You guys will hate me by the end of this story! : P By the way, I didn't have to bring in this character, but I did. ;-)

One month later, John was adjusted to the Chicago life. He knew exactly the time to leave for work that would ensure that he wasn't going to be late. He found the best coffee house, as Americans only drink tea cold. What was the point of that anyway? It's like having your ice cream melted; you can only have it one way. John also figured out the best way to get some time with Miss Rose Tyler.

John picked up his gigantic stack of books and slowly moved out the door, trying very hard not to lean the wrong way and drop his book hoard. Since he was one of the teachers, he usually had all of the books he needed at his flat, but he'd been jumping at an excuse he could get to see Rose.

The best way, he found, would be to get as many books as he could and return them one by one, so he would haveto see her. Sometimes, if he wanted to spend some extra time with her, he would give her a whole bunch of books at one time so it would take her and extra-long time to finish up. John also made sure that he waited until the very end of the school day, so that he wouldn't have to leave her in a middle of a conversation to go teach.

So, here he was, on his way to the library, with a load of books. He walked through the big wooden doors to the library. As he entered, he saw a young man talking to Rose. He was handsome. Like your classic, movie actor handsome. All grins and hair. And he was talking to Rose.

John ducked behind a shelf as discreetly as he could. He snuck slowly and quietly through the shelves, trying to get closer to hear their conversation. The man was speaking and he seemed upset.

"Rosie," Great! He calls her Rosie. "You can't let him get too close, but you can't let him get too far, either. This whole thing was a bad idea."

"Well, it's not like I can do anything about it now. I miss him though, Jack. It's just we'll be talking and I think he's there, but…it's not." Who is she talking about?

"I know. I know. But I'm glad I found you. It's lucky my team was in Chicago, or else I don't know if I'd have found you again. Been looking a long time."

Rose chuckled. "That's the understatement of the century." There was a sharp beeping noise coming from a watch-like device on the man's wrist and he looked at it.

"That's me. I gotta go. See ya later!" John heard the man run out across to the doors and then heard them shut.

John waited until Rose had turned her back before coming out and walking toward her from the direction of the door. He placed his books on the counter with a thump. Rose jumped and gave a little yelp at the noise. She spun around.

"John! Don't do that! You scared me!" She walked to where he placed his books. "I didn't hear you come.

"Who was that man rushing out of here?" John asked, jabbing his thumb in the direction of the doors.

"Huh? Oh, that was Jack. He's a friend."

Oh, that friend. "The, uh, the one you travel with?" He really hoped it wasn't. He didn't want to even imagine Rose living with that guy.

"No! No. He's just someone I knew from…before." She bit her lip. "John?"

"What?"

She worried her bottom lip and he found it completely adorable. "John, have you ever…never mind."

She could stop now. He was too curious for that! "What?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not important. What about you, though? Have you actually gotten acquainted with anybody else?" She smiled at him, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah! Of course. I'm a teacher. It's my job to be social."

"No, your job is to teach seven year-olds how to read."

He shrugged. "Yeah, that too, but you know."

She glanced up at him. "So, who'd ya meet?"

"Uh. Well, let's see. There's that one kid's parent, that 'what's his face', and the one PE guy. See, I know people."

"Right." She said, drawing out the vowel. She looked at her watch. "Well, ten past five. Looks like I'm off! See ya!" Rose grabbed her purse and jacket and ran out the door. What was with these people and running?

The next day, John was walking home later than usual. Today was the first quarter's test day and so he'd had to stay late and grade the tests. Most of his students did well, but there was one kid who didn't seem to want to learn. Or do anything remotely related to school, for that matter.

The kid, Aaron, always complained whenever he was told to do something or when an assignment was given out. He even complained during recess about how boring this playset is and why couldn't they do it somewhere else. And the sad thing was that he could be so much better, but he just wasn't willing to put in the effort. John was going to need to talk to Aaron's parents about this. Perhaps something was going on at home?

John looked up at the sky and was taken by surprise. The stars were beautiful tonight! He had been so lost in his wonderings that he hadn't even noticed. How lucky he was to be shown such a myriad of lights from where he stood. He felt so puny in this universe. So tiny. Imagine. He was just one itsy-bitsy spec in the history of Earth; just living his life day by day. It was amazing. No that word doesn't fit. Stunning? Incredible? Breathtaking? There was no word to describe it.

As he was gazing, a flash lit up the heavens. A shooting star! It appeared to have fallen to the ground only a mile or two away. He knew it didn't really. A shooting star was just the human race's fantasy name for a meteor breaking the Earth's atmosphere and burning up as it fell through the sky. Either way, it was beautiful. John shrugged and continued walking home.