Never Miss A Beat (Part Two)

The Paladins were not the only ones hitting the books. For all of the training squads, you couldn't just coast through without passing classes. It was like students on a high school team. If you failed utterly at everything, you were suspended from team training or competing with others.

There were no exceptions, no matter what Julian said when it came to the Hellions having an in because the headmistress was Miss Frost, their senior advisor.

So all of us in every squad knuckled down and cracked a book. Some more than others. Some in different ways than others.

I don't know what I expected when I stepped up to Megan's dorm room door, "When you called me and told me you wanted to hang out, I didn't think I'd have another book in front of me."

"Aww, all studied out?" Megan asked. It must have shown all over my face, because she giggled a bit at me, "I get it. Ben's been a slave driver all week long. The only reason he let me get away today is because I said I was getting you to tutor me~," She held up a history book in front of her face, waving it around, asking me with her eyes to help.

What was I supposed to do? She was just standing there in those itty-bitty shorts. The way she fidgeted in place on the dorm carpet was designed to make me look at her legs. She knew exactly what she was doing. A bonafide sucker for pretty girls, I am.

That was how I ended up in her room. At first glance, it was hard to tell which side of it belonged to her, and which side belonged to her teammate Hope. Most other people had roommates, except for me. But seeing as how I joined late in the year and already shared my room with a giant metal wolf, the staff had never gotten around to putting any students with me.

I was eventually able to tell whose side was which. Both sides were brightly decorated. From the posters I saw, both had roughly the same taste in music and a lot of other things. Megan's side was a bit more cluttered. Everything was a bit more cluttered. Not that it was dirty, things were clean and in place, but they were more haphazardly put away.

Megan hopped over to her bed and sat on it, leaning against a wall with a Dazzler poster on it and patting a spot next to her meant for me. When I sat down, she deposited the history book in my lap and basically took over my entire left side, "Comfortable?"

"You're getting kind of familiar, aren't you?" I said. Not that I had a problem with it at all.

Megan reached over and poked me in the middle of the forehead, "I know I said it before, I want to get to know you better," If possible, she got in even closer to me than before, "See this? The fact that it doesn't bother you at all tells me a little more about you than I knew ten minutes ago."

What? That I had no issues with a cute girl damn near hanging off of me? Of course not, "Well how about we multitask then?" I proposed, "I'm gonna ask you questions. Get one right, you get to ask me a question."

She didn't like the idea of a quiz-reward system, scrunching her face up at the thought, "Can't you just tell me about yourself?"

I couldn't help myself. I laughed, "Yeah, but this is more fun."

She smacked me a few times on the chest for laughing at her, "It's not so fun for me."

"You did ask me to help you study," I reminded Megan, catching her hand to get her to stop, "I actually want you to do well. You know, get to rub it in some faces... maybe let me preen about it a little bit," I gave her a little nudge that got a begrudging smile out of her, "Come on. What do you say? I promise I won't make it too hard."

"You'd better not just to get out of answering questions, Bel,"

"I won't. I am an open book. And speaking of open books..."

So we went back over a chapter or two that she said she didn't have the best recollection of. The unification of Germany in the 1800s. To be fair, there was a lot of little bits that went into it that made it complex.

It took about thirty minutes to get through the chunks that she had problems with. Being that I did know what was important in these damn things, I gave her my summarized version of events and names. People and what they did that made them relevant was the thing she had the most trouble with, so it was what I focused on most of all.

I remembered most names of any historic reference because I could associate them with one sentence of what made them famous in the first place. It was like sticking my head into the rabbit hole, and after those two things were put together, everything else about them that I knew started linking up. It turned out, that process actually did help Megan, so that was what I used.

It was exciting seeing her excited about more of this stuff sticking. Before she could get bored, I started the line of questions, which perked her up before she could start coming down, going with the momentum and all of that.

"The Franco-Prussian War of 1870. What was the decisive event that led to the beginning of the end?"

"The Battle of Sedan," Megan answered with a confidence that she hadn't started with, "I remembered that one because of the car."

I grinned to myself. I did things like that a lot. It worked. The only downside was that if it really stuck, every time she thought of a 4-door vehicle, info on that battle would flash through her head for a moment.

She was right, but I wasn't willing to make things quite that easy, "That was a cream puff. Battles are easy to remember. Why was it so decisive?" I demanded follow-up details.

Megan was up to the task however. She did great, answering quick, "Napoleon III surrendered. He was emperor, and that really messed up stuff back in Paris."

That was fine to me. I didn't need any technical, flowery, nuts-and-bolts answers. Most of the exam was going to be multiple choice. Save the expansive crap for the essay questions, "What about the army?" I continued asking further.

"Napoleon surrendered his army along with him."

"Why else did that matter so much? Was that the only force France had available?"

"The rest of them were caught in a pinch," Vague. Too vague. I gave her a look. I needed a better answer than that. She started to panic a bit, but I didn't relent until I got a solid answer, "A-A siege! The Siege of Metz! They surrendered a little bit later, I think."

I nodded, satisfied by her answer, "Good. I was about to ask that next," I wouldn't ask for an exact date. Tests didn't ask for specific dates unless it was like 'signing of the Declaration of Independence' in the U.S. big, "Okay, so with no army in the field to stop them, what came next?"

Megan bounced in place on the bed, getting more excited as we went on. She knew I was running out of steam, "The Siege of Paris. It went for four months. Paris surrendered in January 1871. That was basically the end of the war," She rushed her answer. She was right, but was clearly getting impatient, "Now you have to answer my questions!"

"Almost. We're nearly done," She could pout at me all she wanted to. I was a rock, "What big things did the Prussians get out of winning the war?"

"Germany was officially recognized as a unified country, and they got the Alsace-Lorraine territory," Megan said before leaning on me and shaking me, "Bel... come ooooooon! You said I could ask you one question if I answered one question. You did, like, fifty questions in a row!"

I let her do as she pleased, it was funnier than anything else. It had all worked out well, "You got 'em all, didn't you?" I said, "It was six, by the way. Six questions. That's what you get, so go ahead and take your best shot."

She grabbed my hands and moved us into a position facing each other. It felt like I was about to get a palm reading. That, or a lie detector test.

Megan hadn't thought of what she was going to ask me the whole time we had been studying. It took her a moment to come up with something to ask, "What's the most scared you've ever been?" She eventually blurted out.

I shrugged. It wasn't a hard thing to answer, seeing as how all of the possible candidates had happened within the last six months. One in particular stuck out from the rest, "Before the Danger Room wigged out during Field Day, it did it late at night when I was all by myself," I recalled going through a slew of opponents that I felt were impossible to defeat on my own, "I think I might have cried."

"Wow," My answer caught her more off-guard than I thought it would have, "You cried. I can't see you crying about… well, anything."

I wasn't some crazy-tough man of action, no matter how much I wanted to be, "I wasn't bawling and snotting everywhere. But when I knew I was a dead man, I did kind of lose it," I reasoned defensively, "That's never happening again."

"I think the Paladins get into more trouble than any other training squad at school," Megan said, "More than the New Mutants and the Hellions. I'm sure of it."

I couldn't argue with that. The facts spoke for themselves. No one else had gotten caught up in preventing an intergalactic war, "Probably. It's not like we go looking for it though. You were there twice. This crap just happens to me," As it would continue to. But that was inconsequential, "What else you got?"

I hoped it would be a more fun thing to discuss than shit that kept me up at night. Fortunately, I was not disappointed, "What kind of TV shows do you watch?"

"Anything that can make me laugh is always good. Though, I don't get that very much," Most sitcoms and situational comedies were terrible to me, "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Archer are some of my favorites," Which, come to think of it, probably explained a lot about the kind of person I was.

From the look on her face, it was clear she wasn't familiar with it, "I don't think I've seen either of those."

That was good, all things considered, "I'm probably going to keep you away from them for a while then," I said to myself, lest she find out how terrible my sense of humor could be, "I watch a lot of specials from stand-up comedians too. Ones I really like, I download. Come to think of it, what do you like?"

Getting to know each other went both ways after all, and Megan seemed more than happy to share, "Dramas with music as a major theme. Empire. Nashville. Those are fun. And the soundtracks are always really good," She said, before thinking of something else, "Oh, and I wish there were more game shows like Jeopardy nowadays. I always liked that one."

That sounded like fun. I didn't watch much of Jeopardy, but when I did, I had a good time. That was a solid selection. Something it might be fun to curl up with her and watch. Not that I would say that out loud. It didn't sound cool.

"I watch more movies than TV shows," I admitted, "My parents run a movie theater in San Francisco, so I've seen almost everything that's come out since I was a little kid," For better or for worse.

"What 5 movies are your background noise then?"

It was a very good question. I grinned at her catching on to good things to ask for some fun answers. I don't remember how much time we spent actually talking, but the sun had still been up when we'd started. The next thing I knew, night had fallen.

"What kind of girls do you like?" She launched my way as one of her later targeted questions.

She had been building up to asking something along those lines. Honestly, I'd expected that sort of subject to come up sooner than it had, "You, obviously," The fact that I'd been prepared to answer didn't mean I was going to make it easy. What was the fun in that?

Megan could tell I was being difficult for the sake of it and hit me a few times in the chest with her palms. They were really weak; funnier to me than anything else. Eventually I grabbed her wrists and put her hands by her sides, "I'm serious. Come on. You said you'd answer anything I asked you," She told me, "What do you like? Cute girls? Girls who seem grown up? Blondes? Bad girls? Smart types? Girls with wings?" She batted her eyes and gave her wings a quick flutter for emphasis. I thought it was neat.

"Cute girls are fine and everything, but there's lots of things I consider cute," I was very accepting of all sorts of girls' physical traits. I was pickier when it came to what was on the inside, "Compatibility is a bigger issue for me."

I was vague on purpose, almost maddeningly so. Who went into detail on something like that so easily? Some things took a little prodding, "What do you look for then?"

I thought about my answer, crossing my arms over my chest and staring out straight ahead across the room. This took a lot of thought to articulate, "Well, first and foremost, a girl has to be able to tolerate me," I said, "I'm not changing who I am. I like who I am. If something bothers a girl that likes me, I'll cut down on it, but if someone's looking at me like some kind of project, that they can turn me into their 'ideal guy' with a little time and effort, if they get rid of this and that about me, and I find out that's what they want... well, let's just leave it at that."

Because I would be leaving it at that. There were over 6 billion people on the planet. There had to be someone that was willing to take me as I was, and I wasn't against playing the field until I found that person. Just being honest.

I shook my head in distaste, thinking about my next point, "I don't want somebody with a chip on their shoulder. You know, somebody with something to prove, tries to turn everything into a fight," I didn't see myself dealing with that for very long, no matter what else was good about their looks or personality, "...That shit's not fun."

My answer confused her a bit, "Then why do you spend so much time around Hisako? You guys fight all the time," My team dynamic did include a lot of myself and Armor butting heads. But that was more for team morale. It was just how we worked.

I had also never been accused of trying to sleep with Hisako, so that rendered her example moot, "I start most of that, plus it's never serious," I said, waving off her reference as swiftly as possible, "I'm talking about the kind of person that looks for reasons to get mad and be pissed off about something. Girls with no chill."

Megan knew gossip when she heard it and gave me a little nudge to get more out of me, "Got any names to go with that?" She asked, leaning in close to coax it out of me.

Not a chance. I kept lists like that to myself. The only people who needed to know I had enemies were myself and said enemies, "Sure! If you want that to be your next question. I gave you that last extra one as a freebie."

"So stingy," She stuck her tongue out playfully before realizing how close we'd gotten. I'd realized it before she had. I could feel the heat coming off of her, could see the color in her cheeks, "Hey... can I ask you one more question?"

We were so close, I could tell where she was looking on my face when her eyes strayed from mine, "You can do anything you want."

I couldn't believe that had just come out of my mouth. It took a herculean effort to keep from licking my lips, no matter how self-conscious I felt about the chance that they were dry. I had to be cool, even as Megan took a deep breath and started to move in closer.

'Oh shit! What the fuck do I do now?' I remembered as the exact thoughts that shot through my head at that moment, until a good shot of 'whatever' attitude filled my system, 'How about you quit being a bitch and let it happen? This is a good thing.'

I was absolutely right. I was being a bitch. A pretty girl was moving in to kiss me, and I was freaking out? What the hell was my problem. This was a good thing. It was a great thing. With as much as I admitted aloud to adoring the female form, it was the best thing that had happened to me in months!

All of this thinking occurred over the course of a quarter-second. In the next half-second, it was all rendered moot when the door clicked open and Megan's roommate walked inside.

Hope entered with a yawn, her schoolbag slung over her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize that there had been other people in the room. It surprised her, because I was never there, and Megan had taken to the air just above the bed we'd been sitting on. To her credit, she was at least apologetic.

She held up her hands and slid over to her side of the room to drop her things, "Oops! I didn't know I was interrupting anything! I thought you were going to ask to go into his room, not bring him to ours," So she had known about it. Any goodwill she'd established with me by saying sorry was quickly lost when she plopped down on her bed, posted up to watch, "By all means, continue. Just pretend I'm not here."

Anytime she felt like peeling that grin off of her face would have suited me just fine, "...Are you going to leave?" I asked pointedly.

Hope blew a raspberry and waved me off, "No way. Are you kidding? I've been waiting on her to get the guts to try this for at least a month."

And she would have to wait for that much longer as well, which I was not pleased with. Things quickly got awkward, and I felt the whole deal die off pitifully.

I tried to leave the room, maintaining some semblance of poise as I did so, "I think we can pick this up some other time," I didn't necessarily mean the studying, either, "I'll call you later?" I said/asked, not trying to sound too hopeful.

"I'd like that, Bellamy," I smiled at her and tilted my hat her way old west style. I looked over at Hope who gave me a cheeky wave, along with a 'Bye, Bel,' that came out in the kind of lilt that made me wonder if it was bad form to laser pointer her in the eye really quick. Fortunately, I didn't have to think much about it. I had closed the door and barely taken five steps down the hall when I heard-, "God, Hope, you suck!"

Took the words right out of my mouth, darling.

"Whaaaat? You didn't have to stop on my account. I just would have been a witness."

Knowing how much Megan could talk when she was well motivated to, I knew Hope had an earful ahead of her. Good.