Breaking Sky by Cori McCarthy Page B

on,” Sylph whispered in Chase’s ear. Chase swatted her away just as Streaker Team Phoenix stopped before them.
    Riot broke the silence. “Hi…guys. How are we liking our stay at the Star? Looks like you’ve already made some ground crew friends. A little tip? Flyboys don’t hang out with them.”
    Chase caught herself rolling her eyes on that point. After last night, she had trouble imagining how it could possibly matter who hung out with whom. They could all be at war by tomorrow. She was just about to tell Riot to shut up when Tristan maneuvered first.
    He stuck out a hand to Sylph much like he’d done to Chase when they first met, an easy smile on his face. “You must be Sylph. I’m Tristan Router. Lovely flyby last night.”
    Sylph ignored his hand, stood, and swept her long braid behind her shoulder. “I’m aware of who you are. Don’t daydream that I’ll celebrate it.” She faced the group. “Kale ordered us to report to the conference room next to his office for debriefing at oh eight hundred. All of us.” Her whole body seemed to go ice-hard as she shouldered past Tristan and his RIO. More so than she ever did around Chase.
    Sylph headed for the door, and Riot and Pippin stood to empty their trays.
    Riot banged his tray over the trashcan and chatted up Phoenix ’s RIO. “I’m Riot. This is Pippin.”
    â€œReally, I’m Henry,” Pippin said. “You remember me. You stood on my face.”
    â€œSure, I remember,” the broad-shouldered man-boy said. “No hard feelings?”
    â€œâ€™Course not,” Pippin said.
    â€œI’m Romeo.”
    Pippin seemed like he’d gotten conked in the head. Chase wondered if he was about to execute some revenge for getting stomped on, but that’s not what came out. “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?”
    It was a weird moment. Even Riot was dumbfounded, or at least he looked dumber than usual.
    Romeo clapped Pippin’s shoulder. “ La loi est-elle de notre côté, si je dis oui ?”
    â€œ Non .” Pippin laughed real hard at that, and it got right under Chase’s fingernails.
    â€œThat’s great. There’s a RIO trio now,” she said to herself, enjoying the rhyme. She watched the boys walk toward the door and a scowling, cross-armed Sylph. “What was all that about anyway?”
    â€œThey just had a Shakespeare moment,” Tristan said. “In French. Romeo loves that stuff. He thinks it helps him win favor with the ladies.”
    â€œPippin loves that stuff too,” Chase said. “Guess that means he’ll forgive your RIO for the bashing the other day.”
    She had to sidestep Tristan to put her tray on the conveyor belt. While she plopped her silverware into the sudsy tub, a group of freshmen surrounded Tristan. She recognized Stephens and Helena from her ground crew fan club.
    â€œArrow, have you seen the rec room yet? We could meet you there tonight. Show you around,” Stephens said.
    Tristan said he would meet them. And then he said good-bye to half of them by name, apologizing to the three he didn’t know yet.
    The laid-back, overly friendly attitude Chase had hated the moment she met Tristan was back. Once more, he reminded her of someone who’d never known a second of crap in his whole life. But now she knew that wasn’t true—it couldn’t be after last night.
    Chase took in every angle and curve of his profile as they walked toward the conference room. The insanely heroic boy who’d shielded her from a fuel blast with his body had to be under that civil expression. So where was he? What was this act about?
    â€œYou’re off to a running start, Arrow,” she said.
    â€œI have a feeling I’m going to be here for a while. Might as well make friends.”
    She grunted.
    â€œYou’re not very pleasant considering what happened.”
    â€œAnd