With a tired sigh, Rani trudged up to her bedroom. The day had been too long, Slitheen are too much to handle when you're running on five hours sleep.

She collapsed on her bed, glaring at the yet-to-be-finished assignment that had kept her up most of the previous night. Sometimes she really did wish she was normal. A normal school girl, with normal friends, a normal social life and normal neighbours.

Her phone made a beeping sound, pulling her from her thoughts. Checking to see what the message said, she groaned.

'S-J needs us ASAP,' it read.

Clyde.

'How desperate?' she replied.

A minute later, the beeping started again. 'Very.'

Dragging herself to her feet, Rani made her way downstairs again.

"You going out, love?" her mum asked. "It's a bit late for that, isn't it?"

Glancing at her watch, Rani responded, "I left something at Sarah Jane's and I really need it back."

"Okay, then," Gita said suspiciously. "But don't be too long."

"I won't, Mum."

'What could she want at TEN THIRTY?' Rani thought to herself, yawning.

She pulled her jacket around herself more to block the cold as she crossed the road. Sarah Jane's majestic house looked beautiful, even in the dark, but Rani was inclined to think of it as a nuisance at that moment. Barely awake, she pushed the door open and wandered up the stairs to the attic, pushing the door shut again with her foot.

"What is it?" she asked when she reached the top.

Sarah Jane looked up, relieved. "There you are."

"Yeah, here I am. What was it you needed me for?"

Frowning a little at the girl's bluntness, Sarah Jane said, "Well, I need you to help me with this."

Rani watched her head over to Mr Smith, and knew it was going to be another long night.

"Rani?"

She heaved her eyes open to see who was shaking her shoulder. "What?" she mumbled.

"You've got an hour to get ready for school," Haresh told her, handing her a piece of toast.

Looking around her, Rani realised she had fallen asleep on the couch.

"You were out late," her father commented.

Taking a slow bite of toast, Rani nodded. "I needed something from Sarah Jane's."

"Well, whatever it was you didn't bring it back."

'Oh,' she thought. 'I didn't think that far ahead.'

"Uh, yeah."

"Honestly, Haresh, she was dead on her feet," Gita said, bustling around the kitchen. "She probably got over the road and forgot why she was there."

"Really?" he asked, looking at his daughter. "Are you really that tired?"

Rani nodded, eating more of the toast.

"Well, maybe you should stay home today, so you can catch up on sleep."

"Oo, you're dad's really worried about you now, my darling," Gita said. "He's keeping you home from school."

"Gita, she won't learn if she's asleep on her desk…"

There was probably more to the conversation, but Rani had already dozed off.

Opening her eyes, Rani stretched at looked at her clock. She noticed she had been moved from the living room, and was now lying on her bed.

Four thirty.

"Wow," she said to herself.

Someone knocked gently on the door.

"Come in," Rani called, rubbing her eyes.

A head poked around the door sporting worried eyes. The eyes took in the girl in front of them and looked relieved. "You're okay."

"Of course I'm okay, Clyde," Rani said waving him inside. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Clyde looked at her, arms folded. "You weren't at school," he said obviously. "You're dad's the Head Teacher, you never miss school."

Rani shrugged. "I was tired."

Raising his eyebrows, Clyde said, "And that's s'posed to make it better?"

Frowning, Rani said, "If I had gone to school, I would have been a zombie."

"Right." Clyde looked sulky.

"What's the matter with you?" Rani asked. "So I missed a day of school. So what? It's not like the world's ending or anything."

Staring down at the floor, Clyde mumbled, "I was worried about you."

"Why?" Rani laughed incredulously.

"I call you three times and you don't answer, I call Sarah Jane and she doesn't know where you are, I ask your dad and he ignores me…" Clyde trailed off. "I even called Luke to see if you were with him."

"If you'd called my mum she would have told you."

Clyde avoided her eyes. "I didn't think of that."

Rolling her eyes, Rani got up off her bed and headed to her desk, pulling her assignment in front of her and picking up a pen.

"So, what, now you're just gonna do homework?" Clyde asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I missed a day of school. And besides, this is the reason I was so tired in the first place."

"Even more reason," Clyde said, walking over to her and pushing the assignment away, "not to do it."

"Clyde," Rani whined. "I need to get this done." she made to take the papers, but Clyde pushed them further away. "Clyde!"

He grabbed the hand Rani tried to swat him with. Glaring at Clyde crossly, she tried to hit him with her other hand, resulting in the same thing. She tried to give him an annoyed stared, but found it impossible when she looked into his eyes.

'Wow,' Rani thought in awe.

Clyde hung onto Rani's hands and stared back.

'Rani has really beautiful eyes,' he thought.

They both leaned forward subconsciously, until they were almost nose to nose.

Rani opened her mouth to speak. "Cly-"

"Shh," he cut her off, releasing one of her hands quickly and putting a finger to her lips. After a moment, he removed his hand and leaned towards her just a bit more so their noses were touching.

Seconds later, Rani found herself tilting her head and kissing the boy in front of her gently. Clyde leaned in, moving his mouth softly.

A minute passed and they broke apart. Rani stared at him in partial shock.

"Did…?"

"Yeah," Clyde whispered, resting their foreheads together.

"Yes, you did," came a voice from the doorway.

Clyde and Rani looked up, surprised.

The grin Luke was giving them made it clear he was enjoying their sudden discomfort. "I came to see what was going on, because Clyde called me earlier," Luke explained. "I guess I'm not needed."

Giving him a 'yeah, very funny,' face, Clyde took a step back.

"Oh no, I'll leave you to it," Luke said, backing out of the room and pulling the door almost closed. "Clani," he added, before actually shutting it.

Clyde looked embarrassed. "Thanks, Luke," he muttered.

Standing, Rani walked over to him and kissed briefly. "Ignore him," she murmured.

Smiling, Clyde replied, "Okay, no arguments from me."

They hugged each other, letting the moment sink in.

Then the door opened.

"Rani, you should get up now, Luke's here…" Haresh began, falling short when he saw the pair. "Okay, I think I'll head back down stairs now," he said, turning and hurrying away.

"Great, now Dad's gonna be all weird," Rani grumbled.

"You wanna explain it, or can I?"

"You want to, go ahead."

Bracing themselves, they headed out of Rani's bedroom, hand in hand and feeling finally happy.