Ch. 21

The next morning, Sam was sitting at lunch with four other teenagers that weren't part of his team. Lately, he had been forcing himself to talk to other people besides his friends, in an attempt to be social. Luckily his team had become friends with team WILW, or team Willow. The leader was a girl named Willow. She fought using gloves that froze anything they touched. Her and Robin got along especially well, bonding over their icy natures. Her teammates were named Iggy, Leith, and Will. Iggy, her partner, was quiet like Harmony, but even more so. Sam didn't thing he had ever heard him speak, preferring to let his twin axes speak for him. Leith was what Sam assumed others would call a nerd. He was a straight A student who never missed an assignment or failed a test. He had a large sniper rifle that he was deadly accurate with, but in an up close fight, Leith lost pretty much every time. Will was Willow's twin brother, and had a completely opposite attitude. Like Robin, Willow was often harsh and serious. Will didn't seem to have a care in the world. Even his weapon was comical. It was a giant hammer that squeaked when it hit something, like a child's toy. Sam wasn't really sure how much use Will would be in a stealth mission, but he was fun to be around. Will was currently explaining to Sam what a girlfriend was, as none of the girls last night had been able tell him. Paige and Robin had tried to bring Harmony out of her shelter of blankets all night, instead of helping him.

"So you called Harmony your girlfriend, and she blushed, kissed you on the cheek, and hid under her sheets?" Will asked.

"Um, yeah, pretty much. Is that normal?"

"No, not really buddy," Will said, taking another bite of his waffle.

"Sam, from what I can analyze about your team, the girls all seem to have similar reactions when interacting with you. Increased heart rate, flushing of the face, shortness of breath, and a need for your attention," Leith said, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"Kinda like Willow when talking to you four eyes," Will joked. Willow fumed in her seat. Even Sam could see that the girl had a massive crush on Leith, even though she refused to admit it. Leith didn't react, just went back to studying Sam.

"So Sam, do you know why the girls act this way? Do you know why Harmony did what she did?" Sam shook his head no.

"Let him figure it out for himself," Willow said. "Or, better yet, let the girls tell him themselves when they're ready." WILW kept bickering among themselves, except for Iggy of course. The rest of team SPHR showed up later, carrying trays of food. Paige and Robin glared at Harmony throughout the meal. At some point during a break in the argument, Will managed to explain the Paige and Robin that Sam didn't actually know what a girlfriend was, and that he thought it was a friend who was a girl. When they heard this, the two girls stopped staring daggers at Harmony, and instead started chastising Sam for being such an idiot.

When the bell rang, signaling the next round of classes, Sam was grateful for an excuse to leave the table. Constantly being surrounded by seven people made him uncomfortable, not to mention it felt like everyone was always listening to him, trying to see what he would do. Unfortunately, the next class was combat training, which meant all first year students would be there, which meant more staring.

Before Sam could step through the doors of the gym, however, a balled up piece of paper hit him in the side of the hood. Looking for the source of the projectile, Sam spotted a flash of gold disappear behind the wall, which meant only one thing. Motioning for his team to follow, Sam and the girls followed the gold streak, only to find Yang leaning against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" Robin scolded the woman. "You have a class to teach!"

"Relax ice princess. VB Jr. and I have something we've been working on. I couldn't wait until after classes, so I'm here now. Judging by the blank looks on your faces, I'm assuming lover boy over there didn't tell you yet." A round of nods confirmed the teachers guess. "Okay, well, he'll have to explain to you on the road, because something has come up. Sam, take your team to these coordinates right now, and snoop around a bit." Yang pulled a piece of paper out from her shirt, which made Sam very uncomfortable. Gingerly taking it from Yang, he stuffed it into his pocket.

"Right now? We still have classes!" Robin complained.

"I'm game to ditch. Right Harmony!" Paige said, holding her hand up for the shorter girl to high five. She didn't get one.

"Already took care of that for you. As far as the records show, I have the four of you down here for emergency training that will take all day." Yang clapped her hands together and smiled. "Now get out of here and head towards the coordinates. Bye." Then Yang dashed back around the corner and into the gym, leaving the four teenagers alone and very confused. Above them, something metal groaned loudly before snapping, and team WILW fell out of a vent and to the ground.

"Guys?!" Sam said, startled by appearance of the other team.

"We saw you four disappear, and wanted to know what's up," Will said, rubbing the back of his head. "So, where are we headed?"

"I've already hacked into the schools mainframe and cleared our schedules," Leith said in a monotone voice. "Attendance will not be an issue." The seven other teenagers all stared at Sam, waiting for him to speak. Since when was he elected leader? Sighing defeat, Sam pulled out the coordinates from his pocket and plugged them into his scroll. The location that showed up on the screen was an abandoned warehouse in town near the docks.

"I'll explain the deal on the way. Right now, we have to stow away on an airship and get to the docks," he said.

"I'm a great stowaway!" Paige said. Robin groaned.

"Fine. Let's just go."