"So let me get this straight," Nick said, "We have to take five rounds..."

"...of the whole fragment...?" Cleo joined.

"Yes," Said Ms Lily.

Cleo being the overdramatic techy he is, faked fainting and fell into my chest.

We were standing in the combat training ground. It was covered with grass and had a clay platform in the middle. We were supposed to run five rounds around the fragment and meet up here for some sort of combined class with another squad. After the incident yesterday, the guys forcefully made me leave the party, and we went back to our dorms and slept.

"It's not that bad, dude," I groaned as I held him by his arms, trying to steady him.

"Not that bad?!" Willia barked, staring at me with her eyes wide in shock.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Wake up, Cleo. Now is the perfect time to wake up," I looked down at Cleo in my grasp, pleading himself to wake up from his dream/nightmare.

"Oh, I'll help you wake up," I said as I let him fall.

"AAAH, MY ARSE!" He winced, and everyone else laughed.

"Start running in 5 seconds, Armada; and remember, we'll be keeping time,"

"But-" Cleo started.

"5"

"Ple-"

"4"

"I-"

"3"

"Why-"

"2"

"Ugh!"

"1!"

And with that, we all started running.

One round in, and I knew why Willia and Cleo despised running.

We had only run about four hundred metres, but they were already panting like hyperventilating walruses with asthma.

"You can do this, Willia!" I heard Cup- Argenta motivate Willia.

"I. Don't. Think. So." Willia said between gasps.

"Okay, think about it like this," Argenta continued, "you just have to run two more steps, on repeat,"

"That sounds interesting... Lemme try it," Willia said, sounding somewhat excited.

In no time, Willia was running a few metres ahead of all of us, her eyes solely focussed on the ground, as she counted 1,2, repeatedly. She was enjoying the two steps technique a lot.

"Willia, slow down! We have to finish together!" Reyna yelled as Willia turned a corner, so she was out of our sight.

"YOU!" We heard Willia scream.

Argenta immediately increased her speed to see what was happening but bumped into someone at the corner.

It was a blonde guy, about 5'8" in height. His deep green eyes were visible even from where I was standing. His muscles were horribly toned, and the tight t-shirt only made them look better.

"I am so sorry," He said, holding a startled Argenta by her waist while their bodies were inches apart.

His voice was deep and slightly husky.

"I'm sorry as well, should've been careful," Argenta said, not moving away from him.

Break it up already!

You're both sorry; we get it!

Yara coughed twice, startling the "couple" and causing them to break apart.

"Ooh, he looks tasty..." Brittney whispered from beside me.

Tasty?!

More like...uhmm...ewwww.

Gosh, is that the best you can come up with, Lory? Ew?

Come on, man!

"Hi, I'm Sean Parker," he said, smiling in a disgustingly charming manner and extending a hand for Argenta to shake.

"I'm Argenta," She replied, holding out her hand.

He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he bent a little and kissed it! He fucking kissed her hand!!!

"Enchante, madamosielle,"

I clenched my fists so tight that my knuckles turned white. I could feel anger rise inside me.

"Hot," Brittney whispered again, basically drooling as she gazed at him.

"Oh, piss off!" I said as I rolled my eyes and scrunched my face in disgust.

"What's so great about him, anyway?" I commented as I diverted my eyes from the sickening view in front of me.

"Well, his looks, his manners, and did I mention his looks?" Brittney answered my obviously rhetorical question.

"He doesn't look that great," I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"You're just jealous!" Brittney rolled her eyes.

"Whatever,"

"Argenta's a beautiful name," Sean said, grinning like a dumbass.

"Thanks, it means silver," Argenta replied.

"You know, I've always been the kind of person who goes for gold, but I guess I'll have to make an exception," Sean said.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Why the fuck is she blushing?!

This guy, I swear!

Ugh!

"I just threw up in my head! What's wrong with him?" I said, but no one seemed to pay attention because they were too busy gaping at him as if he was a grand meal and they hadn't eaten in forever.

"That line was so cheesy, I'm not even going to comment," Argenta said, her cheeks red from blushing.

"Don't like cheese, huh?" Sean smirked, to which Argenta just shook her head, and he chuckled at her response.

"Well, too bad because looking at someone as fabulous as you, all I can think of are cheesy things," He grinned.

"Well, too bad because too much fat is bad for health,"

"I don't think it is as bad as drugs. And I think I'm high on one right now. It's called... I don't wanna tell you its name, so here's a hint instead," he stepped closer to her and bent a little, so his mouth was next to her ear, "It means silver," he whispered.

I swear, just looking at this guy can give me bad cholesterol.

"You are smooth. I have got to give it to you. But sadly, it won't work on me,"

"It works on everyone else," he says as gestures towards, basically, everyone in my squad, all of them drooling and fantasising.

"I'm not like everyone else, Sean Parker,"

That is undeniably accurate. My Cupcake is nothing like anyone else.

"Which is why I'm dying to figure out who you are, Argenta Silva," He winked. He. Fucking. Winked.

Control, Lory.

Just breathe.

Murdering someone is illegal.

"Anyway, Willia, what happened?" I asked in an attempt to distract myself.

"I'll tell you later," Willia said.

Noo, tell me, please.

"So, Argenta, what's your squad?" Sean asked.

What's with the questions?

Let her goooo.

"Armada," She replied

Good, stick to one-word answers, end the conversation and move on.

"What's yours?" She then added.

Oh, dear god!

Why is this happening to me?

"Octane," He replied, "So it's your squad that we ha-"

"We have to move!" I yelled, interrupting him, "Ms Lily and Mr Daniel are keeping time, remember?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I didn't mean to disturb," Sean said.

"Hey, that's alright! Of course, you didn't know," Said Argenta.

"Yeah, let's get back to running now," I spat harshly and began to run.

"I hang out at the lawn, in front of building 1, in the evenings," Sean stated.

It truly amazes me how we have trillions of nerves in our bodies, yet some people somehow manage to get on each & every fucking one of them!

"I'll keep that in mind?" Argenta said, unsure.

"Argenta?" He said when she started running again.

"Yeah?"

"It was really nice to meet you,"

"It was really nice to meet you too," she replied with a smile on her face and amusement in her eyes.

Looking at them pained me in a million different ways. I felt like someone was crushing my heart in their hands; like there was a weight on my chest as heavy as the sun; like happiness was just wishful thinking; like someone had torn my soul to pieces.

"She's a distraction for you. You need to focus right now.

Let her go...

Everyone you love leaves you at some point anyway, so what's the point of holding on and hurting yourself more?" Antonio's words replayed in my head.

We all ran back to the ground in another 5 minutes. I was abnormally quiet on the way back, too busy overthinking their conversation, feeling angry and then making a feeble attempt to forget it.

"You guys are here," Ms Lily said when we finally reached.

Two more people were standing with Ms Lily and Mr Daniel.

One of them I recognised as miss lava, and the other was a tall buffy man. His hair was dark, and he had amber eyes.

"Two files," Mr Daniel said, and we arranged ourselves in two lines, five people in each.

"These are the mentors of the squad that we have a combined class with for the next month," Ms Lily said, "This is Stacy." she pointed at Ms Lava, "And that's Robert," she pointed at the buffy guy.

"Hello, everyone, we're the mentors of Octane. It's nice to meet you all." Ms Stacy nodded at us.

SHUT THE FUCK UP

NO FUCKING WAY

Can this day get any worse?!

Now Mr Pretty Boy is going to train with us!

"It's alright. Argenta likes you, not Sean," Nick said from beside me.

"I'm not sure she does." I sighed, "I've done nothing but ignore her these past few days,"

"But you still like her, right?"

All of a sudden, it was like something snapped inside me.

"No," My voice turned cold, "I don't like her; at all. She's a distraction. I need to let her go,"

"You don't mean tha-"

"I do," I cut him off, my voice strong and harsh, leaving no room for debate.

"They're here," Ms Stacy announced, and all our heads turned to look at them.

Well, all of theirs.

I didn't feel like seeing them.

"Hey, everyone," I heard Sean's voice.

Bleugh

"Armada, introduce yourself," Ms Lily said.

One by one, we all spoke out our names, and when we were done, the mentors began our first drill.

"Physical combat is tricky," Ms Stacy said as we all stood around the clay platform, "For obvious reasons. This drill is being conducted to nurture your fighting technique, and if you nail the technique, you wouldn't need a lot of strength to win against your opponents,"

"We are going to show you a few moves, and you all have to practice them for a fight tomorrow," Ms Lily completed.

"You'll be training in pairs." Mr Robert said and pulled out a list from his jacket.

He started announcing the names, "Adam and Atria;

Jackson and Tessa;

Brittney and Oliver;

Cleo and Jessie;

Nicholas and Margot;

Willia and Zack;

Yara and Blake;

Lorcan and Nina;

Reyna and Ethan;

Argenta and Sean."

Fucking great.

Hey, universe?

When I said could this day get any worse

IT WAS NOT A FUCKING CHALLENGE!

"I need to meet with that Valentino of yours," Willia said, standing next to me.

"Who is Valentino?"

"The guy who told you to forget her,"

"Anto-"

"I know his name, but I will never get it right. As a little protest,"

"Why do you want to meet him?"

"I think there's something wrong,"

"With?"

"I'll tell you when we go there,"

"Fine, let's go after this,"