Avalanche

| the classes |

The first week went by in a blur.

Our schedules were jam packed with classes and missions, and everyone felt overwhelmed with the amount of information being thrown at them.

But it was all worth it to fly.

I loved flying. But I loved flying fast.

I had a need for speed; but more importantly the need to save lives.

But it felt so good to be going hundreds of miles an hour.

I was cocky. I'll admit it, but I always felt like it was more I was confident about my abilities. I was amazing at what I did.

And that have me a big head sometimes.

And as the Admiral's daughter, I had to walk a thin line.

Confident enough to do the job, but not overly so to piss off my instructors, especially if they thought I was a pampered princess because of my father.

I wasn't.

I could just go do my job with minimal casualties, and maximum effort. And I knew it.

The instructors and my classmates knew it too when I won every mission or practice round we did, or answered questions in class.

I was at the top of my game.

And as the first week ended, we thanked our lucky starts for a break. Together, Phoenix and I decided to take Hangman's offer to party at the Hard Deck.

I don't know how well it would go down after our little "talk," then him ignoring me for the rest of the day, and practically for the rest of the week.

Looks like he wasn't comfortable with second place.

Now we just acknowledged each other as competition.

Maybe I should've been a little nicer to the guy who stopped me from tripping.

If he wasn't so cocky.

❅

The Hard Deck.

It was my first time being here, but this bar looked like it had been here since the Vietnam War. It was quaint, there was still a jukebox in the corner, and the walls were covered in pictures from the graduating classes.

Everyone from our class was there, and then some.

I kept making eye contact with Hangman, we would both stare when the other wasn't looking, but always ended up getting caught.

It made me feel uneasy.

But he had really pretty blue eyes.

"Phoenix, I'm getting drinks." I said to avoid our constant eye contact.

"Bring some back for me!" She said, digging for a quarter in her purse to play a new song on the jukebox. 

I sauntered over to the bar, ready to order.

But when the barmaid looked so familiar, I couldn't help but asking her name. "What's your name?"

The brunette smiled, "I'm Penny, and you are?"

Usually, I would never talk to people unless I had to, but there was a type of charm that drew me in. "I'm Zoe. So, how did you get into the fightertown scene?" I inquired.