Chapter 4

The next morning, Nikki woke up to find Kristine sitting on the window ledge staring outside. Kristine turned, saw Nikki and smiled, "Good morning! How was your sleep?"

"It was okay."

"Nikki!" Kristine exclaimed as she bounced onto her friends bed, "Guess who I dreamed about?"

"Don't tell me, let me guess, was it those two guys?"

"Wow! Good guess!"

Nikki rolled her eyes, "I knew it," she grumbled as she got out of bed and headed into the bathroom.

"Girls, breakfast is almost ready!" shouted Amy from the kitchen.

"Okay mom, we're getting ready," Kristine shouted back.

After breakfast, the two girls grabbed their books and headed to school. They decided to take the path through the park.

As they walked, Kristine asked, "Nikki, do you think the gang's gonna be in the parking lot?"

"Probably. If they haven't had all of their fun last night."

"Maybe those two guys took care of them and they won't bother us anymore?"

Nikki rolled her eyes, "Kristine! Can you just stop thinking about those guys?" she snapped, "They were probably just looking for fun themselves!"

"Oh Nikki," Kristine gasped, "you don't really believe that, do you?"

Nikki sighed to herself, there was no way that she could get Kristine to stop talking about the two guys who were making even her own thoughts run wild.

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Xavier waited for Zachary near the front door to the building that they had their training classes in. He sighed, Zachary was late yet again. He was glad that Zachary's father wasn't teaching the class today because he knew that Chief Advisor Zachary Ronan Grieves would be angry that his own son was late.

"Hey X! What are you doing standing out here?" Xavier looked up to see Zachary running up to him, "You're gonna be late to class."

"I'm gonna be late!" Xavier exclaimed, "You're the one who's gonna get it! Where were you?"

"Well, if you really want to know, I was watching the two girls again." Zachary grinned.

"Oh, and you forgot the time, right?"

"That’s right." replied Zachary with a smile.

Xavier huffed at Zachary as they both walked inside, where an impatient instructor was waiting for them. "Well, Prince Xavier, Lord Zachary, I'm pleased to see that you two could make it."

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, but my mother wanted me to run a little errand for her before I came to class," Xavier said.

"Oh, well, if the Queen needed you for something, then I suppose it can be excused, but only once," warned the instructor.

"Thank you, Jules, I promise to be on time, next time."

Jules nodded, "Go on. You two better get suited for warm ups. I'm having you spar with Kegan today, Your Highness."

Jules watched as the two boys walked off to change, he had been a friend of King Xavier Marcus Raneri since they were children, and he knew Marcus would want Xavier to be watched over by someone he could trust. Jules knew that what Xavier had told him was to save face, but he liked the boy so much that he couldn't be angry with him.

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Nikki sighed, half of the school day was over, yet she still wasn't in the mood to face the gang after school. She knew they would be there because she had heard some of the girls that hung around with the gang talking about it in Biology. Nikki looked around the cafeteria, where was Kristine? She was supposed to meet her for lunch and she was late.

Nikki thought that maybe Kristine was off spreading the word about those two guys. Nikki wondered where they had disappeared to. They didn't look much older than her age, or maybe they were just starting college. She wished she knew where they had come from and why hadn't she seen them before since it was such a small town. Maybe they were from a nearby town, she thought.

"Nik," Kristine asked, "Nikki, are you awake?"

Nikki hadn't realized that Kristine was there, she had been too lost in her thoughts. "Yes, I'm awake. I'm just thinking, that's all."

"About what?" Kristine asked, "Those two guys?"

"Give me a break, Kristine!" snapped Nikki, "No, not them, I was wondering if I passed that Biology test I had, it was tough."

Kristine smiled, she knew she had caught Nikki off guard, "Oh, don't worry, you probably passed." She knew Nikki had been thinking about the guys, even if she wouldn't admit it.

"What took you so long?" asked Nikki.

"Oh, sorry, I was just telling Carrie..."

"About the guys we saw?" interrupted Nikki.

"Yes," answered Kristine.

Just then the bell rang, "Looks like you missed your lunch."

"That's all right," shrugged Kristine, "I wasn't hungry anyway, at least not for food," she grinned.

The girls gathered up their things and parted ways to go to their next class.

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Zachary was finished with his shower first, "C'mon X, are you gonna take forever?"

"All right, I'm coming. Geez, I just don't want to go to Overearth wet again."

Zachary laughed, "Right, you don't want to make another bad impression."

"Yeah, last time, she looked like she wanted to kill me!" chuckled Xavier.

As they made their way through the East side towards the manufactory building, they joked and talked about seeing the girls again. They were midway through the area when they heard a feminine voice calling to them.

"Xavier, Zach! Wait up!" They both turned to see Xavier's younger sister, Devnet Evelyn running towards them, with Charles in tow. "Where are you two going in such a hurry?" she asked, as she caught up with them.

They glanced at each other before Xavier answered, "No where special, why?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see if the two of you had some time to spend with Charles and I. He's got this really cool program that I wanted you to see."

Zachary nodded, "Yeah, the virtual computer. I saw it."

Charles grinned, "See Evelyn, I told you he's already seen it."

"Oh pooh!" she pouted, then turned to Xavier, "But you haven't seen it yet, have you?"

Xavier grimaced, "Uh no, I've been kind of busy."

"Well, how about now?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda busy now."

"But you just said you weren't doing anything special!" she protested.

"Evelyn," Charles placated, "I can show him some other time, okay. Why don't we go see the new litter of puppies you said Kegan's Lab, Sleeta birthed yesterday?"

Evelyn sighed, "But I haven't spent time with Xavier in weeks!" She turned wide eyes on her brother, "You're always busy lately! Can't we just hang out like we used to?"

Xavier sighed, "I'm sorry Ev. I really am, but you know things are hectic right now with all the training I have to do. And dad's been wanting me to shadow him when he's dealing with politics so that I can learn how to be a good leader. I'll catch up with you later, okay? I promise."

Her lower lip started to tremble, "When?"

Xavier swallowed, "I'll try to make some time this evening, after dinner. Okay?"

Evelyn smiled, "Great! Then I can show you Charles’s new program!"

Xavier nodded, "Sure, that'd be cool."

Evelyn laughed, and leaned in to kiss her brother's cheek, "I'll see you this evening then, big brother." With that she grabbed Charles’s arm and dragged him after her.

Charles looked back and waved, "Later guys."

They both waved to Charles and resumed walking towards the manufactory building.
Zachary suddenly burst out laughing.

Xavier turned a curious look at him, "What's so funny?"

"You my friend, are such a wuss!"

"What? Me? What do you mean?"

"Your sister has you wrapped around her finger. I saw that! She was just about to turn on the tears and you just fell into her hands." he grinned,” She knew what she was doing. Sucker!"

Xavier rolled his eyes, "I am not!"

Zachary shrugged, "Okay, if you say so."

Xavier growled, "Whatever! C'mon, let's just go see the girls already!"