With a tiny, neat scrawl, Alex finished the last of his notes and set down his pen beside his Astronomy notebook; he supposed he could have been out of the room a minute or two before, but it was his final course of the day, and he wanted to be certain he had finished any and all reflective thoughts before breaking his train of thought. After all, it was an inefficient use of your time and money if you failed to get the absolute most out of a course, and cutting off your thinking simply because the class officially ended wasn't necessary if he was in no particular rush today.

When, at that very moment, an unfamiliar voice pulled his attention upward to an equally unfamiliar face, Alex leaned back against the chair and closed his notebook with a soft plop.

"Don't worry about it," he said with a measured but genuine pleasantness. "Can't say I'm absolutely positive where he is, but he mentioned possibly going to print off sheets for the mathematical and general physics portion of the lab on Tuesday. There's a long gap between today and Tuesday, so it could have been a general statement aimed to be carried out any time between now and then, but it's the best I have to offer." Alex then noticed the package in the younger boy's hand, and he added, "Do you need him, I assume? We can check his office or perhaps even the library, if you'd like, since I don't think he'll be coming back here."