Nate, Tom's Dorm-Mate

The young man who pushed himself up looked kind of geeky. He was thin, kind of pale, he wore glasses, and was wearing a "Star Trek" T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Brad glared at him. "Get the hell off of me, nerd!" he nearly yelled.

"I'm a geek, not a nerd," the guy said, adjusting his glasses.

"Whatever," Brad said, angry. Angry about Rachel blackmailing him into helping her, angry about getting knocked to the ground by this twerp.

Rachel looked at the geek and saw that he had the branding on his hand. She didn't need Brad anymore. She could just use the geek. "Okay, I don't need you anymore," she told Brad.

"What?" he asked, surprised and confused. Why didn't she need his help now? He hadn't even done anything. What changed? But then he wondered why he even cared. He never wanted to help her in the first place. He only did it because he was ordered to by his mistress. Speaking of which ... if he wasn't helping Rachel, then he supposed he should go back to Tom's dorm room. His lovers would be expecting him.

"Go on. Go back to Kat and Tom," Rachel said, waving him off.

Brad didn't need any explanations. He headed back down the hall, knocked on Tom's door, and then was let back in.

"Okay, now. Who are you?" Rachel asked, turning her attention to the geek who now had the newest branding.

"What you mean? I'm Nate. Tom's dorm-mate? I think we've already met," he said.

"Oh, right," she said, feigning remembering him.

He looked down the hall, realizing where Brad had gone. "Ugh, they're in there, aren't they? Having ..."

"Sex. Yeah."

"I was really hoping to get some school work done in my dorm room." He sighed. "I guess I could do it later." He turned to walk back into the stairwell.

"Wait. Maybe I could hang out with you for a little while? I have some time to kill," Rachel said.

He shrugged. "Sure, whatever." Though he wasn't sure why the Goth girl would want anything to do with him.

Rachel smiled, then tagged along with him. This was a special opportunity. She could watch as Nate changed right before her eyes. She didn't get that chance with the others. She wondered what Nate would become.