment. Had it simply held itself together, I wouldn't be late right now. As I walk into the small classroom, I make sure to kick the other half of the sign that's propping the door open.
To my left, there's a black-haired girl chewing nervously on a pencil. She looks a little older than me, but that's not helping her on the test. She raises her head for a second as I walk in, revealing eyes welling up with water. Combined with her round cheeks, she looks almost like a distressed baby.
"Raika Wagner...and here I thought you weren't going to show." I turn to face the source of the voice: Captain Duke Borton. He's been a 'friend of the family' for as long as I can remember. I've never found him particularly friendly, though. Trying to talk to the man is just a step below suicide. No matter what, he'll always emerge the more intelligent, better informed and more insightful. Every time I try, I end up wanting to kill one of us. Instead of returning his greeting, I simply scowl at him.
He smiles and holds out a paper.
"It's an entrance exam." He explains.
A moment later, I'm scowling at the paper instead. There's not even a space to write my name...just some haphazard lines and questions. I've never cared about who the fourth king of Hilvara was or about how many individual peaks there are in the Olympian mountain range. None of the questions seem relevant to joining the Salirsth Junior Pilot Forces anyway. I set to work writing 'I don't know' on every available line.
"I'm done…" The other girl is handing her test to Duke. "I think I did ok…I didn't know there was going to be a test though."
Duke grins. He accepts the paper and seamlessly slips it into the trash can beside his desk. The girl's jaw quivers.
I crumple my paper into a ball as I walk up beside her and toss it directly into the bin. Duke catches it without taking his eyes off of the other girl and straightens it out in front of him. He laughs then sticks it into a drawer.
"I'll meet you at supply storage unit B14." He says. He strides calmly to the door with a smug smile on his face then leaves without any other instructions.
I feel the familiar murderous feelings rushing over me as I hurry to catch up with him.
"Wait!" The other girl calls out behind me. "What's a supply storage unit?"
"I don't know." I mumble. I immediately regret it; I doubt I'll ever say that again without hearing Duke's laugh.
The girl seems to calm down anyway. She takes a deep breath and holds out her hand.
"I guess I can ask my dad over the radio…let's get going?"
"Your dad?" I ask, ignoring her hand.
"Sinfire."