Well, here's chapter two, everyone. Thank you to the one person who reviewed-sorry for not replying to you yet, I will-and to those who favored and subscribed this story so far. I am very appreciative. Anyway, here's the next segment, and guess who's in it? *wink wink* Enjoy! Please review!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Doctor Who; it is rightfully owned by Steve Moffat. All I own is Ryan Hicks, other OFCs, and the plot.

Warning: Eleventh Doctor and OC romance, swearing, crude humor, mild sexual content, violence, historical inaccuracies, and drug and alcohol references.

:2:

TO SAY I hated mornings would be a complete and total understatement. I detested mornings with every fiber of my being. Hell, even my nose hated mornings. If I woke up at any time before the afternoon, my nose would be congested, being stuffy and runny all at the same time. That's why I generally asked for shifts at Starbucks, where Jordan and I worked, and for classes, at the college she, Corey, and I attended, later on in the day. I couldn't function properly otherwise. Nonetheless, I didn't always have the best of luck—actually, I rarely had the best of luck, but things happened.

Such bad luck was when Jordan and I got a new manager, who was an ignoramus and listened to nothing his employees told him thus, scheduling people on bad days. In other words, putting me on the early morning shift at Starbucks.

I was miserable.

I had stayed up to nearly five o'clock that morning working on my paper and had managed to only get an hour and a half of sleep before my alarm went off indicating I needed to start getting ready for work. I rushed into the shower forgetting to check the temperature so it was scorching hot then, I managed to get shampoo in my eyes. My contacts wouldn't go in being incredibly stubborn. That had absorbed most of my time, so I hadn't had any time to put on any make-up and hardly had had any time for breakfast.

My eyes burned, I was wearing no make-up, my hair was a mess, my stomach felt empty, and I couldn't breathe through my nose and had to constantly blow it.

So to reiterate, I was miserable.

And to make matters worse I worked at Starbucks and mornings at Starbucks were what I imagined Hell to be like.

It was crowded, full of grouchy, snobby business people and loud, annoying teenagers. Not to mention, we had two new people who had been foolishly placed on the morning shift so they had little to no idea how to handle the morning franticness leaving Jordan and I to pick up the slack.

I was ready to murder. Probably smother someone with my snotty tissues.

And that was when he appeared.

A man that even if he were wearing a normal attire and not a tweed jacket, a bright red tie, a button up tucked into tight black pants, and black boots would stand out from a crowd with his floppy brown hair swept to one side, twinkling pale green eyes, light complexion, and a smile as brilliant as the sun. He walked with confidence and a childish skip to his step.

The man sauntered fluidly through the large group of heads, grinning at me the entire time. He moved around the counter, marched right up to my station while my employees and I stared at him dumbstruck and started fixing himself a drink. Before long, he had a large caramel cappuccino with extra foam in his hand. He flashed me a boyish grin, tapped my nose affectionately with a wink and then, flounced off.

I only snapped out my stupor when I heard the door ring announcing his exit.

I raced to the front door, ripped it open, and screamed furiously, "Hey, asshole! You gotta pay for that!"

Only thing was I shouting into a crowded parking lot, showing no signs of the man, just people staring at me like I was nuts. Scoffing, I turned back into the coffee shop, muttering grumpily under my breath cursing the man who hadn't even tipped me. I just returned my post, shaking my head when Jordan looked at me bewildered.

Luckily, at least for that guy, I didn't see him again and nothing else strange had happened since then. Well, other than getting a new dance instructor at school, who was a bit…off, but that was it. Otherwise, life was pretty much normal—normal for me, at least. However, not too long after I handed in my archeology paper a month later, things got a bit…funky. My roommates said I was just being paranoid and maybe I was, but there was just something strange going on at our college Portland State University that I couldn't help noticing.

See, not long after I handed in my thesis to Dr. Yeager, professors at the university started suddenly going on sabbatical and were replaced with people, who were a little more than odd-to put it delicately. Kind of like the person who had replaced my jazz dance professor. They looked completely normal, but they behaved peculiarly as if they were uncomfortable in their own skin. As well, when I crossed them in the hallway or was answering a question or spoke to them one on one, they'd stare at me so closely that it sent shivers down my spine and my stomach to churn.

Corey and Jordan told me that I had just lost too much sleep because of my paper. Perhaps they were right since no one else seemed particularly worried. People had been falling to a nasty stomach virus lately (Corey had had it), so maybe that's why all the teachers were disappearing suddenly.

So then why did I have this sinking feeling growing in the pit of my stomach?

"Hey!"

Suddenly, something collided with my head, causing me to snap out of my thoughts.

Blinking, I glanced down to see that a fry had been the culprit. No wonder why it had felt greasy and hot.

I shot the young man sitting across from me a heated look. "Dude, not cool."

"Well, Jordan was talking to you and you were spacing out." the bulky boy retorted.

"So you threw a fry at me?"

"It got your attention, didn't it?"

I deadpanned. "I'd say I hate you, but you gave me a free fry, so I will refrain from doing so." I muttered dryly, picking up said fry and popping it into my mouth.

Corey's handsome face contorted into one of disgust. "What if I had sneezed on that?"

"Extra flavoring." I shrugged carelessly.

"…Okay, gross, Ryan."

"Oh, don't be such a woman, Corey. You didn't actually sneeze on it, so what does it matter?"

"That doesn't make it any less nasty."

"So is watching you and Jordan make out, but you don't hear me complaining."

Red blossomed on his tanned cheeks. "No one asks you to watch!"

"You do it in the living room, a public place." I argued.

Corey, entirely red in the face, opened his mouth to snap back, but Jordan, who was sitting between us at the circular cafeteria table, cut him off, "Anyway!" Our attention was drawn to her. She could be fairly loud for such a small person. "As I was saying," the little brunette began with a bit of exasperation in her tone at our usual childish banter. "We have a substitute for physics today."

My eyebrows shot up. "What? What happened to Dr. Matin?" I asked quizzically, wariness building up in my stomach again.

"He apparently fell down the stairs in his house and broke his leg. His wife called in and told the dean, who told his daughter, Megan, who told Erica, who told me."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Dr. Matin was old and a bit of a clumsy man, so him falling down the stairs and breaking something didn't sound so weird. The other professors, who had called out hadn't had an excuse. They just didn't come in to teach their classes.

"Oh. Did Erica tell you what the teacher is like?" I inquired, the tension in my shoulders evaporating.

Jordan nodded. "She had him earlier. He's British and is really young, really cute too. Kinda weird, though. She said he has a tendency to ramble on about stuff that doesn't make sense," she explained, idly sipping her bottle of water.

I couldn't help smirking a little. "British, young, cute, and quirky? Sounds like my brand of teacher."

My best friend guffawed while Corey rolled his eyes. "What is with girls and accents?"

"Its sexy, that's what," I pointed out in a mock logical tone, waving my half-eaten burger in his face. "Nice to listen to and if he's cute, something nice to look at, too. And that makes for a very fun class for Ryan."

"You are such a pervert, Ry," he said, deadpanning.

"Nope! Just lonely!" I glanced down at my cellphone on top of the gray table beside my tray and beamed. "And look at that, time for Mr. Cutie's class!" I gathered my things, getting my feet. "We mustn't be late! Don't wanna make a bad impression, do we?"

Jordan continued to laugh at me as Corey rolled his eyes once again, yet he followed his girlfriend and I out of the school's noisy cafeteria.

Much to my disappointment, though, our substitute teacher for physics wasn't what I had been expecting.

Don't get me wrong, he was definitely attractive, was most certainly English, and was definitely odd, but that was not what had kept me from being bored during the lesson. Oh, no, definitely not. What had distracted me was that our substitute was none other than the guy who came into my workplace and had made himself a drink without paying a month earlier. I knew I wasn't just imagining things because the look on Jordan's sweet face confirmed it. It was him without a doubt.

That being, I wasn't distracted by pleasant fantasies of our attractive professor, I was distracted by my anger, which couldn't wait to give the man a piece of my mind and get the money he owed me.

So when classed was dismissed with an energetic farewell from Professor Smith, I instantly made a beeline for the front of the class, ignoring Jordan's motherly warnings on treating a teacher properly. I wasn't in high school anymore; they couldn't expel me or give me detention for being brash with a teacher, especially when I was paying to take their classes. We were all adults here; its not like I was going to physically attack him or anything, just yell a bit.

"Hey, Professor," I called to him gruffly, my hands on my hips once I stood before his desk.

At my voice, the teacher tore his attention away from drawing…something—what the Hell was that supposed to be? A person? A monster?—on the chalkboard to peer to me. Instantly, a wide, goofy graced his boyish face being brighter than his red bowtie-who had told him that that had been a good idea to wear? "Yes, Miss…?" His excitement faltered a little when he realized he did not know my name.

"Hicks. Ryan Hicks."

"Ah! Yes! Brilliant! Lovely name!"

I blinked. "…Uh, yeah, thanks." How was Ryan Hicks a lovely name? It was so plain and normal. Well, no matter, that was not what I had cornered the teacher to talk about. "Anyway, I need to talk to you about something." I claimed.

"And that would be?"

"The money you owe me."

It was his turn to blink. "…Excuse me?"

Oh, he was going to take the "innocent route". That won't work on me, pal., I thought with a scoff. "Sorry, Professor, but I knew that was you a month ago. My eyesight may not be the best, but I'm not that blind." He still looked confused, tilting his head to the side a little. I would've actually thought it to be cute if I hadn't been so focused on getting the money I deserved. I may have also been a bit blinded by anger, too; I had a bit of a short temper, I'd admit. "You came into Starbucks, waltzed around the counter and made yourself a caramel cappuccino with extra cream like you owned the place then, bounced without paying. Now, I'd really like that dough before my boss finds out and has my head, okay? So if you'd be oh, so kind," I held my hand out.

I was pretty sure I sounded like someone from the mafia, but I didn't care. I wanted my money; I wasn't going to get fired over this, I needed that job.

"A caramel cappuccino with extra cream you say? Hmmm. Have I ever had one of those?" He tapped his chin as if deep in thought, furrowing his brows. Was he making fun of me? Soon, he grinned. "No, no, I don't think I have! Are they good?"

I deadpanned. What was with this guy? "You would know since you had one, dude." I retorted dully, feeling my right eye twitch slightly.

"Sorry. Never had one," the professor said with a coy shrug.

My eyes narrowed as they searched his youthful face for any hint of falsehood. However, much to my giant surprise, I found only sincerity. He honestly had no idea what I was talking about; he never had a cappuccino in his entire life, let alone yesterday.

My anger started to ebb away, my shoulders slumping.

"Then, do ya have a brother or something? Possibly?"

"Used to."

"…Oh, uh…"

Well, I was stumped.

Blood crept to my face and I bit my lip, scratching the back of my neck. I felt like a complete idiot now.

I mean, he looked exactly like the guy, ridiculous bowtie and everything, but I took pride in the fact that I was a good judge of character and Dr. Smith was not lying. So then whom did I see that day? Evil twin perhaps that Dr. Smith did not know of and was pulling pranks to slander his good name?

…Okay, scratch that, that was just dumb. My imagination was far too wild sometimes, even for me.

Either way, I felt incredibly foolish and a bit at a loss—what about my money?

Nevertheless, pulling on my politest and most apologetic smile, I said to the teacher, "I'm sorry for accusing you, sir. I hope you can forgive me." Should I bow my head or something for good measure?, I thought awkwardly.

He beamed brightly, chuckling, which sounded quite pleasant and lively. "Of course, Miss Hicks! No hard feelings! I guess I just have one of those faces!"

"…Uh, yeah, right." was all I could think of saying with a forced lopsided smile. Clearing my throat uncomfortably, I shifted my messenger bag on my shoulder. "Well, I um, should probably go. I-I don't wanna be late for my next lecture, y'know?"

"Okidokie! Nice talking to you, Miss Hicks." That inviting grin remained, his pale green optics twinkling.

He certainly was a cheerful fellow. Not to mention, energetic. Yet, a part of me couldn't help but feel slightly flattered that he was genuine in that he had actually enjoyed our short conversation, even though I had accused him of stealing.

What a…strange man., I couldn't help but think. Not that that was entirely a bad thing.

I just smiled a bit again and jogged out upon a turn on my heel only to almost crash into two people. The three of us exchanged brisk apologies before I went on my way without a sparing glance while the couple, I only knew one was a woman and the other was a man, headed inside with urgency without looking at me either.

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