Thank you all for your patience. I have the next chapter on the way; it should be up by tomorrow night!
The weeks went by quickly for Miranda, who fell easily into her routine of school—Mondays were the busiest, a forty-five minute period for each class she had: advanced tech, biotic conditioning, geometry, physics, lunch, choir, English, study of Alliance Council Space Systems
"Miss Lawson."
Miranda turned around, finding Samara calmly looking down at her—she stood ramrod straight and looked her in the eye (as nervous as that made her,) asking, "Yes ma'am?"
"How long have you been biotically trained?"
Miranda blinked, and then thought about it for a few seconds. "Since… well, since I was fitted for my amp, ma'am. My father got the best instructors for me. So I'd say about thiiirteen years?" She shrugged. "I apologise for not knowing exactly."
"Quite alright, Miss Lawson. I have merely taken notice that you are very gifted with your biotics—comparable to that of the Shepard twins." Those ice blue eyes, sharper and clearer than her own, scrutinized her; Miranda used all of her willpower not to fidget under the gaze.
"I think you ought to take on one of the upperclassmen, Miss Lawson." Miranda's eyebrows flew upwards, and she looked up at Samara in surprise.
"Ma'am…?"
"I think you would do well against several of them. Might put them in their place. A few are getting… Arrogant."
"Why not have that Shepard girl go against them?" It was an honest question. Helene could soundly beat all of them, probably at the same time.
Samara chuckled. "I said put them in their place, Miss Lawson, not put them in the infirmary. She is a force of nature, and forgets that she must control herself, as she is not fighting her brother."
Miranda laughed weakly, looking at the simulator nervously, then at the crowd of upperclassmen—and her eye fell on one particular boy. He had a pompadour, a slight five o'clock shadow, and was sneering at another classmate, who looked very uncomfortable.
The corners of Miranda's lips quirked downwards.
"Ms. T'Soni, who is that boy there? With the big hair?"
"Ah, that would be Kaidan, Kaidan Alenko. He and Ms. Shepard were your biotic demonstrators on the first day of school. He is exemplary with his biotics."
Miranda turned to her and said bravely, "I want to fight him."
Samara's brows rose imperceptibly. "Are you absolutely certain, Miss Lawson? Mr. Alenko might not be at the standards of the Shepard twins, but I rarely, if ever, allow anyone to take him on, even someone with your talents."
"Please, ma'am." Miranda looked deep into Samara's eyes; the girl did not flinch, she merely stood straighter as Samara searched her face for any fear.
"Helene! Come here." Helene bounded up, standing at attention.
"Yes ma'am?" Her eyes wandered to Miranda and Lena quirked a half-smile at her, before becoming serious and paying Samara the attention due to her.
"Please escort Miss Lawson to the locker rooms and help her get prepared for the simulator." She slipped away from them and went over to Kaidan.
And now they were alone. Miranda stared warily at Helene, who stretched up, up, up, clasping her hands together and standing up on her tip-toes, her gym blouse riding up her torso and revealing a smooth expanse of muscles, dotted with freckles. Miranda looked away quickly, realising she was wondering whether those freckles also trailed down to her legs.
"Let's go," Lena said, rolling her neck, motioning for Miranda to follow. They trudged into the girls' locker room, where Miranda was led up to a locker no one had been able to open—with a swipe of Shepard's finger, however, it opened up to her, revealing armour.
"Alright, Lawson, let's get you into some armour, hm?" Lena began picking through them, looking at the sizes. "What size are you?"
"I'm sorry?" Miranda's brows furrowed.
"Yeah, what size are you? Your gym uniform size?"
"Oh… I'm not sure, actually."
"C'mere," Lena motioned forward and Miranda tentatively stepped forward. "Turn around." Miranda did as she was bid, and shuddered when she felt fingers brush her amp, feeling her blouse tugged downward.
"You're a medium. M'kay…" Lena let go of the blouse and turned back; Miranda sat down on the bench, holding her head—on occasion, there were neurological oddities that occurred when one's amp was touched. Hers was nausea.
Lena turned back with a chestplate, and immediately went over to her, setting the plate on the floor. She kneeled in front of Miranda.
"Hey, you okay?"
Miranda weakly shook her head, stilling it immediately. That had just made the nausea worse.
"What's wrong?" It was odd to hear that snappy, obnoxious voice sounding so gentle and soft.
"You touched my amp," Miranda mumbled. "Made me nauseous."
She felt Helene leave her side, then jumped when her hair was pushed aside and a damp cloth applied to her amp—she felt her nausea leave her almost instantaneously, and pulled a paper towel off her neck, while Shepard went back to picking out her armour.
"I have panic attacks when people touch my amp," she said quietly. "I found putting a cool, damp cloth on your amp help soothe it."
Miranda quietly watched her as she continued pulling out the armour, motioning for her to stand, and watching as Helene expertly attached each piece onto her—except her thigh plates. Those she told Miranda to strap on herself.
"Don't want to get too friendly with you," she shrugged. "I'm gonna pull your hair back, is that alright?"
Miranda shifted uncomfortably in the armour, gingerly sitting down. "Um, go ahead?" Why did she even have to wear armour? Samara never had them put it on in class.
Helene went over to her locker and produced a brush and a hair tie, carefully brushing the other girl's hair up into a tight ponytail, making sure it was secure.
"How do you move in this," Miranda complained, standing and taking a few slow steps.
"Believe me, with Alenko around, you're going to want that armour on." She slammed her locker closed with a little more force than necessary. "I'm refereeing the match. C'mon." She grabbed Miranda's hand and pulled her out.
Miranda's palm still tingled where Shepard's hand had been even after she'd been let go of, watching Helene walk up to the platform supported by its own dark energy field, and watch it float towards one end of the simulator.
She swallowed hard and entered the sim; it was time to face off with Alenko.
