By Monday morning Tom Hanson, or rather Tom Haddon was enrolled at Woodsboro High and heading for his first IT class. With the system down, computer theory lessons were temporarily replacing the regular ones. When he got to the classroom he introduced himself to Mr Roger, the head of the department.

"I'm kind of worried about joining so late in the semester. I'm not that good with computers at the best of times," Tom explained, with a chuckle of embarrassment. "So could you pair me up with someone who can help me out?"

"Sure," Mr Rogers smiled. "I'm glad to see that you take your schoolwork so seriously."

Tom liked Rogers; he seemed like a good guy. He took Tom over to meet a student called Eddie, who he described as one of his best students. Eddie was seventeen, tall and lanky, with long brown hair and a cartoon-like grin.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Tom asked, taking a seat.

"I'm good," Eddie replied. "You just get into town, huh?"

"Yeah," Tom said.

"Maybe I'll introduce you to some people," Eddie offered.

"Cool," Tom thanked.

They were joined by another boy; he had black hair and deeply tanned skin, and was wearing a back-to-front baseball caps.

"Hey, any word on the computers yet?" He asked Eddie, as he sat down.

"No, not yet," Eddie replied. Then he turned to Tom and said; "Let me introduce you to Sandman. Sandman this is Tom, the new guy."

They exchanged hellos and then Tom asked; "How come they call you Sandman?"

"Because he's always nodding off in classes," Eddie explained, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

Sandman gave an excepting grin, and then he asked Eddie; "Is Alex in today?"

"No man; didn't show again."

"Alex doesn't like computers?" Tom asked.

"Like them? Loves them!" Eddie explained. "Or rather they love Alex; totally computer whiz."

"Alex could give these lessons," Sandman bragged.

"Then why the no-show?" Tom said.

Eddie shrugged his shoulders; "Boredom, I guess," he said. "Doesn't want to waste time in these half-baked classes, isn't interested in anything else at this school, thus, a no-show."

"But won't that mean a fail?" Tom asked.

"Alex; the high school dropout," Eddie said. "Sadly, it has a ring to it."

The class worked through textbook exercises for the whole lesson. Eddie and Sandman tried to explain it to Tom as he furrowed his brow at nearly every question, but they only ended up confusing him even more. By the end of the period his head was spinning.

"You really don't know much about computers," Sandman laughed, as the class started to pack away.

Tom let out a weary sigh, and admitted; "You're not kidding. But you guys; you're like pros!"

"It's our thing," Eddie said with a shrug. "Some guys go in for sports, some join the drama club, and we do this."

"Is there a computer club here," Tom asked. "Maybe I should sign up, learn some tips."

"There's no club," Eddie said, shaking his head.

"Even if there was, it wouldn't be much good at the moment," Sandman added.

"The virus, yeah, I heard about that," Tom said. "Pretty crazy, huh? How do you guys get your techno fix now their out of order? You got home computers?"

They nodded, but from the expression on both their faces, Tom sensed they thought it a strange question.

He did not press them for anymore information that day. Instead he concentrated on getting to know them both. It paid off, and a few days later, over lunch, he was invited to a house party.

"You can meet Alex," Eddie said as they sat together in the canteen.

"Great," Tom replied.