quiet, but notably didn’t give his usual obsequious “Yes, sir!”
The holograms switched off, and Cobb walked over to my seat. “You’re dead.”
“I won anyway,” I said.
“It’s a tactic that would be useless in a real fight,” Cobb said. “You don’t get to take home points if you’re dead.”
I shrugged. “You set the rules, Cobb. Ten points for me, nine for Jerkface. It isn’t my fault that he doesn’t get to try for the last few points.”
“Yes it is!” Jerkface said, standing up out of his cockpit. “It absolutely is your fault!”
“Enough, son,” Cobb said. “It’s not worth getting worked up over this. You lost. It happens.” He glanced at me. “Though I guess I’ll be wanting to change the rules of that game.”
I stood up, grinning.
“Five-minute break,” Cobb said. “Everyone cool down and don’t strangle one another. That causes too much damn paperwork.” He hobbled over to the door and stepped out, perhaps to fetch his midday coffee.
Kimmalyn ran over to my seat, her dark curls bouncing. “Spin, that was wonderful!”
“What does the Saint say about games?” I asked.
“ ‘You can’t win if you don’t play,’ ” Kimmalyn said.
“Obviously.”
“Obviously!” She grinned again. Bim walked by and gave me a thumbs-up. Over his shoulder, I saw Jerkface glaring at me with unmitigated hostility as Arturo and Nedd tried to calm him down.
“Don’t worry, Jorg,” Nedd said. “You still beat Arturo.”
“Thank you very much. Nedd,” Arturo snapped.
Kimmalyn left the classroom to get something to drink, and I settled into my seat and dug one of my canteens out of my pack. I made sure to refill all three each day at the bathroom.
“So,” Bim said, leaning against my hologram projector, “you’re really into warriors and things, eh?”
“They inspire me,” I said. “My grandmother tells stories about ancient heroes.”
“You have any favorites?”
“Probably Beowulf,” I said, then took a long pull of water from the canteen. “He literally slew a dragon, and ripped the arm off a monster—he had to resort to his bare hands after his sword wouldn’t cut the thing. But then there’s Tashenamani—she slew the great warrior Custer—and Conan the Cimmerian, who fought in the ancient times before writing.”
“Yeah, they were great,” Bim said, and winked. “I mean . . . I hadn’t heard of them until now. But I’m sure they were great. Er. I’m thirsty.”
He blushed and walked off, leaving me confused. What was . . .
He was . . . he was flirting with me. I realized, stunned. Or, well, trying to.
Was that possible? I mean, he was actually cute, so why would he . . .
I looked at him again, and caught him in the middle of what seemed like a blush. Scud! That was the strangest thing that had happened to me since starting flight school, and I spent my mornings talking to a slug.
I thought about guys, but my life hadn’t exactly left me time for that kind of thing. The last time I’d had any romantic inclinations had been when I’d been eight and had given Rig a particularly nice hatchet I’d made out of a rock and a stick—then had decided he was gross the next week. Because, well, I’d been eight.
I jumped to my feet. “Uh, Bim?” I said.
He looked at me again.
“You ever heard of Odysseus?”
“No,” he said.
“He was an ancient hero who fought in the greatest war that ever happened on Earth, the Trojan War. It’s said he had a bow so strong that, other than him, only a giant could pull the string back. He . . . had blue hair, you know.”
“Yeah?” Bim asked.
“Pretty cool,” I said, then immediately sat down, taking a long gulp from my canteen.
Was that smooth? That was smooth, right?
I wasn’t sure what Sun Tzu or Beowulf would say about flirting with cute guys. Maybe share the skulls of your enemies with them, as a gesture of affection?
I felt kind of warm and gooey (in a good way) until I spotted Jerkface—across the room—watching me. I gave him a hard glare.
He, pointedly, turned to Nedd and Arturo. “I guess we shouldn’t expect real honor,” he said, “from the daughter of Zeen Nightshade.”
A bolt of coldness shot through me.
“Who?” Nedd asked. “Wait, who did you say she was?”
“You know,” Jerkface said, voice loud enough to carry through the entire room. “Callsign: Chaser? The Coward of Alta?”
The room went quiet. I could feel everyone’s eyes turning toward me. How had he found out? Who had told him?
I stood up. Scud, even Kimmalyn seemed to know who