Feeling quite satisfied with herself, Mac typed the last line of her assignment with a flourish, hit save, then shut her computer and stood up to stretch. She turned first toward the door then toward her curtained balcony doors; finally, her back cracked and she sighed appreciatively.

She glanced at her watch and did a double-take when she realized how late in the afternoon it was. A few seconds later, she realized that Dick was going to be late for his afternoon class if he didn't leave right then.

She left her darkened room and knocked on Dick's door. When he didn't answer, she poked her head in and quickly shut her eyes against the brilliant sunlight streaming in through the French doors. When her eyes had adjusted, she saw Dick, fast asleep, lying half-off his bed. He had eaten all of the leftover cookies for breakfast and then, it appeared, crashed down from the sugar high.

Mac observed the way the light hitting his sun-bleached hair gave him an unearthly glow; it made him look almost angelic.

She walked over and pushed him off the bed.

"What the hell, dude?" Dick said as he popped his head up from the other side of the bed.

"You're going to be late," Mac said.

He looked at the clock.

"Yeah, if I go. Better to stay here and avoid the tardy," he said as he started to climb back onto his bed.

Mac grabbed two of his fingers and twisted slightly.

"Ow ow ow!" Dick said. Mac ignored his whining and pulled him downstairs. When they reached the door, she handed him his keys and a notebook.

"Go learn," she said.

"I think I could learn more here from you," Dick said, rubbing his sore hand against his chest. "How does it feel working without your whip?"

Mac opened the door and pushed him out.

"Don't come back until you can tell me something about market fragments!" she said as she shut the door in his face.


"Hello?" Mac said into her cell phone an hour later.

"Market fragments are when you look at clients in subsets instead of as a whole," Dick said.

"Did you just look that up online?"

"Yes."

"But you did go to class?"

"Yes."

Mac smiled. "Good. How was it?"

"Boring and confusing, not a good combination. Plus I got a flat before I even left campus. Come get me?"

A short while later, Mac was walking around the quad searching for Dick, who was not where he'd said he would be. She finally found him playing football behind the student union.

"Dude," she said from where she stood under the trees, her hands on her hips.

"Hey, Mackie!" he said. "I gotta go, see you guys later!" he called to the other players, all of whom waved and shouted goodbyes.

"Who are those guys?" Mac asked as he trotted over to her.

"I just met them today," Dick said with a shrug. "Thanks for coming down."

"Why didn't you just change the tire?" Mac asked.

"Do I look like I know how to change a tire?"

"No, but you also don't look like you know how to read, and I know for a fact that you can do that," Mac said.

"Luckily, I can also take a joke," Dick said, ruffling Mac's hair even as she tried to push him away.

"Mac," she heard a familiar voice call from behind them. She glanced up at Dick, who was making a face of distaste, so she knew he recognized it as well.

She turned around. "Hey, Piz," she said, trying to conjure up a sincere smile.

"Hey, how are you?" he said as he approached them from an adjoining path.

"I'm fine. You remember Dick," she said.

"Hey, how are you?" he repeated to Dick, who didn't answer. "Anyway," Piz said, turning back to Mac. "How's school going? Where are you living this year?"

"It's fine. I'm living off campus," Mac said.

"With me," Dick interjected.

Piz's face showed his surprise, but he kept his voice somewhat neutral. "Oh, cool, I didn't know that."

"Yeah," Mac said.

Piz paused, and Mac knew what was coming before he said it. "So how's Veronica? I haven't talked to her in ages, and I never see her around any more."

"Probably with Logan a lot," Dick said sagely.

Mac shot Dick a covert look of annoyance. She wasn't sure if he had said that simply to make Piz feel bad, or to assert Logan's claim on Veronica, but either way it seemed unnecessary. At that moment her phone chirped.

"Sorry, just got a text," she said.

"Do you need some help reading it?" Dick asked, clearly hoping to get away from Piz.

Piz scoffed quietly, apparently at the thought of Dick reading, and despite her earlier jab at Dick, Mac felt a surge of animosity toward Piz.

"It's from Veronica," she said, mostly to Dick. "She wants to go see a movie tonight."

"What, the four of us?" he asked. Looking over at Piz, he clarified, "Us and her and Logan?"

"Yeah, I think so," she replied. It was pretty unlikely that Veronica actually meant that, but Mac let Piz believe it because he had slighted Dick.

"Well, have fun," the boy said lamely.

"We will," Dick said with a smirk. "What are you doing tonight? Hot date with your acoustic guitar?"

Mac's feelings swung once again into the realm of irritation. Dick was back to his high school mode, alienating the people he didn't like and taking pleasure in it.

"Come on," Mac said to him. "We should get home. Bye, Piz, it was good to see you."

"Bye, Mac," he said with a half-hearted smile. Mac waved as she and Dick started to leave. When they had turned a corner, Mac whapped Dick on the arm.

"Ow—what?" he said.

"Why do you have to be mean?"

"I wasn't mean."

"You were mean."

"You don't like him either," Dick pointed out.

"That's not the point," Mac said. "I've never met another person who could treat people they don't like that way without a second thought."

"Why does it matter?"

"What if later you do like them?"

"I'm never gonna like that guy."

"Well what about me?" Mac asked.

Dick stared at her, clearly lost for words. He'd been terrible to her, and they both knew it. She looked at him expectantly, but he just looked at her in frustration.

"Whatever," she said, already turning to walk away. "I'm going to go see Veronica. I'll see you later."

"How am I supposed to get home?" Dick called.

"You can walk!" she yelled back.

When she found Veronica, Mac ranted to her for almost ten minutes about how insensitive her roommate could be. To Veronica's credit, the words "I told you so" never left her mouth.

"Come on, let's just go to a movie," Veronica said when Mac had finished. "It will take your mind off Dick."

It was a good plan in theory, until they arrived at the movie theater and saw Dick seated on the bench out front. He stood up when he saw them.

"I'll go get the tickets," Veronica said, and she disappeared inside.

"Hey," Dick said.

"Hey," Mac replied. "How did you get here?"

"One of those football guys gave me a ride."

"Oh," Mac said. She crossed her arms over her chest and studied the movie posters on the side of the building. She only looked at Dick when he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about before," Dick said. "You and me are so awesome now, I forget that we didn't used to be."

Mac looked at him for a few seconds, then shrugged. "It's okay," she said, giving him a small smile. "It's possible I overreacted."

"So we're good?" he asked.

"Yeah," Mac said.

"Good," he said, squeezing her upper arm with one hand. Mac looked up at him, suddenly unable to think of anything but the last time he had apologized to her, and what he had tried to do afterward.

"DUDE," they heard someone say from a few feet away.

They both turned and Dick's face lit up.

"Enbom!" he shouted, rushing over to his old friend. They embraced and slapped each other's backs. "How the hell are you?" Dick asked.

"Freaking awesome," he said. "I've been snorkeling in the Caymans, pretty much since graduation."

"Sweet," Dick said. "Hey, come here, I want you to meet someone." He led his friend over to Mac, who was fervently wishing that Veronica would come back outside.

"Enbom, this is my friend Mac," Dick said, resting his hand on Mac's shoulder again. "Mac, Enbom."

Enbom looked at Mac then at Dick. "Dude, are you gonna be on Beauty and the Geek?" he said to Dick.

The smile fell from Dick's face. "She's not a geek," he said.

"Okay," Enbom said with a smirk.

"Dude," Dick said. "Shut up. Don't talk about my friend like that."

Enbom was studying Mac's face. He turned to Dick slowly. "Wait…you know that this is the girl who dated Beaver, right?"

Mac grabbed Dick's hand before he could raise it.

"Forget it," she said to him in an undertone. "He doesn't understand anything."

"Dude," Dick said coldly. "You want to get out of here, now."

"Whatever, Dick," Enbom said. "Have fun with your new freak friends."

Mac looked up at Dick, who looked as though he wanted to punch their old classmate in the back of the head. She felt any lingering ill will from that day melt away completely.

Dick turned back to her, the fury gradually fading from his face. Mac opened her mouth to speak, although she didn't know quite what she wanted to say.

"I…" she began, then trailed off, surprised when her voice sounded strained, like someone else's.

"Got the tickets," Veronica said from behind them.

For a second neither of them moved, and then Mac smiled at Dick and jerked her head toward the theater.

"C'mon," she said. "I'll buy you a Slushee."

Next Chapter: Mommy and Me

A/N: Hi everyone! Not too much to say about this chapter, except that I stole the concept of market fragments from a conversation between Ryan and Michael on The Office. I was too lazy to look up any real business jargon, and I apologize for that laziness. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I want to thank everyone who has left a review for this story. I've never gotten this many reviews before, and I'm feeling so excited and encouraged because of them! Thanks again! I'll try to update soon!