Realistic or Modern 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭?

[esor]

It was if Alex predicted the exact second the bell was going to ring, as he stood up the second it started and slung his bag over his shoulder, leaving the left over paper on the desk- he didn't think it was his responsibility to clear it away. He practically ran out of the room, of course he'd never be eager enough about anything to actually run but he did make a quick exit, as if he was late for something. In reality he just really wanted to leave that classroom, he was beyond bored and just felt so sluggish being sat there. He was pretty certain his next class was Chemistry, but he knew what they'd be doing so was still deciding whether or not he'd turn up. An experiment for what would feel like forever, or stood outside smoking and being in a world of his own. He'd decide in a bit, he thought, he just wanted to stretch his long legs. So, he pushed through the other students in the corridor and snuck outside where he could breathe some fresher air. That was until a thought sprung to his mind, if he did end up going and the experiment would have to be done in pairs he'd be stuck with the loser who no one wanted to go with. So, after a second of contemplation he let out an exasperated groan and walked back in, nonchalantly heading to the chemistry lab.

The brunette girl was happy to see Ellie return unscathed, not that she thought something awful would happen but it was always nice to see that she was alright. She was very much glad it was over, it was an unexpected challenge in her day so she was just hopeful that the rest of the day would go as normal. She also shrugged at Josh's answer, figuring he was right and that having some sort of edge wasn't actually important, she was fine the way she was. This probably meant more coming from Josh, considering she thought he was the coolest person she'd ever met.

"Why? Itching to spend more time with me?" Sky obviously joked in response; the last thing she wanted was for it to get lost in the conversation and result in him thinking she was serious. If he did and the answer was no, then she knew she'd never recover.

"But yeah, you are. Lucky me." She teased, shifting her bag strap on her shoulder so it was more comfortable before joining him nearer the door. This was more comfortable than it was earlier, the weird butterflies swarming in her stomach seemed to have died off and she no longer felt painfully shy, clamming up whenever she spoke a word to him. It was just like it had always been, though she couldn't help but feel a sense of unwelcome disappointment. That feeling, however, was shrugged off soon enough.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie was a litle surprised to see Xander leave the class so eagerly. Either he really couldn't wait for chemistry class, or he was ditching. She was placing her bets on the latter. She didn't really have the guts to ditch class, not that she felt the need to anyway. She'd prefer going to class rather than have to catch up on the content at home. Before leaving the classroom, she pulled out her headphones and placed them atop her head. Since she was walking to class alone, she had time for a song or two. She was in the mood for Nirvana, so she inserted the appropriate cassette into the player. 'Something in the Way' by Nirvana proceeded to blast through the headphones as she exited the classroom, letting out a quiet yawn as she walked toward the chemistry lab. It was a rather short walk, and within a minute or so, she was inside the room. Though Ellie was the type to pay attention, she still preferred sitting closer to the back, especially during a chemistry experiment since it meant she didn't have to worry about the teacher eyeing her progress as much.

It was rather empty at this point, which she didn't mind. She took a random seat and relaxed within it, resting her head against the nearby wall, simply listening to the words of Kurt Cobain spilling into her ears.

Josh let out a stifled laugh at her response. His sarcasm seemed to be rubbing off on her.

"Yeah that's it." He returned the same sarcastic energy in his response. He didn't bother asking what class they had, since quite honestly, he didn't really give a crap. He wouldn't enjoy it anyway. To him, the day was just about getting through school so he could eventually go home and fuck around in his room. Maybe stop by the music store, or just head home directly.

"You lead." Josh added, seeing as he had no clue on where they were meant to be going. It had only been an hour and a half and he was already craving another cigarette, but he knew that realistically he did not have enough time for that. He'd just wait it out until lunch time, as he usually did. Part of him was tempted to simply ditch whatever class he had next, but that would involve him ditching Skylar, which he felt would've been a bit of a dick move.

 

[esor]

Walking into the room, Xander's eyes scanned the chairs and the people sat in them, he was hoping he could either be by himself or with someone he knew at least somewhat. But with an even number of students in the class it didn't seem at all likely that he'd be able to get away with doing the experiment on his lonesome. So, with his eyes landing on the seat beside Ellie, he walked over and sat there. He wasn't one to ask if it was okay for him to sit- that's where he wanted to sit, so that's where he was going to sit and where he was going to stay. It was at the back which he liked, plus he knew that Ellie wasn't annoying or anything of the sort so he didn't mind pairing up with her.

After giving Ellie a quick nod, he looked around the room at the equipment to gage what kind of experiment they'd be doing, regardless of what it was he knew it wouldn't be fun but it was probably essential for him to do so didn't want to skip it altogether. He was a rather quick learner, once he understood something he was pretty certain about it, and on top of that it wasn't difficult for him to understand things. Maths and science were more his forte than English and the likes, so this was more so his kind of thing even though he still didn't seem to enjoy it.

Josh's response pleased Skylar, though she knew he was being sarcastic it was nice to think that he wanted to spend time with her. Anyway she lead him to the chemistry lab, under the impression she'd be paired with Ellie; she had someone sat beside her, though. That didn't bother Sky, she figured she should probably share Ellie with some other people so she turned to look at Josh.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you? I think we have to be in pairs, so if you don't want to it's okay. Promise I'm smart." She suggested to the taller boy, looking up at him and finding the fact she had to do that rather amusing...and hot. But that was besides the point. She'd earmarked a couple of seats not to far from where Ellie and Alex were, and she gestured over to the seats as she awaited an answer from Josh.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie wasn't sure what else to do as she waited for more kids to enter the classroom, so after pulling out her slim chemistry textbook, she proceeded to fiddle with fingers, particularly with her painted fingernails. They were painted black and somewhat chipped. She definitely had to give them a touch up sometime. She liked doing her own nails, it was a good way for her to stay in and spend time with herself. She tended to be a little introverted, so she didn't mind not always having plans with other people.

She was completely unaware of her surroundings as a result of the music, and only realised someone was taking the seat by her when she saw it from the corner of her eye. She found it to be Alex, and she looked at him with slight confusion for a moment. She was convinced he had run out of class to ditch, not just to come back here.

"Why'd you run out of English?" She proceeded to ask as she pulled the headphones off her head and paused the cassette, carefully returning the set into her backpack.

Joshua reached a hand up to rub at his eye as they walked, kind of wishing the day was over already. He sort of wanted to take a nap in the evening if he was being honest. No matter how much he slept at night, he was somehow always in the mood to nap in the evening.

He was about to make a beeline for his usual seat in the classroom, until Sky asked him something.

"Yeah, 'course." He told her with a nod and a slight chuckle at her 'smart' comment. It wasn't like he'd tell her no to sitting next to him. If anything, he'd rather have her sit next to him as opposed to someone annoying. He was by no means 'popular', but quite a few people always seemed to want to be around him. Unfortunately, Joshua didn't really like all of those people. Hell, he was sort of picky about who he liked, actually.

The curly haired boy proceeded to make his way toward his usual seat, somewhere near the back but not too far in. As per usual, he leaned back in his seat once he sat down and stuff his hands in his pockets, dreading the moment the bell would ring once more and signal the beginning of class. Chemistry. How he hated the sciences.

 

[esor]

Furrowing his eyebrows at Ellie's question, it took a minute for Alex to respond.

"I didn't r-...I didn't run out of English!" He rolled his eyes a little. "The less time I spend in there the better, how does it not drive you crazy? It's complete drivel. I just left as fast as I could. I wanted some fresh air." He retorted. The conversation as a whole was a shock to him, he was expecting silence or something similar but he didn't mind at all, at least she was asking a question and not making a silly attempt to make unnatural conversation.

"Do you know what we're actually doing?" He asked her, figuring it would've been explained in a previous lesson that he didn't attend. His own fault, of course, but it would've been nice to have a clue what was going on. He was quite good at chemistry, it just made sense to him so he wasn't all that bothered about catching up on missed content because he could pick it up with ease, luckily.

Skylar mentally celebrated when he agreed to sit next to her, in fact it was even better as it wasn't just an agreement, he seemed more than willing to. She sat down and looked towards the front of the class to see the teacher preparing stuff for the class. She enjoyed experiments most of the time, since she was usually with Ellie it was more like chatter and some gossip with a side of chemistry as opposed to just sitting and taking notes, so it was a nice thing to break up those days. Though this time she was equally excited, she was friends with Josh but they'd never pair up for these sorts of things. It wasn't often they had the chance, but Ellie seemed content with the tall boy sat beside her and Skylar definitely would not complain about seeing Josh's face for an hour and a half.

"Are you any good at chemistry?" She asked him curiously, resting her head on her hand lazily as they all waited for the bell to chime. But before she knew it, it rang loud and the teacher, Mr. Milburn, cleared his throat with a small cough and started the class.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie was looking at him as he was making his defence, then looked away with a slight shrug. Not that she actually cared why he wanted to leave so fast, she was just a little taken aback by it all. She didn't respond to him and instead looked toward the front of the classroom, placing her elbows on the table and resting her face atop the palm of her hand as she stared out ahead of her.

She tilted her head a bit in his direction as he spoke to her once more, and she looked up for a moment as she tried to remember the nature of today's experiment.

"Making a battery with like saltwater and metal or something." She recalled.

All Josh could do was hope and pray that the experiment they'd be conducting was going to be really easy, but given they were in an advanced high school chemistry class, he doubted it was going to be something easy like a middle school baking soda and vinegar volcano project.

"Nope." He immediately responded, shamelessly admitting his lack of discipline in the sciences. Though he didn't like history either, that was something he was at least good at. And it could be sort of interesting at times if he was being honest.

Mr. Milburn commenced class upon hearing the bell, and proceeded to stand near the middle of the room so he could see the majority of the students.

"Good morning class." He began. "What happened last night was a very unfortunate tragedy. Heather will be in our thoughts, but, we must go on with the school day. Today we have an experiment planned." He went on.

"You will partner up with whomever you're sitting next to. First you create a battery using metal, saltwater and air. Then, at the front of the class you will see a few electronic devices. Choose one and connect it to your battery to power it up." Mr. Milburn very briefly explained as he handed out one packet per pair in the classroom. It contained step-by-step instructions on what to do. "You will find everything you need to set up around the lab and at the front of the class by my desk. Please find me when you are finished." And with that, he concluded and sat down in his comfy chair.

 

[esor]

Alex turned his full attention to her as she answered, nodded and then remained silent. In his head he tried to figure out how the experiment would work, and once he got pretty comfortable with the idea he sat and heard the words of the teacher, though since he wasn’t properly listening they just went in one ear and out the other. He yawned at the now typical mention of Heather, and he wondered how long that would go on for.

Sky muffled a small laugh at his straight forward response. It wasn’t as though she was amazing at chemistry, but she could do it. Biology she quite enjoyed but physics was a complete write off for her; she hated it, thought it was simply awful and she’d never understand it. She was an English lover, through and through.

After Mr. Milburn sat back in his chair, Alex looked at Ellie as if he was expecting her to do something, he himself probably looking too relaxed slumped in his seat. He cared too little about the class to go and get the necessary equipment or do any preparation that required effort, so of course he didn’t mind being selfish and waiting until he could be bothered to even help the girl.

Sky stood when Mr Milburn ended his instructions then looked at Josh,

“I’ll go get everything.” She told him, turning and visiting the different areas around the room to pick up the things they needed. Once she had everything she returned and set it out on the table for them.

She recalled information from the lessons previous and began to set up the experiment carefully, not wanting to get anything wrong and end up having to redo it. Not only would that be a hassle, but she was kind of hoping she could impress Josh a little- but knowing him he wouldn’t care either way.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie listened to all of the instructions, before placing her hands on the table and preparing to lift herself up to her feet. That is, until she looked at Alex and found that he was doing absolutely nothing. He didn't look like he had the intention of getting up and helping her bring some of the required equipment over, so she stood up and stood in front of him, looking down at the boy.

"Get the metal, salt and water, i'll bring the beaker, clips and wires." She told him. She had absolutely no intention of doing all the work for him. If he was planning on sitting back and doing nothing either way, she was definitely going to call him out on it. The girl stood there with one hand on the desk as she looked at him, waiting for any indication that he would listen.

Josh's eyes followed the packet as it was dropped on his desk, and he slowly slid it so it was in front of him, lazily flipping through the pages to get at least a bit of an idea on what to do. He wasn't about to make Sky do all the work, but if she insisted on getting all of the things herself, then he definitely didn't mind. He tried to look a little busy by slowly skimming over the words on the paper, his eyebrows lowering in focus whenever there was a scientific bit he didn't understand.

He glanced up at Skylar for a moment when she returned, before eyeing what she was doing.

"You need help or something?" Josh asked, not because he genuinely wanted to help but because he didn't want to seem like an absolute ass making her do everything for him. Had it been someone he barely knew, he wouldn't really care if they did the whole experiment themselves, but Sky was a friend to him.

 

[esor]

Alex continued to stare at her in shock for a moment, he definitely wasn't expecting her to give him a list of things to do. He couldn't blame her, though, and respected the fact she was forward with him. He let a small smirk grow on his face before he stood without a noise peeping from his mouth, slowly walking over to where the things were. He picked up the metal, salt and water then brought them back to their table. For a few seconds he stood there in a disbelief, he actually just went and did something that someone told him to, no retaliation and no questions asked. But as Ellie returned also, he looked at her.

"What now, boss?" He teased, his playful smirk still firmly indicating his light attitude to the situation, though the question probably made him seem more interested in the experiment now. As he waited for an answer, he looked over the things sat on the table in front of them.

"This is like...middle school stuff, is it not?" He chuckled lightly. "A 12 year old could do this experiment. Not saying they'd be any good at it or understand, but they could."

Sky watched Josh whilst he skimmed through the words on the paper, she thought it was cute that he was trying to make it look like he was doing something. She walked back over, placing the last thing they needed down then looked at him.

"Depends, do you want to help?" She asked him, though she knew that more than likely he wouldn't want to.

"You must know what you're doing, you know, after reading through all of that information." The girl teased, moving so she could also see it, quickly reading through it as she awaited his response. She genuinely wouldn't mind doing it herself, sure she would like help but it wouldn't be the end of the world if he sat back and watched. Maybe that was only because it was him. She didn't really think about it, but if it was anyone else she would've been annoyed if they didn't help her.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie rested her hand upon her hip as she waited for him to stand up and did as she told, her hand on the table still sustaining most of her weight, peering down at him. She wasn't necessarily bossy, but she wasn't about to let him free-ride, even if they were friends. It was a stupid little chemistry experiment, but hey, if she got to boss him around a bit, then so be it. It was sort of fun.

She had a satisfied smile resting upon her lips as she watched him walk off to retrieve the things. She did the same thing, grabbing a beaker along with the alligator clips and wire before returning to him. She lightly rolled her eyes upon hearing him call her 'boss'. Not that she minded.

"You complaining about that?" She teased back, looking up at him momentarily as she flipped through the packet in search of the instruction page. There was a lot of background content included in the packet, which she definitely just skipped over. It was an easy experiment, she knew that, but that meant they could get it over with easily and chill for the rest of class. "It kinda is. I'm pretty sure we did this in middle school." Ellie agreed, finally locating the page she was looking for. With a black-painted fingernail, she traced her finger down the page, skimming over the words left in the wake of her finger until she found herself at the appropriate step. She was quiet for a few seconds as she read the instructions, before looking up at Xander.

"Dissolve a tablespoon of salt in six ounces of warm water." She recapped. "You attach the wires and clips to the metal, i'll do the water salt stuff." She instructed him. She let out a sigh upon realising she had to walk off somewhere in search of a spoon, but upon noticing that the table near them had a spoon, she stepped around Xander and quietly grabbed the nearby pairs spoon without them noticing.

The brunette proceeded to fill the beaker with warm water and dumped a tablespoon of salt into it before mixing. It didn't take long before the nearby pair realise their spoon was missing, and they began searching everywhere for it, seemingly confused as to its whereabouts.

Joshua sure as hell wasn't about to free ride off of Sky's efforts. Sure, he knew jack shit about chemistry, particularly their current topic on electrodes or whatever the hell they were learning, but it didn't hurt to try.

"Nah i'll help." He shrugged. He'd much rather actually do something because it might make time pass faster rather than sitting there staring. He couldn't help the low chuckle that left him at her teasing.

"Oh yeah I sure as hell know everything now." He played along with it, clearing his throat before speaking once more. "We just connect a bunch of wires and then stick them in water. Doesn't sound dangerous at all." Joshua stated, holding the packet up in front of him and waving the hand holding it around a little as he spoke. Obviously he knew it was more complicated than that and they weren't actually sticking electricity inside water, but he didn't know the specific technicalities behind it.

"So what do we do?" He inquired, wanting to get the experiment over with so they could just sit around for the remainder of class once they were finished.

 

[esor]

"Not complaining, just thought we could do something that isn't going to make our brains numb." The boy replied in an exasperated manner, not that he felt he was too good to be doing uncomplicated experiments, he just thought that if he was going to do something it may as well be something more challenging.

He listened to her, though he knew what he was doing it was actually quite helpful to have reassurance from repeated instructions. He pushed up the sleeves of his hoodie so that they wouldn't get in the way at all, then began to attach the wires and clips to the metal. He was only semi focusing, his interest lied elsewhere as Ellie took a nearby pairs spoon. He smirked, a small smile appearing on his face as he looked back down at what he was doing, shaking his head a little.

"Mischievous." He snickered, not looking at her. As the pair began frantically searching for their missing spoon, he held back laughter. This was certainly how he'd prefer spending the class, not that other peoples misfortune humoured him. He just thought it was hilarious that they were clueless as to where it went. Quickly, he finished attaching the wires and the clips, nodding a little to himself as a symbol of him being proud of his handiwork. Helping the family business for years resulted in him being good with his hands, he was often good at mending things and tinkering with them.

Sky was quite delighted to hear that Joshua was going to help, so to show that she smiled at him and pushed some of the equipment closer to him.

"Any good at measuring?" She questioned before continuing, figuring it wouldn't be difficult. "If you measure out six ounces of warm water in that beaker and mix a tablespoon of salt in, it'd be perfect." As she spoke she organised the wires and the clips so she could begin attaching them to the metal.

"Don't want you electrocuting yourself, someone might blame it on me." She spoke light-heartedly, her smile still present. She was very much enjoying this, and she hoped he would enjoy her sarcastic remarks now and then.

"It shouldn't take too long. If we have to write up a lab report after I don't mind doing it." She added. "You'll just owe me a drink or something." The girl joked, her eyes shifting over to look at him.

 

[amberskies]

"School generally makes my brain number." She murmured as she stirred the spoon around in the beaker, waiting for the salt to completely dissolve in it. As she passively swirled the spoon around in the clear liquid, her eyes shifted from staring at the water to staring at his forearms as he rolled up his sleeves and exposed his skin to the world. She had no expression on her face as she eyed his arms, her face low since she was meant to be staring at the beaker, not him. Not that she was attracted to Alexander, he was just a friend to her, but boy did he have a lovely set of arms. They were the perfect balance between toned and veiny, and she watched as his muscles twitched under his skin as he began to adjust the clips and wires.

Ellie eventually realised she was staring once he spoke again, and she diverted her eyes to his face now. She only responded with a slight chuckle, knowing the pair couldn't do anything about their missing spoon anyway. It didn't have their name on it, and they had no way of telling she had taken it. Just as Alex was done with the wires and clips, the salt had dissolved.

"Nice." She simply said as she took the assembled wires and proceeded to set up the device. She was leaning across the table with her face somewhat close to the project, which was sort of a requirement since all the bits and pieces were so small.

"Ow." The girl murmured to herself as she struggled with one of the clips, which for some reason required far too much strength to open and clip to the metal she had stuck in the beaker. "Can you do it?" She asked as she looked up at him from her position, holding the stubborn clip.

"Oh i'm great at measuring thank you very much." Joshua told her as he moved behind her and took a hold of the beaker, since she was on the way to the nearby sink. He filled it with exactly six ounces of water, just as she had said, and dipped his finger into the liquid to check that it was 'warm'. Seemed like it was, so he returned to their station and set the beaker down. He bent his head down closer to the table to measure a tablespoon of salt, before dropping it into the beaker and stirring.

All he did was let out a stifled laugh at her joke regarding taking her out for a drink. He couldn't tell whether she was sort of flirting or purely joking. Joshua wasn't the biggest flirt around, and he generally wasn't good at reading signs people gave him. He didn't date a lot, nor did he sleep around, so he wasn't too experienced in the department of flirting and interpreting signs. That didn't mean he was romantically inexperienced, though, he had a couple of relationships. So, he played it off with a joke.

"Here's your drink." He told her with a hint of a smirk, holding out the beaker of salt water to her. He was sort of satisfied with his little fitting joke.

 

[esor]

Alex chuckled at her reply, feeling as though he could relate to it. It wasn't as though he was one to seek comfort in other people feeling similar to him but he was glad to know that school wasn't something that plagued only him.

He watched Ellie as she was focusing intently on the pieces in front of her, gently tapping his fingertips against the table for a few moments. He stopped when he saw her struggling, stifled a chuckle and moved beside her.

"I can do it." He said confidently, taking the clip from her. Ignoring the fact that his fingers gently brushed against hers, he opened it with ease and clipped it on for her. "Easy. Anything else you need me to do, boss?" He asked in the same teasing manner as earlier. "Maybe I should be the one in charge of you." He added, keeping the playful tone strung throughout his words. He knew that she wasn't bossing him around, he just thought it would be fun to tease her about it."

Skylar tried to keep her gaze subtle as she watched him stir the mixture for a moment, looking away when she remembered she had her own things to do. She attached the clips to the metal as the packet instructed and looked up as Josh held the beaker out to her.

"Oh wow! I'm such a lucky girl." She grinned purposely overenthusiastically, a quiet giggle escaping her mouth as she took the beaker from him and set it down. "Perfect."

Despite their playful joking around, part of her wished she could genuinely flirt with him. It confused her because she didn't know if it was him that she wanted to flirt with, or if she was just craving a bit of romantic tension between herself and someone. Either way she wasn't going to carry on in fear of making it weird or accidentally overstepping- at the end of the day she wasn't the most romantically experienced girl so wouldn't know when it crossed the line. On top of that, what was to say that Joshua didn't already find it odd. She didn't know, but she thought it was funny.

"Brace yourself." Sky carefully dropped the metal into the beaker. "Wow, we didn't get electrocuted. Hooray!" She chuckled, holding her hand up for a high-five.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie was gently holding the clip between her fingers in Xander's direction, looking up at him. She didn't like having people help her that much, especially when it came to something she wasn't able to do herself, so she tried not to make a big deal of the fact that she couldn't open a darn alligator clip. She was staring down at her hands as he took the clip, and not only did she feel his big fingers gingerly brush against hers, but she saw it too. She retracted her hands from him, casually placing them on top of one another by the edge of the table where her stomach was and watching him deal with the stubborn clip with way too much ease.

"Okay show off, I can handle it from here." Ellie teased as she looked up at him with slightly squinted eyes, not meaning it seriously at all.

"Now why would I let you boss me around?" She told him, before proceeding to walk toward the front of the class where she had to choose an electronic appliance to connect their home-made battery to. There was a light bulb, which was sort of boring. There was also a small stereo, a few other devices, and a tamagotchi. The last thing she saw caught her mind, so she grabbed it and brought it over to Alex, nudging him aside with her body so she had better access to the assembled beaker.

"How do you do this? What do the instructions say?" She asked upon realising she had chosen a bit of a complicated device to connect their battery to. She should've just chosen the lightbulb.

Joshua chuckled a little at her humour. He liked her personality. Not that he ever worried about not vibing with certain people, but their energy definitely matched which was nice. If it didn't they probably wouldn't be friends. Quite honestly, he didn't tolerate a lot of people. That probably contributed to his dislike toward school.

He had a slight grimace on his face as he watched Sky drop the metal into the the saltwater, for some reason anticipating something to happen but absolutely nothing did. All he heard was the 'plonk' sound of the metal falling into the liquid, and a subsequent inaudible thud as it hit the bottom of the beaker.

"That was a whole lot of anticipation for a whole lot of nothing." He commented. If their experiment involved fire and explosions, he'd probably be a bit more interested in it. They had that once earlier in the semester, but just that one time.

"You wanna choose what we connect our battery to?" He asked her, not primarily because he wanted to give her the choice but moreso because he didn't want to move from where he was. "Or.. I can get it." He then slowly added, realising she was doing a lot of the work. She had gathered all of the materials at the start of the experiment, and he had done jack shit. He wouldn't have offered to do it if it were someone else, but Sky was sort of an exception it seemed.

 

[esor]

Alex raised an eyebrow, as if he was massively confused.

"Uhh, why wouldn't you let me boss you around?" He responded before she went to the front to pick the device. He scanned over the ones laid out, wondering which she'd choose. And although it was probably the most complicated, he would've chosen the Tamagotchi too. It was the most interesting and difficult out of the line up, which was the only thing that caught his eye.

As if annoyed, the tall boy let out a huff when she nudged him aside. Under his breath he muttered a quiet "rude." like a toddler having a soft tantrum. Without answering her question, he took the small device from her and flipped it over casually in his hand. After looking at it for a split second, he pulled up his bag and pulled out a piece of gum wrapped in a silver paper sleeve, he unwrapped it and threw the gum in his mouth then carefully folded up the foil until it had a rigid, sharp edge. Using the edge to coerce the small screws from the backing, he managed to pull off the battery cover and inspect the small pieces of metal inside the hollow square.

He hummed, picking up a wire and attaching it to one of the pieces of metal attached to the battery holder. "Now can I be the boss?" He smirked arrogantly, looking rather impressed with himself. "You want to do the other ones?" He asked her casually, figuring Ellie may have wanted to do some of it too. Plus, he wasn't one to shy away from not doing work.

"I think you raised your expectations too high." Sky pointed out, playfully rolling her eyes at him. She was making a genuine effort to make this as exciting as possible for him, but anyone knew that this experiment wasn't particularly riveting. More than likely she didn't want him to end up associating her with boring things, not that she cared even if that was the case. Well, maybe she did care.

"I can get it, don't worry." She said before turning around and going to the front, she would've said yes to him choosing but she wanted the little stereo- if they could power that with their battery she would be happy and at least a little excited about it. She picked up the stereo and returned it to the table, holding it in her hands and spinning it around to gage what their next step may be. As she set it down she heard a loud smash followed by a clank as the pair close to them dropped their beaker, the glass smashing and their metal hitting the floor.

 

[amberskies]

"Cause I don't get bossed around." Ellie retorted, before standing up straight and watching whatever he was doing, unsure exactly of what he was planning. What she was not expecting was for him to be that smart and resourceful. She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in awe at his resourcefulness with the gum wrapper, at some point bending down and resting her elbows upon the table as she watched him work.

"Wow." She simply said at first as she looked down from her leaned position, their height difference being exceptionally extreme at this moment. She moved a little closer to the device, and him, glancing down at the screen of the tamagotchi to find that it had been powered on. "Impressive." She told him, not minding that she was probably boosting his ego at this moment. "Yeah alright you can boss me around." Ellie seemed to give in, a smirk similar to his but more subtle resting upon her lips. Glancing around the room at everyone else, she found that they had been among the first to finish, which was surprising.

"Sure. Choose the next one. Boss." She told him, cocking her head to the side a little as she said the last word.

"Yeah you're right." Joshua agreed. It was chemistry for Christ's sake, of course it wasn't going to be fun and crazy. "Sure." He shrugged a little as she offered to grab the stuff regardless. He was completely fine with that, as it meant he could just stand there a little longer. He blew a bubble with his gum while she was away, popping it with his teeth at some point to stop it from growing too big and popping all over his face. He was standing up straight with a leg crossed over the other and his hands in his pockets, staring off into space, or more specifically, at the random scribbles on the blackboard Mr. Milburn had left.

Josh moved aside upon Sky's return so she could squeeze through the tables better with the stereo, before placing a finger atop the packet on the table and sliding it in his direction to be of at least some use. That is, until he heard a slight gasp behind him. Just as he turned around to see what the pair was gasping at, the crash of glass on the tile floor behind him and Sky rang out through the room. That wasn't particularly safe, considering they had already partially attached the wires to their device of choice. Electricity and water? Not a good mix.

He thought fast, eyes widening the tiniest bit as he stepped back and in the process, firmly grabbed onto Sky's slim arm with his big hand. The crash was closer to him, but nonetheless he moved her away from it, his other hand resting upon the small of her back in case he was pushing her away too hard. As quickly as the crash happened, he let go of her once he reasoned she was far enough. A slight crackling sound could be heard from the electricity coming into contact with the water. Definitely a hazard.

"You good?" he asked casually with raised brows as he glanced over at her, removing his hand and giving her shoulder a quick pat.

 

[esor]

Alex stifled a laugh when she called him boss. "Wow. I like that. You should call me that more often." He playfully winked at her, but even he thought that may be a little much. "Kidding. Obviously." His tone became more serious.

The boy jogged to the front of the room and picked up one of the smaller lightbulbs, if it was up to him he'd have just shown Mr. Milburn the Tamagotchi and then left, but he wanted to see Ellie do it too, and it would've probably been unfair. He brought the bulb back and handed it to her. "Think we'll get extra points."

He picked up the next wire and handed it to her, "Attach it." He instructed. "If it lights up we're done. Well, when it lights up." He added rather arrogantly, his confidence beaming from every expression that his face made and every movement he made. Once he had finished speaking he leant his body against the table with a smile, relieved they had almost finished it and he could just do nothing. Hell, he'd probably leave as soon as they had shown Mr. Milburn that they'd completed it. What was there to stay for? Sure leaving Ellie might be a dick move but he knew Skylar was in the class, so she always had her to go to if she wanted.

His eyes stayed glued onto Ellie and her actions, as though he was monitoring if she did it correctly but in reality he was just watching to see if it would work, because the second it did he would drag Mr. Milburn over and earn his right to leave.

Before Skylar even had any time to react, she felt a strong hand on her arm and a similar one on the small of her back. Despite her hazardous surroundings the only thing she could focus on was him touching her. Even if it was for a split second, the feeling he instilled into her lasted a thousand times longer. The electricity bouncing around the puddle of water and glass was half of what she was feeling inside, the excitement flowing through her veins forced a smile on her face. She figured she must've looked psychotic; it was a dangerous situation and she was grinning.

In the few seconds, but what felt like forever, it took for her to respond to his enquiry she managed to falter her smile and nod.

"I'm fine, yeah...Thank you, thanks to you. I'm okay, are you?" She spoke rather quickly, noticing beaker was dropped closer to him than it was to her. At this point she was looking up at him, her eyes softened compared to how they were when the shock of the noise struck her body, and her body more relaxed. But her heart was pounding and the girl had never put as much effort into anything as she was putting into hiding her excitement about him touching her.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie had her eyebrows raised at whatever he had said. Was it flirting? He said he was kidding, but maybe not. It left him rather naturally. Nonetheless, she didn't read into it too much, and simply responded with a quiet laugh. She couldn't help the slight flutter she felt from the wink. It wasn't the fact that it came from Alex, it was just the fact that a man was winking at her. It was nothing, obviously. The girl watched him momentarily leave her to grab a light bulb, and once he began to instruct her, she stood up a little straighter.

"Whatever you say, boss." She gave him a hint of a smirk as she looked at him slyly before proceeding to detach the tamagotchi from their DIY battery and setting it off to the side. She was relived that he gave her a lightbulb, since that was probably the easiest thing to attach. It didn't involve unscrewing anything, simply sticking the wires onto the base of the lightbulb, which she did rather easily. Her fingers worked carefully, but within a minute or so, she was finished, and she looked at him for his approval.

"Good enough?" She asked, gesturing to the lit up bulb.

Joshua waited for Skylar to say something before he looked over at the mess on the ground, unsure about who was going to clean that up. Definitely not him. Even if it was his own mess, he sure as hell wouldn't clean it up. His eyes returned to Skylar, not particularly noticing her fast paced talking. He figured it was the shock from the whole thing from happening. Today really wasn't going great at all for everyone. To be honest, he had forgotten about Heather for the past hour. Not that he was incredibly focused on chemistry, but she wasn't the focus at the moment. At least, for now. He knew this wouldn't die down so quickly anyway.

"Yeah i'm cool." He told her, before turning his attention back toward their little project. "Where were we?" He asked, genuinely having forgotten what they were meant to do at this point. Attach the wires to the stereo? Yeah, probably.

"Want me to do it or.." He trailed off, once more offering his help since she had been doing practically everything.

 

[esor]

"Good enough, I suppose." He teased and then walked slightly further to the front of the classroom where Mr. Milburn was sat. "We're done." The boy, taller than Mr. Milburn, stated. The two walked back over to the workbench, Alex gesturing towards the lit lightbulb. "We also successfully powered the Tamagotchi. Is that all we have to do?"

Before Mr. Milburn could reply with anything other than a nod, Alex was slinging his bag on his shoulder. "Cool, catch ya' later." He smirked and headed towards the door, after a few steps he turned on his heel to look at Ellie.

"Good work, boss." He finished with before making his exit, pushing open the door with his right hand and letting it close behind him. Chewing his gum as he headed through the hall, he appreciated the vocal silence and just the sounds of his large footsteps on the floor. He pushed open the fire exit door which led to a little grassy area, walking through then leaning against the brick wall. He swung his backpack round to his side and opened it, fishing around for a loose cigarette in the depths of his remotely empty bag. He picked out the lone cigarette and then plucked the lighter from the back left pocket of his jeans.

Mr. Milburn smiled at Ellie after watching Alex make a typical exit. "Good work, you're actually the first ones to finish I think. And you did two, without any accidents." He let out a raspy chuckle, referring to the beaker-dropping accident that happened minutes previous. The man looked over to see the lab technician beginning to clear it up, and no one was scathed by it so he thought being jolly about it was fine.

Skylar's emotions were still peaked, so it took a moment for her to refocus. In her head, the girl was in the middle of convincing herself that Josh pulling her out of danger meant more than it actually did. As she thought about that, her cheeks flushed a gentle pink, but over all of that she was able to focus on his words.

"Uhh, yeah, sure that'd be good." She replied, "If it works then we're pretty much done, I think."

She watched Josh, praying the stereo would turn on. She could do with a break from it, more so she wanted to daydream about what had just happened and create ridiculous scenarios in her head. But to her they wouldn't be ridiculous, for all she knew he cared about her as much as she cared about him. Maybe he felt the same way and had all of the butterflies swarming his stomach when he touched her arm. I hope so, she thought.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie's eyebrows were lifted up as she watched Xander leave so soon, simply giving him a nod and a slight smile since she wasn't sure on what to say.

"Yep. Great." She murmured in response to the chemistry teacher, her enthusiasm sort of leaving her. She wasn't a particularly social person, meaning she wasn't friendly with other students apart from her friend group, so she wasn't sure what to do now that she was all by her lonesome. She was a tad bothered by the fact that Xander had left her alone so soon like that, even though he didn't owe her his company, and as she glanced over at Sky still working on her experiment with Josh, she figured she shouldn't bother them. So, she pulled her headphones out and continued listening to the Nirvana cassette from earlier as she put away everything they had used for the experiment.

"Alright cool." Josh nodded, adjusting the cuffs of his denim jacket and tucking them up so he could work a little better. He was really into music, and he obviously had his own stereo at home, so he knew exactly where the battery compartment was. This one didn't require a screwdriver, all he had to do was pull up the plastic tab and the compartment was revealed to him. As he adjusted the wires to touch the metal bits that usually pinched the batteries, he jumped the tiniest bit as the stereo suddenly started blasting music. Someone had left the 'play' button pressed down, and a random Bon Jovi song proceeded to fill the room.

Josh winced at the sound, particularly because he was so close to the source, and immediately reached a hand over to adjust the volume knob, lowering it as much as possible so 'You Give Love a Bad Name' was playing softly rather than blaring in his ears.

"Yeah, ouch." He complained a little, squinting his eyes as he touched his left ear as he felt a slight ache in his eardrum. "We did it though." He added, figuring that was the silver lining of it all.

 

[esor]

Alex took the rest of the allocated class time to be alone, he figured that since it was in the middle of class he wouldn't have anyone else bother him out there. In all honesty he was just happy that he'd done two of the classes, and most likely he'd go home and skip the rest of the day. The tragic event of Heather's murder eradicated any speck of guilt the boy would feel for skipping the remainder of the school day, how could anyone expect him to battle a whooole day at school when he was grieving!? He chuckled to himself at the thought, and rose his cigarette to his lips to take a drag.

Skylar watched Josh's actions in a state of admiration, her arms resting on the table whilst she looked at him. Even though it was a pretty basic task that the majority of people could figure out, she was stood there watching him as if he was doing brain surgery. Since she was so intently focused on him, she got a little fright when the music blared out. Letting out a laugh, she looked at him.

"Well, it definitely works!" She added. She felt the eyes of the other students lock onto them because it was so loud, which just made her chuckle more. She caught the attention of Mr. Milburn, who looked over their work and gave them a nod of approval.

"I'll get it all tidied then." Sky said, by now it wasn't long until the class would finish. She cleared the things away, careful to avoid the puddle of glass and water that still lingered on the floor near them. When the bell rang, she looked over at Joshua. "I suppose I'll see you later, then?" She gave him a smile and a little wave before leaving the room, humming the tune of 'Lovefool' by The Cardigans on her way out and looking forward to being driven home by him later.

 

[amberskies]

Ellie let out a little yawn at some point as she returned to her seat after putting all of her things away, reaching into her backpack to check what other cassettes she had. She practically always had her headphones on if she wasn't talking to someone, which was sort of frequent if she wasn't around friends. She just felt awkward sitting around in silence. Soon enough, they were dismissed so Ellie left right off the bat, her headphones still sitting atop her head as she made her way toward the lunch hall before proceeding with the rest of the day.

Josh didn't particularly mind everyone's eyes resting on them due to the loud speaker. Being in the spotlight was something he was used to, so he didn't feel the least bit nervous as he glanced around and found he had captured everyone's attention with the stereo.

"Cool, we're done then." He told her with relief evident in his voice, glad he was done with chemistry. They had a few more classes to go after lunch, but he'd stick through them somehow.

"Yep, if we don't have our last class together i'll meet you by the parking lot. Blue Ford Cortina." He told her as he proceeded to walk away, stepping backwards for a few moments as he finished off his sentence before giving her a cheesy salute by placing his two fingers by his forehead and then flicking them away.

He was satisifed that he could now leave the classroom for a smoke prior to eating his lunch. Maybe Josh should've felt bad for leaving her to tidy, but it wasn't that much of a hassle so she doubted she'd be offended.

 

[esor]

After that very eventful Wednesday, not much changed and Heather's name was being muttered in the hallways, not that was any different to how it had always been. However, as Friday morning came around and there was no news of another victim, Sky particularly felt relieved. It was the second morning since Heather's death was announced and no one else had come to that same fate so she figured it was only a one time thing. Either way, she was relieved it was Friday and she could have a little break from the learning, though that did mean she probably wouldn't be seeing Josh for a couple of days which did dishearten her slightly- nothing she couldn't brush off, though.

Sky was the second person to approach the bench at lunch time, sliding into the table opposite Lindsey who was already sat there. They had a bit of chatter going on, including Lindsey mentioning how bored she was the Friday previous. That got Sky thinking, maybe her, Ellie and Lindsey could do something that weekend. Bringing up that idea to the girl opposite her, Skylar saw nothing but her eyes light up and show off an excited grin.

"What're you thinking?" Sky asked her, to which she gave a playful shrug. It was obvious that Lindsey had an idea, and with thought Sky could probably work it out but she didn't have much time to as more of their friends joined the table. She saw Alex from the corner of her eye, stood against the wall smoking- which she figured he might do often, but she didn't see him do it that much. He did always have a very faint scent of smoke on him, nothing distasteful or repugnant, she just noticed it if they were close to one another which didn't happen that frequently anyway.

Before long, he tossed his cigarette butt to the floor and stomped on it half-heartedly, casually making his way to the table and standing at the end like he usually would. He gave the two girls a nod, but made no effort to join in on the conversation. He pulled out half a sandwich wrapped in foil from his bag and began eating it, the other half of which he ate for breakfast on the way to school.

 

[amberskies]

Josh left the classroom right as the bell rang, but chose to smoke a cigarette before joining his friends by the picnic table, as he always did. Alex was smoking nearby, but he didn't particularly care to join him. He looked up at the sky as he exhaled clouds of smoke, the same colour as the dull clouds above him. It wasn't sunny at all. In fact, the weather was slightly depressing, but if he was being honest, he sort of enjoyed shitty weather. He eventually dropped the cigarette and crushed it with his boot, before joining the group a few minutes after Alex.

Josh, too, had a chicken sandwich he had made himself that morning. He had many siblings so there was no way his mom could make lunch for him; he was the second eldest, so his mom typically prioritised making lunch for the young ones. He didn't mind; he could whip up a decent sandwich in 10 minutes anyway.

Ellie's history teacher ended up talking a little bit overtime, so she was the last to join the picnic table. As always, she had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was a combination that she had almost every single day, but seeing as it was quick and she was too lazy to pack herself anything fancier, she dealt with it.

It was quiet among the group for a few minutes as they ate, until Lindsey broke that silence.

"So what you guys doing tonight?" She asked. It was a relatively normal question to ask, considering it was a Friday night. Josh had a mouthful of sandwich in his mouth, so he merely shrugged in response, practically indicating he had nothing in mind for the evening. He occasionally spent Friday nights in, he wasn't a firm believer in the idea that you had to go out on Fridays and that they were all that special.

"Working." Ellie told them. Typical answer. She proceeded to unwrap her sandwich, carefully crumpling up the loose bits of foil so they wouldn't fly away with the gentle breeze that was blowing. Lindsey then looked over at Sky and Alex, her eyebrows raised up expectantly.

 

[esor]

Skylar smiled to herself when Lindsey asked the question that she predicted she would. But she kept her excitement tame, not wanting to convince herself that they'd all be hanging out if plans would just fall through. She thought for a moment before answering.

"Straight after school I have to help with a delivery at the bookstore, should only take an hour or two though then I'm free." She recalled her thoughts. Since she'd been working at the bookstore both formally and informally for so long and she was friendly with the owner, she never had overly strict shifts and volunteered to do a lot of things. She'd help sort out a delivery and get a generous 20 dollars cash for doing so, but it wouldn't be down as formal work. She usually chatted with the owner anyway, so it was something she enjoyed.

Alex was late to answer, it wasn't often he got invited to things, he guessed because of his lonesome nature, so he automatically assumed that Lindsey wasn't talking to him. Since he was so confident it wasn't uncommon for him to just turn up to parties unannounced, drink their booze and have a good time; no one really dared to tell him to leave but it wasn't as though he ruined it for people, or so he thought. It was only when he swallowed his mouthful and caught her eye that he noticed Lindsey looking at him.

"Oh, uh, I'm not doing anything. Why?" He questioned her as if she was up to something suspicious. Xander couldn't recall a time he had ever spoken to Lindsey one on one, he thought she was a decent person but she gossiped a lot and that didn't interest the boy in the slightest. He didn't care to be told which cheerleader slept with which footballer or what teacher might be having a midlife crisis.