Chapter Text
Trent had been given a little “homework assignment.” The Doctor handed him a batch of miscellaneous broken parts; Trent’s job was to put them back together without a blueprint. He managed to sneak the stuff past his parents, spread the parts out on his desk, and get to work.
Trent always lost track of time when he was tinkering, so he wasn’t sure how long it’d been. But he was pretty confident that he was around halfway done when he heard a knock on his window.
“Huh?”
The boy turned his chair around. A familiar blonde, about his age, was the source of the sound. He rolled his eyes, but opened the window for her.
“What do you want, Mels?” Trent sighed.
“Aw, is that any way to treat your neighbors?” she asked back.
“It is when it’s you. Aren’t you still grounded?”
“Always. But what you were doing looked interesting, so I thought I’d pop in,” she said.
“Well pop out. My parents will kill me if they see us talking.”
“Your parents will kill you for doing whatever-it-is, too. C’mon, tell me! I can keep a secret.”
That, at least, Trent knew was true. Keeping secrets, sneaking out at night, and getting into all sorts of trouble was Mels’ forte. The two were well acquainted, by now. Apart from being neighbors, they went to the same school. They ran in different circles: Trent, with the academics, and Mels with the “problem children.”
“It’s for my internship. Nothing you’d be interested in,” he told her.
“Ooh! For UNIT? What sort of top secret thing have they got you doing? Is it a laser gun? I bet it is.”
“It is not!” Trent groaned, hastily adding: “I don’t think.”
“If you say so. Hey, when are you gonna introduce me to your new girlfriend?” Mels teased.
“She’s not my girlfriend! How do you even know about Sydney?”
“For one, you thought of her when I mentioned a girlfriend. I never said her name.”
Trent felt his face grow red. Mels giggled.
“It’s not like I’ve met any other girls recently…” Trent mumbled. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Oh, I have my sources,” she winked. “What’s she like? I’ll bet she’s more fun than you.”
“We have different definitions of ‘fun.’”
“Yeah. Like how my fun is fun, and how yours is playing with your little scrap heap.”
“You’re the one who thought it was interesting,” Trent pointed out.
“True. You sure it’s not a laser gun?”
“Pretty sure,” he deadpanned.
“Boooo.”
“Would you get out of here?!”
Trent shooed Mels away, and she backed off.
“Alright, alright. Yeesh. I’ll be on my way. But I will meet this girl, Trent. Who knows? Maybe she’ll like me more than you.”
“You don’t scare me, Williams,” he said.
“We’ll see, Waris. Have fun playing with your junk,” she replied. “Typical night for you, eh?”
“Would you get out of here?!”
With another wink and laugh, Mels left Trent behind. He slammed his window shut.
“Stupid Mels…” Trent whispered.
He sat back down at his desk to finish his work on the whatever-it-was. When he finished, he was glad to see it was not, in fact, a laser gun.