Bets and Projects
Days pasted without any problems. Well, almost anyway. The girls had gotten use to the G-boys at any rate. Miroki figured they better give up trying to put the Gundam page up till Kara came up with at Heero-free firewall or until Miroki talked to Heero about his hacking whichever came first. Both girls agreed that it was better not to say anything about how much they knew about the boys unless it became very serious. Unfortunately there were some things that still needed to be worked out.
At lunch everything seemed to be okay. Quatre and Duo were talking about how school has been going. Heero and Miroki were once again having a glaring contest. This made Kara wondered if they ever ate. Trowa and Kara just ate their lunch silently watching the contest, and Wufei was being Wufei.
As usual, when the bell rang everyone went off to their respective classes. Well, everyone but Heero, Miroki and Kara. The timetables had be turned around, so the three of them were headed towards their Computer class. This was something Kara was not looking forward to. She could swear that the tension between Heero and Miroki was getting bigger everyday. This didn't help for the fact they were sitting across from each other.
"By the time class ends I swear they want to scream bloody murder at one another." Kara thought to herself.
Everyone filed into class, sitting down at their seats. Thankfully Mr. Ayre was about to speak to the class.
"Class today we will be starting a two week group assignment. All of you will be in pairs, what you want to do on the computer is up to you, and will be assigning the groups."
The class was full of whispers and giggles.
"Okay Mr. Timber, and Miss. Winters. Mr. Yuy and Miss. Sekkio."
Kara did everything in her power to not slap herself on the forehead.
"Why on Earth does Miroki and Heero have to be together?" She thinks for a while, "Then again, this could be a blessing in disguise."
"I can't believe this Kara! Heero of all people!" Miroki freaked out.
"I work better alone." Heero said in a monotone voice.
"Yea, well get use to it!" Miroki snapped back.
Heero and Miroki give each other their best death glare.
"Then again, maybe not."
Since the seat beside Heero was free, Miroki went over to his computer. They watched each other for a few minutes.
Miroki was the first to speak, "Let's do a project on keeping hackers out of the computer," Miroki stressed 'hackers', "I figure this would be good in case a hacker broke into a website and tried to delete a few files."
Whether Heero knew or not what Miroki was talking about Kara couldn't tell, "Fine."
Together they worked on their project. In some ways it was easy since both were hackers themselves.
"We need to improve the program over here, or else the hacker will bring it down quickly." Heero stated.
Typing on the computer Miroki muttered under her breath, "Ya, you should know."
"What is that suppose to mean?" Heero glares at Miroki.
"Well I'm no fool, I know who's be hacking into our website Heero." Miroki glares back.
If Heero was surprised that Miroki owned that anime page, he didn't show it.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Heero stated calmly.
"Sure you don't, I'm sure it's just a mistake that only one section of our website gets deleted, five times."
Miroki would have said the 'Gundam page', but Kara's timely arrive stopped her. Kara handed Miroki a piece of paper it read: Miroki bad news the new firewall didn't work; the stuff is gone, again. Also, please don't mention Gundam in front of Heero, he'll probably pull a gun on you."
Miroki sighed, "Correction, make that six times," Miroki continued talking, "Anyway, we should make the program so that if one wall comes down two should go up."
Heero raised a brow, "You know how to do that?"
"I learned it."
He looked over to where Kara was working, "You learned it from her?"
"Yes I did! And her name is Kara!" Miroki snapped back.
"Whatever, it's not bad for both of you. You two seem to know what you're doing."
Miroki gasped, "Was that a complement?"
"………"
"Well, thanks, truth is, we didn't know what we were doing till we tried."
Heero nodded.
Kara looked to where Heero and Miroki were working, "Maybe after today, they'll have at least some respect for each other."
~Later in chemistry~
"You're kidding, those two have respect for one another?" Duo gasped as he held out a test tube for Kara.
Kara took it, "Ya, that assignment was like a blessing from heaven. Hopefully by the time the project is over, they'll be friends."
Duo lit the Bunsen burner, "Don't bet on it, no one, and I mean no one can get Heero to talk willfully."
Kara put the test tube full of a chemical over the burner, "I don't think so, after all they do have something in common, and with this project they will have to talk to each other."
"Kara, if I see Heero really talking to Miroki. I will set a date up with anyone of your choice, with you." Duo hands her another chemical.
Kara smiles, "You're on, and if I lose?"
He watches her pour the chemical into the test tube, "Then you set me up with that chick, Becky."
A puff of smoke comes out of the tube, "Okay, it's a deal," and the two shakes hands.
They would have talked more, but their substitute teacher had other plans. Mr. Smith was a big man, serious but funny.
"Class everyone go back to your seats."
Duo and Kara shrugged, deciding to go back to their seats. There on the teacher's desk was a gallon of water in a container. The container had a glass bell over it. A tube came up from the bell, and to a pump, with a nipple on it. Kara had heard of this set up before. Her teacher from last year had pulled the same trick.
Mr. Smith's booming voice filled the room, "I am going to need a student, Mr. Maxwell come up to the front."
Kara watched as Duo went up to the teacher. She tried to keep her face straight; Kara was probably the only person who knew what was going to happen next.
"Class, I am going to prove to you, that water can be boiled at room temperature," he takes off the glass bell, "Mr. Maxwell put your hand in the water, and tell me how it feels."
Duo puts his hand in the water, then takes it out, "Feels cold."
Mr. Smith puts the glass bell back on, the starts the pump. Within a few minutes the water starts to boil, the water bubbles vigorously, as the water boils over. Then he stops the machine, taking off the glass bell. Mr. Smith grabs Duo's hand and plunges it into the boiling water.
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Heero, Miroki, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei walked down to the hall to see Kara standing outside the nurse's office.
"Why weren't you and Duo at the after school activity?" Miroki asked.
"Mr. Smith put Duo's hand in boiling water." Kara told them levelly.
Quatre's eyes widen, "Is Duo hurt badly?"
Kara coughed for a minute, "Duo wasn't hurt, but I can't say the same for the Chemistry teacher."
At that moment Duo came out of the office.
Kara turned to Duo, "How is Mr. Smith?"
"Nurse says that he'll have that bruise for awhile, but nothing serious."
Kara cover her mouth, her body shaking.
"Hey! It's not funny! How was I suppose to know that the water wasn't gonna be as hot as it looked?"
She tried to stop laughing, "Sorry, but I didn't think you would deck the teacher like that. After all it isn't suppose to be hot, water normally boils at 100C, unless…"
Duo stared at her, "You knew that would happen? You knew he was going to stick my hand in there?"
"My last Science teacher pulled off the same trick too. So I did know about it."
With his mouth hanging open, Duo just stared at Kara speechless. At this time Miroki thought now would be a good time to go.
"Come on Kara we have to go, Quatre, Trowa, see you later." Grabbing Kara's arm, Miroki dragged Kara off to the car.
~At Miroki's house~
"So Duo decked the teacher?" Miroki looked at Kara.
"I guess it was out of reflex, he really didn't mean to do that, but when you think your teacher just put your hand into water at 100C you would try to deck him too." Kara shook her head.
"But it wasn't a 100C?"
"No the water was probably room temperature at least, maybe colder." Kara looked through her music sheets.
"So where exactly?"
"He punched Mr. Smith's jaw, it threw him back a few steps."
Miroki grinned, "Poor Duo, hope he's alright."
"He'll live, but it wasn't one of his best moments. So are you sure that your family will be out?"
"For a whole hour." Miroki told Kara.
"Good, I don't want Quatre or Trowa to know that we know about them."
"Is that a bad thing?" Miroki raised a brow at Kara.
"Well, it kind of makes me uncomfortable knowing that two Gundam pilots will be here at any moment. I mean for crying out loud, we're like any other fan, we have a pilot we like. To make things worse the pilots that are gonna be here soon, are the ones we like." Kara's voice rose a little.
"So we have a crush on them, isn't that normal?"
Kara waved her arms in the air, "Normal if they were normal teenage guys. Miroki, I don't want to be like one of those crazy fans. If I care for them, I want know if it's real."
"Come on Kara, we are Gundam fans, how will we know if we really do care for them?"
"That's the problem, I don't know. I guess when I think they are like any other guy in the school."
"Kara, for a moment, when Duo did that, you did act like he was like any other guy in the school." Miroki pointed out.
Ding Dong
Both girls looked up, Miroki ran to get the door. There standing at the door was no other than Trowa and Quatre, with flute or violin in hand. As they got inside Miroki tried not to look at them, so she wouldn't need up blushing. Kara was already in the kitchen, with her nerves together. With all of them standing around the table, it became pretty quiet.
Finally Miroki spoke up, "How about I get something for us to drink. Milk or lemon ice tea anyone?"
"Ice tea."
"Milk."
"Milk."
With a nod, Miroki left Kara alone with the boys. At this time Kara felt her calmness breaking down fast, so she looked out the window trying to get her mind off of the boys.
"Are you nervous?" Quatre asked out of the blue.
"Huh?" Kara snapped back into attention.
"You seem nervous, are you nervous about playing in front of the school?"
Kara grinned nervously she didn't want Quatre to know what was really making her nervous, "Yea, I can take a few people, but the whole school is a bit much."
Quatre didn't seem convinced that, that was what was making Kara nervous, "I understand, a lot of friends and strangers will be hearing us."
Kara nodded.
She was saved from saying anything else on the subject when Miroki came back in with two ice teas, two milks, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Miroki gave an ice tea to Quatre, then milk to both Trowa and Kara. Trying to calm herself Kara took a cookie, and started dunking it in her milk.
Once again Miroki broke the silence, "So tell me more about yourselves," she addressed the two boys.
Quatre and Trowa looked at each other, Quatre started talking, "Well, we don't live around here, we're just here for the school."
"So you left your families back home?"
Trowa nodded, "Yes, back home I have an older sister name Catherine."
Quatre added, "Back home I have 29 older sisters."
Kara forgot her nervousness for a moment, "29 sisters? Gee, and I thought Miroki's family was big."
Both boys got a bit nervous, quickly Miroki tried to change the subject, "So you boys have any girlfriends?"
The pilots of the Heavyarms and Sandrock stared at Miroki. Kara choked on her cookie, Miroki looked down hoping that they wouldn't see her face.
"Sorry about that, I noticed that you guys were nervous about the family thing. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"That's okay, and no, both Trowa and I don't have girlfriends."
Nervousness coming back to Kara, she took another cookie, dunking it into her milk.
Quatre decided to ask a question, "What about you girls? How about a bit about the two of you?"
"Well, I have two younger sisters Ally and Jackie, and a baby brother Derek, but both are out right now with my mom. My dad is still at work, and I keep fish as pets." Miroki told them.
Kara smiled, "I have a sister eight and a half years younger than me, her name is Sable. I have one cat, and one bird."
Trowa perked up at cat, "A cat? Don't you worry that he'll eat the bird?"
"No, Blackie, and Sam get along okay."
After some more talk, mostly on Quatre's and Miroki's part. The four decided it was time to practice. It was okay; it was kind of hard with Quatre and Miroki, but both the violin and the Chinese piano sounded really nice together. Trowa had a hard time keeping up to beat, since Kara was singing, and there were a few notes that Kara couldn't get. Through and through the practice was a great; the boys could only stay an hour, since Miroki's parents were coming home. Both agreed that next time they would meet at Kara's place.
Author's Notes:
This is going to be long, so I'll get to it. First of all for anyone who doesn't understand what happened to Duo here's a quick science lesson (wow you're learning something!). Water normally boils at a 100C, but if the air pressure is low, the water will be quicker to boil. So the lower the air pressure, the faster the water will boil. The machine that Mr. Smith used sucks the air out of the glass bell, causing the air pressure to lower, causing the water to boil. Since there is no energy going into the water, it can boil, but still be at room temperature.
I like to thank Female Mewtwo for helping me with Miroki Sekkio's character by answering my questions. This helps me greatly with the story, in one sense she tells me how Miroki would react with different events and problems, and I write.
This time a second credit goes out to my real Chemistry teacher Mr. Matthews. Yes, he did really pulled that trick on his students, though normally he chooses to stick a girl's hand into the water. The story that he told us about the water inspired me to write this scene with Duo.
Well, not a lot of action, but don't be surprised. Questions about the Wing School is still unanswered, but what now? What events will come next? Will Heero and Miroki really become friends? And will Kara win the bet with Duo? Next time on Wing School!