Nami ran her hands over her shirt to straighten out the little wrinkles and she adjusted the small bow in her hair. She was just outside the cafeteria once more, looking in at Chase and Ardwen. The pair had finally separated after Nami had picked herself up off the floor and gone back to her room. Now Ardwen was going through various papers and textbooks while Chase was surrounded by his fans once again.

It would be tough for Nami to get at Chase while he was in the middle of being adored. He would probably just assume she was caught up in the moment. That was no way to make a boy think you liked him when actually you were using him for making your real crush jealous.

She looked over at Ardwen. He was sitting alone, deep in his studies and unable to focus on anything else. The only time he moved was to adjust his glasses back up his nose as they slid off.

In between the two boys in the middle of the room was Raul, who was busy watching both of them at once while meditating. While his eyes were closed everyone knew he was completely aware of everything in the room and was ready to strike if anything were to happen.

Nami started to calculate between the three options in the room. Chase was untouchable at the moment. Ardwen was locked up in books. Raul was deep in meditation and probably never talked to girls anyways. But Chase and Ardwen seemed to fight more than Porter and Chase, so what if Nami used a double jealousy approach? To pretend to like Ardwen so as to make Chase jealous enough to like her so as to make Porter love her so she could marry him and the two could be happy forever.

The conniving girl's eyes glittered as she thought of herself twirling around in a white dress, with a very manly-looking Porter in a tuxedo there to catch her as she fell from dizziness and the couple giggled a little in a chapel devoted to St. Enia.

Ardwen hardly looked up from his work as Nami took a seat beside him and batted her eyelashes a bit. "Whatcha doing Ardwen? Looks important."

"Studying up on some different battle tactics. This particular page is devoted to the Argen Flip movement devised by General Vinnius Argen in 2153. I think it would have been helpful during the battle at Easley. We really should have been more prepared." He held up a different paper for Nami. "This one covers medical procedures when dealing with burns produced by the recoil of using chi. It's a serious condition pilots deal with."

Nami's eyes were drooping and she very nearly fell asleep listening to Ardwen talk. "Yes that's really interesting Ardwen. Real interesting." She looked around the room and noted that Chase was glancing over their way. A wicked grin played across her face for a second. She pressed closer to Ardwen and wrapped her arms around his own. "You know you were really brave and smart in that battle."

Ardwen blushed a little and fixed his glasses sheepishly. "Oh well I mean...I'm just doing my job as the squad leader and all."

"Hey there Nami." Chase had just sat down on the other side of the scheming girl and was giving out his (patent-pending) smile.

Nami felt a little sickened inside by the cocky ace's moves but she sucked it up and turned to look at him. "Hi Chase!" she said with an over-pronunciation of her false excitement.

"I just couldn't help but notice that you were hanging out with this dude when you could be basking in the glow of a battle-hardened champion." Chase looked past Nami at Ardwen and saw the young man grinding his teeth.

"Yes Chase, I was there too," Ardwen spat. "I remember just how useful you were in that particular battle. You really gave it to that Ramirez character. Now if you'll excuse us, I believe Nami and I were discussing war tactics and we were having quite a nice time." The sarcasm of Ardwen's voice nearly dripped out of his mouth.

"Ha, with a nerd like you? Isn't this the first girl you've ever talked to?" Chase countered. "Come on Nami, I'll show you what a real good time is." The (somewhat) suave student stood up and held out his hand for the little girl and she very nearly took it before Ardwen got up instead.

"Now hold on a minute hot shot. Not every girl feels the need to fall all over you, you know. She seems rather happy with me."

"Oh I doubt that very much Mr. Glasses." Somehow, silently, Raul had appeared as a looming figure between the two as Chase finished his insult. The intimidating student was already prepared to keep the pair apart were another fight to break out.

"You know I'm getting real tired of feeling all this hot air blowing around." Ardwen said. "Why don't we settle this with a bet?"

"A date bet? I've never lost one of those. I'd be careful if I were you." Chase struck a pose and a cheer went up from his supporters who he had left behind at his table.

"You're on! Let's go to the chapel then and make it a formal bet in front of the statue of St. Enia!"

"Fine."

"Fine."

The twin fighters marched out of the room with Raul keeping tabs on them to make sure there wasn't a sudden brawl. Nami was left sitting at the table, totally appalled at what was going on. "B-but, but I didn't...I don't want to....I only was...with the..." The little girl let out a long sigh and folded her arms across the table, laying her chin down on top of the self-made pillow. "Why are boys so hard to deal with? I can't get the one I want but the two I would never think of are going to kill each other for me." She let out another sigh. "I give up."

"They're not as impossible as you'd think you know." Gretta sat down beside Nami with her lunch, a simple sandwich, and started to eat. "Those two will have any excuse to beat each other."

"Ugh, that's not quite what I wanted though Gretta."

"Eh, what can you do about it?" The engineer took another bite out of the sandwich and looked around the room. "This place is fascinating. I mean it's so much fun to be allowed to work in the hangar bays on all these neat machines but then it's almost just as fun to watch all of you just try to talk to each other. Nothing is this complicated in Easley."

"Maybe you're right. We do suck at talking to each other. I should come with you to study some Goliaths. Feels like these battlesuits are the only things that make sense anymore, but after seeing what Porter did I think I have so much more to learn."

"You can always come try to figure it out at the hangar. I'm there all the time anyways. I really only come out to eat and sleep."

"Thanks Gretta. How are the repairs coming along?"

"It looks like all of yours are fully operational now that we restored the wiring. The White Storm is going to take some time to fix though. It took quite a beating in that battle and its old frame doesn't make it any easier for us to work on it."

"Well I'm sure I'll come around soon to look at it. For now though I think I need to go prepare myself for the dating war that is to come." Nami took her leave and slowly trudged down towards the church, hoping to get there before she had to be at her next class.

* * * * *

Porter sat outside his room and stared at the wall opposite. He wasn't really sure what he should be thinking about at the moment. There was a blank space in his mind where thoughts should be forming. Maybe it was the weight of the forthcoming training or the battle had finally caught up with him or perhaps he just couldn't figure out what to do next for his lunch period before the next class with Mr. Toriyama.

He heard a soft noise coming down the hall and looked to see Riya walking along, looking as though she were trying to tread on water. Her face was panicky and stricken with fear, and she continuously looked over her shoulder.

When her eyes met with Porter's they did the opposite to what he expected and lit up. She dashed the remaining distance between them and stopped only to catch her breath in front of him. "Oh Porter I'm so glad I found you." Her voice came out in its usual soft whisper, with a bit of a tremble to it from her run.

"I...umm...am glad you did too?" Porter mentally slapped himself for that stupid thing to say. He was freaking out internally. Why would Riya be suddenly happy to see him? His fame was catching up already? No, Riya was there for the whole thing. Maybe she had had a sudden turn and fallen in love with him for no particular reason, like a romance book. Porter shook his head. One minute he can't think of anything, the next one he is filling his head with the dumbest ideas imaginable.

Riya pushed past him into his room and dragged him along behind, letting the door slide closed automatically. The light flickered on above, illuminating a very dull area that had used and fresh clothes strewn about. Upon seeing his space with Riya in it, Porter panicked and began furiously cleaning up.

"Porter I'm scared. It feels like someone is watching me all the time, following me."

"Oh yes, I'm well aware of how that feels." Nami's face flashed through Porter's mind for a moment.

"No but I think they want to hurt me! There's just something so sinister about it. But there's never anybody around. I think I might be going crazy."

Porter felt a surge of great strength and confidence course through his body upon hearing that Riya was in danger. He placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Don't worry Riya; I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thank you Porter. I just don't know what to do. It's just...I don't know, something is so scary about it. But maybe with you around I can be safe."

The two stood there for a moment in the room with Porter's hand still on the terrified teen. And then a curious thought flitted through his mind. He was alone in his room with a girl. Not just a girl, but the girl of his dreams. What were you supposed to do when you were alone in a room with a girl? That had never happened before to him. And what would anyone think if they saw the two of them leave the room together? Or if he didn't do anything to her? What move could you make on a girl?!

Riya pulled away from Porter's hand, which had gotten pale, clammy, and shaky from his nerves. She slipped back out the door and gave him a smile over her shoulder. "We should probably go to class then Porter. You walk behind me, just to be safe."

And with that she was gone and Porter collapsed on his bed for a moment with a massive release of tension. He sat up and shook out his hands. So now he had signed up for crazy training and for personal bodyguard duty. Just what was going on around here?

A/N: Things are heating up at school almost as fast as they are getting weirder! Something sinister chasing after Riya? Or just a crazy stunt to get some attention?