Red3
The bell rang and Sam stood up. Kirk was still staring at her and she was starting to get nervous because of it.
Kirk stood with her and Sam did her best to ignore him as she put her tray away.
"Just wear the coat maybe no one will notice" said Alex
"Chill out Pike she's regulation they can't do anything" said Kirk
Alex turned to yell at him then abruptly paused when one of the instructors walked by.
Sam held her breath expecting the instructor to say something about the way she was dressed.
When he didn't, she let out the breath she had been holding and pulled her coat closed.
"So can I walk you to class?" said Kirk
Sam smirked
"Jim our class is in the opposite direction" said McCoy
The two men were walking with her anyways despite the fact that their classes were indeed in the opposite direction.
Alex rolled her eyes and huffed at the two men eyeing Sam like dogs would eye bacon.
Some of the other cadets stared at her as she walked by and Sam was starting to regret this decision.
They reached class and Sam made as if to dart inside.
"So I was wondering, this weekend, we could catch a movie or something?" said Kirk
Sam smiled at Kirk.
"Maybe we'll see" said Sam
He smiled back at her and McCoy rolled his eyes grabbed Jim's arm and ushered him away from the classroom door. Alex shook her head.
"Did you have to say yes to him?" said Alex
"Relax Alex it's not like I'm going to hop into bed with the man" said Sam
Alex snorted and walked off towards her classroom. Sam took a seat in the back in the corner and draped her coat across her legs.
She set up her supplies and ignored the few questioning looks turned her way. The class went smoothly and Sam moved on to her next one.
She sat in the back of each of her classes. The bell rang and she followed the group out. Alex was waiting for her, she looked nervous.
Alex kept giving her worried glances as they entered the class. Sam started for their usual seats. She turned to see Alex standing by the back row
"you sure?' said Alex
Sam nodded and Alex sighed, then reluctantly followed Sam to the front of the room. Sam took a seat in the second row and calmly set her things up.
Her stomach was filled with butterflies. Spock wasn't here yet and she was starting to get nervous.
The class was filling up fast and still no instructor. Sam could have sworn she heard Uhura outside the door then Spock walked in.
He adjusted his uniform and walked to the front of the class. He didn't really look at them yet. Sam typed her name into the roster sheet and hit send.
He was busy reading something on the PADD on his desk then he looked up right at Sam and froze.
He tilted his head sideways as if he was studying a new species. He tapped on his Padd and then looked from it to her again.
Sam smirked at him because it was obvious he had not recognized her.
"Cadet Morningstar will you start us off please read the first section for us" said Spock
Sam cleared her throat and picked up the device. She calmly read the passage out loud. Several of the males were staring at Sam in shock.
She crossed her legs at the ankles and set down her Padd. The females in the class were mostly glaring at her.
Spock moved on to another student but she saw his gaze flicker down briefly. The bell finally rang and Sam packed up her things.
"Miss Morningstar, come with me please" said Spock
She looked up at him in shock and finished putting her things in her bag.
He walked ahead of her out of the room and down the hall out of the building and straight towards building 1.
Sam's stomach fell, great he was getting her kicked out. Mr. Spock proceeded her into the office.
"Sit there and cover your lap" said Spock.
He sounded irritated but that was somewhat of his usual tone. He walked past the secretary and into the back room towards a door marked Commandant. Sam swallowed nervously great second day here and already she was in the principal's office.
The door opened and Spock beaconed to her. Sam swallowed again and stood up. She held her head up high and walked into the Commandants office. The door shut behind her.
"Take a seat Cadet" said the commandant.
He was an older grey haired man, if Sam had to guess his age she would say in his fifties. Sam calmly sat down and waited for him to speak. He looked her up and down and Sam restrained the urge to cover her lap with her coat. His eyes lingered on her legs a bit too long.
"Yes I can see what you mean Commander" said the commandant
He cleared his throat and Sam met his eyes.
"Cadet Morningstar, hmm pretty name, May I ask what you were thinking this morning when you chose to wear... that" said the commandant
He waved to her outfit. Sam restrained the urge to smirk. This was not funny the prick had gotten her in trouble on her second day. Sam's fingers nervously played with the hem of her skirt.
"Well... I" said Sam
She didn't get the rest out.
"Cadet let me be frank with you this display, statement you're making, whatever is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it" said the commandant
"the commander talked to you about your attire yesterday did he not?" said the commandant
She nodded yes. Sam bit her bottom lip because her eyes were threatening to fill with tears and she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
"Go back to your dorm room and change, into normal foot attire and zip closed your top, you are on probation until I say otherwise" he said
He was dismissing her but Sam just sat there.
"That was a dismissal cadet" said the commandant
"Sir I don't have" said Sam
"Don't have what cadet? A brain in your head, clearly now go get out of my sight" said the commandant Sam narrowed her eyes at the man, her temper flared.
"No sir I don't have anything to change into" said Sam
She crossed her hands in her lap and glared at the man. He snorted and hit a few buttons on his desk.
"Stop at the front desk, Marcy will give you some scrip for the PX, now out" he said
Sam rose quickly and scurried out of the room. She stopped by the older woman with the bun in her hair.
"Here you go dear, try not to get too upset. We all make mistakes on our first week" said Marcy
She took the small chip from the woman's hands and scurried out the door at practically a run.
She debated just saying to hell with it grabbing her stuff and just leaving.
That would make her a quitter though and as much as she hated this place she really had nowhere else to go.
"The Px is in the opposite direction" said Spock
She jumped because she had no idea the Vulcan had followed her.
"What? Oh yeah sorry didn't exactly look at the map, thanks" said Sam
She nervously hurried away from him.
"I could show you if you like?" said Spock
Sam frowned, what gave with this guy first he gets her in trouble then he wants to be nice.
"No thank you, commander" said Sam
She had to bite back the sharp tones to keep from snapping at him.
"Very well you are expected back in class do not be late" said Spock.
She walked away from him and mimicked his words sarcastically. Sam headed for her dorm room closed the door and had a good cry.
She wiped her eyes and looked at the PADD thing.
It showed she was excused from the class that was going on now, probably so she could change clothes.
She pulled up the map of the campus. The PX was right next to the admissions building, it would be so easy just to walk in and dis-enroll.
She could be out of here by the afternoon. She could still head to Vegas and start a new life. It was tempting she had to admit it. She seriously had her doubts that she could ever fit in here. She looked at her bags and then back at the screen. Should she do it just give up?
It felt wrong to her now. Maybe before she was frozen she wouldn't have had any problem with quitting but everything was different now. She was doing well she had actually finished things, did she really want to go back to being a loser? She sighed and unzipped the boots. She slid on her sandals and changed bras so she could zip up the top. She could do this it was only a few years besides she could always resign before they commissioned her. Take the education and do something else with it.
Broadway might even still be an option she grabbed her bag. She could always shove the sandals in bag after she got the boots. The PX turned out to be a small store that sold everything from snacks to clothing. She was staring at the only boots in her size and they were ugly. Her boots may have been impractical but at least they didn't look like rejects from the sixties. Quitting was looking mighty good right now.
"Can I help you miss?" said one of the clerks.
Sam groaned and grabbed the only pair in her size.
"No I'm good" said Sam
She set them on the counter and handed the clerk the scrip. She scanned it and asked if Sam wanted it bagged.
"no thanks I'll just wear them out" said Sam
She slid her sandals off and slid the new boots on. Shoving her sandals into her bag. She left the tape around her ankles hoping it would protect her from new shoe blisters. She walked out and paused her eyes lingering on the admissions building. She wanted so badly to go home but this was home right now. She adjusted her bag and headed for the classrooms. She was quiet again today answering questions she did know with I don't know again. The bell rang and she headed for lunch.
"Well what happened, Sheila said he took you to see the commandant" said Alex
"He did" said Sam
"And?' said Alex
She shrugged and punched in an order for a salad she had no intention of eating.
"He yelled at me, called me stupid" said Sam
She moved towards the drinks and grabbed a soda, screw the calories she could run them off in the morning.
"Oh Sam you're not stupid" said Alex
"Any ways he put me on probation whatever the hell that is and gave me scrip to get shoes" said Sam Alex looked down at her new boots.
"They're hideous" said Sam
Alex snorted.
"they're just like everyone else's" said Alex
Sam looked at everyone's shoes in the room in front of them.
"They're still hideous" said Sam
Alex nodded in agreement and sat down at their usual table.
"Oh just to give you a heads up Uhura's pissed" said Alex
Sam frowned at Alex
"Why?" said Sam
She had picked up an apple and had paused midway between mouth and plate. Alex gave her a shocked look
"What you don't know?" said Alex
Sam shook her head.
"She's dating Spock but you didn't hear it from me" said Alex
Sam lowered the apple in shock.
"No way! Mr. Stickler for the rules is dating someone, isn't that against regulations?" said Sam
She was smirking she wished she knew this an hour ago she could have used it against him. Alex shrugged
"don't know probably if your higher than a student teacher but I think he's just that, I think that's why they have him teaching the lower grades at least until they ship him off" said Alex
"Anyways she thinks you were hitting on him or something that's why she's so bent" said Alex
Sam set her fork down before she dropped it in shock. Sam started laughing, in fact she was still laughing when Uhura approached them.
Alex got this worried look on her face and pointed behind her discreetly. Sam turned, she was still grinning. Uhura was standing behind her and she looked livid.
"what is so funny?" said Uhura
She sounded pleasant and Sam could tell it was deceptive. Uhura narrowed her eyes at sam.
"What happened to your look this morning?" said Uhura
The tone was mocking as well as angry.
"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" said Sam
Alex groaned behind her. Uhura glared at her.
"I did and he told me everything" said Uhura
Sam smirked at her.
"Then you know nothing happened unless of course you don't trust him" said Sam
Alex covered her mouth but the gasp escaped before she did. Uhura hesitated and Sam noted it.
So she did feel insecure about dating him, Sam could imagine why.
"just stay away from him and stop dressing like a slut" said Uhura
She stormed away and Alex sighed in relief behind her. Sam spun back around and picked up her fork.
"So where were we?" said Sam
Alex was staring at her in shock.
"Have you seen the schedule changes?" said Trip
He sat down next to Alex and gave Sam a perplexed look.
"Weren't you wearing something else?" said trip
Sam rolled her eyes.
"The lieutenant made her change almost got her kicked out" said Alex
He gave Sam a sympathetic look.
"Yeah I'm on probation until further notice" said Sam
He made a sympathetic sound Alex was already calling up the schedule change on her padd.
"What more testing they have to be kidding" said Alex
"Does it say what kind?" said Sam
She finished her apple and dug into the spaghetti. Alex shook her head no
"No it just gives a time frame for first years and says it's mandatory" said Alex
Sam groaned this day was starting to seriously bite.
"My time frame says after lunch what is yours?" said Trip
"Same time, Sam?" said Alex
She groaned and dug into her bag pulled out the device and turned it on.
"Same time" said Sam
"Great we can go together" said Trip
Sam was staring at her screen because it had a few new things on it. She tapped one and groaned out loud.
"What's wrong?" said Alex
"I can't leave the campus" said Sam
"The probation?" said Trip
Sam nodded and kept reading. She was soon swearing until she saw that on the list too.
"What is it what's wrong?" said Alex
Sam slid her Padd over so her friends could read the entry.
"Oh my that's horrible, I guess you're going to have to tell kirk it's a no go" said Alex
She sounded happy about it so Sam glared at her.
"Oh come on you can't seriously like him" said Alex
"Kirk as in Jim kirk?" said Trip
"Yes" said Sam
"You like him?" said Trip
Sam shrugged.
"She accepted a date with him" said Alex
"Yeah a date I can't go on" said Sam
She had lost her appetite and besides the sausage in this spaghetti tasted like tofu. She snagged her Padd off the table and shoved it back in her bag.
"See you guys later" said Sam
She stood up and walked away from the table. The tests turned out to be a huge series of aptitude tests that were beginning to get annoying by the third one. She stopped really thinking about the questions and just simply marked whatever felt right for her.
The test results would be posted to her Padd so she went to her next class.
When the results finally flashed across her screen at dinner she dissolved into giggles and couldn't finish her curry.
A years ago
They were still trying to push her into taking one more year.
Her tests had slated her for command training and Star fleet didn't seem to understand no very well. The first year had been rough and she had almost quit on at least forty different occasions. Spock got promoted to commander and did get some poor hapless girl kicked out for doing the same thing Sam did of course Sam drew the line at making a pass at him.
She still didn't like the man. Kirk was in his fourth year having willingly signed up for the command classes that Sam was balking at.
She was still making plans to ditch her commission upon graduation. Alex was going into science with a specialization in alien biology. Sam however was still floundering. She did okay in her academics, not top of the food chain mind but she held her own. The only thing she really excelled at was hand to hand and phazer training.
She was a competent pilot in simulation but if you put her in anything that you could see the ground in she froze. Her com buzzed again
"Well you have to choose something" said Alex
Sam sighed not this again.
"There sending most of the third years to the station for zero g training, you're on the list" said Alex
Sam groaned and put her head in her hands. She hated these little trips but they were mandatory.
"Trip's going up for the engineering training" said Alex
Alex had started dating Trip at the end of the first year. Sam never did go on that date with Kirk, instead of socializing she spent the majority of her time studying. When the students went home for the holidays Sam stayed at the academy because she had nowhere else to go. She felt increasingly isolated and lost as the years went by. She still felt like she was living a lie and didn't belong here.
She spent most of her time trying to blend into the background and not be found out for the fake she felt she was. Sam sighed and looked at the Padd screen again. She selected security and weapons systems as a lark and looked at the options. Sniper training caught her eye but it was restricted to command program cadets. Sighing she accepted the transfer to command level classes and selected operations and security as her specialty
