Hello again. I've updated as you can see. Not much else to say. I was sad that no one caught the Team Fortress 2 reference in the last chapter. Ah well. Anyway, big thanks to my beta, The Imperfectionist.
Consider this disclaimed.
Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Mike walked down the corridors snapping his fingers to the beat with one hand, balancing two caramel lattes in a cup carrier with the other. He wanted to break out in dance but the lattes he was holding prevented any sudden movements. He approached Matt's locker, expecting him to be there, but his friend was nowhere to be seen.
"Odd."
Mike wondered where his friend was. It was almost impossible for Matt to function without his morning coffee, and yet, his friend wasn't here to snatch it from his hands like he usually was.
"Man, that was fucking awesome!"
Mike yanked his headphones out of his ears and turned around to see Puck and his cronies high-fiving each other. Mike's eyebrows rose even higher. Suddenly it was all making sense. Standing alongside the usual suspects was Matt, who was receiving his share of high-fives and fist bumps.
"I got to get ready for English, I'll see you guys around," Matt said as he gave Puck one last fist-bump.
"See you around, Rutherford," Puck replied. "You gotta join us next time we throw that fag into the dumpster, Chang."
"Yeah, totally," Mike said with a hint of sarcasm, which was lost on all the other jocks.
Puck clapped Mike on the back before he and his cronies went off to torture another poor soul.
"So…" Mike began.
The smile Matt was wearing immediately fell.
"Jesus," Matt groaned as he ran his hands over his face.
"Latte?" Mike offered, holding out the cup carrier.
Matt snatched up one of the coffee cups and took three giant gulps.
"You know, it is said that the secret to a good latte is the temperature of the steamed milk. Apparently it has to be scalding," Mike said as he watched Matt down the latte. "You're lucky I disagree."
Mike picked up the remaining cup and took a sip.
"So I'm guessing you threw Kurt Hummel in the dumpster just then?" Mike asked as he slid the cup carrier on top of the lockers.
Matt nodded, before finishing the last of his coffee and placing the empty cup on top of the lockers as well.
The two of them remained silent. Despite the fact that they had taken part in the torture of the social misfits more often than either of them would like to admit, neither Mike nor Matt knew what to say to each other afterwards. Mike took another sip of his latte and decided to change the topic.
"You've heard about that new search engine Microsoft brought out?"
"Bing?" Matt asked as he dialled in his locked combination.
"Yeah, 'Bing'," Mike said, using air quotation marks to emphasise the word. "I only just realised how similar it sounds to the word 'bang', "
Mike caught a group of Cheerios walking down the corridor, their hips swaying side to side.
"I'd bing that," Mike said once they were out of earshot.
Matt leaned back so he could get a better look at the swaying rear ends of the Cheerios.
"I'd bing that as well," Matt replied with a smile.
Mike clapped Matt on the back.
"Good to see you're smiling again," Mike said cheerfully. "Anyway, I've got to get to class. I'll see you at lunch."
"See you," Matt replied. "Thanks for the latte."
"No worries."
Mike plugged his headphones back in before making his way to the science labs.
ooooo
The bell rang just as Mike walked into the classroom. He quickly downed the last of his coffee before tossing the empty cup into the trash can beside the door. He spotted Finn sitting in his usual corner staring at the sky intently.
"Hey, Finn," Mike said cheerfully as he switched off his iPod and stuffed the device into his pocket.
"Hey, Mike," Finn replied, not taking his eyes off the sky.
"What's so fascinating up there?" Mike asked as sat down in the chair next to Finn.
"There's a cloud up there that looks like a donkey," Finn tilted his head slightly, "now it kinda looks like bird of some sort."
Mike scanned the skyline, but all he saw was a mass of fluffy white stuff. He was never able to see anything in the clouds. They always looked like masses of cotton clumped together, no matter how hard he stared. His sister said that it was because Mike had no imagination whatsoever. He agreed with her.
Mike decided to leave Finn to his cloud watching. He looked like he was enjoying himself and Mike didn't want to ruin it with his inability to imagine.
Reaching for his bag, Mike pulled out his notebook and dropped it on the table. He slowly flipped to a blank page, glancing over the things were in the book. Most of the pages were filled with random doodles of two stick figures engaging in an epic sword fight (he noticed that the swords got progressively bigger as he went further into the book). Finding a blank page, Mike reached for the pen he usually had in his pocket and just as he was about to put it to paper, their balding science teacher came rushing through the door.
"Sorry I'm late, class," Mr. Way said as he sat down at the front desk. "Alright, today you'll be getting your assignments. You'll be in randomly grouped into pairs and you and your partner will be creating a scientific experiment based on the topic we're studying right now."
Finn tore his eyes from the sky and raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Hudson."
"What's the topic again?"
"Catalysts."
"Uh…"
"Don't worry, your partner will explain it to you later," Mr. Way said as he reached for his briefcase. "That is, if luck is on your side and you get a partner that has actually been listening in class," Mr. Way added with a smile.
Mr. Way opened his briefcase and pulled out a tattered, worn out beanie.
"Now, I have put all your names into this beanie, please wait until I have called out all your names before getting into your pairs."
Mr. Way reached into the beanie and pulled out the first name.
"Mr. Haque." The bespectacled Muslim exchange student looked up. "Aaaaaand," he pulled out the second name, "Mr. King."
Mike let out a huge yawn. Whenever Mr. Way started talking Mike's first reaction is to zone out. He couldn't help it. He picked up his pen once more and started to draw his favourite subject matter: robots.
"Pew, pew!" Mike whispered as he drew his robot in the midst of a climactic gunfight with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
A swift elbow to the gut brought Mike back to reality.
"Ow!" Mike shot Finn a dirty look. "Why did you do that?"
"Because," Mr. Way said, "I just announced who you would be working with."
"Oh, right," Mike replied sheepishly. "So, who am I working with?"
"Me!" Brittany announced excitedly from the other side of the room.
Mike groaned mentally. He held no malice towards Brittany personally, but when someone is often called "the place where intelligence goes to take heroin and then get run over by a bus", one can't help but wish for another partner. Mr. Way told the class to get into their pairs. Mike dragged himself to his feet, bumped Finn's fist before moving to sit next to Brittany.
"Soooo…" Mike said as he slumped into the heavily graffitied chair. "Got any ideas for the assignment?"
Brittany shook her head.
"Yeah, thought as much," Mike muttered under his breath.
The two of them sat in total silence when suddenly Brittany spoke up.
"Did you know dolphins are just gay sharks?"
"Uh…" Mike said, unsure of what to make of Brittany's sudden comment. "How do you know this?"
"I went to the zoo on the weekend," Brittany replied, "I saw one of the boy dolphins giving strange looks to a boy shark."
Mike couldn't help himself, he burst out in laughter.
"I'm really sorry for laughing" Mike choked out when the laughter finally subsided. "But, God, the world you live in must be amazing, I'd love to live there, even if it was only for a few moments."
"But we, like, live in the same world, don't we?" Brittany asked uncertainly. "Unless you're part of a memory of a world that, like, died, but is still being kept alive by a sleeping whale." Brittany furrowed her brow, she was no doubt trying to figure out what the sleeping whale would look like. "I think the sleeping whale should have wings."
"Would you have to play a special song to wake the whale up?" Mike suggested, his smile growing wider. "With eight instruments made from sea shells?"
Brittany's face lit up.
"That would be so cool."
Mike laughed at the blonde's reaction. For the rest of the lesson the two of them discussed all things related to the sleeping whale. Brittany suggested they name the whale Fred because apparently she liked that name. She had wanted to name her cat Fred, but her sister had put her foot down and said no. That elicited an incredibly adorable pout from Brittany.
At one point Mike suggested suggested that the whale should eat dreams that haven't found a head to live in yet. Brittany was horrified at the idea of dreams not having a place to live and she vowed to have at least five dreams a night from that point onwards.
The bell rang, effectively ending their conversation.
"Oh, bother," Mike said, looking up at the clock. "Well it's was fun chatting with you Brittany, but I have to go to English. Mr. Francois hates it when his students are late."
Brittany giggled.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you sound like you're from England when you say 'bother'?" she asked.
"Really?" Mike asked as he gathered his books. "I've never noticed, but seriously, Mr. Francois will throw a hissy fit if I'm not there on time, so I have to go now."
"Bye, Mike," Brittany said, giving Mike a cheerful wave goodbye.
"Catch you later, Brittany."
Mike slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the science labs.
ooooo
Mike slowly made his way through the halls to the cafeteria to meet up with Matt. Mike was, for once, not listening to his iPod. Instead, Mike he was deep in thought about the assignments he now had. In addition to the one given to him in science, he also had an English assignment that was given to him just fifteen minutes ago. Along with the two assignments he received today, Mike also had social studies assignment due in a week. It was the social studies assignment that really worried Mike, he barely understood half the stuff that came out of Mr. Cordiner's mouth, so he had no idea how he was going to write an entire essay.
Mike was so engrossed in his own thoughts that the entire world was invisible to him, so bumping into someone was almost certain.
"Oof"
Mike let out an apology before trying to find who had run into him. Standing before him was Rachel Berry, with what looked like a raspberry slushie dripping from her face. Rachel eyed Mike warily, it was almost as if she expected Mike to pull another slushie from behind his back and throw it at her.
"Uhh…" Mike said, he was completely clueless about what he was supposed to say in this situation.
Rachel wiped away the rather large chunk of ice that was sliding down to her eye before looking Mike square in the eyes.
"If you aren't going to throw another slushie at me then could you please let me pass so that I may tidy myself up?" Rachel said with more conviction than Mike could have ever hoped to have mustered if he were in the same position.
Mike stood there for a moment, mouth hanging open, unsure of how to react to Rachel's statement.
"Uh, sure," Mike he said, stepping aside so Rachel could get past.
Rachel raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Mike couldn't tell if it was because she was surprised that her gambit actually worked, or that there were actually jocks in the school that didn't live to make her life a living hell. Mike hoped it wasn't the latter.
Needing no further incentive, Rachel immediately made haste towards the girl's bathroom to clean herself up.
Mike continued to stare at Rachel as she walked down the halls. Mike's only contact with the girl was occasionally throwing a slushie at her in order to keep up appearances, something which he absolutely and utterly despised doing. But in under a minute, she had shown a side of her that Mike never knew existed, and he was impressed.
At that moment, Mike's stomach gave a loud rumble, reminding him of where he should be at that moment in time. Mike turned around and continued his walk to the cafeteria. As he was walking, it occurred to Mike that Rachel was covered in slushie when the two of them collided.
"Oh, shit."
The shirt was Armani and it had cost him nearly six month's wages.
ooooo
"About time," Matt said, spraying pieces of honey chicken onto Mike's shirt.
"Dude, watch it, the shirt's Armani, and I only just cleaned the slushie stain out of it," Mike said as he brushed off the chunks Matt had sprayed all over him.
Matt took a huge gulp, forcing everything in down his throat.
"Sorry," Matt said, "but- oh, before I forget," Matt held up his plastic Tupperware container, "want some?"
Mike shook his head.
"So how did you get a slushie stain on your precious Armani shirt?" Matt asked as before he took another bite out of the piece of chicken.
"Ran into Rachel Berry a little while ago. She'd been slushied beforehand," Mike said plainly as he unzipped his bag and pulled his lunchbox out.
"That sucks," Matt said before he stripped the last of the meat off the drumstick.
"Yeah," Mike said plainly as he opened his lunchbox.
The two of them said nothing. Whenever the two of them started to talk about such topics, the conversation had a habit of dying rather suddenly.
"Oh, did you hear?" Matt asked as he placed the gnawed drumstick on a napkin that had been placed neatly next to his Tupperware container.
"Hear what?" Mike asked, picking up one of his meticulously constructed sandwiches as he talked.
"Apparently, Mr. Ryerson has been fired because he was touching Hank Saunders."
"Who's Mr. Ryerson? Who's Hank Saunders?" Mike asked before he carefully unwrapped a corner of his sandwich and took bite.
"Ryerson is the head of glee," Matt picked up a spare napkin and wiped his fingers and mouth. "Hank Saunders was a kid in glee."
"Oh, right." Mike took another bite of his sandwich when the implications of Matt's words suddenly dawned on him. "Wait, seriously?" Mike asked in disbelief.
"Who knows?" Matt said as he reached for his last piece of honey chicken. "It's just a rumour, however, I haven't seen Ryerson around, so I'm guessing it's true."
Just as Matt was about to take a bite out of the drumstick Puck and his two flunkies Azimio and Karofsky burst into the cafeteria, laughing and high-fiving each other.
"You sure got Berry good with that last one, Puck," Karofsky snickered.
Mike raised an eyebrow. So it was Puck who had slushied Rachel. Mike made a mental note, not that he was going to do anything about it.
The three of them spotted Mike and Matt sitting by themselves and immediately made a beeline towards them. Mike exchanged glances with Matt. There was a good chance that their lunches would be gone in under thirty seconds now.
"Hey guys," Puck said as the three of them sat down.
"Oh, thanks man," Karofsky said as he reached forward and snatched the drumstick out of Matt's hand.
"No worries," Matt replied, the venom practically dripping off his words, but it went unnoticed by Karofsky.
"Man, this shit is good," Karosky said between bites.
"Thanks, I made it myself," Matt replied, his words still venomous.
"Really?" Puck asked, "that's kinda gay."
"You know," Mike said as he watched Azimio reach forwards to grab one of his sandwiches. "Chicks really dig a dude who can cook, it's like the ultimate turn on."
"You don't mind do you, Chang?" Azimio asked, but by the time he had asked the sandwich was already in his hands.
"No, of course not," Mike replied, adopting the same venomous tone Matt had used moments before.
"Thanks, man," Azimio took a bite, "so what were you saying about chicks getting turned on by a guy that can cook?"
"Oh yeah, chicks love it when you can cook, I mean, it's like an aphrodisiac or some shit like that," Mike said as he closed his lunchbox, he was getting out of here before his lunch completely disappeared. "Anyway, I'm afraid Matt and I can't stay, we both have a science assignment we have to finish."
"Science experiment, yeah," Matt repeated.
With that, the two of them packed up their things and left their teammates to eat their lunches.
What do you think? Read and review. Or not, it's all up to you.