Disclaimer: I own nothing

Mattie looked at the time in the bottom right corner of her computer screen. 11:52. She could do this. She had a whole eight minutes. She would turn this assignment in with minutes to spare. She just needed to take a quick screencap, type up a few sentences and then-

The web page refreshed automatically and the campus security site loaded instead.

'The web page you are looking for had been blocked. A notification has been sent to the Vice Chancellor for further investigation.'

"No!" Mattie yelled. She had been certain that her computer wasn't actually connected to the campus wifi and instead was connected to her phone's hotspot.

Well, it had been at one point. But her phone had just died and her computer automatically connected to the campus wifi.

"What the hell are you yelling about?"

Mattie glanced up at her roommate. Niska…something. She never gave out her last name and Mattie didn't care enough to ask. She was standing in front of the mirror putting on lipstick for whatever nocturnal activities she had planned. "It's nothing, just an assignment." Mattie said, trying to think if she could still salvage this assignment.

"Which class?"

Mattie looked up from plugging her phone in. She still had five minutes. She could do this. But why was Niska talking to her? Out of the two weeks they had been rooming together, she had barely introduced herself. "Technology One with Hobb."

Niska actually winced. "Beginning tech course for you first years, right? I took that class. Hobb's a bastard and will fail half the class just because he feels like it."

Mattie's heart dropped. Yes, she had heard rumors about the ruthlessness of Hobb and even noticed it the few times she had class with him. But to hear someone speaking from experience? She looked down at the time. Three more minutes. "Yeah, well, I plan on passing."

Niska scoffed. "Miss an assignment and your chances are slim."

Two minutes. Her phone had finally turned on. Mattie scrambled to get the hot spot going to at least turn in a screenshot of what she had found.

The screen reloaded to the page she wanted. She quickly took a screenshot and saved it. One minute left. All right, so she could just turn in the image then. It was something and then she could explain to him what happened. She went to the class website and clicked to upload the picture. But instead of taking her to choose her document screen, it kicked her off the site, saying her session had expired.

Mattie groaned and Niska laughed. She quickly typed in her login information, but by the time she made it back to the uploading page, it was 12:01. The assignment portal had been closed and she had turned in nothing.

Her head fell to her desk and she let out a pitiful moan, not caring that Niska was still in the room.

"Maybe if you're nice, the TA will work with you. But I know for a fact that he's a tight ass, so good luck." Niska said before leaving Mattie alone in their room.

Mattie picked at the salad she had grabbed from the cafeteria. The actual meal was some kind of curry, but Mattie knew it wasn't supposed to smell like that and going by the other students plates of salads or soups, everyone else knew it too. She sat in the back corner by the exit, not feeling up to socializing.

She had a class with Hobb this morning and she stayed afterwards to try and explain what happened with her assignment.

"Did you turn it in?" Hobb interrupted her not even halfway through her explanation.

"Well, no, I didn't. But it was-"

Hobb gathered up his books and papers in his arms. "Then I don't care. Zero."

"But Professor-!"

Hobb was already walking to the door. "You want to argue, take it up with the TA."

She had spent the rest of her morning trying to figure out how to contact the TA. The syllabus had his name and email on the front page. Leo Elster. But honestly, who checked their emails?

Mattie checked all social media sites for him, but found nothing. Not even a picture he had been tagged in on facebook or a board he liked on pinterest. Leo Elster was no where on social media.

So she had resigned herself to sending him an email and praying he'd read it at least before the end of the week. After doing that, she had went down to the cafeteria, wanting to kill time before she went to her next class.

"Hello. Mind if I sit here?"

Mattie looked up. A tall guy with dark skin stared down at her with vivid green eyes. He smiled at her, not showing his teeth. She sighed. She really wanted to tell him no, but he looked familiar. Did they have a class together? "Yeah, sure." she mumbled, gesturing to the open seat in front of her.

His smile grew, but still he showed no teeth. Then she saw, no it was more smelled, what he had grabbed for lunch. The curry. He was one of the brave few souls who dared to eat it.

"I'm Mattie."

He nodded. "I know, we have a class together and I'm oddly good at remembering my classmates names."

Now Mattie felt bad. Of course he remembered her name. She couldn't even remember what class they had together.

"I'm Max. We have Intro to Dicken's Literature together."

Oh yeah. The class she knew she was going to fail the moment the syllabus was handed out. Give her a computer and she could do wonders. Hand her a book that was written hundreds of years ago and she became a neanderthal. Mattie tried picturing the classroom. She sat in the back corner with the other non-literature people and slackers.

And she could see Max sitting in the front center row, pen and paper for note taking instead of a computer.

"Okay, now I remember. How're you liking the class?"

"Oh, I like it very much," he said around a mouthful of the curry. He swallowed. No cringing. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it smelled? "I would've preferred taking a class on Tolstoy, but that one filled up pretty quickly."

Mattie couldn't imagine why. "So you're good with words."

Max shrugged. "I guess you could say that. What's your expertise?"

"Computers, coding, and technology."

"So you're taking Hobb?"

"Yeah."

Max smiled again. "My sister and brother took his class. They say it's hard, but they both managed to pass."

Mattie sighed. "Think they can share their secret? My roommate took him and she basically said half the class will fail."

"Turn in everything on time and you'll be fine."

Mattie groaned.

Max winced. "I'm guessing you already missed one?"

"It wasn't my fault." she mumbled.

Max laughed. "Have you talked to his TA?"

"I emailed him. We'll see if he actually checks it."

Max was about to say something, but Mattie looked up at the clock and jumped. "Damn. I'm going to be late if I don't leave. It was nice talking to you, Max. See you around?"

Mattie didn't wait for his response, dumping her plate of half eaten salad in the trash and running to her next class.

She made it a minute before the class started. She settled in a table in the back corner and set up her computer for notes. As soon as the teacher began lecturing, a small pop-up came on her computer. Leo had responded. She tuned the teacher out while reading the email.

Show me what you had.

And that was it.

After Mattie had spent nearly half an hour, trying to find the right words and writing up a full three paragraphs of her explanation for why she didn't turn in the assignment. He just sent five words.

Well, at least there was a chance she could still get some credit for this assignment.

Mattie was working in a small café, Hooley's, off campus. After classes, she went back to her room to see Niska passed out. Mattie was courteous enough to do her homework elsewhere. Besides, she knew as soon as Niska woke up, she would probably have more comments about Hobb's class and that she should just give up because she was going to fail. Mattie honestly didn't want to hear that right now.

The café was half empty when she came in and after spending three hours there, it had emptied out completely. Except for Mattie of course. She honestly couldn't understand why it was dead. It had a nice view of the city, the food wasn't all that bad, and the only waitress there was really nice.

Maybe it was the fact that they didn't have wifi that deterred other students from coming.

Mattie was using her phone's wifi again. For what she was trying to do, it would probably be more secure.

"So are you in your first year?"

Mattie looked up. It was the waitress. She was cleaning a table next to her. "Oh, um, yeah. Just started about two weeks ago at the school down the road. How'd you know?"

The woman smiled. "You actually came to this place. Most of the upperclassmen already know we don't have any wifi, so they don't even bother."

Mattie nodded in understanding. "I did almost leave because of that, but I'm just using my phone's wifi now."

"I'm Mia, by the way."

"Mattie. Well, Matilda, but I prefer Mattie."

"Well Mattie, I hope you continue coming around this place. I've been talking with Ed, the owner, trying to convince him to get wifi. But your business is very much appreciated."

Mattie gave a small nod and Mia walked away to clean another table at the other end of the café. That would have to be her last distraction before turning in this assignment.

Mattie stayed at Hooley's until closing time, trying to recreate the webpage from last night. But it was a long process and her phone was going to die soon. She went back to her room and found it empty.

She made sure to plug in her phone this time and pushed away the small guilt building in her at being glad Niska wasn't here. She worked at her computer for a few more hours before finally coming back to that webpage from the night before. She quickly took the screenshot, typed up her few sentences and sent it to Leo.

She shut her computer and let her shoulders slump in relief. It was after one and she had early classes tomorrow. Her hair felt greasy, but she was honestly too tired and stressed to even think about showering. She barely managed to find the energy to brush her teeth before collapsing in bed.

Before going to sleep, she checked her phone for any last minute messages. Her mum had texted her, making sure she was enjoying uni and eating good food. And she had an email from Leo, a reply to her late assignment.

We need to discuss what you turned in.

Mattie groaned and locked her phone. She knew she had turned in something risky, but she thought that maybe with her explanation, it would be okay. Apparently not.

Mattie had agreed to meet Leo at Hooley's after her last class at two. She figured it was because he wanted to talk about it without any prying ears. Mattie walked with her head held high. She refused to think about the possible consequences of this assignment.

From outside the café, she could see that there was only one person in there. Young, dark hair, stubble, hunched over a bowl of soup. It had to be Leo Elster. She took a deep breath and walked in straight to his table.

He glanced up when he heard her and gestured to the empty seat in front of her.

"So you're Leo Elster. Nice to finally meet you." Mattie started.

He actually grunted. Grunted. "Explain to me what you turned in."

Right. Skipping straight past formalities. Mattie glanced up at the counter and saw Mia come out of the kitchen. They made eye contact and Mia's face lit up inexplicably before turning back around and going into the kitchen. "Well, it was a screenshot of Parliament's payroll."

Leo pushed his bowl of half-eaten soup away and sat up a little, but still managing to stay hunched over. "I realize that. What I want to know is how you managed to get access that information."

Mattie pursed her lips. "Well, that's classified information, don't you think?"

"Yet you, a first year, managed to access it."

Mattie rolled her eyes. "Look, all I was trying to do was-"

"Would either of you like a drink? We have some fresh tea on the stove."

Mattie looked up at Mia who wore an eager smile as she looked between Mattie and Leo. Before Mattie could respond, Leo did. "No, Mia. Thanks."

Mia's smile fell as she looked at Leo's bowl. "Are you finished with that?"

"Yeah."

Mia narrowed her eyes. "No, you're not. You better finish the whole thing."

"You're not my mother." Leo grumbled just as Mia was walking away. But she heard him and Mattie caught the death glare she sent his way.

Mattie frowned. Well that was…interesting.

"So how did you do it?"

And Leo had moved past that situation as if it was perfectly normal.

Mattie shrugged. "I found a flaw in their code."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "And?"

She shrugged again. "And…I used it to my advantage, threw in my own codes, bypassed firewalls until I found that page. I did it to prove the point that no matter how high the security is, it can always be bypassed if you just know where to find the flaws."

Leo leaned back in his chair. "That's…actually impressive."

Mattie could feel a slight weight lifting off her chest. "Really?"

Leo nodded. "Still an F though."

She blinked. "Why?"

"It's late work. Hobb automatically fails any late work."

"But how many other students have you had turn in something like this?!" Mattie exclaimed.

"None. But it doesn't change the fact that it's late."

"That isn't fair!"

His eyes darkened at those words. "No, it isn't. But this is the real world. Get used to it."

Mattie rolled her eyes. "Alright, will you at least tell me how this will affect my grade?"

"I would suggest finding extra credit work if you want to pass."

Mattie scoffed. "Are you serious?"

Leo just nodded.

Mattie huffed before gathering her things and leaving the café.

As she headed back to campus, she turned around and saw Mia standing in front of Leo with her arms crossed. It looked like she was berating him and he was actually listening to her?

Mattie went straight to her room. She didn't care if Niska was there, she just really wanted to be away from people and the only place she could hope to do that was in her room.

Thankfully, the room was empty.

Mattie let her backpack fall to the floor as she fell back on her bed. She told herself she could take just a few moments to reorganize her mind and then she would get to work on homework for her other classes.

But when she opened her eyes, it was much darker in the room and Niska was there with another guy. Mattie groaned, knowing she had just wasted two hours with an unscheduled nap.

"It lives." Niska teased.

"Niska, be nice. You aright?"

Mattie looked up at the guy. Dark skin, even darker eyes, and basically the complete opposite of Niska. "Yeah, just…didn't expect to fall asleep."

"I'm Fred, Niska's brother."

"Mattie," Mattie was grateful her mind decided not to ask the obvious question of how they could be siblings when they looked nothing alike. Adoption, Mattie. Obviously. "So are you the brother that took Hobb's class?"

Fred snorted. "God no. I can't stand computers. No, I graduated with a degree in agriculture."

"You have to understand, he was dubbed the boring one." Niska threw in.

Fred rolled his eyes. "When the world runs out of fresh fruits and vegetables, don't complain to me. I, at least, am trying to help prevent that."

Niska just shook her head. "Whatever. You ready to go?" she asked Fred as she grabbed her purse and checked her reflection once more.

Fred nodded, standing up from his chair. "Would you like to join us? I know how hard it can be, making friends here the first month. We're meeting up with our other siblings to go eat."

Mattie wanted to say yes, if only to annoy Niska. But she still had homework. "Thanks, but I've got work I need to catch up on."

Fred shrugged. "You're always welcome to join us then."

"Come on, Fred." Niska said, already out in the hall and waiting for him to leave.

Mattie waved at him as he left. Even if they were biologically related, Mattie would still have to question how they could be siblings. Fred was much nicer than Niska.

She pushed those thoughts away as she pulled out her computer. Time to analyze the first chapter of Oliver Twist.

A/N: Bear with me guys, I have no idea how colleges/universities work across the pond and I'm using the power of google to figure it out. But, other than that, thoughts, comments, critiques?