To answer a guest review, Emily and Daniel get married in Project: New Generation. Their wedding will be at the end of the next arc (somewhere past chapter 131).

I chose to upload this on a Monday because of the ending. And because my next few weeks are so hectic so who knows when I'll update again.

Year One: Word of Mouth

Operations' Training Room B - 9:24 AM

Everyone's spread out within the training room doing warm-ups on the spot before today's drills. Merida finishes her prep early and weaves through the jumping jacks and lunges to find James by the wall. He's wearing his proper training uniform, for once, but is sitting against the wall.

He wasn't even doing a wall-sit as a warm-up. James was sitting on the floor against the wall. Merida has to admit that it's a step-up from the sweater vest. At that rate, he might be doing a push-up by graduation. Might. Merida didn't have that much faith in him.

Merida stands right in front of him. "I think Xavier's seeing someone in our class."

James gives her a disbelieving face as he takes out his airpods. "Are you hungover?"

"I'm serious."

"Seriously hungover?"

She glares at him when he laughs. "I'll fucking kill you. Help me figure out who it is."

"Wondering if our sorceress has competition?"

"More like wondering who could make a heartbroken-Xavier move on right away. Admit it, you're curious as well."

"I am now." He holds out his hands for her. "Help me up."

"No."

James mimics her voice and facial expressions as he uses the wall to get up. And he's already tired. Merida can't wait to watch him die on the track. It'll make being in Weight Class B worth it.

"That's my warm-up for the day," James says.

"She's a few doors down from me in res," Merida informs, ignoring James' comments about his personal fitness. She couldn't care less about that.

"You could've knocked on her door."

"I don't knock. That's why I came to you."

James scoffs. "As if I knock." He loudly clears his throat. "Xavier Rogers, am I right?!"

To their surprise, but not really after thinking it through, every girl present swoons. Even some guys whistle. Merida and James wear blank faces because that was useless. It may have worsened their hunt for this girl. They knew Xavier was a model boy, but it's only been a month in this school and everyone was already aware of him. And he did almost nothing to get that attention! Some things from high school will never change. They blame that timeless essence about him.

"That narrows it down…" Merida mutters sarcastically.

"Are y'all looking for me?"

They turn to the side and see a blonde girl with a deep Southern accent beside them. Merida tilts her head, processing the accent and trying to match it with the face she barely saw when Xavier dropped her off at her dorm. This had to be the girl if she approached them. Does Xavier have a thing for cowgirls now? James, on the other hand, grins wildly.

"Yee-haw," James greets although that wasn't a greeting phrase.

Merida groans. "Pади всего святого..."

Before they could talk to her, their professor opens the door leading to the outside track and screams at them to start their laps. Merida tries to piece together a strategy but her classmates whip past her to start their run and the Southern girl joins them.

"She's getting away!" Merida screams at James.

She turns to face James but he's no longer beside him. There was no way he started his laps. But Merida sees him crouched on the ground, pretending to tie his shoe. There's no way it was untied because he wasn't doing any physical activity.

Merida rolls her eyes. She should've expected that.

"Asshole," Merida says before knocking him over.

She laughs as she starts running. Once Merida makes it outside, the chill hits her and she sprints through her classmates. She weaves from the inner lane to the outer to try and find the farm girl. Merida looks to the side and sees her already on the other side of the turn. Cursing to herself, Merida tries to pick up speed and catch up.

But she never does.

-o-

Operations' Lecture Hall - 14:30 PM

If anyone asks, James ran the laps. If anyone really asks, he was hiding underneath the outdoor bleachers.

James is glad that his next Operations class is a lecture on firearms because he doesn't want to do physical activity anymore. As if he was even doing it in his training class. And this is a class with his girlfriend and not someone who wants him dead. So that's a perk.

James tries to sneak up on Angela from behind but she catches him. However, she still smiles at the effort. Standing close and parallel to him, she starts giving him small kisses as their classmates file in and take their seats.

"Is Xavier seeing someone?" James whispers to her.

Angela pauses, pulling back. Not the weirdest thing he's said during a moment like this, but still a mood-killer. "Why would he?"

James pulls her in closer by the waist. "Because Merida told me that she saw him dropping off a girl a few doors down from your dorm. And the girl didn't deny it when she approached us this morning. Granted, she also didn't admit it. But we had a lead and she was the lead in the laps so we thought we'd talk to her while running. Actually, that didn't happen because Merida didn't run fast enough."

Angela blinks, trying to take all that in. There was too much new information in that one splurge and she wanted to get back to kissing James before their professor starts talking about different glocks.

"How dare Merida tell you before me," Angela states. Forget kissing him now.

James laughs as he kisses her. This is the girl he loves and holy crap he will lose his virginity to her sometime soon.

"Get a room!" Someone from the back yells at them. It's like they know.

James looks over. "Is yours available?"

Angela's cheeks redden. That was embarrassing because of their future plans. She loves her boyfriend but there are moments when she wants to square up with him. Like now because their professor is staring at them. Angela grabs James's arm and drags him to some seats.

Angela pulls James close when they sit down. "I see Xavier in my next class."

-o-

Operations' Lecture Hall - 17:19 PM

Angela stops at the entrance of her next class. She stands to the side and looks at the elevating rows to see if Xavier's already here, even glancing at the people coming in to see if he's one of them. He wouldn't dare skip this class, would he? Actually, he might if he had a hunch that his friends would interrogate him. She remembers from high school how Xavier skipped school for days when Britney disappeared. Everyone wanted information from him and he didn't want to share, not even with her. His twin.

But when Merida walks in, Angela follows her instead.

"You could've told me," Angela says as she and Merida start climbing the steps to the back row.

"I didn't want you to worry," Merida says. Excuses.

"Yeah, but I know how to knock."

"Nobody likes it when you knock."

Angela rolls her eyes as she and Merida enter a row. Before she sits down, she sees Xavier enter the class with Ashton. Angela grabs her bag and cuts through her classmates. The moment Xavier sits down, Angela leaps into the only seat next to him.

"Sorry about that," Angela tells Ashton.

"No worries," Ashton says, heading towards the back.

Xavier looks at his sister. "I thought you wanted me to make new friends. I'm happy to report that I have two new ones, one of which you sent away."

"I heard from James who heard from Merida that you're seeing someone," Angela whispers.

Xavier gasps that sounds sarcastic. "Am I?"

"That's what I'm asking."

Xavier realizes she's serious and shakes his head. "I'm not seeing anyone."

"I thought so." Angela sighs. "I know how you still feel about Britney."

Xavier looks away from her, nodding. Just because a love ends doesn't mean it wasn't real. "Don't remind me."

"I'm sorry." She puts a hand on his arm. "They're coming back. It's only been a few months."

At the back of the room, Merida looks up and sees Xavier's roommate approaching her. He points to the empty seat next to her although he's already putting his bag on the ground beside it. Merida nods and Ashton takes a seat. She would've given him the seat regardless so that no other weirdo sits with her.

Merida looks at him. "What's up, Xavier's roommate?"

"Ashton," he corrects.

"Same thing."

Ashton doesn't bother correcting her. "It's fine. I don't know your name either, Angela's roommate. Look, I was trying to catch up to you during our class's run this morning."

"Merida. Sorry for going too fast, I was chasing someone."

"Orchid."

Merida raises a brow. "I wasn't chasing a flower."

"That's her name."

Merida pauses, needing to process Ashton's words. Maybe she should've said the seat was taken.

"Blonde southerner," he clarifies.

Merida nods, having flashbacks to James's yeehaw. "Is she seeing Xavier?"

Ashton laughs a little. "No. I had a double date, brought him along, and she was his date. They're friends now. He's helping her find someone."

Merida doesn't process that information. "That's weirder than her name." She shakes her head. "You know what? I'm fucking tired of this bullshit week. I just want hell to consume me in my sleep."

Ashton pauses. " … it's only Monday."

" … whatever. If I pass out during this boring lecture, don't wake me because I need a nap."