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February 3rd, 7:19 P.M.

Colin left message at 6:53 P.M.: "I don't get this chapter at all, and this week's studying didn't really help. Can you meet me somewhere on Saturday? Call me back on my cell phone. The number is 555-7296."

Tory yawned, stretching a bit on the couch. He capped his pen, considering some of the notes from today. Other than the call from Colin, there wasn't anything worth brooding over. The whole week had been rather dull, in all honesty. Colin had been progressing all right in his lessons. His grades were improving but still not (as Mrs. Keplar had tactfully put it) "satisfactory". He considered asking him if he needed any sort of extra help during lunch like he occasionally did with Mandy, but thought against it. Colin could ask for help if he needed it, he'd reasoned, though he knew in the back of his mind that he probably wouldn't.

Unless it was necessary, Colin never approached Tory for anything. Sometimes he waved to him in the hallway or something like that, but otherwise they never really spoke to each other. Tory didn't take it personally; it seemed like he was like that with everybody. That was why the sudden call threw him for a loop. Yes, he had given both Mandy and Colin his phone number, but he had never expected Colin to actually call. Didn't seem like him. So why the sudden assertiveness?

Tory realized that none of these thoughts would ever lead to anything until he'd actually called Colin back.

He walked into the kitchen, reaching for the phone. He hesitated a second before punching in the number. Was it too soon to call back? Tory shook his head; Colin would probably want him to call back as soon as possible. They should take proper advantage of the weekend, even if their next study session was in a few days. If Colin needed help then it couldn't be helped. If his grades dropped Mrs. Keplar might drop the tutoring program, and then his plans to figuring out this whole thing with Colin would be ruined. The Gaia Project, his bouts of sickness, his distant behavior were all counts for suspicion. As he'd told Paul numerous times before, it wasn't as if he was interested in Colin. For some reason, he just had to know.

It's not like it wasn't a pain in the ass to tutor the both of then, but still. He was kind of growing fond of Mandy, even if she was a little bit too cheery for his liking sometimes. Plus, Colin always did seem sort of happy whenever Tory was able to explain it to him. He had a feeling Colin did want to do well, but couldn't. Why was that?

Tory snapped to reality to find that he'd been holding the phone in his hand and staring at it for a minute straight without pressing a single button.

"Quit spacing out and dial the freaking phone number already!"he thought.

In a rush, he fumbled over the keys and punched in Colin's cell phone number. He leaned against the kitchen wall, staring at a small crack in the corner of the ceiling he'd never noticed before. It dawned on him whether or not he should get a cell phone like Colin. It'd be useful, especially in the city. If nothing else it would be convenient, too. Trying to always find a pay phone was a pain, and if he was going to commute... His mind was wandering again. It was so strange, he was usually much more focused-

"Hello?"

Tory snapped out of his thoughts, suddenly alert. He cleared his throat. "Hi. It's Tory," he said, his voice sounding rather false and cheery, even in his own head. "I got your message. About studying together."

"Ah."

Tory paused a moment, waiting for Colin to say something. The other end was quiet. Now what? Even on the phone the guy was hard to talk to. When Colin didn't say anything further, he kept talking, making sure not to babble. "Well… I was wondering where you wanted to meet up," he prompted, trying to get Colin to actually speak. Tory's conversational skills weren't the best when it came to small talk, he'd admit that, but Colin was even worse. It was best to get to the point and skip all the "how-are-you" formalities.

There was a short silence on the other end. Tory fingered the zipper on his sweatshirt. "The library, I guess. It's close."

"All right," Tory affirmed, a little encouraged by the fact that Colin had said more than one word, let alone once sentence. It was a good thing that Tory wasn't doing anything tomorrow. His schedule was completely open all weekend, in fact. "Is one o' clock all right?"

"Sure," Colin replied. His voice was just as mellow on the phone as it was in person, Tory noticed. It was almost a little low.

"All right. See you then."

"Mm-hmm. 'Bye."

Tory placed the phone on the cradle, suddenly in a much better mood. He'd write about the conversation later, though admittedly Colin didn't really say much. Still, he was determined to let nothing go unnoticed. Every detail was important, no matter how minute they may seem at the time. But, for now, he decided he'd eat the leftovers from last night before Paul got to them. He was getting hungry all of a sudden. Besides, it was better for him to eat now and get to bed earlier. He didn't want to be tired for tomorrow.

Wow, it's been a while since you guys have heard from me, hasn't it? Sorry about that. I've been in a bit of a writing slump and didn't really have the motivation. Moving right along, I was thrilled to find that OffBeat had it's own section on Joy! Naturally, I had to start writing a fic. So! I hope you guys enjoyed chapter one. I hope there aren't too many inconsistencies, but that's hard to ascertain considering that only book one of OffBeat has been released. Heh. Well, I hope to see reviews and all that, and please enjoy the fic. Thanks very much.