:September 24th, XX46; Tuesday.

:INTRODUCTION.

•~~~~•

Sometimes, when you're in highschool, you'll have a period you need to fill but no class you specifically want to take. So, you'll ask your friends what extra classes they're taking and pick one in hopes of getting put in that class with them. This was the reason Joe was currently writing down notes about how cameras work, as none other than Oliver sat next to him.

Joe wasn't really that interested in photography, not at all. But having a class with no assigned seating where Joe could sit in the back with his crush and pass notes so they could talk? And then sometimes they'd go outside and take pictures of each other and submit them for a grade? It was an easy A. And an excuse to talk more. A win-win situation, really. Of course, Joe's periods were only 45 minutes long each, but he made the most out of them. Especially when they were this good.

"...And, that should be all you have to learn today," Joe heard the teacher say as he zoned back in to what she was talking about. "Remember this stuff for tomorrow, we're going to go out to the field to do a project. You can partner up with whoever you want, as long as it's only two people per group. You'll be taking pictures of each other in motion without the picture coming out blurry. Sounds easy, right? Any questions?"

The class was silent, because it always seemed either no one had questions or the kids who did were too socially awkward to ask.

"Alright. You all can pack up but stay in here until the bell rings. Have a good rest of your day."

The bell ended up ringing a few moments after that, so Joe and Oliver exited the classroom, walking down the stairs of the building they were in.

"Agh, I have study hall next. I don't know what to even do, it's always so boring," Oliver complained, spotting his classroom up ahead already since it was in the same building as the photography class.

"Just go on your phone or something. Have you done the vocab work for English yet?"

"Oh, no I haven't. That's a good idea, thank you!"

Joe nodded and waved goodbye to Oliver as they reached his classroom. Joe kept walking, out of the building and across campus to another building at the other side of it. Joe's school was pretty big- there were three buildings, one dedicated mostly to the arts, the A building; one for sports, the B building; and one with a bunch of random classrooms here and there, the C building. A few of the language classes had been smushed in with the A building, so that was where he was heading for his American Sign Language class.

Joe was pretty glad he was taking ASL instead of Spanish- his elementary and middle schools only offered the latter, and those classes were just boring. He had nothing against Spanish as a language, but it was just hard for him to learn and he wasn't very interested in it. He already knew a bit of ASL anyways before coming to highschool- his dad was Deaf in one ear and through a few doctor's appointments learned he was beginning to lose hearing in his other ear, and would lose it completely in maybe ten or twenty years, so he and Joe's father both learned some ASL and taught it to Joe when he was a toddler.

And, of course, ASL was also fun because Sage was in that class with him. Once again, it was a win-win situation.

He got to the classroom and set down his stuff in his seat, walking over to where Sage sat a few desks away from him. He leaned against his desk and Sage sighed.

"I'm tired," Sage complained, trying to sit up. Joe chuckled.

"You're always tired. Stop staying up so late."

"You do it too, you know."

"I have adapted to constantly being sleep deprived, you're just late for the train."

"I'm ignoring that. How was photography?"

Joe rolled his eyes, smiling. "Uh, pretty good. We're taking pictures next class again."

"Oooo, I wonder who your partner is gonna be, Joe~..."

"Can you literally shut up?" Joe smiled a bit again, feeling his cheeks tingle with warmth.

"Nu-uh, that word is not in my vocabulary."

"Five words, not one."

"I'm trying my best."

"Sure you are. How was drama?"

"Eh, it was fine. I've been asking the director about when the fall musical will be announced but I guess he hasn't thought about it yet. I really hope it's good, I'm scared the senior year play won't be great so might as well show off my amazing talent this year."

"It's still September, they probably won't think about it until, like... October."

"But that's a whole week or two away!" Sage whined, leaning back in his chair again, tapping his feet on the ground as well. "I gotta move around more, I can never sit still. They better plan it soon. Need the dancing."

The bell rang just then, and the teacher walked into the classroom. Joe shrugged at his best friend with a half-smile before walking back to his desk.

His friends were so weird sometimes... it was great.

•~~~~•

Even though Joe often appreciated the various classes he had throughout the day, science had always been his favorite for a couple reasons.

For starters, he was really into it just as a subject. He mostly liked things that had to do with family lines and just families in general- DNA, heritage, genotypes, phenotypes, the works. And now that they just finished up going over cells for the millionth time, they were going to start learning that kind of stuff even more.

Secondly, both of his friends were in that class- Sage and Oliver. So not only did he get to joke and mess around with his best friend in his off time, he got to simp over literally the best man that had ever existed, ever. He only had three classes with both of them, not including lunch, so it was a nice experience.

And, lastly- it was a pretty hands-on class. Which meant projects, which meant the chance of working on something he liked to do with people he liked to hang out with.

Once again... it really was a win-win. Maybe a win-win-win, even, to take it to the next level. And extreme win. A triple win. An awesome win.

"Okay, everyone, you may have heard this project being talked about by the seniors and any alumni of this school you've ever met, so I'm gonna get right into it," the teacher announced as the class settled down. "Over the next week or so, you're going to learn and prepare yourselves for the ancestory project. If you haven't heard about it, you'll be partnered up with another classmate and you'll have to analyze your own DNA and use punnet squares and probability to figure out what ten possible outcomes of your children could look like. You'll have to take an ancestry test to do this, of course, which I'll explain tomorrow. You'll also get your partners next class and learn everything you need to know with them while you wait for your results to come back. Are there any questions before I begin the lesson?"

Joe glanced around the room and watched as Sage raised his hand.

"Yes, Sage?"

"I'm adopted."

A few snickers were heard throughout the room, and Joe blinked multiple times in his direction.

"...And, Sage?"

"Uh... so like, my DNA probably doesn't match my parents since we're not blood related, right?"

The teacher sighed. "Well, you can still get the test for yourself. Reaching out to relatives may be important and make it a bit easier, though, so if you'd like you can have one or both of your parents take the test instead."

"Joe's adopted, too."

Most of the class laughed at that point, and Joe looked down at his desk, covering his mouth to try and stop himself from laughing, too.

"...He can do the same exact thing, Sage."

"Ohhh, okay." Sage grinned.

"Are there any other questions?" The class quieted down from their laughing. "Alright. Get out your notes, or don't, if you think you'll remember how to do everything when the project comes on your own."

Fair enough.

•~~~~•
Ya know I was gonna mention Jeffery Dahmer in Joe's history class but maybe I'll leave that to another time lmao

See ya in the next chapter!🧫
    ~Maxx(SanderShipper)
(P.S.- hey, Klaus here. I got bored the night after I posted the first chapter and I made a uquiz to see which character from this entire trilogy that you are. So... if you're interested, take a look :]
https://uquiz.com/Dv510b
if you can't copy+paste then you should just be able to manually type it into google btw)