*heaves a sigh* Okay, here's the deal. I've been freaking out over college applications, AP classes, tennis games and practice against two of the higher-ranked schools that rival mine in play, and it's taken a bit of a toll on my health. I ache one way or another every morning, I'm slaving over books daily, my back hurts, my legs feel exhausted and as foul and inappropriate as it sounds, I haven't undergone the usual female cycle in two months. Oh, but I'm pretty damn sure I'm not preggo because I do not have a boyfriend and I haven't even started doing anything to being with, so that idea isn't a burden. Don't look at me like that, we're practically all girls on FF, IT HAPPENS. Unless you're the less than 2 per cent population of guys, to which I say to you to SUCK IT UP YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING UPON CLICKING "SIGN UP".
...
Point is, I'M STRESSED. And it's not even time for MidTerms yet.
*groans*
Which is why when my friend was asking me if the change in price between pork is a change in demand on the demand curve and therefore if it should be a shift from D1 to D2 when it is talking about beef in the first place that this story idea hit me faster than that tennis ball in the face from practice last year. Hope everyone enjoys.
...
And that was A.P MicroEconomics talking...
xXx
Disclaimer: Doesn't belong to moi, monsieur.
xXx
Midterms are perhaps the most horrible thing that could befall any student. Sure, in public school, it was kind of bad because you are just sitting there, wittling away on the sharp point of your No. 2 pencil with idle tasks that do not have relation to your assignments when BAM! Mr. Teacher at the front of the class decides to drop the bomb that is MidTerms on your ass. But it is fine, because they are nice enough to tell you what's on it: Your usual shapes and equations for mathematics, essay on the latest topic for Literature and Composition, and the ongoing events and the last 300 years for History. No big deal. You'll give them a quick lookover the days before, cramming it all in the moments before the teacher enters the classroom, his voice announcing that he will give a few extra minutes to look over some notes. Your first thought? 'F*CK YEAH!' Ten minutes pass, the wicked and evil bundles stapled together in packets are passed around, and BINGO you're done in 20 minutes.
That's public school.
Last time Shinra, Shizuo, Izaya and Kyohei checked, Raijin was NOT a public school.
Well damn.
._.1. Midterms were, to be blunt, HELL for them._.
They were in luck, because the school always gave them a week off to study and do make-up work for MidTerms, and they always chose to study together, all four.
YES, ALL FOUR. The tests at the middle of the semester were severe enough that even Shizuo and Izaya ceased all fighting for three weeks. And to their utmost shame, it was the most peaceful month of the entire year, too.
They always picked one of their houses to spend nights slaving over the various material of the past month (their dumbasses all got advanced classes, so their inventory of notes and scribbled pages locked in spirals of thin metal and flimsy colored coverings rivaled the very size of the school property-turned-debris scattered nearly everyday by the two troublemakers themselves), but they chose wisely. An enviorment with little to no noise, lots of room, and no heavy objects in sight (temprorary truce or not, Izaya still pissed Shizuo off). In the end, however, they always chose the same location for the same reason. Well, Kyohei always did, because when Izaya even began to mention the six-letter word, he finished the conversation at that, followed by an idle remark of "You're evil." from the bleach-blond on the raven-haired boy's antics.
._.2. They always went to Shinra's house because he has coffee. A LOT OF COFFEE.
They were always forced to split the load. Sometimes, when Shizuo would miss a few days recovering from the latest broken bones, Kyohei had to jot down all of the teachers remarks of the character personality and themes they were analyzing from the English novel they were reading in class. When Shinra has to run out due to a call for a doctor, Izaya would highlight all the important points of classical republicism and differentiate the forms of government believed to be righteous or corrupt according to the mass of the population. Even when Izaya himself would be absent for days without saying a word, Shizuo would not fail to get down the six forms of limits in Calculus and why x cannot be equal to 0 and how to find it in the TI-84 calculator, because he knew that if he was in the same position, the flea would more than likely write out the difference between Demand and Quantity Demand, and whatever the hell T.R.I.B.E meant at the corner alond with the PPC curve for him (which he did a few weeks ago anyway).
And either way, it annoyed the hell out of him when the damn flea would whine outloud mid-lecture as to "what the hell that squiggly was(1)."
._.3. They always covered for each other in class, no matter the circumstance._.
They would sit on the floor the night before the exams at Shinra's coffee table, stacks of texbooks, novels, and notebooks littering the ground around them in a perimeter, some open to tables and graphs, others to definitions of various terms, and others simply closed, the corners bent at odd angles from the weeks of storage and their owner's frantic search as to were the latest topic's discussion lay.
They were taking in all information possible, turning sheets upon sheets of handouts over in an attempt at memorization, copying over the lectures from the other three if they had missed a day or two, flipping through stacks of lined paper in search of a fresh sheet, and reaching constantly for their own individual mugs for a hot sip of black coffee to keep them awake (Celty was nice enough to make the coffee runs for them). Shinra would frown and stare in worry at Izaya's workbook for MicroEconomics, trying to figure out what the hell ceteris paribus was and forgetting the existance of his dictionaries a few feet over, as his middle school friend cursed to his right at getting one of the Politics questions incorrect from a week ago. Shizuo would refrain from trying to introduce his head to the table when he realized he couldn't remember how to find the range and domain of a function (it was so elementary!), Izaya would scowl at the sight of another question asking about the idea of the seperation of branches of American government ("America," he would growl, "I don't frickin live there, what do I care?" before sliding the open dictionary Kyohei had been using an hour prior over to the hyperventilating doctor), and Kadota would stare in dismay upon the sight of an essay for themes and character traits, typed neatly in 12pt across the white paper Shinra zeroxed for him two days ago.
Celty would merely stare at them from a few feet away, never imagining there would be a time they were capable of sitting quietly together like that, before Shinra gave up and leaned over to Izaya, asking a question chocked full of words she did not recognize. Izaya would look over, usually vibrant rust eyes filled with confusion for a few seconds, mentioning a 'Law of Demand' to the doctor before he glanced pleadingly over to Shizuo. The blond, without looking up from the calculator he was punching numbers into (he finally figured out the range and domain, now he was battling the limit of a particularly confusing ), blindly reached somewhere behind him before handing over a worn composition book, riddled with various inks and graphite marks. Izaya took it gratefully, flipping through the dates before triumphantly pointing at the definition of the Law of Demand, a small comment of "I knew it! It's practically the same thing!" slipping past his lips before Kyohei himself let out a bland "Ah f*ck" as he remembered that he had forgotten a thesis statement.
._.4. They could rely on each other for help when they needed it._.
They slaved over pages now marred with accumulated lead-prints of their fingertips for hours after that, switching topics and sometimes tackling one altogether. It was, in Celty's point of view (and her ninth run), the first time she's ever seen them all cooperate (that wasn't between Shinra and Kyohei trying to stop Izaya from further taunting Shizuo). Shinra wailed at around 9:41 PM when Shizuo asked him for the notes for Government (he remembered that he didn't have them). Izaya burst out laughing at him, closing the notebook in his hands and breaking the long long silence they once held since 7:13 PM, lightening the tension of waking up for the big test the next day. Shinra comically cried out to his friend, something about how real friends do not laugh at their friends, only to have his comment officially killed by Kadota's soft mumble of "Friendship doesn't stop you from trying to operate of them,", followed by Shizuo's soft 'pfft' in mixture of agreement and amusement. Izaya continued laughing at him, breathlessly reaching over to Kadota's stack of notes for the green binder that has become familiar to him over the hours of class. He propped it open, flipping through the loose sheets for the notes Shinra was missing and Shizuo needed as the aforementioned student wailed some more over yet another subject that he had to cover before getting to the subject they decided to leave for last.
They cleared the table for Calculus, leaving what Izaya labeled as "the book of evil" alone on the table and mostly followed Shizuo's lead on his notes on the subject (as much as Izaya called him 'protozoan', he was surprisingly the best out of the four in mathematics). The subject was dull in Celty's opinion, and she refilled the overly used coffee pot before giving them one last lookover to make sure they didn't need anything (in reality, it was Shinra cooing at his love, Shizuo and Kyohei mumbling thanks for her services, and Izaya releasing yet another shriek of curses at the WindowSet)
It had been 12:22 AM.
She came back hours later, upon taking a glance at the clock to her side and seeing the late hour. '2:30 AM,' she thought, 'they can't possibly be up still.'
They weren't.
Who knows what time they decided to call it a night (or if they just fell one by one instead), but when she reentered the living room, it was quiet, void of the now irritating shuffling of paper and the cries Shinra emitted as the night wore on. The lights were still on, but they were all completely knocked out and in the most vulnerable state a human could be in.
Sleep.
Shinra, as expected, was half on the table, half off, lightly drooling in exhaustion. Celty faintly sweatdropped at his position, having long since known of Shinra's rather... odd, sleeping patterns, noting to move him into a more proper position to avoid any aches that could appear as the light of the morning rises. Kyohei, at least, was leaning against the squishy cushions of the couch, sitting comfortably and in good posture; there was no worry that he would be whining from pains the next day. However, what surprised her a little was the remaining two.
Her best guess was that Shizuo and Izaya thought SCREW IT, and simply fell asleep on the plushy carpet (and probably AWAY from Shinra), but it their positions simply mystefied her so much, she couldn't help but say it outloud.
"Who knew they were cuddlers?"
._.5. They kept secrets._.
xXx
Fail ending is fail.
Wrote this in one sitting. Was supposed to shower (a hot bath sounds nice right now), but I don't have the time for it. Gotta do it in the morning.
Reviews are appreciated
(1) The squiggly is the "infinity" sign, in otherwords, an '8' on its side.
EDIT (warning: is cheerful):
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Shizuo: I kid you not, he was hands down based off my best friend since 6th grade, initials E.M.. She's such a math wiz that when my other friend and I get stuck, we kinda pathetically lean towards her and whine a little (This is gonna be a trait I will permanently stick to Shizu-chan, I mean, he HAS to be smart to have gotten admission into Raijin, right?). She's always willing to help, but absolutely despises geting stuck, and its been more than once that I've heard her mumble "Damn it!" when she doesn't understand. Plus, she has a mean serve in tennis (she can smash it so hard, these sharp round scuffs are completely visable throughout the court *is scared* and tennis balls are HARD!), which I kind of found in common with Shizu-chan's super strength. Hell, she has hit the ball so hard that she actually SNAPPED her racket strings! It's also pretty obvious that she's Captain too :'D
Izaya: That was probably me *laughs nervously* I whine a lot when I don't understand stuff, and I usually land around the middle when it comes to grades within my group. Although I always seem to top one subject and kinda suck at the rest (at least in my opinion), and I don't score too shabby in Government. In fact, I ended up with the highest test grade between my friends. But for my standards, I still suck at math ;3; My absolute best friend (described above) always has to help me.
Shinra: My other best friend since 9th grade, initials M.R., NO DOUBT XD Her little quirks are really adorable, and she's pretty smart! I think she's better at Econ than I am, for sure. Plus, if we ever get to talking, we NEVER shut up XD We play 1st doubles together, and I can very rarely play with anyone else as well as I can play with her. Reminds me very much of his [Shinra's] middle school years with Izaya (no doubt they were probably BFFs), which is why I wanted to shadow her a little as Shinra (who we both think is funky beyond anything in the world XDD)
Kadota: I don't have a third close friend (THAT antisocial, I know), but he was more than likely my other funky friend since 6th grade, initials Y.H., who we reunited with in 11th grade when we started tennis. She... well, you have to see her live for me to properly describe her XDD She's fantastic in English, and I wanted to get that little piece though Dota-chin 8D