Free Fast-Tracked by Tracy Rozzlynn

muttered, “Thanks.”
    I finally chanced a look out the window. The houses looked like tiny boxes and the people were miniscule blurry dots. Cutting through the middle of it was a tiny stream. Actually, it was probably a large river, like the Blackstone River, but from this height it looked no bigger than the tiny stream that cut through the woods near my house.
    We had spent so many of our weekends at that stream. We used twigs, grass and whatever else we could find to build makeshift rafts and boats. Then we’d vote on whose was the best looking. You couldn’t vote for yourself, so most of the time Camille won that contest – she always favored looks over structure. After that we’d race the boats down the stream. Whichever boat that reached the rocky part first won, and the boat that traveled the farthest before breaking apart also won. Byron and I usually took turns winning those two contests. To make things interesting we’d switch around the boats’ requirements each time, deciding that they had to be a certain length or height. Things would get pretty competitive between us. Then again, Byron and I always seemed to make a friendly competition out of everything.
    The air-tram suddenly bounced like it had hit something. I gasped involuntarily.
    “Don’t worry; it’s just turbulence, caused by the air. It’s perfectly normal. Nothing to worry about,” Avery reassured me. I remained ashen-faced and white-knuckled, so he added, “It won’t be as bad when we land. The runway on this end of the flight was short, and there were a lot of tall buildings nearby, so the air-tram had to climb steeply and quickly. The landing will be more gradual.”
    I tried to make myself to relax. “Sounds like you’ve made this flight more than once.” I felt like a dork pointing out the obvious.
      “Guilty,” he admitted with a shrug.
    “So are you reporting to the Academic College today too?” I asked just to make conversation and get my mind off of the air-tram’s turbulence. I didn’t care how normal or harmless it was: I didn’t like the feel of it, not a single bit.
    “Oh no, that’s just for newbies .” His voice carried a tone of disdain.
    “Oh. I guess I assumed this was your assessment year.” I blushed, embarrassed by my incorrect assumption.
    “Well yeah it is, but as I told you, I grew up as a fast-tracker. The initial orientation would be more than redundant for me.” In response to my offended and confused expression he added, “Every year the school invites all fast-trackers from non-fast-tracker families to the school early. It gives them the time to get settled in and familiar with everything before everyone else arrives.”
    “I guess that makes sense,” I said before putting my ear buds back in and relaxing for the rest of the flight. I didn’t know what to think of Avery. He seemed nice, but he had this overly cocky and snobbish side. But for now I would hold off judgment. Who knows: maybe he could be telling the truth. Maybe he is really the nicest out of a bunch of scoundrels.
     
    The moment I walked out of the air-tram station, I desperately wished I hadn’t ignored Avery during the remainder of the flight. I had been to Boston a few times in my life, and despite knowing that New York City was the largest city on the east coast and second largest in the nation, I had assumed the two cities would be similar – I was very mistaken. I should have paid more attention to the tablet’s description of the city. Built on top of the old New York City, the current city was easily six times the original in size. I believed it as I looked up at buildings that just disappeared into the clouds above me.
    “Don’t let its size fool you: it has the same grid pattern as anywhere else and is just as easy to navigate. The only difference is you also have to know which floor you want.” I breathed a quiet sigh of relief that my behavior hadn’t deterred Avery’s attention and help. “Come on,