When Tom arrived at IT class the following day, he was pleasantly surprised to see Alex sitting with Eddie and Sandman.
"Hi," Tom greeted them all, taking a seat next to Alex.
The lesson began; Tom become confused, Alex rolled her eyes at the easiness of it all, Eddie cracked jokes, and Sandman nodded off.
Tom was impressed by the depth of Alex's intellect; she finished her work in no time and then set about helping him do his. He listened intently, relieved to finally have someone make sense of it all.
After the lesson, he said goodbye to his friends and started to make his way to his next class. He passed through the corridor that led to the computer lab, and he could not help taking a look inside. Through the door's window he could see it was empty, the shades were pulled down and the lights were all out. Maybe he would take another look around, while the coast was clear.
"What you doing?"
Tom recognised Alex's voice right away. He turned to see her looking up at him, her pretty head cocked to the side, her cat-eyes watching him carefully.
"I'm sneaking into the computer lab," Tom replied. "You see, there's a girl waiting in there for me; Nancy – do you remember Nancy, from the party last night?"
Alex laughed, and then said; "Yeah, I heard she was hot for you. You guys got a little make-out session planed?"
"Yeah," Tom replied, trying his best to keep a straight face.
"Seriously, what you up to?" Alex whispered, hurrying over to join him.
"I just wanted to take a look," Tom replied, opening the door and slipping inside.
He looked at her through the window, as her eyebrow shot up in the endearing way it did. He pushed the door open again and taking her hand, he asked; "You coming?" He pulled her inside, and the two ducked down so they could not be seen from outside.
"This is so dumb," she said.
"I just want to take a look," Tom replied, with a shrug. "It burns me that I'm learning all these new computer skills and I haven't actually got to use any of them yet."
Tom moved to the back of the room and switched on one of the computers. The familiar message came on.
"Can you hack it?" Alex read. "Cute."
"How long do you think until they're up and running again?" Tom asked.
Alex shrugged; "Depends."
Tom heard the click of the doorknob and pulled Alex down under the central table, with him. They crouched in the gloom, listening as someone came inside.
"Who's there, I know someone is!"
"Not this guy again," Tom muttered, recognising Mr Marsh's voice.
"I'll go out, you keep your head down until we've gone," Alex whispered to him.
"No," Tom replied, in a hushed snap.
"Look," Alex replied. "It's your first week, this isn't gonna look good. What do I have to loose? Nothing."
"Is that what you really think?" Tom could not believe his ears. "Alex you have everything going for you."
"Come out!" Mr Marsh snapped as he switched on the light.
"Stay down," Alex instructed, and kissed Tom on the mouth.
He was so taken back, he did not stop her as she stood and went out to confront Mr Marsh. He listened as Mr Marsh ordered her outside, muttering about damned kids all the way. The light went back out and the door closed, leaving Tom listening to the low hum of the computer.