Notes:

Additional Cast:

Frances Fisher as Abigail Fitzgerald

Alice's POV

We both turn around to see Ms.Fitzgerald , piercing her eyes at us full of anger.

"Where do you think you are? This is not a sports arena, you Hooligans" I thought her eyes would break her glasses' glass.

"We are... are... so...so...sorry" I mumble. This chucklehead took me off my limits again and I forgot that I was in a library, with a Cerberus as a guard.

"Save your sorries, little lady." she says in a sharp voice. "This is a library and you should respect the place and the others who require silence to study." Her movements are stiff and her voice is taut.

"We just had a small disagreement. That's all! It won't happen again" Joseph says using a bit of flirt in his voice. Seriously? This guy has no boundaries.

"I don't care what was the case. I demand the rules to be followed." She pushes her glasses on her nose. "Now leave, but I won't be so tolerant with you the next time that happens" she warns us with a strict voice.

As I pack my books in my bag and Joseph takes his laptop and his jacket from the back of the chair I give him a What-about-our-broken-problem look as I point with my eyes the computer behind him.

Thank God he's not as stupid as I think he is, since he catches the meaning and he answers me with a Play-the-fool look as he gestures that we should leave.

As we are about to do that, a strange sound comes from the computer.

Ms. Fitzgerald of course listened to that (She has the eyes and ears of an eagle) and went to see the source of the sound.

"What did you do? Not only you disturb, but you destroy public property as well." she shouts. "I won't allow it! You will have to pay for the damage!"

Oh my God! What am I going to do? I can't afford that on my own and I definitely won't ask money from dad. It's humiliating.

"There is no need to be hasty" Joseph chimes in. "I can fix it! Just give me 20 minutes and it will be as good as new." he reassures her.

He's so sure of himself. Is he that certain he's going to fix it? He offered without blinking. That guy really has confidence in his skills. I should say I admire that. Stop Alice you can't admire anything on him. He's the reason you got here in the first place.

Ms. Fitzgerald looks at him in disbelief. "And what makes you think, I am going to allow you to touch what you've just destroyed?"

"Because you have nothing to lose. It's already broken down." he asserts.

He didn't blame me for the damage, as he could have done. I should say I didn't expect that from him. I assumed that he would have given me away, in order to get off with it. But he didn't! His actions don't have any logic with the kind of person I think he is. That can drive me crazy.

"Fine! I'll let you do it. I stay here to supervise you. Miss, you will stay put as well" She had to be a general in her youth I suppose by the way she bosses us around like that.

After 15 minutes Joseph is done and surprisingly the computer works just fine. He stands up with his arrogant smile pinned on his face and he winks at Ms. Fitzgerald.

"It's done, sooner than I promised."

God he's so arrogant, but I have to admit his skills just saved our asses.

"You're right. It's functioning perfectly." she admits.

As we are about to go, she stops us.

"I haven't forgotten what you did here today" she starts...

Oh oh that doesn't sound good!

"So in order to prevent that from happening..." we both look at her with curiosity. What is she going to tell us? Prohibit us to use the computers? Not allowance in the library?

"You both will come and clean up the library after it's closed."

"WHAT?????" we say simultaneously like a chorus and we widen our eyes to her.

"Don't make me repeat myself. The actions come with consequences. I expect you to be here tomorrow and the day after tomorrow at exact 8pm."

"I just fixed the problem. We're not in high school to do chores anymore" Joseph protests.

"It seems like you didn't learn enough in your days there" she answers stiffly.

"But he didn't do anything! I destroyed the computer" I defend Joseph. I know that I don't like him, but it's not fair to let him take the blame for me.

"I don't care, miss. You were both shouting and making noise." she scolds us like we are 5 years old. "Plus, you tried to avoid telling about the computer."

"But he fixed the problem that I created and without spending any money" I defended him again. He looks really surprised by my action. What did he expect? I take the responsibility for what I caused. I am not like him.

"I decline every protest" she interrupts me as I was ready to speak again. "Give me your academic IDs to write your names down and I will be expecting you tomorrow."

We hand down the IDs and after she's done writing our names in a small black notebook, she gives them back.

Finally, she leaves after she gave us one more cold look.

What just happened? Me and Joseph have to work together? That is against the laws of nature. We are going to kill each other or tear down the whole building. It's absurd! I can't bear him for 2 minutes, let alone two whole evenings. But this time, he has every right to be angry. He got in the middle of this mess, because he was trying to be helpful. I can't even believe I would say such a thing about him and the worst of all is that I feel terrible for him.

"I tried to do anything that I could" I say with a low voice as I turn to look at him.

"Well as it seemed it wasn't enough. Don't ever be a lawyer, because you're going to have no profits." he quips at me with an irritated look.

"Well, sorry! I didn't want any of this to happen." I apologise.

"What's done is done. I have to put up with your annoying presence for two evenings. Like I have nothing better to do." he spits and he looks angrily at my direction.

"It's not Christmas for me either. But we have to put up with each other for two days. Can you be a grown up these two days or you will be acting like a spoil brat?" I spat at him. I know I am the reason of his punishment, but he has no right to talk to me like that. After all, I tried to prove his innocence in the computer part. He is as guilty as I am for the rest of it.

He turns to me with a questioning look on his face and his eyes examine me, from head to toe.

"Fine! I will try to cooperate with you these two days.But I can't promise you anything. You always do or say something that's getting on my nerves, even though when I try to play the Good Samaritan. I didn't even know why I bothered" he says releasing a sigh in his last words.

Then he takes his black jacket with his laptop and I watch him leave without throwing a glance back at me.

Joseph's POV

I still can't believe how this beautiful day ended. It started so well, but it has been ruined so easily like a card tower falls. All that because of that bitchy dipstick Alice. I got in a mess, because of her, so my hands are tight now and I can't do anything to change that. It's official! Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow I have to do chores with her in the library.

I am so furious that I even bailed on my friends. I was in no mood to go out. All I want is to sit home, put the music really loud and play video games.

I unlock the door and fortunately, Sophie is not in the living room. I don't feel like talking to her right now. I rush into my room and I toss my laptop bag and my jacket on my bed. I turn on the PC and I am searching my playlists. Hard rock is what I need. I click play and I raise the volume to the highest levels, because I don't even want to hear my own thoughts.

AC/DC is on and the electric guitar with the drums start echoing all over the room. I sit on my chair logging on LOL and I move my head in the music's rhythm. This is so liberating. Music can cure anything and there is always a song for every occasion. This song is expressing mine right now.

"Hey, hey! Joss I am talking to you!" I hear Sophie's voice at some point.

I turn around in my chair and I see a furious Sophie glaring at me.

"What?" I shout and I turn back to my game, because my team is losing and it's getting even more on my nerves.

"What? I have been calling you for ages, you idiot! Turn the volume down! This music makes my ears bleed. Who even listens to them in 2016?" she looks angry.

She's in the mood for a fight and I am going to explode on her, even if it's not her fault.

"You listen to the freaking Beethoven, who's been dead for centuries and he's just a rotten corpse." I say in an indifferent voice, having my back on her, still playing my game. Fuck those asshole noobs.

"Excuse me, but I am not blasting my music like I don't have a freaking roommate! I am studying, so for the last freaking time, turn the volume down." she bites back.

"You always study! Like 24/7. If I am going to wait for you to stop studying, in order to listen to the music I am going to turn into like your favorite Beethoven." I yell in despair. "Just get a life!" I shout at her, really angry.

Why can't she let me be at peace for one fucking night?

"Ok, that's it." I hear her say and next thing I know a hand flashes through my head, and unplugs my pc. Screen black.

I think I am having a stroke! I stand up in a flash from my chair to face her. I feel my face burning and I have surpassed my tolerance limits.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? How dare you touch my computer? Are you out of your mind? Do you want to destroy it?" I bellow at her and I release on her all the dander I feel, just because she gave me the excuse with her action.

"Are you done?" she asks eyebrow raised and hands crossed.

I look annoyingly at her.

"Sophie just get out of my room." I croak, pointing towards my door with my hand. She looks at me for a second and then storms out of the room, and I thank God she did, but she shocks me when she comes back, carrying her desk chair along.

"Your bed is uncomfortable" she says and puts her chair in front of me. She sits down and takes her glasses of. "What's wrong?" she is giving me a sympathetic smile.

Damn you Soph! She can read me so well, but I don't want to talk about what happened.

"Nothing's wrong!" I answer in a steady voice.

"Yeah, I certainly believe you. You always blast your music when you are not feeling well. So, speak! I don't have all day" she mocks me.

She's so fucking pushy, but there's no point in refusing it anymore. Soph knows that something is off with me and she won't move her ass, until I speak to her.

It's always the same sequence. Me not being well and then Soph pushes me to open up, which I do after I try to unsuccessfully avoid her.

I may be sociable and easy going, but I don't open up to people easily. I don't like whining over my problems to others and show my weakness. Soph and Chris, another hometown and best friend, are the only people I can freely talk to. Matt has become one of those, people as well, after being friends for three years. Grant is a good guy, but not the exact counselor type one.

"Fine!" I groan and I toss myself in my chair. "Something happened." I admit, looking at her.

"I would chose something to lighten the mood, like 'who turned you down' but I can tell this is serious...so what is it?" she asks concerned now.

"It's Alice involved!" I growl and I feel my blood's boiling, even by mentioning her name.

"Alice? The same Alice that was in the movies with Vanessa? How did that happened? What happened?" she is genuinely interested.

"Yeah that's the one!" I hiss and Sophie nods in realization. "Ok long story short."I exhale. "She broke down library's computer. Decent guy me, tried to help her, but she didn't appreciate the help. We end up yelling to each other leading to this hag we have as a librarian to ground us like fucking 5 years old." I narrate the today's incident with that slob. I feel furious even by remembering it.

"You got in trouble because of her? Jesus Joss, you know you can't afford to get in trouble." she sighs. "What do you have to do?"

"Chores in the library, after it's closed for 2 days." I huff. Sophie opens her mouth to speak, but I add. "With her!"

I support my head in my hands and I try to fight the raving that I feel.

"Oh my God this is lame....but at least you won't have to ask money from your dad, so that's something right?" she shrugs, patting my shoulder.

If my dad ever finds out about this, he's going to kill me. He, even without knowing this, thinks that I do nothing more than causing troubles. If he discovers it he will add, after yelling at me, that Dan was never like that and he was always a role student model. The one, who focuses only on his studies. Thank God this stupid chore thing won't be written anywhere, so he will never have to find out.

"Don't worry! I fixed the computer in no time! It was a piece of cake!" I brag and I touch my chin pondering. "I don't think my father will appreciate that though, so he should never find out." I emphasize the last words.

"My lips are sealed, nerd. I won't tell if you don't, but you will have to do the cleaning for a week." she adds smugly.

"Are you fucking serious? You are blackmailing me even in the darkest of times?" I complain, but my mouth edges rise a bit in an unwitting smile.

"Fine, fine, just this once, I will free you from cleaning duties. So....why did you help her? I mean, you are not her biggest fan, you guys acted childish at the movies and now you are partners in crime?"

"I watched her like a poor little lost puppy, struggling with the computer and I decided to appear like a miracle before her. You know how good I am and it was more like a charity thing." I shrug and add. "I did a good thing and how do I get repaid? By being grounded!" I exasperate.

What I confided was true, but there was more in it. To be completely honest I wanted to brag a bit about my skills and maybe mock her, because she had said way too much about me, like nobody has done before.

"Well Karma is a bitch, this is your payback for ruining movie time for me." she sticks her tongue out mocking me.

"Shut up!" I chuckle. "This is a punishment for all the sins that I've done. Can you tell me how I will put up with her? I am going to kill her!" I groan and I throw my head in the chair's back, looking at the ceiling.

"You know I am not a violent person, but if you do kill her, as the daughter of a big shot lawyer, and a future lawyer, myself, I promise to bail you out, and help you get away with murder. I cannot lose you to prison, nerd. You are my only friend, and I need you around." she smiles at me.

"I am the only one that can tolerate you." I smile back at her and suddenly I realise that I feel calmer.

"That is true. Not everyone can handle a strong, intelligent and independent woman. Kudos to you nerd" she punches my shoulder playfully.

"Yay me!" I say sarcastically lifting my hands like cheering.

With that she shakes her head twice, gets up and takes her chair on her arms. She mutters a 'keep the volume down' and walks to the door.

"Sis, I am sorry I shouted at you earlier." I apologise in a soft voice. "You know I didn't mean what I said." I add, keeping my voice soft.

I crossed the lines with the words I let loose and that's a weak spot for Sophie. When I am angry I say things I don't want to say and I know the phrase 'Get a life' pulled a sensitive chord.

"That's ok, big brother. It's a good thing I love you. You are buying me ice cream tomorrow for the bitter words you said" she jokes again and with a wink she leaves the room.

Then I turn on the laptop again and I put my headphones on. I find my hard rock playlist and let the music take my mind away. Thanks to Sophie I feel much better now. I log in LOL again so I can outburst on the game and my lousy teammates.

A/N: Thanks for reading, any feedback is appreciated.