#73 Annoyance

William drummed his fingers against the top of the desk. While the other students (and even Mrs. Hertz herself) had seemed to tune out the soft patters and taps, Ulrich found that he simply could not.

Slowly, he turned around to glare at William. "Can you cut that out?"

William smiled. "Sure thing, Ulrich," he said as his fingers came to a halt. Ulrich sighed in content and turned around to face the front. Only to find an irate hertz staring icily in front of him and William thwacking his pencil against the side of the desk behind him.

Ulrich huffed and pretended to work, listening to the sound of the pencil growing louder and louder and louder…and in some sort of pattern? Rhythmic, steady, captivating… hypnotizing.

Ulrich's eyes, which had been growing heavy, shot open and he quickly turned around. "You're not in this class!"

William's twisted smirk was not his own and XANA's symbol flashed in his eyes. He reached forward towards Ulrich, slowly, deliberately…

…and then Ulrich woke up. Odd was across the room, snoring loudly. Not that it bothered him anymore.

And William was in the supercomputer, doing…whatever he did when he wasn't trying to ruin everything. William was in the super computer. Alone. At the mercy of a program.

Not that it bothered him anymore.

(Or at least it didn't when it wasn't just him, his thoughts, and the bright moon).