Author's Note: I wrote this several months ago, before season two started, and now that I just found out that has a Skins section, I decided to post it. Because it's cute. And I'm bored.

Practical Meets Chaotic

'You're so much different than me, this I know…'
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

-

"So let's do it."

"We're not going to do it, Chris."

"Think of it as a learning experiment. It's kinda biological, innit?"

"Chemical. And no."

"Yeah, well – whatever, it's science! Listen, Jal, can we just do it, please?"

"I already said no, Chris."

Jal didn't need to look over to know that Chris was grimacing: His dejected sigh reached her ears, and she could feel him bristle with agitation. She tried not to smirk as they continued walking across the darkened green, grocery bags in hand. 8 PM on a Friday night and she was grocery shopping with Chris, of all people; what had her life come to?

They walked in a heavy silence for a few more moments and then…

"Why not?" Chris said it like a child; if it wasn't for his broken voice, Jal would have sworn she was talking to a 3-year-old.

"Because it's a fucking waste of Diet Coke, that's why," Jal answered, stopping in her tracks to glare at the boy by her side.

Chris was fidgeting, biting his lower lip.

"I'm gonna to do it," he said suddenly, stooping low and stretching out for Jal. She tried to twist out of his reach, but she was a musician, not a dancer, and Chris easily managed to grab a hold of her wrist in one hand and pull a two liter bottle of Diet Coke out of her grocery bag with his other hand.

Jal barely caught the glint of manic happiness in Chris' eye before he dashed off, yelling at the top of his lungs, with the bottle.

"Chris, you're a ruddy bastard, you know that?" Jal called after him, her eyes narrowed as he stopped several yards away from her and set the bottle on the ground, twisting the cap off. Sighing, Jal set her grocery bags down and slowly approached her friend who was patting down his pockets in search of something.

"Got it!" he announced triumphantly, pulling out a pack of Mentos from his jeans.

"Chris, you've seen this on youtube a dozen times…"

But it was no use: Chris dropped the white candy into the opened bottle and almost immediately the soda spurted out, gushing like a geyser. And Chris, the idiot, was dancing in the shower of soft drink; he even pulled Jal into the spray, whooping giddily as the sugary liquid cascaded down upon them.

Seconds later, it was over, and Jal was blinking Diet Coke out of her eyes.

"Fun, wasn't it?" Chris asked happily.

"You owe me a two liter bottle of Diet Coke."

A short laugh escaped Chris' lips as he stared down at his shoes, attempting to look repentant. He glanced up, his mouth pulling to one side as he held out the pack of Mentos. Jal tried to stay mad at him; she tried to glare at him, but she was never really good at staying mad at Chris, and she ended up smiling at him and holding out her hand.

Chris used his thumb to knock a Mentos into her outstretched palm; then, as she popped the candy into her mouth, he threw his arm around her shoulders and began leading her back to her discarded grocery bags.

"Let's get you home," he said, picking up one of her bags with his free hand.

Jal smirked.

"You still owe me a two liter bottle of Diet Coke."