Rachel and the other two decided to take an early lunch, to celebrate their success in the practical. Upon arriving at the eatery, they noticed it was filled with the students from the military and Performance Arts and that there was an uproar of noise coming from all the conversations occurring at once.

Nathan suggested to Tina and Rachel, “Maybe we should wait for the other students to leave before grabbing food. We can people-watch in here while we wait.”

Tina and Rachel nodded at the idea and followed Nathan to an empty corner of the sitting area of the eatery. They each took a seat with their backs facing the wall side by side and looked around at all the people eating and conversing. The first thing Rachel noticed was that when the girls in the Performance Arts finished eating, they would get up as a group and go talk to the boys in the Military Arts. And if she had learned anything from her meet up with George and James in front of the academy, those two would be gathering a very large crowd right about now.

“Hey, do you see that crowd over there, I wonder what’s happening?” Tina pointed to the left side of the room. All three of them couldn’t see anything from where they were, but hearing cheers beginning to erupt, they moved to get a closer look. The trio found an arm-wrestling battle going on in the center of the crowd. There were two reigning champions that the other martial arts students and even some of the Performance Arts students were competing against, George and James. Rachel wondered how those two found their way into this situation, but student after student lost against the two champions. In no time there were no more students willing to compete. Wanting to know whether George or James would win the arm-wrestling competition Rachel shouted out, “James versus George!” George recognizing the voice looked for Rachel in the crowd.

“Really, Rachel, you’re going to make us continue this?” George called out to Rachel.

“Well, you may beat James in sparring, but can you beat him in arm-wrestling?” Rachel questioned.

“If I do it and win you have to buy me food, Rachel,” James said with a large smile while looking directly at George.

“Fine and if I win you owe me a meal, no James this time,” George replied looking towards Rachel for confirmation. Everyone in the crowd looked to Rachel for her acceptance of the deal. Rachel was more than pleased to offer another meal to her friends.

“Okay. Deal,” she shouted.

James stood up to sit opposite of George. George had it in his mind that he could not lose this fight against James. And for a brief second, he wondered why he cared so much. Yes. He wanted to spend time with Rachel, and this was the perfect excuse. But he didn’t want his prize as much as James wanted his because he lost to James’ wicked arm-wrestling tactics. George was hopeful that his loss was not in vain. Perhaps James and Rachel would take him along.

The crowd stood in silence as the duke’s son lost the challenge. George was forced to offer James his congratulations indicating that it was just a friendly match. The awkwardness of the situation dispersed the crowd leaving George, James, Rachel, and her new friends behind.

“That was awkward, should I not have suggested you two arm-wrestle?” Rachel asked while sitting down in a free seat, beckoning her friends to sit down with them.

“It’s awkward because I am an extension of my father and people are afraid of his power, and mine by proxy,” George admitted while knowing he would never abuse his father’s power. If anything, if he brought something like this to him, he would be reprimanded for wasting his time.

“You showed them a good side of you. Although, I don’t know if it counts if the person you lose to is your best friend,” Rachel replied, chuckling. “I finally made some friends in my Agricultural Studies program; this is Tina and Nathan. We just completed our first practical exam today.”

Tina and Nathan were in shock that Rachel knew George, the duke’s son. He was hard to get to know because he was always elusive with people he didn’t already know and cold to his Military Arts comrades.

“How do you two know each other?” Tina asked.

“Reginald made me return a book she left behind one day to her, and she treated James and I to lunch as a returned favor,” George blurted out, a little upset by the fact that he won’t be removing James from their outings any time soon.

Tina and Nathan now couldn’t believe Rachel could get an esteemed war hero, who was mean to anyone who crossed his path, to return a book to her. Who is this girl they both thought?

“So, Rachel. When are we going for food again?” James excitedly asked only caring about the food so much that he didn’t even notice the silent uproar about George losing to him.

“Same day and time last time, if that works for you?” Rachel suggested.

“It does, thank you. George are you coming too? Rachel would probably be bored since, I don’t talk while enjoying my meals, she could use some company,” James asked remembering to be considerate to Rachel and helping George out romantically.

“If it isn’t a bother,” George replied while looking at Rachel.

“No, it’s no bother. I’m sure James, just wants our leftovers again,” Rachel smiled thinking about how much food James ate last time.

“See you Saturday. We must go back and get ready for more exercises. It was nice meeting you Tina and Nathan,” George said while grabbing James who was daydreaming about Saturday out of his seat.

“Okay see you then, George,” Rachel replied while waving goodbye.

“Should we go get food now?” Rachel asked Tina and Nathan.

“Sure,” Tina and Nathan said in unison.

The trio had many introductions that day that led to laughter and the formation of bonds. Rachel now had three more reasons to find a way to protect Serra and her friends that were here.