The meeting

"I did it. Now it's fine, no more of that irritating feeling." Nora muttered to herself. Her phone rang.

"Hello."

"Nora, it's me, Joseph. We have a meeting at four in the computer lab, make sure you're there."

"What meeting?"

"About the competition. I have to inform the others, show up on time. Bye."

"Hey.. wait." Joseph hung up.

"What was that all about." She mumbled. "Never mind, four it is."

It was already three, she turned to the dormitory for the next hour to take a nap. When she reached her room, the door was already ajar. She pushed it open and was blinded, Tina was down and Nick was on top of her, they were kissing each other frantically. "Hey, both of you," Nora shouted and shut the door behind her. "Are you that hungry, at least lock the door during your lovemaking. There are students out there." They didn't pay any heed to her and continued with themselves. "You both... Fine, I'll just leave, lock the door and stay off my bed."

"Okay, Nora," Tina said breathing heavily. Nora gave them a disgusted look and left.

She went straight to the computer lab and spent the rest of the hour there, reading the book given by Mr. James. When the clock struck four, Joseph entered, he looked at Nora, surprised.

"Quite punctual, huh." She smiled.

"You are on time, Nora. For the first time, you aren't late." He said enthusiastically. She gave him a cold stare, "Yes, you see, I tend to move out of my comfort zone now and then." She said sarcastically. Joseph smirked.

"You didn't read the book." He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, no. Work in progress." She replied.

"I did, nothing special, you can skip it if you want."

"Thanks for the suggestion," Nora said, turning back to the book.

For the next fifteen minutes, Joseph just babbled about how the book was too easy for him and how he, with his brilliance did all the exercises in it in just half an hour. Finally, the door opened and in came two people, Nora sighed in relief, but Joseph didn't stop.

"I get it, it was too easy for you. You are unbelievable, see even they are here." She said.

Luke and Rachel moved up to them. "So, now that everybody's here, let's start the meeting," Joseph said.

"Wait, I want to say something," Rachel interjected. "I'm sorry and this time I truly am. Nora, I'm sorry for what I did. I hope you can forgive me." She pleaded.

"That was unexpected. Fine, I forgive you, but only this time, do something like that again and you'll have it from me." Nora said. Tina nodded, she extended her hand, Nora hesitated but then took it and shook it firmly.

"That's great. Anyway getting back to the topic, so Luke, what's this all about." Joseph asked.

"You weren't the one who called us in," Nora questioned.

"No, it was him." He pointed at Luke.

"Yes. I wanted to tell you guys that we both." He pointed towards him and Rachel. "Will not be able to make it to any of the practices. We have our stuff to do." Nora and Joseph looked at him, confused.

"Don't worry, we've already talked it out with professor, we'll work on our respective tasks, but we won't show up for the mock practices and it will not affect our performance. We promise."

"And why is that?" Joseph asked.

"You won't understand, you're a fresher, we are postgrads, we have tonnes of work to do." He said.

"We also have work to do," Nora said.

"Yes you do, but compared to ours, it is much less." He countered. Nora and Joseph stood there in silence, taking in every bit of his words.

"Don't worry we'll still be in contact, any problems you can contact us. End of the day, we are a team." Luke said looking at their faces.

"Fine, it seems we have to accept that." Joseph shrugged.

"Yupe, no choice," Nora added.

"Thank you so much. We appreciate it." Rachel said holding both of their hands.

Somebody's phone buzzed, "Sorry guys, I got to take that. That's all I wanted to say anyway, you can leave if you want." He went deeper into the lab.

The rest of them talked for a few minutes and then Rachel and Joseph agreed on going to the library. "You aren't coming, Nora?" Rachel asked.

"No. I got to finish this book." Nora said smiling.

"You can do that in the library." She shrugged.

"Yes, I can but I need a computer."

Rachel stared at her for a while and smiled, "Okay, bye then." She left with Joseph.

Nora got back to the book, the rest of the part was quite easy and it took her a mere twenty minutes to wrap up. She shut the book and put her head on it and closed her eyes.

"Everyone left?" Nora woke up startled, Luke was standing behind her, "Easy there." He said.

She looked behind, "Don't you make a sound walking?!" She blurted.

"I do, but you were asleep.."

"Me, asleep? No, I was just sitting with my head down." She cut him off.

"Really? Why don't you go back to your room and put your head down there." He said.

"No. I can't." She almost shouted.

"Okay, fine. But why can't you?"

"Nothing important, leave it, I'll just stay here." She nodded.

"Cool. See you around." He said and left.

Nora sunk into the chair, "What am I supposed to do, Tina's not picking her phone. Where should I go? I don't want to walk onto them, who knows what they might be doing this time." She muttered to herself.

"Hey Nora," Luke called out, standing at the door. She straightened herself, "Yes."

"Wanna go for coffee?" He asked.

"I'm not keen on coffee." She replied.

"How about some tea and finger sandwiches?"

"I don't like tea either." She shrugged.

"I see, how about milkshake then, wanna come?"

She paused for a moment, "Yeah, sure."