"Are you ok, kuya?" The kid asked while shaking me vigorously.

Funny how being shaken like a test tube can snap you out of your thoughts and back into reality in an instant.

"I'm fine, kiddo," I said, giving him a reassuring smile and trying my best to hold back my tears.

"I'm not a kid!" He boomed

"Really?" I smirked

"Yes!" He said sharply, folding his arms in front of his chest, trying to look angry.

"Then who are you?"

"I'm Noah Bridge."

"You're Noah Bridge, huh?" A corner of my mouth lifted. I couldn't help but genuinely smile at his innocence.

"NOAH"

We both turned our heads at a high-pitched voice to see a woman, formally dressed, standing on the other side of the corridor.

"Mom!" Noah exclaimed and ran to hug her.

"Ready to leave?" She asked with a huge smile on her face.

He nodded excitedly and grabbed her hand, which she was holding out for him. He turned his head before leaving and started waving at me.

"Bye, kuya!" He said with a smile.

I smiled and waved back at him. With that, he waddled away, holding his mother's hand.

That's when I saw Ms. Lisa, one of our combat instructors, walk out of the chamber.

"We are experiencing a delay, Lorcan. A glitch in the machine. They're fixing it right now; it might take another hour. You can go to your dorm and come back after 50 mins." she said.

Go back to my dorm... where we all sat together almost every night, having fun, making memories...

All I could see there now, was how all her belongings had been taken away, erased. Her dorm was also allotted to someone else. I won't be able to go there without bawling my eyes out.

"I'll stay here, ma'am. Thank you." I replied

She nodded like she understood, and went back into the chamber.

Now I was alone again, and my mind found a way back to her. The first day I met her, my first day at Gladys.

*a year ago*

I was woken up by sunlight peeping in through my window, destroying my slumber. I started to squirm in my bed, preparing to get up. Just then, a realization hit me; it was my first day at Gladys! I shot up from my bed in excitement and ran to get ready. About half an hour later, I was prepared to leave.

I ran downstairs to the living room, where my parents were currently sitting.

"Ready, I see?" said mom, with a smile.

I nodded excitedly. Mom was sitting on the sofa while dad was in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich.

"Why don't you sit down with your mother, and in the meantime, I'll make you a sandwich." Dad said.

"Okay" I replied as I sat down beside mom.

They were both extremely happy for me. Gladys was a big deal in Invierna, where I live.

It conducted tests to select students from all over the country annually. They put potential candidates in tough situations to see how they get out of them. I had to face 3 tests- reaching my school on time, for an exam, despite the thousand obstacles in the path; finding my way out of a locked library, and finally, saving a kid from being kidnapped. So, the last two weeks were rough. But then I got my acceptance letter and all the roughness seemed worth it.

Today was the day my session would begin. I was very excited.

"I'm proud of you, kid," Mom said as she kissed my forehead.

Dad came with my sandwich and we all talked about how excited we were while we ate.

"We should leave now," dad said, getting up from the couch.

Mom and I nodded in agreement and got up to leave.

To say that the car ride was emotional, would be an understatement. Mom and dad kept shedding tears and telling me that they loved me and that they were going to miss me.

"I'm not going forever, you know?"

"We know, hun. But we haven't stayed this long without you since the day you were born. We are going to miss you." mom said as she wiped another tear.

That was true. We hadn't ever lived apart from each other for this long. And I was going to miss them too. I loved them more than anyone in the whole world, they were like best friends to me.

"I'll be back for the holidays, they're just a few months away"

They nodded and gave me a reassuring smile. The rest of the ride was spent talking about nothing in particular.

And after about 15 minutes, dad said "Here we are, The Gladys School of Sciences..."

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they think it's a prestigious school for studying science. But little did they know, its actual name was 'The Gladys School for Spies'. I felt a little bad for lying to them about this, but it was standard protocol and nobody could know our identity, not even our parents.

Dad parked the car and I made a vague attempt of calming my nerves by taking deep breaths. When I felt I was ready, I stepped out and felt my jaw drop to the ground. I was taken aback by its beauty. I had been here before but I came in from a different entrance that time and all I could see were the dorm buildings. They were also stunning but nothing compared to what I was seeing at the given moment. It was looking miraculous! I still couldn't believe that this would be where I would spend the next few years of my life. When I recovered from my awestruck state, I looked around to see that my parents were staring at me with adoration and pride. They looked really happy.

I walked to them and we shared a hug, that is until mom got overjoyed and almost squeezed me and dad to death. Then we pulled back and dad and I gasped for air. We most definitely exaggerated it, and mom couldn't help but laugh.

"You should go in now, Lorca. Don't want to be late on your first day," dad said and I totally agreed.

I could not afford to be late. I checked my watch to see that it was 7:45. The reporting time for the orientation assembly was 8 O'clock. I slid my bag on my shoulder and ran inside after hugging mom and dad once more.

I expected to see a lot of hustle and bustle in the school, but to my surprise, I was the only one there. Then it hit me, I was late, everyone must already be in the assembly hall. Just then, I heard a car stop at the school gate. I turned around to look. It was a cream-colored sedan. I saw a girl, my age, step out of it. She had brown hair and was fairly tall, around 5'4". Then a man followed, who I guessed was her father. She was looking tense and excited at the same time. She was late, so the tension was pretty clear, and the excitement could mean that it was her first day too. She hugged her father and started running after waving him goodbye. I checked my watch again to see that it was 7:50 and despite the fear of being late on my first day, I felt the urge to just stand there and watch her. That was new for me, I couldn't understand why but she looked soo amusing to me, that I couldn't help but look at her. She was still running but stopped so that she was standing right next to me.

She looked even more breathtaking up close. There was a faint scar on her forehead, just above her left eyebrow, I could see that it was stitched. Her eyes were magnificent! They were a dark brown, glittering in the sunlight. Her eyes were so playful and deep, one could actually be hypnotized by them. She had rosy lips. They were somewhat wrinkled but still looked so juicy. And then she smiled, and I felt my heart skip a beat. It was so beautiful and infectious that I felt the corners of my lips lift too. She was so captivating that I could look at her all day.

"It's rude to stare at people you've never met before, you know?"

I was staring! Oh dear god, I was staring at a girl I didn't even know! Great start to the session, Lorcan!

I felt my cheeks flaming with embarrassment and she must've noticed it because she started laughing. And oh god, that laugh. It was so melodious. 

'Melodious? What is happening to you' I thought as I mentally face-palmed at my cringe-worthy thoughts.

"I'm Argenta," she said extending a hand for me to shake

"Lorcan," I replied, shaking it.

Her hand felt so good in mine. It was rough but still felt so comforting. And then we pulled them back, leaving me a little disappointed.

Why?

"Excited for the first day?" she said, smiling

I nodded

"Wait, how did you know it was my first day?"

She looked down and I could see a corner of her mouth lift.

"Who else but a first-year would do something as idiotic as talking with someone they just met, when they are clearly late for a very important assembly?"

She just called me an idiot, but for some reason, I didn't feel offended. I found it...cute?! Something was definitely wrong with me.

"Did you just call me an idiot?" I said smiling teasingly, squinting my eyes.

"Did you just miss the part where I said we're late?" She replied imitating me.

I felt like someone had released a thousand butterflies in my stomach.

What is wrong with you, Lorcan? You're late and you are standing here with a girl you just met, feeling butterflies in your stomach?! Run, for heaven's sake, RUN!!!

"We still have 3 minutes. If we run fast enough, we can reach the hall on time." I said.

She nodded and we both started running and damn! She was fast.

"By the way, Argenta is a beautiful name," I said as she overtook me.

She turned around to look at me while running backwards?! and just as fast?!

'She is something else' 

"It means silver!" she said with an ear-to-ear grin. She looked so proud!

I mentally cooed at how cute she looked grinning like that.

After another minute of running like our lives depended on it (which they sorta did), we reached the hall, panting. We opened the door and entered the humongous hall. And when I say humongous, I mean HUMONGOUS. And it looked splendid as well. The walls were made of yellow-brown sandstone. There were 3 mosaics on each of the side walls. I could see numerous lantern-shaped lamps on all the walls. The ceiling was curved, made of glass. Six huge and remarkably beautiful chandeliers were hanging from it. There was a stage at the very front, behind which was a huge screen on the front wall. There were chairs on both sides of the room, facing the stage, leaving a passage in the very middle of the hall. The floor was made of glossy black tiles. It looked magnificent.

"It's so beautiful!" Argenta exclaimed from beside me, looking around the hall with her eyes wide in amazement and her mouth open in awe.

"Yeah, beautiful," I said looking at her.

'At her. At her?! Why in the world are you looking at her? You have to find your seat! Ugh! There's something wrong with you and you have to get yourself checked.' 

"Imagine what it would look like at night," she said, staring at the ceiling with amazement, "when all the stars would be visible... It'll be spectacular!"

I could imagine how wonderful it would look, all the chandeliers lit up along with the lantern lamps. It would look spectacular indeed.

We had less than a minute before the assembly began.

"Let's go find our seats," I suggested and we started to look for our squad names. We were all allotted squads, the group that we will train with and later, do missions with.

"What's yours?" I asked

"Armada"

"No way! That's the squad I'm in!" I exclaimed, a little too loudly, because everyone around started glaring at us.

On instinct, my hand covered my mouth and I whispered a sorry. I was really embarrassed; I looked at Argenta, who was walking beside me in hopes that she will say something to make me feel better, but all she did was chuckle at my abashed state. For unexplained reasons, I did feel better because of that.

Why?!

We found our seats and sat down just as a teacher addressed everyone from the stage.

I was sitting on the first seat next to the passage, while Argenta was on the far left, next to the wall. Every squad had ten members, so my annoyingly curious self decided to angle my neck and see the others. And it would be correct to say that luck was most definitely not in my favor. Just as I turned my neck, a hand rested on my shoulder and clenched it tightly, making me wince in pain.

I turned to see a scary-looking teacher glaring at me.

"Pay attention to what she's saying, and stop talking." She whisper-yelled at me, gesturing towards the principal, giving a speech on the stage.

I nodded, gulping down my saliva out of fear, after which she walked away, leaving me with goosebumps on my arms.

"She scares me too..." The boy sitting beside me whispered in my ear.

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Hi, Nicholas," he said, extending a fist in my direction

"Lorcan," I said as I fist-bumped him.

"Wow, that's a fancy name!" he chuckled, causing me to chuckle too

"We'll have to think of a nickname for you, bro"

"Sure," I said and shifted my focus back to our principal, who was now speaking about the importance of discipline.

This was going to be a hell of a year...