This is the day my life changes.
This is the day I prove I can be the best.
This is the day I will stand up for my dreams.
This is the day I test into Galaxy Garrison.
It is the best school in the country for any future career in outer space. This was an impossibly difficult test to determine the newest recruits to take over the control, exploration, and basically anything beyond our atmosphere. We've all had to register two years before the test, so they could run preliminary tests on our physical and mental health. Already, we've gone from some two thousand applicants to only a couple hundred. This test was on our core subjects, and I need to focus. Especially since until very recently, Galaxy Garrison was an all boy's school. Girls were making progress, but we had to give every ounce of thanks we had to Pidge, or as she was revealed to be, Katie Holt. When everyone found out that she made her way into Garrison, and was one of the Paladins, girls were given a chance to make their way into space. The journey has been long, and saying it was easy would be a bold-faced lie. I've trained for the better part of my childhood for this, especially since there were only three positions you could get accepted into, and Commander, the one I'd dreamed about since I first saw the stars, happened to be the hardest by a long shot.
I needed to get my head in the game.
Deep breaths Skylar.
You're ready for this.
Now, what is 4 times the square root of 7,000,000,045?
"Please! I was just admiring the grounds. You can't kick me out of the test just because I was staring out the window!" A female voice shouted from my left. I lifted my head instinctively with a groan, as did almost everyone in the room, to figure out why she was shouting, we simply didn't have time for distractions. It was the girl I had stood behind in line to register for the test two years ago, just aged, as we all had. But now, her fingers were running nervously through her long red hair instead of writing her name on the dotted line to change her life forever, and her sharp gold eyes were darting from the teacher to her paper and back frantically instead of glowing with pride that she had made it past the registration stage.
"I'm sorry Ms…" The teacher giving the test looked down at the seating chart. "Ms. Anderson. But it said clearly in the rules that you can only look down and straight upwards. You could be cheating, and that would not look good on our resume."
"What about all of them?!" The girl pressed, extending her arm to demonstrate that the rest of the class was looking up. We all looked back at our desks with a hurried anxiousness. We tried to concentrate on the test, but the girl continued her pleas, keeping our attention with it.
"Ms. Anderson, do I need you escorted out?" The teacher threatened. Suddenly, a wave of pity for the girl washed over me, and in the moment, I stood up, my head down in anger, palms flat against the flat of the desk.
"Maybe she was just admiring the scenery. Are you really going to crush this girl's dreams of attending this school just on a hunch? That's just cruel. And if the teachers here are like that, I don't know if I even want to finish this test." I slammed my pencil down and looked up with a disgusted look. The girl was staring at me in shock. I smiled in her direction, and the side of her mouth curled up to give me a small smile back.
"Me either." A girl with choppy green hair hesitantly stood up beside me, her face showing her concern, but she seemed sure in her decision as she nodded in agreement with me.
"Same." And yet another kid slammed down the booklet, his eyes a strange amber color, almost looking as if they were on fire with the passion in his movement to stand beside me. Slowly, every kid in the room was standing beside me, some still just looking to me for guidance on how to stick their point, or almost for a sense of acceptance at their action. One by one, the teacher's face dropped a little. When everyone was standing, she straightened herself out, attempting to regain what shred of her dignity was left. I nearly laughed but held it in for fear of losing respect.
"Ms. Carter.." She read from the list of names, before giving me a hateful glare. "What position are you applying to test for?" She asked, her face still red from embarrassment. Oh crap.
She's gonna totally kick me out. All this for nothing.
"Commander," I answered flatly, might as well do this the right way. I heard mutters from around me, even a few people move to sit, probably thinking I was legally insane.
Yeah, go ahead. I totally can't hear you. I totally am not offended by your lack of faith in the females taking their shot at conquering space.
The teacher's mouth opened into a little O, and then she smiled, her mouth wide. Oh no. Here it comes. 'Skylar Carter, you are forever banned from this school and all of its affiliations. Have a nice day.'
"It will suit you well. You are prepared for it." She patted my tense shoulder, handed the girl her test booklet back, and went and sat down. The other kids started to sit down as well, while a few started to applaud me. I just stood there in silent awe. That was not exactly how I saw that going.
"Now go back to your tests." The teacher sighed, looking at her phone. I sat down in a swift motion and continued on. Now, I am even more focused. Let's go. I scrambled through math, science, and English questions with ease, and before I knew it, I was done, and I was walking out the main doors with the flood of other kids. Some came over to pat my shoulder and wish me luck on my results, and some gave me hopes that we would meet again shortly.
Seeing as whoever was coming to pick me up wasn't here yet, I sighed, and leaned against one of the nearest trees, away from the flow of people. I noticed the red haired girl walking out, and our eyes made contact. She smiled, and jogged the rest of the way towards me, dodging the masses of people that separated us. I rolled my eyes and laughed, shaking her hand when she made it all the way over.
"Hey! Thanks for that in there." She smiled again, tilting her head. "Oh yeah, I'm Cam."
"Skylar. And no problem. She was being a jerk, and I had to put her in her place." I said with a bit of an edge.
"I know, but you could've gotten kicked out too." She said, her face still confused.
Like I hadn't thought of that? Girl, you have no idea.
"It was worth it to see her face after I humiliated her." I laughed, and her laugh joined mine for the moment.
"It's crazy how they can kick us out, and we haven't even finished the testing part." She continued, her face showing her inner terror.
"Yeah seriously. And how we went from two thousand to, like, 250 kids, and when this ends, there will only be 100 who are accepted into our class. And only 12 kids get invited to be battle and flight tested." Another voice joined ours, the green-haired girl from before was now standing beside us. She spoke those words longingly, and I felt for her. I will do whatever it take to be in those special classes.
"My name's Elise, by the way." She continued, sticking out her own hand to introduce herself. Cam and I both greeted her with smiles. It made me even more anxious, to be honest, it would genuinely be terrible if we connected and then we weren't able to meet up in a week at orientation.
"Of course, like how those 12 are basically going to be groomed to be the next heroes of the universe…since the Great War started…" Cam bit her lip… thinking about how she phrased the next bit. It was always a strange topic, thinking about how the experts had been saying there was something special about our incoming class. Space exploration had nearly stopped, due to the invitation of our planet to more advanced peoples and civilizations, and with that, new enemies. We had trusted in the Paladins, and they kept us safe for decades, but they, and their Lions, were lost in the Great War that had begun about 20 years ago. We were at a standstill, and we, this next generation, we were being sent into the universe to fix the problems that had been left, and end the war they'd begun.
"Yeah, it's really crazy." I saved her from her train of thought, but she was onto something different by the time I finished.
"I think you have a good chance, Skylar. You know how to use power. You'd be a great Commander." Cam gave me a convincing grin, and I couldn't help myself but smile back. Elise nodded, agreeing with Cam, her hand finding my arm gently.
"Thank you, that's very kind of you to say..." I blushed a little. "What position are you two testing for?"
"Pilot," Cam said dreamily. "My grandfather had fought in the war as a pilot, and he's given me every opportunity to become as strong as a pilot as he was. After he died three years ago, I vowed I would do this for him."
"Engineer, of course. There are no girls anywhere, but one day I want my daughters to know I was the first female engineer on the greatest mission of all." Elise's eyes were sparkling.
"I think you'll both be able to get in for testing." I put my arm on her shoulder comfortingly, and I gave her a brief hug goodbye as a car horn summoned me to the drop off lane. My father sat at the wheel. His face held a depressing frown. "I have to go! Nice to meet you!"
"Hope to see you next week." Cam smiled and waved goodbye to me as I opened the door to my father's SUV.
"Who's she?" My father said in an undertone.
"A girl who also took the test today." I'm not going to try to explain the story to my father. He would have wanted me to get kicked out.
"Why do you even want to do this? Why not a practical job like a lawyer or a doctor or anything not ridiculous as an astronaut?" He started to yell as we drove. This was going to make the drive to the airport feel like ten hours.
"Because it's my dream, and I could make headway in exploration and-" I tried to reason.
"And die in outer space? And complete crap like that? It's pointless. You should be very thankful that it's a scholarship program because there is no way in hell I would pay for this." My dad sighed loudly.
"Whatever." I shrugged myself further down into the seat.
"Your mother also doesn't approve-" He continued, even though the conversation had ended. I just shut my mouth and put on my noise canceling headphones and cranked the music. We flew back home, a rather short flight, but I wished it was longer, then I'd be further away from the hate when I hopefully got accepted. My mother was at the door waiting for us when we got there.
"How'd it go?" She asked. I could practically see the feigned interest drooling out of her mouth.
"Good. There were a lot of people there." I said, walking up to my room. If I don't get into Garrison, I don't know how I'll survive. If I do get in, I get the rest of my life free from the people who doubt me.
"That's wonderful honey." My mother said robotically. I grunted. She wasn't even listening. I'm not even surprised. By hiding myself in my room for the rest of the week, I managed to avoid any more comments from my parents, until I hear my name called downstairs, different from any call down to dinner I'd ever heard.
"Skylar, come down honey." My mother's voice called out. Thoughts raced through my mind. Negative ones including horrible images of law school, positive of me in front of a ship all under my command.
"Over by the hologram machine, honey." My father's joined her. I couldn't breathe. But I have to. But do I actually? It might be better if I just die now. I can't go to law school. I run a hand quickly through my brown hair. I rounded the corner and mounted the hologram board beside my parents. There stood the holographic form of a male officer in a Garrison uniform.
"Ms. Carter, it's a pleasure to meet you. Now that you all are here, I will begin. I am Commander Bekon and I am the current headmaster of Galaxy Garrison." The man said, very welcomingly. My parents stared in shock, and I didn't blame them.
"Charmed." My mother faked a smile.
"I'm here today to discuss your daughter's test results." Commander Bekon continued. "Would you prefer to stay in the room for this, Ms. Carter?"
"Yes," I answered respectfully. I heard my parent's inaudible groans.
"Okay then. Ms. Carter, on your mental and physical test, you scored in the top 10%. Passed. And on the test you just took last week, you scored in the highest 20%." He read off of a paper. I almost died right there and went to Heaven.
"Thank you so much-" I started.
"And we would also love to give you the invitation of not only acceptance into Garrison, but also approval for battle and flight, along with 11 other cadets." He smiled. I couldn't hold in my excitement anymore, so I jumped and shouted.
"YES!" I grinned maniacally.
"Skylar!" My father scolded, and stood me still.
"No, it's okay. She has a wonderful reason to celebrate. Congratulations. I'll see you on campus in the next two days to move into your dorm and for orientation." Commander Bekon bowed, saluted us, and then stepped off his hologram board, cutting off the signal. As soon as my parents could, their faces dropped into frowns. I was way too high on happiness to even argue as they sent me to my room to pack. When I had packed my last article of clothing, I stepped out onto my balcony. The stars seemed to shine even brighter, and the moon even more luminous. I reached my hand out towards it with a promise.