Eternal - Iceman (Top Gun)

Two

First day of flight school.

"Wow!" Danielle exclaimed as she drove into the parking lot of the vast flight academy. The school was located in Atlanta, Georgia, a couple hours away from where she was from. She parked the car and got out, taking in the scenery. Behind the main building, a plane took off and her heart started pounding with adrenaline.

"Hey, you!" Tom came up behind her and tapped on her shoulder. She turned around and squealed with delight.

"Tom! You made it!" She hugged him and he returned the hug, holding on until she let go. "We should go and check in."

Apologies, I don't know much about flight school!

They proceeded inside the building where they were met with a check-in desk. After filling out all of the necessary boxes, they met with a pilot who showed them around campus. Finally, they were given their uniforms.

Danielle was overjoyed and took in everything. Tom was happy too, and was glad to know that Danielle was interested in becoming a pilot. They took their uniforms and went back to their cars. While enrolling in flight school, both of them agreed to share an apartment together. Tom began to drive and Danielle followed him.

Inside the apartment, there was a cozy couch, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. Tom chose the left one while Danielle chose the right. They unpacked their bags while talking about nothing interesting in particular. They quickly changed into their uniforms then drove back to campus.

"We should go and meet the other pilots!" Danielle suggested to Tom. He nodded and she led the way to the game room, where a couple of people were already there. The occupants looked up and froze as soon as they saw Danielle.

"You're... training to be a pilot?" One of the men asked her. He started to laugh.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" She asked him, looking him up and down.

"I've never seen... a female... in training... before!" He said in between laughs. Tom had enough. He walked over to the man and slammed his hands down on the pool table.

"Listen kid, she is training to be a pilot and you are going to have to deal with it. Okay?" He said in a rough voice. The other pilot nodded and walked away, his eyes wide in surprise.

So much for making a good first impression... Danielle thought to herself. Another man walked up to her and offered his hand.

"Hey, I'm Drake. What's your name?" He said in a friendly voice.

"I'm Danielle." She shook his hand firmly. He smiled at her and introduced himself to Tom.

"Hey, don't mind Tony. He is a little rough around the edges." Drake whispered to her. She nodded and smiled at him.

"It's okay, I get that a lot." She said in a sad tone. "I've got Tom here, and he is a really good friend."

Tom bowed in mock thankfulness and she laughed. Drake introduced her to the other pilots, each one having a unique background. She had read up on call signs, and learned that 1. You pick your callsign and hope your buddies like it, or 2. Your buddies pick it for you, and it is usually from an embarrassing moment. She crossed her fingers that she gets a good one, since she had already been humiliated and it hadn't even been a day yet.

Night had soon fallen and Danielle and Tom bid the other men goodbye. They drove to their apartment and sat on the couch.

"Well, that was some first day, don't you think?" Tom asked her.

"Yeah. Sure." She crossed her arms, thinking of Tony.

"Oh, don't worry. I think I scared him enough to not mess with you." Tom smiled at her and she laughed.

"You always know how to make me feel better..." She curled up into a ball on the couch and fell asleep. Hopefully, things could only go up from here.

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