☫ Chapter 3 ☫

I've never been in the principal's office before.

     It'd be an understatement to say that I was just scared. I kept fiddling with my fingers and avoiding eye contact with Mr. Jitin. There were other students with me. Jaxon was one of them and he too didn't seem to know why he was in here. During recess, we were asked to come into his office and now I'm attempting to come up with reasonings as to why I was one of the students here.

     I don't think I did anything wrong.

     "I called you all here to discuss your electives," Mr. Jitin finally spoke. Well, that answers my confusion."Or rather -in some cases- your lack of electives. If you are already part of an elective then you're here because of the jeopardy you are in for your position in it. That means you need to get better grades or you will be taken out of the elective."

     Not me. Okay. So why am I here?

    "Now, if you aren't part of an elective then you will need to sign up for one. It's important that you begin to think about your future and how being part of an elective may help with applications in the future. Not many are open anymore due to the number of students who are already in them. If you have any questions you can speak to Mrs. Birch."

     An elective? I have to join an elective!? I already do babysitting and I just handed in the papers for the internship. Plus, there's the tutoring I do for community service. I really don't have time for an elective. But he's right. The more I have to fill on my resume could help with scholarships. I'd have to join one that doesn't apply too many after school hours.

     We all began walking out of his office and I naively thought nothing would happen. Two of Jaxon's friends cornered me at the end of the hall. I recognized Chad right away. He was Jaxon's best friend now. Not that I care. The other guy was probably on the basketball team too.

     "Vincent," Chad called me by my last name. He slung his arm over my shoulder and dragged me with him as he walked. I heard his friend snicker and I bit the inside of my cheeks in frustration. "Maybe you should join the basketball team."

     My eyes widened. What is he playing at?

     "You can be the water boy," he chuckled.

     I can almost feel myself losing brain cells right now. My eyes rolled back in annoyance which I quickly covered up with a smile. "Y-yeah..." I took his arm off me in the most casual way possible, making sure he didn't notice that. "M-maybe I can."

     Chad wasn't really that bad. He just said some annoying things. Sometimes they were plain stupid. Other times they were random. Like to the extent where he made me have to think. I wondered what could possibly make him say such a thing. Then I'm like: Oh, yeah. He said that to bother me.

     "We gotta get to class," the other guy said.

     That's right, please leave and get to class. You know the reason you're even in this place. To learn. I sighed knowingly. Chad simply smirked at me and started walking with him to class. Apparently, he needed to make some sort of statement before he would get there. He shoved me into the wall and chuckled.

     Was there a point to that? It seemed pretty pointless to me if I'm being perfectly honest.

     I shook my head as I opened the door to the Chemistry lab. Everyone was in different seats and in pairs. Quirking an eyebrow, I wasn't very sure of what I was supposed to do. Mrs. Birch noticed me and clapped her hands together.

     "Jeremiah," she said and then pointed at a boy with ginger hair. "You're with Jude Emmet for the project."

     "I'm sorry," I apologized. "But what project?"

     She sighed. "You can have Jude explain it to you and Jeremiah," I received a stern stare. "Don't be late to my class again."

     "Of course."

     Jude, my official science partner was playing around with the mini-balance. He was weighing his water bottle and thermometer. All while seeming incredibly bored. His hair was even more orange when I was next to him. It had brown streaks and was disheveled. His face was pale with freckles along his nose and cheeks.

     "Er...h-hey," I sat down next to him. What amazing social skills I have. Simply amazing. "M-Mrs. Birch said something about a p-project?"

     He hummed and then watched me take out my Chemistry book. "S-sorry," I breathed. "With being l-late and all."

     "Blimey," he muttered with a thick British accent. "Do you always stutter?" I didn't answer him and then he finally looked at me. "It's just some bloody project. We're supposed to present this assignment." He handed me a paper.

     I felt my head spin when I read the criteria. It's almost like Fate was trying to set me up with no sleep. Exciting. So very exciting. This is going to be great. It's not like I can sleep anyway.

     "It's due so soon," I whispered to myself and then met Jude's eyes. "I'll g-get the m-material then."

     I wonder what it would be like if I was working with Kelly. I pondered over the idea. I almost laughed when I knew for certain she would beg Mrs. Birch to exchange partners. Yeah. She'd do that. With my thoughts circling my mind I didn't notice the person in front of me.

     She almost fell and I quickly grabbed onto her. "Are you okay?" I rushed out nervously.

     It was the blonde girl that Mr. Phillips always watched. "Um, yeah," she rapidly nodded her head and then for some peculiar and unknown reason patted my chest. I felt my cheeks burn as I avoided eye contact with her. She continued with a smile. "I'm all good."

     I smiled back. "I'll j-just umm." Clearing my throat, I gave her a neutral nod and walked back to Jude who was wearing a taunting smirk.

     "W-what?" I sat down.

     "You forgot the material," his smirk widened.

     I laughed nervously and clumsily got up. "I'll just g-go--"

     "You do that," he chuckled with a salute and I hurriedly got them, feeling like an imbecile.

     Once I got over the embarrassment and he stopped smirking we agreed on a time to work on the project. It'd be right after school in the library. I told him that I could only work for an hour because I had something to do. The internship was starting today and I couldn't be late on my first day. Or any day at that. I watched as he grew curious from my lack of explanation. He didn't say anything about it though.

     "Alright then," Jude said with a blank face. "I have something as well. So one hour."

     I'm not even sure if he's trying to make fun of me or not.

     But by the time school ended, I was too tired to pay attention to anything. My stomach ached with hunger as I went to the vending machine. I fumbled with my pocket, trying to find maybe a dollar or some quarters. With pursed lips, I checked my backpack and still couldn't find anything. Great. I went to the water fountain instead and had a drink.

     Once I pressed the button by the faucet the water exploded right into my face. What the?! I quickly let go of the button but the water kept splashing on me and wouldn't stop. What did I do now? Did I break it? I think I somehow broke it. I placed my hand by the faucet to try and cover up the water, making sure it wouldn't get all over the floor. With my other hand, I repeatedly smacked the button, silently pleading for it to shut off.

     "Please, please," I whispered. I sighed with relief when it stopped going crazy. "Oh, thank goodness."

     I should probably leave a sign saying that it's broken. Rummaging through my backpack, I grabbed a pen and ripped a paper out of my notebook. I quickly wrote down that it's broken and stuck it up on the wall. I wiped my wet face with my shirt, hoping that it'll dry soon.

     Well. Just an average unlucky circumstance of Jeremiah Vincent, everybody.

     As I made my way to the school's library, I created a mental list of what I had to do and what I already did. This was an attempt to try and organize everything so I wouldn't forget. Well, I already signed up for drama as my elective. I chose drama for a very good reason. It was the only open one that didn't require anything remotely similar to gym, hopefully, I'll just help out with props.

     Next, I'm gonna be working on the project with Jude. Seems simple enough. We can probably do a power point or something like that. Right after is the internship and Mr. Robertson says that it'll be just an hour or so and nothing heavy duty. After that, it'll be a short tutoring session for community service and then I'll be home.

     "Ey," Jude greeted. I nodded my head in acknowledgment and sat across from him.

     There weren't that many students around, leaving it even more quiet than usual. Jude took something out of his pocket as I gaped at him. There's no way he's doing that here. Right at school. There's just no way.

     "Is t-that a cigarette?" I raised my eyebrows, completely baffled.

     He took a lighter and lit it. "What of it?"

     "Y-you can't j-just smoke," I informed him, but I'm sure he was already aware of that.

     "I don't think those glasses are workin' out for you," Jude placed it in between his lips and sighed with contentment. "Cause clearly I can."

     I stifled a cough, not enjoying the second-hand smoking. "Y-you can g-get cancer from that."

     "You can get cancer from the sun and that's the most natural thing we have," he retorted with a knowing smirk. I shook my head at the comment. He knew that wasn't the same thing. "It's not a big deal."

     He chuckled when I rolled my eyes. "Oh, live a little."

     Okay, yeah that makes sense. Let me live a little my slowly killing myself. Yeah. Seems just about right. What type of logic does this guy have? And how am I supposed to ask him to not smoke in front of me without causing any drama? He looks like he can kill me with just a glare and I'm not about ready to test that out.

     "I'm g-good, thanks," I declined his offer.

     Jude's smirk conjured up to something so much more cynical. His caramel eyes were no longer expressionless and now held a bit of mischief in them. I gulped when he plopped his hands against the desk and tilted his head challengingly. "Actually..." he trailed off. "I'll make you a deal."

     "D-deal?" I don't like where this is going. Why are we even discussing deals? Maybe I should have just shut up about the cigarette and dealt with the intoxication.

     "You try a backy and I'll help with the project," he spoke. I assumed 'backy' meant a cigar or something along that. "It's easy peasy."

     "You weren't gonna help me before?" I somehow said without stuttering. He gave me an impressed nod of the head.

     "Doesn't matter," he shrugged. "You take a puff of this until I say stop and then I'll work with you."

     I did everything I could to relax and not get mad. I really don't like the people in this school. It's situations like these that annoy me the most. "Y-you can't j-just do that?" I defended myself but sounded too timid to make any difference.

     "You gonna tell?" He knew I wasn't.

     "F-fine," I gathered all my things, being sure to show my anger. Clenching my fists, I pulled my backpack up. "I'll j-just work o-on the p-project myself then."

     He smiled maniacally and gave me a wave as I left.

☫ * ☫ * ☫ * ☫

     The second I walked in I suddenly had the urge to just turn around and not come back. It felt like I entered a mini zoo. There were cages sprawled along every counter, desk, and some were even on the floor. Most of the animals were making noises. From chirping to mice squeaking. I began walking around the lab, trying to capture everything.

     It was fascinating really.

     There was a desk on the side of the room that had science supplies and tools set up. I went over and examined it. My eyes widened as I smacked my lips together excitedly. It was the most advanced equipment. Some weren't even out yet. Wow, this is really amazing stuff.

     "Ah," I heard some say. "You must be Jeremiah Vincent, then."

     I turned around feeling the nerves kick in. "Mr. Robertson. I m-mean Dr. Robertson. Erm? R-Robertson?" Evidently, I'm not good at meeting new people.

     "Dr. Robertson will do just fine," he waved his hands around with a smile. He extended his hand to me, gesturing for me to shake it. I grinned back and shook his hand. "You'll need a lab coat. There's one on the hook right over there."

     He pointed over at the door, where the hooks were. I nodded and grabbed the cleanest lab coat I could find. Surprisingly, there was one that wasn't all that bad. I slid it on and went back over to him. Dr. Robertson was a really young scientist. Or at least he looked it. He had black slick hair that was tamed with gel. His eyes were dark blue and shining. I watched as he wrote things down on his clipboard.

     "Right, then," he spoke. "I'll show you around and explain what it is that you will do."

     Dr. Robertson began with elaborating on what exactly he's studying. He said that he was trying to concoct a drug that could tame animals. I quirked an eyebrow at that. Why would he create something like that? Shouldn't animals just be? Apparently, it would be helpful at places like zoos and aquariums. I didn't exactly agree with his plan or idea but chose not to say anything about it.

     "Here's a bird during its natural habitat," he stopped in front of a cage. I frowned. I never knew birds were allowed to be tested on. "With this serum," he took out a tranquilizer and filled it with some other content. "It should calm this little birdy down." I flinched when he injected the sedative in the bird.

     I noticed the bird's chirping become silent as it curled up comfortably. "W-wow." It worked.

     "Try petting it," he encouraged.

     My fingers reached towards the bird's crown and then slid to the nape, softly caressing its feathers. The bird hummed lightly and brought its beak to my fingers, nibbling on it. I shot my hand back when it bit me. Shoot. The first day of the internship and I already did something wrong. How did I manage to get a bird to bite me? I squeezed my finger, making sure blood didn't drip.

     That's a freaky bird

     "I'm assuming this one wasn't a complete success" he threw the drug out and made notes on his clipboard. "He shouldn't have bitten you." Oh, it's not my fault?

     "I-is it okay that i-it bit me?" I asked, feeling a little disturbed and uneasy.

     "You'll be fine," he assured me. For some reason, I didn't quite believe that. With a scratch of my head, I listened to him as he explained what was in the drug and how it affects certain creatures. All things considered, the rest of the hour wasn't as eventful. I cleaned a few beakers and cylinders. Before, I left I went to check on the bird.

     I grimaced when I realized it was dead.

________________________________________

A/N

Heyyyy humans!

Look at that IT'S CHAPTER 3. I've been wondering if I should try updating twice a week and yeah I know I'm getting ahead of myself. I just think it would be pretty cool you know?

The moment has come!!! The origin. The cliche! It's happening. Pftt but like yeah. 

Lol this is such boss music btw. You should listen to it.

I hope you liked the chapt my readers <3 I will not be able to use the internet until Saturday night. Yeah...and I've been trying to draw these children and I just can't for some reason. It's been bothering me. Sigh.

P.S: if you have any tips, ideas, suggestions please pm me, that would be awesome. Any idea is good because I could just base a chapter off of it and update quicker ;-). So if there's a certain thing that you want to happen just comment it!

Please vote, comment, live, smile, or just wink.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL YOU READERS AND IM REALLY GLAD YOU GUYS R BEING LOYAL AND READING THIS! *tears up* t-thank y-you.

Happy birthday you-know-who.

So Jude? How u feel about that kid?

I personally like him but like he's not such a nice guy. XD I'm excited for you to see what happens with him tho and I'm excited to write so many new characters you'll be seeing! Eeeeeep. I love ner characters! XD

Love ya'll <3

Yours truly,

A N O N Y M O U S