("Let's go back to the start.
Running in circles, coming up tails.
Heads on a science apart.
Nobody said it was easy.
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy.
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Take me back to the start.")

- Coldplay, "The Scientist"

August - December, 2013

"You need to learn that there are other people, people you work with."

Maya wrapped her hands in tape, shaking them out a little before tying her long blonde hair up as tight as it would go.

"Collaborative training missions are supposed to be where you learn how to work with other people."

She moved over to one of the punching bags, winding herself up as she moved her torso, feeling each muscle.

"You're not supposed to do it all alone, Hart."

"I work best alone," Maya muttered under her breath as she pulled her fist back and sent it pummeling into the bag.

She couldn't get her commanding officer's voice out of her head, berating her for failing the training mission, declaring that if she didn't learn she would never be a field agent, and she would fade into the distance like all the other dropouts.

Maya Hart was not a dropout.

Maya was sick and tired of people underestimating her, pitying her for her childhood. Pity was the worst reaction and she hated it. Sure, her mother had been a drug addict. Sure, she had dropped her off at military school when Maya was twelve. And then, yeah, her mother relinquished her parental rights without even telling her.

But it had all made Maya stronger. She didn't need anyone else to take care of her. She didn't need anyone, period. She was better off alone.

Which was why she had blown up at her commanding officer for telling her she had failed the collaborative training mission.

As punishment, Maya was delegated to an hour more in the gym. Which she didn't much see as a punishment, if she was being honest.

Well, until that sickly sweet girl walked in.

Maya had seen Riley Matthews around the academy; she walked with a skip in her step and a smile on her face. She was innocent, pretty, happy, incompetent. She obviously wasn't cut out for the elite operative agent academy that Maya had been recruited for from her military school after one year, and Maya had no idea how this girl had gotten in.

"Hi," Riley said, approaching her and grabbing the other side of the punching bag to hold it steady for Maya. (Maya punched harder).

"What do you want, Matthews?" Maya grunted, her jaw clenching as she focused on throwing her body weight into the hits.

"I came to find you," Riley replied, and Maya rolled her eyes.

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"I'm your new partner," Riley explained. "Assigned by our CO."

"Oh, great," Maya groaned. "My worst nightmare."

Riley ignored the insult. "He said that you've got a shell that's holding you back, and I can break through it."

Yeah, that sounded like her CO. Insults and criticism under the guise of advice and teaching.

"I know you don't like me," Riley informed her, and Maya pursed her lips.

"Now why would you think that?"

"You don't like anyone," Riley deadpanned.

Maya couldn't help but laugh. "Fair point," she admitted, punching the bag again.

"You know, I know who you are, your story," Riley said.

"Oh yeah," Maya blew hair off her forehead, "what's my story?"

"Your mom was a drug addict, she sent you to military school, and our CO recruited you from there," Riley said.

Unfortunately, that was Maya's story. "How did you figure that out?"

"It's a pretty common story in operations," Riley said.

"How many other kids' mom's relinquished their rights to be a parent?" Maya shot back.

"More than you think," Riley said softly. She peered around the bag. "Strength is born through hardship, and no one knows that better than a student in operations academy."

Maya snorted, pausing before hitting again. "And what was your hardship?"

"My mother hates me," Riley stated matter-of-factly.

Maya stared at her for a second, before nodding. "So did mine."

"Just like twins, then," Riley observed, and Maya snorted.

"Oh yeah, we had the same life." She punched the bag, hard, hearing Riley grunt. "One of us grew up with a mother who was never there and a father who abandoned her, and one of us grew up with a stay-at-home military father and a mother who's the director of the operations academy. But, you know, same thing."

Riley's face peered out from around the bag, and Maya seriously considered punching her perfect face right there. "My life isn't as great as you think it is."

"Really," Maya drawled sarcastically. "I'm sure you've had it real rough. Things must have just been awful for you; how did you ever survive?"

"You wanna know my story?" Riley offered.

"Not particularly," Maya returned, throwing another punch at the bag.

She was satisfied when Riley didn't say anything else, until she heard the gym doors slam and realized Riley had left.

If there was one thing that Lucas Friar hated more than anything, it was roommates.

He dropped his duffle bag down on the bed, and stared across the room at the brown headed guy who was sitting on the other bed. The guy didn't even look up.

Lucas couldn't help but ask, "Your name?"

"Josh," Josh said, still not looking up from whatever it was he was reading.

"Lucas," Lucas said back, when Josh didn't ask.

"We're not going to be friends," Josh said.

"Good," Lucas replied.

He pulled out the four pairs of clothes he had been given when he arrived at the academy, and shoved them into a dresser drawer. Next came his photograph of his sister, folded in half, which he placed on the desk. Toiletries went into the box on top of the dresser, and then he was completely unpacked.

"Where did you come from?" Lucas asked, itching to know.

"We're not going to be friends," Josh repeated, finally looking up.

"I want to know where they'll send you back when this doesn't work out," Lucas replied, and he saw what he almost thought was a smile flash over Josh's face.

"Good old fashioned nepotism," he said. "My mom is the Dean. Where did you come from?"

"Prison," Lucas declared, and Josh nodded.

"You kill someone?"

"None of your business," Lucas said, and the two of them dropped into silence.

Riley made her way through the front lobby of the school, her footsteps echoing around the high ceilings. Her phone buzzed, and she pulled out to see the time, and the message.

9:42pm.

Director Matthews: You missed bed check in.

Riley huffed.

Riley: My CO told me to find Maya Hart.

Director Matthews: Not an excuse. I'm tired of getting notifications of rule cuts from you and your brother.

Riley: Yes Ma'am.

She shoved her phone back into her pocket, and crossed her arms as she headed towards the living quarters. If her mom wasn't so strict, she would have told her how she really felt - she was sick of being monitored more than a 'regular' kid.

Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply to calm herself, and looked down at her heart monitor on her wrist.

121 bpm.

She was a failure. One of the first lessons they were taught is to control your emotions. Emotions were weak, and useless, and they took attention and effort away from the mission at hand. And they were supposed to see everything as a mission.

Right now, her mission was to not get told off by her mother tomorrow.

She swallowed, counted her breaths until her bpm went down, and stepped onto the elevator.

Their wristbands were the first things they were given upon being admitted to the academy, but Riley had been given hers when she was eight. She had been monitored and trained and taught, but she never got the disapproving glare off of her back. She wasn't like her brother, she was too emotional and naive. At least, for her mother.

She was weak. She was a failure. She was not cut out for operations, but her mother had forced her into operations academy.

"No child of mine will be in Administrations or Communications."

Topanga Matthews was a success, she won at everything, she was perfect at everything. And maybe her brother Josh had gotten their mom's genes, but Riley had gotten her dad's. The feeling genes. The ones that made her weak, in the eyes of her mother.

Her mom had tried to pound into Riley's head the ideas of discipline, and focus, and seeing the world as it was - cold, ruthless. But while she had been growing up, her dad had been there to protect her.

She knew her mom had just been waiting until she turned thirteen and would be entering the operations academy, where she would live. She had been waiting until her dad couldn't shelter her from the world, and then she would push Riley harder.

Honestly, Riley missed being twelve.

She knew all her peers saw her as naive and useless, and the result of nepotism. They knew she never would have gotten into this school on her own, and she knew it too. She didn't even want to be here.

She just wished her mom could see that

Josh rolled over and sat up, glancing at the clock to see that it was 5am. Of course it was 5am. That was when he woke up, every day.

He didn't even need an alarm. His body clock was set to wake up at 5am, every day.

He moved to turn on the light, but then noticed Lucas on the other side of the room, and groaned internally. Before he had a roommate, he would turn on the lights and begin his morning, but obviously that wasn't his roommate's schedule.

Josh really wanted to just turn on the light, and not care.

But unfortunately, he had a conscience.

He got up and rummaged in his dresser quietly, pulling on a shirt and changing his pants. He brushed his teeth and grabbed his bag, and headed out the door towards the gym.

He went straight for the light panel, and flipped all the right switches, watching as the lights slowly blinked on across the large room. Then he startled as he saw a short girl with blonde hair on the other side of the gym, newly visible in the light.

The girl looked up at the lights, and then over to Josh. She shook her head and turned back to the weights.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Josh called across the gym.

"Why the hell do you care?" The girl scowled at him, as Josh got closer and dropped his bag on the floor with a thump.

"It's 5am," he stated, crossing his arms. He was frustrated, he liked having the gym to himself in the early mornings.

"Then you shouldn't be here," the girl said.

He studied her, and her identity clicked in his mind. "You're Maya Hart."

"Thanks for telling me," Maya replied sarcastically. "I love being mansplained to about my own identity."

"You're my sister's new partner," Josh stated, moving over to a shelf and grabbing a set of barbells.

"You don't say," Maya replied.

"So why are you in the gym at 5am?" Josh asked.

"Why are you?" Maya replied, glaring at him.

"I wake up early to work out alone, and apparently, you've taken that away from me," Josh replied crossly.

"Well, get used to disappointment," Maya declared.

Josh glared over at her; he disliked this girl more and more as the minutes went by. "You're a real piece of work, huh."

"You know, in order for you to insult me," Maya punched the bag, hard, "I'd have to value your opinion. Nice try though."

"I'm not insulting you," Josh said. "I'm describing you."

"Never heard that one before," Maya drawled sarcastically. "Are you always this stupid, or is today a special occasion?"

Josh could feel his anger rising in his chest, but he turned over his wrist to see his heartbeat at 98 bpm. Picking up his bag and dumbbells, he said, "I'll be on my side of the gym. Stay out of it."

A/N: I finally got a chapter of Nodus Tollens out! Yay! I've been working on pieces of this story for weeks, because I'm so invested in the Joshaya cliche storyline in this book. It's gonna be the enemies to lovers trope, in case you couldn't tell!

Background: Josh and Riley are siblings, in this first chapter Josh is 15 and Riley is 13 (the year kids enter this academy). Maya is also 13, she was recruited about 2 months ago, after a year of being in military academy. Lucas is 14, he was recruited from juvie (I'll go into why eventually). This chapter is set about 10-15 years before the first chapter (back to the beginning).

This will also be fairly drama-free Rucas, but the Joshaya will probably have more of a development. Farkle is in this story too, he comes in later!

Please review! I need feedback to know if this is actually good or if I'm just all in my head.

Kisses,

C