What She's Worth (Reylo)

Chapter 24

"Ben, come on. Where are you taking me?"

"I told you, it's a surprise." Ben continued to pull Rey along with him, careful to check every corner of the academy grounds before bolting it for the gate. It was still quite dark, if not a bit chilly, the planet's sun not even in the horizon, but one can never be too careful. The school had eyes and ears, and even though they both used Force Stealth, there was still the matter of them sneaking out of the academy wearing conspicuously casual clothes and lugging around backpacks. If the other padawans saw them, they might think they were running away together...

Ben shook his head inwardly. He must really lack sleep. Or maybe he was still reeling from Rey and Kreio's conversation in the training room a few days back, even if Rey had only gone along with the boy's suggestion that she was in love with him.

Still, he didn't relax until they had gone around the high stone walls surrounding the academy and walked towards two large structures covered in tan tarps which matched the color of the wastes around them. One of the structures was clearly the white shuttle the academy always used during excursions such as Rey and her class's trip to Coruscant and Ben and his fellow initiates' cross-galaxy travel for their trials.

Rey tugged at Ben's hand. "Ben, what exactly are we doing here?"

He grinned at her. "We'll be flying out of the planet."

She let go of his hand, and Ben turned to see that she had stopped in her tracks, mouth agape and eyes wide. "F-Flying out? In the academy's shuttle?"

"No, that one's garbage." Ben waved a hand in dismissal of the white ship and held out his hand to the other structure under a tarp. "We'll be flying out in this."

One wave of the hand with the use of the Force took down the tarp, revealing the familiar triangular shape of a black starfighter with orange highlights.

Rey gasped. "That's the academy's Tandem X-Wing Fighter!"

"Yup!" Ben pulled down the X-Wing's ladder which led to the two-man cockpit. "The very one you'll be using for Jedi Piloting Lessons in a year or so."

"And your uncle's letting you borrow it?" Rey pursued.

"Uh...yeah."

"Ben."

"Without permission." Ben clarified with an impish grin. "I'm borrowing it without permission but fully intend on returning it. Besides, he won't be back for a week. He won't find out."

Rey folded her arms, clearly not amused. "Ben, I don't want you to get into trouble for this."

"What if I tell you..." he reached into his backpack and took out a helmet, "...that you get to pilot it?"

Ben could have laughed at the way Rey's face twitched as she tried her hardest not to smile, but he held himself together until he finally burst out laughing when she grabbed the helmet and put it on.

After putting on his own helmet, he helped her up the ladder's steps before climbing to the seat behind hers, cloaking the ship with the Force to avoid detection.

He saw Rey put on her seatbelts and grab the controls of the inert ship, turning it every which way as if she was dodging asteroids. Her excitement was infectious, and even when she voiced out her doubts, Ben's own excitement refused to wane. "You sure you want me to do this, Ben? I've never flown a real starfighter before."

"You got perfect scores in the sim. I'm sure you'll do fine." He reached out to pat her on the shoulder. "I trust you."

Rey's laugh was shaky. "Yeah, sure, no pressure."