Control Group- One Shot
Hey everyone! I'm here with a nice little sciencfierific fic!
Now, before you say anything, I SWEAR TO GOD I HAVE THE NEXT CIRCLE DAYBREAK PRESCHOOL STARTED! But I'm just not feeling inspired. Help me by reviewing ;) (CoughALEXANDERCou—no, I'm not even going to try to be 'discreet'. I DEMAND I REVIEW FROM YOU ALEX! Or I will join the Syd-Dani train and start calling you Xander, kay? :])
Anyways, I'll stop virally yelling at Alex now. This is for all my super awesome friends :D You know who you be ;D
Thanks to Nessa for the beta :3
It was just a normal, quite (okay that's kind of an oxy-moron with the Daybreakers) Saturday, when all of the sudden Gillian burst into the living room, panting frantically with windblown hair. "Guys help!"
"What's wrong?" The boys sprang up in their seats.
"Puppies?" Quinn asked.
"Bad leeches?" Ash wondered.
"Evil witches?" Morgead earned a glare from Blaise.
"No!" Gillian dismissed their inquiries. "I have a biology project do tomorrow and I haven't even started it! I don't even have all of the materials I need! Or the right equipment!"
"Relax, Jill." Mary-Lynnette stood. "Are you forgetting what I'm majoring in?"
"You do experiments in physics?" Gillian asked.
"Duh. It's still science." Mary-Lynnette grabbed her keys. "We'll be at the lab if you need us."
"Hey wait!" Morgead called. "Jill, what kind of experiment do you have to do?"
Gillian thought back to the prompt her teacher had passed out two weeks ago. "I think we have to test how different chemicals will affect … The function of a rubber duck. I forgot! We'll have to think of something when we get there."
"Wait!" Morgead called again. "You said something about chemicals? As in highly flammable and explosive shit, right?"
"No way Morgead. I'm not even supposed to have access to the lab on the weekend. There is no way I'm letting you near an entire supply of chemicals." Mary-Lynnette firmly stated.
"Aww…" Morgead pouted. "And how come you do have access to the lab if you're not supposed to?"
Mary-Lynnette shrugged. "My teacher wants to get into my pants. Now let's go Gillian."
The two girls left. They heard the garage door open and Mary-Lynnette's car start. Morgead leaped to the window as they pulled out of the driveway.
"Oh, no Morgead. You are not going to follow them." Thea stared at the dark haired vampire.
"Yes, yes, I am." Morgead was running toward the garage.
"I wanna come! Mare never let's me go to the lab!" Ash whined and followed him.
"Working with dangerous substances?" Jez pretended to think about it. "Morgead slow down!"
"I'd better go make sure they don't actually blow anything up." Quinn said seriously and got to his feet.
Behind her book, Rashel snorted. "Please, you just want to see someone burn their eyebrows off."
Quinn cast her a chided look. "You think I'm that childish?"
"Absolutely." Rashel replied.
Quinn rolled his eyes and stopped in the doorway. "Hey, honey, where's the video camera?"
Rashel smirked victoriously. "Timmy broke it last week."
"Dinkleberg." Quinn growled and ran to the garage before they could leave without him.
"This is going to end badly." Thea frowned.
"What else is new?" Rashel shrugged.
"Quinn watching the Fairly Odd Parents. When did that happen?" Poppy asked Rashel.
"Who knows?" Rashel rolled her eyes. "I think Morgead got him into it."
"Turn right!" Ash snapped.
"I swear I saw them go left!" Morgead growled.
"No! They went right!"
"I thought they went straight." Quinn voiced.
"Oh, my Goddess." Jez slammed her head on the dashboard. "Just go right!" She grabbed the steering wheel and yanked right.
"AAHHH!" The vampires screamed and car horns blared.
"See there they are!" Ash fist pumped.
"That's not them." Morgead grumbled stubbornly.
"No, it is. See the license plate? It says 'stargazer'. Who else could that be?" Ash smugly rubbed his rightness in Morgead's face.
"Someone else." Morgead mumbled. "Someone who doesn't have bad taste in men."
"Gillian." Mary-Lynnette glanced in her review mirror again. "Is it just me, or is that SUV that's serving madly Morgead's car?"
Gillian twisted in her seat. "Yep. That's Morgead's car." She watched a blond guy (who was probably Ash) furiously punching the driver (Morgead) in the arm, causing the vehicle to jerk to the left whenever he did it.
Mary-Lynnette sighed, as if she was going to do something she was going to regret. Then her foot pressed down on the accelerator and she started weaving her way through traffic, trying to shake the boys.
She abruptly pulled into a huge parking lot and quickly got out. "C'mon, let's hurry." She started running.
"How much farther?" Gillian asked when they still weren't at the lab five minutes later.
"Not much. I'm taking the detour route. I cross this path multiple times throughout the day. Hopefully it will confuse them." Mary-Lynnette led Gillian up another flight of stairs.
"Here we are." Mary-Lynnette stopped at the end of a long hallway and pulled out her key. She hastily unlocked the door. "In."
Gillian didn't need to be told twice and hurried into the room.
"Now," Mary-Lynnette turned on the light. "Let's get started on that experiment."
"I can't believe you made me lose them." Morgead glared at Ash as he pulled into a mostly abandoned parking lot.
"It's not my fault you're in idiot." Ash replied sharply.
"You know what!" Morgead turned around to stare Ash in the face.
"Hey now! Calm down! Mary-Lynnette probably knew we were following her and shook us off! It's not Ash's fault!" Quinn grabbed Morgead's arm to stop him from rearranging Ash's dental work.
"Hey, guys." Jez tried to get their attention.
"Well it wouldn't have been so easy for her to shake us if someone hadn't been distracting me." Morgead said through his teeth.
"Guys." Jez tried again.
"It's not my fault you're a bad driver and can't multitask." Ash said in about the same fashion.
"YO MORONS!" Jez yelled.
Morgead, Ash, and Quinn all jumped and stared at her.
"Calm down woman!" Ash rubbed his ear.
"Yeah, we're all right here." Quinn scowled at her.
Jez stared at all of them in disbelief and then shook herself out of it. "Well excuse me for wondering if that was Mary-Lynnette's car." She pointed to a blue car parked right next to them.
"Oh." The boys all stared at it.
"So it is." Quinn said.
"How did we miss that?" Ash asked and got out of the car.
"Well I know someone was distracting me." Morgead began walking toward the building.
"Add four drops of iodine." Mary-Lynnette instructed, glancing back down at the sheet of paper to double check her command.
Gillian squinted at the tube behind her safety goggles. "Ugh, I hate these things."
"Me too." As if to prove her point, Mary-Lynnette readjusted the goggles on her face.
"That's good. Now add the other chemical." Mary-Lynnette looked at the instructions sheet again and gestured to the green tube.
"What now?" Gillian asked after the second chemical was added.
"I don't know that's all that's on this page." Mary-Lynnette turned the page over to make sure there wasn't a back side.
"Oh! I think the other page is in my purse." Gillian gestured to the purple bag she left on the stool in the front of the room.
"I'll get it." Mary-Lynnette began sorting through the bag. "Damn, Jill, how much crap can you put in here?"
Gillian laughed. "A lot. Whenever I go to Thea's room to study magic I put all my herbs and stuff in there."
"Ah." Mary-Lynnette came back with the second paper. "Now put the tube on the hotplate—on the lowest setting—and see how it changes color."
"Okay." Gillian put the tube on the hotplate. "How long do we—"
Suddenly there were voices outside calling, "Mary! Mary-Lynnette! Mare!
The girls stopped and stared at each other in horror. They'd been found.
"Think we can fit in the bag?" Mary-Lynnette asked in a sarcastic whisper.
Gillian shook her head.
Mary-Lynnette sighed again. Then she purposefully strode over to the door and yanked it open and stood down the hallway and opened the door to the girls' bathroom. She leaned in the doorframe and yelled, "Ash Redfern! You stop yelling this instant and get up here! You're disturbing classes you moron!"
She then tore off back down the hall, darted into the lab she and Gillian were working in, closed the door, locked it, and turned off the lights.
The girls waited in silence. Then they heard trampling footsteps and their names being called.
They sat there giggling in the dark while the boys and Jez wandered the hallway.
"They're in here!" Jez called triumphantly, as she rattled the doorknob.
"Damn." The girls cursed.
"Mare! Open up!" Ash pounded on the door.
"I'm coming!" Mary-Lynnette stood. "I swear to God if you break this door…" She unlocked the door and turned the lights back on.
As soon as the four vampires were in, the chemicals on the hotplate burst into flames.
Gillian screamed and scrambled back. Mary-Lynnette grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and sprayed the fire while Jez frantically scrambled to unplug the hotplate.
"You are so lucky we're done with this experiment." Mary-Lynnette swung the fire extinguisher in Ash's direction.
"Like this is our fault!" Ash dodged the red cylinder. "It would've caught of fire without us being here!"
"Well you shouldn't even be here." Mary-Lynnette put the extinguisher down and put her hands on her hips.
"Well I just wanted to see you in your zone! Outside of stargazing, I mean."
Mary-Lynnette's gaze softened a bit. "What about the rest of you?"
"We're here for the dangerous flammable chemicals." Morgead stared fixatedly on the hotplate and tube which was still slightly smoking.
"Well they are." Quinn rolled his eyes at Morgead and Jez. "I'm here to see someone scorch their eyebrows off."
"And I thought it would be fun to do an experiment. I never went to human school you know." Ash batted his eyelashes innocently at Mary-Lynnette.
"Yes, I know. And I shudder to think of the education you did get." Mary-Lynnette began putting chemicals away after the others were done enthusiastically agreeing. "And if you still want to partake in the experiment I have something you can do."
"What?" Quinn asked.
"The lab write-up." Gillian said cheerfully. She shoved a notebook and a bunch of papers into Quinn's hands. "Here's all our research and the rubric for the write-up is in there! Have fun!"
The girls quickly threw off their coats and goggles, locked everything up and ran out of the room.
"'Hey! Let's follow Mary-Lynnette and Gillian to the lab! Isn't that just the greatest idea ever?'" Quinn mocked, scowling at Morgead.
"Yeah! Look at what you got us into!" Jez slammed her palm against the back of his head. "There's a new Doctor Who on tonight, but I guess I won't be watching it because I'll be helping you with this!"
"Well you could've stopped me!" Morgead protested. "And there's a new Doctor Who on tonight?"
"Not for us there isn't! Now come on, let's go home and type this thing up."
How to do a Formal Lab Write-Up: Title Page
"So, what do we have to do first?" Ash asked.
"It says here to do the title page. It should be centered with the title of the lab, date the experiment started, your name, class period and your lab partner's names." Quinn read.
"Why the date the experiment started?" Morgead asked as he typed the information.
"I don't know. That's just what it says on the rubric."
"Who are her lab partners?" Morgead asked.
"Mary-Lynnette? She did help." Ash said.
Morgead nodded and centered the info on the front page. He created a new page. "What's next?"
Purpose
"The purpose/question. 'It's the question you are trying to answer in the lab'. It says here that it should be a testable question that gives specific criteria and conditions with 'how', 'what', 'when' and 'where' and should not be a yes or no question." Quinn read off the rubric.
"That's a lot." Morgead whined. "Jez you type."
Jez rolled her eyes. "Fine." She pushed Morgead out of the plush office chair and began to type.
"Next." She said when she was done.
Hypothesis
"The hypothesis." Quinn said.
"Oh! I know this!" Morgead said excitedly. "It's what we think will happen!"
Quinn gave him a look. "'The hypothesis should be a clear and precise prediction about the outcome of the investigation'."
"Why does science have to make everything sound so complicated?" Morgead asked.
"It should include the Independent and Dependent Variables." Quinn continued.
"Okay, the what?" Ash asked.
"I have no clue. Jez, Google it." Quinn commanded.
"On it." Jez pulled open the search engine. "Okay, it says here that the Independent variable is the thing in the experiment you're testing or changing. The Dependent variable is the thing that's being measured."
"Ohhh." The three boys said. "I get it now!"
"Also," Jez scrolled down some more, "We should include the control group and the constants. The control group is a group of data that acts a baseline measurement to compare other things to."
"So, like, it's the thing that you're comparing your other results to?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, basically. And the constants are the things in the experiment that should stay the same. Like the temperature, environment, etcetera for the most accurate results."
"Okay. Next are materials." Quinn said.
Materials
"So basically we should list everything that was used to do the experiment?" Jez asked.
"Yeah. It says to use details and give precise quantities. Should be in a column format but does not need to be numbered."
"Got it. What else do we have to do?"
Procedure
"Oh, shit." Quinn hissed. "We're screwed."
"Why? I think we're doing pretty well so far!" Morgead said.
"Yeah, we are, but listen to this: 'Procedure: a sequential, detailed explanation of the steps taken to carry out the experiment. You need step-by-step directions written it a manner that could be followed and repeated by someone else. Be sure to be very clear and exact in your directions'."
"We have no clue how they did this experiment." Ash pointed out the problem.
"Should we ask them?" Morgead suggested.
"No, I'll put a bunch of random steps down." Jez turned to the keys.
"Uh… Jez. The directions are all right here." Quinn handed her a piece of paper.
Her blue-silver eyes skimmed over the paper. "Oh, so it does. Thanks."
Data
"Now on to the data." Quinn said, pronouncing it like 'dah-tuh'.
"No, it's data." Ash corrected, saying it like 'day-tuh'.
"Ta-may-toe, tuh-mah-toe," Jez snapped. "No one cares!"
Quinn cleared his throat. "'Data: the visual representation of your results. Should be in the form of a table, chart, or a graph. Make sure your data is correctly labeled, titled, and includes a key. You should have at least two trials completed."
"Okay, well we can make a table here," Jez started one on Word. "But how do you do a graph?"
"I think you can do one on Excel." Ash said uncertainly.
"Let's just skip this part." Morgead exclaimed.
"Yes!" the others caroled enthusiastically.
Analysis/Conclusion
"Now, the hardest part." Quinn announce dramatically. "The analysis and conclusion."
"So how do we do this, Mr. Rubric Guy?" Jez poised her fingers over the keyboard, getting ready to type at a moments noticed.
"Analysis and conclusion," Quinn read in his best announcer voice. "'Where the results of the lab get interpreted. Explain what happened. Restate the hypothesis in past tense and include 3 examples of how the data helps support or reject the hypothesis."
"Is that it?" Jez scoffed. "That's not so hard."
"Now for the conclusion." Quinn said once Jez was done typing. "Now we have to talk about two errors that could have or did occur during the experiment and say how to avoid such errors in the future. Then we have to 'propose two further investigations based on the findings that may improve future experiments'."
"Well for an error it was done by Gillian." Morgead snorted.
"What are you saying?" Jez narrowed her eyes at him.
"Nothing." Morgead said innocently. "But Mare is our science girl, not Jill."
"But that doesn't mean that Gillian has no talent with experiments." Quinn rolled his eyes.
"True." Morgead frowned.
While the boys pondered all the things that needed to go into the conclusion, Jez was rapidly taping on the keyboard. "Done!" She sang and printed the write-up out.
"Without consulting us first?" Ash sounded wounded.
"Did you want to be consulted?" Jez raised her eyebrows.
"Nope." Ash said and got up. "Well I'm leaving. Later."
"Later." Jez stapled the papers with a sort of finality. "Now let's go give this to Jill."
~A Week Later~
"Ms. Lennox, may I have a word with you? It's about your paper." Gillian's teacher pulled her aside before the start of class.
"Yeah, Mr. Smith, what about it?"
"I don't think you fully… ah… understood the experiment. Or how do the write-up."
"What makes you say that?" Gillian asked cautiously.
"Well for one thing, you were supposed to do this experiment alone and you have a Ms. Mary-Lynnette Carter listed as a lab partner when we do not even have a Mary-Lynnette Carter enrolled in this school…"
Gillian closed her eyes and counted to ten. Morgead, Ash, Quinn, and Jez were so dead.
"Also, the purpose of the experiment was not "What were the most flammable combinations of chemicals?" and the hypothesis does not answer the question…"
"I'm sorry Mr. Smith. I did do the experiment, but I had some friends do the lab write-up." Gillian was so appalled she couldn't bear to have her teacher think that this was her work.
The teacher looked satisfied. "I know it wasn't Ms. Lennox. This is nothing like your writing. I hope you learn a valuable lesson here. Cheaters never prosper."
Yeah, yeah, I know I should totally be teaching you all a moral lesson when I have suchhigh moral ground to stand on. Snort. Yeah right.
Anyway, I hope you liked it! I know it may not exactly be Circle Daybreak Preschool (I swear I'm working on the next chapter!) or Couples Therapy (sniffles) but I'm pretty happy with it.
Are you happy with it? Think it could've been funnier? Shorter? Don't try and teach us some school shit next time?
You tell me! REVIEW! I listen! Except to flames, which will be used for Morgead's next experiment :3
Thanks ya'll!
-TheSpiraloftheStairs, Eve