A/N: By now you know the drill—Still playing in the toy. I hope everyone's enjoying it so far ^_^

Chapter 8

Harper woke up to find the house a heck of alot quieter, and North By North-West was on instead of A Philidelphia Story.

Must be a Cary Grant day, she thought, which didn't bother her at all since he was one of her favorite actors. Not that she could stick around to enjoy it, she had stuff to do.

A grunt of irritation came from near her feet and Harper moved enough to see Atlanta leaning over a shoebox diorama with an unhappy expression. Biting back a laugh, Harper pushed herself up from the armrest she'd fallen asleep on.

"Sounds like Miss Clio's Literature class," she said with a smirk.

The girl on the second sofa jumped in surprise, then laughed. "Yeah," she said with a groan. "How'd you guess?"

"Only one teacher I've ever had who still gives assignments to make dioramas," Harper said with a shrug and a smile. "I had her for Freshman year. Romeo and Juliet."

"Lucky," Atlanta grumbled, turning her attention back to the diorama. "We have to work on Hamlet."

"Ick!" Harper said, making a face. "Well that's what happens when the Muse of history takes over literature classes."

"What?" Atlanta asked, looking up with wide eyes

"Want any help?" Harper asked, scooting down the couch to see the diorama better.

"Sure, it's not like you could make this worse than it is," Atlanta said, sliding the pitiful display across the coffee table.

"You got that right—no offense," Harper said, smiling sheepishly.

"None taken," Atlanta promised with a laugh.

Harper looked over the scene slowly. "Alas poor Yorik, I knew him well, Horatio," she sighed, falling back into the sofa cushions. "A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy—he hath borne me on his back a thousand times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is!—wow you've got one very dismal scene on your hands."

Atlanta, though, was staring at her. "You have Hamlet memorized?"

Harper blinked at the redhead for a moment, then blushed and bit her bottom lip lightly. "My friend hated Hamlet," she said meekly. "So the rest of us auditioned for the play when it came around."

"Oh," Atlanta said and laughed. "Cool! Did you get a part?"

A mischievous smirk came to Harper's face. "Four of us did, yeah. Me, Tyson, AJ and Pierce. I don't think Miss Melpomene ever wanted to see me again."

"What part did you get?" Atlanta asked.

The blush returned to Harper's cheeks and she raised an eyebrow at Atlanta. "I don't see how that's going to help the diorama," she said, turning back to the shoebox with a thoughtful expression. "What time period are you setting this in?"

"We're supposed to choose a time period?" Atlanta asked in surprise.

Harper laughed, happy that Atlanta's attention had shifted.

...

"And then—Woah!"

Jay barely kept himself from colliding with Harper as he opened the door to the dorm. Behind him, Teresa stared in surprise over a small stack of folders.

"Hey, Harper," Teresa said.

"Sorry," the blonde said quickly, flashing a smile though she looked a little shaken by the surprise.

"Where are you going?" Teresa asked, smiling pleasantly and hoping that would be enough to hide the files.

"Oh—uh—nothing," Harper said, returning the smile. "Just going out for a run. Atlanta and I spent the past couple hours working on Hamlet."

"Oh yeah, Miss Clio's project," Teresa said, rolling her eyes.

"Mind if I join you?" Jay quipped quickly. "I've been inside all day, wouldn't mind stretching out my legs."

Both Teresa and Harper gave him questioning looks—he'd been in Ares' training session, hadn't he? Eventually Teresa rolled her eyes, sometimes the rate of his ideas would send her spinning. "Sounds like fun," she said. "I'd join, but I probably should get going on homework."

"Right," Harper said, her smile faltering for a split second. "Yeah, hurry up and change, then. I'd like to be back to help with dinner."

Jay nodded quickly and let Teresa enter the dorm first, watching as Harper sat on the concrete railing to wait.

"Now what are you thinking?" Teresa asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

"That if I get her alone maybe I can trick her into talking," Jay answered leading the way to the stairs. "Files can only get us so far."

Teresa rolled her eyes. "Have you ever thought that maybe she's not hiding anything?" she asked as they made it to the second floor. "That maybe her team was disassembled because it was a quick job?"

Jay glanced back at her, but continued up to the top floor which they now shared with Harper. "Well, if she is, then it's better to know anyway."

Teresa sighed and stopped at her own door as Jay disappeared into his room. Boys, she thought rolling her eyes. "Alright," she said, leaning against her door frame. "I guess this means that I get to look through these?"

"Sure," was Jay's muffled response, followed by a clearer, "Maybe Atlanta'll help you. She probably doesn't want to do anymore homework."

Knowing Atlanta, that was probably true. "Alright," Teresa said again. "But this is probably a wild goose chase."