Hey everyone! I just wrote up this little story to cure my writer's block. I want to start a chapter story soon, so I got this one to clear my mind. It's kind of random and choppy, but I just wrote it in an hour to cure the block of doom. I also tried to spread the spotlight to all four characters. So yeah, here it is!
Of Catalysts and Compromises
Logan couldn't stand it. With every small thump, is eye twitched. He covered his ears while squinting at his math homework in concentration. Okay, he just needed to find the square root, then…
THUMP.
Logan whirled around in his seat, facing the desk behind him. "Carlos buddy, think you could stop hitting your hand on your desk? It's hard to concentrate." He whispered to his friend.
"Oh yeah. I guess I didn't notice. It just helps me concentrate." Carlos answered.
Feeling a little guilty, but thinking it was for the best of his math homework, Logan nodded in thanks, turning back around. He wasn't halfway through his next problem when he heard the sound of a shoe making contact with metal. He didn't want to call his friend out twice in one day, but then Logan felt a vibrating sensation. Carlos was kicking his chair.
"Hey, do you mind?" Logan asked in annoyance.
"Hmm?" his friend looked up from his work.
"Hey, could you guys keep it down?" James hissed beside Logan.
"Sorry James, it's just Carlos keeps kicking my chair-"
"I'm trying to work over here!" Kendall muttered behind James.
Logan sighed, trying to refocus on his math problems.
Another huge sigh emitted a seat over and up from him. Once it was over, there was peaceful silence. Then another powerful sigh filled to the brim with annoyance.
Carlos didn't want to say anything. After all, math wasn't James's best subject, and he knew his friend got frustrated with it. As long as he didn't keep making noisy breaths…
"Huh," James puffed, his paper rustling loudly.
Carlos tried to overlook it, but he seemed to be sighing in patterns. Now Carlos couldn't help but guess when the next reverberation would be emitted. He gritted his teeth and started tapping his hand in rhythm so he wouldn't have to listen to James.
"Carlos, buddy, think you could stop hitting your hand on your desk?" Logan asked in front of him. Carlos restrained from rolling his eyes. The smart boy couldn't be bothered with James's noisy sighs, but when it came to a simple tapping, he was instantly distracted.
"Oh yeah. I guess I didn't notice. It just helps me concentrate." Carlos answered. Once Logan turned back around, James looked at his math notes huffily flipping through them. Carlos swung his foot out, smacking the leg of the chair in front of him.
"Hey, do you mind?" Logan hissed at him.
"Hmm?" Carlos tried to ignore him.
"Hey, could you guys keep it down?" James muttered beside Logan. Carlos was about to tell his tall friend he was the reason he couldn't think straight in the first place when he was cut off.
"Sorry James, it's just Carlos keeps kicking my chair-"
"I'm trying to work over here!" Kendall yelled at us behind James.
The breaking noise. Oh gosh, it was too nasty.
Kendall's head snapped up for the third time when there was a cracking noise in the row ahead. He narrowed his eyes, watching Logan lift his hand to his mouth, biting his nails. He bit down to the quick before lowering his hand again.
Kendall looked down at the difficult equations on his desk, pushing his blonde hair back. He thought for a moment before lowering his pencil to the paper.
CRACK.
Kendall cleared his throat, trying to get Logan's attention. He cleared it again, then coughed a few times. James sighed ahead of him. If only he could get Logan's attention…
Logan turned around, complaining to Carlos about some little beat he was making with his hand. Kendall hardly even noticed it. The only thing he could hear was Logan making a snack of his hand.
They had a small dispute that James joined in on. When it was over, silence ensued. Until Logan lifted a pale hand up once more.
Kendall made what he considered to be a small noise in his throat, trying to get his attention without the whole class looking. James sighed, probably distracted by Logan's insistent nail chewing.
One more time, and he would lose it.
"Ahem." Kendall practically hacked behind James. The brunette could deal with the musical taps Carlos was making, he could endure the biting of nails made by Logan, but this was too much.
"Eh-hem!" James sighed at the choking noise Kendall made. It didn't sound healthy. He noticed Logan turn around in his seat, probably to tell Kendall off for the gross noises.
"Carlos, buddy…" James stopped listening. Seriously? Carlos was hardly a distraction. If only Kendall wouldn't-
A hacking erupted behind him. James turned to face his friends.
"Hey, could you guys keep it down?" James asked all of the guys. There, then he wouldn't have to call Kendall out.
Someone apologized, but James was too busy looking back at his math. He ruffled through some of his notes to distract himself. Kendall's gravelly sounds made James's throat hurt just listening. Maybe he could just ignore the noises…
Kendall practically sprayed him with saliva, and James snapped.
"Dude, could you get a drink or something? Those noises are making me nauseas."
"Wait, what?" Kendall asked.
"You keep hacking up a storm, and it's really hard to focus on math when you're-"
"Hacking? James, I can't concentrate with you making those dramatic sighs! I've been over here tapping to get it out of my head!" Carlos said suddenly, overhearing their conversation.
"My sighs?"
"Yeah, I know math is hard, but dude!"
"Math? They're sighs of frustration! With this guy blowing up behind you-"
"I hardly noticed your sighs James, because Carlos won't stop kicking my seat!" Logan interrupted. "And the hand tapping, it is too disturbing!"
"Not as distracting as all-you-can eat fingernails!" Kendall called behind James.
"Excuse me?"
"You've been gnawing nonstop for the past fifteen minutes, and it's really getting to me!"
"Well, I…"
"You can't blame my kicking for that!" Carlos said.
The boys argued for five minutes quietly, until Kendall reached a conclusion.
"Logan, you're annoyed because Carlos is kicking your chair." Logan nodded in confirmation. "Carlos, you're distracted by James and his sighing." Carlos gave a thumbs up. "James, you won't stop sighing because of my, what was it… 'hacking' noises ?" James agreed to that. "But I was only hacking to get Logan's attention to ask him to stop chewing his nails!"
"What? That is absurd!" Logan denied at once.
"Come on, you can't even say you were biting your nails because I was tapping my hand!" Carlos pointed out.
"Right. Logan chewed his nails, making Kendall cough, making me sigh, making Carlos kick your chair!" James concluded. "That makes you the catalyst Logan!"
"First of all, that is not the correct use of the word 'catalyst'! Second, we all have habits, you can't just blame it all on me!"
"Pal, I think we can." Kendall said with a wink.
"What is going on over here?" Ms. Collins appeared from nowhere. The boys exchanged looks.
"Making a compromise. I won't kick your seat if you won't eat your nails, making Kendall sound like an old fellow, causing James to sigh so I can't concentrate. Deal?" Carlos asked Logan.
"Deal." Logan agreed.
Ms. Collins rolled her eyes. She would never understand those boys.
This is definitely not my favorite thing I wrote, but hopefully you were mildly entertained or something. I don't even know what catergory to put it in. To be honest, I think it was sorta choppy, but I posted it because it was late and I want to start writing on a chapter story. But I promised I wouldn't until I posted a four character one-shot. Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you found some sort of enjoyment in my story!