Hey guys, will you look at that, two chapters in one month! I'm kind of proud with myself... Especially since I post a chapter in another story just before that one! You guys can ignore me and skip right ahead to the story, it's more interesting than me.

Friday morning found Spencer half-comatose, dragging his feet as he walked down the stairs. Still mostly sleeping, he missed a step and collided with the doorframe, slipping and falling on his ass, his breath knocked out of him. Fast steps were heard coming from the kitchen and through the living room until Joy appeared, worry clearly visible on her face.

"Spencer, are you okay?" She asked. "What happened to you?"

The teenager blinked rapidly, rubbing his eyes sleepily, before bringing his fingers to his forehead.

"Slipped. Got better acquainted with the door I guess."

Joy let out a relieved sigh; not as dramatic as she thought it would be.

"Alright, let me see."

Spencer was about to refuse when Joy sent him an annoyed glare. Feeling quite too much like a little kid to be entirely comfortable, Spencer stood up reluctantly and let the woman ran her fingers against his forehead. He hissed in pain as her fingers passed over a small red bump and applied a slight pressure.

"Clumsy child." She said exasperatedly, but somewhat fondly. "You'll live."
"I'm not a child." Spencer mumbled.
"Now, you listen to me mister. I don't care if you're six, sixteen or sixty-five years old; you'll always be someone's child. You get that?"
"Yes, I get it." He rolled his eyes.
"Good. Now, ice that and I'll drop you off at school today. My first lecture isn't until eleven."
"What about your office hours?"
"My students can wait ten minutes. It won't kill any of them. By the way, coffee's on the table and it's cavity inducing sweet."

Spencer smiled widely and practically ran to the kitchen. He took a sip of the hot beverage and moaned that was what heaven was like, he was sure.

"Alright, alright. Stop having sex with your coffee and come get breakfast." Joy teased, waving a box of cereals his way.

Spencer blushed dark red at his guardian's words. Stuff like that always made him blush.

"Do we have any Lucky Charms left?"
"Seriously? How are you not hyper? What are we going to do with that sweet tooth of yours? You'll end up full of cavities, kiddo."
"That's what toothbrushes are for." Spencer answered in all seriousness.
"Huh huh… Now ice that head of yours, before it swells up. There's a bag of peas in the freezer.

Spencer sighed in exasperation, but walked to the freezer and grabbed the bag of frozen vegetables before starting on his breakfast.

SRDM

The light blue car stopped in front of the high school; Spencer went to open the door when a hand landed on his arm.

"What?" He asked Joy.
"This is for you." She said, dropping something in his hand and wrapping his fingers around it.

Spencer frowned and opened his hand to find a brand new intelligent phone. "What?" He repeated.

"You need a phone, okay. Things like last night can't happen again. I need to know if you're staying out late… and I want to be able to call you if something happens on my side. You have friends, right? You'll want to talk to them, or text them or whatever you kids to these days." Joy said, uncomfortably.
"You didn't have to." Spencer sighed.
"I know. But humor me, alright. If it makes you feel better, think of it as sixteen years of belated birthday gifts." She almost pleaded.
"Alright, thanks."
"Good. Now have a good day and get yourself an education. Let me know if anything shows up."
"I will. See you tonight."

Spencer got out of the car and watched as the Beetle drove away. He started walking to his first class, trying to figure out this new phone. He wasn't all that good with electronics. He preferred by far tangible stuff: books, pen, blackboard, chalks. Old stuff. He was getting pretty annoyed with the phone, trying fruitlessly to save Joy's number in it when someone called his name. He turned around and looked up in time to see Penelope running toward him. She was dressed in a bright tie-dye tunic and a pair of black jeans. It was so utterly her that he couldn't help the smile curving on his lips. Anyone else would have probably looked ridiculous, but she could pull it off. She even looked radiant.

"Nice tunic." He said, pocketing his phone.

She beamed at him.

"Thanks! The guys usually call it a shirt… Nice to know not all males are devoid of fashion knowledge. No matter how many times I repeat it to Derek, he can't seem to remember."
"Yeah? Well, I like it."
"I did it myself, you know." She said proudly. "I like your vest."
"Really?" Spencer asked skeptically.
"Of course! I mean it's not what suits you the best, but it's really you!" She nodded frantically.

Spencer smiled Great minds think alike, he thought.

"Same thing for yours."
"I know, right? We're just awesome like that." She declared, linking her arm through his. "What were you looking at, just before?"
"New phone. Can't get it to work properly though." He whined
"Can I take a look?" She pleaded, curiosity slipping in her voice.
"Sure." He shrugged, taking his arm away from Penelope's and handing her the phone he grabbed from his pocket.
"Shiny!" She joked.

The joyful teenager rapidly became so engrossed in the phone that she forgot to pay attention to her surroundings and stopped looking at where she was going. Spencer rolled his eyes good-naturedly, more amused by her antics than anything else and made sure to guide her safely through the hallways, pulling and pushing at her arm when appropriate. They finally made it to their class, both in one piece. JJ was waiting for them.

"Hey, guys. What's going on?" JJ asked as Spencer pulled Penny out of the way.
"Got a new phone. Penny's playing with it."
"Pen, give Spencer his phone back, will ya?" She said, chuckling.
"But it's the latest model." She whined, making puppy eyes at her friend and acknowledging her presence for the first time. "And Spencer doesn't mind, right?" She finished, slightly unsure.
"Not at all."

Penelope smiled brightly at him, but gave him back the phone anyway.

"There you go. We have class after all… But if you want, I'll show you were to find everything later."
"Yes!" Spencer quickly agreed, not caring how desperate he sounded at all. What was wrong with letters or landlines?

The two girls laughed softly and Penny linked her arm through his once more as they walked inside the class. It took all of two seconds to Spencer to notice the jerseys and the loud and playful atmosphere. He turned back to JJ to check and sure enough, she was wearing her cheerleader uniform. How had he missed that before? The cheerleader took one look at his face and smiled.

"It's game day and we play at home."
"Huh…" Spencer hummed noncommittally.

Penelope was about to say something when the teacher walked in, demanding their undivided attention. But by lunch time, all of his new friends had found a way to ask him to come to the game. All except Derek whom he still had to see. Every time he replied in the same way, vaguely; not accepting, but not quite declining either. Spencer and Emily were the only two buying lunch and they walked back to their table, Spencer spotted Derek easily enough. He was wearing his football jersey, talking to some guys that were on the team with him. Spencer only looked away when Emily tugged at his sleeve. The dark haired teenager wore a smirk on her black painted lips.

"I know he looks good enough to eat, but I was talking to you."

Spencer turned dark red and stammered some answer. Emily's expression melted into a fond one and she smiled softly at him.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Come on you! I'm starving!"

Spencer nodded absentmindedly and followed her, sitting down. Could it be true? Could he really like Derek that way? Last time he had a crush it hadn't ended well… And because Spencer was Spencer, he made a list.

1. Derek made him blush for no reason at all.
2. Derek made him feel even more shy than usual.
3. Every time Derek touched him, his skin was on fire and his stomach dropped, filling with butterflies.

Spencer closed his eyes, groaned and let his head hit the table, attracting the attention of his friends. There was a possibility he had a crush at Derek. A crush! What was he supposed to do with a crush? Spencer raised his head to look at his friends.

"I'm fine, all's good." He mumbled, trying to ignore Emily's knowing smirk and amusement.

He was about to put his head back on the table when a hand dropped on his shoulder, making his skin tingle. He looked up again and sure enough, Derek was there, standing over him and smiling down at him.

"Hey pretty boy! Everything's alright?"
"Yeah… Just… You know, stuff."
"You sure? You look…" He started.
"I look what?" Spencer asked, frowning.
"I don't know… just… you know… weird." Derek answered awkwardly.
"Weird?" Spencer repeated.
"Yeah… You know, just weird."

Derek and Spencer both stopped talking, staring at each other, blissfully oblivious to the snorts and chuckles coming from their friends. David stole a few grapes from Aaron's lunch and threw them at the two boys. They both jumped and turned around to send death glares at their friend who raised his hand in the international "I'm innocent" move. Will rolled his eyes and sighed audibly.

"If you two are done flirting, we could have lunch."

Spencer blush all the way down his neck, ducking his head and taking a mouthful of his lunch to keep himself from saying something stupid. Derek shifted from one foot to the other, trying to make sense of the warmth creeping in his stomach as well as his cheeks.

"Hey! Derek, while you're here, maybe you'll be able to convince Spencer to come to the game tonight." Emily said way too sweetly for it to be completely innocent.
"You're not coming?" Derek asked, trying not to sound hurt.
"I don't really know anything about football." Spencer tried.
"That's no excuse." Derek snorted. "You should have seen Penny when I first started playing."
"Hey!" The teenager whined, hitting the football player playfully on his shoulder. "I was a great best friend! I learned all there was to know about football, didn't I?"
"Well, you couldn't get worse." Derek teased.

They all laughed, minus Spencer and Penny. Next to her, Kevin wrapped an arm around her shoulders, kissing her cheek softly.

"That's it! I hate every single one of you, except Spencer. 'Cause he's nice to me him."
"Whatever you say, Penelope. But they're right, you know." Aaron said, looking straight at Spencer. "You should come. It's always fun and if we don't win, we'll get to see Derek get his ass kick."
"Tempting, but…"
"Oh come on! We're all going." Penelope begged with a pout.
"I…" Spencer started, feeling his resolve melt.
"Come on! I'd like it if you came." Derek finally said over the noise of everyone else, his eyes locking with Spencer's.

And there was no logical explanation for the way Spencer nodded and said earnestly next.

"Alright. I'm coming."

The victory cries of the girls attracted the stares of a few people and Spencer ducked his head again, blushing.

"You'll see, it's going to be awesome." Emily assured with too much enthusiasm for a girl who dressed in black from head to toes every day.

Spencer didn't answer, but instead looked at Derek who was talking to David and Will. Spencer had a hypothesis to verify anyway.

So, what did you think? Please please let me know. I'm open to all questions/opinions/suggestions you may have.

Love, Anne