Stealing Icarus - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

    Nithya’s POV:

Three alarms go off at once, and my roommates and I give a simultaneous groan. I spot my phone on the bedside table and throw my blanket off my body. I instantly regret that for all the heat went away and a rush of cold air hit me. I shiver and grab my phone. I then turn off the alarm and set it back on the table, blue case facing up. One alarm down, two more to go. I honestly don’t know why we all have alarms on our phones. Lauren, my roommate, finds her’s and Auri’s, another roommate's, phone and turns the alarm off. 

I let out a sigh as the noise went away and checked the time. 6:02, the digital clock on the wall reads. I exchange a look with my roommates and suddenly we all pile into the bathroom and try to finish brushing our teeth as fast as we can, because the first person who finishes, gets to shower first and use up all the hot water. I finish brushing first, I throw my brush into the cup and grab my towel. I feel a tug and suddenly tumble onto the cold tile floor. Lauren pushed me! I swear we were animals once it came to the shower. 

I got back up and ran towards the shower, but I was too late. Lauren had already closed the bathroom door. 

‘Cheater!’ I yell. 

‘All’s fair in hot water and soap, Nithya.’ she sings from the bathroom. I cross my arms and sigh. I guess I have to shower in cold water. This is why all of our alarms go off so early. I put the towel back on the rack, and flop down on my bed. I take my phone and unlock it using eye recognition. 

I sit up and go to calls. I look for my mother’s name among the various missed calls, but I don’t find it. She hasn’t called for the past five years, ever since I signed up to go to Magellan Academy, why would my graduation day be any different? She didn’t approve of her only daughter going into space after all. Well, if I got drafted into the Alpha squad, then at least she would see my name on the news. Maybe then she’ll call. Maybe. 

I get a notification from messages and my heart jumps when I see the sender, my older brother. Despite my mother’s hatred towards Magellan Academy, my brother, Aarav, calls me every week to check-in. I click on the notification and it takes me to our messages. 

‘Good luck Nith! Happy Graduation Day, I wish I was there!’ the text message reads. I send a few heart emojis back and say, ‘Thanks!’ 

I turn off my phone and hear the shower turning off. I quickly grab my towel and stand in front of the shower door. Lauren opens it after a minute, dressed in a small floral dress, and a cardigan with a test tube on it. Everyone will be dressed in their finest today since the graduation would be taped and put on the news.

 Every group had symbols. Scientists had a test tube, like Lauren, Mechanics had a hammer, Magic researchers had a sparkly emblem, combat specialists had a gun, pilots had a spaceship, like me, hackers had a computer, also me and squad leaders had a wolf. 

I grab a hair clip and walk into the bathroom. I turn the water on, and surprisingly it isn’t that cold. While the water warms up, I go into my closet. I grab a white dress, embroidered with gold outlines and it has a gold pilot symbol on my left shoulder and a gold hacker symbol on my right. I throw the dress on the door handle and step into the shower. 

………………………………. 

I let my hair tumble down my shoulders, but make sure that my emblems are still visible, and I take the golden necklace, with a bird in flight charm, that my brother gave me before I left. With a gulp, I fasten it around my neck and it rests nicely in the space between my collarbone. Aarav told me to only wear it on my graduation day, as a token of gold luck. He said that if he couldn’t be there, then at least the bird was. 

Speaking of graduation, that started in forty minutes. I grabbed my contacts and slipped them in my eyes carefully. I had glasses, but I only used them when I was in my dorm. My mother said they made me look like a doctor. Which she wanted me to become. A doctor or scientist. Neither of those worked out. I couldn’t stand the sight of organs, and with the help of my lab partner Scarlet, we almost blew up the chemistry lab during science. 

Ever since I was a little kid, I had dreamed of flying in space, and today if I get drafted into any of the three squads, my dreams would come true. 

There were three squads that the graduates could get drafted into. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha was the best but I just hoped to get drafted into at least one. 

A loud grumble brought me out of my thoughts. It was Auri, clutching her stomach with a sheepish smile. 

‘Well if we’re all ready then, can we go to the cafeteria?’ Lauren asks. 

‘I could use some pancakes,’ I say slyly. They always served pancakes on Friday. 

I slip on a pair of socks and place my feet into my black sneakers. While the others wear their own shoes, I look around our dorm room. I’ve lived with Lauren and Auri in this room for the past five years. They are the closest things I had to sisters. I look at the walls, covered in pictures. There was a picture of when we first met, hanging over my bed, and a picture of all of us eating ice cream over Auri’s. A wave of sadness comes over me. If any of us get drafted, then there is a high chance we might never see each other again. I gulp and look at them. Lauren with her long blond hair. She’s scary but actually really nice, and Auri with her short brown hair. Auri is the kindest person I have ever met. 

Suddenly, Lauren tosses me my key and it lands in my hand. I input it into the keyhole and twist until I hear a little click. I open the door and we all walk towards the cafeteria. 

I see our chef Gabby and give her a smile and a wave. She smiles back at us and sneaks an extra pancake onto our plates. 

‘Good luck girls!’ Gabby says with a smile. 

‘Thanks!’ we all chorus. We walk towards our circular table and set down our plates and drinks. I sit down and unscrew my bottle of orange juice. Right before I lift it towards my mouth, I pause. Considering that I have the worst luck ever, there’s a 99.9% that I will spill this all over my dress, and I don’t have the time to go back and change. 

I steal a napkin from Lauren’s plate, earning me a glare, and I tuck in under the dress, creating a napkin bib. Now I can drink my orange juice. We eat in silence for a few minutes, before Auri starts gushing about the date she had last night. We start to tease her and she glares. Then everyone in the cafeteria gets a ping on their phone. I look at it. It says that graduation starts in 20 minutes and that we can get the best seats if we get there fast. We start eating faster because we need to get front row seats. The whole Academy attends the graduation, all 600 students, and staff. 

Once we finish eating, we run towards the auditorium where our graduation caps and gowns are located. Since we got here early, we were able to get gowns in our sizes. Last year, Jessica Stevens tripped and fell in her gown because she had to wear one, two sizes big. 

I shrug the gown on and fasten the clip. Then I put the cap on over my head, and the tassel starts to swing into my eye. Once we finish, Auri comes over and we take a whole bunch of selfies of us in our graduation finery. I send a picture of Auri, Lauren, and I smiling, to Aarav. Not a second goes by before I get a FaceTime call notification from my brother. I accept the call and my brother’s face pops in. He’s smiling and the tv is running behind him. 

‘Congrats Nith! My baby sister is going to be a pilot in the Alpha squad! She’s going to forget all about me.’ he says while wiping a fake tear. 

‘I haven’t been drafted yet, Aarav.’

‘Oh hush, you’ve been working too hard to not be drafted into Alpha.’ I couldn’t contain my smile after he said that. 

Then my friends noticed that I was on the phone and naturally they came over to say hi to Aarav. 

‘Hey Lauren, hey Auri! Take care of my sister ok? I don’t think she can tie her shoes without falling over, how is she going to fly a ship?’ 

‘Okay, bye Aarav.’ I say, annoyed. 

He gives me a grin and says,

‘I’ll be watching you on the news, Nithya! Good luck!’ I smile and he cuts the call. Suddenly, all the nerves that were hiding came crashing down. What if I wasn’t drafted? What if all my hard work over the years wasn’t enough. What if-, Auri, sensing my inner turmoil, set a hand on my shoulder and gave me a smile. Auri was a hacker as well. She had the symbol tattooed on her hand. 

We went and found seats in the front row. I was sitting in the middle of Auri and Lauren when Principal Williams walked in. She was wearing a robe with all seven of the emblems on it. Behind here, came in Nathaniel Brooks, Martha Stellar, and Finn Walker. Nathaniel was the Alpha squad leader, Martha was Beta, and Finn was Gamma. I bit my lip and waited for the stadium to fill up with chattering students. 

Finally, the auditorium was full, the news reporters were here, and my breakfast was threatening to come out. Principal Williams took the mic and started droning on and on about this year’s graduates, and then finally she handed the mic to Nathaniel Brooks for the draft results. 

Auri squeezed my hand in hers and we waited as he read the names off in alphabetical order. 

‘This year’s graduates that are getting drafted into Alpha Squad are all very talented! Our Combat Specialist is Jay Skyborn!’ 

Cheers rose up as Jay ran down the stairs. He had dark hair with orange streaks. 

‘Our Magician is Lucia Romano!’ More cheers.

‘Alpha Squad mechanic is Monsieur Jerry!’ Oh, I heard of that guy. Apparently, he was the best mechanic in Magellan Academy history. Let’s hope he lives up to the reputation.

‘Our Pilot and our second hacker is Nithya Grey!’ Auri and Lauren screamed and pushed me to my feet. It took a moment to process it. I was getting drafted!! With an idiotic smile on my face, I ran up to Nathaniel Brooks and stood next to Lucia. Victory was swelling inside of me and literally could not stop smiling. I imagined my brother watching this life from our small house in Serna (our city). 

‘Our main hacker and strategist  is Rani Rajkumar!’ I know her! She was in my economics class! She bounded down the stairs, her long hair behind her, and her silver anklets jingling. 

‘Our resident scientist is Scarlet Cruz!’ My lab partner! She walked down the stairs and stood next to me. We fist-bumped and waited for the last squad member. 

‘Last but not least, our copilot and second scientist is Shravya Collins!’ She was sitting next to Auri and her roommates cheered as she stood beside Scarlet. 

‘Our Alpha Squad everyone!’ Cheers and hollers went through the auditorium as our squad all lifted our right hand in a salute. 

Nathaniel ushered us into a room next to the auditorium and said, ‘Hello everyone! I’m Nate! We’re the Alpha Squad!’ 

Introductions went around the circle and suddenly we all got a ping. I click the notification and I read it out loud with disbelief. 

‘We have to steal a star?’