~Chapter Twenty-Two~

College, at first, proved to be a big adjustment for Ada, Archimedes, and the Bensons. They were living on their own now as adults, though they weren't even eighteen yet. (Sometimes it felt like they'd never been children at all) However, their abnormally vast amount of knowledge, as usual, came to an advantage. While all their new friends were stressing over tests, projects, and homework, these four were finishing their assignments in half the time and moving on to the next level long before the professors were finished teaching the present one. When the teenagers weren't studying they were hanging out with each other or tutoring the other students.

But when the eldest came of age and had to leave the academically gifted semi-campus of Cyber University, her contact with the other three was dramatically reduced. Melissa Benson, now eighteen years old and residing in the semi campus for Juniors, was spending most of her spare time running experiments on her portals, and with great success. She now had successfully installed a portal-programming software onto her laptop and into special remote controls. Despite the advantage of portals, she still couldn't use them on campus due to the attention it would bring. Thus, she only used them for her weekend visits to her cybird friend in The Forest. The amount of money Melissa had received in scholarships made it possible for her to live in a private dorm, so she didn't have to worry about a roommate catching her. But the downside to that was that she was lonely, very lonely.

Other students liked her. In fact they liked her a lot, but none were so wrapped up in anything as much as she was with politics and technology, to the point it became intimidating and scared all away. All... except for one man that is. A man in Melissa's History III class. A cyborg of nineteen whom was also an early graduate.

His name was Antoine Alt Klemmons and he was a transfer student from a private university in Pompadoria. Antoine was wanted by every female cyborg in his classes. He was handsome, refined, intelligent, and anything else one would want in a man. But no matter how many beautiful women tried their luck with him, his thoughts were only on one woman. And they had been since day one. That woman was Melissa. Still, despite his great qualities, he was somewhat shy when it came to women. And the words from his male classmates didn't help much.

"Don't bother Antoine," said one guy, "I was in a summer course with her last semester. She doesn't even notice half of her classmates. She's too busy pouring over her books."

"She has her own posse," said a boy who had been in her sophomore French class, "They're still living in the academically gifted campus, but still she and the rest of them hardly associate with anyone else."

"You can smile at her from across the classroom all day," a girl with a crush on the boy whispered one day during the lecture, "Melissa won't notice you. Why not just try your dating luck with another girl?"

But everyday Antoine just became more intrigued by the girl. Every time she answered a question in class, it was with such eloquence that he couldn't help but sigh in amazement. His friends had to stifle their laughter. Little did any of them know Melissa Benson actually had noticed him. He had answered questions with just as much eloquence, in her opinion. But any type of romantic relationship was far from the eighteen-year-old girl's thoughts. All she ever thought about were her studies, her experiments, and her friends. Two months after the fall semester had begun, this was still going on.

But tonight, Melissa was putting her work aside. It was Halloween and there was a masked ball in Castleblanca. After much begging from Ada, she had decided to go. However, she had made Ada promise to quiz her on her computer skills during the drive.

"I honestly don't know why you feel the need to be quizzed on this," Ada said as Melissa started the cyber-coupe, "You and Marbles know computers better than anyone else."

"One can never be too certain Ada," Melissa answered.

"Alright," Ada sighed as she shuffled the flashcards and picked the first one, "Which part of the computer stores information while the computer is turned on?"

"The Random Access Memory," Melissa answered instantly, "Also known as the RAM."

"Correct." Ada took out another card and giggled slightly. "Who was the first computer programmer on Earth?"

Melissa smirked and rolled her eyes. "Lady Lovelace."

"I do believe its almost time for me to start going by 'Lady' as opposed to 'Miss,'" Ada said. Pulling out another flash card, she read, "What year was the floppy disk invented?"

"Earth year 1971," Melissa said, turning the direction of the cyber-coupe.

"A single-chip processor used for three dimensional functions," Ada read off another flash card.

"Graphics Processing Unit, also known as GPU."

"This carries out all functions of the computer."

"Central Processing Unit," Melissa answered automatically, "Also known as the CPU."

"A computer made for high-volume and processor intensive computing that can..."

"Mainframe," Melissa answered before Ada could even finish the definition.

"You're a mainframe you know that?" Ada joked.

The two girls laughed lightly at the joke and Ada continued quizzing her older friend. The quizzing lasted the entire drive to Castleblanca and Melissa quickly answered each question correctly while still keeping her eyes on her driving. As they neared the cybersite, Ada came to the last flashcard.

"The main circuit board of the computer, which connects all parts together. Is also known as the logic board," Ada read.

"That's too easy," Melissa said, "I don't know why I even bother to put that term in. Its the motherboard."

"That's what you are," Ada teased, "a motherboard."

"I thought I was a mainframe?" Melissa replied.

"I would say a motherboard is a better description of you," Ada said, "Its so much more feminine."

"Of course its more feminine," Melissa said, "It has the word 'mother' in it!"

"Exactly!" Ada said.

Melissa glanced over at her friend's 'state-the-obvious' remark and shook her head. "Well I don't understand what you mean by me being either a motherboard or a mainframe."

"Just your overall knowledge," Ada said, "You're more than just a walking encyclopedia. You're more like a walking computer!"

Melissa smiled at the compliment as she landed the cyber-coupe in the parking lot behind the castle holding the masked ball. "Thank you Ada. Now shall we go to this ball?"

"We shall," Ada said, mimicking an accent more high class than her real one, "Oh, 'tis a pity the boys couldn't join us!"

The girls put their masks on and went into the ballroom of the castle. They were the two loveliest female cyborgs there and had the most beautiful ball gowns and masks also.

Ada wore a short-sleeved pink floor length gown with frills bordering the hem, sleeves, and collar. The collar also was embroidered with gold lace. Ada's mask was light pink with gold embroidering the rim and eyes and various designs were painted across the mask using glittering gold paint. It covered the top part of her face, had dark pink feathers at the top of one corner, and was tied at the back with a pink silk ribbon. Ada's hair was tied up in her signature bun and she wore white heels.

Melissa wore an elegant, floor-length, cream colored dress with short sleeves and a vertical floral design from the hips down. Frills loosely hung from the sleeves and collar and she, as always, wore her silver locket. Melissa had on white wrist-length gloves with lace trimmings. Her perfectly curled hair fell down to her waist. As for her mask, it was of cream color and also covered only the top half of her face and was adorned with sequins.

"Welcome ladies," a gnome said as they entered the ballroom, "You both look enchanting."

"Thank you," the girls said simultaneously.

Meanwhile a group of three single boys from their university had also decided to go to the ball in hopes of finding a girl.

"Come on Antoine," a boy named Brian said as they all sat down at a cloth-covered table, "Just forget about the girl for tonight and find someone else."

"I can't," Antoine said, "I know I've never actually met Melissa, but I can tell there's just something about her that no other girl has."

"A brain?" a boy named Terrence suggested, "That's bad if they have a brain. Then they know if we're up to something!"

Terrence and Brian laughed until they realized the look their friend was giving them. "Antoine I was just kidding!" Terrence said.

Antoine rolled his eyes at his less mature friends, then noticed Ada and Melissa sitting at a table not too far from them. Even with her mask on, Antoine could tell who the girl in the cream-colored dress was.

"Brian! Terrence!" he exclaimed, "She's here!"

"Where?" Brian asked looking around the ballroom.

Melissa sat her tea down as she recognized a specific boy from a table nearby.

"What are you staring at Melissa?" Ada asked.

"I believe I see a boy from my History class over there," she answered.

Ada looked in the direction Melissa was staring. "Which one?"

"You see that boy in the black tuxedo and white mask?" she said gesturing head as it would be rude to point, "His name is Antoine. He's in my History class."

"Oh Melissa!" Ada said spotting the boy, "He is terribly handsome!"

Melissa smiled. She never had paid much attention to outer beauty. "Yes. He is handsome," she said plainly, "We've never actually talked, but based on the way he answers questions in class, he seems to be a very intelligent young man."

"Go talk to her Antoine!" Brian urged, "This is the perfect opportunity."

"Yeah," Terrence agreed, "Girls love it when a 'mysterious boy' asks to dance with them."

"I don't know..." Antoine said sheepishly.

"TALK TO HER!" both boys shouted loud enough for the table next to them to hear.

"Alright already!" Antoine said as he got up from his chair and walked over to Melissa and Ada's table.

"Oh Melissa," Ada said excitedly, "It looks like he is coming this way."

Antoine walked over formally and confidently before tripping over his own feet and causing his two friends to face palm.

"Are you alright, Antoine?" Melissa asked, offering a hand.

Antoine laughed awkwardly, a blush coming to his face. "I'm fine. I take it then that you recognize me, Melissa?"

"Of course," she said, "By the way, your presentation last week was very nice."

"Thanks," Antoine said, "Um, may I have this dance?"

Melissa smiled. "You may."

All the dance lessons Melissa had as a child were paying off tonight. She waltzed with such grace, it was as if she were a fairy. (Coincidently her name originates from a Greek mythological fairy). This gracefulness made Antoine all the more infatuated with her. Melissa also admired his dancing and suddenly began to feel as if she were in Heaven.

"You're a very good dancer," he said after about an hour.

"Thank you Antoine," Melissa answered blushing, "You're quite the dancer as well."

Antoine smiled. "You know I've been wanting to tell you for a while... You answer questions very... eloquently. You seem like a very bright young woman."

"I had just been telling Ada over there how intelligent you seem to be."

"Really?" he laughed nervously.

Melissa nodded.

"Well, I doubt I'm as intelligent as you are," he said, "That presentation you did on Solaria's economic collapse after the Great Cyber War? I learned so many new things that day! And you made it all so engaging."

"Thank you," Melissa said.

The two continued to dance the rest of the night. When the ball ended at midnight, they were the last cyborgs on the dance floor.

"Hey!" Brian shouted from the table causing the two to stop dancing, "Ball's over now Antoine. Let's go!"

The two looked around and realized only they and their friends were still in the ballroom. Even the small orchestra had stopped playing.

"Well," Antoine said, "Perhaps we can hang out sometime after class?"

"I would like that," Melissa said smiling, "I've been very lonely since coming to the Junior campus."

"Well, you can always hang out with me if you want to."

"WRAP IT UP!" Terrence shouted.

"Well... Good night," Melissa said.

"Good night Melissa," Antoine said and began to walk away but then turned back to her, "You look beautiful tonight by the way."

With that he quickly but politely walked away, nervous that the compliment might have been too much, while his dance partner for the night turned bright red. Melissa walked out of the ballroom, practically in a trance, and over to where her cyber-coupe was. Ada was waiting inside the coupe writing a poem about the ball.

"Well its about time you came out," Ada teased, "I would imagine your feet must be bleeding oil by now."

Melissa said nothing as she sat in the driver's seat, smiling dreamily.

"Hello! Cyberspace to Melissa!" Ada said waving her hand over her friend's face.

Still no response.

"Can you hear me, Melissa?"

But Melissa couldn't hear Ada. All she could pay attention to was the pulse of her H-drive racing in her chest.

Not too different from his original introduction but we'll see what happens as this rewrite progresses. Please, please, PLEASE review if you're enjoying. I haven't gotten any reviews here on ff and its gotten me really down.

See ya in Cyberspace!