A Long Way From Home

Chapter Seventeen: Faraday

          Friday. Finally, Friday. Usually always a blessing in a student's life, but I never expected I would be so relieved for a Friday after the first week of classes at the Galaxy Garrison, my literal dream school. I opened the door to my room and dropped my backpack with a booming thud beside my desk.

         "That got rocks in it or something?" Faith asked. She had headphones wrapped around her neck, and I could hear the music from the door. It sounded like Chet Baker, but I couldn't really tell.

           "I wish." I grabbed my hoodie off the back of my chair and threw it on. "Did you amp up the AC in here?"

           "Yeah, I was doing some Yoga in here earlier and I didn't feel like dying."

         "There's a yoga studio down by the gym you know." The swivel chair sank and spun as I plopped down into it.

        "Trying to kick me out of the room huh?" she joked. Fresh red nail polish sparkled on her hands, and she blew on them between each sentence. "I know there is, I just don't really feel comfortable joining the classes or anything yet. I'd rather get to know the people first before I shove my ass in their face."

        I laughed. "You and me both."

         "So, done with our first week, huh? Feels pretty good." Faith started to climb over the side of her bunk. "It doesn't really feel real yet."

         "Ha, speak for yourself." The stack of textbooks from my backpack ruined the pristinely empty surface of my desk.

        "Ew."

        "Yeah, ew." I grabbed a highlighter from my bag's side pocket. "Apparently you need to read to be an engineer. Who knew?"

        "Gross."

        "I'd literally rather be covered in motor oil than have to read more than one chapter of any of these books." I let my forehead fall onto the cover of the first book: Spatial Space; An Introduction to Intergalactic Dimensions. So dumb.

        Faith made a 'blech' noise. "This stuff looks so boring."

        "I mean, it's not that boring, it's just so much reading!" I lifted my head and wiped the spot on the textbook cover. "They offered electronic copies of all the books too, but can you imagine trying to do all this reading on the screen? You'd lose your eyes!"

        "I mean I just wouldn't even do it. Do you even have to answer questions for it?"

        "We don't have questions, but if I don't do this stuff it means I'll be the death of my crew." The brand-new glossy cover crackles as I opened to the first page. "I mean, you're studying navigation and communications right? That's pretty easy to make up on the spot."

        "Yeah right. Do you even know the Phonetic Alphabet?"

        "Do you?" I didn't look away from the first page. Hell, I didn't even look away from the first sentence. I read it over and over and over again.

        "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot,"

        "Golf, Hotel, India, and Juliet," Matt said as he stepped through the door. "What are you ladies up to?"

        I pointed down at the textbook, still trying to comprehend the first sentence.

        "Yeesh, rough life huh?" Matt set his bag down on my bed and sat down in Faith's chair.

        "You have to do the same stuff," I mumbled. The back of my highlighter pressed into the corner of my mouth, and soon enough it would turn into my mid-study session snack.