Title: Brief Encounters

Rating: K

Spoilers: None

Pairings: Rodney/Laura

Summary: Rodney McKay meets a cheerleader

Disclaimer: I own none of the character I just borrow them.

Authors Notes: Being British I have no idea how High School politics works so I'm making it up as I go along with a little help from the shows my daughter watches on TV.

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Laura Cadman and her cheerleader friends were wandering the corridors of the High School that their school had been playing in a football match.

"Laura what are we doing" moaned one girl

"I'm looking for their Science Club" Laura replied, another girl groaned.

"Laura you're such a geek, if you weren't such a good dancer I'd have thrown you out of the cheerleader's ages ago," the girl said. "Well I'm going to wait for the ride out front, maybe we can find out where this school's team hang out" the rest of the girls agreed and left talking about which of the players were the hottest. Laura sighed, if she wasn't striking a blow for geek girls everywhere she'd leave the cheerleaders too. Laura wandered past a classroom and saw someone bent over a computer.

"Hey is this the Science Club?" she asked, the boy stood up and turned to face her, a look of scorn etched on his face

"No this is the Drama Club" he said with a sigh and went back to his computer. Laura smirked; she could have fun with this guy

"So are you holding auditions?" she asked. He sighed again and turned to her, this time he took a proper look, long strawberry blond hair, full lips turned up in an amused smile and a cheerleaders outfit, if only things were different he thought.

"If this is another round of Kiss the Geek can you get on with it, I've got work to do," he said. Laura looked stunned and then started to laugh

"Kiss the what?" she asked, Rodney's cheeks went pink

"Ah...you don't play that at your school," he stammered, Laura shook her head

"No but it sounds interesting, tell me how it's played" she said with a predatory smile, he was quite good looking, well built and he obviously had brains. She sauntered over to his desk and perched on it. Rodney gulped and edged away,

"It's all in the name really" he said with a scowl "Now do you mind" he looked at her again "aren't you supposed to be at the mall or making goo goo eyes at the Quarterback or something?", Laura rolled her eyes

"Oh please, I leave that to the real airheads, so watcha doing" she said, Rodney rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I'm trying to find away to retrieve deleted data, I read somewhere that even after deletion there are still traces of the information" he said, not expecting her to understand what he was saying.

"Like that tombstone thing the FBI use in fraud cases, where they can retrieve the true information after it's been altered?" she replied. Rodney's jaw dropped and he nodded,

"I...erm...I'm Rodney McKay, president of the Science Club" he said

"I'm...erm...Laura Cadman, cause of an outbreak of hives when I joined our Science Club, you should have seen the look on their faces when I walked through the door and asked to join," she said with a giggle. "So are you writing a programme or just seeing if you can do what the FBI can". Laura leant over and started to tap a few keys

"See, if you can find a way to check for keystrokes...like this, you can see what was really said," she explained. Rodney looked at her with respect, a cheerleader with brains.

"Why the hell are you a cheerleader," he asked, she smirked,

"They only keep me around because I can dance; their brains can't cope with the fact that I can be a geek and a cheerleader at the same time" she replied. They carried on working at the computer until they heard Laura's friends in the hall

"Laura, Laura the ride will be here in five minutes" called her friend. Laura sighed

"Gotta go Rodney," she said

"Yeah, I suppose you do" he replied, Laura grinned.

"So, Kiss the Geek is a popular game among your cheerleaders?" she asked, before Rodney could reply Laura grabbed him and kissed him. Caught by surprise Rodney grabbed her around the waist and started to kiss her back,

"Laura what the hell are you doing?" said her friend. Laura broke away from him

"Rodney here was just teaching me the rules of a popular game they play here," she said without missing a beat,

"You're sick Cadman," said the girl in disgust.

She picked up her bag and sauntered out of the room

"See ya around Rodney," she said,

"Yeah, later Laura" he said thinking that maybe there was a supreme being after all.