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job training him to move quietly so he can slip in and out without disturbing the dorm mates. Right. Softly, on little cat feet.
    Eric watches a moment, stunned, not really taking it in.
    At first.
    Not until the guy's hands begin to slide up her torso.
    Shaken by the enormity of the betrayal, Eric chokes back a sob and withdraws, softly pulling the door closed. He leans against the wall and squeezes his eyes closed. Trying to breathe.
    Well.
    That's a picture that'll be hard to get out of his head.
    Like ever.
    Eric shudders and starts shuffling down the hall in a daze. It's hard work, pushing his way through the heavy air. As though walking under water.
    He stops at the fire door to the stairwell and it hits him that Elsie was . . .
    As the anger wells up he knows he can't even think about going back. Pushing open the door he thunders down five flights of stairs and bursts out into the chill of the evening.
    Outdoors.
    Fresh air.
    Clean air. Not like the shit in his head. He breathes in great gulps, suddenly feeling nauseous. Blowing air out his nose he decides to jog to Callaghan's. Only a couple kilometres. What the hell else is there to do?

chapter 8 . . .
    Jake uses Blu-Tack to stick up arrows reading “Ubuntu Party” to direct people down to the basement computer lab. They're hoping for a decent turnout of non-nerds; it's reassuring that there are already a handful of early arrivals. Technically speaking he himself is not a computer nerd. He takes photography. Right. Like that saves him from nerd-dom?
    Not.
    Jake knows he's a nerd to his toes and always will be. And maybe the jocks got the glory and the girls in high school, but more and more it's the nerds who are running the world. One of the things Jake likes best about being a university man is the discovery that there are girl nerds. He doesn't know why he never knew any girl nerds in high school, maybe they had better protective colouration then. Or maybe because he was too busy lusting after cheer leaders to notice them.
    Well, he's sure noticing them now. He hears the rattle of the exterior doors and the security guard talking, then a handful of students start down, following Jake's arrows. A cute girl waves at him. Wow. This is so great.
    People are coming out for this and
he
is one of the organizers. Heck, in high school you didn't dare even think words like Ubuntu, let alone suggest people might wanna dump Windows for FLOSS.
    All done, last arrow stuck, time to head to the lab. Maybe he'll be able to help the cute girl with her installation. Another clump of customers follows him down. As Jake enters the room he sees Maggie settling people around the tables so they can plug in at the central power outlets. From the slide show running behind Oscar's presentation at the back of the room, Jake can tell Oz is giving a fairly standard talk about free/libre open source software.
    Adam is set up in the corner, answering questions, showing people how to set up hard drive partitions so they can try Ubuntu. A touch on his shoulder makes Jake's heart race, and when he turns he's not disappointed because it's Krystal, giving him a big smile. “Hey there, Jake, sorry I missed the meeting.”
    “That's okay. The important thing is you're here now. We don't even officially start for ten minutes yet and look at the turnout. Excellent.” Jake produces an 'organizer' badge out of his bag and passes it to Krystal. His is clipped to his belt.
    Krystal says, “Wow, these are great,” snapping the badge onto her lapel. “Guess I'll wander and see who needs help.”
    “Good idea,” Jake agrees as he glances at his watch. “Liz isn't here yet, so I'll take some pictures, cover until she is.”
    “Gotcha,” says Krystal as she heads into the room. Maggie smiles and waves at her before going to help a couple who look lost. Jake sets up his tripod as Oscar greets a group of students he recognizes from Fyfield House. Oscar grins and bows, doffing an imaginary hat to Mouse