A/N: I know what you're thinking, another one of THOSE fics. Ughh, high school, right? And what's up with this pairing? Well, I'm not quite sure myself, but please give it a chance, and I hope you like it!
BTW: If you ever watched it, you'll find that this has some similarities to the show "Unnatural History." You know, that one show on Cartoon Network that was really good, but still got canceled? Yeah.
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Ixnay.
"Sex, drugs and rock and roll." The whole class snapped their heads up, confused. Mr. Goodman smiled to himself and continued his lecture. "Yeah, that got your attention, didn't it? So, ladies and gentlemen, as I was saying, Hemingway was most likely-"
RIINNGGG~
The class sighed in relief as the bell interrupted their teacher, signaling the end of first period. "Saved by the bell." Mr. Goodman remarked, wiping off the whiteboard. "Don't forget to do your reading, there'll be a test next time." Everyone groaned, shuffling out of the room.
Vincent Nigel Murray came out last, map in hand, stumbling around in the hallway, trying to navigate within the bustling crowd of teens. He was just about to turn the corner when a blonde haired boy came ramming into him. Vincent grunted, dropping his multitude of books, landing flat on his back. He groaned, letting someone, probably the boy who crashed into him, pull him to his feet. After his vision refocused, he met the blue-eyed gaze of the perpetrator.
"Sorry about that, dude. I was kinda in a hurry. One more tardy and its Saturday detention. Again." The boy looked at his victim for a while, trying to remember who he was. When he came to the conclusion he was not at all familiar, he figured he was new. "Hey, I'm Wendell. First day here?" He extended his hand.
"Uhh, yeah. I'm Vincent. I'm new, obviously." He shook Wendell's outstretched hand and bent down to gather his dropped books. He gave Wendell a confused look once he bent down too. "Umm, aren't you going to be late?"
"Oh, yeah. Well, I'm used to detention. We don't get newbies around here very often." He picked up the map of the campus and handed it back. "Getting lost?"
"Little bit. New surroundings and all. Plus, this place is huge."
"It is a museum. Here, let me see your schedule." He took the piece of paper from Vincent's hand and unfolded it. "Wait, didn't I just have English with you? And your next class is… AP Biology. Hey, what a coincidence!" He folded the schedule up, tossing it back. "So is mine. Come on."
They continued down the hall and made it into the room just as the bell sounded. Wendell took a seat near the window and pulled Vincent down to sit next to him. "You're gonna love Mr. Hodgins. He's really ecstatic about bugs and he has, like, the coolest conspiracy theories ever."
Wendell then pointed to the person standing next to their teacher. He looked a bit older than they were, probably in college. "That's Zack Addy. He's Mr. Hodgins' student aid. He's really smart, but sorta socially awkward, you know what I mean? But he's awesome, I'll introduce you guys later. Also, for no reason whatsoever, they're always competing for the title of King of the Lab. I mean, it gets really competitive in here sometimes. Between them."
"All right, guys, let's get started!" Mr. Hodgins clapped his hands, silencing the room. "So, like I mentioned last class, today we'll be dissecting fetal pigs." Cheers erupted from the class as most of the boys high-fived each other and started teasing the girls.
Mr. Hodgins unveiled his box of animal bodies and laid out the individual containers on the tables. "All right, all right, settle down. Partner up and try not to faint." He discreetly eyed all the boys in the class. "We don't want a repeat of what happened with the sheep's eye."
Wendell brought back his and Vincent's pig to their table and they both stared down at it, scalpels in hand. "So, umm, you can go first."
"Thanks, I sincerely appreciate it." Vincent cut into it while Wendell recorded their findings. "Did you know that if you look at the back wall of a fetal pig heart, you'll see a vessel that is enormous compared to the relatively small size of the fetal pig heart? It's because the hemiazygous vein loses its connection to the right common cardinal vein, and maintains its connection through the left cardinal vein. The left cardinal vein drains not only the heart wall, but also the posterior chest wall through the hemiazygous vein. Consequently, the left cardinal vein becomes very large in pigs."
Wendell stopped writing and looked confusedly at his friend. "That's… nice to know. How do you know that?"
"Probably read it somewhere. I have a retentive memory." Vincent gloated, smiling at his fetus.
After finishing their lab, the two of them sat at their table waiting for everyone else to finish. "So where are you from anyway?" Wendell asked after realizing he knew next to nothing about this kid.
"Oh, I'm from Erdington, northeast of Birmingham."
"Wow, England? Did you move here or…"
"Uhh, no. I'm part of the foreign exchange student program. I'm staying with an old family friend, Cam Saroyan."
Wendell's eyes widened, his mouth forming an O. "No way. You're staying with the principal of the school? Dude, that must suck, she probably doesn't let you do anything, huh?"
"No, no! She's really cool, well, I mean, it's only been a week so I'm not really sure."
"Oh, well, at least you get a free pass at school, right? Unless you piss her off, then you're totally screwed."
RIINNGGG~
"Oh, that's lunch. Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone!" Wendell swung his backpack over his shoulder and dragged Vincent with him to the cafeteria.
Arriving at his usual table, Wendell sat down with his friends, pulling out a chair for the other boy. "Hey, guys. This is Vincent. He's a foreign exchange kid. It's his first day today." Vincent waved awkwardly as everyone else eyed him suspiciously.
"Cool! We don't get new kids very often!" An eccentric girl sitting on the opposite end squealed. "I'm Daisy, nice to meet 'cha!" She motioned to her friends around her, listing off their names in order. "That's Clark, he's a total stickler and he hates fun."
"Hey, I resent that!" The dark-skinned teen protested.
"Whatever, it's totally true. Anyway, that's Finn in all his sweet southern glory." The boy she pointed to lowered the tip of his cap as a hello.
Daisy continued, squeezing the boy next to her. "This is Oliver, the fairly odd, random one of the group and you probably already know Zack. I mean, you just had bio, right? Well, I mean, I'm assuming since Wendell doesn't usually take the time to seek people out, so you must've had last class with him. So where you from? Are you liking it here?"
"Daisy!" All but Vincent cried. The girl shrunk back a little, mumbling an apology.
"Sorry, she gets a bit… talkative sometimes. Anyway, did you get a tour of the school yet?"
"Uhh, no. There was no one available."
"Oh well, I'll take care of that right now. Come on, I'll show you around."
"Wait, you're gonna show him the whole school and the museum in one lunch period?" Clark asked incredulously.
"Maybe not the whole thing, but I mean, we'll get through most of it. We do have a whole hour. Anyone else coming with?"
"Oh, I will. I have to finish up some stuff in English anyway." Finn grabbed his backpack and walked out with the other two.
Oliver watched them as they left. "That's like the 4th time he's left this week. And the third time he's used that excuse. Where is it that you guys think Finn goes?"
"Umm, not my business." Clark remarked, getting up to get some food.
"Maybe he has secret rendezvous with a secret lover." Zack suggested, not looking up from a science experiment he swore would finally prove Hodgins' theory wrong. What the theory was about, however, they'll probably never know.
Oliver and Daisy looked at each other, considering it for a second before they shot it down. "Nah." They went back to unpacking their lunches.
In the somewhat empty hallways, Finn had left the two after about 20 minutes, stating he had to make up a lab in chemistry (even though Wendell swore he said something about English earlier).
"I almost forgot!" The blonde teen motioned to a sign-up sheet hung on a billboard next to a flyer advertising a band named Gormogon. What a peculiar name.
"I'm guessing you don't know about the work study program, right? Well, everyone that goes here has to intern at the museum at least three times a month. Depending on performance and schedules your internship could last more than a week or just that one day. You get rotated out, but considering the population of the student body, it's not that often." He presented the pen to Vincent. "I suggest going to the art department first. Angela takes care of all the newbies."
The Brit complied, writing his name under the art section. "Who's Angela?"
"Oh, she's an art teacher and head of the art history department. We call her by her first name because she thinks Mrs. Montenegro makes her sound old. She's the coolest teacher here, a 'free-spirit' as she likes to call herself. Anyway, on with the tour!" They turned the corner, entering the common grounds where the school and the museum connected, when suddenly someone bumped into them. The stranger had his hands shoved into his pockets and his hood up.
"S-Sorry." The guy mumbled, keeping his head down, continuing down the hall.
Vincent noticed that he had dropped something and, picking it up, shouted for him. "Hey, you dropped your earphones!"
The stranger turned around and grabbed them back from him. They met each other's eyes and Vincent saw something there. He couldn't quite place it. It was like there was a lot of sadness behind them, but the guy seemed like he was… happy too, if that made any sense at all. Yeah, not so much.
"Thanks." The hooded individual said, walking away.
"Well, that was weird." Wendell checked his phone for the time. "I guess that concludes the tour actually. You'll get to know the museum since you'll be there every month. I'm hungry now. Let's go get something to eat."
A/N: So what did you guys think? Please review. Please. I'm begging you. I just need to know if you guys like this or not! Please!
Ok, so anyway, since this was just the first chapter, I couldn't introduce everybody, but they'll all be coming in soon. Also, I'm sorry if Vincent or the others were OOC, but this is an AU, so they'll be a little different.
BUT I will try to keep them in character as much as I can in later chapters. Ok, thanks and please, please tell me what you think. :D