Ian seemed to be impressed that Jamie was writing everything down in a small notebook as he showed the others around the school. In reality, Jamie was petrified of getting lost during his first day of classes and was determined to avoid that.
Jamie was also determined not to let on that he had never had an education aside from the Doctor's lessons, so when Ian gave him and Zoe copies of their textbooks, Jamie immediately began to read them once they returned to the TARDIS for the night—their last night in the TARDIS for however long their investigation would take. It was getting late, and while Zoe had already retreated to her room to turn in, the Doctor observed that Jamie had no intentions of stopping his cramming session.
"Jamie," he said, gently. "I only need a couple hours of sleep, but I do think you need significantly more than that. You'll want to be fully rested for tomorrow. …It is your first day of school, after all."
"Aye, exactly. I don' want anyone in the school knowing that I'm nae clever," Jamie insisted.
"Now, Jamie," the Doctor said, taking the book out of the piper's hands. "There are different kinds of cleverness—we've discussed this before."
"Aye, but there's only one sort of cleverness that matters in an academy," Jamie pointed out.
"And you've got it!" the Doctor insisted. "More than you realize, too! It was never given a chance to grow, so you never knew you had it until the lessons I gave you. You have far more cleverness than you know!"
"I want others t' know it," the piper declared. "And they can only know if I get good marks."
"Now, really, Jamie, I'm clever, and yet I received pathetic marks when I went to Academy back on my home planet; I only just managed to pass my exams… on the second attempt," the Doctor admitted, with a sigh. "Koschei was the one who got better marks than me—you tell me which one of us you'd rather travel with. Considering we left him in a black hole, I can assume you'd rather stay with me."
"Aye."
"Well, that settles it, then! Now, get some sleep—and I am certain that you shall do fine tomorrow."
Jamie looked as though he was going to protest this prediction, but then thought better of it.
"I just hope ye're right," he said, at last.
The Doctor smiled.
"There aren't many things that I'm as sure of as this," he promised. "Now, go get some sleep and prepare for what lies ahead. And once our little investigation is finished, I'll let you test out your cricket skills again."
"Ye'll let me bowl!?"
"Absolutely."
The piper liked the sound of it, and he mulled over this for a moment before looking back to his stack of books.
"Aye, then; goodnight, Doctor."
The morning rush involved a quick breakfast before Jamie and Zoe headed to leave their things in their respective dormitories. The Doctor, all tidied up with his hair neatly brushed and parted, and now clad in a well-fitting, sharp suit, chose to escape the morning rush of arriving students alongside Ian in the staff room.
"Can I get you anything?" Ian asked, indicating the hot and cold drinks. "A soft drink, perhaps? Or, if you prefer, coffee, tea…" He smirked before adding, "Cocoa."
The Doctor winced, prompting Ian to chuckle.
"You would bring that up…" the Time Lord muttered. "Just tea for me, thanks."
"Of course," Ian said, pouring two cups of tea for them.
The tea seemed to cheer up the Doctor's mood.
"I simply must thank you and Barbara again for letting Jamie and Zoe enroll here," he said. "Not only will they be helpful in the investigation, I feel as though they can both benefit from this experience that they missed out on."
"Well, Barbara and I had hoped you wouldn't be traveling alone," Ian said. "So we had made arrangements. …Ah, about Vicki…"
"She married a prince of Troy, if you're wondering what happened to her," the Doctor explained.
"Just like Susan, then," Ian said, with a wan smile. "I guess once you've fallen in love, you want to stay where you know you belong—together."
"Is that why you and Barbara left?"
This caught Ian by surprise.
"Did you think I wouldn't have noticed?" the Doctor mused, seeing his expression. "Even Susan could see it!"
"We were both homesick, Barbara and I," Ian admitted. "Though, ah… The idea of stability sounded nice after dealing with Daleks and whatnot."
"And have you… made a cup of cocoa for Barbara yet?" the Doctor inquired, his eyes sparkling with interest.
"Not yet," Ian admitted. "Though the thought has crossed my mind on several occasions. This position here at the Academy… Well, it's nice, but I've got my eye on other opportunities that would be a bit better, financially speaking. I'd want to ensure a bit of a nest egg before I… made that cup of cocoa."
"…I'm afraid I can't begin to understand, being a bit of a vagabond," the Doctor admitted. "But if you think it best, then that is what you must do. Just… don't wait too long; you don't know how much time you've got."
Ian gave a nod.
"I am aware of that," he admitted. "And how about you?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Have you ever given any thought to having a family again now that Susan's out on her own?"
"Well…" the Doctor mused. "…I suppose I've got one now, for as long as Jamie and Zoe are willing to stay. …I know Jamie has insisted he's never going to leave the TARDIS—he's been with me for over two years now, with plenty of opportunities to go, but here he is. Zoe has been with us for a year now—she stowed away on the TARDIS." He chuckled. "Unless something unforeseen occurs, I do believe they'll stay for as long as humanly possible."
"They do seem very fond of you," Ian said. "And you of them. I've only known her a short while, but Zoe is already reminding me of Susan—she must remind you of her, as well."
"Oh, my word, yes," the Doctor chuckled. "I think that's partly the reason why I didn't argue too much when she invited herself along."
"And does Jamie remind you of anyone?" Ian asked.
"Yes—me," the Doctor mused. "He's more like me than he realizes, you know—even if he doesn't know it, he can feel it; I expect that's why he's so determined to stay with me—kindred spirits, and all. …And if he is as much like me as I suspect, then you'd better watch out."
"Oh?" Ian asked, arching an eyebrow.
"…I had a bit of a reputation for causing trouble during my own Academy days on my home planet," the Doctor admitted. "I was quite wild in my youth; you should have seen some of the things my teacher wrote about me."
"…I think I'd rather not know. And I'll be sure to keep an eye on Jamie, as well," Ian said, pausing to check his watch. "We'd better get the classrooms in order; the students will be arriving soon."
"Ah, yes," the Doctor said, finishing the rest of his tea. "Now remember; we went over this with Barbara yesterday—for as long as I'm here, I'm Doctor John Smith."
"One of many on this planet," Ian mused.
"Well, it was Jamie's name for me some time ago, and I'm rather fond of it. Its apparent commonness will also benefit me in the end, I'm sure," the Doctor said, on his way out. "I shan't have much chance to look around until lunchtime, but I shall do a bit of poking about then."
"Be careful, Doctor; the last thing we want would be for you or Jamie or Zoe to get hurt," Ian said.
"Aren't I always careful?" the Doctor asked, and he smiled sheepishly at the look on Ian's face. "Well, most of the time?"
"I think I shall refrain from answering that," Ian said, as he headed out the door, as well. "Good luck."
Jamie tried not to look out-of-place as he entered his dormitory. There were two rooms with a bunk bed each adjoining each other, through the inner door, he could see two boys busy with various books; one had neatly brushed ginger hair, reading a book on the possibility of alien life, and the other had short, dirty-blond hair, reading a book on logical thought processing.
"Ah… hello?" he asked.
The two of them gave him a glance, and a third boy now appeared at the inner door—this one with long, dark hair, similar to what Jamie had seen in pictures of popular singers of the decade.
"Hello," he said, as the redhead now joined him to greet Jamie, pausing to glance at Jamie's clearly older features, and at his kilt. "We were wondering how long it would take for them to get a fourth person in here—three years, apparently." The dark-haired boy now extended his hand. "Luke."
"Jamie," the piper said, shaking it.
"And I'm Percival," the redhead said, also shaking Jamie's hand.
"Aye, nice to meet ye both," Jamie said. He silently glanced back at the short-haired boy, still reading his books.
"That's Reginald," Luke said. "Take my advice and just let him keep to himself; he's not exactly the pleasant type."
"It is impossible to be pleasant when I share my quarters with such rabble," Reginald scoffed. "They're letting this clearly older fellow in a skirt into the Academy? Admissions must be scraping the bottom of the barrel."
Jamie made a move to enter the room, but Luke and Percival held him back.
"Leave off, Reg!" Luke snapped. He turned back to Jamie. "He's not worth it. You won't have to deal with him, anyway; you'll be bunking in here with me."
"Ye don' mind?" Jamie asked Percival, indicating the other bunk that he had to share with Reg.
"I can stand him," Percival said. "Mainly because I'm too busy with a little project I've been working on to pay him any mind."
"Project?" Jamie asked.
"Oh, here we go…" Luke sighed.
"It's an interesting and relevant project," Percival reminded Luke. He turned to Jamie. "You remember about a year and a half ago, there was this great web in the Underground, and people were saying there were Yetis about?"
Jamie's face fell, involuntarily recalling how he had badly botched the Doctor's plan to stop the Great Intelligence.
"Aye…"
"And then, earlier this year, there were reports of metal men in the sewers, and all those strange sounds?" Percival continued.
"Aye."
"I am convinced that those were signs of alien activity here on Earth."
"Percival here is convinced that alien abductions and invasions happen on Earth on a regular basis," Luke explained. "Furthermore, he's convinced that Headmistress Wright and Mr. Chesterton, the chemistry teacher, were once abducted by aliens, returned to Earth, and are just refusing to admit it."
"…Oh," Jamie said, not sure how to respond to that.
"For all we know, there could be an alien in this very building right now," Percival said.
Jamie just nodded, quietly amused at how Percival was spot on and had absolutely no idea.
"Right, you can give him the full version of your project later on," Luke said. "We need to get to class." He turned to Jamie. "Better get into your uniform."
"Aye, I know…" the piper sighed. He had been putting off changing until the last minute, absolutely dreading the thought of wearing trousers all day. "I'll… go t' the washroom and change."
"We've got physics class first," Luke called after him. "Oi, I wonder who they got in to teach it now…"
"And how long he lasts," Percival sighed.
"You still think aliens had something to do with the others, don't you?" Luke said, rolling his eyes.
Jamie wasn't about to dismiss Percival's theory, he decided, as he went to change. Knowing their luck, it was likely that aliens would be involved. And if they were, well… it helped that, this time, the physics teacher would be an alien, too. And Jamie fully intended to defend the Doctor with his life, if need be.
It wasn't that Zoe was shy; on the contrary, she was used to meeting and greeting new people since she started traveling with the Doctor and Jamie, and even before that, due to the crew changes that happened on the Wheel. She was, however, very self-conscious; she hadn't been blind to the fact that her intellect had been a point of contention between her and Jamie—and there were times when it still was. And though she was considerably better with realizing her emotions than when she had been on the Wheel, Leo's comment of her being "all brain and no heart" still stuck in the back of her mind. The last thing she wanted was to get off on the wrong foot with her new peers on account of either her emotional awkwardness or her intelligence.
Nevertheless, she did her best to mask all of her insecurities as she entered her assigned dormitory; there were two girls in deep conversation inside the first room, which, as with the boys' dormitory, had an inner door leading to a second room. She cleared her throat, and the girls looked towards her.
"Hello," Zoe said. "I'm Zoe; I was assigned to this dormitory."
"Hello, Zoe," said one of the girls—a tall brunette, greeting her with a smile. "I'm Sandra, and this is Minerva." She indicated the blonde next to her. "…Do you need any help with your bags?"
"Oh, please don't bother; I've only got just the one bag, anyway," Zoe said, carrying it inside.
"You've been to an academy before, then?" Minerva asked, looking impressed with Zoe's luggage.
"No, actually; I've been tutored all my life," Zoe admitted.
"I'd never have guessed by looking at you; it's usually all of us in our final year who don't bother with bringing everything we own—we know what we need to get by," Minerva said.
Zoe let out a chuckle in spite of her nervousness.
"We weren't sure of what you preferred—whether you wanted your own bunk or if you didn't mind sharing with one of us," Sandra said. "It's only the three of us in this dormitory; if you have a preference."
"Well… Oh, I guess anything will be fine," Zoe said, even though she would have gladly preferred her own bunk.
"Well… Sandra and I have known each other since our first year; you can bunk by yourself until you've gotten to know us better," Minerva quickly offered, picking up Zoe's reluctance to speak up.
"Oh, thank you," Zoe said, a little too quickly. She mentally slapped herself. "I'm a little surprised that there would be a vacant place, though. I would think that an academy such as this would have people flocking to get in."
"It was like that," Sandra said. "…Up until last term. Several people transferred; the two other girls who used to room with us were among them."
"But why?" Zoe asked.
"Things started happening," Minerva said. "The teachers were getting hurt—or worse—or just up and quitting, and people started stealing things. Someone took my good pair of earrings; I'm still highly miffed by that."
"I can see why," Zoe said, hoping that she sounded sympathetic. She turned to Sandra. "Did you lose anything?"
"Just a hair clip," she said. "It was a rather nice hair clip, I grant you—gold plated, even! But at least it wasn't a solid gold ring like poor unlucky Luke."
"Luke?"
"One of the boys in our year. Someone stole the ring he'd inherited from his late father," Minerva said, shaking her head.
"Oh, dear…" Zoe said.
"I doubt that admissions warned you, seeing as though it wouldn't be in their best interest to scare you off, but if you have any jewelry of any kind, you'd best keep it in a safe place," Sandra added.
"Actually, carry it with you," Minerva advised. "I thought I had hidden my earrings well, but… evidently not."
"I would've taken that advice to heart had it not been for the fact that I have nothing," Zoe said, with a good-natured smile. "…I was a ward of the state, you see; I… Well, never mind that."
Sandra and Minerva now glanced at each other for a moment before glancing at Zoe's tiny, lone bag.
"You know, Zoe, if you want to borrow anything of ours, just ask us," Sandra said, at last.
"Oh, it's quite alright," Zoe said. "Just give me access to some good books, and that's all I need."
"The library's open in the mornings at seven and is closed at ten," Minerva informed her. "The hours are a bit less on weekends, but to be honest, no one really goes there during the weekends."
"No?" Zoe asked.
"Almost everyone usually has a late start on Saturday, on account of going somewhere the night before, providing there isn't an exam round the corner," Sandra said. "A nice evening out takes the monotony of student life."
"Yes, I suppose it would…" Zoe said.
"You are welcome to come along with us, of course," Minerva added. "We wouldn't want you to feel left out—"
A small alarm clock started ringing on a table in the other room.
"Hold that thought, will you?" Sandra asked Minerva. "We'd best get to class; there's no telling how strict the new physics teacher will be, and we don't want to be late and find out that way."
Zoe idly wondered just how strict the Doctor would be as a teacher in a classroom setting—one on one lessons with Jamie couldn't possibly compare to controlling a room full of students.
She pushed the thought aside, quickly heading to the other room to change into her uniform, grabbed her books, and then followed Sandra and Minerva to class. They both had quite a lot to say on the subject of the robberies—rightly so, as they were both victims of the thief. However, as Ian had said earlier, solving that mystery was nowhere near as important as the other one.
Later, she decided, she would ask them what they knew of the missing teachers. Hopefully, they would have a lot of information to give on that, too.
