"Lory?" Nicholas asked.

"Never. In. A. Million. Years." I replied.

"So you can all go to your dorms now, and don't forget to check your squad's assigned meeting spot on the way back." The principal said as we all started to rise to head to our dormitories.

"So, what do you think of 'cold socks' ?" I heard Nicholas as we rose from our chairs.

"What do I think of what?"

"Cold socks"

"That's the worst of all the names you've thought for me, man," I chuckled.

"Well, it's hard when I've known you for only 50 minutes, and most of the conversations included glares from Ms. Lava there," 

He pointed over his shoulder to the teacher who had been giving us death glares throughout the assembly because we were talking too much.

"Oh, crap! She's coming our way!" I said with wide eyes filled with horror.

"What?!" He turned so fast that I was afraid he'd get whiplash.

He realized I was joking as soon as he turned, and I broke out laughing. It was incredibly funny to see him that scared.

"Haha. So funny," He said, squinting his eyes at me.

"Oh yes, it was," I spoke out as I continued to laugh more.

"You guys might wanna move now... some of us have to leave, you know?" Someone said from behind Nick.

He was an exceptionally tall guy, probably 6'6", with bulging biceps and baby blue eyes. His hair was short and black, about 2 centimeters in length.

"Wow, you are one tall dude!" I laughed as I extended my hand for him to shake.

"That I am," He smiled and shook my hand.

"But I wasn't kidding about you both moving... I really need to leave!"

Nicholas and I walked out into the passage and watched as he ran out of the hall.

"What's up with him?" I remarked, pointing to our buddy, who was now out of sight.

"He has to go meet his dad. He had to be there by 9 O'clock." I heard a deep voice.

Two guys walked up to where Nick and I were.

One of them was about the same height as me. He had black hair and chocolate brown eyes. He wore black rectangular specs, and I could instantly tell that he was a techy. The other one was slightly taller. He had blonde hair and grey eyes. He was the kind of guy that could make anyone drool over him.

"Hi, I'm Adam Scott," Said the blonde

"And I'm Cleo Thunderson," Said the techy who I now noticed had a very cool English accent.

"I'm Nicholas and this is Lorcan"

"Lorcan! Is that a fancy name or what!" Adam chuckled.

"And that is exactly why I've been thinking of nicknames for him for the past 1 hour that we've known each other," Nicholas mentioned while snorting.

"And might I add, all of them were deplorable," I defended.

"Okay, I think that's enough fancy words for a day," Adam chortled.

While they all continued to laugh and think of more weird names for me, I looked over Adam's shoulder to try and see a certain someone.

"Looking for someone?" I heard Nicholas, and immediately stopped my search for her.

He was waggling his eyebrows like a kid and slightly nudged my arm with his shoulder.

Soo mature

"No?" I said, but it came out more as a question because honestly, even I wasn't sure why I was looking for her.

"Mhm sure, I believe you, bro," He sang in an unbelievably high-pitched voice.

That's when I heard a gleeful voice from behind me.

"Hey, everyone!" It said. It was her.

Oh god, that voice!

I shifted slightly to make space in the little circle that we were standing in. My face lit up as soon as I saw her. Nicholas probably noticed this because he raised an eyebrow at me and eyed me with an amused look. Oh, and did I mention the teasing smirk plastered on his face? It was embarrassing, but what was worse was that the idiot wasn't even trying to be subtle about it. I just rolled my eyes and sighed loudly, as if to say, 'it's not what you think, butthead!'

He just nodded, unconvinced and still smirking like an idiot.

"Stop it!" I exhaled loudly.

"Stop what?" One of the girls asked.

"Lorcan li-"

"Nothing, just something this idiot did," I interrupted him before he could embarrass me further, and smacked him at the back of his head.

"Ow! That hurt" He winced but continued laughing at me.

I tried my best to hold back the laughter that was threatening to escape my mouth, but I failed; miserably.

By now, the hall had started to empty. We were among the very few people still there.

"I think we should start walking," The voice belonged to one of the girls.

She had black hair with streaks of blue, purple lipstick, and dark eyeshadow. One could easily recognize her as a goth.

"I agree," said a chirpy voice, "Heyy, I'm Yara!"

She was blonde-haired, with fair skin and sparkly blue eyes.

Yara high-fived everyone and went on to introduce the rest of the girls.

"This is Brittney Collins," she said, pointing to the goth.

"This is Reyna McAllister," this time, she was pointing at a girl with light-brown skin, emerald eyes, and brown hair. She gave me that vibe of serenity that you get from a typical girl next door.

"Willia Santana.." 

Willia had dirty blonde hair that was slightly brown at the tips, dull brown eyes, and black cat-eye spectacles.

"...and Argenta Silva,"

I smiled slightly at the mention of her name but instantly regretted it because Nicholas started coughing awkwardly in an attempt to tease me.

"Now that everyone knows everyone, let's walk people!" she continued, with a hint of urgency in her voice.

"Woah! Not yet!"

We all turned our heads towards the source of the voice.

It was the tall guy from before. He took less than 5 seconds to come up to us, without much effort too, mainly because of his hauntingly long legs.

"I'm Jackson Clawfield," He announced.

"And wow, I have to admit, I've got pretty cute teammates," he said as he winked in Argenta's direction.

Flirty much?

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth in anger, then I looked at Argenta, who looked confused. She couldn't believe that she was being flirted with. Even though I found her reaction cute, I couldn't smile. I thought Mr. Tall was nice at first, but now, he was getting on my nerves. I tried not to show it because that would make things really weird. He started asking everyone's names and shaking hands with them.

"This is taking too long," Yara exhaled loudly, "okay, walk and talk, people, walk and talk," she shouted as she started pushing us towards the doors.

We all started walking because being pushed by Yara hurt a lot.

"I didn't catch your name..." Jackson said as he started walking beside Argenta.

Keep your cool, Lorcan. Keep your cool. Besides, why do you even care?

Wait, do I like Arg- No, that's not possible. I just met her.

"That's because I didn't throw it," Argenta replied with a shrug.

That's my girl...

Wait, what?

My girl? What is going on with you?

"You're really funny, but unless you want me to call you that, can I please have the honor of knowing your name?" He said with a very charming smile. Made me want to gag. But she smiled back and introduced herself. And just like that, my anger was back.

"Woah! Careful there, man, you might burn a hole in his back!" Nicholas teased from beside me.

"Haha" I shot back.

"By the way, did you notice that smell?"

"What smell?"

No, wait! Ugh! Walked right into that trap.

"Like something's burning?" He sang in his insinuating voice and smirking all the while.

Could this situation get any worse?!

"You look extremely pretty, you know?" Jackson said to her.

Well, it just did.

Oh dear god, what is happening to me?

Why is his flirting with her, affecting me?

"Yeah, I know. But I'm not interested in you that way, you know?" She replied with a smug smile and shot him a glare.

I couldn't help but smile too.

"Woah, easy there, tiger. I was just messing with you," he chuckled, "I'm not interested in you that way too, no offense, though,"

Well, that's a relief... So, my first impression of Jackson was indeed right, he is nice.

"None taken," she replied.

"Is this dick troubling you?" Adam laughed as he jump-ran to them and punched Jackson's back playfully.

"Well, I was messing with her, but now we're friends." he paused for a second, "Wait, we are, right?" he asked Argenta.

"Yeah, we are," She snorted as they high-fived.

"Guys! There's the notice board. We need to check our meeting spot!" Yara exclaimed.

We all stopped and walked towards the board.

Hurricane...VR room

Dragonfire...Gadget training compound

Armada...Observatory

"Cooooool"

We all turned to look at an overjoyed Argenta. It was hard to miss the glimmer in her eyes.

"What?" She asked, "I love observatories,"

"Nerd!" Nicholas teased her, and she playfully punched his arm.

"Hey!" He screamed, "That really hurt!"

"You should've thought about that before you teased me,"

Nicholas glared at her, in the most playful sense, ready to hit her back.

"Okay guys, you're not toddlers," Reyna intervened, "So, stop fighting like them,"

"Well, of course, she's not a toddler! They don't have that kind of strength!" Nicholas complained, making all of us laugh.

"Let's go to our dorms, now. Our meeting time is 1530 hrs," Argenta said.

"Okay, teacher," I teased and winked at her.

She chuckled and shook her head.

I could feel butterflies flutter in my stomach. I was so happy and proud that I was the reason for her laughter. She looked beautiful when she laughed.

"Oh, so he doesn't get punched?" Nick complained playfully.

She just rolled her eyes and started to walk away. I could see that she was fighting back a smile.

"That is so not fair!" He whined like a baby, clutching his arm.

We all just laughed at him as we started walking to our dorms.

Well, all these idiots will surely make my year memorable. I can already see us being the perfect squad...