The English substitute had surrendered. After she had been pelted by the eighth spitball, she thought it would be best to sit down at her desk and read her Harlequin romance novel, so as not to be bothered by the demonic English students.

Chris, Gordie and Anya were all sitting on the same desk, with Anya and Chris sitting side by side and Gordie with his back up against theirs. He had insisted upon calling them Mr. and Mrs. Anya Berkowitz, so they voted him out of the group.

"Chris, your butt's too big and I hate it and I'm sliding off the desk," Gordie complained.

"Well, sorry, we can't all be the size of a pretzel."

"I'm not twisty!"

"I didn't mean the twisty pretzels, I meant the pretzel sticks."

"Okay," Gordie said agreeably. "That's better. Kiss him, Anya."

"ARG," Anya cried, laughing, and pointing a finger away. "We're just friends! We vote you off the island now."

"Fine then, I'll go see if someone else wants to be my true friend." Gordie laughed, hopped off the desk and walked over to where Brooke sat.

She looked up, her brown eyes slowly taking him in. She was the only one actually doing the assignment. She wasn't a goody-goody; she just didn't have any friends to goof off with. "Hey Gordie," she said, sounding surprised, happy and wary all at once.

"Hi. My friends kicked me out."

She grinned. "I'm the consolation prize?"

"Nah, you're the grand prize," he said, mock seriously, then closed her books. "Stop doing this learning crap. Visit."

Brooke nodded with a smile. "Did you take the cat into a shelter this morning?"

He looked like he was caught on the spot. He muttered, "Not entirely."

"Not entirely?" she smiled coolly. Was she doing this on purpose--trying to make him fall for her? She wasn't doing a shabby job. "Did you keep the tail?"

His eyes squinted when he laughed. "I was thinking of keeping her for awhile. You know, treat her nice and give her some good food before she has to go to a shitty shelter."

"Oh, you love her," she teased.

"Do not. I made her sleep in the closet."

She gave him a knowing look.

"Then the damn thing kept meowing and meowing and driving me insane so I threw a blanket over her and, well, I think she's moody because she misses you. Or whatever."

Brooke burst out into laughter.

"Me and Chris got her marginally clean. You should come over and see. She looks less like a dust bunny now."

Sitting back further in her desk, she smiled up at him. He returned it.

Chris elbowed Anya. "Look!"

She almost fell off the desk. "Oww," she laughed, holding her side.

"Oops. Sorry. I'm used to beating up my friends. I guess you're slightly more breakable."

"Not really, I just whine more," she giggled. "Look at what?"

"Brooke and Gordie," he whispered. "Gordie and Brooke."

"Who and who?" she demanded.

"They already had a cat together."

"What?" she cried.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "I think it's like."

"They're in like with each other?"

"Yep," he replied.

She clapped excitedly. "That's freaking cute!"

"Uh-huh. Adorable." He smiled over at her softly. "How's everything with Lorelei?"

"GOOD!" Anya practically yelled.

"Oh good!" he laughed at her excitement. "I take it you talked?"

"Yes. It was a good talk." She smiled, almost wistful. "She said it's okay for you and me to go out and whatnot. She wants us to. But is it okay if we just wait for awhile to make sure everything is all right with her? I mean, she resorted to making out with Reese. Although maybe I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that…dammit, I'm so bad for that!"

"Holy crap," he said. "Why?"

"Why what? Why is she with Reese, you mean?"

"No, I meant why would someone do that to her? To Lorelei of all people."

She shrugged, looking down at her hands. "Because he figures he can."

"He's a real asshole," he murmured. "Should I talk to her?"

"About what?"

"Reese. He's going to hurt her. Do you think she'd listen to me?"

"I hope so, yeah," she replied. "I think she would."

"He's glaring at us," Chris said, his eyes downcast. "He's a rather scary individual, wouldn't you say?"

"Ohh…" Anya shrugged. "He has his good side."

Chris laughed, as if that was the funniest thing he'd heard all day.