C.H.A.P.T.E.R.T.H.R.E.E.

I flicked my ball-point pen up and down on my slanting desk the next day at my sociology lecture. Today we were talking about the way people act in public, and how they often treat products in shops that they are just merely inspecting. Usually, this is one of these things that fascinate me, but... I couldn't concentrate at all.

I tried, but I just couldn't. All my thoughts were focussed in on yesterday's mad-hatter's-tea-party -like events, or maybe just like a bizarre and wild dream. Half a dream that was nightmarish, and could stop the pulse of any living creature –including trees- and half a dream that was just... amazing. Half a dream that I wish I could relive each and every day of my life.

I couldn't help but revisit The Doctor's words. He called me smart. He asked me if he wanted a chip. He said that he found brain goo spellbinding. He questioned about whether I was on my period. Yet somehow he always smiled at me, all that time, until I asked for his name. That's when he got serious I guess he was sort of like me then... when I was found as a baby, I had a note on my person, telling me my name. But, it was written underneath that I was not allowed to tell anyone, even the people I trusted the most, my real name. I'm oblivious as to why. But, I did what I was told, even if I didn't know who the note was from. Most likely my mother though, whoever she was. The note was written in a girly, mum-like writing.

So, for a while, when I was a kid, I just didn't have a name. People called me "That kid." ...Until I discovered books. Somehow, that automatically triggered off the nickname 'Bookie'... Out of the blue, The Doctor popped back into my head. He just did that to me. It was happening to me all day. His past was flashing before my eyes. He'd seen so much pain, yet saved so many. And even though he was an alien, he seemed to know so many humans. He'd been with humans so much. He'd seen so much... Oh... Doctor...

"Bookie?" I blinked, having a finger snap in front of my startled eyes. I swallowed, turning my attention round to Miller. His blue eyes seemed troubled underneath his raven black locks. "Bookie? You okay? You don't look too good." He asked, his mellow voice rising and lowering as he held my forearm. I bit my lip and then blinked a few times. I must've not properly recovered from yesterday yet.

"I'm... I'm fine. Don't worry Miller." I said, looking down at a blank piece of paper. "Was I meant to be taking notes?" I questioned myself, having to blink a few more times. I sighed, feeling a somewhat off-colour in my stomach. Maybe I really was unwell.

"No you're not." Miller disputed, grabbing his bag and then holding his hand out to me. "You're as pale as a snowman. Get your bag, I'm taking you to get some meds." grudgingly, I picked up my shoulder bag, and flung it over my shoulder. Miller took my hand as we walked out of the lecture. If it was just me alone walking out, I would've gone unnoticed. But Miller? Holding my hand? That grabbed the attention of many looking-for-hunks girls. I would pay for that later, with the bitching and fighting. Oh the joy...

Miller took me to his dorm and let me come in, while he raked through his bathroom cupboard for some paracetamol or something. Miller was sweet. A truly admirable best friend. Heck, better than I ever was, I mean, he does everything for me. He would go to mars and back to get something for me. It was a kind of love we had I guess. And sure, I did love him, but more in a brother-sister way.

I was sort of thinking about whether I should tell Miller about The Doctor. I mean, he believed in all this alien stuff too. He might believe me, and might not think I was crazy... But then again, when people think alien they think little green people with ten eyes, four arms, and six billion legs. Maybe it was best to keep it quiet for now...

I sat in pain on his bed, grasping my head firmly and feeling awfully dizzy and sick. What the hell was wrong with me? I'm sure I was fine this morning. I just suddenly changed, as if something inside me just fizzled out...

"So, what made this come over?" Miller interrupted my train of pain, bringing me a glass of water, and a couple of tablets.

I tossed the two pills into my mouth, and then washed them down smoothly with the glass of water. "I don't know." I replied, looking and feeling incredibly washed out, and dead beat. "I swear, I was fine this morning." I said, blinking my eyes open.

"Yeah, well some things can hit you like a ton of bricks like that..." Miller muttered disapprovingly, rubbing my back. "You really don't look right. Maybe I should call the nurse or something..." He posed forward, leaning towards the phone.

"No... I'm sure it's nothing." I said, biting my lip again, and swallowing away the sickly feeling in my throat. "Everyone gets ill at some point... Maybe I just need sleep." I put back, getting to my feet but struggling and sitting back on the springy bed again.

"Here, I'll take you back to your dorm."Miller said, moving forwards to help me up, but was sidetracked when hearing the door knock three times, slowly and stridently. Who could that be at this time of day? Everyone else was at a lecture right now. "Hang on..." He mumbled, scuttling to the door and slowly opening it.

"Miller." Someone said in an insensitive tone, one that sped my heart up when hearing its insincerity. "I saw you and young Bookie bunked a lecture, and came here, alone."

I rolled my eyes. Teachers were so worried if a boy and a girl go to a dorm together, in case they were going to... you know. Let the stick and the pussy cat have a good time. "Oh, no Mr. S.T. It's nothing at all like that." My eyes widened. Oh dear... Mr. S.T. is what other students use to name Mr. Sekree-Tada. You know, most people can't say his name... This was awful. Really awful. Had Mr. Sekree-Tada come to, um... drain my mind?

"Well, it sure looks like it's something like that." Mr. Sekree-Tada said with a strict, futile tone that usually put people in their place. Not Miller though. Nothing seemed to put Miller in his place. He was strong-hearted like that.

"Mr. S.T. I can assure you that I brought Bookie back here because she's sick. I'm not getting it on with her or anything." I sighed, putting my palm against my forehead. Modern slang surely is a bitch. "And anyway, I was just about to take her to her own dorm."

I think I heard a forced laugh coming from the doorway. "Sure sure Mr. Miller." Mr. Sekree-Tada said, ambling into the room, and turning my way. "Ah, Bookie. So what seems to be the problem?" he asked me kindly, but with that same mysterious smirk hiding in the corner of his twitching lip. I glared up into his hazel eyes. The Doctor told me to stay away from this character, but how was I meant to when he was my own lecturer?

"She's just unwell. You know, dizziness, sickness, tiredness. We think she just needs some rest." Miller said, clutching my hand and hauling me off the bed. I held on to his arm, and he picked up my bag as I felt the incredulous dizzy spells overwhelm me.

"Let me feel her temperature." He said, pushing his hand forward towards my forehead. Getting to grasps on what he was doing, I dodged out the way of it, falling behind Miller and wavering on his shoulder.

"Bookie, what's wrong?" Miller said, twisting round to me and bending down slightly so that I was talking directly into his shiny blue eyes. As disturbing as it was, all I could see were Mr. Sekree-Tada's hazel demonic eyes lurking just over his shoulders. "All he wanted to do was feel your temperature."Miller realized eventually that I was completely tremulous and needed to get out of there, but he simply attempted to comfort me by tying his hands around my waist and hugging me securely.

I must admit, it relieved me a little, but ultimately all it did was keep me in a sturdy body-hold, as Mr. Sekree-Tada sprung at me, pressing his cold, claw-shaped hand against my forehead. I screamed out agonizingly. The Shocks were back, and hammering down into my brain, going through me faster, and already giving me a dead beat, sleep-for-many-years feeling.

Miller pulled away as soon as he heard my squeals, but went into a stand-still when seeing the position we were in. He went into absolute mystification, going wide eyed when seeing what pain I was in with just a simple touch. So much pain. Bringing back the memories of yesterday's horrific events. Was The Doctor coming again to save me again? There was no way of knowing, but I was sure that it was just luck to have such a hero like him to intertwine paths with me. I'm chasing my dreams on a treadmill if I thought he was coming back. All I knew is that it sure felt like the real-deal this time. It felt like I was going to drop down dead any moment now...

Snapping out of his stance in time, Miller charged forward, pushing Mr. Sekree-Tada against the grey wall of his dorm and breaking the tie that was wound between my mind, and his fingertips. Mr. Sekree-Tada snarled up to Miller, as he picked me up within his arms, cradling me like a baby, and darted out of the room.

"M-M-Miller?" I stuttered, looking up at him with my tired chocolate eyes. He looked down to me, and shook his head.

"You better tell me what the hell is going on you little Bookie twat." He said, looking as if his mind was a blur right now. Strange how even in the most fearsome of times, that nickname still sticks... From behind, I could hear the booming footsteps, thumping and bashing down the hall after us.

"Miller, I wish I could, but I haven't got the foggiest clue." I slurred, looking up at his black locks bouncing above his shoulders. His burly face looked concerned, and earnest. Valiant, and concentrated. Yet, if you looked deep down inside him like I could, you could tell that he was just as petrified of this scary occasion as I was.

"Don't worry Bookie."He said, as he galloped down the hall that seemed to be going on forever. "I'll get us out of this." I gawked up to Miller with wonder. Miller achieved at mystifying me most of the time. Some of the time, he teased me, and joked about calling me the 'glasses geek' or "Strange Bookie Twat," trying to look like the cool hottie he was. But... other times, it seemed as though he would give the world for me. Risk his life for me. As if, he truly loved me. Ugh, I hate boys sometimes, I really do.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, the doorway leading to one of the locked lecturer rooms flung open, and out strutted quite casually, him. His long brown coat trailing at his feet, and his red converses sliding across the freshly polished floors. He always turned up at the right moments, didn't he? "So, what happened to 'stay away from that teacher!' hmm?" He said scornfully, strolling my way, but also admiring his futuristic screwdriver.

"Um, things went a bit tits up..." I croaked, raising my head to look at him properly, but having it drop against Miller's brawny chest again.

"Hmm, yeah... I guess some aliens are persistent like that..." The Doctor stated to himself disappointedly, shrugging his shoulders, and then pulling away from my face.

"I'm, sorry who are you?" I and The Doctor turned our eyes up to Miller, who looked even more out of place than before. He had gotten involved with this now, he didn't have to be, but now he has. Stupid caring and friendly friends...

"Doctor!" Mr. Sekree-Tada answered for him, marching towards the three of us. "We meet again, unfortunately." He sighed, putting his hands on his hips, and looking slightly infuriated with The Doctor. "Look, if you don't mind, I'll take the girl and go. I really need to go and mark some essays..." He said, turning his eyes down to his charcoal black watch and sighing out reluctantly.

"No way!" Miller fought, turning my body away from Mr. Sekree Tada. "If you want Bookie, then you'll have to go through me!" I gazed up at him dreamily, wondering why the hell he was doing this.

"Ooh and you think that'll stop him?" The Doctor questioned, tilting his head towards him, and raising his eyebrows. "Come off it, he was probably going to kill you when he tried to drain her brain in front of you. He can't let someone go who knows his secret. But, the thing is, once he's connected to one person once, he can track them down over and over again until he's finally feasted on the energy in their brain. Clever isn't it?" The Doctor said with an inappropriately jubilant smile. "So, if you just kept on running down this hallway, he'd eventually manage to connect to you too. That way, even if you got away, he'd still be able to get to you..." The Doctor scratched his head sort of nervously after that. "Yeah, that's the annoying thing about Gentolians..."

"How do you know of my kind, Doctor?" Mr. Sekree-Tada demanded, looking sternly through his circular glasses, still allowing the right corner of his lip to twitch. He stirred closer to the three of us, and we all edged away as he did so.

The Doctor raised his eyes up to Mr. Sekree-Tada, shoved his hands in his pockets and began swaying back and forth. "I've dealt with your kind before." He said. "Unfortunate, not much happened, but I've dealt with it."

"Not with me though Doctor... I'm more powerful than many other Gentolians. I've guided many, and was declared one of the smartest of my kind..." Mr. Sekree-Tada sneered smugly, crossing his arms and raising his nose at The Doctor.

"Oh is that so?" The Doctor raised, strolling out in front of me and Miller as if like a human, wait, not-human-but-looks-human barrier. "Well, if that's so, then why are you so focussed on one girl? One puny girl that probably has the brain capacity as any other bright spark? You're in a university, where it's full of so many people like her. So why this one girl, right here!"

"You're wrong, Doctor!" Mr. Sekree-Tada came back with, lurking forward at a snail's pace. "She's different, in soo many ways." He said, licking his lips and drifting forward to the 'charm of my knowledge' again. You can imagine how freaked out I was with all these events of strangeness.

The Doctor stood boldly in front of me and Miller, and I was soon drifting off again. The Doctor sighed, lowering his eyes to the floor. "I know she is..." He said mutely, flicking a glance back at me and gently smiling his heartening smile. I weakly smiled back, and felt the comfort that I always got from his smiles. I still didn't understand why it did so, but I purely smiled back, not questioning the happiness, in case it shattered it. "But so long as I'm still standing, and at least one, if not both of my hearts are beating, I won't allow you to obliterate Bookie's life." The Doctor warned, his voice intimidating to even me, making me tremble within Miller's arms.

"Both your hearts?" Mr. Sekree-Tada questioned anxiously, apparently not taking in anything else he said. "You're a...?"

The Doctor nodded. "I'm a..."

Me and Miller exchanged looks, both having the same thoughts, and then I turned my head over to The Doctor, and questioned, "You're a what?" But it seemed as though I was just thinking that I said that, as The Doctor just continued with his somewhat calm brawl.

"So, I'd stand back, right now, because this is going to hurt your ears..." He said, reaching into his back pocket and reeling out that futuristic silver screwdriver I saw him with before.

Mr. Sekree-Tada laughed, crossing his arms and smirking immorally to The Doctor. "You? What are you going to do with a measly sonic device?" He challenged, moving daringly towards us, while The Doctor just pulled out the screwdriver.

"Well, actually, I can do many things with this." He said, taking the screwdriver out of his pocket, and inspecting it for a moment. "And I'm sort of surprised you chose this time to chase after these two rough-rousing kids. Because if you look at your watch again, I think you'll find, that lecture time, is over..."

The Doctor posed, as he lunged towards a Uni alarm bell, and pressed a button, causing the device to buzz wildly, and turn on the alarms. Immediately students were loitering the halls, and strolling in groups. Gossiping, chatting, joking, doing what students do. Somehow Mr. Sekree-Tada seemed to get caught within them, being hauled away by students rushing to their dorms, and called my name as he was pushed away. The Doctor turned to me and Miller, and beamed quite contentedly. I glared up at him, wondering how he could look so happy after being threatened by Mr. Brain-drain-go-lucky.

"What... Who... When..." Miller mumbled, getting into a cute little mystified situation.

The Doctor simply patted Miller on the shoulder, and grinned down to me, saying one word. "Run."

Before I knew it, we were speeding down the hall again, dodging students, and running away. A somewhat rush began crowding my senses, but a confounded feeling in the pit of my stomach was still making me feel sick. Yet again, I was left wondering, who is The Doctor? And only now, do I have to ask myself... Why does he care so much about me?

Gah, not as happy with this chapter... I'm not sure why, I just don't like it as much... Anyway, tell me what you think, and thank you to all the people that have reviewed and read this story so far! (96 hits :D YAYAYYAYAY!)

and well, thanks for reading!Please review!

Leanne

xoxo