Class Warfare

DAmy watched the game, frowning as the Tennis Club started to make a come back. By the time Stacey's match was over, she was in udder shock. She didn't register anything around her until she felt the racket being placed in her hands.

She nodded slightly as Stacey wished her luck, then nodded again when she was handed the uniform. She examined it for a long moment, unable to believe the turn of events.

It wasn't until Noah spoke that she snapped from her trance. "O-Oh, yeah. We will," she stuttered nervously as he walked away. With a soft sigh, she went to get into her own uniform.

She entered the girls' locker room, which was empty at this point, with all the players out on the benches, waiting in anticipation for the sudden-death match that was to come. She quickly stripped down to her underwear, and began to put on the uniform, but stopped when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

It wasn't often that she got a chance to see herself in a mirror, undressed. She'd forgotten how shapely she was, despite being a bit of a 'nerd'. Fact was, with her tendency to wear layered clothing, she did appear very undeveloped to other people. It was then that she reexamined her uniform. It was much more revealing that she was used to.

She finished changing and headed for the exit, trying to conceal her embarrassed blush as she walked out onto the gymnasium floor, dressed in her new apparel.

“This is interesting...” Noah mentioned as he stripped down, holding up a pair of white shorts with blue trim. He slipped them on and found them to be a little tight, a noticeable bulge in the crotch area, though nothing that was too embarrassing in the young man's mind. He looked at the polo shirt that had been provided with the uniform, white with a small embroidered school emblem on the left breast. He had considered putting it on, walking around the locker room shirtless for a few moments as he decided.

“I guess I'm not the same little guy anymore...” He said, seeing that his body was rather defined, thanks in part to the sorts of crazy situations he often found himself in at this school. “We'll, I do have a reputation to maintain.” He said, slipping back into his black t-shirt and the white buttoned shirt that served as a staple in the wardrobes of most of the male students. He hadn't bothered to button up the shirt, and he was in the process of rolling up his sleeves as he returned to the court, receiving a racket from one of the players they had convinced to help them win.

“Amy! You're the best!” A young man shouted, a long whistle spurring the crowd into a frenzy of cheering and jeering. Noah took another look at the young woman, seeing that her figure wasn't as slight as he would have thought.

“You know, they have a point...hey.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry about technique, just get the ball over the net.” He said, as the President waved from the other side of the net.

“She wears it rather well, don't you think?” She said, winking to the Vice-president, who didn't seem to be as enamored with Amy as some of the other students.

“Noah isn't even wearing the top, such disregard...” He mentioned, as Victoria motioned for him to hush up.

“Oh, who cares. It suits his wild personality, don't you think dear?” She re-directed her attention to Amy, bouncing a tennis ball to the young woman. “We'll allow you the first serve, just don't make the match too easy for us!” She teased, as the Vice-president twirled his racket in his hands, getting into position to receive.

“Oh, you're going to regret that, missy!” Noah said, shouting more for the sake of the crowd than anything.

Amy's embarrassed flush burned darker when her entrance was marked wih several flirtatious remarks of one sort or another, ranging from childish to downright perverted. This was a big reason why she barely did sports; most college guys are so immature that even the school's only slightly revealing uniforms were enough to make them gaga.

She nearly jumped out of her skirt when Noah suddenly put a hand on her shoulder and complimented her look. Not only was she shocked to hear such a thing from Noah, but the thought of him actually liking her made her fell... well, she wasn't exactly sure what she felt about that.

She open her mouth to make a statement, but Noah's advice cut her off. Afterwords, she clammed up and just nodded, the nervousness and anticipation of the impending match rivaling that of her already-present distress. She took her place on the court, her racket held at the ready.

She caught the ball as Victoria passed it to her, saying that they were to serve first. And so she did so. Throwing the ball up into the air and smacking it the other side of the net, right to Christopher.

The Vice-president returned the serve well enough, putting a bit of spin on the ball as he volleyed to Noah. Christopher had a look of self-satisfaction on his face that was soon turned to a cool expression that suggested focus and anger as Noah took the pace and sliced the ball over the net, causing it to come up short and bounce twice before the young man could reach it. Though, after the first game, the Tennis Club representatives had grown wiser to Noah and Amy's playing, and fought back with a marked intensity and focus, bringing the match to one game all. The final game was shaping up to be rather close, with Victoria and Christopher bringing the game to 40 all.

"It's been a great match, but unfortunately, it's time to close this out. Don't take your loss too personally, as I'm told that I'm a very kind mistress." Victoria allowed herself a little premature gloating, while Noah flourished with his racket, sweat rolling down his face.

"You want to make us your servants? If everyone was like that, there would be anyone left to come to our recitals and concerts. Don't worry, you're still invited to our shows, so long as you properly housebreak your pet over there." He gloated, placing subtle emphasis on two words that he hoped Amy would understand. Noah knew that he couldn't deliver a return ace against Victoria, and definitely not after this much running around. He wanted to target Christopher, who had proved to be the weaker player of the pair, if only because he was so easily flustered. The President served to Noah, who belted the ball close to the center line, as the Vice-president countered with a backhanded stroke, cutting the ball to Amy's left side. Noah hadn't recovered in time, as he knew that he was slowing down, as he hoped that Amy had gotten his hint.

Amy was also huffing and trying to catch her breath; I had been a hard game for her, too, and it was almost over, but she couldn't let up yet! She watched as Chris served the ball to Noah, who returned it, but she could tell that he was slowing down. As Chris hit the ball back to their side, it became obvious that Noah wouldn't make it in time.

Amy positioned herself in the path of the ball, holding her racket ready. But as it approached, the ball fell short of her, bouncing off the ground over her head. Her eyes widened. Then, out of pure instinct, she turned around and dived under it, just barely hitting it back. The ball narrowly missed the top of the net.

"Ha..." Noah panted, smiling while his tongue lolled out of his mouth, watching the ball cross the net and land just inside of the court boundary, bouncing away as the Vice-president failed to catch up to it in time.

"Ugh...how can this happen?" The young man fell to his knees, while the President looked on in surprise, the crowd going crazy as Mandy announced the conclusion of the match, pushing through the students that had rushed the court, in order to meet with Amy and Noah. The young man helped the young woman to her feet, his shirt damp from the effort while the Student Council representative addressed the pair.

"Well, you guys won, so what do you want out of the Tennis Club?" She said, adjusting her glasses as she spoke. Noah released the young woman, finding the warmth of her body strangely comforting. She had always been attractive, and though they shared in today's victory, they were still adversaries on the field.

"I think we should let the players decide, especially in regards to who actually leads the club. What about you?" He looked to Amy, as while he would love to just do what he always did in these situations and let everyone else sort their own affairs, she had some input as well.

Amy gladly accepted the help in getting up; she was exausted. In fact, when she was upright again, her muscles were so sore and tired that she had trouble staying up. Still, she'd gotten this far, so she figured 'why start now?' As she leaned against Noah, she felt their body heat meld for a brief moment before he withdrew. It felt like something precious to her had suddenly been taken away.

She greeted Mandy with a smile, listening quietly. When asked about her plans for the Tennis Club, she simply shrugged. "It was your idea; are you saying you can't remember what you were planning? Sheesh, it makes me wonder how you ever made it past highschool," she said, retreating behind a cold facade. She liked the time she spent with Noah, and she definitely had a new opinion of him, but she had to remember that they were still bitter foes.

"Well, I guess we'll just do it as we usually do..." He said, looking to the various members of the Tennis Club. "I'd like the Tennis Club to reorganize, and you two don't have a say in how it gets done. It's still your club, but it'll be different, that's for sure." He said, as the President and Vice-president looked to each other and to their players, who had already started discussing matters amongst themselves. Noah turned to Amy, who now seemed more distant than before, "I think that will do for now. See you around Amy, you know where to find me in case you need someone to blame for all of the school's problems." He said, joking as he limped away, clearly spent from their little competition.

That evening, after showering up, he was in his room, laying on the floor, nose in a chemistry textbook while his roommate sat at his desk, headphones on and several bookmarks into his history text.

"You expecting any company tonight? I can leave if you need me too..." The young man said, while Noah looked over to him, peeking over his book.

"Huh? What?" The young man was confused, as his roommate removed his headphones and turned to the young man.

"You and that Amy girl were looking pretty close today. I'm not saying that you two are together, but I also don't want to walk in on something not meant for my frail constitution." The young man said while Noah gave him a look of disbelief.

"Yeah, as if that would happen. Though, if it did, I would totally subject you to my Atlas-like physique." He said, flexing his muscles, that while present, were a long ways away from being capable of supporting the weight of the world.

Amy watched silently as Noah left the gymnasium, also leaving a large, empty void between the two of them. With a soft sigh, Amy began thr long trip back to her room, which was punctuated with many congratulations from her fellow student body. But she paid little, if any, attention to them. She had a lot on her mind.

When she reached her room, her roommate was out, which suited her just fine. She headed straight for the bathroom, quickly stripping down and climbing in the shower. She sat against the wall opposite of the shower head, letting the cool water wash away her sweat. 

As time passed, she found time to examine her figure a little more. It was hard to believe that so many people thought of her as pretty; she didn't think that at all. She considered herself average, at best. Yet whenever someone commented on her body, she would become very self-conscious. It was just how she handled things, which was, admittably, much different than what most would do in her situation.

She continued to let her mind wander, a long period of time passing before she was awoken from her daze by a knock on the door. It was her roommate, Jeanne. "Hey, Amy! What's the hold-up? I need a hose down, too, y'know!" Amy grimaced upon realizing how long she'd been sitting in the shower, and promptly turned off the water and climbed out.

Once she was dressed in her nightgown, she left the bathroom, allowing Jeanne to get her shower. She sat down on her bed, lying down and quickly losing consciousness. Her dreams that night were, to her surprise, always about her and Noah, and the brief time they spent together when they weren't butting heads.

"I see enough dudes walking around in their shorts, it would be nice to see some girls for a change, take Stacy for example..." The young man said, closing his eyes and sighing as he gripped his head phones.

"I wish you the best of luck Alim, but I don't think that will be enough." Noah said in response, while the young man shot him a smile that was tinged with self-doubt.

"Maybe you're right, but a guy can dream, right?" He said, getting up to turn off their light. "Anyway, I'm going to bed man. Just give me a heads up next time you do something reckless again." The young man said, vaulting himself into the top bunk, while Noah tossed his book aside and clicked off the desk lamp.

"Yeah, I can't take that away from you--not that I would if I could." He chuckled as he stripped down and crawled into bed, as there wasn't any sense in staying up and studying at this hour. The young man's dreams often centered around the sorts of strange ideas that he often ran too during particularly boring lectures. In one he was performing on stage, doing what he loved for a living rather than what his parents had heaped onto his shoulders. In another, he traveled through space and time, guided by currents of cosmic energy. He even had a dream that featured Amy, and for once it was a pleasant dream, a dream where she wasn't trying to kill him so much as he wanted to talk to her. He was traversing a snowy mountain pass, blowing snow drifts aside with a wave of one arm, while holding the reigns of a yak with the other. They were to meet at a cozy temple, and upon his arrival, he saw that she was dressed in the same bulky layers as himself.

"Oh man..." He mumbled, as she peeled away her layers to reveal a simple dress that was cinched at the waist with a belt. He draw her close, her arms over his as she pulled him to the ground, their clothing cushioning their fall when she leaned over and whispered into his ear.

"It's about time you got what was coming to you, Ibenez..." She said, though the voice was no longer her own by the end and sounded more sinister than sultry. Noah was back in his room, t-shirt and shorts, hearing the sounds of a struggle from the other side of the room, while a person loomed over him, his world dark and upside-down. The person looped a cable of some sort around his neck and held him with a vice-like grip.

"Dude! Not. Cool." Noah gasped and choked, seeing that Alim was struggling near the window, tape over his mouth while he struggled to keep another assailant away. They both had bandanas tied over their faces, and he could have sworn that the other person had on a pair of goggles. He planted his feet and twisted at the hip, driving an elbow into his attacker's solar plexus, loosening the grip for just long enough to slip away and turn the tables. Noah grabbed the person by the back of his shirt and drove him into the other assailant, tangling the two long enough for Noah and his roommate to restrain them using the very materials they had brought along.

"What the hell is this? You think this is payback for today's meet?" Alim asked, massaging his cheeks from removing the tape only moments ago. He looked to see that their door was slightly ajar, a small object lodged in the entry for the key.

"No way. The Tennis Club would be too busy licking their wounds to do something like this. I don't recognize these two either--" He nodded to the two that were tied up, while Michel burst into the room, panicked and half-dressed.

"Noah! Noah! Oh, Alim is here too..." He said, fidgeting and wringing his hands as he entered the room.

"Gee, thanks Michel. Good to see you too." Alim said, folding his arms and staring at the young man.

"I ran here as quickly as I could, since these guys were trying to climb through my window, but my roommate called the RA, and they ran off, though I think they're--" He ducked as another youth sprung from the hallway and swiped at him with a quilted mitt. "--behind me." He said, crawling behind the two young men who shoulder charged the new challenger into the hallway, knocking a cork board off of it's mounts.

"Michel, pants." Noah said, as if he were asking for something simple. "Alim, you get some of the gang together and check on Stacy--and you might want some pants as well." He mentioned, as Michel tossed them both pairs of black slacks.

"Yeah, I'll check on Stacy while I'm at it--this could be my big chance and all..." Alim grinned as he slipped into a pair of flip-flops and bolted down the hall. Noah threw on a white, short-sleeved shirt, his chest exposed as he slipped on a pair of sneakers.

"Good. Michel, you're coming with me. We're going to pay our friend a visit." He cracked his knuckles as he left his room, his thoughts on who was behind this particular night-time raid feeding into his anticipation.

"Friend? You don't think that she's behind this, do you?" Michel said, his voice quivering a little more, as the relative silence of the floor was jarring.

"Maybe." Noah said, as he and Michel snuck out of the building using the emergency exit. They were soon on their way to one of the other residence halls, one where Amy was bunked with another student.

"It could be trap to draw you--us--out. You think she would do that?" The young man mentioned, looking behind him to make sure there weren't any more masked men or women out to get him.

"Maybe." Noah said, himself becoming wary as they entered the residence hall from a side entrance, moving quickly, but quietly towards the young woman's room.

Meanwhile, a pair of masked students unlocked the door to Amy and Jeanne's room. They wore large goggles to shield their eyes, and scarves or bandanas over the lower halves of their faces. Their clothing was dark, and they even wore gloves. They crept into the room and approached the young women, who they believed to be sound asleep in their beds.

As the men had predicted, both women had long drifted off into deep slumber. Amy slept peacefully, without making a sound, while Jeanne snored softly, periodically turning over in her sleep and kicking at her covers.

In her current dream, Amy and Noah were together at a beach, sitting shoulder to shoulder as they watched thr sunset. As the crimson sphere sank lower in the sky, Noah wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. Amy did not resist, but instead rested her head against his shoulder.

As time passed, he turned to face her and, to her surprise, cupped her cheek with his free hand. He closed his eyes, slowly guiding Amy's face towards his own. She closed her own eyes, totally and blissfully unaware of what was about to happen in reality as their lips met. He pulled her onto the ground, resting beside her as they began kissing passionately.

Truth be told, this was her first kiss, even in a dream. She didn't have the guts to ask a guy out on a date, let alone make out with him like this. And if the mystery men in her room had their way, she never would.

One of the students crossed the room, walking by on the balls of their feet to minimize the noise and froze in place as Jeanne kicked her covers. The first student lifted their goggles and gently pushed her covers aside, leaving the young woman in her evening wear. The other student flicked the first across the nose and shook his head, lifting his own goggles, and speaking through the bandana.

"Dude, don't be a creep. Just do what we came here to do. We have our orders..." The second student whispered, as the first one fished a roll of tape from his back pack and cut a length from it, placing it over Jeanne's mouth before moving on to tying the woman up with what appeared to be braided cords. The second one retrieved the roll of tape and cut a second length, placing it over Amy's mouth, patting it down to make sure the adhesive was doing its job.

"I wouldn't have thought it would be this easy. The timing couldn't have been better..." The first student said, as the other one shot him a glare.

"True, but less talking. We've got to take this one with us, she's got a date with the manager..." The second student said as the door flew open, Noah and Michel bursting into the room. "Take care of it!" The second student barked, as his partner leaped towards Noah, who quickly stepped away and tripped the student, sending him tumbling into Michel.

"You know, your friends tried to kill me, I think..." Noah said, taking a step forward as the remaining student snatched up Amy and hooked one arm around her waist, while he retrieved a small device from his back pocket.

"Not exactly, though you two aren't really making friends like this. Anyway, don't be stupid." He clicked the device and a line of blue electricity arced across two contact points. "One zap is all it takes to knock out a healthy adult, as we're far from adults here."

"Ain't that the truth..." Noah said, as the student brandished the stun gun.

"Good, stay there..." He said, shaking the young woman, though not too violently. "Come on, we don't have all night." He said, starting to inch towards the door.

The second the slab of duct tape covered her mouth, Amy could tell something was terribly wrong. She reluctantly pulled away from her fanciful dreams and came back to reality. As she awoke, she found herself in the arms of a masked man, her hands bound and her mouth taped shut.

The second she regained total consciousness, she went berserk. She kicked at her captor, screaming at the top of her lungs, and could be slightly heard even through the makeshift gag. She couldn't see his face because of the mask and goggles, but finding out who it was who was trying to kidnap her; her first priority was getting out of his grasp.

It was then that she noticed Noah, and a pang a betrael hit her. Was this his doing? After what they had just been through?

"Hey! Cut that out!" The masked student barked, focused on keeping the young woman in his grasp, though she was quite a handful with her legs free. She landed a few solid kicks, causing him to shift his weight in order to prevent the two of them from falling over. "Are you crazy? Damn..." He said, mustering his strength in order to pull the young woman off of her feet to give her less leverage. Noah made move to dash in and wrestle that device away from the masked assailant, but Michel was sent tumbling across the room, spinning backwards on his heel as he yanked the student's arm down in an attempt to keep himself upright. The trio went down and the stun gun sailed into the air, as the other masked student reached out to grab for it.

"Stay down, chump!" The second student bellowed as Michel stumbled on top of Amy. Noah turned around and performed a clothesline on the second student, sending him to the ground while the stun gun clattered to the floor, the battery case popping open and sending it's contents sprawling across the ground. Noah dragged both men into one corner of the room, and set to work tying them down, using their own equipment no less. Michel saw that Amy had tape over her mouth, and he gingerly peeled it away, though he was still nestled on top of the young woman.

"Sorry about that..." He said, as the last bit required a harder tug than he would have liked.

Amy flailed wildly as her feet left the ground, determinned to go down fighting. At this point, it became quite apparent to her that unless some miracle occured, she was going down; the tape was blocking a great deal of air from reaching her lungs, and after only a few minutes inhaling through her nose, her vision was beginning to fail.

As her captor dropped her, she winced in pain from the impact with the floor, and not long after that, Michel fell on top of her, causing her to gasp, though the tape stifled the noise. She watched from her uncomfortable position on the floor as Noah bound the two mystery men, but she could feel her mind retreating into a swallowing darkness.

Suddenly, she found herself able to breath again, and she greedily did so. When she had enough air to stay conscious, she looked at Michel. "Sure, sure...." she grimaced slightly as her senses began coming back, and she was thus able to feel the pain of the grown man resting on top of her in full. "....just get off of me, please...."

"Huh? Oh!" Michel exclaimed, rolling off of the young woman, his face red from being in such close proximity to Amy. "I'm not much for fighting, terrified of the whole idea really." The blonde youth mentioned, kneeling beside the young woman and offering to help her up. "I guess we can rule out Amy as a suspect then, huh?" He said, directing his question to the young man who was walking towards the pair.

"Maybe, unless this too is part of some daring gambit..." He said, more to himself than anything.

"I don't think so Noah. I"m going to check on the other girl..." He said, removing the tape that was one Jeanne's mouth and beginning to unbind her hands and feet. "This is all too elaborate for anything you two could come up with, no offense." Michel added, his tone as innocent an airy as ever. Noah scratched the back of his head, and looked to the pair of young men that were unconscious on the other side of the room.

"Anyway, we received some unexpected guests as well. We're not sure what this is all about, but we can't stand by and let this sort of thing happen. Right?" He looked to Amy, still in her night gown. "Oh, you might want to get changed, huh? Me and Michel can take out the trash in the meantime." He said, moving over to the two young men, noticing that one of them was snoring. "Aw, what? How could they be asleep at a time like this?" He said, dragging the first one out into the hall by his collar.

"Well, remember that time we thought that the manager of the baseball team killed himself over their battle strategy?" Michel mentioned, taking the second student into the hall.

"Yeah, that was silly of us. It turned out to be a sleeping pill instead, fast acting too." Noah mentioned, looking to Amy. "That wasn't you're idea was it? I know you guys were working on some sort of deal with them last spring..." He mentioned, sticking around as Michel stayed in the hallway.

Amy just smiled slightly in embarrassment as Michel unmounted her and quickly changed the subject. She frowned when the subject was her being a suspect. She was a little hurt by the fact that Noah had suspected her of such a thing, and actually cringed when he became resistant to the idea of ruling her out. She didn't even notice Michel comment about her planning abilities, nor Noah's about changing into more appropriate clothing.

Meanwhile, Jeanne was, quite amazingly, still asleep. She sure is a heavy-sleeper. When she was free from her bonds, she simply curled up on her bed and resumed her usual, monotonous snoring.

Amy looked to Noah as Michel started dragging one of the men out and listened to him reminisce on the baseball scheme that she had, in fact, orchestrated. She nodded to him, smiling at the memory, though her expression held a lingering sadness. She lowered her gaze to the ground.

"You.... you really thought I was behind this?" she muttered, gesturing to the remaining person.

Michel watched the young woman curl up in her bed, as comfortable as she had ever been. "Wow, that's got to be some sort of talent..." He mentioned, keeping any comments to himself about how similar this situation was to an episode of Fight! Dream! Victory!. While he stepped out and stood watch over the two young men. Noah took the time to look around the room the two young women shared, and noted that the rooms in this building seemed to be a little roomier. "Man, you girls get everything good..." He mentioned, as Amy asked him a question about this whole mess. He could tell that something was bothering her, but for the life of him he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Maybe at first, but this doesn't feel like something you would do. As much fun as these little battles we fight can be, you wouldn't risk the stability of the campus just to get back at someone like me. You would probably just be content to score higher than me on midterms or something--which totally isn't going to happen, not without a fight!" The young man pumped his fist and slapped his hand against his bicep. "There's more to me than desperate plans and my good looks, I'll have ya know." He chuckled, looking back to Michel, who was having trouble with the remaining student.

"A little help, please?" Michel complained. "Besides, shouldn't we rally the troops or whatever? They're after most of our officers--yours too." The young man looked to Amy while he shifted his position, carrying the young man on his back.

Amy smiled slightly when Noah commented on the size of her room compared to his own, but kept quiet about it. She instead tuned in to his explanation as to why he suspected her at first. Satisfied with his reasoning, she actually managed to giggle when he showed of his muscles, bragging about his looks.

She looked at Micheal as he asked them for help with the final man. "Sorry, that's outside my department," she said apologetically, much more modest about her physical fitness than Noah. She nodded as he suggested gathering the rest of the students in their inner circles, but had something she needed to do first...

"You're right... but if it's okay, I'd like a moment to talk wih Noah. Privately." She glanced over at the man in question, something in her look changing from relieved to almost sad.

(Sorry for the delay, I was with my daughter on a summer camping trip to Washington)

"Aw, seriously? I was told being a club officer was going to be fun..." Michel whined, settling for dragging the remaining student away by his arms. "Sure, just try to keep me as far from the front as possible..." He closed the door behind him, as he was sure that they needed to talk strategy or some other thing that would likely involve him getting beaten and bruised. Noah turned to the young woman, seeing the expression on her face change.

"We're alone, so what's on your mind? This situation is a little out of control, even considering the sorts of people we normally deal with." Noah had his concerns as well, and while he didn't feel like it was the right time to voice them to the rest of the students that formed their little organization, speaking with Amy was something that had to be done. "As much as I want to call out whoever did this, something is telling me that we should try and gather some information, at least until we have a clearer picture of what a stunt like this was supposed to accomplish." He said, his own expression slightly troubled. "If we don't do anything about it at all, we might just be inviting them to pull something even more ridiculous and daring. This is a tough one alright."

[[It's cool, I've been a little busy myself.]]

Amy nodded to Noah's suggestion to be cautious. "Yeah, you're right..." she mumbled, though she still had something important on her mind; her own concerns. She didn't want to show weakness to her rival, but there was no one else she could confide in. She and Noah lived through this together, and she knew he'd understand.

Without warning, Amy walked right up to Noah, buried her face in her chest, and started sobbing. She clung tightly to his shirt, shivering with fright. When the two men came to take her, she feared for her life. But Noah saved her. It was all too much for her to take in at once, so just had to let it out.

"Yeah, I thought I was on a roll there--wait, you agree?" He looked surprised, and while he would have made some smart follow-up remark, the young woman pressed against him and started crying. "Hey, everything is going to be alright..." He said, embracing the young woman and rubbing her back in an attempt to keep her calm. While this was a daring stunt, it also was a little too much considering the sorts of antics everyone normally got up to on this crazy campus. This was on a whole, different level. "I'm sure that they wouldn't have done anything, and even if they wanted to, they've got to get through me first." He said, stroking the young woman's head, running his fingers through her hair. He rested his face next to hers, and whispered in her ear. "For what its worth, I'm here if you need me." He pulled himself away from the young woman, but stayed close.

"I don't mind playing bodyguard for tonight, since we aren't going to have anything useful to work with for a while yet." He said, whipping out his phone, sending a quick text to his friends to let them know to head back to their rooms, and use the buddy system in case things heated up again. "But seriously, you girls have way nicer rooms than us. Maybe its just this res hall?" He changed the subject, as he was sure that Amy was more used to seeing him as an affable slacker than anything else.

In spite of her pride, Amy felt much safer in Noah's arms. His hands soothed her as they gently ran up and down her back. She felt somewhat reassured by his words, but she could tell that people were going to get hurt if this kept going on, and she felt responsible for it. Then Noah pressed his cheek against hers, whispering to her. She felt a blush spread across her face as he seperated from her.

When Noah offered to stay with her for the night, she was genuinely surprised. This didn't sound like the Noah she knew all these years. Still, she happily accepted his proposition. After he suddenly changed the subject, it left an awkward silence in the air. She wasn't sure how to continue the conversation, so she just sat down on her bed, sighing. Then something came to mind...

"Noah, can I ask you something?" Amy asked.

The situation was rather odd from Noah's perspective, as he would have expected Amy to have some contingency plan for almost any scheme--though this could have been one of the few things that she would have never expected. That, coupled with the awkward silence left in the wake of his admittedly silly comments left him with little else to say. Still, Amy managed to salvage matters and broke the silence after a few moments, though he wasn't sure where this was heading.

"Ask away. We've got all night after all..." He sat down on the floor a few feet away from the young woman, the same room where they had been involved in a stand off maybe fifteen minutes ago. "Though, if you're asking to play some kind of game to pass the time, please make it something I can actually win?" The young man couldn't resist, draping his forearms across his knees as he looked to the young woman.

Amy laughed softly at his comment. "Maybe late. This is about something else..." she paused for a long time, trying to find the right words to express what she wanted to ask. It wasn't an easy one to ask, nor to answer.

"Do you remember....back in high school...you know, back when we were still friends and not fighting all the time like we do now? I asked you to take me to the senior prom, and you said no..." she said in almost a whisper. It was a painful memory; the one that would send them down a road that would lead to them bein the bitter rivals they were now.

"....why didn't you? I....I thought you liked me..."