“Not exactly,” Fort told him as they both set their trays down. “I’ll explain later.” He turned to Jia and Rachel, who were both giving him questioning looks with varying levels of annoyance. “Colonel Charles assigned me to Gabriel, since he’s new. Not only are we roommates, but we’re going to be hanging out pretty much all the time, including at meals.” He let his long stare illustrate exactly what he thought about that. “And I’m going to be tutoring him too. You know, just like how all new students are given tutors?”

“None of this was my idea,” Gabriel said, starting in on his meal. “Including those soldiers making me sit with you all, so I’m sorry about that. Just pretend I’m not here.”

Rachel gave Fort a pointed look that said everything he was already thinking, but Jia tried to change the subject. “If you remember, Fort, you got some tutoring when you first came to the Oppenheimer School,” she said. “Not that you needed it, since you had your… friend.”

“Let’s not bring her up again,” Fort said, hoping Jia picked up on the fact that Sierra as a topic was way off limits. “I got enough of her at the other school.”

“Did you?” Sierra said, sitting down in an empty spot at the table. At Fort’s surprised look, she gave him one back. “What? It’s a long ride to the airport, and I’m not even sure we’ll get on this flight, so I told Damian to wake me when we’re there. I want to make sure I know everything that’s happening too.”

“Anyway, I know we all had plans for tonight,” Fort said. “But I wouldn’t want to abandon my new roommate, so let’s maybe talk about those later.”

“Later?” Cyrus said. “But tonight’s the only—”

“The only night we won’t be tired from classes,” Jia quickly interrupted.

“No, that’s not what I was going to say.” Cyrus looked confused. “Are we really not going through with the plan? Because I still see us—”

“Having fun anyway?” Fort said. “I’m sure we will! Let’s all talk to Gabriel now, so he doesn’t feel left out.”

Gabriel, though, hadn’t looked up from his food since he’d sat down. “Eh,” he said, shrugging slightly. “I say go through with this plan of yours. Like I said, don’t worry about me. Sounds like you’re breaking rules, and I’m all for it.”

“Oh, we are,” Cyrus said. “Almost all of them.”

Jia snorted water out of her nose, and Rachel quickly jumped in. “He’s kidding,” she said, handing Jia her napkin. “He thinks it’s funny to make things up like that, don’t you, Cyrus?”

“Do I?” Cyrus asked, looking even more confused now. “I’m not sure I know what’s going on here.”