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- 1. macey -

It was a normal day at the NEST base. Soldiers were scurrying all around to their designated stations. Important meetings taking place all over. New recruits being trained. And people, such as I, walking through the corridors trying to reach their destinations. Mine was the the small, but suitable classrooms.

My name is Macey Exner and I work at NEST. As far as I know, NEST itself is a fairly new military department. I was never told why it was created, I was only asked to be the on-base teacher. Now, yes, I am young to be a teacher, but I am almost finished with online college to get my degree. I only have twenty five students to worry about any way, and they are all generally well behaved. They all come from military families who decided it was best for them to live on the base.

As far as I know, there are only few who keep their families on base. Others believe that it is safer for their families to remain in a public setting away from constant battles, training, and tight schedules. One of those very people is my best friend for many years, William Lennox. He's the reason as to why I landed this job here. I met Lennox about seven years ago when he was leaving for the military with his best friend, Will.

He was the one who introduced myself and Will. But, let's not dwell on the past. I quicken my pace to my destination, which right now seems to be on the complete other side of the base. I spotted Will coming my way, so I called out to him.

"Is that the William Lennox? Oh my goodness! I think it actually is!" I spoke in an obviously sarcastic and obnoxious voice, catching Will's attention.

Seeing me standing there, Will had a smile, but then it faded when his eyebrows came together and he looked at his watch.

"Macey, quick question, why are you on this side of the base? You know you cannot go near the hanger. The rooms aren't even over this way-" Will stopped himself when a look of realization came on his face and he started laughing. I was confused.

I'm sure I was going in the correct direction. I thought to myself.

"Shit, I got lost. Again. Sorry, William," there was an genuinely innocent smile plastered on my face since I actually did get lost. This is only my fifth day here on base and I've already gotten myself lost a countless amount of times.

"S'all good, Mace, Lets get you to your classroom; you have a class starting in half an hour. How's the hips today?"

Okay, let's back it up a bit here. When I was younger back in New Jersey, I got into a pretty bad sports accident and now have a set of hips that don't always function properly. Most of the time, especially the day before it rains, the just ache, but sometimes they'll randomly lock up and I'll have to stretch them out again.

"Eh, they're sore from not moving too much yesterday. Plus, it's gonna rain either tonight or tomorrow. Why I would ever move to Washington where it's constantly raining is beyond me," a laugh left both Will's and my lips as I said this.

We were currently walking in the correct direction to my classroom in silence. Will, being the giant that he is, was moving at a pretty decent pace. My short legs and bad hips did not work in my favor when it came to walking next to Will.

Noticing my struggle, Will turned his head over his shoulder just enough to see my and said with a cocky smirk on his face, "Aww, come on Shorty, keep up. Chop chop." He made a clapping effect with his hands that only pissed me off more.

"Call me Shorty another time, and you'll see what goes chop chop," came out of my mouth in a growl without second thought. Oops. Oh well. Noticing we reached my classroom, I unlocked the door quickly walked in only to slam the door in Lennox's face.

There were a windows that lined the whole wall to the outside corridor, looking almost like an interrogation room turned into a classroom. Looking through the window to Will, I saw a look of mock hurt on his face, making me let out a short laugh. I guess that Will knew he wasn't going to make it into my classroom, so he turned on his heels going wherever he originally planned to go before he saw me.

Since I was finally back in the classroom, I quickly got the presentation I was about to give ready. I had about five minutes left before my oldest group of students were coming in.

Unknown to me, there was a certain man staring through the windows of my classroom, intrigued by the way I stood up against the William Lennox, something no one in their right mind did.