Okay, someone said that I should probably create a list of who's who because there are a lot of new characters so here you go! :)
Shiloh Annalise Davenport
Parents: Blaze and Chopper
Age: 18
Birthday: February 1, 2016
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'8
Blood Type: B
Lux Gabrielle Davenport
Parents: Blaze and Chopper
Age: 19
Birthday: July 4, 2015
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'7
Blood Type: B
William Dean Davenport and James Samuel Davenport
Parents: Blaze and Chopper
Age: 20
Birthday: October 30, 2014
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6'2
Blood Type: O
Percy Jack Bartlett
Parents: Bartlett and Major
Age: 20
Birthday: April 15, 2014
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6'2
Blood Type: AB
Tessa Sophia Grimm
Parents: Grimm and Cassie
Age: 20
Birthday: July 11, 2014
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'6
Blood Type: A
Charlotte Clarisse Grimm
Parents: Cassie and Grimm
Age: 19
Birthday: December 7, 2015
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'8
Blood Type: AB
Alec Lewis Banks
Parents: Genette and Nagase
Age: 20
Birthday: July 15, 2014
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'0
Blood Type: O
Henry Gabriel Banks
Parents: Genette and Nagase
Age: 19
Birthday: March 20, 2015
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'11
Blood Type: B
Isabelle Maria Banks
Parents: Genette and Nagase
Age: 18
Birthday: January 2, 2016
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'7
Blood Type: A
Hope that helped (long I know)! Okay, let's not keep you any longer :)
Chapter Quote:
"To me, being the best means proving it in different countries and championships."
~Cristiano Ronaldo
Chapter 2: Conversion
Alec
I sat in the middle seat between Lydia and Shiloh on the flight to Belka. Shiloh took the aisle seat so she could talk to Percy. No matter what she said, I knew that was the reason. I wanted her to tell Lux about her crush on Percy so Lux could hook the two of them up because I'd never told Shi this but Percy had a massive crush on her too; he just wouldn't admit it because of Will and Jem. The twins were way over protective of Shiloh, Lux was too. None of us knew why, but we all figured it was because she was the youngest.
Lydia stayed up the entire flight working on cryptograms. I never was all that great at them, but she excelled in them. My girlfriend happens to be a genius in code-cracking. I'm completely okay with this. I like smart girls.
Lux, Scott and a guy named Liam sat behind me. Sophie and Will were sitting next to a man that talked a lot in his sleep. Jem and Tessa sat across the aisle from them next to a woman who, at one point, dropped her dentures into Jem's drink. Henry and Charlotte were playing some game together that Charlotte kept winning at and making Henry extremely frustrated. Isabelle and Simon were studying… something. Knowing them, they were trying to figure out the end of pi or something crazy like that.
When we arrived to Belka, we were greeted by five professors. We saluted them. As they led us to the cars that would take us to base, the professors conversed with us. Their names were Adler, Jung (pronounced 'young'), Klein, Roth, and Wirth.
"So how old are all of you?"
Percy rattled off everyone's ages. Adler turned his head to look at Shiloh, Lydia, and Isabelle. "You must be freshman. Impressive that you're here so young."
"Actually, Isabelle and I are sophomores. We skipped a grade when we were younger, sir," Shiloh explained.
"Interesting." The instructor turned away and began conversing with Percy, Will, and Jem. Interestingly enough, all the instructors seemed to ignore the girls. I could tell it ticked them off. Here were these brilliant minds and they were being completely ignored. This wouldn't go over well with them, and since I knew all of them like the back of my hand, even Sophie, I knew they were going to try and. prove themselves. The girls were going to make sure they made a statement to the Belkan instructors. The younger generation of Belkans was more accepting of girls in the military, but the older generation, such as the professors walking with us, was extremely old-fashioned, and believed the military should be for men only because they didn't think women were "capable" of fighting well. They obviously hadn't met the women in our family. My mom, aunts, and godmother would put the guys in their place. Hell, I'd like to see an air battle between them.
"What are you students planning on becoming?" Wirth queried.
"Kody and I are in training to be RIOs," Sophie replied.
"Lydia and I are studying aeronautical engineering," Simon informed.
"We're training to be Combat Rescue Officers," Ethan and Aiden said simultaneously. They were twins. They did everything together.
"Caleb and I are going to become surgeons," Nick said. He and Caleb were juniors. Nick was pretty cool; he certainly had a mouth on him. Caleb was very laid-back and didn't like to socialize much with people.
"Shiloh, Lux, Charlotte, Tessa, and I are training to be pilots," Isabelle piped up. My sister surprised me. Typically when she wanted to make a statement, she did it through actions rather than words.
"Will, Jem, Percy, Alec, Henry, Liam, and I are training to be pilots too," Scott said with a grin. "We're all awesome at it."
"Who's the best?" Klein questioned with a small smirk.
"Depends on what ability we're talking about. Percy, Will, and Jem are the best at strategizing. Henry, Scott, and I are the best at evasive maneuvers," I answered.
"What are the girls good at?"
Percy laughed. "Where do I start? They're all fantastic, but I guess Charlotte and Tessa's strong points are tailing enemies. Once they lock onto you, you stand no chance. Lux and Isabelle are best at predicting what the enemy is going to do next. It's not normal how good they are at it actually. And Shiloh… she adapts to the situation flawlessly. No matter what happens, she's ready for it. That's why she could probably kick all of our butts."
Shiloh bit back a grin at the compliment. I winked at her; she made a face at me.
"Just a reminder for all of you, particularly the pilots, you're being put in the advance classes. These are toughest of the toughest classes. You may have been the top of your class back at OAFA, but don't expect to be so here. Now, take your seats in the car. We'll be at your accommodations in five minutes.
I sat next to the window; Lydia sat next to me and Shiloh sat in front of me. I leaned forward and whispered to her, "You're going to prove them wrong aren't you?"
"Damn straight I am."
Next week…
I knew there was some misogyny in the Belkan Air Force by the older generation but the amount they showed was ridiculous and at times, so blatant that even the Belkan students gave each other "What the heck" looks. It was seriously ticking off Shiloh, Lux, Isabelle, Tessa, Charlotte, Lydia, Sophie, and Kody. These were the brightest girls in our school and could handle pretty much anything thrown at them; but after just a week, Kody had had a breakdown in her room, Lux got shouted at by a professor, Lydia and Sophie had had arguments with their professors, Charlotte and Tessa had been reprimanded for being too thorough in a paper (honestly, who's ever heard of such a thing?), and Isabelle and Shiloh had been asked to stay after class for talking in class when they hadn't even said a word; it'd been two guys behind them with really squeaky voices and no matter how much the girls denied it, the instructor would not believe them.
At the moment, Lydia was ranting to me about the misogynistic attitudes of the professors while "Shut Up" by Simple Plan rocked on when Lux and Shiloh poked their heads into my dorm room.
"Hey you two, what do you say we get away from the assbutts and go into town? It's Sunday and I want to get off base," Lux said.
"Please and thank you," Lydia responded, snatching up her purse.
I stood up and followed. "Are the others coming?"
"Yeah, they're waiting for us outside," Shiloh said. Sure enough, when the four of us exited the building, our group was waiting.
"Where's Scott?" I asked.
"He's studying. He wants to get ahead on an assignment or something," Lux explained. Something told me she didn't really believe that, but I wasn't going to say anything. Our group grabbed a few taxis that proceeded to drive us directly into the heart of town. The town itself was surprisingly small for being so close to an academy. There were four main roads in the entire area. Yeah, it's small. We all split up once there. Shiloh went off somewhere unknown to all of us. The girl literally just disappeared. Percy went off with Will and Jem to go find a joke shop. Sophie, Charlotte, Tessa, Lux, and Lydia went to go shopping. This left me and Henry to do what we wanted. Since we were hungry (we're always hungry), we went to a grab lunch.
Shiloh
I entered a quaint little coffee shop situated on a side road connecting two of the main streets together. The place was crowded but not unbearably so. I got in line to order my drink and thanked my mother silently for teaching me how to read and speak Belkan because everything on the menu was in Belkan. I decided to go with an orange/strawberry smoothie because those things are my freaking downfall next to Cake Batter Ice Cream from Ben & Jerry's and bacon-wrapped dates (and I mean the fruit, not guys. That would just be weird…).
When I received my drink, I turned around to head out. I nearly spilled my drink all over an extremely handsome air force man. He put steadying hands on my shoulders and said, "Ich habe Sie."
I got you is what he said. I smiled sheepishly and replied, "Danke."
"You're not from around here are you?" he laughed, suddenly speaking perfect English. He had a slight lilt when he spoke English, but only because English was my first language did I recognize it as coming from a native-Belkan speaker.
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"You're too nice. Plus I've never seen you around here before and I come here every day."
"Got it. I didn't mean to crash into you."
"I'm not complaining. I get to talk to a pretty girl. What's your name?"
"Shiloh Davenport. And you?"
"Axel Bernitz. Would you like to have lunch with a poor man all by his lonesome? It'll be on me." Axel winked at me.
I knew I shouldn't have lunch with him. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out. But he seemed so nice! He didn't seem at all like the stories I'd heard about his father. Giving Axel the benefit of the doubt, I agreed to have lunch with the son of Grabacr One.
What do you think of Shiloh's choice? What do you think is going on with Lux's boyfriend? What do you think the girls are going to do to prove themselves to their instructors? You'll have to keep reading to find out. Review! :)