Ili sat in her C++ class, not quite bored out of her mind, but not quite fascinated with the program Aubrey (the teacher) was showing to the class and how to write it. C sat next to her, paying attention. Ili idly wondered why he was paying so close attention since he'd already written the program. Oh well. Besides, Ili was more worried about when Nat would show up. Ili and Nat had been friends for almost four years and when Ili had gone off to school (being a grade ahead of Nat), Nat had promised to come and visit. So far, (it was the spring semester for crying out loud!) it hadn't happened, at least, not until today. Little did Ili realize who else would be coming today as well…

~*~

"Hurry up, Stosh, can't you drive any faster?" asked a female voice with an English accent (West Sussex to be precise).

"Look, Rach, I'm going as fast as I can…" growled the irritated male Rachel was referring to.

"Knock it off you guys, I'm trying to sleep…" mumbled Charlotte from the backseat.

Suddenly, a red Jeep passed Stosh/Rach/Char and Stosh curse almost silently, "Bloody Americans."

~*~

-Meanwhile-

~*~

Nat sighed and glared at the slow car ahead of her.

… o 0 (Does no one know how to drive these days?) 0 o …

Finally, she hit the gas pedal and pulled in front of the car that was loaded down with several people and a lot of luggage. Her Jeep easily outdistanced them.

~*~

Khy grinned as he showed up at the Air Force Base he'd been transferred to. He remembered from a long-ago conversation he'd had with Ili on AIM that she was going to school in this self-same town. He glance down at his watch, the day was Tuesday, and his grin got even bigger…

~*~

Elizabeth couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She had up and decided to take a road trip for no really reason and had decided to head down to Mississippi. Now she was almost to the Tennessee/Mississippi state line and the town she wanted to get to was only two hours further away. She couldn't wait to get out and be able to stretch her legs

~*~

Tarris, Mish, and Derek trucked along up Highway 45 in an old van. Tarris was driving, and Mish was sitting in the passenger's seat, attempting to be the passenger seat driver (i.e. tell Tarris how to drive.) Derek napped blissfully unaware on the backseat and every now and again would mumble something odd about the price of B-Dewback fuel…

~*~

Gar laughed maniacally as lightning flashed behind her (although it was daylight and not a cloud was to be seen in the sky). The laughing made the quartet of men in front of her shudder a bit…sometimes she scared them, like now. "Finally, we will meet…finally we will reveal ourselves to the Ready Roomers…" (Does anyone else think it's Gar's fault everyone is being drawn to Ili's place of residence?)

~*~

Nat was the first of the group to arrive. She hopped out of her Jeep, walked off, stopped, went back and locked her Jeep, then went off to find Ili. Her friend didn't know what hit her. Ili was simply heading back to her dorm from class when all of a sudden; she heard her name called, "ILI!" The next thing she knew was that Nat had attacked her with a big hug and people nearby were trying not to stare. Ili's response?

"Aughh!" then she realized who was attacking her, "Nat? Woohoo!"

Nat just grinned, "You don't forget you friends that easily, do you?"

Ili shook her head, "Oops, besides, you freaked me out…what took you so long getting here, anyway?"

Nat raised her hands in defense, "It wasn't my fault! There was this really slow car ahead of me most of the way…till I finally passed it."

"Oh well, let's go introduce you - finally - to Mufu."

"Oh, Mufu! Guess we ought to meet if I'm going to drag him off to Prom, huh?"

"Yep," Ili agreed. Just as the two friends turned to find the 'mysterious' Mufu, a guy dressed like he was in the Air Force and appearing to be in his early-mid 20's tapped Nat on the shoulder.

"S'cuse me, do you know someone by the name of Iliana Sartosi?"

Ili and Nat exchanged glances. "Who wants to know?" the redhead (Nat) asked.

"Khy Talbot," he said, sticking his hand out for a handshake."

Ili's eyes got big, "KHY!" she shouted and pounced on him, giving him a very big hug. Khy looked a bit confused but didn't seem to be complaining that this girl had just practically attacked him. "Uhm, and you would be?"

Ili smirked after she let go of Khy, "My name's Ili, perhaps you've heard of me?"

Khy laughed, "Well, of all the luck!" then he turned to Nat who was trying to remind Ili that they still needed to find Mufu. "And you must be Nat," he declared.

Nat nodded distractedly, "Mmm-hmm…Ili come on," she said, practically pulling Ili's arm out of its socket. "You can talk with Khy later, or he can come with us, let's go find Mufu."

Ili finally reluctantly agreed, linked arms with Khy, who was only too happy to oblige, and led them off in search of Mufu.

Before they even reached the boy's dormitory; however, a small car pulled up behind Nat's red Jeep and a familiar Brit/Scot trio clambered out, Char still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Stosh caught sight of the red Jeep that had passed them earlier (yes, that was Nat) and his eyes narrowed as he contemplated doing something evil to it, like paint it in pink and purple polka dots.

… o 0 (Nah, would be too much effort.") 0 o …

Nat stomped over to Stosh, "Don't you dare think about painting my Jeep anything unless it's blue with a black stripe.

Stosh looked at the fiery redhead in surprise, "How'd you know what I was thinking?"

Nat's annoyed expression dissipated and became a sheepish on, "Uhm, well, I started reading over the author's shoulder."

Stosh pouted and looked up at the author (i.e. the sky) in frustration, "How come she gets to look over your shoulder?"

There was no answer and everyone looked at Stosh oddly.

"Uhm, right. By the way, I'm Ili," said Ili, introducing herself, "and this is Nat and Khy."

Stosh, Char, and Rach eyed the three Americans. Then Rach broke out into a grin, "Well, I'm Rachel, this is Charlotte, and he's Stosh. For some reason or another, we've been looking for you."

There was a chorus of hellos and how're you's and 'what made you come all this way?'s and hugs and chocolate x-wings were passed out (the chocolates conveniently kept by Ili at all times in case of a situation like this)

"We're off to find Mufu." Nat announced while dragging Ili, who brought Khy with her, who shrugged and motioned to the Brit/Scot trio to follow.

"Who's Mufu?" Stosh asked Khy.

Khy shrugged, "Somebody Nat and Ili know."

"Is there someplace we can get a bite to eat?" Charlotte asked, her stomach grumbling.

The whole group stopped, Nat sighed pathetically, and Ili led the way to the cafeteria.

~*~

That's it for now, more will come as I get inspired in more C++ and Thermo and Waves classes. Hope you enjoyed it!

E-mail me with feedback.