"So, Sail, what do you do in your free time?" Gogs asked, twirling a pencil in between his fingers. He went into his learning pose again.

"Well, prior to boarding the Globetrotter, I did some airship design and piloting stuff. My older brother and I used to fly the length of our hometown together. Then, after my brother came here to study, I practiced alone with my dad. He taught me how to steer and fly by age ten. I guess now I just wait around until the next day."

"Well, that's no fun," Cog said. "How about we go to the game room at some point tonight and relax?"

"Sounds fun!"

Cog and Sail were practically beaming at the boys, who just shrugged and went with it. The two seemed to click together, despite having met less than a day ago.

Lukas walked in, along with quite a few other people. The wave of brown overcoats and white shirts brought a lot more noise with it, drowning out the quiet ticks and whistles of gears and pipes.

"When do y'all normally get to the study hall?" Sail asked. "It seems pretty early compared to everyone else." She did her best to avoid eye contact with Lukas. Sprocket noticed her efforts.

"In the morning," Gogs teased.

"Helpful."

"I do my best. We're supposed to get here at seven, but somebody doesn't get here on time."

"My alarm went off late!" Cog said, pointlessly defending herself.

"Excuses, excuses. We also head here straight out of class."

"Hey, Sail," Sprocket said, "come here for a second." He got up from the table and beckoned her over to an unoccupied corner. She followed him over, already knowing what he was going to ask.

"Is there something wrong, Sail? You were trying to avoid looking at Lukas."

"Yeah," she replied, "I just don't really like him."

"Don't lie," he countered. "I don't like him. You were avoiding him."

"Would you believe me if I told you nothing was wrong?"

"No. But I think I might understand."

She was pretty sure he didn't understand. At the very least, he probably figured something half-flirty had happened between them. At most, he figured Lukas had made some sort of advance she wasn't comfortable with. In reality, it was a lot stranger than that. Still, she proceeded with the conversation carefully.

"Seriously? Usually, boys are brain-dead to this kind of stuff." Her response was vague enough to relate to anything, hopefully.

"So I've heard." Sprocket glanced down, and for a moment, she thought he had a frown on his face. Whatever was going through his head only lasted a moment, though. He decided he wasn't getting any more information out of her and gave her a warm grin. "When we go back to the table, wink at me."

"Why?"

"If you want Gogs to like you more, trust me."

Okay, so maybe he isn't totally brain-dead to this kind of stuff, she thought. A blush creeped over her face.

"Aha!" he said. "I was right. Okay, great. We got this." He seemed to psyche himself up for a second, and they both went to sit down.

Gogs gazed over at her, so she winked at Sprocket, sticking her tongue out to make it seem like there was some sort of conversation or inside joke going on.

Gogs took it personally.

It was his turn to pull someone over to the side.

"Sprocket, over here," he said. Cog observed the three of them one-by-one, completely confused.

Gogs dragged Sprocket over to the same corner he and Sail were just standing in. "Are you and Sail... you know..."

"Actually Gogs, we were talking about you." They both looked over at her, who had been intentionally looking away.

"What did she say?" Gogs asked, leaning in closer.

"She likes you, but thinks you should clean up your hair a little."

It was a simple lie, but it did exactly what he wanted it to.

His hair, which was neatly chaotic, stood out in quite a few uneven directions, like a miniature jungle. He glanced between the two, then darted out of the study hall.

"Where's he going?" Cog wondered aloud. Sprocket just shrugged.

Torque approached, taking Gogs' empty seat as an invitation to join them. "So, you kicked the nerd out and replaced him with the hot one," he said. "Smart choice. I would've done the same."

"And who might you be?" Sail asked, noting his seating choice.

"The gosh darn most attractive ginger you'll ever lay eyes on," he responded, framing his terribly cheesy smile with his fingers.

"That's a low bar," Sprocket commented.

"And there's plenty of room for improvement," she added, giving him a side-eye.

Cog seemed like she might explode. "You just killed him, Sail! Got any comebacks, freckle-face?"

"Just because you're a girl doesn't mean I won't slap you, Cog."

Sprocket stood up to defend her, but she took a second swing before he could.

"Boy, I've got more muscle in my pinkie than you've got in your—"

Her insult stopped as Gogs walked back in. He'd changed his hair from his natural spastic curls and flattened them as much as possible. It nearly brushed his shoulders, curling slightly at the ends. Sail reached over the table to whisper to Sprocket, eyes still locked on the hair.

"Did you cause this?" she asked. He shrugged in reply.

Gogs noticed Torque in his spot and coughed loudly.

"Oh, sorry pal," he replied, making no effort to move.

"It's okay Gogs," Sail said, "you can sit with me." She scooted over in her chair, leaving half for him. He hesitated, but accepted the offer. They shared an awkward glance and smile, but the bell ringing stopped any further awkwardness.

"Well, that's dandy," Gogs commented, standing back up and grabbing his stuff. "What class do you have next, Sail?"

"History. You guys have it too, right?"

"Right!" Cog answered, practically bouncing out of her seat. The four left Torque sitting alone and dejected.

"I'm not that bad looking," he mumbled to himself.

-=[ ]=-

"Now that I'm here on time," Trotter said, clearing the chalkboard, "let's talk about our class schedule." He drew a line on the board and labeled the two end-dates 1776 and 1945. Other dates filled the space between, occasionally bundling up around important events.

Cog was tired of hearing about the 1940s. World War II was over thirty years ago, but the world just couldn't move on.

Although, to be fair, there was a pretty good reason nobody had moved on yet, and he was in his late eighties.

"I don't teach history in the traditional chronological way," he continued. "I open the year with the most recent event and work backwards. I find it more confusing but more relatable. Today, we're starting with World War II, in a lesson I call, 'Why we didn't win in 1945 like we should have.'" He seemed to toss the lesson name about in his head, then visibly decided it was good.

"Here's Germany in 1939, right up to World War II," he said, drawing an old map of Germany on the board. "And here's Germany in 1945." He pulled down a map from above the chalkboard, which revealed a map of Europe and Asia blanketed almost entirely in red. A few places, like a portion of China and Great Britain, had no shading. He let the map fly back up, reeling from the force, and erased a chunk from the bottom of his drawing. "And this is Germany in 1946."

Geography. Cog's head hit her desk and didn't lift back up.

"Let's talk about this time period. Both Adolf Hitler and Stalin saw Poland as their countries' properties. Technically, it kind of was. When the Motherland and Fatherland stopped fighting in WWI, they had a little Poland. Then, they hastily divorced, and to make a long story short, both countries wanted rights over the baby and started a war again."

Lukas raised his hand and adjusted his glasses. "Sir, while that's a great story, the USSR and Germany worked together to conquer Poland at first."

"Yeah," Trotter said, "but according to the curriculum, you don't need to know that. Anyway, then Germany went and invaded Europe and Asia, and snagged a lot of it by the time America joined in. In 1945, we took the German capital, expecting to catch Hitler and his group of cronies.

"The war should've ended there, right? As we soon found out, that wouldn't be the case. The Nazis were doing well over in the USSR and set up a mini country they called 'Kleine Deutschland,' where they stretched the war out for an extra two years. The group of Nazi elites retreated long before we even came close to Germany. Stalin's forces were supposed to meet on the right side of Germany, but they were assisting in Belgium at the time. Germany ignored the Belgium mess and attacked during the summer, decimating the Russian landscape.

"Finally, June 1947. The first Nazi airship took flight, virtually invulnerable to every plane we had. The other countries had to rush to match the technology. This ended World War II, and gave us the Steam War, or der Dampfkrieg, which is still sort of technically World War II.

"That's just the overview, however. There are so many working parts entangled in World War II, so we're going to delve into the roots of it all, starting with Hitler's rise to power."

For the rest of class, dates like 1933 and 1918 were thrown around, with details on the Great Depression, communism, and Jewish discrimination.

"Hopefully you understand what's going on," Trotter said, wrapping up class, "because here's your homework—a timeline of events from 1918 to 1933, due beginning of class tomorrow." The bell rang, and the four packed their stuff.

"I didn't get a single one of those dates," Sail admitted. "Except for 1933. He mentioned it a million times."

"Don't worry, Gogs will help later," Cog said, sleepy-eyed. "Right?"

Gogs was staring glumly off into space, his face expressionless.

"Is that a no, then?" Sail asked, poking him as if to see if he was alive.

She got no response.

"Okay, see you at lunch, I guess..." She turned right to head to their next class.

Sprocket walked in front of Gogs, and he finally returned to reality. "Oh, sorry, was there something you guys needed?" he asked.

"Never mind," Sail said.

-=[ ]=-

Cog, Gogs, and Sprocket arrived at Airship Anatomy, their second class of the day, but stopped in the doorway. Before they even stepped inside, they could see there was a total mess of pipes and gears strewn across the tables and floor.

"Guess what we're doing today, class," Mr. Gates said, a grin that could only equate to appearing psychotic across his face. The class scanned the room, correctly assuming it had something to do with the disaster around them. "If you guessed 'using gears and pipes,' you're right. Turn in your homework and begin work on the newest lesson in your workbook, pipes and exhaust."

He droned on for about ten minutes on how pipes and steam work, and even included how to open pipes. Almost everything he talked about was also in the textbook, so everyone tuned him out.

"Now that the technical bore is over, if you know how gear trains work, then what you're about to do is going to be super fun. If you don't, partner up with someone who does. Form groups of two and one group of three."

Naturally, the Cogwheel trio formed the group of three.

"I think all three of us know this stuff, right? Gogs posed. He picked up a golden gear and put it in a locked position with a power supply block attached to the wall.

"I know how to do it," Cog admitted, "just not good with the math."

"And I know basically everything about gears," Sprocket said, grabbing one of the smallest and inserting it beneath the golden one.

With a sudden and forceful movement, the entire ship stopped, throwing everyone's momentum forward. Most of them could stay balanced, but the rest ended up stumbling or falling. All the parts on the tables and floor scooted forward, scattering them even more.

Amp's voice came over the intercom immediately after. "Sorry, everyone, for the harsh stop. We feel like it will be worth it, though. I'll give out more information during lunch. Please resume as normal."

The three locked eyes with Lukas across the room. They had totally forgotten he was in the class with them. His eyes darted away, picking up as many of the disorganized parts as he could.

"Well then," Sprocket said, recollecting their own gears and other fallen items, "that was random."

"So, our manual says we have to curve the gear train," Cog said, sorting herself out as well. "Which means we have to go through that group's chain and just barely miss another group's curve."

As they placed the last gear in their chain, someone turned on their own power supply box, which caused almost every gear on the wall to move. It was a jumbled mess of gears that collectively made a larger gear, and no one had noticed until then. At the end of the large train, a single clock powered on and chimed.

"Woah," Cog said, harmonizing with six other students.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Congratulations," Mr. Gates proclaimed, getting up from his desk and grabbing a stack of papers. "Everyone gets full marks. Now come get your homework and have a good day."

The bell rang, and the room emptied. "Yet another synchronized dismissal from our clockwork teacher," Gogs said, as the three walked to lunch.

-=[ ]=-

Phase two of his plan might end up being just as easy as phase one, Lukas realized. He milled over everything in his head and had to give Mr. Gates credit. His spiel about pipes in class sparked an idea and gave him all the tools and knowledge needed to perform his next task easily and successfully.

For such a complicated plan, it was going so unbelievably smooth. So far, the miniscule speed bumps in his plan hadn't deterred the primary goal or slowed his projected deadline. He hoped his luck would keep up.

Maybe I should try the lottery when I get back on land, he considered.

He sneaked his way over to the main pipe room of the ship and gently closed the door behind him. Then he set down his backpack, unzipped it, and grabbed a smooth ball out of the front pocket. It was about the size of a tennis ball, but could expand with the push of a button. A button that he, of course, had designed.

With the crank of a wrench stolen from one of his classes, he opened a pipe hatch labeled "Pilot's Cabin," and placed the ball on a grate inside. After closing the hatch again, he grabbed his backpack and pointlessly snaked back out. Nobody goes around the pipe room unless they're doing maintenance, and a couple days of scouting revealed that it was checked infrequently. He glanced at his watch and hurried to lunch. There was a very important message he wouldn't want to be late for.

-=[ ]=-

Amp appeared on stage, making sure mostly everyone had taken a seat. He had his usual large smile, but that was the only thing usual about him. He'd replaced his everyday outfit with a sky-blue floral button-up, cargo shorts, and sandals. A straw hat rested on his head, and his goggles had disappeared entirely.

"I've got two major announcements," he said, raising his arms up. He seemed just as excited as the previous day.

"Do you think his get-up has anything to do with the announcements?" Sprocket wondered, commenting on the vivid outfit.

"That's a pretty sound theory, I think," Gogs said. He stared down at his food.

"My first announcement: in light of countless requests, you can now share a dorm with someone. Just choose one of your quarters, sign a paper like the one I'm holding right now, and pack your stuff so we can move it. You can find the slips in both study halls. Oh, and same gender only."

Cog and Sail glimpsed at each other. Both of them tried—and failed—to hide their own excitement.

"Would you want to?" Cog asked.

"If you're fine with it, then yeah."

"Of course I am!"

"Second," Amp continued, "we stopped and docked the airship in the Bahamas! This was a one-time chance offered to us while we were in the area, so we graciously accepted. It is also coincidentally where we need to pick up the televisions we ordered. The first and second-years get to go first. You can visit immediately after lunch and until curfew, so enjoy yourself."

Some of the third and fourth-year kids began booing and shouting.

"Seniority!" one called out.

"Now, hold on," Amp said, trying to calm the outrage. "I didn't get there yet. Third-year and fourth-year students will have almost all day tomorrow to spend time there. You'll just have to attend your first class."

"I can't believe we're going to the Bahamas!" Sail exclaimed, now sharing the same level of excitement Amp had. She quickly finished her lunch and ran over to her room, retrieving a fifty-dollar bill. She checked herself in the mirror to make sure everything was in order, grabbed an extra of her eye-color filters, and headed back to the mess hall.

"Why would the Bahamas invite us over with no warning?" Sprocket asked as Sail returned. For a moment, nobody answered. Cog was stuffing her face, Gogs was staring blankly off in the distance, and Sail glanced between the two. Cog seemed to eat a lot. It was kind of worrying.

"Maybe they were feeling nice," Sail said. "Or Amp made a deal."

"Maybe," he repeated. There was absolutely no reason for him to be suspicious, but he was, nevertheless.

The bell rang, ending his deep-dive into conspiracy theories. Sail waved goodbye and bounded over to the dock entrance, while Cog split ways with the other two and went to socials.

Her class was a lot quieter now that half of the students were missing. It was almost boring. socials was her first class in over a year where she really was alone. Every other class had somebody she at least knew, usually Sprocket, Gogs, or both. Sail's absence worsened her loneliness, since she was supposed to be there. Even though the teacher had a lesson for the day and assigned homework, the room felt empty. Cog spaced out until the bell rang, doodling in her notebook.

She wasn't sure what she was drawing at first. Her pencil followed no pattern. She just drew. Curves and sharp edges combined to create the outline of a mechanical heart with a pocket watch dangling nearby. A pipe billowed smoke behind it.

Before she could finish, however, Springlock started handing out homework, prompting her to hide the drawing. She closed her notebook and put it in her bag as she received her copy.

"Could I grab a copy for Sail, too?" she asked.

"Absolutely!" Springlock exclaimed, handing her another copy. Cog put both copies in her bag and walked out the door. A couple of twists and turns later, she ran into Gogs and Sprocket on the way to class.

"Hey, y'all," she said, "how was your gym class?"

"Well, they didn't really like the whole 'me being better than them' thing from yesterday," Gogs said. "They decided targeting me was the action plan. My one-time fluke of being good didn't happen again, believe it or not."

"There's always next time!" Cog offered, not sure she believed it. If anybody was severely unathletic, it was Gogs. She wasn't athletic either, but she could easily run circles around him if she wanted.

"I hope so," he mumbled. He shared the same doubt.

They walked into calculus, papers ready to be turned in.

"Here you are, sir," Sprocket said, handing in all three at the same time. In return, Einstein gave them their previous assignment.

"Great. You guys got full marks on the other paper. This current lesson might need some explaining, though."

Einstein made his way to his pedestal and asked, "How many of you have ever taken a physics class?" He continued without waiting for an answer. "Hopefully, all of you. Today, we're talking airship physics."

-=[ ]=-

Sail checked her watch. She gave herself three more hours to enjoy her little break. The last hour had been spent wandering the beach alone and seeking out the sun's rays. Now she sat at an outdoor bar, sipping on a non-alcoholic drink. It tasted very tropical, but she had no clue what it actually was.

A girl sat on a stool beside her, wearing clothes infinitely more appropriate for the beach than a skirt and jacket. She figured the girl lived in the Bahamas herself. The girl fixated on the group of American strangers, watching as they ran across the beach. Other than a few other vacationers and some natives, few people were on the beach in the afternoon on a weekday. A strange day for a field trip to a tropical hotspot.

"These boys are a handful," the girl said. She gestured towards a group of five or six that were playing a disastrous game of volleyball. "How do you American girls even deal with them?"

"It's a challenge," Sail replied. "Sometimes they can be unbelievably dumb. But a few of them, their faces make it a little easier." She also watched the group of boys, unaware Lukas was walking up to her.

"I, too, look for physical qualities," he said, walking up to her. It was unprompted and awkward, and it made the other girl get up and leave.

"What do you want, Lukas?" she shot, disguising her fear with disinterest. Only an hour in, and he'd ruined the field trip.

"Absolutely nothing," he replied. "I just figured I would give my input, too." He sat down next to her.

What game is he playing? She wasn't a fan of the amount of attention she was getting. Both he and Torque screamed bad news. Under normal circumstances, maybe she would like three people falling in love with her, despite her shyness. It was different if two of them were creepy about it.

"Blonde hair with blue eyes is always the way to go, even if they are American," he continued. She wasn't sure if he was talking about an American stereotype or if he was being a literal Nazi.

"Alas, even your eye colors are great."

Giving her full confirmation that he knew her secret, he got up and left. She felt sick.

How did he know? What was that about the blonde hair and blue eyes? The two questions haunted her for a couple of minutes. Is he being this weird and cryptic with Cog, too?

"Katie!" somebody yelled, stopping her from getting too lost in thought. "Come see these sunglasses in the gift shop!"

She dumped the rest of her drink in the sand.

-=[ ]=-

"And that's airship physics," Einstein concluded. "You may never need to know that in your life, unless you're an engineer or a maths teacher. Now, the rest of this time may be used for the incoming two assignments, since you guys won't be here tomorrow."

"I didn't understand a word of that," Cog said. Her mouth hung open and her eyebrows crinkled.

"Don't worry, I caught everything," Gogs replied, drawing furiously in his notebook. "So, of course, gravity pulls things down, so you'd want a force that can fight against the force of gravity. You'll also want some way to go forward. Basically, if you're pushing up against gravity and flying forward, you're actually flying diagonally, even if your altitude doesn't increase."

"I figured it would still be forward, though."

"Well, the reason we say that it's diagonal is—"

"Okay, we get it," Sprocket interrupted. "You're smart, she's clueless, and the world is round. It's not airship physics here."

"Did you really just..." Cog trailed off. Just because it was true, doesn't mean she liked it.

"Yes, Cog. Yes, he did." Gogs feigned offense.

Einstein walked over. "Consider yourself a joke master, do you?"

"You might say I'm a pundit," Sprocket said, "because my puns steal the spotlight."

"That doesn't even make—" Gogs started, before being interrupted by Einstein.

"I used to be good with puns, but I'm afraid I can't think of any good ones, and there's no solution."

"Are you for reals?" Sprocket added.

"Math puns?" Cog asked, incredulous. "Really?"

Einstein rebounded. "I must say, Sprocket, you certainly have integer-ity."

The two continued back and forth. Cog repeatedly banged her head against the desk.

-=[ ]=-

Sail analyzed the Globetrotter as she drew nearer. It looked smaller than when she first saw it, but it still dwarfed almost anything she'd ever seen. It was six hundred feet long, two hundred wide, and clocked in at four hundred tons when it was empty.

Then she gazed back at the sandy beach for the last time, with its unnaturally clear water and beautiful white sand. Her fingers wrapped around a large pearl she'd found out in the ocean just moments ago. Its glistening silver surface had a single light gray line, but was beautiful despite the small blemish.

"Hey, Sail," one girl near her, nicknamed Star, said, "is that a Nazi airship over there?" She pointed to a large ship with swastika banners hanging off the side. It was in the process of undocking.

The question snapped her attention away from the beach and pearl and towards the enemy airship. There were evil figures on the evil ship, peering over the dock. Her eyes widened and fear overtook her. "Y-yeah, I think it is," she quietly stuttered.

"That can't be good," Star commented, fear in her own eyes.

Sail walked into the study hall, ghostly pale for the second time of the day. Her eyes were still wide.

"You would not believe what I just saw," she said, her knuckles turning white, gripping the pearl in her hand.

"Nazis?" Gogs guessed. He didn't even bother with removing his eyes from the paper in front of him.

"Yeah," she answered, suspicious. "How'd you—"

"They mentioned it over the PA," Sprocket said. He seemed more on edge than Gogs.

"That, and your face screams, 'I just saw a Nazi,'" Cog pointed out.

Sprocket being more worried about Nazis than Gogs confused her. She took Sprocket as more of a tough guy, but he was the one with his leg bouncing, shakily playing with his hair.

He must know something we don't, she thought, trying not to let it get to her head.

"Oh yeah!" Cog bursted out. "I got the socials homework for you, Sail!" She handed Sail the paper, then added, "I wasn't paying attention at all, though. Hopefully you know more words than what we went over yesterday."

"Thanks Cog, you're the best!" Sail said. "First, should we go figure out the room situation, or work on the homework?"

"Oh! I forgot about the room thing!" Cog dropped her bag on the table, and a few papers fluttered out. "Let's go do that!"

She grabbed Sail's hand and practically dragged her out of the study hall and towards the dorms, leaving Gogs and Sprocket alone with the new mess on the table.

"We aren't bunking," Sprocket warned Gogs.

"Didn't really expect to."

The two organized the mess, but Sprocket's eyes caught on Cog's line art of a mechanical heart. It wasn't finished, but it was good. He slipped the picture back into her backpack and got to work on the homework with Gogs. Any concerns of the enemy airship dissolved in his mind, and he felt himself ease up.

"There are a lot of really cool things about the dorms here," Cog said, as she wrapped some of Sail's blankets and sheets in her arms. "Like this wall here has a secret compartment to put stuff in."

She reached over to show, but came up empty. The secret compartment that was in her room wasn't in Sail's. Confused, she tried another compartment area, but once again found nothing. None of the hidden spots were in Sail's.

"Okay, so mine has secret compartments," she eventually said, as Sail raised her eyebrows in doubt.

"How many do you have?" Sail asked, packing clothes into her Victorian suitcase.

"I know of at least five. There's one next to my bed, one in both light switches, and two in the floor." She'd occasionally searched for more compartments ever since she'd found the first one, but had never really considered why they existed in the first place. She just figured everyone had them.

Everything got stuffed into bags and suitcases, and they moved over to Cog's room. "We're going to want to move my bed before we unpack too much," Sail said, transferring some of her bathroom items, including her eye filters, which were now hiding behind other things in the sink cabinet.

"We can probably recruit the boys to help move the big stuff around," Cog suggested. Ten minutes later, Gogs and Sprocket were carrying Sail's bed down the halls. Sail was lying on top, being escorted like a queen.

"It would be easier if you two helped," Sprocket scoffed.

"I assumed Cog was helping," Sail said.

"Wait, where is Cog?" Gogs asked.

"Let's get the boys to help, Sail," Cog mimicked out loud to herself. She was pushing Sail's dresser alone through the girls' dorm quarters. "That's a great idea, Cog."

With two hours left until curfew, they'd finally finished the last of the homework. Everyone except Gogs was mentally exhausted. Cog was almost falling asleep at the table.

"If you guys are still up to going to that game room, we totally could," Sail said. "I'm sure there's enough time for a game or two of something."

"Of course," Gogs said. He checked his watch again. There would definitely be enough time.

"Let's go!" He jumped from his chair and offered her his hand. She shyly accepted it, and the two looked at Sprocket and Cog.

As the party of four walked towards the game room, they unknowingly became a party of five. Lukas followed them, weaving in and out of groups of kids and staying just far enough away to read their thoughts without being spotted.

I could really go for dinner right about now, Sprocket thought.

Oh my goodness, she's actually holding my hand, thought Gogs. I haven't felt this happy in a long time.

My lord, his heart rate just spiked again! Unless that was mine, in which case, I hope he didn't notice. Sail.

Static persisted on Cog's end. Maybe, he considered, she isn't human? Just humanoid? It was a crazy idea. There was no way she was anything but human.

Probably.

His mind went to some crazier ideas, like a robot or an alien or a body snatcher. The most reasonable choice, the robot, was still illogical. He'd heard some crazy stories involving robots, but they were just stories.

Probably.

Well, there's always one way to find out: robots don't bleed.

"We're here!" Cog said, spotting a pool table, the bowling alley, and some board games. There was also a vending machine, labeled "Spring," with steampunk-themed knockoffs of popular drinks.

Six other kids were in the game room as well. They were all fourth-years that were tall and well-built. They were also mad that some group of kids came here on their night.

"What do you think you're doing here?" one of them asked, sizing Sprocket up. Sprocket could probably take them on one-by-one and win, and they recognized that.

"We don't take kindly to the self-proclaimed 'Cogwheel losers' barging in here on our night," another growled.

"We're sorry," Cog said, holding Sprocket back as he cracked his knuckles. "We didn't know it was your night here. We'll just—"

She stopped talking as Lukas walked in and sat down next to the vending machine. Sail tensed up, and Sprocket somehow felt more aggravated.

"Evening, Damen und Herren," he said, grabbing himself a steampunk cola. The six older kids gave him a death stare.

"Ah, I sense you don't want me to be here." Rather than leave, he reclined on the chair and cracked open the drink. His mannerisms weren't his normal snootiness, Sprocket noticed. He seemed more like he was trying to be sly than anything.

He's up to something again, Sprocket realized.

"Which one of you is Carlos?" Lukas asked. "You?" He pointed at one of them. They didn't answer him. "Is it true you want to usurp James from the fourth-year jock throne, Carlos?"

"WHAT?!" one of them, presumably James, yelled. He cracked his knuckles in Carlos' direction.

Lukas paused and covered his mouth. "Oh, was I not supposed to say that out loud?"

"Who told you?" asked Carlos, mad and frightened.

"Why, Pauli did," Lukas said. "You know him and his 'big mouth,' as you called it."

"I never said that!" Pauli yelled, confused. "And YOU have the big mouth, Carlos!"

It wasn't long until the three fourth-years were fighting each other, and the other three had to drag them away. Cog, Gogs, Sail, and Sprocket all stood staring at Lukas. He was still nonchalantly relaxing in the chair.

"No need to thank me," he said. "I was just thirsty." He grabbed a second drink from the vending machine and left the room. With his back turned to them, he let himself grin.

A quiet two minutes of silence followed.

"I was ready to fight them if I had to," Sprocket mentioned. Whether he actually would was a different story.

"You probably would've won, too," Cog added, squeezing one of his biceps. Sail raised her eyebrows behind her.

"So, what game are we gonna play?" Sail asked, making eye contact with Sprocket. "Apparently, there's plenty to choose from."

"We could always bowl," Gogs suggested. "I'm pretty good at it."

"How's about Monopoly?" Cog asked, picking up a limited-edition steampunk Monopoly box.

"We've only got an hour and a half, Cog," Sprocket said.

"Let's do bowling then," Sail decided. "I've never played."

"That seems like a crime," Gogs teased, handing her a bowling ball. "You have to bowl at least once in your life."

"To be fair, I haven't either," Cog said. She picked up her own ball. It didn't weigh much, but after pushing the dresser all by herself earlier, it felt ten-times heavier than it should have.

Gogs led the group the entire game, consistently scoring higher. He tried as he could to help Sail out, and although she finished third, she got a strike and a spare.

"That strike was the highlight of my night," she said, totaling at sixty-eight, compared to Gogs' two hundred. They checked a clock, which told them they had twenty minutes left until curfew.

"I suppose we better go," Sprocket figured, with a yawn. They walked down to their rooms with a wave goodnight.

-=[ ]=-

Cog, remembering her sticky note, was tweaking her alarm to be louder when Sail asked, "Cog, do you have any crushes on anyone?" Entirely caught off guard, she didn't really know how to respond. She hesitated on answering, putting socks on in the meantime.

"I guess I've never really thought about it," she finally answered. "Don't tell anyone, but I kinda like this fourth-year named Fuzz. Funny story, his nickname: he woke up on his first morning with the mattress torn open, completely covered in its fuzz."

Hearing this crushed Sail's heart. She was secretly hoping she had a crush on Sprocket. It just made sense that way. Sprocket was unbelievably obvious about it. They were essentially a match made in heaven, if the movies had told her anything.

"Do you have one, Sail?"

Sail knew the question would come, and she knew Cog didn't know the answer.

"Yeah," she responded. "Gogs."

It took a moment to register.

"Wait..." Cog said.

Then, a smile slowly appeared on her face.