OMG! I was so ecstatic about the response I got from the last chapter that I just had to write and post this...bad idea since now I have to cram for my exam...oh well, since you guys did your bit and reviewed, I'm doing my bit and writing & posting! See, win-win situation! Don't you just love these?

Anyway, on a completely different note, a lot of people are asking (*cough* threatening me with bodily harm *cough*) to bring back Desiree Swan. All I can say is, wait and see. Only one person so far has guessed how she's coming back, and if you think you know too, please keep it to yourself! Thank you! Oh and to the people who do think they know – yay for me!

Oh, and thanks to whoever it was for telling me that *Mossad* only has one 'a'...

Chapter Seven

After receiving such news, Alex spent most of the morning in a state of extreme paranoia, though he did his best to hide it from the others. Thankfully, Colin had decided – for whatever reason – to spend the day speaking in Shakespearian, which meant that most people were more focussed on his behaviour than on Alex's.

"John? Mayest thou please pass thee thy crystal bowl of water-filled plant?" Colin asked, holding out his hand.

Alex rolled his eyes before grabbing the plastic lettuce bowl and thrusting it in his direction.

"Totally awesome - I mean, I thank thee from the bottom of thy heart."

Robert sighed, doing his best to block out his friend's weirdness.

It was near the end of lunch time. Most people had already left the cafeteria to spend some time out in the sun before the next lot of lectures began. Alex and Colin, however, had been dragged by Robert to attend Ben's lecture, which ran overtime. As a result, the three were eating a last minute lunch with the others who had been in Professor Saunders lecture.

"What do you guys want to do after lunch?" Robert asked.

"Thouest prefers if we spenst thy time basking out in the glory of thy sun."

"Erm...I'm going to hang out in my room for a while. Get some peace and quiet," Alex said with a meaningful glance at Colin. Robert sighed, before nodding.

As Alex made his way towards his dorm, he walked past what appeared at first glance to be an empty room. Until he saw the two people in it.

Alex's eyes widened, and he immediately diverted his course in the thankfully empty corridor. He pressed himself up against the wall just outside the room, and peered inside rather cautiously.

Hobbs, or rather Olsen, and Tim were talking. And it looked like the two were old friends.

"...I'm keeping an eye out on him, but nothing so far," Tim was saying.

"They must've trained him well. Probably why he's still alive, though they almost got him when he left," Olsen said, "They never forgive, never forget."

Alex shuddered slightly upon hearing that phrase.

"So what do we do with him?" Tim asked

"You keep an eye on him, and I'll contact headquarters. If he puts even a toe out of line, don't hesitate to act–"

Someone cleared their throat softly next to Alex's ear, causing the spy to jump in shock. Thankfully though, neither Hobbs nor Tim heard, and for that Alex allowed himself a sigh of relief before turning to face...

"Drew?"

Fierce brown eyes glared up at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Drew hissed.

"Okay, I know it looks bad but–"

Alex never finished his sentence, as one of Drew's small hands shot out and curled around Alex's arm in a death grip. He found himself being dragged bodily away from the empty-bar-Tim-and-Hobbs room, before he was shoved into what looked like Drew's dorm room.

"Do you have any idea what they would've done if they'd caught you?" Drew asked after slamming his door shut.

"Erm–"

"No you didn't!" Drew all but shouted, "You–"

Abruptly, Drew cut himself off. One of his hands flew up to cover his eye. Pain flashed across his face before it disappeared again. He never took his hand away from his eye.

Rather startled by the change, Alex blinked several times before asking hesitantly, "Erm, Drew? You alright?"

"Yes, fine," Drew answered rather tersely, though he didn't look back at Alex.

A tense moment passed before he broke it again.

"Look John, you need to be more careful," Drew said, his voice much softer than before. One of his hands was still cupped around his eye. He turned and opened the door. Taking that as a cue, Alex walked out of the room. Drew averted his eye – the other still hidden behind his hand – as Alex left, determinedly not making eye contact with the boy.

The door slammed shut behind Alex. Confused, the boy stared at it for a full minute, pondering the mystery that was Drew. Well, it would have been longer, had Robert chosen that minute to interrupt.

"John! There you are! I need you around to keep my sanity!" He said, grabbing Alex's arm and dragging him away.

"Wait, what? Wow, Robert, what...where are we going?" Alex asked, finally taking note of their current direction.

"Hiding," Robert answered.

"Um...you're going towards a lecture theatre, you know," Alex said with some hesitation as Robert dragged him into an already crowded theatre.

"I know," Robert answered, "But this lecture is at the same time as Professor Willard's. There's no way Colin would come to this one over the other – erm, no offence to your uncle or anything," Robert added as they sat down.

"None taken," Alex said, before doing a double take as he spotted Sandy climbing up the stairs. He tried to shuffle down slightly so that he wouldn't be spotted.

Unaware of Alex's dilemma, Robert sighed. "I know Colin's by best friend and everything, but man sometimes he annoys me! I don't know how I've lived this long without becoming chronically insane! I'm like a medical miracle or something..."

Alex let Robert mutter on under his breath. Right now, his situation had become slightly more dire – Sandy had spotted him and was making her way towards him with excited haste.

"Hey John!" She squealed, pulling Alex into a tight hug. "How are you? I saw you playing soccer; you were awesome!"

"Er...um...yeah..." Alex stammered. He was infinitely grateful when, ten seconds later, Ben walked in and began his lecture.

Robert, Alex noticed, immediately stopped his muttering the moment Ben opened his mouth. He moved to the edge of his seat and stared at Ben with wide eyes, fully engrossed in whatever the lecture was about. As for Alex, he couldn't have told you a thing if his life depended on it...something on genomic recombining? What does that even mean?

Figuring that everyone else would be too engrossed with Ben to notice him, Alex surreptitiously glanced around. His suspicions confirmed – though in a camp full of nerds, it wasn't really rocket science that everyone (even Sandy) would understand and be totally engrossed in what the lecturer was talking about – Alex sighed and leaned back on his chair. It was going to be a long day...

"John? Oi, John! Wake up!"

The next moment, Alex found himself being roughly woken. Startled, he instinctively reached out and grabbed at the hand, twisting it into a rather vulnerable position where he could break it with even the slightest pressure.

Then Robert's startled face registered in Alex's mind. He let go of his friend's hand as if it were burning.

"Oh man! I'm so sorry! I–"

"Nah, it's cool!" Robert laughed. "You have to show me how to do that though! That was a totally awesome prank though! And I totally fell for it! Here I was thinking that you were asleep..."

"Oh, um, yeah...haha – got you," Alex said feebly; it was lucky, really, that both Robert and Sandy were laughing so hard at the "prank" that they didn't notice. Alex glanced around and realised that the entire lecture theatre was empty. Wow, he just slept through Ben's lecture...hopefully the man wouldn't have noticed.

"So, erm...what are we doing now?" Alex asked, hoping that no-one brought up the topic of whatever-the-hell the lecture had been about.

"Dinner of course," Robert said, looking at Alex like he was crazy. "I really hope Colin's gotten over his 'Speak-like-Shakespeare Day' thing. Otherwise I may have to leave dinner early."

Sandy laughed a really, sharp, ear-splitting laugh. "He thinks he's so funny! And – ow!"

Sandy suddenly cried out, her hand slamming up to her eye.

"Sandy? What...you alright?" Robert asked as the two boys moved either side of her.

"Um...yeah, I think I am," Sandy said, slowly removing her hand.

"What happened?" Alex asked, frowning.

Sandy stuck out her hand. "It's my contact lens – it dislodged and fell out."

Sitting in the palm of her hand was an emerald green contact lens, looking perfectly harmless and innocent. "They're new," Sandy explained, "So they take a while to get used to. Plus I never used to wear coloured contact lenses either."

"So, why are you now?" Alex asked, staring at her one hazel and one emerald green eye.

"Well actually, my best friend dressed up as Lily Evans – you know, from Harry Potter? Yeah, it was for a birthday party. Anyway, she bought a whole stack of these coloured lenses. Then after the party, she had like piles left over, so I got them," Sandy finished.

"Right..."

"Yeah. I'm really only wearing them right now because mine have run out, and it's going to be another few days before my new prescription gets here. Until then, I've got to put up with these lenses. Sorry guys, I have to go fix this – right now everything's really blurry," Sandy smiled at them, "I'll see you guys at dinner!"

"Bye Sandy," Alex and Robert said together.

"Wow, I didn't even realise her eyes weren't the same colour! Wow, I feel like such a good friend," Robert said.

Alex smiled, though rather distractingly. Robert led the way to the dining hall, berating himself for being 'such an unobservant friend'.

.:X:.

Oooo! The plot thickens...even more!

Oh, and by the way guys, I don't wear contact lenses. My friend does, so what's described in this chapter is probably totally wrong and just a figment of my imagination...

How did you like the chapter? Was it good? Bad? Horrendous? Tell me in a review!

Oh, and thanks again to all those who reviewed the last chapter! The response was so overwhelming, that I had to write this. So...this chapter was dedicated to all my reviewers!

Please review!

Love Chariots99

Ps – did you spot the references to A Very Potter Musical?