Imagine wire glasses on David Tennant and that's what James looks like.

Since the people in groups are more or less the same age, we all take the same classes together, and they vary from year to year-for instance, we learned a very basic Biology back when I was twelve, then Chemistry last year, then a more in-depth view of Biology this year (We need to know Chemistry to help us with Biology, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you why we couldn't just take Biology all at once after Chemistry) and next year, we learn Anatomy and Physiology-but every year, we have to have a History Class, a Language Arts class, a Science class, and a Mathematics. Each class is an hour and a half long, with a half-hour lunch break in-between our third and fourth class, and the order of our classes varies from group to group. My group starts off with History, which is taught by a very lenient, chubby man who couldn't care if we showed up or not. He barely glances at half the class (AKA Astrid and me) slides into their seats late. James, who is sitting with the other Guardians and ignoring their conversation, shoots me a dirty look. On hindsight, I probably should've been more careful with my timing. His Keeper being ten minutes late is not gonna help his mood in the slightest.

I can't help but zone out to the teacher's monotone drone about Azera's government, how they got rid of the monarchy, blah blah blah.... I actually find myself dozing off from time to time. I'm glad when the hour and a half ends and Science begins. The History Trainer wanders off to bore the little ones and the Science Trainers steps in.

The school work keeps my mind off of other dimensions and Simon. It distracts me so well, in fact, that I don't realize James left the training room until the third class ends and I'm off to lunch. I sigh and track down Amacus. "Hi," he says once he sees me.

"Hey, you wanna see if we can go up to the surface tonight instead?" I ask him.

"I did not get my two hours in," he says. "What about tomorrow?"

"Oh, yeah, tomorrow's good," I say. "After dinner?"

He shrugs. "That works."

"Great," I say.

We talk about our classes throughout lunch. Astrid and Masan join in, though I spot Masan shooting Amacus dirty looks the entire time. I remember what James said a few days ago, about it being a small complex, and that things don't stay quiet for long here. I guess that's true, but Masan looks like he's going to murder Amacus.

I think Amacus picks up on this, too, because while we're leaving, he mutters to me, "I don't think your friend likes me."

"Masan?" I mutter back. "Yeah, he's had a crush on me for a long time."

"Crush?"

"He likes me more than as friend," I explain. "But I think he'll get over it, in due time."

"That does not happen on Tura," Amacus says. "We love-"

"For life, Alexa told me," I mutter.

He looks at me curiously. "Is something bothering you?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow," I say as we reach the training room. The dining hall is on the same floor as the dorms, so we only have to go down a floor.

After struggling through Mathematics (always a fun time) I'm finally able to go back to the dorm. It's empty. Wherever James is, I don't know. I could go searching for him, but I have the feeling he wants to be alone.

Ten minutes later, I get up from the couch and meander down to the gym. I'll probably play with the little kids. I have to help make dinner, but not for another two and a half hours.

I run into James on the way there. "Hey," I say, keeping my voice light. "Where were you?"

"In Matilda's office," he says. "She said she'll consider allowing the training."

"With weapons, correct? Surely she can't ban play fighting, the little ones do it all the time."

James looks thoughtful. "I haven't actually thought of that, but I wouldn't try it. She'll do anything to get her way."

"Why is she targeting me?" I ask.

James sighs. "You mean, why is she taking away all of your freedom? It's not just you; Alyssa got in trouble a while back for staying in our dorm, remember that?"

"When that Keeper was attacked?" I ask.

He nods. "She really likes being in charge."

"No kidding." A older Keeper walks by, and we both watch him. "Do you think we could maybe this conversation somewhere else?" I ask.

"Oh! Yeah, that's a good idea. Where were you heading?"

"Gym, to play with some little ones. You weren't gone for two hours talking to Matilda, were you?" I ask him as we head to the Rec floor.

"No, I needed fresh air," James admits. "Unlike the Keepers, I don't need permission to see the surface."

"Speaking of the surface, am I allowed to visit it tomorrow night with Amacus?" I ask. "To talk about...stuff?"

"Define 'stuff.'"

"How they got here," I say delicately.

James considers it. "We'll see what's going on tomorrow," he finally says.

"Okay," I say, pushing open the gym doors. As expected, some little ones are playing tag, but I see the weight room doors are ajar. Out of curiosity, I walk along the edge of the gym to see who's in it, James behind me. "Where are you going?"

"To see who's in the weight room," I say, pointing at it. I push open the doors and peer in.

In the back of the room, Amacus stands with his back to us, completely shirtless. I've never actually thought about him without a shirt, but it's obvious that, no matter how skinny he appears, he works out a lot. I realize I'm staring at the same time James grabs the back of my shirt and yanks me out of the doorway. He shuts the door as Amacus turns us. Fortunately, there's windows in the door, so I can still see his six-pack. At least until James pulls me to the exit and I have to turn around in order not to fall. "That was way more of him I ever wanted to see," James says.

"I'm not complaining," I say, which earns me a dirty look. "I'm sorry, James, do you want me to lie to you?"

"That's not something you tell your Guardian, Callie!" James protests.

"What? That I'm telling the truth?"

"No, it's just- Gods, Callie, I hope that's the last you see a man shirtless."

"You should shut the bathroom door when you cut your hair, then," I say. "Can you let go of me before I fall?"

"That seems counter-productive, but okay," he says, releasing me. I stumble a little but catch myself before I kiss the metal grates.

"Can I go back?" I ask.

"No! Are you trying to make me uncomfortable? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"That's neither here nor there," I say, checking my digital watch. "I've got two hours to kill before I have to be down in the kitchens, what should we do until then?"

"Movie?" James suggests.

"I can't really sit through a movie, though," I say.

"Good point. Game of cards?"

"Might entertain us for a while," I say.

The card games last us for a half of an hour, then James and I managed to snag one of the multi-player video games. It feels good, to play games with my Guardian, like I didn't have a care in the world. I lost two out of three, but I don't mind. It passes the time, and I enter the kitchen in a good mood.

"Well, ain't it about time!" one of the kitchen ladies says as I enter. "Thought you musta forgot or somethin'."

"Of course I didn't forget, Zadra," I say. "I'm only two minutes late."

"I'm just messin' with ya," Zadra says with a chuckle. "Get in here and help me cook this meat."

"Sure thing," I say, pulling on an apron. "Tie this for me please?"

Zadra comes over and quickly ties it as I pull my hair back only to realize I don't have a hair tie. "Do you have a rubber band I can borrow?"

"Ya should've had James do your hair," Zadra says with a shake of her head.

"Easy for you to say," I retort. Zadra's hair is even shorter than most of the boys here. When she was younger, she went through the same procedure as Henri to have her hair green until the day she dies, and a number of times she's told me she regretted it to this day. According to her, she was a blonde babe before that, being adopted from the North by capitol parents. "Just because he can braid, doesn't mean he likes it."

"He'll do anything for you, girl," Zadra says. "You think I got a hair tie?" She turns to yell over her shoulder. "Hey, Darlene! Got a hair tie?"

"Right here," another kitchen lady with dark skin-obviously a Deliker- says. "How are you, Callie?"

"I'm good, Darlene," I say. "And you?"

"Pretty decent, considering who I work with," Darlene says, pointing a thumb at Zadra, who just grunts. "Gimme the hair tie, Darlene, I ain't got all day."

"Of course," Darlene says politely. "Here you go."

Zadra pulls my hair into a bun while I pull on rubber gloves, then she puts my hair net on me. "Thanks, Zadra," I say.

"Anything for you, girlie. Now move your butt and put this in the oven."

I pick up the pan with a slab of meat on it and open the oven. "Hey, Zadra? You say you'll do anything for me?"

"To a point," she says.

"Do you mind making some brownies for me tomorrow?" I ask.

"For your six-foot boyfriend?"

I flush. News really does travel in this place. "Amacus is not my boyfriend."

"Yet," Zadra says, stirring a pot of gravy.

"We're gonna hang out tomorrow, and yes, that's why I want the brownies."

"First date?" Zadra asks, looking at me. "Have you had your first kiss?"

My face feels hot. "No and no."

Zadra snorts. "Get on with that, girl! I had my first kiss before I did this!" She gestures to her green hair. "Hell, I had tongue-"

"I'm only fourteen, Zadra," I interrupt. "I live underground, and only two guys here are my age, and they both like me."

"But you only like one of them," Darlene says from the other side of the kitchen.

"That's beside the point," I say.

"So you admit it! You like that foreigner!" Zadra says.

"As if this was secret," another kitchen lady says.

I'm not really surprised that all the kitchen ladies know this due to the amount of time Amacus and I have come down here. But it really puts light to what James said about news traveling fast in this place, even more so than Masan glaring at us during lunch.

"I love you guys, too," I say. "I swear, I'm working with a bunch of gossips."

"Ain't no gossip, gossip is lyin'," Zadra says. "This is the truth."

***

After dinner the next day, I swing by the kitchen to grab the brownies and meet Amacus on the first floor. He wears shorts and a plain shirt, and at James's suggestion I pulled on a short-sleeve blue dress. Amacus takes one look at it and says, "And I thought we were having a conversation."

"James' idea, not mine," I mutter, pulling open the door open. A clear night sky awaits us. I beckon to him and climb out onto the surface. A light breeze flutters my dress and a few strands of hair that managed to come out of my braid (also James's idea). Amacus looks at the sky with mild interest. "I've only seen the sky once here," he comments. "I've never realized how beautiful the stars are."

"You can't see them on Tura?" I ask, sitting on the sand.

"No, it's too polluted, the air," he says sourly. I remember what Alexa said yesterday, about how him being heir to a filthy planet. He sits down next to me and takes a brownie. "Are those the asteroids?" he asks, pointing to them. On a couple of them, you can make out the small cities that populate the tops of them. They look reddish-grey, reflecting the sun on the other side of the planet onto us.

I nod. "Yeah, some act like our moons. Those are the ones we built cities on, like Stasis there," I say, pointing to a particularly grey one.

"Mm," he says. "Can you see Earth from here?"

"You can't see the planet itself," I say, "but right over there-" I point at one of the stars right by Stasis- "that there, that's their sun. But you can see some of the planets in our solar system, like Daos there, or Bixan. We named them after our Gods."

"And where did the name Azera come from?" he asks.

"I don't know," I admit. "I think the Gods gave it the name."

"That is interesting," he says. "I didn't know that." We both fall silent for a bit, watching the stars twinkle.

"Amacus, I wanted to talk to you about Tura," I say after a while.

"What about it?" he asks. It's funny how the low growl in his voice seems to go away in casual conversation.

I take a deep breath, unsure where to start. "I know about the other dimension," I say, the words tumbling out of my mouth.

Amacus stares at me. "We were told not to tell anyone. How did you find out?"

I tell him about the flashback. "But I haven't told anyone except you, James, and Alexa," I finish. "And you guys already knew-well, James didn't, but he knew about the machine, because he's my Guardian, and I had to tell him."

Amacus ponders this for a moment. "This is not what I was expecting when you wanted to talk to me," he admits with a little laugh. "I was expecting something...different."

"Well, that was as clear as mud," I complain, tucking my legs under me. "What did you expect?" I ask, eating another brownie.

He shrugs. "Something different."

I feel like I know what he's getting at, but I don't at the same time. So I swallow the brownie and say, "What do you mean, something different?"

He looks around quickly, possibly to make sure we're alone, but the only signs of life are us, a couple plants, and the lights from a military settlement about a mile away-the desert is so flat, we could see hours away. Then he leans forward and kisses me hard on the lips. I lose my balance and fall back onto my butt.

Yeah, this wasn't the direction I expected it to go.

I'm also sure that this wasn't in Amacus's agenda either, because he pulls away and stares above my head, like he's unable to look me in the eye.

No, I'm wrong, because he's pulling me to my feet and to the door simultaneously, yelling, "Get up! We need to get the hell out of here now!"

I look behind me and see an Euravic staring down at me, one leg raised in the air

I cry out as the leg suddenly sweeps down, cutting my back open.

I have come to the conclusion that the best first kiss scenes are done while listening to 80's music. I wrote this listening to "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" by Journey, and it really fit the mood well. Writer's tip, guys: 80's music like that are good for romantic scenes.

Also, I'm gonna aim for longer chapters from now on, so it might take longer to update.

Auf Wiedersehen!