The days quickly fell into a routine.
Everyone else gave up after the first couple of weeks, but not Annie. Annie wouldn't ever give up until she had the answer. Until she had her suspicions confirmed. Vy and Dee were up to something. The three sat together. Vy and Dee next to each other. Annie alternating between the other sides of Vy and Dee. Always staring at the two. Throwing the question at every opportunity. It had become their thing.
Vy was studying. No one doubted his intelligence. Many were convinced he was the brainiest in all of the class. The evidence - his average grades despite his absolute refusal to study and even sit in the exams with any seriousness. And so, it was very surprising to see the boy who was extremely vocal about his absence of interest actually studying so hard. He was always with a book open in front of him. And not faking. Because his eyes darted at varying speeds, his lips moved like he was reading soundlessly, his ears shut out all sound. He didn't even listen to the professors, who didn't seem to notice probably due to the seriousness with which he was staring into his book. And then, his notebook came out too. And that was the greatest evidence. He was drawing flowcharts and writing code.
As if that wasn't surprising enough, Dee was studying with Vy. He was sharing his notes, explaining what he wrote. And she was listening with all seriousness. She had a lot of doubts. All of which he cleared patiently. And while they studied, their faces were glowing, their eyes were glittering and their smiles were blinding.
"What are you guys doing, like really?" Annie asked when she had had enough.
She gathered from the bits she heard that Vy was writing an algorithm, and he was explaining it to Dee. But what was it all about?
"The project," Dee answered.
"We're writing our own replicating program," Vy added.
Annie nodded. But she didn't understand. And she didn't care. She was happy to bask in the warmth of the joy of her two dear friends. Dee had been her best friend since the start of college. Now, Vy was too. Annie liked having the brainiest boy in class as her best friend. It sure was something she could boast about, wasn't it?
Vy was so absorbed, he completely forgot what was most important. Li. Dee wasn't very different either. Only, she caught Li looking at them strangely. And it was as if she was struck by lightning.
"Are you kidding me," she wondered aloud.
"What do you mean?" Vy asked, having heard her.
"Nothing," she said to him. "Yet," she added much quieter.
He nodded, and continued writing. He hadn't actually even looked away from the notebook. She smiled at him fondly. She had always known he was a nerd deep down. He couldn't not be, being so brainy. Looking at his deeply hidden self revealed, she felt he was a lot more like a sweet dork.
She let him be absorbed in his head and in the program. And took it upon herself to keep up the surveillance. She couldn't honestly say she wasn't affected by what she saw.
It had been long enough for Vy's absence to be filled. The gang at the back, as she called them, and who Vy was once an integral member of, was laughing and talking and entirely themselves. Occasionally curious stares, and rarely glares, came at Vy, but he was blind to them all. Mostly, it was Li. It felt like Li was following them. Whenever Vy and Dee were talking, and their heads came close, Li was looking. When Vy and Dee walked out, Li's eyes followed. When Vy and Dee were walking the hallways, talking and laughing, and their hands found each other, Li glared. And with each passing day, Li was staring and glaring for longer. Until finally, Dee had evidence enough to tell Vy.
"Remember your story? Tell me what happens next," she asked suddenly.
Vy was thinking about a control structure, when the question blasted him out.
"What?" He asked.
Dee repeated herself. He gave her a strange look. She was unfazed. He sighed, and answered.
"Late into the semester, the fourth, Li gives me a call. Asks to meet. We need to talk she says. Of course, I jump with joy. I rush over. We meet at the pool bar in Fyne's tower. We don't play pool that evening. We sit at a table. Two sodas between us. She complains first. About me having sent the message. And putting the idea in her head. She had been troubled ever since. But I am all happy. With my new friends. That's you and Annie, by the way. I tell her that's not it. She won't believe. So, I tell her there was nothing else I could do. She didn't want to talk to me. She wanted me to stay away. That was what I did. Then she asks a lot of questions about why I sent the message. About how I feel. You know, that sort of thing. In the end, she confesses. She started to like me too. She asks me out. And we're a couple."
Dee heard to the end, and her first question was entirely unexpected.
"So, you told me the story and asked me for help, because I was the new friend in the story?"
Vy was stunned. He needed a whole minute to form the reply.
"Seriously? That is all you got from what I said? You're retarded."
Dee glared at him.
"I'm so retarded, I noticed that Li has been staring at us, longer everyday. Guess the story truly is inevitable."
"Really?" Vy asked.
An answer wasn't necessary. He didn't doubt her. She saw that in his eyes. Oddly, they felt at ease with the understanding.
"Guess I really need your help," he said after a while.
"What do you mean?" She asked, a little curious and a little hesitant.
"We must fight the story. We must make it seem like we're going out. Like we're a couple."
"Are you serious? You want us to lie?"
"By the teeth."
"And you think it will help?"
"Wasn't it you who said we have to do nothing and Li will find Ash? This will help keep her away from us."
"I hope this works."
His eyes thanked her. Her smile demanded a treat. Their clasped hands evidenced the promise.