Okay, this is a long a/n, but please bear with me. I have some important information.

First off, yes, I am writing another Starship fanfic. This one will be multi-chaptered an Junior-centric. I had been tossing around some ideas for another Starship fanfic after writing Feliz Navidad, You Idiota, and I decided I wanted to do something Junior-centric. I began to browse some Junior fanfics to get some ideas. And guess what? There's only four! Well, five now. As much as I love TUp, I believe that some other pairings/characters deserve notice. (I'm doing a Tootsie fanfic next; he only has 2!)

Personally, I think that all the characters that live can be paired with other living characters, so instead of pairing Junior up with a character from Starship, I decided to do a rare OC pairing. This will be the first one I've seen in the Starship fandom.

You didn't have to read that, but you do have to read this because I need to do a bit of explaining. Originally, this was supposed to be the second chapter. The first chapter was supposed to be a collection of short little bits that explained Junior and Nina's (OC) relationship. I got very frustrated while writing it, though. I decided to skip it and explain all the important details here.

The first one is that Junior transfered into Nina's kindergarten class in the middle of the year so his dad (Dr. Space-Claw, incase you've forgotten) could be closer to a G. L. E. E. ground base. This seems minor, but it is important.

Secondly, Nina's mother has cancer, which is hinted at in the original chapter. This is also very important.

The rest of it is explained in a paragraph near the end. Now, I apologize ahead of time if this first chapter seems rushed or undeveloped. As I said, this was originally written with another chapter before it. I swear it gets better later on. The first chapters always seem to be the hardest to write... Well, I'll stop keeping you here and let you get on with the story!

Chapter 1: Textbook Projectiles

Nina's POV

Nina Wesley stood anxiously outside of the manor after ringing the doorbell. She had been both honored and perplexed when Junior had called her at five a.m. on a Saturday asking her to come over. It had taken her about an hour to make herself presentable and get her dad to drive her over. In that hour, Nina had gone over all the possible reasons for Junior to call her at such an early time. She couldn't find the answer, though.

The door swung open. Junior stood in the doorframe, and he looked as tired as Nina felt. His eyes were blood-shot, and his chocolate brown hair that he always took so much care of was a messy clump. Junior winced; he knew Nina was inspecting his unkempt hair and wrinkled clothes.

"Hey," Junior grimaced, staring at his feet.

Nina shook her head. "What happened?" she demanded.

"I was working on something last night," he muttered.

Nina frowned. "We haven't had any projects or homework in the past month; we've just been studying for finals."

"That's kind of what I've been doing," Junior admitted. He sighed and stepped back so Nina could walk in. "I'd say make yourself at home, but you're here often enough to have this be your home."

Nina stared at Junior as she slipped by him. Lame jokes, not caring about his appearance… what's going on here? Junior's strange behavior was really worrying her. It's probably nothing major.

As Nina walked into the manor, though, she realized something was very wrong. It was messy. Books were open and papers were strewn across the living room. Eraser shavings coated the floor, and bits of broken pencil lead dotted the room. Junior was one of the most clean person she knew, and the sight of his living room in such disarray was troubling.

"Don't worry; it's better than my room," Junior assured her from behind.

Nina turned and stared at him. He was wearing that half confident half witty smile. "What's going on here?"

"I've been studying," Junior explained, shoving his hands into his pockets as he so often did.

"For what?" Nina pressed.

"Finals," Junior admitted.

"Why? Nobody studies for finals!" It was true; the finals were usually pretty easy and didn't affect your grade too much.

"I kind of have to," Junior answered.

"Why?" Nina repeated. "They don't care about your final grades at the high school."

"I'm not going to the high school," Junior announced at last.

Nina was even more confused. "What do you mean?"

"My dad wants me to join the Academy." Junior drew a hand through his messy hair and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"As in the Starship Ranger Academy?" Nina wasn't actually too surprised; Junior's dad was a Starship Ranger, and he had made it clear on many occasions that he wanted Junior to be one too.

Junior nodded. "I have to improve my grades if I want to get in, though."

Nina cocked an eyebrow. "Why does a Starship Ranger need to know the Pythagorean Theorem, though? Don't they just go around shooting robots?"

"Well, there are multiple branches that you can go into after you finish four basic years at the Academy," Junior explained. "Like majors in college. There are certain requirements for those, including your middle school grades. So I need to study."
"Did you wake me up to help you study?" Nina demanded.

Junior gave her a half-cheeky half-embarrassed smile. "Sorry?"

Nina sighed. "I forgive you, but I still don't see why this couldn't have waited, like, five hours."

"My dad wanted it to get done now," Junior explained. He moved some stuff off the couch and sat down.

Nina plopped down beside him. "What were you studying?"

Junior fished out a color-coded copy of the Periodic Table. "This."

Nina looked over the sheet. She had never cared for science too much, and she wasn't sure why their teacher had insisted on making them learn the first fifty elements. She pretended to examine the sheet and look for a question to ask, but Nina was thinking about Junior. She respected his decision to try and get into the Academy, and she would be happy for him if he did, but she couldn't stop thinking about what it would do to their friendship. Would they be able to keep in touch, or would this be one of the last times Nina saw him?

Nina must've looked worried because Junior sighed. "We'll still see each other on breaks."

Nina rolled her eyes. "That's very reassuring."

Junior frowned. "What?"

"You'll have new friends you'll want to hang out with during the breaks. Friends you'll want to hang out with more than me," Nina explained.

Junior shook his head. "There's no friend I want to hang out with more than you."

Nina felt her heart flutter slightly for reasons she couldn't understand. She swallowed the sudden butterflies in her stomach. She covered up the sudden feeling of… something with a smirk.

"I'm your only friend right now," she reminded him.

Junior laughed. "True, true."

"Well, I'm not going to risk losing my only friend to a group of pompous pricks like the G. L. E. E.," Nina announced. Junior chuckled slightly. "So there's only one solution."

Junior frowned at her. "What?"

"I'm going to have to go to the Academy with you," Nina replied.

Junior's entire face lit up. "Really?"

Nina nodded. "I'm sure I can get in, and I'm not going to let my best friend become a Starship Ranger without me."

Junior hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much, Nina. I was worried I was going to go through the same thing that happened in Kindergarten."

Nina laughed. "I'm sure you're not going to kick anybody out of their seat this time."

Both of them laughed as they remembered Junior's first day in Kindergarten where he had accidentally sat in Nina's spot. Nina had been so angry, and the two had been bitter rivals afterwards until about third grade when some fifth graders had been teasing Nina. When they pushed her into the mud, it had been Junior who had come to her rescue and scared the bullies off by telling them his dad was a Starship Ranger.

Junior smiled at her. "Well, you should probably fill out an application. The deadline for them is tomorrow."

"What?" Nina yelped. She sprang off of the couch. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? I need to print it out! I need to fill it out! I need to-"

Junior just laughed as Nina dashed around the room, looking for a pencil and a computer. Nina crashed into a stack of heavy textbooks, and one of them landed on her foot. Junior practically choked himself as he tried to resist laughing. Nina shot a glare at him as she hopped around, clutching one foot.

"This isn't funny," she muttered.

Junior was still laughing, though. Nina smirked as an idea formed in her head. She bent down and picked up the text book that had fallen on her foot. She chucked it at Junior, and it hit him in the knee. He kept laughing, though, oblivious to the pain.

Nina glared at him. He's lucky I like him, Nina decided. Or I wouldn't have missed his head.