111. chit chat

When we went to the door, everyone besides me groaned in unison. It was raining, washing all traces of the snow away in clear, icy ribbons down the side of the walkway. I pulled my hood up, secretly pleased. I would be free to go straight home after Gym.

Mike kept up a string of complaints on the way to building four.

Once inside the classroom, I saw that my table was still empty. Mr. Banner was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation. I kept my eyes away from the door, doodling idly on the cover of my notebook.

I heard very clearly when the chair next to me moved, but my eyes stayed carefully focused on the pattern I was drawing.

"Hello," said a quiet, musical voice.

I looked up, stunned that she was speaking to me. she was sitting as far away from me as the desk allowed, but her chair was angled toward me. her hair was dripping wet, disheveled - even so, she looked like he'd just finished shooting a commercial for shampoo. her beautiful face was friendly, open, a slight smile on her flawless lips. But her eyes were careful.

"My name is Amanda Cullen," she continued. "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Ryan Swan."

"Yepp" I said popping the p.

Thankfully, Mr. Banner started class at that moment. I tried to concentrate as he explained the lab we would be doing today. The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.

"Get started," he commanded.

"Ladies first, partner?" I asked. I smiled my best smile I could and passed her the microscope. she slid it back insisting I go first.

My assessment was confident. "Prophase."

"Do you mind if I look?" she asked as I began to remove the slide. Her hand caught mine, to stop me, as she asked. Her fingers were ice-cold, like she'd been holding them in a snowdrift before class. But that wasn't why I jerked my hand away so quickly. When she touched me, it stung my hand as if an electric current had passed through us, that was new.

I'm sorry," she muttered, pulling her hand back immediately. However, she continued to reach for the microscope. I watched her, still wondering about the shock was it a magic reaction or what, as she examined the slide for an even shorter time than I had.

"Prophase," she agreed, writing it neatly in the first space on our worksheet. she swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and then glanced at it cursorily.

"Anaphase," she murmured, writing it down as he spoke.

I kept my voice indifferent. "May I?" if we are gunna be petty let's do it all the way.

She smirked and pushed the microscope to me.

I looked through the eyepiece knowing she was right but I'm just petty like that.

"Slide three?" I held out my hand without looking at her.

She handed it to me; it seemed like she was being careful not to touch my skin again.

I took the most fleeting look I could manage.

"Interphase." I passed her the microscope before she could ask for it. she took a swift peek, and then wrote it down. I would have written it while ahe looked, but her clear, elegant script intimidated me. My handwriting looked like it belonged on a fridge drew by a first grader most of the time.

We were finished before anyone else was close. I could see Mike and his partner comparing two slides again and again, and another group had their book open under the table.

Which left me with nothing to do but try to not look at her. I glanced up, and ahe was staring at me, that same inexplicable look of frustration in her eyes as I felt my mental shield being rubbed over. Suddenly I identified that subtle difference in her face.

it was the butterscotch eye color. I did always enjoy butterscotch pudding when I could fight Luna off.

Mr. Banner came to our table then, to see why we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers.

"So, Amanda didn't you think Ryan should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Banner asked.

"Ryan" Amanda corrected automatically. "Actually, identified three of the five."

Mr. Banner looked at me now; his expression was skeptical.

"Have you done this lab before?" he asked.

I smiled sheepishly. "Not with onion root."

"Whitefish blastula?"

"Yeah."

Mr. Banner nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?"

"Yes."

"Well," he said after a moment, "I guess it's good you two are lab partners." He mumbled something else as he walked away. After he left, I began doodling on my notebook again.

It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?" Amanda asked.

"Not really," I answered honestly, instead of pretending to be normal like everyone else.

"You don't like the cold." It wasn't a question.

"No I'm fine with the cold but when it gets cold and wet and ruins my socks it's rather bothersome i don't like wet socks."

she looked fascinated by what I said, this is the classic sharigan problem you start relying on your abilities too much and they control your life I have to remember that gilgamesh became shit because of the gate and relying on it too much his combat skills became shit I'll ask teacher to up my training. Her face was quite beautiful shame I had fleur and she couldn't enthrall me like in the story looking like a love sick idiot isn't good.

"Why did you come here, then it's one of the wettest coldest places in the world?"

No one had asked me that - not straight out like she did, demanding.

"ah well my mom wanted to travel around with her new husband who is into baseball one I hate baseball and two I prefer stability I don't like moving around" (that's why I bought the kingdom)

"That's pretty mature and logical reasoning" she said and slowly knit her eye brows thinking about things.