Thirsty.

Thirsty and stinky.  That was the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning.  My mouse was incredibly dry, and it tasted terrible, like a null had crawled into it and died.  I smelled bad, too – I never changed for bed and the stink of the cigarette was on me, along with a lingering whiff of I/O distillate and barf.  User, I was disgusting.

Linux was just waking up, looking irritatingly fit and healthy.  He rolled over and looked at me as I tumbled out of bed, and a little smile crossed his face.  "Morning."

"Mmmf."

"How you feel?"

"Guess." I mumbled, gathering up my shower kit.  A shower never sounded better.

"How's your head?  Do you feel like you're gonna throw up again?"

"No.  Just sore and smelly and thirsty as Hell."

Linux laughed.  "You're lucky you threw up last night or you'd feel even worse, believe me.  I've seen my brothers with a real hangover and they looked like they'd love to die."

"I guess."  It was true that I didn't feel as bad as I did the night before – just drained and weak.  "Gonna take a shower and brush my teeth for like an hour.  Wait for me, K?"

"I'll be over there in a few, actually."

"K."  I stumbled to the bathroom and over to the sinks, paying absolutely no attention to anyone else in the room.  I brushed my teeth for longer than I ever have in my life, rinsed my mouth out a bunch of times and then drank data right from the tap for at least ten nanos.  I couldn't believe how dry I felt inside, like every drop of moisture had been evaporated from my body.

After that I jumped in the shower and just let the steaming data run over my face for a long time.  It was heaven.  Once I'd showered and changed – no incidents, thank the User – I headed back to my room and what I was feeling now was unbelievably hungry.  I sat down on my bunk and waited for Linux to finish his shower.

I felt really bad about the way I'd been treating Linux.  Somehow, without me noticing it, I'd actually been fitting in easier than he had.  He hadn't really made any friends that I knew about, and even though I'd had my share of problems I'm sure he was glad he'd avoided, I'd also had some good things happen.  I'd met Lisa, first of all – and she was incredible and she really liked me.  I'd managed to get on Quantum's good side, and even be accepted – more or less – by some of his friends. 

It was an interesting feeling, because I was pretty much used to being in the position Linux was now – wanting sprites to spend time with me but always feeling left out when they were too busy.  Linux had been really nice to me and he was a good guy, despite what'd happened after the shower nightmare.  I was pretty sure I could understand what he was feeling inside – I'd known for a little while, but I'd been selfish and hadn't done anything about it.

Linux grinned when he walked in from his shower, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt while I stubbornly stuck with my uniform.  "You look better!"

"I feel better, thanks.  I could eat an ABC, though – I'm starving! Wanna get some breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure."  He grabbed his backpack and headed for the door.

"Got any plans after?"

Linux shrugged.  "Not really."

"Wanna go play pixels?  I've been looking forward to it all week.  I'm meeting Lisa for lunch later, we could all go for pizza."

He eyed me a little suspiciously, looking for pity probably.  "Really?"

"Yeah – it'd be cool.  I want her to meet my friends, you know?  Well – my friend!  C'mon – please?  You'll really like pixels, too."

"Um… Yeah, sure.  I guess.  If you want to."

"Alphanumeric!"  I grinned and wrapped my arm around his shoulder.  "Dude, I am so glad I got a cool roommate – this place would totally suck if I didn't."

"Yeah, I guess." He grinned back.  I could almost see the circuits firing in his brain – part of him wanted to be suspicious, but more than anything he was just glad that someone wanted to be with him and that crowded out the other stuff.  I'd been there a thousand times myself.

"Wanna have breakfast in the great hall, just for a change?"

"Sure – why not?  Maybe they'll let us have java there!"

"Fat chance, Nullbrain."  If cadets wanted java they had to get it in town – the Academy probably didn't want us any more hyper than we already were.

We had our food and we were looking for a place to sit when I saw a familiar flash of red hair and a wave.  "Look – it's Patch.  Let's sit over there."

"Uh…"  Linux froze for a nano but I headed for Patch's table and after a moment he followed along.

"Hi, Enzo!  What's processing?"

"Hey, Patch."  I sat next to her and started in on my food.  "Not much – you?"

"Same old file." She grinned.  "You look great!"

"Um – thanks."

Linux pulled a chair out and almost tripped over it as he sat down.  "Uh… Hi, Patch."

"Hi.  So how are things going, Enzo?  Those outputs haven't given you any more trouble, have they?"

"Not for a while." I sighed.  It was easy to forget about Zip and Calisto if they didn't bug me for a few cycles, and I didn't like to be reminded they were still out there.

"They're just jealous, you know – that's all.  They probably couldn't even tie their own shoes when they were 1.3."

"Maybe." I giggled.  "Some cycles I'm not sure I could tie mine."

"Enzo!  You're so funny…"

"Thanks."  I didn't want to be impolite but I had to get to work on my breakfast, and do it in a big way.  My body felt like it was totally empty after my memorable experience in the bathroom the night before.

"Wow.  You must be really hungry!" Patch said softly after a couple micros.

"Mmmf." I nodded.

"You wanna play pixels with us?"

Patch and I looked up and stared at Linux.  He hadn't said anything for so long I think we'd both forgotten he was there.  "Huh?"

Linux blushed and stared at his plate.  "Er – y'know.  Pixels.  We're playing after breakfast."

"What's 'pixels'?"

"Mmmmf.  A really cool arcade game." I offered.  "You put on suits and play on teams and shoot pixels and stuff."

"So, uh…  Wanna?"

"Is it OK with you, Enzo?"

"Sure." I shrugged, swallowing a whole biscuit.  "More the merrier."

"Alpha…uh…numeric!" Patch grinned.  "Thanks, Enzo."

"NP."  I went back to concentrating on my tray, and since there wasn't much conversation going on between Patch and Linux the rest of the meal more or less consisted of me responding to Patch's questions with nods and shakes of my head.

Pixels was totally awesome, just like the time with Bob.  It wasn't circuit racing but I could definitely see it growing on me.  With three of us, we decided to enter as a team instead of doing free-for-all.  We had to wait about five milliseconds for an opponent but once we got one it was a total blast.

We were matched up against three kids I didn't recognize – maybe they were locals.  Linux got eliminated almost as soon as the game started, which sucked.  They had one guy out in the open and before I could warn Linux he tried to go after him and wipe him out, but they had another guy hiding and they ambushed him.  I felt really bad for him, but Patch and I had to stay alive ourselves, so before too long I was totally into the game.  The nice thing about a game like pixels or jetball is that you can really relax and take chances, since you don't have to worry about being nullified or marooned in a game cube.

The game lasted a really long time – at least ten millis, I think.  Patch and I managed to survive long enough to eliminate two of the guys on the other team so it was down to two against one.  At that stage it was easy – I whispered to Patch that I'd use myself to lure the last opponent into the open, and when he came out to zap me Patch could jump out and zap him and we'd win the game.  And that's exactly what happened – I made an exaggerated show of slowly sneaking through a big exposed space between two fake boulders, and when he popped up to fire on me Patch knocked him out.  One good thing about being small and young-looking is that game opponents automatically think you're also stupid, a lot of the time.  That's something you can really use to your advantage if you don't happen to actually be stupid.

I walked over to the Linux and held up my hand, grinning.  "Pretty cool, huh?  We won!"

"Crash – I suck."  He slapped my hand listlessly.

"No way, Dude – it's a team game.  You took one for the team, just like I did."

"Enzo!"

"Hey, Patch – good job."

"Alphanumeric!" she hugged me clumsily.  "You are so totally smart – that was a great plan there at the end.  Where'd you learn all that stuff?"

I shrugged.  "From Bob, mostly – basic game strategy.  If it's last one standing, you only need one survivor to win.  We could afford to sacrifice a man."

"Well, you're totally cool.  Pixel…acious.  I hope I'm as good in games as you are some cycle."

"You will be.  I'm nothin' special, believe me.  C'mon – let's head over to the park – I gotta meet Lisa."

"Lisa?  Who's that?"

"Uh – Lisa Jobs.  She's a friend of mine."

"A… friend?"

"Sure." I grinned.  "We're gonna have lunch with her – you can come too if you want."

"Oh!  Sure, I guess.  Thanks."

"Cool.  OK with you, Linux?"  He just shrugged, which I took for a yes, and we dropped off our pixels gear and headed out into the street. 

"Lisa – she's that girl with the teal skin, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"She's really pretty, isn't she?"

That struck me as a weird thing for Patch to say.  "I…  I guess so.  Sure."

"How'd you meet her?"

I noticed Linux was disappearing again – he was trailing along a few paces behind us, not saying anything, which didn't make me too happy as it was messing with my plan to get him involved.  That was one difference between him and me – when everyone back home was trying to ignore me, my strategy was always to make it as difficult as possible for them to keep doing it.  "I met her in the mess hall, I guess.  And she's in my Phys Ed class."

"Do you like her?"

I jerked my head back over to Patch.  Another weird question…  "Yeah.  She's great, I like her a lot.  Why?"

"No reason." Patch smiled, showing a lot of teeth.  "Just glad to hear you're making friends and everything."

"Oh.  Yeah, I guess.  It's not easy.  Linux is a really good friend, right?  He's great.   Nobody else yet, really. How about you?"

"I'm doing just fine, thank you."

"There she is!  Hey, Lisa!"  Lisa was sitting on 'our' bench, wearing her black shorts and T-shirt, which was a great look for her.  Not that she had any bad ones.  As soon as I saw her I forgot anyone else was there.  She waved and I trotted across to her, grinning.  "What's processing?"

"Not much, Cutie.  I missed you."

"Missed you too."  I almost hugged her, but decided against it – I grabbed her hand instead.  I blushed and turned back to the others.  "You remember Linux, right?  And that's Patch."

"Hi Linux.  I know Patch – we have Physical Combat together, don't we?"

"We might." Patch smiled.  "Good to see you."

"You mind if they come to lunch with us?"

"Sure." Lisa shrugged.  "Hope you guys like pizza – Enzo is crazy about it!"

"Lisa!  Stop it..."  I giggled.  I bent close and whispered in her ear.  "I told Linux, you know…  Not to say anything or anything.  About you know what."

"Oh I know, Enzo – it's all right.  You said you would, and I believe you."

"Cool."  I waved to the others to follow us.  "C'mon, guys – there's this awesome little pizza place on Baker Street that Bob and I found – you'll love it."

"Sounds wonderful." Patch said.  Her voice sounded weird, but like always it was hard to think about anyone else when my Lisa was around.  As it was I couldn't look away from her, but I wanted to at least try and get Linux involved in the conversation.  "Hey Linux – do they have pizza on Helios?  D'you like it?"

"Don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I dunno."

"O…K." I shrugged.  We walked along the rest of the way in silence, which I guess might have been awkward but I was perfectly happy to hold Lisa's hand and walk next to her.  Once we got to the pizza place we all sat down in a booth, me and Lisa on one side and Linux and Patch on the other.

Patch smiled in our direction.  "Thank you so much for inviting me to join you, Enzo."   Her smile was weird, like it was too big for her face.

"Thanks.  Uh – actually it was Linux that invited you to play pixels."

"Of course. Thank you, Linux."

"Welcome."  Linux seemed to be losing his voice.

"You're so pretty, Lisa.  Your hair is beautiful – I wish mine were like that!  You must work really hard to keep it so perfect."

Lisa shrugged and smiled.  "Just normal stuff – you know, shampoo, conditioner.  Yours is beautiful, too – I love red hair."

"Aren't you nice!"  Patch smiled her too-big smile directly at Lisa, and no one said anything for a couple of nanos.

"Um…  Patch is really good at pixels." Linux finally offered in a little voice.  "She's-"

"Thank you.   But Enzo is the real high-density one – he came up with all the strategy."

"And I'm totally 8-bit." Linux mumbled.  "Did you know my big brother is infected?  Just like your father is.  Wild, huh?"

"Very interesting."

"Yeah.  He-" Linux hit the Tabasco sauce with his elbow and knocked it over, and when he tried to reach for it he bumped it over the edge of the table and it would have smashed on the floor, but Lisa's hand shot out and grabbed it before it fell.  "Sorry!"

"Wow!  You've got some reflexes." I gasped.

Lisa and Linux both looked embarrassed.  "Sorry." He repeated.

"Linux, you really crack me up sometimes!"  I giggled.  He shrugged and put his chin in his hands, and no one said anything for a few nanos and the silence started to get kind of awkward again.  Lisa reached out and squeezed my hand and I smiled at her.  "So, uh… What d'you guys want on the pizza?"

"You know," Patch sighed, "I'm not feeling real hungry all of a sudden.  I think I'm gonna take off."

"What?  Why-"

"Just one of those things – you know.  Thanks very much for inviting me, though. See you in class, Lisa."

"Sure – see you.  You sure you don't want to stay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure.  Thanks, though."  Patch awkwardly squeezed by Linux – his face turned all red - and out of the booth.  She waved and took off at a fast walk.

"That was weird!  Why in the net did she do that?"  I whistled.  Lisa stared at me for a nano.  "What?"

"Think I'll go too." Linux mumbled.

"No!  Come on Dude, I know you're hungry!"

"Nah – three's a crowd and all that."

He started to stand but I grabbed his arm.  "C'mon, Linux – please?"

"That's OK.  You guys have fun.  Bye, Lisa."

"Bye Linux." Lisa said sadly.  Linux stood up and sort of shuffled his feet, then thrust his hands into his pockets and slowly headed out.

"Crash – that was totally basic, huh?  Why'd they go and sign off like that?"

Lisa stared at me for a nano.  "You're kidding, right?"

"What?  What is it?  Was it something I said?"

She studied me hard for another nano, and it was starting to freak me out.  Than she laughed and shook her head.  "Enzo, you're totally amazing.  Sometimes I really have to stop and think about how amazing you are, or I'd be sure you were offline."

"What?" I could feel my blush rising.  "What're you talking about?  What did I do?"

She giggled again, then grabbed my hands gently and looked into my eyes.  "Enzo, Sweetie, I want you to listen to me for a micro, all right?"

"What?  Sure.  But-"

"Enzo, listen, OK?   That girl totally has the hots for you."

"What?  No way!  She-"

"Hush, Enzo.  Just listen.  Patch is in love with you, Cutie.  That's why she was acting all basic like that."

"But… But…  That's impossible!" I protested.  "I mean – I like you!"

"Do you think that makes any difference to her?"

"Crash!"  I fell back in the booth, taking that in.  The possibility had never even occurred to me.  "We're just friends, though!" I said weakly.  "We were in a game together, and we played pixels…"

"You're so sweet."  She hugged me and took my face in her hands.  "You really don't have a clue, do you?  My poor Enzo…"

"How did this happen?"

"Well – you were in a game together, you said?"

"Yeah…  It was her first one."

"So I bet you were totally nice to her and all modest but you still did really great in the game, right?"

"I dunno.  Sort of, I guess."

She kissed me on the nose and let me face go in favor of my hands again.  "And you were just as cute as a pixel because you can't help it, and now she's in love with you.  It's not your fault, Enzo.   But it's still a fact."

"Oh." I sighed.  It was amazing how complicated life could be in ways you totally didn't expect.  Don't get me wrong, a part of me was really flattered – I figured I'd be Phong's age before I ever had a girl and now two girls liked me.  But it still felt scraggy, because I totally liked Lisa but I liked Patch too – she was nice and I didn't want her to hate me.

"Poor Enzo."  Lisa held my hand in one of hers and softly stroked my wrist with the other.

"Wait – so why did Linux leave then?"

"Oh, no.  Enzo – really?"

"What now?" I groaned. 

She tried hard to swallow her laughter, but it finally exploded out of her in short, loud bursts that made me feel like crawling under the floor.  "Enzo, Sweetie…  You're just the cutest thing I've ever seen, you know that?"

"What?  Just tell me already!"

"Don't ever change."  She grinned and kissed me on the cheek, then sat back, still holding my hand.  "Enzo, Linux has the hots for Patch."

"He does?"

"Of course!  I know you don't have a lot of experience with all this, but I thought since you live with him maybe you'd notice-"

"OK, OK – I get the point!  I'm a basic 9-pinhead, right."

"Oh, you're not!  You're just…  Just sweet.  That's all."

"How do you know?  I mean – he didn't say anything…"

"Oh Enzo, I don't know how to explain it.  I just know, that's all.  You didn't pick up on any of the signals?"

I shrugged helplessly.  "What signals?"

"The way he kept blushing, and sneaking little looks at her?  The way he acted all clumsy and tried to compliment her?"  I shook my head and she sighed.  "It's like I'm speaking a language you've never heard before, isn't it…"

"Sorry."

"Don't you be sorry!  You're just different than any other boy I've ever met, that's all.  Your processor isn't all clogged up with the same stupid stuff everyone else's is.  I wouldn't want you any other way!"

"Thanks – I guess.  But I still feel like a nullbrain.  Are you sure about Linux and Patch?"

"Pretty sure, Cutie."

"Crash.   I just figured Linux was clumsy, that's all."

Lisa grinned.  "Well you know, Enzo, that's kinda how you acted around me when we first met, don't you think?  That should have been your first clue!"

That got me blushing really good.  "Did I really act like that?  All clumsy and shy and stuff?"  I knew the answer before I even asked the question.

"Sort of.  You never do anything the same as everybody else, though."

"I guess I was too busy looking at you to notice anything else."  I felt bold all of a sudden and kissed her quickly on the lips.

"Oh, Enzo…"  I started to pull away, a little embarrassed at kissing her in such a public place, but she tugged me back and kissed me again, right as the dedicated server came up to take our pizza order.

"A-hem!"

"Sorry!" Lisa laughed, and I'm sure I turned an even deeper red.

"May I take your order now, Sir?"

"Uh…  Yeah.  Large pizza.  What do you want on it, Lisa?"

"Shrooms." Lisa giggled, still holding me close to her and running her hand through my hair, which was taking me away to a really nice place.

"And extra garlic." I mumbled, as the server moved off.  I kissed Lisa's cheek and put my head down on her shoulder and just let her hold me for a few nanos.  "Sorry about Patch." I whispered.

"It's all right.  I'm sorry about Linux – poor little thing.  He seems really nice."

"He is.  He's great – so is Patch.  They're both really nice.  They helped me when I got in trouble for the fight."

"They sound like good friends, Enzo."

"They are." I sighed.  "Crash – it's scraggy that they're both all upset now.  Why does all this boy-girl stuff have to be so complicated?"

Lisa gave a little soft of half laugh, half breath.  "It just is – I don't know why.  I don't know all that much about it, Cutie – I've only ever really liked one boy, you know."

I lifted my head to grin at her.  "Yeah."

"He was a real hottie, too – not much like you…"

"Hey!"

"Psych."

"Very funny."  I put my head back down again.  It definitely liked being on her shoulder, with her hand in my hair.  "I guess I can't really be friends with Patch now, can I?  I don't see how, if she's-  You know…"

"I don't mind if you're friends with her.  I don't want you to have to give up any friends because of me."

"But how, though?  She didn't seem very happy, did she?"

"No." Lisa sighed.  "I guess not.  Neither did Linux – poor thing.  He was trying so hard, too."

"He always tries hard.  Maybe too hard."  As I said it I thought about it, and it really made sense to me.  "He tries to make friends the same way.  That's just how he is, but for some reason it doesn't work a lot of the time."

"Oh."  Lisa sounded really sad.  She didn't say anything for a little while as she stroked my hair, and I was too comfortable to say much. 

"Too bad Patch doesn't like Linux – that'd solve all our problems." I finally whispered.

"What?"

"You know – he likes her already, so if she just liked him instead of me we'd be all set.  I know it's dumb, I'm a moron about all this stuff-"

"Why is it dumb?"  She put her hand under my chin and lifted my face.

"I…  I dunno.  Isn't it?"

"No!  You're smarter about people than you think, Enzo."

"Oh!  Thanks.  But – how?  I mean, you can't just make someone like someone else.  Can you?"

"Well, Linux already likes Patch – so we've got half the program designed already.  All we need to do is convince her that he's a stud and we're all set.  What's so fuuny?"

"Nothing." I giggled.  "It's just that Linux is so-  I dunno.  He's kinda goofy."

"So what?  He doesn't deserve a girlfriend because of that?  You aren't exactly the smoothest operator in the net either, Cutie."

"I know!  I'm not sayin' that.  I really like Linux – he's a great kid.  But it's not like he's tall or athletic or charming or even cool or anything.  It'd be a lot easier if he was."  Of course I knew that I wasn't any of those things either, but somehow I'd been lucky enough to find a girl who actually liked that about me.

"Well – some things are more important."  Lisa had a determined look on her face, and it didn't look like anything would dislodge it easily.  "We just need to convince Patch that Linux has other things going for him.  He's nice, isn't he?  He'd treat her nicely?"

"Sure."

"That's important.  He's cute, too – in a Linux kinda way.  Not as cute as you, but still cute.  What else?"

"Well, uh, he…  He's pretty smart, I think.  He does good in class.  And he can be a lot of fun – he likes music and quicktimes and he even sang with me and Bob."

"Sang?" Lisa smiled.

"Never mind!  He's loyal, too – like I said, he and Patch saved my bitmap when I got in trouble for the fight."

"Hmmm."  Lisa scratched her chin thoughtfully.  "That's one thing they have in common, isn't it?"

"What?" I frowned.  "You lost me."

"You."

"Me?"

"Sure, Cutie.  They both like you – they both laid their code on the line for you.  Maybe we can use that somehow…"

"In common?"  I thought about that for a nano.  "Is that important?"

"Of course it is, Silly!  You have to have stuff in common or you'll have nothing to talk about."

"Sorry!  It's just, when you said that…  They actually do have a lot of stuff in common.  Patch's father was a Guardian and he was infected, and so was Linux' big brother.  And they both lived in the supercomputer for a while.  And neither one of them had ever been in a game before they came here."

"Enzo – that's graphical!  All we need to do is get Patch thinking about all this stuff, and maybe she'll start to give Linux a chance.  It'll require a pretty big sales job, I admit…"

"I'd buy anything if you were selling it."

"Flatterer." Lisa giggled, and kissed me on the nose.  "And maybe a cooling fan for Linux so he doesn't act like quite as big a klutz when he sees her…"

"Wait!  How is he going to see her?  She won't want to do anything with Linux, will she?  She might not even want to do anything with me after today."

"Hmmm."  She got that thoughtful, determined look again, and I knew I was in over my code.  "Here's what we'll do – I'll ask Patch to have dinner with me in the mess in the great hall, and you ask Linux.  Only I won't tell her Linux will be there, and you don't tell him that Patch will – he might be too embarrassed after today."

"OK." I nodded helplessly.  "Then what?"

"Leave that to me." Lisa grinned.  "We'll do it in two cycles – Patch and I have combat together last period.  I'll take her to the mess hall right after we shower.  You give us a few micros before you show up – I want to have a chance to sell her before you guys get there."

"Sell her?"  The whole thing sounded dubious to me, but like I said I was in over my code.  It was obvious the decision was already made.  "You sure you can get Patch to come?  If she likes me and she know I like you, maybe she won't."

"Don't worry – I'll get her there.  And before the night is over she'll think Linux is the coolest thing since designer mousepads."

"If you say so." I sighed.

"And don't tell Linux – remember that!  Just talk to him a little between now and then, give him hints that just maybe Patch likes him.  Try and get his confidence up, give him an idea what to say."

"I don't know what to say!"

"Yes you do." Lisa grinned.  "You always did.  I'm here now, aren't I?"

I stared at her smiling face for a nano, then I smiled myself.  "Yeah – I guess."  I gave her a quick hug and kissed her on top of the head.  "So, uh…  Lisa?"

"Hmmm?"

I looked at her again.  "Would you say that maybe I'm, you know… Your boyfriend now?"

She stared at me thoughtfully.  "Hmmm.  You know, I think maybe you are."

"So that means that you're my girlfriend?"

She giggled.  "Seems logical."

"Alphanumeric!"  I felt a tremendous burst of energy go through me.  Until that nano I'd been a little afraid to let myself use those words for what we were, even in my head.  User, it sounded pixelacious!  I leaned in and kissed her right on the mouth, not even caring who was watching.

"A-hem!"

Naturally, the server chose that nano to bring our pizza.  I quickly pulled away, wiping my lips, and Lisa tried to swallow her laughter again.  "Sorry, Ma'am."

"Disgraceful." The server scowled.  "This is a fine dining establishment, not a homepage of ill repute!"  With a snort, she dropped the pizza to the table and whirred off on her tracks.

"Cecilia." I sighed.

"What?" Lisa laughed.

"Never mind, let's eat.  That garlic smells good."

"Yeah – I'm glad we already kissed…"