Elizabeth stepped lightly down the hallway, enjoying the paintings, sculptures, and items that lined it. She’d seen them all countless times before but they all seemed different on that day, for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that it was the first day of classes for all the students who were attending Mutant High. The animal manipulator strolled along with a wide smile on her face, regardless of the fact. It was just so exciting being in a completely different school than she was used to (even though she had been living there for several months). It also reminded her of having school in a museum or something, with all the artifact-y looking stuff around mansion.

So far, her schedule was pretty good. She had a couple friends in each class. The teachers seemed like she could work with them. Each class seemed easy enough with a little elbow grease. Nothing she couldn’t handle. Weaving around a small group of students walking at about half her speed, the blonde checked the little typed-up schedule she had been given earlier that day. Let’s see, what’s next? She skimmed the basic, monotypic font until she came to her fifth class of the day, the one that came directly after lunch, which she had just come from. Chemistry.

The blonde glanced up at a door as she passed by it. Fortunately, they were numbered. According to the room number beside the class on her schedule, she was about three classes down. She slipped her schedule into her binder (the only thing she was carrying) and proceeded to keep going down the hall. When she finally found the right classroom, Beth stepped in slowly, trying to take stock of the whole room in an instant. It didn’t work, but she saw enough to quickly figure out that she didn’t know any of the four students already in the room without looking awkward by standing in the doorway forever.

Shrugging to herself, she made her way to the far side of the room and sat in the middle of a row at the end of the seats. She was quite alone, the other people spread out as well. But she’d make the most of it. She just couldn't help but hope that she'd have a friend in there as well. Her eyes flicked to the door, wishing someone she'd know would waltz right in at that very moment.

The first day of classes had been going great, so far.

It had been a while since Lance had enrolled in a school... almost a year to be exact. He was not able to enroll for his junior year since he and his mother had to relocate to New York and things spiraled from that point on. It is therefore not surprising that he finds the scholastic feeling taking a while to get used to.

The pounding sound of fast approaching footfalls pulled Lance from his private thoughts. Instincts took control of his body, as he went flat against the wall and just in the nick of time too. Three students bolted past him, heading in the direction he came from. But before he could call their attention they had disappeared, presumably into one of the classrooms he had just passed.

With a shake of his head, Lance continued further down the corridor.

He fished out the simple printout of his schedule for the semester from his pocket and checked out his next class for the day... Chemistry. Lance groaned as he read the letters. He liked Physics and Physics is related to Chemistry in a lot of ways, but he just can’t seem to like Chemistry the way he did Physics.

“Great! My first year in the school and I get a subject I’m not particularly good at...” Lance muttered under his breath.

The room numbers above each door told him that he was headed in the right direction and that he was only a few rooms away from his destination.

The room in question came into view and Lance slowed his pace. He once again fished his schedule from his pocket. Stopping in front of the open door for a few seconds. Lance sized up the room and its inhabitants under the guise of checking the room number against his printed schedule.

There were a few students presently inside the room. Five to be exact... the first four were all unfamiliar to him. But the blond girl seated in the far end of the room... now her, he had seen around the mansion for some time now. It’s just that he never had the courage to approach and get to know her.

Lance entered the room, making his way towards the general direction of the blond girl. He steeled himself as he neared her location. "Hello..." he greeted her, as he turned left on the row just before hers, seating two chairs to her right.

Nice opening... his inner voice chided him.

It had been a busy day to say the least he had to wake up early which sucked, go to class, which sucked and he had still had the shiner that was fading from Scott his ‘acquaintance’ which was alright but what wasn’t alright was everyone who didn’t know about how he got asked him over and over again. Of course he played it off as a joke but he knew a few people weren’t happy with him for not telling them the truth. It didn’t matter though, even if they knew it wouldn’t change much. He figured they could gather enough information from the ongoing rumors so he didn’t feel a need to explain what happened.

Shrugging his right wing and shoulder lifting his backpack up he walked into what he figured would be one of the least entertaining classes of the semester. He had Theater, which he knew he would attend more than usual but as far as English and History was concerned… snoozeville, and Gym? Well let’s just say he had no love for the subject especially seeing as he was much smaller than most of the other kids. The only perk to his crappy schedule was besides theater he had his ‘friend’ Elizabeth Sundance in two of his classes already. It wasn’t a reason to start doing well in school but it was a good a reason as any to start attending classes more than he did last school year.

When fifth period came around he debated skipping class, it was Chemistry after all and unless he wanted to become a mad scientist he doubted it would come in hand. He already knew all he figured he’d need to know, Water was one H and two O and it froze when it got cold. He sighed as he walked to the door where it was located and wondered what the teacher’s policy was on not being in class. With another sigh he figured the best way to find out is with the rubric and the only way to get that is go to the first day of class.

Walking into the room he looked for a familiar face one that would make this class easier to be in when he was actually in class. His gaze met a few people before it momentarily shifted to the window where he noticed a bird flying by taunting him by landing a nearby tree out in the courtyard. His tail twitched and he turned his feet ready to leave the class but he stopped short when he noticed a blonde he didn’t notice before. ”Elizabeth!” Carrick called as he waved to her.

Turning back on his heels he walked more into the room and smiled to her, ”Here I thought this class was going to be as fun as a root canal!” walking towards her as his tail twitched behind him with a smile on his face. ”Seat taken?” he asked pointing to the one next to her as he placed his backpack (full of a single notebook and a pen) on the table next to her.

Looking away from Elizabeth as he walked over and hopped into the chair next to her he looked forward to the Asian looking fellow before him and smiled at him, ”Are you as excited about this class as I am?” he asked with his usual tone of sarcasm making it known he wasn’t big on the subject.

Nathan was lost. In fact, since Nathan had no idea where anything was, he was lost pretty much all the time. Back home in England, he’d get lost in his own house, and now he was here in America where people spoke funny and everything was unfamiliar and huge. And he was lost. He considered revising his world view. Being lost was having no idea where you were, which wasn’t the case. He knew where he was; he was in America. He just had no idea where anything else was. So he considered himself ‘found’ in an unknown land, which he promptly set out to explore. His first objective (strange for a foreign settler, who would normally prioritise food or shelter) was therefore to find his classes. He had a timetable. He had a list of rooms. He even had a school map that he’d picked up from the front desk. So why was this so hard?!?

Flash back a few hours…

He had found his first few classes of the day with relative ease. Maths and Geography. He was good at neither, but nor was he terrible. He soon found that the curriculum taught here was a mix of things he already knew from his education in England and things that he didn’t know that everyone else did. He found himself contemplating a universal standard of education, but then realised that he was devoting too much time to hypotheticals and not enough to learning the way a volcano formed. Like he cared about that. Well, okay, volcanos were pretty cool, but Maths he could miss. And they called it Math…short for Mathematic(s)?

Whatever. He’d survived his first few classes with little distraction and had sat alone at lunch, thinking about his own situation and lost in his own thoughts. This happened to him altogether too often and more than once landed him in hot water. Like today. He emerged from a reverie about dinosaurs living in a volcano and realised that he was suddenly the only one in the canteen. Flashing a glance to the hallway, he saw the last of the late-goers to lessons fleeing towards them. The bell just stopped ringing. Crap. This was just what he needed. Late on the very first day. Just peachy. Where was he supposed to be now, anyway? He consulted the map and almost bumped into a couple of kids in the hallway as he rushed, turning the map over and trying to work out where he was. One of the kids stepped to one side, and he ran straight through the other one, but didn’t notice.

He still had a drink in one hand, his bag slung over his back and a pencilcase in the other. He was holding all of this and the map with some difficulty, and when he eventually did find out where he was, he held the map with his teeth to pull out his timetable with two fingers, careful not to drop the pencilcase. “Chemistry…where the hell’s that?!” he murmured through a clenched map.

Okay, this is where we left off.

Nathan made his way, decidedly late to the lesson. Better to turn up late than not at all, he figured, and made his way along the hallway. He rounded a corner and saw his classroom. It looked like the teacher was just walking in. “Great.” he said, rushing after him, but the door swung shut as he arrived. He now had bag, pencilcase, drink, map and timetable juggled about his person and saw that the door handle was made of metal. It was a door handle, and most of them were, but still. This was not what he needed right now. He needed a break. No such luck, however. He pushed forwards, turning to try and push down the door handle with his backpack, succeeding only in catching the strap and proving unable to release himself. He sighed. He tried to bend down and put the drink on the floor, but now restricted by his backpack found that a challenge. “Oh come ON” he said with a wrench and pulled his snap free, falling flat on his face and scattering his things all over the hallway.

They could probably hear him inside and were wondering what was going on, so Nathan quickly gathered up his things, folded up the map again, put the timetable away and observed that his T-shirt was completely soaked from his drink. “Well, them’s the breaks” his inner monologue commented as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out and putting on some gloves. What a way to make an entrance, he thought bleakly to himself as he turned the handle and stepped into the room. There were 7 kids already in there and one teacher who had just appeared.

“Um, hello? I think I’m meant to be in this class…Chemistry 101, right?” said Nathan as he walked into the room. Great first impression right there Nathan. Just swell.

Well, nobody she knew danced through the doorway. Instead, a guy with an Oriental appearance stopped in the doorway, much like she had just moments before, and then walked in normally. Elizabeth mentally reviewed her list of known students at the school. She quickly drew a blank on the guy. Whoever he was, she didn’t know him, although he looked slightly familiar. She’d probably seen him around once or twice. Yeah, that was it.

Then he proceeded to make his way over to her. That surprised her. In all of her public school experience, children and teenagers always shied away from people they didn’t know and tended to hang out by themselves in the middle of groups of empty seats. Hardly anybody just plopped down close to someone else. But he was okay with her. He didn’t immediately strike her as the type of guy who would goof off all class, copy her work, and then bug and annoy her for the whole semester. “Hey,” she replied politely, not really wanting to talk with a 99% total stranger but not wanting to be rude and ignore him either.

As the blonde’s brown eyes slid past the guy sitting just off to her right, they landed on the door again. The girl really hoped someone she knew would be in the class as well. She had nothing against making new friends, but she always preferred already having friends in the class. As for the next person to walk in, yeah, he was definitely her friend. Anything more than a friend, she wasn’t sure, but he definitely fit all requirements for being a friend.

“Hey Carrick!” she replied, smiling and wiggling her fingers at him. Was it just her or had the lights in the room suddenly brightened a bit? Or had the birds nesting in the tree outside the window just started singing louder or feeling a bit happier? Honestly, Liz didn’t know but she really didn’t care. She watched with a bright glint in her eyes as the lion-tailed boy made his way over to her, like a bee does to a flower. She rolled her eyes in jest a bit after Carrick’s comment and shook her head at his question. “No, no es,” she said, tossing in a bit of Spanish.

She rolled her eyes a bit more seriously when her male friend/possibly more or less than a friend instantly started up a conversation with the other guy.

And then the bell rang. That was quick, the empath thought to herself. It just hadn’t seemed like it had taken her that long to get to her class, and she was certain that she hadn’t been waiting in the class for four or so minutes. Maybe they ring fifth period bells early or something. Whatever the reason for it, her suggestion made as much sense at the moment.

The teacher walked in at that moment. Instead of giving the usual “Good afternoon, Class! My name is Such and Such and blah blah blah…” spiel, he merely sat down at the computer on his desk and set a mug down beside it. Just when it seemed that he was about to say something, like a greeting or a roll-call, a jiggling of the door handle and then something that sounded like a metal trash can tap-dancing could’ve been heard throughout the class, followed by an unusually loud, “Oh come ON”

And then the door opened, and like magic, a student appeared, wondering if he was in the right class. Liz couldn’t help but stifle a giggle and she failed hiding the grin on her face. The teacher stared at the teen for a long moment before drawing out, “Well, it looks like it. You’d better be getting here faster from now on.” To Liz, the teacher seemed to be a very laid-back guy, but someone who wouldn’t tolerate a rule being broken or anything.

After a few more moments, the teacher, still sitting at his desk, announced that he was going to take roll. He began reeling off a list of names, some there and some not there. The size of the class surprised the animal possessor. None of her other classes had been that small, having only eight students in them total. But it was the first day of school and all, so the other students had probably ended up in the wrong classes or something. Oh well, it didn’t really pertain to her.

When the teacher got to her name, she raised her hand and said, “Here,” obeying the rules like every other student.

((OOC: Anyone can take control, describe, or do anything with the teacher. I just kinda have him there. Go wild!))

Lance’s “Hello.” was met by a “Hey.” Tsk. You should have greeted her more properly... his inner voice started to reprimand him as he was settling in to his seat trying not to appear nervous. A “Hi, my name is Lance...” would’ve given you a lengthier reply.

He was about to turn towards the girl when she happily called out to the guy that just walked into their classroom... Carrick. To which the guy replied by calling out to her... Elizabeth.

The guy had a pair of large golden brown wings protruding from his back, which instantly caught Lance’s attention and curiosity. His gaze casually followed Carrick as he made his way towards their general direction, passing his row... and that was when he noticed the twitching tail. Carrick sat right beside Elizabeth.

The two friends engaged in idle chit-chat while Lance gazed out the window at the sunny afternoon.

”Are you as excited about this class as I am?”

Lance was caught off guard when Carrick suddenly threw the question at him. The younger man did not even try to hide the sarcasm in his tone. He knew that most students did not like Chemistry, especially with all the memorization work involved just to pass the subject.

”Not exactly my top pick for favorite subject, but it’s ok... I guess.” Lance answered with a smile and a shrug. ”By the way, my name is Lance,” he introduced himself, extending a hand to Carrick and a quick glance towards Elizabeth.

Just as he finished with the introduction, the bell rang signifying the start of their class. A male faculty about thirtyish plus of age, walked in on cue as if he had been standing outside the room just waiting for the bell to ring.

The teacher went directly to his desk without much preamble, setting the mug he was carrying on top of it. He looked as if he was about to introduce himself when a commotion outside the door drew his attention.

”Oh come ON!”

The voice sounded familiar to Lance, though it was slightly muffled by the closed door.

A few seconds later, the door opened and in comes a familiar ash blonde haired teen... Nathan. And by the sound of him, he was lost again. Lance shot Nathan a reassuring smile and gave him a two-fingered salute/wave just as the teacher reminded Nathan to come earlier to class the next time. Well, that’s better than a scolding on the first day of class.

While Nathan was making his way into the room, the teacher started calling the roll. Lance was a little surprised by the small turn-out of students on the first day of classes. Based on the roll call, there were more than eight students in their class, which was, sadly, the number of attendees presently in the room.

“Sandejas, Laurencio Miguel” the teacher called.

Lance quickly raised his hand, followed by a clear, ”Present.”

Reaching out and shaking Lance’s hand Carrick smiled a little upset he didn’t get the response he was looking for, ‘another bookworm’ Carrick wondered as he gave his name, ”Carrick, and this…” he gestured his free hand to Elizabeth as the professor walked in with a coffee as the bell rang. He heard a commotion and someone yelling out side the class room before he looked around and sighed, ”TO think I’m one of the kids that actually showed up today…” he placed his head on the desk in front of him and his eyes trailed out the window where he knew he should have been instead of enclosed space such as the chemistry room.

Names were now being called and he debated skipping even though the teacher already saw him. Maybe it wasn’t to late… he looked up to get another look at the professor and then let out a small groan as he called Elizabeth’s name and then Lance’s as well as a few dozen other kids. He knew of the professor he was one of the teachers who tossed him into detention last year for skipping biology. The way he saw it however it was completely justified they finished going over birds or prey and such so there wasn’t really a reason to keep him there to learn about the make up of a worm. Far as he was concerned the worm was only good for one thing… snack (in his shifted form).

Someone walked into he class and the teacher gave him a brief lecture about arriving on time and went back to roll call. His name was next on the list and then the professor looked up, “O….” he sighed and then eyed Carrick, “O’Connor”… reluctantly raising his hand he waved to the teacher and then lowered it. “I take it your going to be attending all of my classes this term?” Carrick smirked and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly and then he continued onward with the roll call as a few more students wandered in late.

Turning his head slightly Carrick looked back out the window and sighed his tail swaying behind him impatiently wishing that the professor would let them out early for no particular reason. During the sway he lowered his hands on his near empty backpack on the desk before glancing over at Elizabeth then asking, ”You think we get to make stink bombs?” he thought about what he would do once he learned how to make a smoke bomb. Immediately he decided to let it go off in Scott’s room. Carrick got a shiner and Scott would get a stink bomb… seemed like a fair trade for him.

>> “Well, it looks like it. You’d better be getting here faster from now on.”

Nathan almost flinched in expectation of the tongue-lashing he was about to receive. He stood there a couple of seconds, just absorbing what the teacher had said, waiting for more. When it became apparent that there was nothing else to be said, his inner monologue burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Is that it? Dude, we’re in the clear. This guy’s a pushover. Doss class. High five?” mentally high fiving himself (which isn’t sad at all) he walked through the class, taking the opportunity to scan for faces he knew.

Great, he was in a class full of strangers…and Lance! At least he wouldn’t be all alone in here. He started making his way through the room. It looked like there were seats to let 20+ people sit comfortably in the classroom, but with his addition, the class total was only 8. He wondered what the deal was, but realised he was spending too much time idling, when his reverie was shattered by the teacher.

“Chambers, Nathan?” the teacher asked in a crisp querying tone. Nathan spun, almost hitting one guy with his bag. “Yo?” he asked, raising a two-fingered wave to indicate who he was. He realised that this wasn’t quite what the teacher was looking for and realised that he was taking the register. He must be first…just his luck. He saw the straight line of the teacher’s mouth begin to curl downwards and hastened to rectify the situation. “Uh, I mean yes, sir. Present. I’m here.” he gave another wave to clarify the point.

The teacher did not look impressed. He folded his arms and Nathan groaned. Why couldn’t he just not draw attention to himself? “Mr Chambers, if it takes you as long to find a seat as it did to find your way to the lesson, you’ll be obstructing Mr Sawyer’s view all day.” He said, and Nathan mouthed a quick apology to the guy behind him. The one he’d almost hit with his bag. He was making friends all over the place today.

He quickly shuffled through the classroom to sit next to Lance, giving him a weak smile. At least everyone knew his name now, he thought glumly as the teacher watched him all the way to his seat before continuing the roll call. He listened carefully to see if he could remember the names of all the other kids in the class. He realised he was one of the oldest here, but clearly that didn’t prevent him from making an ass of himself in front of everyone.

He tried to home in on the covert conversations that everyone else seemed to be having.

>> ”You think we get to make stink bombs?”

Nathan seriously doubted that. Fortunately, he knew how to make a stink bomb. He’d had the great fortune in his education on England to have no fewer than two chemistry teachers who were retiring. As such, it was their last year so they’d decided to just have some fun with their classes. He’d got to do all sorts of things that teachers concerned about keeping their jobs might have shied away from. Like pouring mercury. Or making stink bombs. Or smoke bombs. All kinds of fun.

Spotting an opportunity to engage a fellow student with words and not a bag to the face, he leaned back on his chair, turning to talk to the guy in the row in behind him. Carrick, he remembered from the roll call “Hey dude. Carrick, yeah? I'm Nathan. I seriously doubt the school’s gonna teach us how to make stink bombs…but that doesn’t mean we can’t.” he said with a grin, rocking back forwards in his chair to lean over the desk once more as he saw the teacher’s casual but scrutinising gaze sweep across the classroom.

Going by the list of names of the people in the class, Elizabeth realized that Carrick was the only person in there that she knew. At least half the class wasn’t there, but Liz didn’t recognize any of them. Perhaps if she had seen their faces, they might’ve stood out. She quickly forgot the names of almost everyone in the room, except for Carrick’s (which she’d never forget), that Nathan guy who had been late and had made a scene of himself, and the Lance person in front of Carrick. At least, she thought the guy had said Lance. He had also raised his hand to another name that sounded nothing like Lance.

Elizabeth watched the interactions the teacher had with many of the students. Obviously, he knew some already, like Carrick. And judging by his remark, Liz doubted that Carrick had actually attended a class with him regularly. A glimmer of a smile lingered for several moments on one side of her mouth. She wasn’t surprised by that fact, Carrick was such a boy after all. And not the kind of boy that was in the top of the class and involved of tons of extracurricular activities either. If anything, she was a little bit annoyed that that wasn’t how Carrick was. But oh well, nobody was perfect, even if they looked like an angel.

Her chocolate-colored pupils studied the taller blonde guy in front of her. Nathan seemed to have already annoyed the teacher with his less-than-dramatic entrance and continued spectacle of just standing around and looking awkward, in Elizabeth’s humble and non-judgmental opinion. On the plus side, he was very easily on the eyes, practically eye candy. But she was on a metaphorically-speaking diet. She slid her eyes to the side and tilted her head so she could see Carrick and the Lance-dude better. And just as she did, Carrick popped a question.

But Nathan answered it first, which was okay with her. She politely listened to him and then jumped into the topic herself. “I doubt it, but they’re not hard to make. All you need to do is poke a tiny hole in a fresh egg, wrap it in foil, and leave it out in the sun for several days.” She said it with a straight face, as if everybody knew how to make a simple stink bomb out of an egg. Then she finally broke and smiled. “I did a science project on different ways to make a stink bomb last year.” What a geek she was. She mentally shrugged. It didn’t matter. She just found school to be fun at certain times. Besides, science was just plain ol’ nifty when it could be applied.

Nathan made his way over to where Lance was seated and settled in the seat right beside his. Weak smile was met with a reassuring one.

The teacher’s gaze locked on to their location for a few seconds, staying the question Lance had wanted to ask Nathan the moment he caught sight of his roommate entering the room: Where had he been staying on the nights he did not sleep in the mansion?

”You think we get to make stink bombs?”

Carrick’s hushed question drew Lance’s attention. He was about to reply with an “unlikely” but Nathan quickly engaged the winged boy in conversation.

“I seriously doubt the school’s gonna teach us how to make stink bombs…”

Dang! Beat me to it...

“but that doesn’t mean we can’t.”

Lance coughed at Nathan’s suggestion of making the stink bomb on their own. Okay, so maybe the suggestion wasn’t such a bad idea exactly.

The mention of the stink bomb brought back memories of vengeance served. He had used a kitchen made stink bomb to exact vengeance with a particular bully named Jason, if he remembered correctly, back in Memorial High School in Victoria. The jerk was picking on him because he was the new kid in the school. After about a month of the bullying, Lance has had enough and decided to take matters into his own hands. He decided that he wanted Jason humiliated before their classmates and as luck would have it, he overheard several upperclassmen talking about stink bombing someone in their class just for the fun of it. This got his curiosity. He researched the information he needed from the net. It took another week before he finally got the chance to slip the already rotten egg inside Jason’s bag during break period. Jason had left his bag inside their room, prior to recess. Lance had been carrying his instrument of revenge carefully wrapped in old crumpled newspaper and securely placed inside a small box to ensure it will not break. He took the opportunity to slip the now very rotten egg into Jason’s bag. As what had been Jason’s practice, he plopped his bag on his seat upon returning to the room for their next class. The egg shattered creating a stinky situation in the room. The teacher had not arrived yet and the entire class erupted in laughter, with several of the boys jeering Jason for the stink he had just created. The laughter and jeering nearly brought Jason to tears and Lance nearly felt sorry for him... nearly.

”I doubt it, but they’re not hard to make. All you need to do is poke a tiny hole in a fresh egg, wrap it in foil, and leave it out in the sun for several days.”

Elizabeth’s voice joined the conversation and drew Lance from his reminiscing. He realized to his dismay that there was a stupid smile on his lips as his memories ran away with him.

“I did a science project on different ways to make a stink bomb last year.”

Lance glanced in the direction of Carrick and Elizabeth, wanting to join the “stinky” conversation as well, but he caught their teacher’s gaze roaming the nearly empty room and in order for him to join the conversation, he had to either lean back or turn around to face Carrick and Elizabeth, both of which were nearly impossible considering the present situation.

Everyone seemed to know how to make a stink bomb, everyone but him, maybe it was because he took that year off when he ran away and joined the circus? He mentally shrugged figuring there was no use in crying in about it seemed everyone was ready and willing to help him. Nathan said that he would help him and Lance looked like he wanted to jump in the conversation but it was Elizabeth that had his ear.

When she started rambling off on how to make it he got up from his seat walked over and leaned over placing his arms around her in a quick hug, normally he wouldn’t be so forward but this was the best way he figured he could express his thanks. His wings remained behind him along with his tail so it wasn’t as affectionate of a hug as it could have been but it was still a nice one never the less. ”You’re the best!” Carrick said as he realized it was a over reaction but didn’t really care.

It was then he felt the gaze of the professor and the eyes of a few of the other students in the back of the room. “Right it seems Mr. O’Connor is a little over eager to pick lab partners, so the rest of you pair up, Miss Sundance if you’d rather have another partner feel free to pick someone else.” The teacher said as he shook his head at Carrick.

Shrugging slightly Carrick backed up and turned to his desk and sat down in it, ”I was going to ask you to be my lab partner but if you’d rather have someone else…” Carrick said as he shrugged slightly, ”I’ll understand, Chem isn’t exactly my strong class.”

Nathan sighed. There he went putting himself out there, but breaking into friendships was hard. If you were established, you had history and precedence to adhere to. Not to mention that thanks to his accent, he was an outsider in this country even without a mutation. At least that part of his dating profile wouldn’t be a problem at this school. Still, you can’t win them all, he thought glumly as he watched his offer overwritten by the girl….Laura? He was pretty sure she was called Laura. Pretty sure.

Anyway, it seemed like not only was his (very limited) Chemistry expertise of next-to-no good here, but that Laura and Carrick were thick as thieves already. He blinked as Carrick got up, and everyone in the class turned to watch. Such sudden movement could hardly fail to attract attention. He moved over to Laura and wrapped his arms around her, surprising everyone.

>> “You’re the best!”

There was a smattering of sniggering from the class and more than a few wolf whistles. The ‘couple’ behind him were the focus of everyone’s attention now and Nathan watched expectantly to see the reaction on Laura’s face. He was whisked round to the front, however, by the teacher’s harsh commentary:

>> “Right it seems Mr. O’Connor is a little over eager to pick lab partners, so the rest of you pair up, Miss Sundance if you’d rather have another partner feel free to pick someone else.”

Lab partners. Right. He looked straight to Lance, assuming that since they were roommates and sitting together that he’d be willing to be his lab partner. If he wasn’t then Nathan was in trouble, as the rest of the students in the class seemed to find their way swiftly into pairs, until it was just the four of them sitting close together. “Hey…Lance, do you want to…” Nathan began, half waiting for Laura’s response. If she didn’t fancy working with Carrick after that outburst then it meant he and Lance would form two different pairs with the unhappy couple.

Elizabeth blinked. And then Carrick was right beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders in an embrace. A smile spread on her face as her male-friend-with-whom-she-was-very-close-to-and-had-even-gone-to-a-dance-with-but-wasn’t-exactly-her-boyfriend-that-she-kinda-was-and-kinda-not-going-out-with hugged her. It was a sweet gesture, despite it being a slight overreaction to her bestowal of knowledge. But hey, she wasn’t going to turn down a hug from him! She patted a wrist a couple of times, returning the hug as best she could, before he sat back down.

The blonde followed the boy with her eyes and flashed him a wide smile before shifting her attention back to the teacher, completely and deliberately ignoring the rudeness and crudeness from the other people in the class. To make things worse, they were all guys. But then again, she really couldn’t expect too much from them after all.

The teacher must not have had liked Carrick in a former life, because he seemed to pick on him a lot. After the slight disturbance the hug had caused had died down, the teacher let them loose to pick lab partners. Turning in her desk to face her slightly dejected looking guy-friend, she smiled warmly. “I’d love to be your lab partner, Carrick. Besides, I’d much rather not have to mess with the burners myself.” Too easy to burn things down with ‘em. And Lord knows, I’ve been in way too many fires as it is.

Once all lab partners had been confirmed, the teacher stood up and strolled to the side of his desks so he was in plain view of everyone. “Okay, class. I’ve got a syllabus I’m going to pass out to you. It’s got all kinds of stuff on it, like attendance policies, make-up work, rules, and a load of other stuff. But you guys can read it for yourself later. I find it boring to read it all out for everyone so go ahead and grab your partner and head back to the lab stations, okay?” The teacher waved his hands toward the back of the class. Liz twisted in her seat automatically to see the counters and tables and lab stuff he was indicating.

As she stood up, she established eye contact with her partner and then proceeded to head back to one of the stations. From his spot in the front of the class, the teacher yelled, “There are a couple papers per station. Each station has three different experiments at them. Just follow the instructions, remember to wear your goggles and aprons, and don’t mess around, and you should be okay. These don’t really have to do with anything, but they’re just fun to do. Good luck!”

With that, Liz donned her goggles and apron as she started scanning the first sheet.

The briefest sound of a commotion from behind him, reached Lance’s ears, which was quickly followed by an excited, if not overly happy, ”You’re the best!”

Tilting his head towards the direction of the noise, Lance was witness to the excited hug given by Carrick to Elizabeth. Sniggers and wolf whistles erupted from the other members of the class. He turned away from the “couple” so as to give them privacy. He caught the briefest glint of irritation from their teacher, as he looked towards their area. He was clearly not amused by the excessive display of emotion.

“Right it seems Mr. O’Connor is a little over eager to pick lab partners, so the rest of you pair up, Miss Sundance if you’d rather have another partner feel free to pick someone else.”

It seemed kind of obvious that Carrick and Elizabeth would be lab partners, they already had the right chemistry between them to work together. The other students were already moving around to form their respective partnerships. He had considered asking Elizabeth to be his lab partner, but that would have taken a huge amount of guts to do. Something he did not have at the moment.

Turning to his seatmate, Lance was met by... “Hey… Lance, do you want to…” Nathan left the offer hanging. A grin and a nod signified acceptance of Nathan's offer.

“Okay, class. I’ve got a syllabus I’m going to pass out to you. It’s got all kinds of stuff on it, like attendance policies, make-up work, rules, and a load of other stuff. But you guys can read it for yourself later. I find it boring to read it all out for everyone so go ahead and grab your partner and head back to the lab stations, okay?” The teacher waved his hands toward the back of the class.

Lance turned towards the direction their teacher was indicating. A laboratory set-up complete with separate counters and work areas, as well as various chemicals stored in a locked cabinet situated on the far wall.

The other students began moving towards the laboratory section, including Carrick and Elizabeth. Lance stood-up from his seat turning towards Nathan, ”Let’s do this.”

Lance headed for the work area adjacent to Carrick and Elizabeth. They were already starting conversation when the teacher’s roving gaze placed it all on hold. He didn’t want to waste the opportunity of making new friends... acquaintances, at least, of his two other classmates.

From his spot in the front of the class, the teacher yelled, “There are a couple papers per station. Each station has three different experiments at them. Just follow the instructions, remember to wear your goggles and aprons, and don’t mess around, and you should be okay. These don’t really have to do with anything, but they’re just fun to do. Good luck!”

Reaching their work station, Lance eagerly scooped up the documents containing their initial experiments. The first page was entitled “Equipment Familiarization”, which required the two of them to draw the various laboratory tools and equipment specifically mentioned in that particular experiment.

The second sheet was entitled “Ectoplasmic Goo”. That really caught his attention... but then again, their teacher did say that the experiments were fun to do.

The third sheet, Lance did not look at immediately. He had deliberately left that for later perusal.

After looking over the first two of the three experiments they were supposed to do, Lance began scanning their work area...

Metallic burner... check.

Metallic tripod... check.

Metallic test tube holder... check.

Metallic tongs... check.

Good grief! Lance thought as he glanced to his lab partner. A lot of the tools they will be using during experiments were made from metal. Memories of the discussion they had regarding their respective powers flashed in his mind. At least the work surface is tiled.

”So, how do we go about this?” Lance asked his lab partner, as he started putting on his apron and goggles.

It was an overreaction yes but he was glad he had hugged her it had been a big step for him towards his possible more than friend since the dance and the fact that he could hold her in a hug as long as he did. When she patted him he held back the blush and released her and then nodded when she agreed to becoming his lab partner.

”Burners I can do!” Carrick said his tail twitching excitedly behind him as he grinned towards Elizabeth as they headed back to their station, which was right next to Nathan and Lance’s station. Looking at the paper on the station momentarily then shifting his attention back to his partner he smirked and then laughed slightly, ”Odds of you wearing the goggles round the mansion on a daily basis?” he asked as he placed his on pair on then looked cross eyed under them to try and get a laugh from Elizabeth.

Apron on he grinned slightly and opened up his wings behind him then closed them to make sure he could still move if there was going to be a fire or an accident of some kind. Wings now behind him and tucked close he walked next to Elizabeth and looked over a few of the items on the first sheet of paper and then started to rummage through the drawers.

Pulling out a few beakers and a graduate cylinder he placed them on the counter near Elizabeth before he started rummaging placing most of the contents on the counter next to the beakers, ”Right I think I found everything on the list.” Carrick said picking up a small crucible having no idea what it was used for or what it was called, ”Why is there a miniature tea cup in here?” he asked flipping it over then examine the bottom then placing it back on the table.