So this is a fic that's been bouncing around in my head for a while. So yeah all fiction, I own nothing. If I did Bering and Wells would be canon. All the way. Thankyou for reading!

-Bo

Myka didn't think she'd ever seen so many people in one place before in her entire life.

Granted, that was only fourteen years of living. But as she took in the hundreds of people scattered about the academy lawns, she could feel this buzzing, this feeling working its way from her bones to her flesh, causing her skin to quiver and a wide grin to break out on her face. Returning students in uniform mingled with new, fresh-faced students and staff alike, and as she watched, younger siblings ran to and fro in the summer sunlight.

"Don't look too excited. People might think you're a newbie here kid."

Her fathers gruff voice muttered near her ear, but for once, Myka found herself uncaring of the snide comment passing through his lips. Today she stood on the green lawn, knowing that she was good enough to make the student body of the first year intake. The prestigious Caelum Academy only took one hundred students each year, only the best and the brightest for a future in space. Today, no matter what her father said, he wouldn't bring her good mood down.

"Dad." Tracy hissed at her father. "Enough. Don't spoil her day."

"Eh, I've seen enough. I'm gonna get going."

Myka ripped her gaze from the grand facade of the main building to see her father already limping away, muttering darkly about planets and aliens under his breath. Their mother turned to their youngest daughter with a harried smile. "Now your bags are already on their way to your dorm. Have fun sweetie." and with a light press of her lips to Mykas forehead, she too was gone, hurrying after her father.

The two sisters turned to one another. "They hate me, don't they?" Myka asked, and Tracy gave her a sad smile before enveloping her in a hug. Myka stilled, never once had signs of affection been prevalent in her family. It was just the way they were. But Tracy held on and Myka found herself gradually returning the gesture, gripping the back of her sisters shirt tightly and fighting back tears she had thought she wouldn't shed.

"You do good Myka." Tracys' voice was muffled by her shirt, but Myka could swear she could hear tears in her older sisters voice. "Real good. Don't worry about anyone else okay? You make yourself proud." They pulled apart slowly, reluctantly and both gave little laughs at the unshed tears they saw. Tracy opened her mouth once more as though to speak before shutting it. Like her mother had before her, she pressed a light kiss to Mykas forehead then turned and was swallowed up by the crowd.

.

If she thought the front of the main building was impressive, the inside was a masterpiece. The two story building housed the main auditorium, several lecture halls, two simulation rooms, numerous teachers offices and the mess hall in the back where it opened up onto the rest of the sprawling campus. Carpeted floor underfoot muffled the noise of many people walking back and forth, some out onto the main lawn, others out the rest of the academy.

She walked, no real destination in mind. Really, she was just ambling about, killing time until the first year introduction in the auditorium. But as she made her way through the halls, she was watching as well. Keen green eyes scanned all, picking apart new students from families. Finding my new classmates, she told herself resolutely and although she had told herself she was fine, perfectly capable by herself, it didn't stop the pang of longing that shot through her chest when she saw happy, wholesome families gathered about here and there.

She was walking along through the building, gaping at the large glass walkways that crossed from wall to wall across their heads when she saw her.

A student just like her, Myka noted, taking in the uniform she wore. Black blazer and skirt with blue accents on her jacket shoulders, collar and sleeves, making her a third year student at the academy. She was waiting, it seemed, leaning against the handrails and looking down through the glass lazily at the swarm of teachers, officers, families and students; new and old who were milling about. Their eyes met and she smiled before shifting her body to raise her hand slightly and wave. Myka found herself turning around, seeking out the person who she was waving at. Surely she wasn't waving at her? Finding no one, she turned her gaze back up to the girl and pointed at her chest hesitantly.

"Me?" she mouthed.

The girl above her smiled and nodded. "Yes." was her silent reply. And Myka found herself grinning back before raising her hand to wave in return. The girl above smiled again, waving harder now. And suddenly, just like that, Myka felt her anxiety slipping away, replaced with a lighter feeling. The happier buzz she had experienced out on the lawn. The feeling that today was a perfect day.

"Name?" The girl was mouthing exaggeratedly once more and Myka found herself laughing at her facial features.

She shrugged, raising her hands in confusion, then cupped a hand around her ear. "What?" she mouthed back, grinning all the while. The girl above her laughed and threw her hands up in mock frustration. As Myka watched, her hands, which had since been lowered, were moving rapidly in a complex pattern and it took a second for her to realize that she was still speaking although her lips were unmoving.

Excitedly, she moved her hands in front of her body and spoke, watching as the girls face lit up.

What? she signed, her grin growing as the girl above her clapped once before moving her hands in reply.

Name. I asked your name.

Myka. My name is Myka.

The third year up on the walkway grinned and her hands began to move, but before she could say anything a group entered the walkway and she turned away from their silent conversation. Several officers and a teacher began to approach the girl and as Myka watched they stopped, spoke for several moments before the girl nodded and they all turned to go back the direction they had come from, the girl now tagging along at the back. Just before they vanished from sight however, the girl paused and looked down to meet Mykas' gaze once more. She waved again before saying "Goodbye" through the glass with her lips and hands, then walked away, turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

.

The alarm blared through the first year dormitory speakers, but Myka was already awake. Propped up by the pillow behind her back, she's thumbing leisurely through a novel when the wail rouses everyone else from their slumber. She had been awake for a while, long enough to shower the previous days grime from her body and pull on her new uniform. The shirt had felt weird on her skin but after sitting in bed the fabric had begun to settle comfortably on her body. In her shared room, her roommate is mumbling sleepily and attempting to bury her head further into her pillow.

"Make it stop." She whines and as Myka watches, she rolls from side to side until suddenly, she pitches too far and tumbles out of bed, blanket wrapped around her body like a cocoon.

Now she's stumbling out of bed too, book forgotten on her covers as she rushes to her roommates side. Apart from sleepy good-nights that had been uttered in passing after an exhausting first day, Myka has said nothing to the girl she's going to be sharing a room with for the next school year.

"Are you okay?" Myka asks, concern lacing her tone. It surprises her then to hear a snort of laughter, followed by a peal of giggles.

"Well that's one way to wake up." She's saying, wriggling her body to get out of the blanket. Arms free, she raises them above her head and stretches and yawns loudly. "Good morning Caelum!"

She notes Mykas perturbed look and pushes herself up onto her elbows before extending an arm. "Kelly Hernandez. We met last night, briefly."

Myka finds herself smiling and taking her darker hand in her own. "Myka Bering."

Kelly smiles and blinks owlishly a few times at her before rolling over and standing, blanket falling away to reveal rumpled bedclothes she had tiredly changed into the night before. She glances down at her sleepwear and then up to Myka. "You already awake?" She queries, taking in Mykas clean and ironed uniform already on her body.

Myka nods, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Yeah. I'm an, uh early riser." She explains. "It's kinda quiet and nice, being the only one awake in the morning." And now she is rambling, her mouth running away from her as it is wont to do in situations where she gets nervous. She can feel the blush running up her neck, coloring her cheeks and igniting the tips of her ears.

"Huh." And Kelly is looking at her a little strangely and Myka is ready to resign herself to the fact that yet another person will think she's a complete and utter wacko when she smiles widely. "You know what they say. Early bird gets the worm and all that jazz. Or something like that." And then Kelly is a flurry of movement, throwing her blanket aside and grabbing her uniform that was placed at the end of her bed, she walks past Myka and into their bathroom. The door slams shut and Myka is smiling softly and then Kelly is shouting much too loudly through the close door "And wait for me! I don't know where I'm going!" and Myka thinks that maybe Kelly's going to be an amazing roommate after all.

.

Whilst she's really come to appreciate the uniform at Caelum the sport uniform is another thing entirely.

Pulling at the hem of her shorts for what feels like the millionth time, Myka huffs when her actions give little relief for a moment before she moves and the shorts slide annoyingly back into their previous place. There is movement in the corner of her eye and she turns to find Kelly grinning at her. She smiles back and stretches out her shirt from her torso and pulls an aggravated face. Kelly muffles a giggle with her hand and Myka's smiling back and for the first time she's wondering if this is what those school friendships are like. The ones she used to see at school, with girls passing notes and laughing behind their hands and all the inside jokes they would share. Myka's not sure because she's never had a friendship like that, never really had a solid friendship ever. And then she wonders if she's jumping the metaphorical gun because she's only known Kelly for less than a day and she doesn't know if she should assume a friendship has grown between the two of them already.

And the Kelly is exaggeratedly mouthing "I know!" to her and her mind is taken from her first gym lesson to the previous day, and she is staring up at this third year girl with dark hair that falls around her face and kind smiles and silent speaking. The girl who had made Mykas bad mood vanish with the simple action of raising her hand and waving to her from the walkway.

"Lattimer! You're up!"

The shout near her ears startles her from her musings and back to the present, just in time to watch a male classmate stand before the thick floor to ceiling rope their teacher has had them scaling. He turns to face the assembled class and pulls a face before flexing his muscles and posing. A couple of people laugh and the teacher rolls his eyes and chuckles. "Yeah alright Lattimer, just climb the rope."

"Showoff." Kelly mutters beside her and Myka finds herself nodding in agreement. But she watches as he inhales deeply before reaching out to grab the rope before him. And continues to watch in amazement with the rest of the class as he scales the rope swiftly, reaching up to touch the ceiling of the gym and then slide back down to the floor as if it's child's play. "Excellent work Pete!" Their teacher is praising and he gives a mock bow before heading back into the throng of students. As he passes her, a whispered "Beat that" is hissed into her ear and she turns, shocked, only to find Lattimer standing several paces away, arms crossed over his chest and a smug grin on his face.

"Bering!"

She's scrambling forward, cursing her long gangly limbs as she pitches forward. She manages to catch herself though but she still hears sniggering behind her, one that sounds suspiciously like Lattimer. Kelly is at her side briefly "Good luck" passing through her lips before she turns to glare at their classmate. And for a brief second Myka knows that Kelly is going to be her friend.

But the elation at finding a friend here at the academy is gone as soon as she looks up at the rope. It dangles in front of her face, almost teasingly and she huffs and grits her teeth and grabs at it with one hand. Stretching the other up she heaves, muscles pulling taut as she struggles to pull her body weight up with just her arms. She's gone a bit of the way when her arms feel like they're about to give out. But then she remembers Petes' sniggering behind her back and she continues on.

Eyes up, don't look down, she reminds herself and she's at the halfway mark now, blue tape wrapped around the rope and she thinks that maybe, maybe she can make it all the way to the top when her hand slips and she falls, plummeting down and hitting the mat hard enough to drive the air from her lungs. But over the sympathetic groan of her classmates, her teachers praise of the second highest climb and Kelly's supportive applause, she can make out the sound of Pete snickering at her climb. And Myka feels her heart sink down lower than it should be in her chest at the fact that once again, she doesn't quite feel good enough.

.

Her fit of melancholy has passed and thinking back, Myka feels a little silly placing all these expectations upon herself on day one. Well, that's what Kelly had said when she'd admitted to coming in second after Pete. She had nodded in agreement and said nothing about it after that, but she knew that in her spare time that afternoon, she would be in the gym, climbing that rope until she could reach the top.

They're on their way to the mess hall, Kelly and herself, weaving in and out of other students when there's a flash of dark hair and hands and Myka's turning so fast everything becomes a blur. She barely manages to catch herself and Kelly is at her side in an instant, hand at her shoulder. It's wavering close enough to be supportive, far enough away for Myka's personal space.

"See someone?" She asking and Myka's not sure why she spun so fast or why she cares so much about meeting the girl from the day before.

"Fine." She breathes before inhaling and straightening up. "Yeah sorry just though I saw someone I knew." And that's kind of a lie because she doesn't really know the girl from the day before. Only a face and hands that can speak through glass walls.

Kelly nods. "It's fine. Just come on, I'm starving!" And she's linked hands with Mykas longer ones and then she's tugging her along. And Myka lets her because she's her friend and maybe, that's what friends do.

They're approaching a small table indoors and its' occupants are several others Myka can recognize from some of her other classes. They look up and smile as the two approach, trays in hand, and they're suddenly clearing bags away, making room for the two newcomers at their first year table.

"Hey! I remember you from gym class!"

Myka meets gazes with the speaker and smiles gently. "Uh yeah. That's me."

"Looks like a nasty fall you had." She continues, and there's no malice in her voice, rather a curious, friendly tone. She's making genuine conversation and Myka places her tray on the table before her and slides into her seat beside Kelly and another student from her Advanced History class.

"Yeah ouch man. That looked like it killed." Someone else adds, wincing in memory.

"It wasn't that bad." She finds herself admitting. "Once you get your breath back it's alright."

Someone chuckles and another replies "Well falling from halfway tends to hurt a bit." and she's laughing a little and nodding in agreement.

"Wow, what's your name? I didn't even think to ask." The boy from her history class beside her is asking and she replies with a soft "Myka. Myka Bering." He grins and raises a hand for her to shake.

"Sam Martino."

She smiles and glances around the table. Little conversations are being had here and there and she watches as someone leans across the table to steal something from a neighboring tray. There is an indignant shout and peals of laughter and black blazers with green on the collars and shoulders and Myka can feel this buzzing in her bones once more and she truly smiles.

There is a sudden hush that descends upon the table, cool and quick and Myka is just about to look for the source of it when there is a voice behind her.

"Myka." And it's simply her name, this dulcet tone ringing out and British, Myka notes before turning around in her seat to meet this person who knows her name.

It's the girl. The lovely girl who waved at you and made you feel better. The girl who spoke through the glass with you. She's smiling, shifting her bag on her shoulder and Myka's wondering just why this mysterious girl is here. She knows everyone else is thinking it too, blue accents glaringly differing from the green that adorns their blazers. She can almost hear the unspoken questions running about their minds.

Suddenly Myka realizes she's been silent almost too long and she speaks. "Oh. Oh! Hello." And she knows she's going to ramble because she's suddenly really nervous and her palms are sweaty, but before she can say anything more someone is calling H.G out across the hall and she shoots an apologetic look at Myka before speaking one thing with her hands and shouting "I'm coming!" at the person she cannot see and then she's gone, sweeping black hair the last she sees before it too is gone.

"Who was that?" Someone is asking but Myka can't really hear them.

"Helena." She murmurs softly, recalling the way her hands had moved. "Her name is Helena."

.

She had told Kelly she was going to work on something, which really wasn't a lie. But Myka feels that had she've told Kelly where she was actually going, there would be disapproving looks and stern lectures from this pint sized, incredibly talented human. So she decided to forgo that route, instead choosing to be rather vague about her intentions as she left their room earlier that afternoon.

So now she stood on the gym floor, annoying sport uniform on once again as she glared up at the rope. She wasn't going to get metaphorical or deep, she just wanted to be able to touch the damn ceiling. And then maybe stick her tongue out at Pete from the top.

"It's just a rope. It's not gonna answer all your life problems."

She whirled sharply to find Pete leaning against the doorway, loose grin on his face as he considered what he had just said. "Yeah. No way a ropes gonna be all 'If you climb me you will get glory'. Ropes just don't do that man."

"Why are you here?" Myka found herself asking sharply.

Pete heard the annoyance behind her tone and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Woah calm down. I'm here to apologize."

"Calm down? Wait, apologize?"

"Yeah. For earlier. Class actually."

"You're here to apologize to me about what happened in gym class?" Her tone is incredulous and of all the ways this afternoon could have gone, this was certainly not the direction she was expecting.

"I laughed at you and that was wrong of me." He begins, arms falling to his side. Myka simply stands there, arms crossed over chest defensively, her gaze suspicious. "I mean, first day and first year are hard enough and it was kinda actually really bad of me and will you please stop looking at me like I'm going to, I dunno, eat you?"

"I'm not looking at you like that." She retorts, uncrossing her ams to clasp them in front of her.

"You were. You totally were."

"Pete!" She finds herself shouting. She clamps her mouth shut almost instantly and then looks to the ground. "I'm sorry. Continue."

"Yeah so anyways, I'm here to say I'm sorry. What I did was wrong and probably made you feel bad and so for that I'm sorry." He concludes, motioning towards her then slapping his hands on his legs, waiting for her to respond.

"Why are you apologizing? You could, not be. You could be out there," she motions jerkily over her shoulder to the window which reveals an almost perfect summer afternoon, "instead of in here. So, I just mean, why are you apologizing."

Pete inhales and looks around before his gaze settles on Myka. "Because my mom raised me better? And she's also kill me for what I did today. Well, would if I didn't apologize. Actually, probably still would. Damn"

And he's so caught in his inner musings that me misses the wide smile thats breaking over Mykas face. She gazes over him and she doesn't realize she's speaking until her throat vibrates from the sound being expelled. "You're not so bad, Pete Lattimer."

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" And he looks so hopeful that Myka laughs and nods, smiling all the while.

"Yeah you're forgiven."

"Awesome because your friend is really hot, well I think so and did you think that maybe you could-"

"Pete!"

"Kidding man. I was just joking."

"Good." She huffs and then they're standing there, facing one another in this empty gym and before it can get weird Pete's opening his mouth.

"You want some help? With the rope I mean. If you want. I could help you with that."

Myka smiles at him warily. "Why would you help me?"

"Because that's what friends do." He states as if it's the most simple thing in the world and Myka finds herself laughing before she can stop herself.

"I did not say I was your friend."

"Oh you didn't have to. I faced an awkward apology and you now have to be my friend to make up for those moments of humiliation."

"Says who?"

"Me. The law. The universe. All of space, actually."

She laughs and thinks that yep, Pete Lattimer is definitely not that bad.

.

It's nearing curfew for first years and Myka is in bed, hair still damp from her shower with a book in hand. The bathroom door opens and Kelly steps out in a cloud of steam, towel twisted around her head. She looks a little comical and Myka chuckles to herself before turning her attention back to her page. There are muffled thumps and the bathroom light is extinguished with a click. She can make out the sounds of mattress springs creaking softly and then Kelly's voice is carrying across their room.

"Whatcha reading?"

"Sherlock Holmes" She replies easily, turning a page with her forefinger.

"He the British one?"

"Based in London, yes."

"Speaking of English," Kelly is watching her, eyes gleaming like a cats in the lamplight. "Who is your English friend?"

A blush rises up Mykas neck unbidden as she recalls the way she made a total fool of herself in front of Helena earlier that day at lunch. "Uh, girl I met. Yesterday. She's nice." She finishes lamely. Kelly nods and Myka is relieved to find that she currently cares more for sleep than people who Myka know, or who know Myka.

She slides her bookmark between the pages and places it reverently on her bedside drawers. Shifting down beneath the covers, she silently marvels at the fact that at the beginning of the day she had no friends she could count of. And now she was finishing the day with three. Not bad for an antisocial fourteen year old on her first day at an academy, she thinks to herself.

Nestling her head deeper into her pillow, she finds herself wondering if she could possibly make some more tomorrow.