Angie groaned as soon as they pulled up to the school, Jace was waiting for them in front of the doors.

“Did your parents figure anything out about what is going on with his family?” Nate asked, the question directed at both the girls.

“They only just started looking,” Lindsay muttered, glaring at the boy outside. “I’m more surprised that our parents were willing to work together to figure it out.”

Angie nodded. “I think I mentioned it before, but her parents and my own don’t exactly get along. Either way, it’ll take more than a single night to figure something out.”

She popped open the door and hopped out before the chauffeur could even finish unbuckling his seatbelt.

Jace’s eyes darkened as he noticed Nate with the girls as he walked confidently toward them.

The three came to a stop in front of him and glared. “What do you want, Jace? We’ve already been through this; you and I are not getting together. You broke the agreement, knowing full well what that would mean. I’m not sure why you suddenly care about something you willingly threw away, but it’s too late now. Just stop.”

Nate winced. She may not have had any feelings for the other boy, but no girl liked being carelessly tossed aside. For someone like Angelica with a certain amount of pride, he imagined that had to be what hurt the most.

Jace ground his teeth together, the sound loud enough to set their nerves on edge. “My reasons are my own, and you will be mine.”

“No, they aren’t. Not when they affect me, and no, I won’t. I can make my own decisions about who I want to be with.” She stepped right up to his face and glared right back at him. “Don’t test me, Jace. I’ve been civil because of the agreement between our families and because you haven’t yet done anything but be a nuisance. If that should change… Well, I’m sure my parents will understand after the fact.”

His eyes grew wary, with a hint of uncertainty as they flicked from Angie to the two people behind her. It was only then that he seemed to remember that he was outnumbered and outside a school with cameras everywhere.

“This isn’t over yet,” He said, forcing the words out through his clenched teeth. “This is bigger than what I want. It goes beyond me.”

She stepped up to his side, keeping her gaze locked on the door just past him. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter what your reason for doing this is, there are no benefits to me and my family. Even if there were, I still wouldn’t agree because I don’t like you. You screwed up the one chance there was of forcing us to be together, and I am beyond grateful that you did.”

With those parting words, she brushed past him and walked inside the school.

Jace didn’t bother saying anything, but the glare he gave Lindsay and Nate said it all for him. This wasn’t over, not for them, and not for him. Angie may have considered the matter settled, but she was the only one who did.

“Are you going to tell her, or am I?” Nate whispered to Lindsay.

She looked behind them to where Jace was still standing outside, his body rigid, and sighed. “I’ll do it. She needs to know.”

“It’s going to be an interesting school day,” He muttered, walking in behind her, and it, unfortunately, was at that.

Apparently after their little discussion outside the doors that morning, Jace had decided that her words were akin to declaring war. In every single class, whether they were together or alone -well, Angie and Lindsay were never alone since all their classes were together- the three were constantly being pestered.

It was annoying, but little more than that. No one dared to do anything more to them at the school, especially not after what had happened to the teacher the day before. Everyone was well aware of the limits of what they could and couldn’t get away with.

These kids had all grown up with golden spoons in their mouths and while they enjoyed pushing the limits, most weren’t stupid. As for the rest, they had to choose sides, Angie’s or Jace’s. Angie was more well-known around the school, but the McFadden name that came with Jace also held a certain amount of weight.

To most of the student’s credit, they decided to not participate in the matter at all. Choosing to not take a side. They neither helped nor hindered. They watched, and that was it.

There were a few who helped Jace, and even fewer who still helped Angie. It was something Nate found odd until Lindsay explained to him what was going on.

“Jace has bought off the people helping him, and while Angelica is nice to everyone, she is careful who she makes friends with.” She looked at him pointedly, hinting that he had been a special case. “These people are the few she has either spent more time with or are desperate to gain her favor.”

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“I would think everyone would want to make use of such an opportunity then, to possibly gain her favor. That has to be worth something, right?”

“Everyone has their pride, Nate. Most have too much of it for their own good.” She replied gently.

“We’re too young to have that kind of pride already. What do any of us have to be proud about at this point in our lives? We haven’t accomplished anything. The most noteworthy thing any of us have done is getting born into affluent families. That’s simply luck of the draw, nothing more.” He snorted. “Don’t tell me some of these kids actually believe they were chosen or something simply because they were born rich.”

Lindsay stared at him, slowly blinking.

“Oh, they do… um, do you and Angie?”

She burst out laughing. “No, we aren’t that stupid, but some of them really do think that. If you remember, in the old days, people used to think their kings and queens were virtually gods simply by who birthed them. This is no different.”

“That’s stupid, but I must admit I wouldn’t mind drinking whatever idiot juice gives these people that kind of baseless confidence.”

She chuckled and pushed him towards his first class. “We’ll see you in a bit. Have fun explaining to the teachers why you walked out yesterday.”

He groaned, remembering how they had left the school the day before. That was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

Luckily, it didn’t turn out to be an issue. All the teachers seemed to want to pretend the events of the day before never happened. There was no mention of them leaving early, or of the teacher that Angie’s driver had knocked through a wall.

He was glad for that. It made getting through the classes where he was alone easier. Most people simply left him alone, with one or two of the students asking about his relationship with Angie and Lindsay. The two girls had a bit of a fan club in the school and were a little curious about the boy who was suddenly hanging out with the beings of their admiration.

Thankfully, that was all, however, and the people that were bothering the other two largely left him alone.

Soon enough, it was time for lunch and when they expected Jace’s main show to begin.

They were right. Almost as soon as the three sat down to eat, Jace walked into the cafeteria with his latest goon squad. Unconsciously, the room began separating into three different groups. Those that were with him, those who had chosen Angie, and then the rest who had decided to remain unaffiliated.

It was simple, and it immediately let the rest know where that person stood.

Jace grinned, baring his white teeth, and stopped in front of their table.

“Is there a point to this otherwise pointless posturing?” Angelica asked before he could say anything. Her eyes were calm as she took a sip of her soda.

He soundlessly ground his teeth and pointed his finger at her. “I challenge you to a duel. If I win, you will marry me; if I lose, I will leave you alone.”

“No,” She responded without hesitating. “The terms aren’t equal. You simply leaving me alone isn’t of equal value to me marrying you. Not to mention you have already lost the right to marry me. A simple duel doesn’t change that in the slightest.”

Angie wasn’t giving him any room to negotiate or save face at all.

His face paled and then reddened in anger as he slammed his hand down on the table, cracking it.

She smirked and shook her head. “Would you look at that? You finally learned how to cultivate. It takes a lot for someone at the beginning stages of ‘Core Refining’ to challenge a person who hasn’t even formed their core yet. You’re such a big strong man Jace, I’m in awe.” She fanned her face and winked at him.

He growled and forced himself to step back, despite visibly shaking in anger. “Why haven’t you formed your core yet?”

“I didn’t want to. What does it matter to you? Oh, that’s right! It means you can’t even properly challenge me to a duel yet. You just can’t do anything right, can you?”

He screamed at the ceiling and kicked an empty chair, narrowly missing the heads of several students unrelated to the current affair. With that act of childish anger, he spun on his heel and stomped out of the cafeteria.

“I think you made him mad,” Nate said pointlessly as he ate some of the caramel pudding the school had made for lunch.

Lindsay shook her head. “No, he definitely wasn’t mad. Nope, not in the slightest.”

They both looked at Angie.

The other girl exhaled and threw her fork onto her plate. “Well, my appetite is ruined after that little display. Honestly, he should have known better than to pull something like that in public. I have no idea why he is bringing everyone else into our private affairs.”

“Maybe he just likes performing for an audience,” Nate said as he finished off the last of the pudding.

Lindsay covered her mouth, muffling the snort that erupted forth. “With how annoying he is, I wouldn’t actually doubt that he has some grandstanding tendencies. It’s good to know in case we do ever actually have to duel him.”

“Come on, if we are done eating, then we might as well get to the next class a little early.” Nate stacked all their plates on his and stood up.

With his meridians and core injured and affecting his strength, the three dense plates were a little heavier than he would have liked to admit. At that moment, they felt as though they weighed even more than the groceries he had helped his parents bring in the day before.

“You doing alright there?” Angie asked, seeing him struggle with them.

He stuck his tongue out at her and flexed his core; the action steadying him enough to make the short trip to the drop-off point. “I’m fine. I’ll be even better after tonight.”

“You better be. We can’t have a weakling hanging around with us.” Lindsay gently bumped her hip against his as he set everything down. “How long will it take you to cultivate enough energy to where you can try forming your core again?”

Nate shrugged and cracked his slightly aching back. “I’m not sure. George seems to think I’m pretty quick, even in my current state, but most of the energy I gather is still being wasted. For every little bit I get to keep ninety or ninety-five percent is wasted, I’d wager.”

That was just a rough estimation on his part, but if it was in any way correct, then his normal cultivation speed really would pick up. That wasn’t even taking the energy orbs from the dungeon into account. With those, he’d be even faster. Of course, all of that was still just speculation. For all he knew, getting his meridians and core repaired might not make all that much of a difference.

Yeah, right, as if that was possible.