Journey Of The New Earth

11

<Philip's pov>

I woke up to Jackson standing in my doorway, just eating cereal. No reason, I even asked him and he just shrugged, turning around to walk towards his room. Mom said that If I wanted to actually go up to space for the mission in three months I needed to go to the classes. So today will be my first day. Not surprisingly Dad was already gone this morning. Probably had some kinda meeting. I ate my toast, skipping out on the eggs as I heard Jackson coming down the stairs. I grab my bag, running out the door.

The halls are full of cadets, a small path forming as I walk through, only a few people to move around. One or two new guys called out 'Jackson!' as I passed by. I hate this place. Mom wants me to stay just so she doesn't have to deal with driving me somewhere for school. Not like I couldn't just drive myself. Like a police officer is gonna pull a Griffin over.

I get in the classroom, looking around to see people talking at desks, or reading some sort of text book. Some beginning Rocket Science textbook, one I've probably read a million times. This class just keeps getting better and Better.

My eyes spot Kitty at the back of the class, a sigh of relief washes over me as I take the seat next to her. She has bags under her eyes and the little bit of glow that's let in her cheeks is from her highlight. Her eyes are closed behind the text book she's propped up, which I am happy to close after tapping her nose. 

She shakes awake, taking a minute to look around and finally see me. "Oh, Phil, hey. Liv told me you were gonna be in my class. Thought she was kidding." She smirks, yawning as she slouches back in her chair.

"Mom's just making me take the class before I go up in a few months. You know, just to make sure the seventh times the charm." I can tell she's just exhausted, something must have happened at home. "Uh, so, what have I missed so far?" 

She rolled her eyes, tapping on the book. "Chapter 6, nothing more. We should be moving faster than this, but that brother of yours is doing everything to stop us from learning. Oh, and, don't act like you haven't taken this class before. It's Holt as our teacher." I groan a little, knowing this class just got three times as bad.

I knew it was probably her, I mean, we are using real text books, who does that anymore. Waste of paper if you ask me. "Great, another reason to skip out on this class. You wanna come with?" I know she's probably gonna say no, her Dad's strict unlike mine. You know, has rules.

She was hesitant, like she even had to think of her answer. "You know what, sure, lets do this." I blinde for second as she started to pack her bag. 

"Wait, you're serious?" I watch her grab my bag as well, ready to go out that classroom door. "What about your dad?" I ask as we start walking down the white washed walls.

"Eh, who cares? Can't stand that class for another three hours, let alone three hours and a study hall. Lets get out of here before we get caught." I watch as she crutched at the corner of the hallway. Slowly peeking around the corner.

I roll my eyes, walking around the corner, waving at the tech guy walking through. I heard a little gasp as he passed Kitty, Kitty slowly coming out from behind her corner. "Katherine, you my dear, are going to love skipping class more than Zeus loved banging women." I watch as her face sours into a scowl, and I quickly laugh it off as we both start walking again. "K, rule number one, no peeking behind corners. People on think your suspicious is you look suspicious. if you just look like you're walking off to the mess hall, or maybe you're gonna report to your officer, people just leave you be. Rule number two, no gasping. Gasping makes you look guilty, and you are not guilty, you hear me? You earned this free time whether you like it or not!" I grab her shoulders as I push her towards the main elevator. "Rule number three, the elevator is our biggest friend. If you need to hide, this is the best place. Someone tries to get on, look at the floor they re on and hit the one opposite of it, say they hit floor two, you go up to floor eight. Floor 1, you go up to floor nine. Down to any of the basement levels, roof top, for sure. The other elevator will always get there first." I look back at her as I get in, holding my hand out. "Mi-lady?" 

She scuffs, getting in next to me as I hit the roof top. The ride is slow, drawn out even. "My dad's home for the next week on rest leave. Not allowed to parent for the next three days, so as long as my Papa didn't bring any Sandals with him, I'm in the clear." She sighs, leaning back and I let my arm go around her shoulders.

"Welcome to my world young one. Now remember, your parents may act like you don't exist, it is okay, this is normal for idiot human beings." That gets her to laugh as a ding goes off. The doors open up and we both look out over the tan Arizona landscape. Little tuffs of grass popped up in different places. I point out to a large ridge, and squint to see the same thing as always. "If you squint you can see the senior cadets racing out there. They do it everyday before and after classes."

Her eyes sparkle slightly as she squints out into the distance. "Then that is where we are going!" I look back at her like she's mad, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I don't think so. Those guys could literally kill us." She smile, looking back at me as she started for the fire escape.

"Hey, it's like you said. No one can catch you if you don't act suspicious!"