Tuesday finally arrived, and Jade had no Idea where the day was going. It felt odd, like today something was going to happen. she even expected things to happen. Today she would sit office hours at Caltech, and use that time to let Dr. Cooper know who she worked for. Specifically, not him. 'If he's lucky, he won't need new underwear.' Jade smirked at the thought. After that would be the janked up Prome committee dinner with her friends plus the other losers who worked on that chiz. She would get to the bottom of this Prome King chiz. She decided she deserved to be Queen, and Beck could be her king, but really? They voted for HER to be King? And was she allowed to bring Beck? And what was she going to do about Dr. Kripke. Okay, she knew what she wanted to do, but securing Sinjin's help would be the hard part. She would look into the details of exactingly what she wanted done before bribing the weird young man. 'Lots to do today'.

By the time she got to school, she found Vega's one and annoyingly older number two waiting for her. Already her day was taking a turn for the weird. "What are you losers looking at." came Jade's traditional greeting.

"We were wondering.." Tori started

"No we weren't. We don't need her help." Trina gruffed.

"Yes we do. Who knows who buys coffee at that shop she works in. Maybe she can help get you in at Caltech." Tori Whisper-yelled

"I don't want to go to Caltech. I wanna go somewhere with a killer Theater Arts program to finish developing my natural talents." Trina whisper-yelled back

Jade walked off in the middle of their argument. Best to not wast time until they figured out what they wanted. Jade knew, however, that while Trina was majorly annoying she wasn't dumb, just delusional. She ran the tutoring during study hall for a reason. Her parents were probably hoping for a tech degree in case her TV career on weird Spanish language shows didn't last. Jade could not fault them. You could only play the attractive (give Trina her dues) girl in a cheese costume for so long. It was a break in part. Trina needed security if she was going to keep taking jobs that a Spanish speaking but retarded monkey could do. Hell, even some of those physics groupies she met at the meet and greet could do it if they spoke Spanish. Jade also knew that the worst part of the Trina Caltech drama was that she was in an excellent position to help, provided she wanted everyone to know what a total nerd loser weirdo she was. Since she didn't like Trina, and only kinda liked Tori, she was safe from feeling the need to intervene. 'I could ask around... NO! Tori not THAT important to ME'. Jade quickly found something else to think about to avoid admitting that while Tori was not her friend, that statement and their growing closeness opened the door for something more.

By the end of study hall, Jade was feeling a little better about her teaching gig. Many faculty at research universities are suckish teachers, and She just needed to be able to lecture and explain things to the hard of thinking. Her tutoring group certainly qualified. Tori was the smartest, only needing help because physics is almost another language to most people. The others listened with a mixture of awe and raw fear. Jade had told them that getting a D or worse equaled a visit from her largest pair of scissors. As a result of the experience, she was gaining a confidence that would help her teaching when promises of physical violence were no longer allowed as part of the motivation process. She was also becoming a popular tutor because she knew her stuff. The day was getting weirder and weirder.

During Sikowitz's class she had one of those moments she had gotten used to but still annoyed her. The way she solved equations or ran the simulations that the other theoretical physicists sent her was to go over them several times until they drifted into the back of her mind. Then, once an answer came up (usually within six to twelve hours depending on the complexity of the simulation and the formula, but sometimes longer if she was distracted of busy) she wrote it down since she could only remember the answer for a couple of hours. The problem was that the formula for Dr. Coopers latest request came up during improve. While it was just a momentary distraction as the answers flooded her conscious mind, it threw her off her performance enough that people noticed.. She hated losing, and her job had just cost her a moment of wowing her class with her acting talents. Jade thought "I'm going to have to work on that. Hate to have that happen in the middle of a play." She also resolved to let Dr. cooper know he needed to look over his work more before sending it to her to review. She made mental notes on the multiple errors, and started typing out a report.

The end of the school day saw Jade racing towards the exit. She wanted to get to work early and pick up some coffee (yes she has a coffee maker in her office, but a fresh cup of designer coffee always felt right. Besides, she wanted the larger cup with the lid.) She tore out of the parking lot and raced to Pasadena like a girl possessed. The drive was only about ten to twelve miles but Jade was never one to dally when she could rush. It was also her first time using her assigned parking space, and needed to cover her name in case the someone she knew wandered by and saw it. A text message from Beck came and she took a moment at a light to see what he wanted. It was just the usual pleasantry. 'Good luck at work. I'll see you tonight at the dinner.' She'd text him back once she was in her office.

Once she found it, Jade's parking place was both good and bad. It was near a different building than she worked in, forcing her to walk across campus to get to her office. The only two pluses were that it was in the faculty part of a parking structure so the car was protected from the weather and the walk went by the Coffee Kiosk. She waited in the short line and ordered her Coffee. "You're paying this time, right?" asked the barista.

"Depends. How much was I owed for the twenty minutes of my life you took, not to mention my not just running off and leaving your business to whomever came by?" Jade was still in a good mood.

"One large. Two if you tell me about yourself. I'm Dave by the way." He was flirting! Jade rolled her eyes. ' As If' she thought, but a little conversation for a large coffee seemed okay, plus it never hurt to be nice to the person making your food. "Jade, and I'm 16 so keep it in your pants, perv." Of course, that was nice for her.

"16. Wow, you're kind of young to be working in the Physics... Oh my god. You're Doctor West?" He managed to not drop anything while pointing.

"Yep. Now that you know more about me so give me my damn coffee. Black, two sugars."

"Okay, to make up for last time, but this is the last free coffee you get." He gave her his serious stare. "God, I should have known. They've been talking about you for two weeks non-stop. It's just... you know... You don't look like one of the" he made air quotes and switched to a pathetic British accent "brightest minds in physics. No offense, just... Well you look so normal." He quickly added.

"What? And how was I supposed to look? Frumpy with glasses and that nerd vibe that sends all the guys running? Maybe I should have been a fat, fugly girl who couldn't get a date so science was my only friend? Get a life, loser." Jade took her coffee and started walking away.

"Sorry!" she heard yelled after her. He came running up. "I'm sorry. I just never expected you to be so hot."

"Still 16." she said, annoyance reverberating across the school, "and I have a boyfriend."

"Okay. I get that. I just...you know...I sell coffee and I think we should be on better terms. Okay? I don't want my bad assumptions costing me a customer. So we cool?"

Jade looked at him. It was good coffee, so she decided to give him a break. "We're cool. Just no hitting on me. I hit back. Hard." she pulled her scissors for emphases.

"Whoa, down girl. I got it. Look, I need to get back to my business. That new girl I was expecting never showed. I'll probably hire someone soon, but that's my problem. Thanks for letting this go." He headed back to the kiosk, and Jade knew her scissors aside he was counting the days until she was 18. Shaking her head she put her scissors away and continued towards her office.

When Jade got to her office there was a woman waiting for her. She vaguely remembered this woman from the meet and greet. Some physics graduate student. The woman was a shorter brunette, attractive Jade supposed, with a determined look on her face. "And you are?" Jade asked.

"Hi, I'm Alex Jensen. I work for Dr. Cooper and he sent me.."

"He has an assistant? You're what, his research assistant? Errand monkey? Do you get his laundry?"

"In theory I'm supposed to go through his older research and see what might have useful ideas. I do also run errands for him occasionally." Alex almost whispered the last part before speaking up. "Now if you're done with that analysis you were doing.."

"He got funding for THAT? How? I mean, I wonder if I can get a monkey to run my errands. I wouldn't need to see your face showing up at my office every time I make his ass wait for results to one those simulations he wants me to run. By the way, let him know that while YOU'RE his monkey, I have other things to do with my time beyond his janked up simulations. You know what? Tell him if he wants the results He can come and get them himself. Now, do you get coffee?" Jade seemed excited.

Alex stood there open mouthed for a few seconds. The girl was rude, aggressive and at times looked like she would hurt people for fun. Processing what Dr. West was saying, she decided retreat was the best option. "I'll go tell him" and she took off before Dr. West got around to seeing if she could steal her from Dr. Cooper. Working for geniuses was less glamorous than she thought it would be.

A couple of minutes later and there was a peculiar knock on the door. Thee sets of three quick knocks with "Dr. West" said after each one. Jade stopped her work (drawing an equation she had been thinking about on the whiteboard) "Come in already!" The door opened and in walked Dr. Cooper along with Dr. Hofstedter.

"Ah Dr. West, have you finished my simulation?" Dr. Cooper asked, surprisingly polite.

"What are you doing here?" Jade asked Dr. Hofstedter.

"It's Lenard, and I just wanted to make sure you were settling in nicely and that you didn't, you know, kill Sheldon. You do kind of have a reputation." His voice sounded neutral to maybe telling a joke. Jade suspected what he was saying was more true than he wanted to believe.

"I only kill those who deserve it sooo, well played... I guess. You can call me Jade." She smiled.

"My simulations?" Sheldon asked (they were now kinda on first name terms)

"Here, I typed the results onto this document on this flash drive. I even marked where the problems are so you can find them easily." The smile was gone.

"Good. Our work here is done. I'll review this and send you the next set in a couple of days."

"Sheldon, Please! Show some manners. We should be helping her feel at home here." He scolded Sheldon. "So how are you finding the place?"

Jade rolled her eyes. "Look Lenard, I see what you're trying to do and I appreciate it, really. It's just, well, I have a life. This is just to make some money. It's not that I don't respect your work, or anyone here's work, even his work. I just don't like.. people."

"That's obvious. Not even the offer of a hot beverage. This girl has no manners." Sheldon complained.

Jade's glare made it clear that violence was a growing possibility. Lenard intervened. "Sheldon, please. Anyway Jade, some of us were going to go to dinner tonight and we were wondering if you would like to join us, if it's okay with your parents that is." Jades glare shifted to Lenard.

"Lenard, she would unbalance the table. We can't just go inviting people willy nilly. If Howard is unavailable doe to marital duties, we contact Stuart. We have a system so chaos.." Sheldon started.

"I have plans tonight, and a boyfriend." Her voice could freeze blood "Maybe some other time, orrr more likely never. Now bye" Jade pushed them out and closed the door. Her next office was going to have a window for her to throw people out of. And an assistant to get her coffee. She sighed at the thought. 'Back to work'. She didn't bother to notice that odd behavior aside, Dr. Cooper 'Sheldon, Jammit' didn't once complain about having to come get the results of the simulation.

The rest of her time went well enough and she managed to see first and thus dodge the Vega sisters as she was heading back to her car. The Vega family seemed to be touring the campus. Jade quickly drove to the restaurant and went in to change in their bathroom. By the time she was done, the others had started showing up. There were twelve of them total including all the gang, Sinjin, Berf, Andre's date, Sikowitz, and both Vega sisters (Tori being in the gang, but Trina wasn't). Beck informed her that Trina was taking the open seat intended for the Prome King. Jade was not amused. As they were shown to their tables, she wondered if things could get worse.

:}

What could possably happen at the Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena, CA on a Tuesday evening. I bet some of you know.

I am having trouble hearing the right voices for most of the Big bang Theory cast. I hope I get it right when I need it.