"Couples dancing? What's that?" Boone asked. Sashi started walking down the hall, and Penn was torn between going after her and staying with Boone. In the end, he stood with Boone.

"It's dancing. With two people."

Boone rolled his eyes. "I knew that. I meant, who's going to dance with Sashi?"

"I don't know."

Boone's mouth hung open. "What? We need at plan, here!"

Penn darted his eyes around. "You know what? Let's just go spy on the robot."

"But first," Boone interrupted, "You won't believe the random picture I got."

One look into Boone's camera was enough to send Penn into a laughing fit. "Perfect timing, Boone. Perfect timing."

Rippen suspended in midair, his arms waving above his head, in the middle of announcing his triumph. Perfect indeed.

"Boone," Penn said, fist-bumping Boone, "You have a gift."

"So, you know where the robot's staying?" Boone said awkwardly.

"Nope."

…

"Boone, I don't get it. I just don't get it. How is it that you got that girl's number and not me?" Penn groaned, crouching behind a potted plant. Boone shushed him. He was standing in front of the robot's door, camera in hand.

"Dude, who's the one in a janitor's uniform?" Penn looked down at his clothes. Great. He forgot to change.

"Shh! She's coming out!"

The robot was slowly opening the door. She was wearing a tank top and jeans, and holding a can of oil to her mouth. Well, robots need to live.

"A reporter!" She warbled. Her speech was slow and warped, like a bad digital recording. She looked left and right before taking another hesitant step, her foot poised in midair before coming down.

Boone pretended to snap a picture of her, and she instinctively posed. Behind her, Penn sneaked into her room.

It was fairly standard, with a mirror cabinet, a bed, a chair beside a desk, and a computer on the desk. He went for the computer. As soon as he started it, it asked him for a password. He racked his brain for something that Rippen would use as a password.

Rippen. Beep. Nope.

Larry. Beep.

School. Beep.

Art. Beep.

Mentally he wanted the computer to quiet down. He looked over his shoulder, and realized with horror that he forgot to close the door. Boone was waving at his wildly to get out of there. In a last frantic attempt, he typed in his own name.

Penn Zero. Ding.

The robot was walking back into the room.

He dived out of the way and under the bed. She immediately sat down at the computer and inserted a disk from the shelf. The computer whirled, and she stuck her finger into the usb port. A file popped up onscreen, and Penn realized that it was the programming for the dance routine. He squinted at a name on the file. Larry? Larry was going to dance with her?

As he inched forward, he prayed that he wouldn't accidentally hit anything. Surprisingly, he made it past her without the robot noticing him.

As he regrouped with Boone outside, he told him what he had seen.

Boone nodded in an uncharacteristically solemn way. "Sashi still needs a partner."

…

He spotted Sashi on a bench as he was walking back to the room. He nodded at Boone quickly and raced over to her.

"Sashi! Sashi!"

She looked over at him, but her face was devoid of emotion.

"Sashi, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Penn," she said, her accent thicker than usual.

Penn stopped in his tracks. "There's something wrong. Spill it."

She sighed. "Fine. I can't dance."

"That it?"

"That's it."

Penn shook his head. "Come on! Where's the brave and fearless Sashi I know?"

"In an alternate dimension. Working at Fish Stick on a Stick."

"Sash, come on! We have until tomorrow to figure this out."

Finally, Sashi smiled. "We?"

Penn immediately clammed up.

"You said we. That means I have a dance partner, right?" She teased lightly, but the strain in her voice was acute.

Penn groaned inwardly. "Curse you and your AP classes."

"Precisely."