Chapter 11

"Hey, Marcus." Lorraine caught his arm as he glided past the library, and he spun to a halt, turning to face her.

"Morning, Lorraine."

"Where were you last night? We missed you at training."

"Oh, I... was busy."

"Corrine was afraid you'd cry off, after Sunday."

"She was?" he looked guilty.

"I think Briana said something to her about Sunday... she seemed disappointed."

"I doubt it... probably relieved."

"Was she that bad a date?"

"It wasn't a date!" he snapped back, a little vehemently, then remembered where he was from the stares they were getting. "Sorry... I... I didn't know anything about it until I dropped Briana and Elspeth off."

"Didn't know anything about what?"

"The whole date... set up... thing."

"You're upset, aren't you?"

"I wish they'd told me, I'd have known what to expect. I'd have acted appropriately."

"Well, Corrine didn't seem upset about Sunday, just that you weren't there yesterday."

"Well, that's something."

"So will you be there on Sunday?" Corinne's voice sounded behind him, and he whipped round, almost hitting Lorraine with his rucksack.

"Um... I... I don't... I'm not sure. Yet."

"Look, Marcus..." she leant in, pinning him in the corner, and watched him tense up. "Sorry." She backed off a bit. "Marcus... I liked you, and if this was after Sunday night, I'd be expecting you to kiss me good night and ask for my number.

You didn't, I figured it didn't work out, and I would have gone on my way. This whole thing is just weird, though... it didn't work, so it didn't work. Get on with life, OK. You haven't upset me, but you will if you keep avoiding me. I need help with that circle kick, OK?" All he could manage was a nod, and then she continued on her way while Lorraine stood awkwardly by.

"Sorry about that, I promised I'd help her keep you here long enough for her to tell you."

"That's OK." He assured her, calming his breathing, slowly. "See, this is why I don't date."

"Why? By all accounts you didn't do too badly on Sunday. I'd have been a wreck, I wouldn't have said a word."

"With Corrine? You and..."

"Marcus!"

"Damn..." he turned to slouch off and she grabbed his arm.

"Hey... it's just... I'm not like that, OK. Guys only... Briana and Shawna have given you some strange ideas. At least Elspeth's made up her mind."

"About Briana?"

"About boys or girls..."

"Oh."

"It really is confusing for you, isn't it?" He nodded. "I wish I could be like you, just accept that I'm not cut out for it."

"Tony?"

"If this is so confusing to you how come you worked that one out?" she asked, with a frown.

"I didn't. Shawna and Hope were talking about how cute you were mooning around after him."

"Yeah, well... it probably is to them."

"You don't have my problems, why don't you just ask him?"

"Me? Come on, Marcus, he is so far out of my league?"

"Why? You're smart, you're pretty, you carry yourself well, you don't dress like a tart like a lot of the girls do. And you're studying some of the same subjects as he is, so you've got at least something in common in terms of thinking patterns and interests."

"It's just like a big jigsaw puzzle to you, isn't it?"

"I suppose."

"Look, Tony's... he's just from a different crowd, you know."

"Really? You both know me, Hope, Shawna, Elspeth, Briana... that's a crowd."

"Well, not... I mean..."

"Why don't you just talk to him when you're round between hockey and choir practice?"

"I can't think of anything to talk to him about."

"Well, if you don't have anything to talk about... why do you want to go out with him at all?"

"I..." she paused, leaning up against the wall. "You know, I've never even thought of that..." Marcus could only shrug at that. "I... he's attractive."

"So keep just looking at him, if that's what you like."

"I want to get to know more about him, though."

"Well, that requires you to talk to him... start with schoolwork, at least then you know you'll be on common ground."

"Schoolwork... do you think he'd go for that?"

"Well... Tony's not been dating for a while, and I get the feeling that's unusual."

"You think he might be desperate enough to go for even me?" she giggled.

"Um... that's not what I meant." He said, missing the joke completely. "He's looking for something different to what he was looking for before... he was saying that all the girls he's met lately just want to get sizzled and fall down on someone else's bed."

"Well, that's definitely not me." She confirmed, with a smile.

"Um... are you looking for something else from me?"

"Sorry, am I keeping you from something?"

"No, it's just... I didn't know if you were expecting something more."

"No..."

"OK, bye." He disappeared off into the crowd, leaving her more than a little confused.

"Tony!" Marcus called, opening up the door to find Lorraine stood there.

"You should have waited until I'd said why I was here." She pointed out with a smile.

"Oh, are you here to see me?"

"No."

"OK..." He stepped out of her way as Tony appeared from the kitchen.

"Lorraine, Hi... if you're looking for the girls they're still at hockey practice." He pointed out, finishing off drying his hands

"Um... actually I came looking for you."

"Oh, OK. What can I do for you?"

"I wondered if you'd give me a hand with this Young's Modulus derivation we got in Materials Tech." She swung her bag over her shoulder to show him the folders jutting out.

"Uh, sure... but..."

"It's OK, Tony, I'll cook." Marcus offered, taking the tea-towel off Tony's shoulder as he passed.

"You cook?" Lorraine seemed surprised.

"No, we just leave the food out until it evolves into something edible, but we call it 'cooking' to confuse the Environmental Health people." Tony grinned

"Uh-huh... I wonder why they come around here. I don't think I've seen them over at the dorms."

"They're scared to go there, that's why." He beckoned her through towards his room and she hesitated, briefly.

"I'm sorry... I didn't think..." he said, realising. "Just... take a seat at the kitchen table, and I'll be in in a minute."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to accuse you of anything." She blurted as he stepped away, and he turned with a grin as he walked backwards.

"Hey, this way I can still cook and Marcus has to get the dishes." He pointed out with a smile, and then he was gone.

"This was a great idea, thanks Marcus." She blurted as she stepped into the small kitchen, seating herself at the table.

"What's a great idea?" Briana asked, as the hockey crew tumbled into the small room with Hope and Shawna in tow.

"Spaghetti." Marcus lied, instantly. Shawna caught it, but the others took him at his word.

"You're staying for dinner?" Tony asked, coming back.

"I thought I'd put on extra," Marcus pointed out, "I didn't know how long you'd take."

"Good thinking, Batman. I'll take over, seeing as I'm here... you don't get out of the dishes that easily."

"OK." Marcus ushered the others out into the sitting area, where they quickly rounded on him with hushed whispers.

"So, what's going on?"

"Young's Modulus, apparently." He told them, moving to sit down.

"Riiiight." Briana seemed unconvinced.

"She's only just got here." He pointed out, sitting down. "How was hockey?"

"The Scotland coach was there to have a look at us." Elspeth enthused.

"Well, at Briana, really." Corrine corrected. They were interrupted, briefly, when the girls stopped to listen to Lorraine's giggled drifting out of the kitchen.

"Young's Modulus, huh? What's the punch-line to that one?" Briana wondered.

"It's just a stress strain measure to classify material elasticity." Marcus explained, getting a few stares.

"I thought you were the computer geek?" Hope put in.

"Sorry?"

"Where did you start getting into the science stuff?" Elspeth clarified.

"Oh, it's Engineering. I was bored one weekend, I read Tony's course materials."

"One weekend?" Briana asked. "Which weekend."

"Um... September 23rd and 24th."

"That was two months ago, Marcus." Corrine pointed out. "How the hell do you remember this shit?" He just shrugged.

"Remind me to call on you next time the student union has a quiz night." Briana said, and then they stopped to listen to another giggle.

"If that's engineering homework I'm an orang-utan." Corinne chuckled, and Shawna got to her feet to go and investigate, only to find Marcus stood in her way.

"I'm just going to..."

"No." She stopped, surprised.

"Marcus."

"No, leave them alone. If they wanted to do this in public they'd be out here where you could all watch."

"Yeah, but we want to know." Elspeth pointed out.

"Then ask, later. Lorraine's nervous about this already."

"It's not like you to notice that sort of thing." Hope pointed out.

"I didn't, she came and talked to me."

"About Tony?"

"Among other things."

"She spoke to me, as well." Briana noted.

"She's an engineer — research, calculate, hypothesis, formulate and then act."

"Sounds far too much like maths to me." Elspeth put in, rising to her feet and grabbing her hockey bag. "Well if the Guardian of the Portal here won't let us eavesdrop, I'm going to head back and grab a shower."

"Sounds like a good idea." Briana joined her, and they quickly packed up ready to go. Marcus held the door for them, and Shawna trailed behind the others a little.

"Lorraine came to talk to you?" he nodded. "See, you said you'd loosen up this year, and people are coming to you for help, they trust you Marcus. You made it, they see you as safe."