A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews again! You guys really encourage me to keep writing! :D
Whiteling: Indeed, she's not the type that will fall for a few flirtatious words, she cares more about the inside and stuff. Thank you for offering suggestions for her name! I had already decided her name before I started writing though, and you will read it in this chapter! Hope you like it! Thanks for reviewing! :D
Energy Witch: You have got a point there! I love how you've written an in-depth review. It would be better if someone told Randall and Javier to get their minds off the girl, it would be the best for all of them. But will they listen? X3 Thanks for reviewing! :D
Chapter 4
Javier's monotone voice would have made Randall's eyelids heavy, if it weren't for the girl, miss Blake, sitting next to him.
She distracted him all the time, even if she didn't mean or want to. Every little movement she made was seen by Randall, that be wiggling the feathery red things on her head or her typical glasses-adjusting. She wasn't exactly 'hot' in his opinion, some monsters at campus were really... female in appearance, and she wasn't part of those, that was obvious. Based on that she could as even be mistaken for a guy . But there was something about her that had that typical femine charm about it, even though she didn't bother to emphasize it. Javier wouldn't agree with that, of course, but he flirted with everything that even resembled a female monster.
"Thank you mister Rios," Ferring said. "Now what I want you to do is split up in groups of... two, yes, that's the best. You can switch tables, as long as you bring your own microscope. You are fully responsible for it now. I'd prefer you to work together with the monster sitting next to you on the table though. Once you have made groups I will give further instructions."
Randall didn't want to ask her.
She did it for him. "So, eh. We work together, shall we?"
Randall closed his eyes for a split second for a quick thought of 'thank you' to her, he didn't want to thank her out loud, that would be too obvious. Then he nodded. "Of course."
She nodded back, scratching her head.
Suddenly someone a couple of rows before them raised their hand.
"Mr Rios?" Ferring said.
"I'm sitting alone," Javier said, "The dude next to me switched tables."
"Ah wel," the teacher said, "since we do have some absentees the number of students present comes to an odd number, that's not a surprise. Then you can join a pair of two. It is somewhat unusual, but I will allow it for today."
Javier turned around with a wide smirk. "Oh hey, Randall, old friend, mind if I join in?"
That got Randall trapped. He didn't want to let the girl down, that was actually the last thing he wanted, but he couldn't say 'no' either, the teacher would not approve of that.
"Do as you please," he finally said.
Javier grabbed his chair and the microscope and walked over to the two. He pretentiously placed his chair in between them, barely able to squeeze in between the two smaller monsters, and placed his microscope on the table. As he sat down, he grinned to the girl. "Our paths seem to cross multiple times."
She scoffed. "You make them cross."
"Oh oh, please don't be mad, you're too cute to get mad."
"Mr Rios, I know you don't sit next to girls often, but you should try and pay attention now," Ferring said, earning some snickering from his students. "Good. I'm just going to hand out some specimen now. It was taken from a real human toy. I'd want to tell you not to try to peel the top slide off, but I think you already figured that one out. It has been made less toxic, but still you still wouldn't want to touch it. You then can go ahead and insert it onto the stage, underneath the arms, and turn on the light. Make sure the revolver is at 10 at first and the ocular is a ten times multiplying one. Then you can use the coarse multipier to make the vision clear, and repeat the steps each time you turn the revolver. You have to look at the specimen at a magnification of 500. Then I want you to discuss what you see, what makes it toxic, everything. You better write that down, I will ask things about it in the next class and you may even have to write an essay later on. I'll hand out the slides, you can start off right away."
Ferring started to hand out the specimens, walking through the classroom.
As Randall, Javier and the girl received their specimens, Javier was the only not to start with preparing his microscope immediately. He didn't even bother to look at the slide, he just openly started at the girl.
She ignored him and looked through the ocular of her microscope. "Looks like fiber to me."
Randall did the same. He saw enlarged fabric wires, fiber, as the girl had said.
Javier hadn't done anything yet. He just continued to stare at the girl to the point she couldn't ignore him anymore.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" she snapped.
"I'm looking at you," Javier said in a flirtatious voice, "and I like what I see."
She tried to stay calm, then said: "If you only try flirting with me once more, I'll slap you across the face. I don't like you. I have never even thought of liking you and your horrible attitude makes it impossible for me to ever like you. I wouldn't want that anyway. So, leave me."
Javier turned his head very suddenly, away from her, very interested in his microscope at once. He then raised his hand.
"Mr Rios?" Mr Ferring started to become annoyed.
"Can I use the bathroom?" Javier asked. The teacher nodded. Javier packed his bag and left the classroom real quickly.
Randall smiled to the girl. "Woah, you gave that to him straight!"
She shrugged. "Nah, I didn't want him to think I like him. 'Cause I don't."
It was like she had just lifted a stone from his chest. At first, she didn't like Javier back! Secondly, she was very clear about liking someone, and she hadn't said to Randall she didn't like him back! He wanted to jump around the room. Of course, he didn't do so.
"Still," she said, "I think this is fiber."
They continued to discuss the specimen and write their opinions down, and Randall noticed he could concentrate better since Javier had left. He actually enjoyed this assignment with the girl, she was really good company to study with. Otherwise he would probably not even have bothered with doing the assignment. Maybe this was even going to bring him better grades.
I mean, why can't she like me? If she didn't, she would have said so by now. Everything made perfect sense. He felt a little sad when the teacher announced the end of the class.
"You can leave the microscopes on your table, I will have another class after this. But please, turn them off and return the specimens."
"So eh, you have another class after this?" Randall asked as he packed his bag. She shook her head and coughed. "No. I'm going to study and then get some sleep."
"Oh, okay," Randall said, "same here. Let's walk together."
She nodded, they left the classroom and walked down the hallway.
"Javier didn't come back after he left," Randall said. "Shouldn't we put his chair and microscope back?"
She frowned. "Javier? You mean 'Mr Rios', the obnoxious bug man?"
Randall nodded.
"He can do that himself," she said. "I'm not doing that for him."
They walked a bit further. She started coughing more and more. "Oh, just a second." She darted into the ladies' room as they passes, and returned less than ten seconds later.
"You are faster than most girls," Randall commented.
She gave him a puzzled look, then chuckled. "No man," she said, "I just moisturized my gills by splashing water on them. Breathing gets hard when they dry out, you know. The air here also isn't really helping."
"Your what?" Randall asked.
"My gills." She moved the red feathery things at the sides of her head. "I breathe with them. Real cool. I can breathe under water."
"Oh," Randall said, "that's cool indeed."
And they were silent. It was an awkward kind of silence. Randall felt relieved when they left the building and stepped into the cool air.
"I like this weather," he said to break the silence, but it sounded so dumb he shut up after that.
She just shrugged. "Me too."
As they had walked about 50 yards the girl said: "Yeah, my dorm's there, so... Our ways part."
"Oh, okay," Randall said, "so... will I see you again, tomorrow or so?"
She shrugged again. "We'll see. So... bye!"
She turned around and walked to the dorm building. Randall swallowed as he turned around to walk away.
"Hey..." he then heard. He looked up. She was standing halfway down the path to the dorm. "I don't even know what your name is."
Randall was delighted. "R-Randall Boggs, but people call me Randy."
She nodded shortly. "Okay. I'm Leta Rowan Blake, by the way. If you'd even want to know."
Randall nodded back. "Okay, bye then."
He waited until she had entered the building. Then he raced into the direction of the frat row, which was a rather big distance to run, but he didn't even feel like stopping. He was clearly feeling butterflies in his stomach. He just ran, past the amphitheater, past the other frat houses and stopped at the end of the frat row to enter the ROR house.
He was in love with Leta. And once again, it felt damn good.
As he entered the frat house, nobody was there. At least it seemed like it.
"Hey," Randall yelled, "anybody home?"
No reaction.
He shrugged, then walked upstairs. He would do the exact same as Leta, do some homework and then sleep. And after that, he would get something to eat. He hadn't had anything to eat since this morning. Wait, he hadn't even had breakfast. He would get something at The Growl or so.
He wondered if there would be any food in the house. Most likely there would be some, since ROR was hosting this party next week, but Johnny would most likely kill him if he only dared to touch it. The ROR leader loved to prepare parties really well, and especially this party. It could save the whole reputation of ROR.
Randall was about to open the door to his room as he heard a noise.
Much like muffled sobbing or something...
What, or rather, who could it be?
Randall listened. The noise seemed to come from another dorm. He then heard it came out of Javier's room.
He knocked on the door.
"Jav." No reply, and the sounds stopped. He knocked again. "Javier."
He heard footsteps, then the door opened just a crack, revealing half of the bug's features. His pink eyes were almost red, his antennae hanging to the sides.
"Randall. Oh. Didn't hear you come in." His voice was hoarse. He leaned against the wooden frame of the door.
Randall tilted his head, frowning a little. "C'mon, Jav. What's up?"
Javier uttered an annoyed sigh, obviously not wanting to talk. "None of your business, lizard boy."
"More of my business than you think it is," Randall said.
The blue bug sighed again. "You got me there. All right. It's just..." He shrugged as his emotions threatened to show. "I know she... that I... I..." He couldn't stop stuttering, his voice on the verge of cracking.
"I just think she could've been the one for me, okay?" He started shouting out of nowhere. "I still love her freakin' damn much, so get the hell out of here and leave me alone! Please!"
His sudden explosion of anger made Randall step back and disappear, only a floating bagpack was still visible. Javier was never angry or upset. He had to be serious.
"I can see you," Javier commented, "leave me. Really. You don't want me to make you leave."
Randall hesitated. He didn't want any other guy to go after Leta, but he felt bad for his fraternity brother.
"Go away, man! You expect me to cry or something?" Javier shouted. "Ha, even the thought of me crying!" He started laughing, but it ended in a sob. He stepped back and slammed the door shut.
Randall stepped forward and said: "Maybe you'd like to know: her name is Leta Rowan Blake."
Again, no reply.
