He's not attractive. He's not smart. He's not nice.

Not attractive. Not smart. Not nice.

Not attractive. Not smart. Not… oh, hang it. Who was she trying to kid? Helena had to admit it; she knew that Alex's allure was in more than his being the newest face on campus. Maybe he wasn't Cary Grant, but he wasn't bad looking, and combined with that stupid, confident smirk he was always wearing, the boy was damn near irresistible on that front. And that stunt in Spanish—maybe he did pull that translation out of the air, but foreign language pronouns weren't exactly an easy subject to handle on the spot like that. And sure, maybe he was a little arrogant – it wasn't as if the girls flocking to him over the course of the past week had done anything to help that situation – but it was too soon to make any judgments. No judgments. Judgments were bad.

"Maybe I will give him a chance," she said absently as she and Lucy slowly made their way downstairs towards the library. The attractively grungy (oxymoron?) stone walls seemed to echo her own words back at her, but before Helena could fully realize and retract what she'd said, it was too late.

Lucy's face lit up at the comment. "Do you really mean it?" she gasped, and Helena could tell it was all the girl could do not to start jumping up and down and clapping her hands. "Oh, that's wonderful, Lee!"

"Stop giggling or I'll change my mind," whispered Helena harshly, though a shy smile had begun to form on her face. "I just… I just mean as friends."

"Of course you do, darling," replied the British girl, still a little giddy at the thought of her best friend and Alex O'Connell becoming an item. Upon reaching the library's large oak doors, her tone changed slightly, and she added, "Listen, sweets, I know you feel some odd need to get your work done on time and everything, but I for one am not going to spend what little free time I have collecting dust – no offense – in the library."

"None taken, you know I'd never put you through that kind of torture. Have fun—go pretend you don't know me or something." Helena winked and stepped over the threshold, waving playfully to her friend, who was almost halfway down the hall in anticipation of a few hours alone with Vogue, Vanity Fair, or another one of her fashion periodicals.

Sighing, the brunette walked across the room with a sureness that could only come from spending the majority of one's time in a certain place. It was a little pathetic, she knew that, but to her, the companionship of great scholars and authors was preferable to that of rowdy, obnoxious schoolchildren with no sense of priority or…

"Sorry," she muttered, not paying much attention to the person she'd just run into until he spoke.

"Don't be, the whole absent-minded thing is kind of cute."

Helena's eyes narrowed slightly; she knew that voice all too well. Se lo dio… echoed the voice of Spanish classes past. She shook herself out of the daydream and found herself looking at an almost disgustingly confident Alex O'Connell. Come on, you said you'd give him a chance, one part of her cried. No, countered the other, you said maybe. That implies that it's conditional.

"O'Connell," she said briskly, straightening out her skirt, which had become somewhat ruffled in the collision.

"Alex."

"Whatever," Helena rolled her eyes. She wouldn't succumb to such informalities, not yet.

Alex got a slightly pained look on his face, and he replied with a bit of an edge. "What is your problem, Pallworth? I'm trying to be nice. Like a nice person, who is nice. In a nice way. Do you have an issue with new kids or something, because…"

Helena shook her head, and the small action effectively silenced the boy in front of her.

"It's hard to explain," she admitted sheepishly, her gaze wandering to the array of students and professors in the room. "It's not that I don't like you, per say, it's just that I keep getting this… It's going to sound stupid."

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, it probably will, but go for it."

Wow, he certainly knew how to make a girl feel good about herself.

"I just keep getting this feeling like you have an ulterior motive and—"

"Wait, you think someone needs an ulterior motive to talk to you?"

"But they do, don't you see? I'm not exactly the world's most captivating conversationalist or anything like that."

"You've still got me talking. That means something."

"Why, Mr. O'Connell, are you usually easily distracted?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

The girl paused and took a brief moment to reflect on what could only be described as a relatively witty exchange, which was certainly new to her. Alex, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what he was doing, having used the past 90 seconds to maneuver himself so that he was backing her up against one of the large oak desks in the room. Oh… oh, crap, people are staring now… her inner voice muttered frantically, though there wasn't much to be done about it at this point.

"Go out with me," Alex said, far too plainly and openly for Helena to even consider taking him seriously. No one propositioned that effortlessly—it was impossible.

"You're joking," she suggested, lifting an eyebrow. The blonde shook his head and shrugged.

"Not at all. You can say no if you'd like, but I'll just keep asking." Helena frowned in response, at a bit of a loss for what to do.

"Are you always this straightforward?"

"Only for the first week or so, you've just got good timing."

She paused, wondering if she should risk inquiring whether it was her personality or her timing that made him like her. "You're serious, then."

Alex nodded, and Helena realized that he still had the upper hand, even if he though that he was going out on some sort of limb here. Firstly, she was pinned to the desk, so no risk of running away. Secondly, even if she said no, there were 20 other girls lined up to say yes. And thirdly… she didn't remember the third one.

"Well, then… yes, I suppose we could do that."

The boy looked slightly taken aback. "Wait, really?" he asked, stepping back. "You're saying yes, just like that?"

"Was I supposed to say no?" the brunette asked, suddenly worried that she should've been more coy.

"No, no," he replied quickly, grinning. "That's great!"

"Great," Helena was unable to contain her own grin, despite her initial reservations.

"Great."

Author's Note: The next chapter will be the beginning of their 1949 adventure. Thanks to everyone for their sweet reviews, especially the sweetheart and Mummy-writer-extraordinaire known as Jac Danvers. Toodles til Peru!