Rise of a Valkyrie

Part 13

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Kayla flicked on the desk lamp as the light from the library windows began to fade. She took a bite from her bagel and turned back to her textbook. Hopefully, she could finish the remaining exercises in the chapter before the staff forced her out of the building.

As she scribbled a solution, there was a scuff of shoes behind her. She looked around to see Gaella standing over her, grinning.

"Oh Kayla, you're still working on logarithms?" she said with obviously false sweetness. "Rose finished that last week..."

Kayla narrowed her eyes. "Great. Good for her."

She stared at Gaella until the girl's smirk faded, and she turned to leave.

Kayla sighed heavily. If Rose was ahead of her, then she had to skip to the next chapter, though she probably had the section mastered. Anxious not to give the impression that she cared what Rose was doing, she made sure no-one was watching, then flicked a few pages further into the book.

Gaella might have been lying, but Kayla couldn't take the risk. She and Rose were locked in a battle for first place. Since the night of the Academy dinner, word had gotten out that the graduate had approached Kayla directly. Rose had dropped her dancing and modelling engagements to focus on study, and she had closed the gap in their grades. Kayla was vaguely aware that half a million people around the galaxy were talking about nothing else on their feeds, but she would not let that distract her.

With only two invitations to the Academy available each year, she had to place as one of the top two students at the school. If she lost the first place slot, she might also lose the second one too, and everything she had worked for over the years. There were plenty of Rose's friends who were working just as hard to knock her down so they could gloat over the failure of 'the colony girl'.

The news feed from Zula that morning had mentioned another death. As she often did, Kayla had scanned the article and memorized the name of the victim. Most nights, before she went to sleep, she tried to remember all the names she had seen over the years. She had forgotten many of them, but it didn't stop her from trying. It was a reminder that she didn't have the right to fail.

Kayla had been so tired the last few days, but she kept working. She wanted to reach the Academy more than anything, but the system seemed grossly unfair. After all, she had been the one to meet Urtiga. She had survived a tragic attack, and the loss of her father. She had suffered so much pain, and worked so hard to succeed, when all the other students treated her like dirt. Didn't that earn her the right to go? She was working to save the lives of the Calderan farmers. What did Rose, or any of her friends want beyond another trophy to show off? As much as she looked up to Urtiga, and now Masey, Kayla was angry at them for subjecting her to such pressure, when she didn't even have any friends for support.

And if she failed, what would happen to her? How could she live in the Helvetic League's society when they hated her as much as she hated them? Could she ever go back to the farms now that they saw her as an outsider? Kayla often had nightmares of a life in front of a computer screen, shuffling agricultural stock around a warehouse. The workers would call her a stuck up Helvet, while the managers smiled as they belittled her.

Gaella's laughter drifted up from the lounge on a lower floor, followed by the sound of a male voice that made Kayla tense. Weslan Genny was in the library.

He was Rose's long-term college boyfriend, and shared her blond-haired, blue-eyed, aristocratic good looks. Another darling of Rackeye society, and the child of a famous, award-winning biologist, he was widely accepted as the perfect beau for Rose. Their pictures and video clips often went viral on the feeds, showcasing the joyful pair and their 'wholesome' antics.