A/N: As always, Trekkie and Xiaolin are my beautiful reviewers I must thank! I went through and edited A LOT of the story; some parts weren't well written AT ALL, and for that I apologize. As for the storyline, I'm keeping it the way it is. Nova is a weak character now, but that means there's a lot I can grow and develop with her. Clarification: Rayn is in his twenties; they are now JUNIORS not sophomores, the Academy is a 3-year school; when Roger and Nova first dated, I meant to write two MONTHS, not WEEKS; Nova has no feelings toward Rayn; Leslie heard a RUMOR Roger was going to be expelled, obviously it wasn't true, she said it so Jim would let his guard down; unless Roger is dead, I'm not getting rid of him.

Interstellar Academy

22: Lies

The year progressed rather slowly. Jim hurled himself into his work and his girlfriend. She'd been looking rather stressed lately and decided maybe some alone time would do them both good. His head was hurting from all his academics anyway.

Leslie waited for him inside the maze near the courtyard. She was fiddling with some loose brush, as if trying to even that particular part of the wall with the rest of it. She smiled sweetly at the sight of him, causing his lips to return the favor.

"Hey! Glad to see you. Sorry it's been so long, school-"

Leslie surprised him by kissing him, pulling away to giggle playfully. "I understand, you don't have to explain yourself to me."

He reached for her hand and led the way through the maze, walking aimlessly.

His relationship with Leslie was a lot easier and simpler than his last. However, the lack of any complications unnerved him. Leslie was open, funny, sweet, and extremely pretty. Which, most people wouldn't argue with. She seemed, to Jim, TOO perfect. At least with Nova, he knew her flaws and weaknesses. With Leslie, it was almost like she didn't have any.

"I think tonight we should so something really special," Leslie said, her blue eyes sparkling at her boyfriend. "Don't you agree?"

"Well, I made plans to…" He stared deep into her eyes, and something about them compelled him to comply with her wishes. "Sure, yeah. That sounds fun." Stav and Ruse could go on a dudes' night without him, right?

"Excellent! I knew you would…"

Something was lining between her words, but his mind wasn't working properly. He felt like a cloud of smoke muddled all thought process. He shook his head, as if the motion would force some gears to start moving.

"Is something wrong, Jim?" Leslie's eyes were so mesmerizing, he couldn't bring himself to worry her with his petty headaches.

"No, not at all. Actually, I feel perfect."

They walked awhile longer before coming to the other side of the maze.

"What did you want to do tonight? I was thinking a late night picnic, agreed?"

Even though picnics weren't particularly his thing, he nodded anyway.

Something was wrong here, but his brain didn't want to tell him what.

At his dorm, Jim lay on his bed, holding an ice compress.

"Hey, bro, get up. We got a ton of video games to play, and not enough time to play them," Ruse said, shaking Jim's leg.

"Uh, not tonight, guys. I told Leslie I'd meet up with her tonight. We're going on a picnic."

Stav and Ruse exchanged glances before glaring back at their friend. "You hate picnics."

"I know. But I couldn't tell her no." He sat up slowly, keeping the ice on his throbbing forehead. "Might not be out long anyway; I have the worst headache."

"That's what you get from being genius, Jim," Stav commented, winking at him. "Thank goodness I don't get headaches."

"That's because you don't have a brain," Jim scoffed, setting the ice on the glass coffee table.

Stav shoved a pillow at the boy. "You are so clever, Hawkins."

Standing up and heading to the bathroom, he brushed his hair back then grabbed his gray jacket and headed to the door. "I don't know when I'll be back, so I'll see you when I do, alright?"

"OK, bud, be safe." Ruse winked, Jim rolling his eyes at his friend's mild humor.

On the beach, Leslie was already there, her red hair in two short ponytails, a floral dress adorning her body. She looked up at Jim with those electric eyes, something inside him altering. His headache grew, unfortunately, so he focused his eyes elsewhere.

"Are you alright? You haven't been acting like yourself all day."

"Uh, yeah, I guess." He sat beside her and kissed her cheek. "Just a headache."

"Do you want to cancel until some other time?" Leslie asked, though her eyes begged him not to.

He listened. "No, of course not. This is our night."

His brain was screaming at him; every time he looked at Leslie, his mind felt like it would go from mush to this heavy rock just at the back of his skull.

"Good!" She turned around for a moment, revealing a picnic basket. "I worked so hard for tonight, I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I'll love it, Leslie."

They ate slowly, briefly distracted by their surroundings- and in Jim's case, a pounding headache- before the girl finally said, "This is so perfect. I haven't felt this blissful since I was in the Rosado galaxy."

Jim was munching on a sandwich, the act of digesting food helping his head, when he paused mid-bite, placing his sandwich on his lap. "When did you go there?"

"This past summer. It was… for some business."

Something inside Jim was trying to transmit an important message, but upon looking at Leslie, it disappeared.

They spent another hour or so together before Jim declared he had to head home.

"My head won't give me any rest. I'm sorry." He walked her to her dorm, as was gentlemanly, and then went back to his own, filling a new bag full of ice and laying down in bed again. His friends were still playing video games, and he tossed a throw pillow at them. "Please turn that down."

"Dude, you look like CRAP," Ruse commented, pausing the game to get a good look at his friend. "What's up? Too much fun with your girlfriend?"

"Actually, I ended up cutting all fun short. My head wouldn't quit pounding." He was quiet before he decided to ask, "Do you guys know anything about the Rosado galaxy?"

Ruse and Stav glanced at each other, then Stav said to Jim, almost frustratingly, "Well, Helena lives there."

Strings were knitting together in Jim's brain; thinking seemed to really hurt his head more. But something about this information seemed important.

"Leslie went there this past summer… for business…"

Stav crossed his arms. "For real? I heard after the string of thefts, they'd started closing down the area except to locals; it's not a big galaxy, so it was easy to do."

"Right." Jim's brain had enough thinking, and finally he fell asleep.

The next day, Jim met up with Leslie, who looked more energized than she did yesterday. "Slept well?"

"Absolutely! And yourself?" She pressed a palm to his forehead.

"Yeah, though I could have slept better." He walked toward his physical education class, almost forgetting to grab hold of his girlfriend's hand.

"Jim, I'm back here."

He looked back at as if he'd been hailed down by a stranger, then reached back for her hand nonchalantly before walking toward her class instead.

"That's better."

"So what business did you have in the Rosado galaxy? Just curious. I heard it was closed down after the thieving incidents." Why did it bother him so much?

"Oh, right, did I say this past summer? I meant the summer before… in my past." She grew nervous.

He'd caught her in a lie.

He glared down at her, his eyes narrowing. "Leslie, what-"

"Come on, boyfriend, you don't really wanna talk about this, do you?" She gazed longingly into his blue eyes, and any thoughts pertaining to their previous conversation vanished.

"No. No I don't. I'm sorry." He kissed her and went to class, his head pounding again.

What were they talking about again?