As I'm writing this, I haven't left the house in almost three weeks and I think the insanity is creeping on me since I have four online exams that I still have to do.

As I'm publishing this chapter, I can confirm that this chapter was written back somewhere between late-March and mid-April.

Year Two: Pushing Limits

Operations' Weight Room B - 9:31 AM

James walks into his Operations class. This time, he stops at the door after stepping to the side because he has to make sure it's only his class and not another merge with Weight Class A. He scans the room: there's the right number of students for one class, including Merida, Ashton, and Orchid doing their warm-ups. His professor is talking to another classmate. Everything's fine except for Merida, Ashton, and Orchid now staring at him.

"Fishel told me everything about last term when I was absent," his prof tells James. When did he get right next to him? "Next time you're told to run, don't run back to your dorm."

"Sir, I had a bounty on my head," James explains.

"Everyone did."

James smiles before walking to the centre of the room where everyone's doing their warm-ups. He approaches Merida, Ashton, and Orchid despite them giving him a weird face. He could talk to anyone else in the room but he doesn't care enough about them to play a round of icebreakers.

"What?" James asks them once he gets tired of their stares. He can guess the reason but he's too sleep-deprived to figure it out.

"How have you been since your breakup?" Orchid asks.

"Fine," James responds. Knew it. "Ask Merida. We saw each other over the break."

"I still barely care about your well-being," Merida says with a snarky smile.

James mocks her smile. He doesn't need this now more than ever.

"Merida said you can't even look at Angela without whimpering," Ashton says.

"Not true!" James exclaims. He only whimpers about her when he's alone. "I'm fine."

James puts in his AirPods the moment the prof blows their whistle as they start to run. James speeds ahead of his friends because he doesn't want to talk about Angela. He doesn't want to talk about how he fucked up because he doesn't know how to fix it yet. If he tells Angela that he wants her back, then she might start making sacrifices for him that will hinder her and he doesn't want that.

Also he doesn't want to bring up the most awkward Christmas break ever.

-o-

Operations Lecture Room - 9:52 AM

Angela's leg keeps moving up and down underneath the table as she listens to the lecture or, more accurately, looks like she's listening. She honestly can't concentrate and it doesn't help that she's sitting next to Brody who's watching a compilation of random animal videos on his phone. When she forces herself to look away, she turns to her other side and sees Xavier giving her a worried face. That is definitely how she looks towards other people when they have their issues and now she knows how it feels to get it in return.

"Are you good?" Xavier whispers to her.

"Brody's watching videos about narwhals," Angela says.

"They're having sword fights underwater," Brody says. "Riveting content"

Angela and Xavier ignore him and his riveting content.

"Do you want to leave?" Xavier asks her. "I'll just ask someone for the notes."

"Yes," Brody says despite the question not being targeted to him.

"We can't just leave in the middle of whatever this slide is," Angela says. "Especially if it's all three of us because we're sitting next to each other."

"I wasn't going to ask Brody for the notes if that was your main concern," Xavier states. "He'll just send us the narwhal video."

"Can we head off-campus?" Brody, already packed to leave, asks. They weren't sure he even unpacked when he came to class but they give him credit for looking like he came prepared.

"We're only going if Angela goes," Xavier says.

"Please, Angela," Brody folds his hands together, "do it for the narwhals."

Angela sighs. She does want to get out of here. "Fine, but we're going during the halfway break."

Brody cheers as he returns to his narwhal video.

-o-

Wakanda's Royal Training Room - 11:42 AM

Today would be a day that Iqadi would consider to be just another training session. But today also had to be the day where her body finally interpreted her sparring as this is a lot for us. Iqadi didn't understand it since she's been practicing and building these moves for a long time. It's a day for the thigh and calf grabs which means a lot of spinning that builds energy and control to throw her partner to the ground.

She didn't think the spinning would get to her because it never has, until now. When she lands on her feet after a successful calf throw, she stands erect but her head feels like it went through a whiplash. She stumbles on her feet a little, trying to regain her balance but feels herself being kept up.

Iqadi looks and sees her father standing beside her, holding her by the arm. She takes a moment to catch her breath. She smiles without showing teeth to tell her father that she's fine but he doesn't buy it.

"Iqadi, do you need to cut this session short?" T'Challa asks.

Iqadi shakes her head. "I'm fine."

"Do you need a break?"

Iqadi shakes her head again, about to say no but she suddenly runs off when all the spinning comes back to pay its price. Once she reaches the nearest trash can, she hurls right in it. She doesn't have to worry about her hair since it's bound in braids behind her head. She hears her father approaching her from behind and feels him rubbing her back. The last thing she wants to hear right now is an I told you so from him since he didn't tell her. He suggested it, wanting her to take it but she refused.

"You're done for the day," T'Challa whispers to her. "Do I have to send you to bed?"

Iqadi is too winded to argue. "I'm not a child."

"I know you're going to act like one."

Iqadi narrows her eyes because he's right. She would argue that she's fine despite throwing up what felt like her weight.

"I'll bring some tea to your room and you'd better be there," T'Challa orders. "Don't make me ground you."

Iqadi groans before collecting herself and heading to her room. Maybe if she passes out in her bed, she can forget this whole day ever happened.

The next couple of chapters will be longer. This was just a little filler to help develop what's next.