The Hacker

NOTE: By mistake I had originally published this chapter on the other thread instead of here where it belongs. It works out fine over there for Heather and Grace but I should have put it here. If you liked it over there please like it here. Thanks and sorry for my mix-up.

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Tuesday, September 15th

"You want to do what!?" Zack asked in surprise to his best friend Gavin while the others looked on. "If you get caught, you're gonna get in trouble again."

"I know." Gavin whispered, "But I really want to get back at him". He didn't want to get in trouble, not only because he was afraid of getting punished, but also because he didn't want to see his mother suffer again. She had been going through a really rough time last week but that all changed over the weekend and she seemed happier than he had ever seen her. Even the touch of sadness that he sometimes saw when she smiled was gone.

Zack looked around at his friends, Chloe, Sylvie, Leon, Meagan... they all looked hesitant to say anything and they seemed to be looking at him to make a choice. Zack never knew what made him do it, whether it was the praise heaped on him these last few days or the fact that he didn't want to see his friend punished again like the last week. He stuck out his hand and said "I'll do it. Just tell me what to do."

Gavin quickly explained that all Zack had to do was plug in the pen drive into a computer and run the exe file. A fake excel sheet would pop up while the program ran in the background and changed Brandon's school profile to an ugly dick pic.

"Okay, Go back to class, no need for all of us to get in trouble," Zack said and watched his friends go their own way. With the pen drive in his hands, Zack started walking to the computer room. The closer he got to the computer room the less sure Zack felt. 'This is a bad idea, I'm gonna get caught, I'm gonna get caught' he mumbled to himself as he felt butterflies in his stomach and his hands start to feel clammy. He stepped into the computer room and looked around for an empty spot on a computer that was already logged in.

Zack was nervous, his mind kept telling him that he was going to get caught, that there was no way he was going to get away with this, it was stupid to even try it, and he decides to turn around, leave and make up an excuse. He almost jumped when he felt a hand touch his elbow and he turned around. "Hey," Chloe said.

"You don't have to be here," Zack whispered wishing she hadn't come but also glad she had.

"Couldn't let you do it all alone," Chloe said. "Thanks," Zack said. He could see she was really nervous and he was about to say something more when she gestured with her head and then pointed. He looked where she was pointing to and saw an empty spot. He took a deep breath and walked over with Chloe following him.

"I'll go distract the monitor," Chloe said as if reading his mind and Zack nodded in agreement. He was sitting down and about to insert the pen drive when he heard someone say "Good idea."

**

Heather saw Zack and Chloe move thru the room and instantly knew they were up to something. The look on their faces reminded Heather of when Isabella got caught sneaking away with a bag of cookies and she instantly knew they were up to no good. Heather looked over at Ashley and said "Follow my lead” while she smirked and winked at Ashley who giggled back.

"Good Idea!" Zack and Chloe heard Heather call out and both instantly froze. "Go distract the monitor we'll keep Zack... distracted," she said winking to Chloe as she sat on one side of the desk and Ashley sat on the other side so they both flanked the computer monitor. "Watcha up to Zack?" Heather said with a mischievous glint in her eyes that made both friends nervous. Both girls were wearing their cheerleader uniforms today with short skirts that rode high up their legs, even higher when they both crossed their legs and Zack swallowed hard as he **** himself to look at their faces and not their long legs right next to him only to come face to face with their tight cheerleader top.

"I-I I just wanted to check something," Zack said as he looked around. He cursed himself as he felt his hands start to get clammy and sweaty. 'Where did Chloe go?' he wondered.

"You want to check out something or... you trying to check someone out?" Heather said bouncing her leg towards Zack and saw him shirk away. Behind Zack, Heather and Ashley saw Chloe quickly go up to the computer room monitor.

"I just got to check something," Zack said as he tried to insert the pen drive but his hand brushed across Ashley's knee. He blushed furiously, he could feel his ears burning and the blood pounding in them. He heard Ashley giggle when touched her knee and when he looked up at her he saw her wink at him.

"Ashley told me you're a big Hero now!" Heather said and he glanced up saw that she was really enjoying herself. "You always go around saving girls? Or just a few special one." and Zack saw her pout.

Now Zack realized she was not only playing with him, teasing him to make him uncomfortable but it was also a jab at Chloe for what happened last week. 'Well, two can play that game. and if she says anything Chloe will back me up.' He decided to give her some of her own medicine.

He grabbed the mouse and slid it across the small area on the desk. "You know Zacky" Heather continued "A lot of creepy guys go after us cheerleaders we might need a hero to- HEY!" Heather jerked back when Zack suddenly ran the back of his hand across her leg while he moved the mouse and double-clicked on Gavin's program.

"You're not supposed to touch a girl's leg like that." Heather hissed not wanting to draw the wrong attention to the fact that Zack Bishop just pushed her out of her comfort zone.

Zack watched the cover screen pop up and Gavin's program started to run. "You are when the girl wants you to." He said yanking the pen drive out when the program finished and quickly left to join Chloe halfway across the room. Heather and Ashley watched them say something to each other and laugh.

"Well?" Ashley asked Heather.

"You were right," Heather sighed "They're just friends," she admitted seeing how Chloe hadn't acted worried or jealous about them and how Zack had dared to touch her with Chloe watching from the other side of the room and then both of them left laughing.

"Told ya" Ashley said

"Can't believe he would do that," Heather said.

"Well... You were so close you really didn't give him a choice." Ashley said, to which Heather begrudgingly agreed.

"Heather Ravers and Ashley Woodsen," the room monitor said in a condescending tone "I never thought I would find you two bugging someone else to leave their spot. You don't need a computer each so go back to your computer, learn to share, and leave the rest of the students alone."

"But we weren't" Heather protested.

"That's not what I was told and what I saw, so go back to your spot." He said and turned around before Heather or Ashley could say anything.

"I still think it's weird," Heather said as they walked back to their spot.

"It's not weird," Ashley said. "There's nothing wrong with being friends. I'm friends with Zack and there's nothing. Shit, I'm friends with Logan and you don't have a problem with that."

"Oh yeah?" Heather said, "Wait till Hannah finds out about what we saw her Bishop friend with her Boyfriend."

"Taylor going through a rough time and Peter's just try to comfort her. That's all. They’re not doing anything behind her back." Ashley said. "And Hannah would be alright with what we saw."

"You Woodsens with your Bishops friends are weird," Heather said. "You're all weird."

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A few minutes earlier Heather and Ashley had spotted Peter and Taylor in the hallways.

Taylor and Peter had been walking the halls looking to Hannah when they cross paths with Grant again. He had tried to apologize to Taylor but she had just told him to go to hell. Peter had held her back while he gestured to Grant's friends to take him away.

"Why do I always end up with those stupid jerks!" Taylor complained. "Once! Just once I'd like a guy who wasn't such a jerk."

Peter put his arm around Taylor's shoulder and pulled her close to which Taylor responded by putting her arm around his waist. "I hate to say it again but..." Peter started to say and when he saw that Taylor didn't get mad, he continued "but you really gotta stop dating those jocks."

"I Know! I know!" Taylor groaned in frustration. "Can't help it if they're just so hot. I... I just wish I could find someone like... like..." she was about to say 'find someone like you' she stopped herself just in time. 'Damm it Hannah!' she thought as the idea of a romantic relationship with Peter came into her mind again. She cursed Hannah for putting those thoughts in her mind and didn't know what to do..

"Hey!" Peter said. "How about you let me and Hannah hook you up with someone, you know later when you're up to it?"

"Yeah, sure," Taylor said without much conviction and she **** herself to untangle from Peter.

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Gavin finished his homework and went to his room to boot up his computer. The first thing he did was check to see if his program worked and was satisfied that it did. All he had to do now was wait for Brandon to get in trouble. He then switched check his e-mail and was surprised to see an e-mail that just said "Well Done Gavin"

When he opened the e-mail he saw the following text.

"Well done Gavin. Almost a clean job today. Next time try this.

Good luck - Keystroke."

"Wwooowww" Gavin whispered in awe. He could believe that 'Keystroke' the most well know hacker in Azure Rocks had just written him. He quickly checked the sender and saw that it was blank and wondered how the hell could he get an e-mail without a sender. He then started reading what was written below and saw that Keystroke had detailed a couple of spots where he could have improved his coding and a few tips to avoid being backtracked. He quickly forgot the mystery of the missing sender and spent half the night reviewing the notes.