Fun fact: I rarely delete anything I write. Like the original storyline for this chapter (which was Lyra running to Lexrul and meeting Orson). I know I'll never use that storyline in this book but some of the dialogue and scenery descriptions were very well written in my opinion and so I kept it. Heck, I even kept the massive argument between Galen and Orson that was supposed to take place in chapter 14 (I'll probably use some of that material later on, though).

I don't own anything.
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Orson was up by 04:30 that morning. It was the morning he was going to see Galen! He slid down the banister and scarfed down his cereal in less than five minutes. He was taking his last few bites before his mother came down the stairs and into the kitchen. She looked like a wild mess with her bed hair and if Orson hadn't known it was his mother he would have screamed and ran.

"Orson! For Kriff's sake, it's four in the morning!" She said in a loud whisper.

"No, it's 04:40," Orson corrected. "I let you s-sleep in for forty minutes."

His mother sighed and sat down next to him. "I know you're excited to head back to the Republic's Futures Program again but we have all day to get there."

"But I wanna g-get there early!" Orson whined. Technically, he wanted to get there early just to spend the free time with Galen. He had literally been counting down the hours to see his boyfriend. Once it was in the 24 hour range, Orson began to count minutes, too.

His mother nodded. "We'll leave as soon as we have everything ready. Make sure you have all your books, clothes, paperwork, rubber band ball, and of course your Legos. We don't want you growing up yet." She kissed the top of Orson's head and then left to wake his father.

While Orson waited for his parents to ready themselves, he double checked all his stuff, packed the family ship, and went to say goodbye to his pet goldfish. His parents finally let him have a pet and though Orson wanted a loth cat or a dingo dog, he got a goldfish and he was happy. He even named it... well let's see if you as the reader can figure out the name. Hint: it starts with a G.

Orson fed his goldfish and then watched it swim around, snatching up the little flakes that drifted across the water's surface. Suddenly he heard the door open behind him. He turned to see his father standing there. "Orson, are you gonna play with your pet or see your best friend?"

'Boyfriend!' Orson wanted to correct. Instead he said "Yeah!" Orson said. He bounded to his feet. "Bye G-Galen!" He said, waving to his goldfish. Then he followed his dad out to the ship.

The whole flight over, Orson read his list of things to do with Galen Erso (not Galen the Goldfish). He couldn't wait to try them all! He even wondered if he should do some serious love with Galen. Hopefully, Galen wouldn't mind trying it with a newbie. Basically, Galen already knew how to do sex since he did it with Lyra and for once, Orson was happy she did because the whole process might be very confusing for him.

Then he heard someone say his name. Orson snapped out of his trance and saw both his parents staring at him. "Are you feeling well?" Yasmine asked.

"B-Better than well!" Orson replied. "Why?" He squirmed a little as his mother placed her hand on his forehead. "I'm fine, M-Mom!"

"Okay. Your eyes were glazed over." Orson shrugged innocently. If only they knew what was on his mind. "Also, you missed when we told you we were here."

Orson nearly clipped his mother's chin as he shot out of his seat and bolted to the nearest window. Sure enough, they were at the Republic's Futures Program building. It looked just like how he left it, students pushing each other to get in and out of the building. Orson watched with awe in his eyes.

The Krennic family began unloading the ship. Orson found himself unable to stop grinning. He was so happy to be back here! He took off running to explore the place again. He was too busy looking around that he didn't watch where he was going and bumped into a wall.

He heard loud familiar laughter from behind him. Orson turned to see Quint standing a few meters away, his head thrown back and a crystal sound coming from deep in his throat. Quint walked over to Orson and shook his head. "A hundred and four days of summer and you still haven't changed! Orson, you are one of a kind!"

"In a g-good way, right?" Orson asked.

"Totally!" Said Quint. "Hey, I heard you moved dorms or something!"

"Yeah. I d-did."

"Bummer! I liked having you as my roommate. Do you know who you're going to be with this time?"

"No. I did the r-random pairing."

Quint nodded. Then his face turned serious and he sad "I heard about what happened on Ilum. I'm so sorry."

"It's n-nothing big. I mean, I'm a-alive..." if only he knew if Galen was alive after that speeder crash. Orson pretty much assumed Galen survived but now that the Ilum accident was brought up, he wasn't so sure.

"I suppose that's true," Quint said. He then changed the subject again. "Ah, we can talk about this later. I'll see you around, Orson!" With that, he walked off.

Orson waved after Quint and watched him leave. Then he went to find his room. On the way, he saw Lyra. To his surprise, Lyra looked different. Orson couldn't exactly put a finger on it but she almost looked... prettier... was that the word? Maybe it was healthier? Either way, Orson noticed the difference and though he couldn't exactly put a finger on it, it was noticeable.

He walked up to her left side. "HI LYRA!!"

Lyra jumped and rammed her elbow into Orson, causing him to fall over. She then twisted her body so her right side was facing him. "OH MY GOSH!! I'm so sorry!" She gasped.

Orson kicked her in the shins, knocking the ground out from under her. "You certainly haven't changed, you little brat." He felt like he could call her that now since she was shorter than him.

Lyra scowled. "Neither have you, you twisted lovesick bastard." She tired to get up but Orson wouldn't let her. He grabbed her arm and pinned her to the ground.

"Seriously! What is it with you and knocking me over!?"

"You snuck up on me and startled me!" Lyra kicked, trying to get him off her.

"I was right in your line of sight before I said anything!"

"I'm blind in my left eye!"

Orson froze. He then looked at Lyra's face again. Suddenly he realized that's what the difference in Lyra was. One of her eyes was slightly grayer than the other. He rolled off her and let her get up. "I'm sorry... I didn't know that..."

"Obviously," Lyra replied. She and Orson stared at each other for a while. Orson felt his spoke of hatred towards Lyra ebbing away as they stared until it was completely gone. The Lyra spoke. "I got a surprise for you."

Orson's mind flipped like an on/of switch and he shouted "REALLY!!? WHAT IS IT!???"

"I'll tell you once you get your stuff unpacked." She jerked her thumb towards Orson's parents, who were looking beyond impatient.

Orson agreed and he carted his belongings to the room. He swiped the room key and went in. The room was quite a bit larger than the one he and Quint had been in last year. One of the beds had already been taken and Orson could tell he was with a nerd. Writing materials and academic books stacked nicely were on one side of the room. The other side was completely bare.

His parents helped move him in and then started the routine of proper etiquette reminders. "Now be good, Orson," said Yasmine. "I don't want you being kicked out of this school early."

"I p-promise, Mom," Orson said tiredly. "I'll s-see you in the s-summer."

"And make sure to call us at least once a week," Erikzen reminded.

Orson rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll do th-that too."

Yasmine frowned. "Sweetie, we're worried about you. You're still very young and-"

"Oh my g-gosh! Mom! D-Dad! I'll be fine!"

But his parents continued to tell him the drill of what they expected from him. Say 'please' and 'thank you,' be kind to the teachers, learn something, look for any hot girls, all the yadda yadda Orson didn't care about.

Finally Orson had enough of his parents. He reached into his satchel and pulled out his rubber band ball. "I'll be fine, Mom and D-Dad. Just get out b-before I start bouncing th-this thing off your foreheads."

His parents looked exhausted. 16 years of rebellious and stubborn attitude was not a great sign. Yet they left. And that's when Lyra and Quint swung into to stop by.

"Nice room," Lyra said.

"Thanks?" Orson didn't know what to say about that. Right now, he was shipping Lyra with Quint. The two would make a great couple! At least his brain thought so. "Lyra, can I see the surprise now?"

"Sure." Lyra motioned for him to follow. They walked around in a large circle through the campus and ended right back where they started.

Orson frowned. "What the heck, Lyra?"

"Look in the room."

Orson did so. Inside, he saw someone else on the other bed. His roommate gave him a smile and Orson screamed with excitement.

"GALEEEENNNNNNN!!!!"
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:)

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