Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"Where are you!" Patricia huffed under her breath as she searched for any sign at all of his presence on the site; the message boards, the online users, her inbox for at least maybe an explanation. All came up empty for a recent log in by user SickPuppy97. "And to think I didn't have enough people disappearing on me already...first Joy, then Renee, and now you? You were supposed to be here tonight, Stupid."

With an eye roll that was in no way trying to mask her disappointment, she minimized her browser and pulled out the extra assignment she'd been given by Mr. Sweet this week. He had printed her off several disciplinary phrases for her to copy down 100 times each by the next morning. Fair enough for her, it was better than the alternative, but he'd gone and put his own twist on it.

*bloop*

"Oh, now you want to talk. You're such—" she rushed to click her browser window back up.

Congratulations! You have been randomly selected…

"—a spam message. That's great." She looked to the clock once more and sighed, "9:30. Guess it's back to copying Latin phrases."

Nina was due any minute now from her shower and Patricia would rather die than let her catch her talking to…him. It wasn't like they were even dating, it was nothing of the sort. She hadn't even seen the guy, and he'd never seen her—she had accused him of being stalky the one and only time he'd ever asked for a photograph. But after vague recaps of their school days and the occasional jam session to a new audio track he claimed to have layed down and mixed himself, their conversations would sometimes turn a bit… It made Patricia nauseous in more than one way to merely think the word: flirty.

"Expecting an important email there, Patricia?" Nina teased as she ran a brush through her towel dried locks. The only other time she had seen Patricia that laser focused on anything was the fake message from Joy.

"What's that?" Patricia called back, her eyes never breaking away from the screen as she refreshed the page.

Nina giggled and tried once more, "Or could the 'goth pixie' have a boyfriend?"

The goth—she didn't know why that had stuck, she wasn't goth—glared over the top of her computer, narrowing her eyes as if to keep herself in check, "What did you just say? What'd you mean by that?"

"Nothing, I was just teasing…you looked really engrossed is all."

"Well, mind your own business would you?"

"Okay, sor-ry!" she mumbled, "And to think I thought we were becoming friends."

Patricia's steely resolve lasted about five minutes before she spilled the truth to the last person she thought she'd be desperate enough to talk about him to. But with Joy missing and Amber's big mouth and Mara's head constantly on Mick Island—not that she cared—and all the thoughts running through her head, she just…

"I met him on a fansite for my favorite band, okay."

"Ohhh so there is a boy," Nina grinned.

"Watch it… He's not my boyfriend or anything stupid like that we just usually chat sometimes while I'm doing homework is all. He sends me some of his music to listen to, he's a drummer. He was supposed to be online tonight."

"Well, maybe he's American. You know with the time difference it would only be—"

"Be serious, Nina. American? I mean no offense or anything but I really doubt it."

"None taken," her brow furrowed, "…I think. But that would explain why he always gets back to you so late. You should cut him some slack. He could've gotten detention or he might not even be home from school yet if he's from—"

"Or, he's just a night owl like every other normal teenager who isn't on lock down in Creepy Towers and can get online as late as they like without Victor taking their laptops."

"Point taken. So…what's his name, what does he look like?"

Patricia huffed as she heard Victor's office door slam meaning he was about to knock on their door and do his nightly speech. She was glad to not have to talk her way around not knowing the answers or have to talk about him anymore at all, but was still frustrated he never showed.

"Sorry, guess I won't be answering that," Patricia smirked.

Nina shook her head at Patricia's walls going right back up, knowing what she was about to say was unlikely. "Too bad, maybe another time."

Eddie Miller scrambled to his computer, juggling the sandwich he was eating and his keyboard and mouse trying to login to his new favorite message board to talk to his new favorite person as quickly as possible. He was already an hour later than he said he'd be and even if sometimes he seriously thought GothPixie was probably an old dude just trolling him online, he still wanted to keep in her good graces on the off chance she was actually real. Her days seemed pretty believable to him and he could respect her being just as cautious with her personal info on the off chance she was also speaking to an old perv that had asked her for a pic.

0 users online, 2 new messages

GothPixie:
Look, I can't wait around anymore. Let me know when it's convenient to actually meet me online when you say you will.

GothPixie:
Sorry, that was harsh…I'm just dealing with a lot of stuff right now and really wanted to talk to you tonight. Hope your day was better than mine. ttyl xx :)

Eddie shoved his math book off his desk in frustration and groaned. No, it really hadn't been better probably and now it was worse. Why did he have to go and smart off to the principal and get detention today of all days.

SickPuppy97:
No, I'm sorry for standing you up. I did something really stupid and got caught up somewhere with no internet. Having a message from you makes it better though. :) Try again tomorrow?

A/N: I've literally had this in my drafts for almost 2 years. I'm not writing fic anymore but I liked this idea too much to just trash it so I finished it and released it into the wild, here you go.