A few days had passed since the day Heidi met Alejandro Burromuerto, but Geoff couldn't help but think about him. Why had he moved into town? Just what the heck was he up to nowadays, anyways?

To his chagrin, Heidi went over to his house to study with Carmen a few more times. The days he picked Heidi up from the Burromuerto house, he'd ask how Alejandro was doing and she'd give him the usual 'Fine, I guess.' Heather rarely came home in time for her to have gotten to properly meet her, so he didn't ask as much about her. Besides, it was Alejandro he was worried about.

Carmen would stand at the door and wave goodbye to the two as they drove off, but Alejandro never joined he, or looked out the window, and he certainly didn't come out to catch up with Geoff. He assumed it was either because he was busy, he had no idea what to say after knowing what he did all those years ago, or he just didn't want to. Geoff was relieved to not have to talk to him, either way. If he was evil back when he was a teenager, who knows what kind of person he was now!

Still, Heidi thought he was nice. Maybe he was. He didn't know. Nobody did.

"Alejandro?" Duncan repeated, raising an eyebrow as Geoff hung up his jacket and waited for Heidi to walk through the door. "Haven't heard that name in a while. You sure it's him?"

"How many guys do you know named Alejandro Burromuerto?" Geoff asked, giving Duncan a look that Duncan would usually give him. He should not have to be the smart one in their friendship.

"You got a point there," Duncan said, right as a remote controlled racecar zipped past his feet and almost made him lose his footing. An eight year old boy with light brown skin and dark black hair ran past, yelling, "Sorry, Dad!" as he ran past his father, remote in his hands.

"DANIEL BENJAMIN CALIVER, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful with that thing?" a loud voice bellowed from the kitchen.

"Calm down, LeShawna," Duncan called out as he looked toward the kitchen's door, patting his youngest son on the back when he walked up to him with an apologetic look. "Danny isn't hurting anything!"

Geoff never thought he'd see the day where Duncan would be the easy parent. He sure wasn't a softie but he wasn't as strict as LeShawna. It was ironic, considering he was a police officer and all, but after living life with a cop father who ruled the house with an iron fist, he knew being too hard on kids made them rebel and pierce their faces all up and steal cars. Duncan was the good cop, but LeShawna was what could be considered as 'the bad cop' in their family.

She loved her kids to pieces, of course, but when they needed to be straightened out, she was quick to scold them. And when she started flat-out yelling, Duncan would be there, occasionally trying to get her to calm down before she slapped one of them. But she knew what she was doing, so he didn't interfere too much. And hey, he wasn't one to let his kids get away with stuff either.

LeShawna walked out of the kitchen, a bowl of rolls still in her hands. She glared at her husband and told him, "You won't be saying that when you step on that car, fall and break your neck!"

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'll be more careful," Danny apologetically said, picking his toy car up.

LeShawna gave him a look, but once she saw he meant it, she calmed down and ruffled his hair. "Okay, baby. Go put that away, dinner should be ready soon." He nodded and ran up the stairs, right past his seventeen-year old sister. "Jade, tell the others that the Sanders are here, will you?" Jade continued walking, right past her. "Girl, did you not just hear me?"

Duncan could see she was wearing her iPod headphones, so he yanked one out as she walked by, which made her stop. "Jade, get Trevor and Bailey. And turn those things down before you go deaf."

Jade rolled her eyes, but still smirked. "Okay, fine, Pops. Sheesh." She noticed Geoff for the first time and quickly smiled. "Oh, hi!" She waved at him before running back up the steps.

Geoff chuckled, then looked back to see Heidi finally came in, some two-liters of soda in her hands. "Hi, Uncle Duncan, Aunt Shawna!" She gave them both an awkward hug, since the two-liters sort of took up all her arm room.

"Hey there, baby girl," LeShawna warmly said, patting her on the back with her free hand. "Put those in the kitchen, will you?"

"Sure!" She walked through the door, but someone who had snuck past the adults latched onto one of her legs. She looked down, then grinned. "Hey, Bailey!"

The little girl, no older than four, looked up at her with bright, happy eyes. "Hi!" She hugged her leg even tighter. Heidi was her favorite person outside her immediate family, so she was always happy to see her.

"What, don't I get a hug?" Geoff asked with a chuckle, feigning sadness.

Bailey looked up at him and gasped, like she seriously thought he was sad. He was her second favorite, after all… She made her way over to him and he crouched down to hug her. After he ruffled her hair and stood back up, the three females made their way into the kitchen and a young man in an orange hoodie and black jeans made his way down the steps. "Hey, Geoff," the boy greeted as he walked up to the older men. "Have you guys seen Bailey? She ran off."

"In the kitchen with your mom and Heidi," Duncan said, jerking a thumb toward the kitchen.

"Oh, okay," Trevor calmly said, his dark eyes calm, like they always were. Geoff was always joking that LeShawna must have adopted Trevor behind Duncan's back, since he was so calm and pacifistic and his parents… weren't. But hey, an attitude can skip a generation, right?

"Where's Jade?"

"She's changing her shirt. Again," Trevor told them as he rolled his eyes. "She smelled spaghetti and marinara, so she's putting on a red shirt. I guess it's a good idea, considering how much of a slob she is."

Duncan laughed and playfully shoved his son. "Quit making fun of your sister and get the table set," he asked, and Trevor nodded and walked into the kitchen.

"They're such stereotypical twins," Geoff said with a laugh. "Y'know, total opposites and all that."

"You're telling me. I'm the one who's had to put up with them for the past seventeen years," Duncan jokingly groaned. "And thanks for getting the soda, man. Jade and Danny go through so much, we can never stay stocked."

"No problem, we keep a ton around," Geoff said, sitting on the steps and looking as if he wasn't really all there.

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "You still thinking about Al?"

Geoff shook his head, even though he was. "I just have a bad feeling about him. And Carmen."

"People change, Geoff," Duncan reminded him, leaning against the railing. "I mean, look at me."

Geoff smirked a bit and nodded. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Stop thinking about him. Start thinking about LeShawna's bitchin' cooking." He lightly shoved him on the shoulder, then headed toward the kitchen.

Geoff shook his head as he stood up. "Great way to put it, Duncan…"

Heidi was sitting in her usual desk in Biology, actually looking forward to class for once. Ever since she had been getting help from Carmen, she had been improving. She wasn't getting top marks, but Bs weren't bad, right? They were far better than the Ds she was getting…

Noah was walking around the class, passing out some graded test papers. He never really commented when he passed papers out, but when he slipped Heidi's paper onto her desk facedown, he gave her one of his rare, non-sarcastic smiles and said, "Nice work, Heidi."

He walked by, and Heidi flipped the paper over immediately. She had to bite her lip to keep from screaming in joy.

Thomas, still seated to her right, leaned over to look at her grade and nodded. "An A? Nice one, Sanders."

Heidi looked over at the blonde boy, raising an eyebrow. Not that she didn't appreciate the compliment, especially since they hadn't really talked, but… "I have a first name, Thomas."

"Right. Heidi, then. Good job."

She finally smiled. "Thank you. What did you get?"

His calm smile disappeared and he settled back into his seat. He looked down at his paper, which he had flipped over to the black back as soon as he saw the poor grade on the front.

Heidi stopped smiling. "Oh. It's okay, you don't have to tell me."

He looked up at her, still not smiling, but nodded. "Thanks," he quietly said.

Once Noah was done passing out the papers, he took his place back up at the front of the room and the class focused on him. "Some of you did very well on the test… Better than others, I must say." Even though that comment wasn't specifically directed toward him, Thomas slumped in his seat more. "But we won't have another test for a while…" After the class let out loud cheers, he finished, "because you all will be working on a project for the next few weeks."

Half the class groaned in frustration, but the other half certainly didn't look happy about it. Mr. Torres never let his students pick their own groups, so that made matters worse.

"You'll be in groups of four, and the groups will be chosen by me. You will be allowed to choose your own topic, as long as it relates to biology." As he picked up a stack of papers off of his desk, he looked over at Felix McGrady and narrowed his eyes. "That means no baking soda volcanoes."

"Okay, I learned my lesson last year!" Felix huffed, crossing his arms. "GOSH!"

Noah ignored him and handed a few papers from his stack to the person at the front of each row of desks. They started passing the papers back and he continued, "On these papers are lists of sites where you can get ideas for your project. I suggest you all work long and hard on it. It makes up a huge chuck of your grade." He looked down at the lone paper he kept, which was his roster. "When I say your names, get together with your groups and begin to discuss your topic… Quinn, Erika, Bryan, and Liam… Dillon, Edwin, Jessica and Randall… Felix, Kendall, Chase and Sara… Heidi, Carmen, Thomas and Melanie…"

As Noah continued to list the groups, Heidi and Carmen stood up, quietly grinning at each other. What luck, right? Thomas walked over to the two girls, slinging his arms around their shoulders. "Thank God I got three smarties in my group. Now I can slack and get an A…" When the two girls narrowed her eyes at him, he chuckled and took his arms off of them. "I kid, ladies. I'll work, but I'm not guaranteeing it will be right or up to your standards."

"Please, I got one A," Heidi quietly said. "I'm not a genius. But Carmen and Melanie will hopefully be able to make us less stupid," she teased, lightly elbowing Thomas' arm. He chuckled and nodded.

Carmen was about to add something, but Melanie had finally joined them, her paper in her hands. "Hello," she quietly said, a shy smile on her face. "Shall we get started?"

"Sure thing!" Carmen said, sitting back down in her desk. The others joined her in the desks around her. "Any ideas?"

Heidi slumped, looking deep in thought, but ended up blurting the first thing at came to mind. "Uh… Hobos?"

Carmen stared back at her like she was an idiot. "What do hobos have to do with biology?"

"Biology is the study of life," Heidi pointed out, blushing in embarrassment. "Hobos live!"

"In cardboard boxes under bridges!" Carmen finished. "So no hobos!"

"Maybe we should figure the topic out when we have access to a computer," Melanie quietly suggested, looking down at her desk to avoid making eye contact. "It would be easier… The sites would give us ideas and all."

"Good idea, Mel," Thomas, seated to her right, said with a nod and a grin. He gently grabbed her chin and tilted her head so that she was looking him directly in the eye. "But speak up, okay? We can barely hear you."

Melanie bit her lip and nodded once Thomas let her chin go. Thankfully, her dark skin hid her light blush. Only about five guys have touched her in her life, and considering more than half of them were related to her, how could she help it?

"We should meet at the library after school," Carmen said, the natural leader in her coming out once more. "Not the school one, the public one. There's more room to work there and they have better computers."

"Sounds good," Heidi said with a nod. "Will you all be able to get rides there?"

"I'll ask my dad if our driver can come and pick us up after last period," Carmen said. "Then everybody's parents don't have to waste their time and gas."

"Driver?" Thomas asked, raising an eyebrow. "Impressive."

Carmen couldn't help but smile with pride. "I know…"

"Mitosis?" Thomas asked, scratching his head and staring at the webpage on the computer screen in front of him. "Uh, why don't we talk more about Heidi's hobo idea?"

"Because that idea sucks," Carmen calmly said, seated to his left. Heidi, taking the other seat next to her, shot her a glare, to which she patted her back and said, "Oh, you know I love you, chica."

Melanie was in the seat to Thomas' right. She looked at him nervously and said, "We don't have to do this one, if you don't want to. It was just a suggestion."

Thomas shrugged and quietly said, "Better than anything I could come up with." He skimmed the webpage and muttered, "Let's see… Mitosis is the process by which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes in its cell nucleus into two identical sets in two nuclei… Nifty."

"I guess we'll just explain the process?" Heidi said to the group, her tone implying it was more of a question than a suggestion. Melanie bit her lip and nodded, as if she was too afraid to vocally agree.

"We should get a poster to put all our info on." Carmen scooted closer to Thomas to get a better look at the website. "We can draw this diagram thingy right there and write all the details under it." She pointed to the diagram so everyone could see what she was talking about.

"I guess we should start getting info," Thomas said, opening up a word document to take notes with. "The first phase is interphase... Oh, so it's like cell sex!"

Melanie let out a small giggle and said, "Um, not quite, Thomas... Sex is intercourse. Mitosis is more like cell multiplication."

"Oh."

"Maybe we could also explain the significance of mitosis?" Melanie suggested. "We could do a lot with that, and since this a big project, just explaining the process of mitosis might not be enough."

Carmen nodded. "Hey, you know the guy grading this better than we do! You're the boss!"

"Boss?" Melanie's eyes widened as she shook her head and nervously smiled. "Oh, no no no. I'm not exactly the leader type."

"C'mooooon, Mel," Thomas jokingly whined, nudging her lightly. "You can do it. We have confidence in you!"

"I don't want to be bossy or anything," Melanie quietly said, looking down at her hands as she folded them neatly on her lap.

"I, uh…" Thomas stopped to laugh and finished, "I don't think you have to worry about that."

Heidi smacked him on the back of his head and glared at him. "Don't be rude. Not everybody likes being a loudmouth like you." As Thomas pouted and rubbed his sore head, Heidi softly smiled at Melanie. "We aren't going to make you the leader. We don't need one, anyway."

"I guess you're right," Carmen said. "If we split the work evenly, then what's the point?"

"Alright," Melanie said with a smile. "I'll see if there are some magazines with some information."

"I'll come with you!" Carmen hopped up and the two girls walked off toward the magazine racks on the other side of the library.

As soon as they were out of sight, Heidi smacked Thomas on the back of his head once again.

"Ow! For a girl who looks so sweet, you hit hard!" Thomas whined, rubbing his head.

"Lay off of Melanie!" Heidi demanded. "She's shy! Your pestering must be making her feel awful!"

"I was just trying to boost her confidence!" Thomas said, looking genuinely sorry.

Heidi glared at him, then sighed. He had his heart in the right place. Too bad his head was too far up his… Never mind. "Putting her on the spot isn't going to help. My cousin Dora's kind of shy, so I know that. Just be nice and she'll open up more."

Thomas slowly nodded. "Okay…"

Heidi nodded, turning back toward the computer screen. Thomas did the same. They stared at all the scientific information on it with black expressions for a moment, then turned to face each other.

"Wanna hit the snack machines?" Thomas asked.

"… Sure."

"So, did you have a good time?"

After Thomas buckled his seatbelt, he looked up at his mother, seated behind the wheel, and gave her a cocky smirk. "Yeah, Mom. Working on a science project is even more fun than scrubbing toilets or- dare I say it- getting a tooth pulled."

Thomas' mom scoffed, but a small smile crept onto her lips. "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, it was decent. I got paired with three ho-" He paused, seeing the warning look in his mother's green eyes and reworded his statement. "Um, nice girls." She pulled away from the library's entrance, right as a car being driven by a butler pulled up behind her and Heidi and Carmen ran out to it. "Oh, those were two of my partners."

"Really?" She tried looking through her rear view mirror, but she had driven too far away by that point. "Oh. I didn't see them…"

"Junior's coming over for dinner at your friend's house tonight, right?" Thomas asked, slumping down in his seat to get comfortable. "I wanna tell him how I scored three more women than he ever did in high school."

His mother laughed as she pulled onto a street leading into a neighborhood that was unfamiliar to the two. "Yes, I'm sure your older brother would love to hear you make fun of him, so it's a good thing he's meeting us there… Do you see it? The address is 99 Misty Lane."

"Uh…" Thomas looked out his window once again, reading the numbers on the mailboxes that they drove past. "93, 95, 97... There, 99." He pointed toward a certain house and added, "That white house over there…"

Several cars were parked on the street by the house, so she decided to take an opening by a silver Prius. Once they both got out of the car and Thomas grabbed the casserole that his mom made for the gathering, they walked up to the house and Thomas rang the doorbell.

The door flung open and there stood none other than Lindsay, who looked so youthful, you wouldn't believe she was almost forty. The chatter and laughter of others could be heard in the background as Lindsay gathered Thomas' mother into a hug. "Brittany! It's so great to see you! It's been years!"

The woman hugged back as Thomas walked inside to set the casserole down somewhere and see if his brother had arrived yet. She separated from the fellow blonde, smiling at her. "It's great to see you too, Linds, but… My name's Bridgette."

I'm not too happy with this chapter… Yet I am. I'm weird. Be easy on me. The next chapter will be better. C: