Author's Note: I've had this idea in my mind since I texted my friend (pen name: TimsQuerida) during my Linguistics class and she said to turn it into a fan fiction. I had the 10th Doctor in mind while writing this, but I did give him a bow-tie like the 11th Doctor because I really like bow-ties haha. Well, that's basically it, so hopefully you enjoy part one of this story.
Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap.
My pen taps against the desk, bored out of my mind in this class. Why did I decide to take linguistics again? Oh, that's right, because I thought it would be helpful seeing as I'm an English major. How am I supposed to know if it can help me if I can't retain any of the information the professor has been droning on about for the past… check the clock… five minutes?! You have got to be kidding me. I still have another hour and ten minutes left? It will be a miracle if I don't fall asleep.
I decide to attempt note taking to keep myself busy. It's pretty amusing listening to the professor speak actually. See, he has this accent – he's from Catalonia, or Bologna, or someplace other than New York – but it changes the way he gives us information; plus he says things slow, sounding almost like a robot. If he were to say, "Everyone speaks with their own dialect. A person may try to manipulate his or her dialect," it would turn into "Ev-ry-one speaks with their own da-lek. A per-son may try to man-ip-u-late his or her own da-lek." It's pretty amusing, but not to the point where I'm interested: two seconds later, I'm back to tapping my pen.
Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap – beep.
The professor stops speaking and looks up at me. "Ms. Johnson, does this class not fas-cin-ate you?"
"Sorry sir, I'll turn off my phone now." Only I don't; I check my text message instead.
SOFIA: Hey where are you?
ME: In class. COME SAVE ME?! Room 402
SOFIA: Won't the prof notice a random girl walk in?
ME: It's a big lecture… He only knows my name since I'm the only one who failed.
SOFIA: Of course LOL I'll be there soon
ME: YAY! Bring me some tea when you come.
Five minutes later – since, you know, I'm counting down the minutes – Sofia comes into class with a cup of tea in her hand. She spots me right away as I'm in the seat closest to the door. She plops down in the seat next to me and hands me the cup. "Vanilla Oolong tea with extra agave and soy milk," she whispers.
"Impressive," I mutter. "That was fast."
She smirks. "I knew we were gonna be hanging out one way or another. I actually thought you'd ditch."
I begin to roll my eyes, but then stop myself. "Yeah, sounds about right." She laughs. "Thanks," I say and take a sip. "Ouch, my tongue!"
Sofia rolls her eyes. "Well it is called hot tea for a reason, AJ."
I narrow my eyes at her. "Thanks for the info." I take another sip and wince.
"Why are you drinking it?! Let it cool off!"
"But it's so good…"
"You're not going to be able to taste it if you burn off all of your taste buds."
"You're right." I put the cup down. "So, what's new with you?"
"Oh nothing really; I got an A on that psych exam I studied my ass off for—"
Her thought trails off as a tall, lanky man wearing a bow-tie sits down next to us, his focus being on the professor.
"Check out his bowtie," Sofia says in a low voice.
I glance at him and fight back a smile. I turn back to her and she rolls her eyes. "What?" I question her innocently.
"You're ridiculous, you know that?"
"What, you told me to look at his bow-tie. I can't help that I find it adorable." I smile.
"You always did have a thing for nerdy guys."
"There's nothing wrong with liking someone smart," I begin. "Plus, I'll need someone to help me pass my required math and science classes."
"You know," Sofia says seriously. "If you actually put some effort into your math and science classes, you probably would pass."
"Yeah, but I'm never going to need that crap. I'm going to be an English teacher, not a scientist."
"Excuse me," the man with the bowtie says to us. He has an English accent, that's nice. "I don't mean to interrupt your intellectual conversation, but-" he stops himself and takes out a small piece of paper, deeming him as some sort of investigator. "I'm investigating this class and I was wondering if you noticed any strange behavior coming from the professor?" He looks at Sofia rather than me. Makes sense considering she is the more studious one.
"Oh, I'm not in this class; I'm just here to keep this one from going insane," Sofia replies, while pointing at me.
He turns to me. "I, um…" I stutter. I was never one to do well under pressure. Hell, I get nervous at my job as a store clerk when a customer asks if we have any more cans of tuna in stock. How am I supposed to react to a cute guy investigating my linguistics class?
He turns back to Sofia. "She's not bright, this one, is she?"
I feel myself blush as Sofia tries her best to suppress her laughter. "No, she is. She just has a thing for nerdy guys and she probably feels intimidated by you."
I glare at her. "Really, Sof?" I look at the man again and have a hard time looking into the giant brown eyes that make him look like an owl. "Well, um… Considering how often I pay attention, the only thing I can tell you is the dude has a funny way of speaking." I finally look at his face and notice his eyes are staring right back. How am I supposed to think straight when he's looking at me like that, with his eyes all wide, and his eyebrows raised? Let's not forget the fact that his hair is falling in his face and, Lord, does he have a nice set of hair on his head.
"Hmm," he ponders. "What do you mean exactly? He speaks with an accent, or does he have a stutter?" He grins. "You need to be somewhat specific when giving an investigator details."
I feel my face heat up. "Just… He… It's like…"
Sofia shoves my shoulder. "Come on girl, spit it out." Remind me to get back at her later.
"He has this weird way of speaking," I say, collecting my thoughts. "You just need to listen to him to understand what I mean."
We sit there, quiet for a minute to hear what the professor has to say, only this time he sounds like he's speaking with a somewhat regular New York accent. Sofia and the man look at me, obviously thinking I made something up. "I swear I'm telling the truth," I sigh.
Sofia stares at me blankly. "Or maybe that tea burned not only your tongue, but your brain too."
I hear the man beside me snicker. I shoot him a look. "What's your name anyway, Mister Investigator, and why are you here investigating this class? Because let me tell you, the only crime my professor has committed is boring his students to death. And just because you're cute and making this class slightly less boring doesn't mean that you get to laugh at some cheap shot insult that my friend made." I reach to take a sip of my tea, hoping to calm myself. I may have been intimidated at first, but I'm not about to let some guy make fun of me just because he thinks he's some big, tough investigator. Though, he is cute…
His eyes, still shining, almost seem to mock me. "My name is the Doctor—"
I almost choke on my tea. "So your name is the Doctor and your title is investigator?" He nods. "So you're the Doctor: the investigator."
"Why can't I ever run into someone who likes to make things simple," He mumbles. "Yes, exactly, I'm the investigator; therefore, shouldn't I be the one asking questions instead of you?"
I mutter a, "Yeah, I guess you're right," and let him continue speaking.
"Thank you. Anyway, as I was saying, my name is the Doctor. There is no, 'Doctor Who?' It's just, 'The Doctor.' Now, would you care to elaborate since your friend and I can't seem to catch your professor speaking in the weird way you mentioned?"
"Well," I begin. "He was teaching us about the different types of dialects people speak. But when he says the word 'dialect' it sounds like he's saying 'da-lek.' Plus he sounds like-"
He cuts me off. "Wait, what did you just say?"
I stare at him, confused. "I said when he says the word 'dialect' it sounds like he's saying 'da-lek.'" His eyes widen even more, if that was at all possible. "Why is that freaking you out?" I turn to Sofia. "Sof, it's not good if an investigator is freaking out, right?"
She shakes her head. "I wouldn't think so."
"This is not good," he mutters. "Not good at all." The Doctor just stares straight ahead at the professor.
"Um Doctor," Sofia starts. "What is so bad about the way he pronounces 'dialect,' exactly?"
He doesn't answer her; he just keeps staring, so Sofia and I look in that direction too. We watch the professor talk for a while, not knowing what to say or do in this situation. All of a sudden the professor's head shakes and he stares straight ahead with blank, unblinking eyes that glow neon blue.
"Is he possessed," I ask the Doctor.
He finally breaks out of his trance to answer me. "It seems that way, I just need to figure out what is possessing him exactly, and how…"
"Okay," I say. "You need to explain to Sofia and me what the hell is going on here."
He hesitates for a moment, then sighs. "I guess I should explain everything to you two." He stands up. "I'll explain it to you, just not in here. Can we step into the hallway?"
I eye him, curiously. "How do I know you're not going to kill me? There is a lot of weird crap going on…"
Sofia smacks my arm. "Either we die here with your possessed professor, or get killed in the hallway by an adorable, nerdy guy. I choose the latter. Plus, he told us he's an investigator and we have no other option but to believe him right now, so come on."
I reluctantly stand up and walk out of the classroom with them. "So you do admit he's adorable then," I whisper to Sofia.
"Shut up, AJ," she snaps. "I'd like to focus on not getting killed today, thank you."
I stop speaking and follow the Doctor to a secluded area in the hallway about ten feet away from the classroom. When we get to the area I notice this tall, rectangular blue box that has "Police Public Call Box" written in white letters near the top. "Um, what is this? I don't remember ever seeing this on the Gatherings University tour."
The Doctor faces Sofia and me. "This is my TARDIS."
"The hell is a TARDIS?" I question him.
"Time and Relative Dimensions in Space," he answers. "I can travel anywhere through time and space with her, and I was supposed to be going on a little trip to this beautiful planet called –"
I cut him off. "Planet? Travel through time and space? So I'm guessing you're not actually an investigator." He shakes his head. "A time traveler, damn. Either I'm being extremely naïve or today's events just make more sense when believing you."
The Doctor just chuckles. "Come inside, I'll show you."
"I know I'm not the smartest person, but how is the TARDIS going to fit three people inside."
Sofia looks at me. "For once you're making complete sense."
I smile. "I have my moments."
"Just trust me," he walks inside. Sofia just shrugs at me and we follow him inside.
When we walk inside, I gasp. "IT'S HUGE!"
"That's what she said," Sofia mumbles while taking in the scenery around her.
"Yes, yes, yes," the Doctor rushes. "It's bigger on the inside, smaller on the outside, and all of that—"
"Business out in front, party on the inside," I sing.
Sofia stares at me. "Did you just compare this glorious TARDIS to a mullet?"
I look away sheepishly. "Maybe…"
The Doctor clears his throat. "Anyway, I set what day, time, and place I want to travel to and she takes me there, but this time she took me here. She only does that when something serious is going on, and obviously it has something to do with your professor."
"Oh," I reply. "So what do we do, then?"
The Doctor looked from Sofia to me. "You two are sure you want to do this?"
No way was I going to leave now; this was the most excitement I've had since… Well, meeting Barney the Dinosaur when I was four. "Hell yes!"
He grins. "Brilliant!"
Sofia smirks. "Let's go kick some possessed ass!" The Doctor and I just look at her. "Too much?"
The Doctor nods and I answer, "Just a tad."
