Part 2.

"Bye dad!" I said waving as he brought the engine to life. There was a pang of sadness in his eyes, silently begging me to reconsider my decision.

But I had made up my mind, I wanted to be part of the academy that was making changes around the world. To help the world heal.

"Call me when you get there, okay?"

I nodded, then stepped off the road to watch him drive off.

My heart made a slight tug. It was my first time being away from him, being away from home actually. How would I cope?

A deep sigh slid out before I pulled my suitcase back towards the waiting booth.

The instructions had been clear, this was the pick-up point. What they didn't inform me, was the fact that I wasn't the only one that would be there.

I recognized at least four faces of the six sitting or standing at the booth. Their suitcases stood at the right side, all different colors.

"Ivy?" Carlos burst rising from the seat as I got closer.

"Hey?" I smiled.

That wasn't awkward at all, nope! I felt completely fine meeting my crush on our way to another state, and I wasn't nervous at all.

Carlos chuckled out of surprise.

"You applied as well?" He asked taking the suitcase from my hand to help pull it towards the others.

"Um...kinda!" I beamed tearing eyes off of him and unto the others looking anxiously at me. "Hey guys!" I waved, unsure if any other remembered me. Even though we had graduated from high school about a month ago, I still felt out of place around my former schoolmates.

"Hey Vee," Paul grinned from the other end of the bench. His hand was safely around his girlfriend, Zoe, who didn't like me that much. "Wanna join us?" He asked, eyeing me lustfully while licking Zoe's temple. Ew! Disgusting.

"Back off!" Carlos intervened before nudging me to sit, a safe distant from Paul.

For as long as I could remember, Paul flirted with every girl he came across.

I honestly had no idea why Zoe stuck with such a player. Or more importantly, why the academy had accepted his application. From what I knew, he had no special skills at all. The only thing he used as his weapon, was his good-looking face, all hazel-brown, not forgetting the sleek curly brown hair that fell all the way down to his shoulders.

"It's good to know that you're going as well," Carlos said.

I smiled in return, throwing eyes at the neighborhood we were leaving behind. The academy looked alright from the photos on the internet, serene grounds, ample space. I didn't mind that it was located in the outskirts of Houston, a two-hour drive from where we stood.

        "This has been my dream for as long as I can remember," Carlos spoke.

I rested my calm eyes on him solely. He looked so beautiful under the morning sun rays angled directly at our faces from the amber ball crawling from the east side of the horizon. They colored his trimmed black hair a soft brown glow around the curly edges. And made his usually blue eyes appear a shade lighter but so attractive.

   I wanted to say something like, 'me too', but that would be lying. Before the academy invited me to join, I honestly had no desires to go there. My only aim had always been to help the world from whatever is killing it.

"Hopefully it will live up to your expectations," I smiled sweetly at him.

Carlos sighed ungluing his perfect eyes off of me and fixed them on the horizon. I took that rare chance to study his face, for so long I had craved to touch and feel him. All the nights I had fantasized how it would feel to have those soft-looking cherry lips kiss me as the rain poured down and the sound of thunder cracked from far away. How his intimate touch would feel. Ooh!

And now the world had steered him towards my direction, or was it the other way round?

      "Is that...they're here!" Carlos beamed rising.

I followed his eyes towards the east road to the armored bus driving at the junction in front of us. As it made a slight turn, I caught the name 'Special Force Academy' on its side.

My heart dropped in the pit of my stomach as a blow of nervousness struck my chest.

    This is it! A voice whispered as the bus halted before us and the door hissed opening up.

The seven of us hurried to pull our luggage closer when the sound of heavy boots slowed us down. All heads lifted to the female coming down the bus(which I noted had other people inside, probably like us).

    She stopped on the last step, all dressed up in a black combat uniform that matched the heavy-looking boots... Her face was lean yet carried all the seriousness in the world.

While she wasn't that tall, her close-to five feet five was intimidating, especially the way she wore that damn uniform.

Lawd! I wanted one of that. I was sure I would look amazing and sex-

      She threw something at me, interrupting my thoughts.

I was sure whatever it was had probably fell, but to my surprise, I had caught it...keys.

  "I want everything in the boot!" The red-haired female ordered looking at me, then turned and went back in the bus. Damn! She was the driver. Badass!

I grinned holding the keys firmly.

    "Looks like you will be among the leaders eh!" Carlos whispered elbowing my arm.

I chuckled pulling my suitcase towards the boot as everyone else.