So I just want to say a big thank you to gypsy rosalie and and bookaholic2000 for their reviews, I absolutely love hearing from you guys.

Now without further ado let's get on with the next chapter. Of course I don't own any of the characters from this lovely TV show.

Chapter 2: Lunch Man

'Alex honey, don't forget your assignment on mitosis!' Her mum called out from the kitchen. Alex rolled her eyes, 'like she even knows what mitosis is' she huffed. 'Gosh what is wrong with me? I'm even less well equipped to deal with the ignorance of my family lately.' She glanced over at the vacant bed and sighed. It felt so weird without her here. Steeling her mind for the circus that was breakfast in the Dunphey house, Alex picked up her backpack and headed downstairs.

'There you are! Come on hurry up you're going to be late!' Her mum plonked some pancakes on her plate and ushered her over to the table. Alex sat across from her dad and brother who were playing games on their Ipad and Nintendo DS respectively, yelling and cracking jokes.

'Ooooh dad I just shot one in the head and he fell back and killed the one behind him!' Luke exclaimed, his eyes growing wide with the sheer awesomeness of the occurrence.

`No way!' Her dad exclaimed, tearing his eyes away from his Ipad just long enough to high five his son.

'Come on, stop the technology at the table!' Claire came over and ripped the Ipad out of her husband's hands. 'I need you guys to focus on eating breakfast so you can get out the door on time. You know how distracted you two get with your video games!'

'But I was almost...' Phil's voice trailed away as he caught sight of his wife's expression. 'I totally agree Claire, come on buddy put that down!' He grabbed Luke's video game away, making sure he saved it before handing it to his wife. Claire looked around at her family as they all put their heads down and silently ate their breakfast.

'What so we're not going to talk to each other over breakfast?' She threw her hands up.

'We haven't had a chance to do anything interesting yet!' Phil's voice became shrill and all his words ran together in his annoyance.

'I had a pretty interesting dream last night.' Luke looked up from his cereal. Alex rolled her eyes, here we go.

'I dreamed that school was cancelled because of a flood, but Alex wanted to go anyway because she's a nerd and it was all underwater! So we put on scuba gear so we could get from class to class...'

'Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon, Sodium, Magnesium...' Alex muttered under her breath, tuning out the ramblings of her brother.

'And then Reuben got eaten by a shark!' Luke exclaimed, almost falling off his chair from laughter.

'That's nice honey,' Claire smiled absent mindedly.

'That's awesome!' Phil exclaimed. 'How cool would it be to go to an underwater school!' Alex quickly finished off the last of her pancakes and raced upstairs to hide out before her father and Luke began discussing the logistics of how to build a school in the sea.

'Are you alright?' Sanjay Patel frowned at Alex.

'Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine.' Alex shook her head.

'Really, because I've had no competition whatsoever to answer all of the questions.' Sanjay raised his eyebrows. 'Don't leave me alone to wade through the pool of stupidity that is our class.'

'I know, it's hard being the only intelligent life form.' Alex sighed. 'I'll make more of an effort, I just have a lot on my mind.'

'That's more like it.' Sanjay grinned. 'We geniuses have to stick together.' The bell rang and his face turned into a scowl as they braced themselves for the onslaught that was lunchtime.

'Do you think any of the food will be recognisable this time?' Alex asked shrewdly as they grabbed a tray and joined the queue.

'Probably not, there's more scientific words in the ingredients list than my twenty page chemistry assignment.'

'You were just waiting for a chance to drop that into the conversation weren't you!' She accused her friend. 'I think twenty pages is a bit too much, it's a tenth grade paper not a PhD thesis.'

'Honestly I wouldn't even have to use real words, it's not like our teacher has much of a clue anyway.' He rolled his eyes. 'Did you hear him mispronounce zygote in class today?!'

'Why didn't your parents send you to a private school?' Alex asked. 'They're both doctors so surely they have the money.'

'They thought attending a public school would teach me humility.' Sanjay groaned. 'You know in the trenches with your fellow man and all that.'

'Wow that sure worked out well.' Alex muttered under her breath. She placed her tray down on the counter and looked up at the lunch lady. Sanjay noticed her eyes widen and her jaw dropped as she recognised the person in front of her. 'Dylan!' Dylan ashamedly pulled at the edge of his hairnet, trying not to make eye contact with her.

'Do you want the chicken or the beef?' He asked quietly.

'Chicken, what are you doing here?' Alex hissed.

'My mum said I have to get a job to pay the rent.' Dylan sighed. 'I'm not making much money from my t-shirt business anymore and our bass player just moved out of state.'

'But seriously a lunch lady?' Alex frowned. She watched as he plopped an unappetising spoonful of gloop onto her plate.

'I prefer lunch man.' Dylan said quite seriously. 'And they were the only place hiring. The pay isn't all that good, but it covers the bills and I get free food.'

'Why didn't you apply for an office job?' Alex asked.

'I don't think I'm smart enough for that.' Dylan confessed.

'Don't be silly.' Alex scolded. 'You're... well...' She fished around for a compliment to his intellect before giving up.

'It's okay, as long as I'm making money.' Dylan shrugged.

'Well I hope you have more luck finding a bass player for your band.' Alex said as Dylan scattered peas on her plate.

'Thank you, I guess I'll see you tomorrow.' Dylan gestured with his spoon.

'You actually talk to that imbecile?' Sanjay laughed as they made their way to an empty table. 'He's like a trained monkey walking around in clothes.'

'He's not that bad.' Alex found herself defending him before she even knew what had happened.

'Come on, everyone was surprised he even graduated. I thought for sure he'd be the first person to fail the SAT's.' Alex tuned out her friend's mean remarks and glanced back to where Dylan was slopping processed food onto people's trays. He was a nice enough guy, he didn't deserve to struggle this much in life.

The sound of the doorbell startled Alex out of her chemistry paper. She waited for a second to see if anyone else was going to get it before remembering that she was home alone. Putting down her school books with an exasperated sigh she trudged down the stairs and opened the door.

'Hi!' Dylan was standing there rather sheepishly.

'Hi, what are you doing here?' Alex asked, quite surprised to see him.

'I dunno, I think I just kind of came here out of force of habit.' Dylan shrugged.

'Okay, well do you want to come in?' Alex stepped back and Dylan came into the hall, looking around at all the family photos on the wall. 'So how was your first day at work?' She asked, the two of them still hovering awkwardly in the entrance.

'Good, the lunch ladies are all so nice, they pinch my cheeks and tell me that I'm too skinny all the time.' Dylan said. 'It's good, I get a lot of free food.'

'They sound nice.' Alex smiled.

'Yeah they are.' Dylan said. 'Hey listen I was thinking you played the cool bass sounding marshmallow or whatever so well the other day maybe you could be our new bass player!'

'Really?' Alex raised an eyebrow.

'Yeah sure, you could keep playing the Portobello and everything, it sounds cool.' Dylan nodded enthusiastically. 'At least until we find a new bass player. I know you're busy with all your studying and stuff.'

'Okay I guess I can help you out for a little while.' Alex sighed.

'Cool thanks!' Dylan high fived her and left. Alex stared after him, shaking her head. Why did she feel a sudden urge to help him? A week ago she'd thought he was a brainless dweeb who didn't deserve the time of day.

What's this *gasp* an excuse for them to spend more time together :O If you guys enjoyed please leave a review, the same goes for any criticisms, just please keep them constructive :)