Finally an update! I'm actually more into this story than any of the others, but for some reason, I've been lazy. Oh well, enjoy.
Chapter three- J'ai entendu que elles aiment l'isolement.
Vanessa Sato was not the happiest person that Monday morning. Oh yes, she had received Lynn's early morning phone calls demanding to know where she was, despite her previous warnings about waking her up. She didn't answer the phone.
And Ivy had left an irritated message on her phone asking for an explanation for her tardiness, especially when she had explicitly asked them to be on time to meet the new transfer students. She lectured Vanessa's voice message box, reminding her it was her duty as an officer of the most exclusive sorority to greet these new people.
And Vanessa promptly deleted the message upon hearing it.
She knew Ivy would be highly displeased about it—she knew all too well that Ivy had wanted to make a strong impression with her nephew's friends—but Vanessa had never taken anyone's advice into account for anything.
And it wasn't her original idea to join the stupid sorority in the first place, even if Ivy was one of its founders. And even if Ivy was one of her best friends. And even if Ivy was right about the whole damned affair in the first place.
On top of all that, she was in a foul mood, and it pleased her just a little bit to be spiteful.
A few hours later, she got up, and dressed and hurried to her chemistry lab, the first class of the day. She liked the feeling of going to her first class of the year. It was a feeling that couldn't really be recaptured at any other time. And best of all it was a science lab, one of her best classes.
So she did not anticipate having any problems so 'early' in the day. That is, until her professor called her over.
"Good morning, Miss Sato. Have a good summer?" The professor smiled at her fondly. She was his best student, and he was her favorite professor. Even if she didn't say so.
Vanessa Sato was the kind of person who didn't say very much to anyone, whether compliments or insults. She just didn't want to be bothered by anything because if there was anything she hated, it was incompetence. She saw too much of it in other people to really be impressed with anyone.
Not to say they were not impressed with her. With caramel-colored hair, and snapping hazel eyes, she made quite a mark. The only thing that took away from her beauty was her stony silence toward most people she didn't consider worth talking to.
"I'm fine." Vanessa pulled on a lab coat, wondering what he could want. He wasn't a man to spend time of frivolous talk.
"I wanted to talk to you about matters concerning your new lab partner…"
Her head snapped up. "Really, Professor, I thought we'd agree that I wouldn't have any lab partners from now till… well forever." What I really want is to be far away from people.
He sighed. "Miss Sato, I know you mean well, but you really must learn to at least get along with your fellow scientists. Despite what we had agreed to last semester, I believe that you really do have potential with working with others. And," he raised a hand to stop her from interrupting, "you've been through five lab partners already. Now I've assigned a lab partner to you, and I hope good results come about."
"But Professor, you approved of my discharge of all five lab partners. I believe you have seen the work I've done alone, and we both agree the quality of that is much higher than had I been collaborating with another student."
"Well, it is a new semester, and I now believe it is high time to try again."
She was grimacing. It's not my fault that my other lab partners were retarded. Okay, not completely my fault.
"He's a new student here, a transfer. And an engineering major, so please try to be civil. And I don't want to hear your demands for a new lab partner until at least the next lab class—you have to give him a chance you know." He looked at her sternly. "Understood?"
She lowered her hazel eyes (that happened to be snapping with fury). "Yes, I do."
"Good. I expect the best from you, Miss Sato. Start the lab."
She turned sharply on her heel and strode over to her lab table. Her hands shook her anger, her slightly curly hair bounced in irritation, and her eyes glared at the boy who she would have to be working with.
"Hello Vanessa."
She blinked. Oh, no way. That wasn't possible. She had calculated every single possibility, and nothing had told her that Bryan Kyznetsov was going to be here.
Bryan watched her face change from fury, to confusion, to blankness. He knew she was trying to forget her confusion. Vanessa never reacted well to unknowns.
"Mr. Kyznetsov." She nodded jerkily in greeting. "I am honored to see you are well, and that you still remember my name. Especially since it has been a long time since I last saw you."
"You forgot to mention that we hardly spoke to each other in the first place. We were placed in different departments." Bryan studied her.
"Forgive me," she said stiffly, "for lack of interest, but I would rather we not speak of BioVolt at the moment. It is a history I would rather forget. I have a lab to finish with you, and I'd like to be done by today." She turned around and began picking up various solutions, before pausing and turning back to the light-haired male. "I remember you being a skilled blader though," she said softly before turning back to her work.
She quickly moved from her Bunsen burner to her scales, her fluid motions were absentminded, her eyes only on what she was doing.
She and Bryan had grown up in BioVolt, abandoned, and no recollection of any family. When she was little she sometimes wondered what would have happened if she wasn't left in that hellhole, but now she didn't really care. Bryan was right, they hardly knew each other: he was training to be a blader, and she was a child genius working in BioVolt's laboratories. She loved it there, save for the beatings and psychological damage she received when things were not going BioVolt's way. She guessed that the Demolition Boys were punished for failing to win, but she also guessed they had no idea that BioVolt punished the science team as well.
Not that she was going to enlighten him or anything.
She had heard of Bryan, Tala, and the rest while in the labs. She secretly admired them and envied their favored position on Boris' hierarchy, just a little. They had always been championed as the saviors of BioVolt. Everyone expected great things from those four boys. They were destined to be the best in the world.
What did Vanessa do? She only helped build their beyblades to become the best in the world. The science team at BioVolt was unmatched anywhere else. But they couldn't take in the glory. They were to be the shadow crew. They were to be unknown, even to the bladers.
She had never spoken to any of them once while living there, except for one time.
They had just been released from the organization, free, and forced out into the world. Vannessa really had no idea what to do with herself. They had to leave the building in two hours, but she was already packed, and all she wanted to do was go back to the labs.
She walked down to the computers. Everything looked so old and obsolete. She reached out to touch one of the screens lovingly. This room was her room—she owned it with a possessiveness that she'd never felt before. She had to leave it all behind and start anew. She'd make it out there like she did in here, but it still hurt to leave.
"You look like you're ready to cry." A voice said behind her.
Her eyes widened. "Bry—M-Mr. Kyznetsov," she stammered out, "I had no idea you were here."
Boris always warned the science teams to show the bladers utmost respect.
He was sitting on one of the chairs. "Yeah, I realize that. What's up with the formality? Boris isn't here anymore." He raised an eyebrow.
How did he know it was standard protocol to never address them by the first name?
"Oh! Well…"
"Don't you need to pack too?" He interrupted.
"Yeah... I mean, no! I'm done with that." She turned away from him.
"You can't take those computers, you know."
"Doesn't stop me from wising I could," she mumbled.
"Makes me feel lucky I have Falborg then," he said. "At least a bitbeast is portable."
She didn't catch any derision in his voice so she said quietly, "I'm not leaving everything behind though, Mr. Kyznetsov. Some things can be taken away from here, you know."
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and stood up to walk towards her. "Hmph. I'm taking back whatever Boris ripped away from me. If he hasn't destroyed it already. Well, it's my life."
She suddenly smiled the hardest smile he'd ever seen, and her eyes glittered with dangerous energy. She was angry.
He studied her. "Do you have any place to go after you leave?"
"Not really," she replied indifferently, "I'm pretty much on my own from here on out."
"Where are you planning to go?"
"Why are you so curious?" she asked with a small smile.
"That's the first question they'll ask you once you before you leave."
Her expression became thoughtful. "I don't know. I haven't gotten around to thinking that far ahead."
"Why don't you come with us?"
She turned to look at him in astonishment. "Us, Mr. Kyznetzov?"
"Tala, Ian, Spencer, and I. We're going to continue being family. Maybe you'd consider coming with us? You're a BioVolt kid too. You'd be welcome, if you don't annoy us, anyway."
"But I hardly know you!"
"Does it matter?
She paused, not quite believing what he was saying. Then she looked down. "No, I guess not."
"Then come." It was an order.
She turned back to her computer, a smile creeping up her face. She never took to receiving orders too well. "I'll think about it."
"All right. See you later. Vanessa."
She gasped and turned around again to look at him again, only to find he was gone.
"How did you know my name?" she whispered to the empty air.
All she knew he wasn't supposed to know her name, and he wasn't supposed to know she existed. Often she thought that she dreamed the whole memory up. But she knew that it wasn't an illusion.
And then she remembered that he had called her by her first name earlier in the day.
She felt that she could at least hate him. Him and his all knowing look. Or his uncaring, indifferent voice.
Or hate the knowledge that she didn't want to hate him.
Her mind returned to reality, then realized that while her motions and movements were going through with the experiment, something was different. By now, she would have had to scramble for the other necessary compounds and chemicals to complete them.
But instead, packaged right in front of her, in different vials and beakers, was everything that she needed. Furthermore, she didn't have to reach to get to them. Bryan Kyznetsov was passing them to her as she needed them, being careful to stay out of her way, but making sure she received them.
Vanessa loved to be in her own little world during lab. She finished tasks with effortless ease, and she loved doing things to her own natural rhythm. It was odd, but the way she functioned was based by a beat, and she thought nobody realized that but her.
Apparently she was wrong. Bryan Kyznetsov figured her out, and on top of that, he was moving with her, moving to the same tempo.
It was a nice feeling. Pleasant, comfortable, and serene. Those were emotions that she hadn't felt in ages.
So she had to kill it.
She stopped abruptly, letting her hand fall to the table before looking at him with a steely glare.
He looked back at her with amusement in her eyes, but still no smile graced his lips. "You stopped working," he said mildly, throwing a glance at her unfinished solution."
She ignored the statement. "Has the professor explained to you that I've been through five lab partners already?"
"I believe he mentioned it."
"And that I'm extremely difficult to work with?"
"Certainly."
"Has he also mentioned that my level of expectation is higher than his?"
"Mmmm. If I remember correctly, then yes."
She threw him a look of contempt. "Don't mock me."
He raised an eyebrow. So she had caught on to the humor in his voice, and she obviously was not laughing. "I was under the impression that we were getting along quite well. I wouldn't worry if I were you. You're doing fine."
"I wasn't worried about myself."
"I've taken down notes on everything you've done so far, if that bothers you."
She looked down at his notebook. So he did. Damnable. He was anticipating every complaint.
"I was not under the impression you could read minds, Mr. Kyznetsov."
"And I thought, Miss Sato, that I told you that you didn't have to stick with formalities."
Her eyes grew wide. "That was years ago." She muttered stiffly.
"Still, you don't have to." He took the next beaker and mixed its contents in the solution. He then turned on the hot plate.
Vanessa stood there numbly. She was supposed to be observant one.
She was supposed to be able to read minds.
Why, then, did he know?
"How do you know my name… Bryan?"
He tore his eyes away from the experiment long enough to meet her gaze.
"I don't want to answer."
There was a long pause. There experiment was coming to a close. Vanessa turned off the hot plate and placed their flask on a cooling rack.
Finally she said, "I think I'll accept you as a lab partner this semester."
"Geez, how predictable. We all happen to take the same lunch period. Are we psychic or what?" Ian grinned as he took a seat next to Johnny. "Recovered from your injuries yet, tree-boy?"
Johnny's face turned as red as his hair. "Yes, and shut up."
"Your insults aren't getting any better as the day progresses," Ian taunted. "Maybe that's why Ivy picks on you so much."
"For your information, Ivy doesn't pick on him. She scares the living hell out of him," Tala nodded, grinning.
"You guys are a bunch of fuckers," mumbled Johnny, "Go to hell. I'm not afraid of Ivy; she's just got EVIL written all over her. Can't fight that, can I?"
"Grow a spine." Bryan said.
"ARGH! I hate you guys! Why the hell do I always get picked on!"
"Spencer is, once again, late." Kai commented lightly, ignoring the sputtering boy.
"Not really," Johnny said, immediately forgetting his anger. He turned around in his seat to look around. "Ah. There he is. See at the end of the cafeteria? He's with Connie."
Spencer was indeed with the blond girl, who was talking to him with the sweetest smile on her face. Spencer however, was less than benign, and looked like his head was ready to explode with anger. That surprised all his friends, since Spencer was usually the most level-headed of the group, as well as the most laid back.
"Go figure he'd go ballistic over a woman," Bryan smirked.
Johnny shrugged. "I think that it's Connie's reputation for being pretty and resistant to boys."
Kai watched as three other girls joined Connie: Lynn, Ivy, and Vanessa. His eyes narrowed on Vanessa. "She's a BioVolt scientist."
Bryan glanced at him briefly. "So you do remember."
Kai shrugged. Johnny sighed and propped his elbows on the table. "I suppose I should tell you about those girls, since one of them is my aunt, and we're going be seeing a lot of them."
"Blah. That's the real reason why you asked us to transfer, didn't you?" Ian scowled. "You couldn't stand up to them."
"Ugh, no! Well… maybe. Anyway, yes, Ives is my aunt, so we'll start with her. She's leader of their little group. They're the officers of Generosity, the most exclusive sorority on campus. Ivy practically handpicks their members. It was founded by her, and I'll be damned if she ever changes the way she runs things." Johnny scowled a little. "She's a nice girl though… just don't get in her way, and don't hurt any of the three around her. She's especially fierce about their friendship. Oh. One other thing. Don't ever insult Brooklyn Kingston in front of her."
"Kingston? She knows him?" Tala frowned.
"Oh yes," Johnny looked grim. "He attends this school."
"Great, that'll make him and Kai best buddies," Ian said sarcastically.
"Why is she interested in Kingston?" Bryan asked.
"Hell if I know. I've been trying to figure that one out."
Tala sipped his soda. "Are they seeing each other?"
"NO. I will send him to hell if they start." Johnny looked incensed once again.
"Uhhh, next girl, before Johnny's head explodes." Ian interrupted.
"How about Connie. I should talk about her before Spencer spots us, and then there'll be a scene." Johnny's eyes darted to their friend who still looked like he was arguing with Constance.
"She's Ivy's best friend, quiet, and a motherfucking genius. The end. I kid you not. She's a straight A student all around, a history major, but other than that, nothing really interesting to say."
"I have a question. Why doesn't she ever get mad? Or do anything but smile?" Ian glanced once again at Spencer.
"I dunno. I asked Ivy once, but she told me to shut up and get back to my homework." Johnny's face reverted to its trademark scowl.
"You know, Johnathan, you'd look a lot more attractive if you weren't making so many faces. It takes away from your good charm." A dry voice spoke behind the red head in such a flat tone, he had to jump.
He turned to glare at the girl. "Geezus, Ness, what the hell! You were just sitting over there," he indicated with his finger "about five seconds ago. Don't sneak up on people like that, it's creepy! Didn't Ivy warn you against that?"
"No. I was bored, and I didn't get to meet everyone this morning. Ivy demanded I see you guys." Vanessa looked over the group. "Hello." Bryan's eyes met hers, but only briefly. The rest of the boys looked at her, studying her, and it unnerved her. They knew like they knew her too.
Calculation, not computing. Data missing.
Johnny sat up as he thought of something, "Hey, Ness, what did you mean by my good charm? Are you finding me hard to resist?" The Scotsman grinned devilishly.
"I was being sarcastic," she said simply, earning her a scowl and several smothered snickers. "But, oh well. Just wanted to say hello. Did Bryan tell you that he and I are chemistry lab partners?" She glanced at the pale boy who nodded, without looking at her.
"Auch, how unlucky for Bryan." Johnny smirked. "Having to deal with your petty issues."
"Coming from you, that's not much," she retorted. "You wouldn't know a petty issue from a real issue if it hit you in the face, McGregor."
Ian laughed, "Isn't that the truth." He looked at the girl once more, and said, "You're from BioVolt, aren't you?"
"Why, everyone seems to know about my past," she drawled, but only Bryan noticed the tightened jaw that belied the sweet tone in her voice. "I remember you guys, of course. There wasn't anyone who didn't. I'm surprised you remember me."
"You'd be surprised at how much we know." Tala narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't tell me Boris never told you guys anything."
"I don't like talking about BioVolt," Vanessa said coldly, "In case you haven't noticed."
"We know," Bryan muttered, shooting a glare at Tala before turning back to his own food. He still didn't look at Nessie. "We normally don't like talking about it either."
"We were just curious, that's all," Ian piped up. "I mean, we don't even know each other, and here we are once again. Odd, isn't it?"
The girl's eyebrow lifted. "Only if you don't believe in karma."
"I didn't think a scientist like you believed in anything," Johnny joked.
"Oh, it's amazing what can happen with a little magic," she said casually. "And a lot of luck."
"And probably a whole lot of prayers to your genius-god," Ian agreed.
Vanessa nodded curtly before turning around to go. "I need to get back to Ivy," she said, turning to Johnny. "Anything you need to tell her?"
"Yeah. Ask her if I'm the one that has to call my mom tonight, or if she's finally going to contact her sister."
"In all probability, you're going to be the one who does it. But I'll ask anyway." She gave him a small smile before leaving. "See you."
Ian gave Tala a small glare once Nessie was out of earshot. "Nice job, asshole. What gives?"
"Nothing," Tala was undisturbed. "I just have a natural distrust of everyone from BioVolt who wasn't the Demolition Boys."
"She's a nice girl." Bryan also glared at his captain. "And, just so you don't forget, Valkov, my lab partner. I don't need my grades to take a serious dive just because you can't shut your trap."
"And you think she's pretty, don't you Bryan?" Tala muttered only so Kai could hear him. The other boy sent him a smirk missed by Bryan, who seemed to be content giving the rest of the group the cold shoulder.
"Yeah, he does." Kai eyed the four girls who seemed to own the school. "Can't say I disagree."
