Chapter Nine: New Horizons
January 11th, 1999
Raelyn dropped her bag next to a chair in the back of the computer lab and brought the screen up with a few clicks of the mouse. It was her second semester taking the computer class and the instructor had stated that he was going to leave her to her own devices unless one of his less competent students needed help.
To her surprise someone else sat next to her and away from the rest of the class after he received a familiar greeting from the Professor, and when she looked up she saw a tall lanky boy smiling engagingly at her.
"Hey, I'm Alex. Mind if I sit here?"
Shyly she shook her head and looked back at her computer screen, occasionally darting glances at him out of the corner of her eyes. Boys had learned not to talk to her or they would face the wrath of Michael Guerin, and other than Isabel she had found the freshman girls to be entirely too giggly and annoying for her tastes.
Part of her wanted to approach Liz again, try to strike up their friendship, but she was too afraid of rejection and felt too guilty when she remembered pushing the girl away after Isabel and Max started school.
"You're Raelyn right?"
The boy's question interrupted her thoughts and she nodded again, blushing faintly before working up her courage and speaking. "You already took this class?"
Alex nodded. "I was supposed to be in the Programming class this semester until they cancelled it so they stuck me in here. Officially I'm the TA, but Mr. Redmon doesn't need much help. What about you?"
"I took it last semester and had an open period, so he said that as long as I helped tutor if he needed it, I could use it as an extra study hall."
The dark-haired boy grinned and raised one eyebrow as he glanced at the internet browser she had pulled up with a site showing 'scientific' proof of psychic abilities. "I didn't realize we had a class on paranormal studies."
She giggled softly, still blushing, but gave him a raised eyebrow of her own after seeing the page he had just pulled up. "We don't teach blogging either."
"Touché!" he said with a chuckle. "It'll be our little secret."
Raelyn smiled warmly, blushes gone as she realized that she had just made her first friend outside of her family. Maybe high school was getting better.
February 1st, 1999
Michael watched the brunette girl intently as she studiously took notes, her eyes never wandering from the teacher or the notebook in front of her. Most people were open books to him, despite the fact that most people thought he didn't notice anyone but his family and, of course, the boys who talked to Lyn.
He was far more observant than people gave him credit for, and very rarely did he see anyone worth watching for any length of time; their conversations and reactions were so predictable that he often mentally projected their responses ahead of time to Lyn, who would just smile and roll her eyes when he gloated over his percentage of correct guesses.
This girl, though he had discovered, was rarely predictable, although he knew almost everyone would disagree with him. Max talked about her intelligence and sweet nature for hours a day, and her reputation as the perfect Miss Parker certainly seemed well deserved, but neither his best friend's passionate ramblings nor the student bodies' opinions. had included mentions of the personality he had seen her show when she thought no one was watching.
Like the way her lips would curve into a barely noticeable smile when the teacher quoted certain passages from King Lear and The Tempest, passages rife with double meaning and innuendo that most of the class missed in their Shakespeare induced stupor.
Or the time she had helped the teacher pass out papers and pressed a sticky note over his A 'And one man in his time plays many parts' before giving it to him with an amused smile.
There was certainly more to Miss Parker than met the eye and for the first time he found himself glad that he had worked hard enough to take the AP English class with his sister, although he was hard pressed to hide his fascination from her. The last thing he needed was her teasing or Max discovering that he was not the only alien with a growing obsession for the petite human girl.
March 16th, 1999
Alex and Raelyn were talking quietly in the back of the classroom when one of the students approached them. He was a sophomore and Liz's cousin, who had come to stay with them for a year; there were all sorts of rumors why, but Lyn didn't keep up with the gossip and Alex was one of Liz's best friends so both of them smiled friendlily at him.
At least until he gave Alex a polite smile before turning the full force of his considerable charm onto Lyn with a wide grin. That was when Alex stopped feeling so friendly.
"Hi, Raelyn?" At her nod he smiled wider, causing her to blush faintly. "The teacher said you were the one to ask for help with spreadsheets, think you could give me a hand?"
Raelyn nodded and locked her computer before walking around the table and following the boy back to his desk as Alex watched every move and tried not to glare. He was sure that the teacher had told Nick that both of them could help, if he had not specified Alex as the actual TA, which meant that the other boy just wanted someone to flirt with while they worked, assuming he even needed help.
Alex groaned and forcibly turned his eyes away from where Raelyn was sitting at Nick's computer, the boy hovering oh-so-attentively over her, and tried to think charitable thoughts towards him.
That resolution lasted two minutes, then Raelyn giggled and he hit the keyboard so hard a key popped off. Ignoring the teacher's amused glance, he reattached the key and went back to surreptitiously watching the other two over his monitor, suddenly grateful for his awkward height.
When Nick's hand brushed Lyn's shoulder and she blushed again, he gave it up as a lost cause and just stared at them, irritated by the fact that they were clearly too involved with each other to even notice his intense scrutiny.
Liz had told him he should just ask her out. She liked Raelyn although he knew they never spoke outside of class, and even Maria, once he assured her that she would always be one of his girls, had encouraged him to go for it. Clearly he should have taken their advice, he thought sourly as Raelyn laughed again and stood up. They exchanged a few more comments and then Raelyn turned around. Alex quickly diverted his gaze to the computer screen and prayed that she had not seen the glare on his face.
Apparently she had not and she sat down next to him with a happy sigh. Gritting his teeth, he bit back the sarcastic comments he was dying to make and waited. Suddenly Raelyn touched his arm and he looked up to see her beautiful always changing eyes staring worriedly at him. "I've never been on a date before, Alex. What am I supposed to wear? What are we supposed to talk about?"
Alex felt the blood drain out of his face as he realized that once again he was relegated to being the male friend girls talked to for advice about the boys they were really interested in. But he cared about her and so he smiled and tried to think of something encouraging to say.
Maybe he should let his dad send him to military school, no girls there to torment himself with.
Later that day...
"You're what?" her brother exclaimed, eyes wide with shock as he stared at her.
"I'm going on a date," she stated firmly, her tone leaving no room for opposition.
Unless, of course, you were an overprotective older brother. "With who?" he asked as he racked his brain for everyone who had ever looked at his sister and realized with a sinking feeling that the list was far too long for his liking, even though it was not nearly as long as Isabel's.
"Nick, Liz's cousin. We're going to a movie this Friday night and you are not coming along to chaperone, spy, or threaten him."
Michael both relaxed and tensed at hearing the name. Nick had developed a reputation as a bad boy and he knew plenty of girls who wanted to go out with him, girls older and more popular than Lyn. Why did he want to go out with his sister, a freshman even if she was older than most? Michael could think of plenty of reasons and none of them made him very happy.
On the other hand, he was Liz Parker's cousin and he trusted her judgment despite the fact that they had spoken all of ten words to each other since he accepted his fascination with her. Still, it was his sister and he was not going to let anyone sweep her off her feet without going through him first.
A/N: The quote Liz used on Michael's paper is taken directly from Shakespeare's As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII.
