A/N: Sorry about taking so long to get this up. But see? I don't neglect my stories! (For too long, anyway...)
Ah, school. What a pain. At least, Sarah sure thought so, longing for the carefree days of summer while she sat bored in Ms. Meyerhoffer's advanced biology class.
"Now you know from last year that evolution is the result of natural selection; genetic mutations cause individuals to be at an advantage, they survive to reproduce, and the mutation is passed on to future generations. Now can anyone tell me ... "
Well, Sarah sure couldn't tell her. She was completely zoned out, lost in her thoughts. It wasn't that she wasn't trying to pay attention to the class; it was just that her attention span wasn't at its peak in fourth period. It wasn't her fault that she was badly in need of lunch.
Of course, there were other things occupying the little available space in her mind. For one, this was the one class of the day she had with Brandon. That always made it a little more fun (not to mention that it was a class where she could really use his help with homework). They did sit across the room from each other, though. That always made it a little less fun than it could have been.
"That would be mitochondrial DNA, ma'am." Sarah's ears perked up as she heard her boyfriend's voice. He must have answered one of the teacher's questions. At least one of them was paying attention in class.
Speaking of Brandon, Sarah still wasn't sure what to make of his request from the day before. He wanted her to teach him how to change, and well, it wasn't that she didn't want to help; it was more that she wasn't sure she could. After all, there were incredible differences between the two of them, and she wasn't sure if she would be good at teaching anything, let alone something that she didn't really know how to conciously do. Heck, she still had trouble changing by herself when there was no moon out! How in the world was she going to teach Brandon!
She sighed. It was going to be a long day.
Brandon sighed. After he'd answered Ms. Meyerhoffer's question, he'd seen Sarah's ears perk up at the sound of his voice, and that of course got him thinking of her, so now he was only half paying attention to the lecture. He wondered why she looked so sad. It looked like what irked her was a little stronger than the fact that school had just started, or that it was a long fourth period until lunch. Maybe a it was a combination of both? But it couldn't be that -
"Hey, if people come from apes, where do those cat-killer-creatures come from? Weird African cats or something!"
That got Brandon's attention, and Sarah's too if he judged her sudden shiver correctly. He watched in terror and anticipation as some loudmouth shot off in class and Sarah grew considerably more nervous.
Ms. Meyerhoffer looked indignant. "Humans are not descended from apes, Jason," she corrected. "It is likely that we share an ancestor, but we do not 'come from apes.' Now, class, as I was saying earlier," she continued, trying to get back on track.
"One moment please," Carolyn, the class brain interrupted (as she was prone to do), "You can't simply dismiss the claim. You and I both know that the Jellicle creatures exist. I think the class deserves an explanation. Where do they come from?"
Sarah was getting redder and redder ...
The teacher gave the class a hard look. "I am a science teacher. I can only teach about things that can be observed and documented. There is no documentation about Jellicles. Therefore I cannot teach about them. Moving right along," she tried again.
"Wait, I heard they go on a rampage on full moons!"
"I heard they have magic powers and can kill you just by looking at you!"
"Then why bother mauling someone?"
"I heard there are dogs like them, too!"
Brandon's eyes shot wide open. Now it was personal.
"C'mon, guys!" he called, trying to get the class to chill out. "Think about it! Cat-people! You really think things like that exist! It's just some story the media made up because it was a slow summer!" He snorted. "I can't believe you guys really believed that! C'mon!"
All the students who'd been piping up with the things they'd heard suddenly fell silent. They had to admit, the whole idea did sound kind of silly.
"Moving right along then..." Ms. Meyerhoffer tried once more, and the class, who was too embarrased to argue (Brandon was pretty popular, and his opinion was respected), had to be content to listen to the rest of the lecture in silence.
Sarah shot Brandon a thankful look, then turned toward the front to try to get some notes from this whole mess.
"Are you okay?" Brandon asked Sarah as he caught up to her on her way to lunch.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulders. "Kind of nervous, but I'm okay."
"That's good," he said, running his hand through his hair. He continued as they walked toward the cafeteria, "Listen, do you want to come over to my place at the end of the week to ... do that thing we talked about?"
Sarah grimaced. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to help him at all ... but even if she couldn't, there would be no harm in trying, right? And besides, she always liked coming over to Brandon's house.
She looked up at him and smiled. "Sure. I've gotta check with my parents, but I'm sure they'll say it's fine."
"Oh, good," he replied, smiling the same pleasant smile she did. He then put his arm over her shoulders and nuzzled her head with his a bit, muttering, "I ... can't ... wait."
Whatever he'd just said, Sarah didn't hear a word. As Brandon had touched her, a woosy feeling flowed over her, making her very dizzy and disoriented. Overcome, she fell on the floor.
"Sarah? Sarah? Are you okay?" Brandon urged, shaking her shoulders.
Sarah's eyelids fluttered, and she shook off the feeling of disorientation. "Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered. She had no idea what had made her feel so dizzy, but she was hungry too, and eager to get to the cafeteria. Standing up, she said, sounding more like her usually self, "Well, let's go!"
Brandon didn't quite believe her when she said she was all right, but he did follow her to the cafeteria.
"No you have to do it with both fingers at least an inch apart."
"I'm positive it's perfectly admissable if the two fingers have enough space between them to fit a piece of paper."
"But the 'paper' is as thick as your palm."
"I said a piece of paper, not the 'paper.' There's a big difference. You know your palm is different than a piece of paper."
"But your hand represents the 'paper' of the game. In the game, the word 'paper' refers to the paper motion. Therefore, it refers to the thickness of your hand."
"I still say that the game is based on speed. Therefore, you should not have to exert so much effort to achieve optimum spread. Less effort should be admissible."
"But you cannot be lazy about it. Two fingers together means nothing."
Trust Kyle and Katrina Storke to argue over how far one's finger's must be spread apart to count as scissors in the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors.
Mark and Jeff watched from the other side of the library where the public-access computers were. "Those two need a hobby," Jeff muttered, returning to his game of Gunbound.
"You can say that again," Mark said from the computer across from Jeff's. Rather than goof off playing computer games though, he was doing a bit of research. Jeff was under the impression that he was doing research for homework, but what was displayed on his computer moniter might have proved differently had Jeff been able to see it.
He was currently perusing page ten of a google search, having turned up nothing on Pollicles. Most of the google entries had turned up pages full of nonsense-words with no information about what Pollicles actually were. But one particular entry caught his eye. The heading of it was simply "Pollicles" and the summary said something about, "The dogs you never knew existed." Mark, intrigued, was about to click on the link, when Jeff suddenly gasped, "Gah! It's past six! I was supposed to be home by five! Come on!" With that, Jeff got up from his computer chair and ran around to grab Mark. Mark only had just enough time to close the window so Jeff wouldn't see it before Jeff rudely grabbed him by the wrist and demanded, "Come on, you've got to drive me home!"
"Wait, I was in the middle of - !"
But he was interrupted by a shush followed by the eerie unison voices of the librarians: "Be quiet! There's no yelling in the library!"
"They really need a hobby..." Jeff mumbled as he ran out the door, Mark in tow.