“That doesn’t seem to matter,” she said as Callaway ushered us over to the part of the room that had ten simulation chairs set up. Unlike the chairs at the Academy, which were always in a room all by themselves, these chairs were set up in pairs with one joint recap screen directly in front of the set. Each partner group quickly sat down, buckled themselves in, and began attaching their probes to their foreheads, arms, and legs. Not wanting to be left behind, I hurried forward and jumped into the open set of chairs on the far right. I was halfway through attaching my probes when I realized that Regan had jumped into one of the chairs in the empty set on the left. The other kids smiled, some even laughing outright when they noticed, and I felt a hot wave of embarrassment wash over me for the second time in five minutes. The giggles alerted Regan, and she looked up in surprise. Spotting me across the way, she groaned.

“Get over here,” she said through gritted teeth.

“I’m practically done getting set up,” I said. “You come over here.” Instead of arguing back, Regan straight-up ignored me and continued attaching her simulation probes. I sat in my chair for another second, fuming, before deciding that it wasn’t worth the battle on our first day here.

“Way to make us look like morons,” I muttered under my breath as I took the empty seat next to hers.

“Not my fault you got in the wrong chair,” Regan said. Before I could respond, Callaway was standing in front of the simulation chairs.

“Ready?” he asked, and I shot my hand into the air.

“Yes, Elliot?” he said, and I almost jumped at the use of my first name. At the Academy I was always Cadet Mason. Here I was Elliot. It was going to take some getting used to.

Noticing my expression, Callaway flashed what I was beginning to think of as his signature smile. “We do things a little differently here. Our staff and student group in the mountain is so small that the formality of the Academy felt out of place, so we have all relaxed a bit.”

“Nice,” Regan said, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I never rolled my eyes in front of professors. I was respectful and followed the rules and protocols to a fault. It was part of my identity, and I felt an uncomfortable tug at Callaway’s words.

“Cadet Fitz and I haven’t had time to study for this simulation,” I said, shoving the feeling aside. The other kids laughed like I’d told some kind of a joke, and I felt my face burn red.