Specs blundered down the hallway and accidentally, in his exhaustion, barreled straight into Jo Jo.
"Uh, excuse me?" Jo Jo began, but when he realized that it was Specs who had collided into him, he immediately broke into a broad smile. "Hey there! That's an interesting way to say hello."
Specs nodded sheepishly. "I'm sorry about that. I was up really late last night doing homework and I'm not actually fully awake yet."
"Tell me about it. A few nights ago I fell asleep around 11 while I was doing work and then I woke up at 4 am and my work wasn't done yet. I've never been so panicked in my life! God, I hate school." He rolled his eyes.
"I could do with a bit less work," Specs agreed.
"So, you ready for another day of Advanced Biology 2?" Jo Jo asked, mocking enthusiasm.
Specs pursed his lips and nodded grimly. "Remind me again why we're even taking this class?"
Jo Jo stared at him, incredulous. "It was your idea, remember? I only took it because you were taking it!"
"That seems to be a common theme in your schedule," Specs said, smirking.
Jo Jo sniffed. "Yeah, yeah, is it a problem that I want to spend time with you?"
"Absolutely not," said Specs affectionately.
"Hurry! We're gonna be late!" Jo Jo warned. He sped down the hallway. Specs dashed after him. Jo Jo arrived in his classroom just before the bell, Specs immediately after it.
Their teacher, Mr. Norris, stared at them in aloof annoyance. "You're going to be choosing your topics for the project I introduced to you last class. I will assign your topics on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first person to raise their hand when I read a subject will do the project on that subject. This is due tomorrow. Clear?"
Everyone in the class nodded.
"All right, then. Photosynthesis?"
A girl in a lavender dress in the front row raised her hand.
"Good. Grace, you can work with Mark. Cellular respiration?"
A boy in a cerulean t-shirt in the back raised his hand at the same time as a boy in the front in a red plaid shirt.
"That makes it easy," Mr. Norris remarked. "Ryan and Ben, you will do cellular respiration."
"Asexual reproduction?"
Jo Jo's hand shot up before Mr. Norris even finished the phrase. Specs looked amused.
"Very well. Jo Jo, you can work with…" Mr. Norris scanned the classroom, "eh…Specs."
Specs stared intently at Jo Jo, who smiled with closed lips and held up a finger to tell him to wait. Once Mr. Norris finished assigning everyone their projects, Specs and Jo Jo returned to furiously taking excessively detailed notes, neither too eager to fall behind in the class.
When the bell rang, Specs immediately strode up to Jo Jo. "Um, you know asexual reproduction has nothing to do with asexuality, right?"
"Obviously," Jo Jo stated, "but I thought it might be a good opportunity to make some puns."
Specs looked at Jo Jo, dumbfounded. "You volunteered for a science project so that you could make a few puns?!" He shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. You had better come up with some great puns, since asexual reproduction is a really extensive subject."
"Hey, come home with me to work tonight," Jo Jo suggested. He loved his study dates with Specs.
"You bet I will," Specs beamed. "But we have a lot of work to do, so we're gonna have to focus."
"Relax! I hate a bad grade just as much as you do. When, do you remember, have I not done my work according to the teacher's specifications? Even if I do it at the last minute."
Jo Jo did have a point. "Yeah, you're right. Do you want to go do some preliminary research during lunch and brainstorm a little?" Specs queried.
"Depends," Jo Jo said. "Research for puns or for asexual reproduction?"
Specs slapped his forehead.
Specs yanked his backpack from his locker and slipped it over his shoulders. He shut his locker and waited by Jo Jo's for him to finish packing up. Jo Jo stuffed one last book into his backpack and slammed his locker. The two boys walked out school, arms around each other's shoulders.
Jo Jo led Specs to a bench outside the school. "My mom's picking me up today, so we have to wait for her. She'll probably be here in a few minutes," he explained.
Sure enough, three minutes later a small maroon car pulled into the school's parking lot. "C'mon." Jo Jo grabbed Specs's hand and pulled him up from the bench. Still holding onto his hand, he galloped to his mother's car.
His mother rolled her window down. "Is coming home with you again?"
"We have to work on a science project," Jo Jo said simply.
"I wish you'd tell me in advance, but it's okay with me," she shrugged.
"We only got assigned the project today, though." Jo Jo opened the car door and motioned for Specs to get inside. He climbed in after Specs. They arrived at his house four minutes later..
"Thanks for the ride, Mom!" Jo Jo yelled. He flung open the car door and made towards his house. Specs jogged after him.
Jo Jo led Specs to his bedroom. "What other homework do you have tonight?"
"Somehow, just that English stuff, but I'm gonna do that later. How are we gonna divide this work?"
Jo Jo giggled. "Heh…divide…because prokaryotic cells divide asexually…and we're asexually dividing our work..."
Specs raised an eyebrow inquisitively, chortling nonetheless. "That wasn't even close to funny. Anyway, if you're so obsessed with cell division then you can work on fission and I can focus on budding."
Jo Jo smiled mischievously. "You know what else is budding asexually?"
Specs sighed. "Oh god, what?"
"Our romance!" Jo Jo giggled, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Jesus Christ, Jo Jo! If I kiss you will you stop making those awful puns?"
"Well," Jo Jo said, "we wouldn't want to get too distracted when we're supposed to be doing homew-" He was cut off midsentence by Specs's lips against his. He relaxed and kissed Specs back blissfully. He pulled away after twenty seconds or so. He looked into Specs's eyes and they both smiled involuntarily.
"You always look so cute after we kiss," Specs commented. "Like you're delighted and dazed after your first kiss or something, even though we've been together for months."
Jo Jo beamed. "What can I say? I'm a cute person."
Specs giggled softly. "I've noticed."
"But you look cute absolutely always," Jo Jo pronounced.
"I swear, I'm going to kiss that stupid smile off your face," Specs declared.
"Isn't that counterproductive though? I mean, I promise I don't mind, but you said I get a big happy smile on my face every time after we kiss so I don't see how you're going to be able to kiss the smile off my face? I mean feel free to try, but—"
"Jo Jo. Shut up." Specs leaned in and kissed him again. When he pulled away, he said, "We should probably start our homework now."
Jo Jo pouted. "But I like that better than homework."
Specs rolled his eyes. "But you can't make puns when you're kissing."
"Oh, good point. I'd much rather do homework, then."
"Just promise me that you won't be making those puns during the actual presentation."
"You have my word," Jo Jo assured Specs.
Jo Jo and Specs rushed into their biology classroom carrying the large infographic poster they had assembled the previous night. After all the students had arrived, Mr. Norris cleared his throat several times.
"Specs and Jo Jo," he addressed the two of them, "you seem prepared. Are you ready to present now?"
"Oh yeah!" Jo Jo responded. "I think we're gonna ace it." Specs blushed copiously.
Specs and Jo Jo marched to the front of the class and propped the poster they had made in front of them. "Asexual reproduction is a manner in which organisms reproduce where they are formed by, and their genetic material comes from, one individual 'parent' organism. It is a biological advantage in that it…." Specs spoke for a while, introducing their project and lecturing on budding. He finished and allowed Jo Jo to present.
"Fission is the other most common form of asexual reproduction. There are two types of fission, binary and multiple. Binary fission, also known as mitosis, occurs in…." Jo Jo explained the details of the different types of fission. "...in summation, asexual reproduction is a prokaryote's secret, an ace up their sleeve, one might say, to rapidly breeding."
At this, Specs flushed abundantly and he became so flustered that his glasses fell to the floor. He quickly stooped down to retrieve them and jam them onto his face again.
Jo Jo bowed and returned to his seat. Specs brought the poster back with him to his own seat.
"Very good!" Mr. Norris applauded them, visibly impressed. "Who's up next? Samantha, Robert? Are you two set to present?"
Specs met Jo Jo at his locker after class. "I thought you said you weren't going to make any puns during class today," he said, faking admonishment.
Jo Jo kissed Specs's cheek briefly. "Come on, I can't reveal all my secrets. That pun was my ace in the hole."