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Italics are thoughts.

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Chapter 15 - Back

Bucky's POV

The frosted breeze blew up my cast , giving some welcome relief from the insufferable heat I'd had to put up with for almost two weeks while the emerald grass shivered . The part of the sun not obscured by the the thick ,heavy clouds. The familiar door of the library beckoned to me .

I was back .

The second I walked into the library ,a sea of astronomy club uniforms flooded me and fourteen arms attempted to wrap around me .Since I'm what is commonly known as a "beanpole" , this failed miserably . Alternatively , my friends resolved to take turns squeezing the life out of me . Last on the list was Beatrice , who refused to let go for ten minutes .
"Beatrice ... I missed you guys too ... but I can't ... breathe" I rasped .Immediately she put her arms back by her sides , still smiling more than Edna the day after she went for coffee with Dr Watts (poor man - he refuses to talk about what happened that night) .
"Sorry ,Bucky ." she grinned manically ,before flinging her arms around me again with a bit more care ."I was so worried. Did Melvin give you the chocolates last night? Were they feeding you well? How are your ribs?"
"One question at a time ! I'm fine - a bit sore but fine .What's been happening in my absence?."

The tale that ensued lasted at least an hour ,with each of my fellow nerd's giving a seperate view ; Melvin almost burst out laughing when he told us about Beatrice being branded "Earnest's broad" (although Beatrice's various threats of mutilating his unmentionables shut him up)during the negotiation with the greasers , Cornelius told the locker cracking event as though it were an epic monologue ,Earnest gave an insightful view of Lola Lombardi's diary (there goes my innocence) and finally , Beatrice went into detail about the Tad's date/beating .

"You guys have all the fun ." I groaned .
"You're quite welcome to help , amigo." Earnest offered , a slightly evil expression on his face . I briefly considered it ; making Montrose, Taylor and Spencer squirm like the vermin they were did sound very tempting indeed .
"Well ... now that you mention it ... why let you guys have all the fun?" . Earnest's conspiratorial grin spread quicker than electrons through a circuit .

Peanut's POV

"So , I hear your friend's back at school." Bif commented to the nerd girl who was unfortunate enough to be paired with him . She either didn't hear or didn't want to , since she kept silent ,lovingly tipping a clear liquid into the beaker as though it would explode with one wrong movement ( to be fair to her it probably would ; Watts gave us all sorts of stuff to test ) . I couldn't help but smile at the dismay of Bif's face ; he was probably used to being listened to and worshipped .
"How is he?" he persisted without progress, unless you want to count the filthy look she threw at him whenever his face turned or her fists clenching to the point where she nearly smashed the vial she was holding whenever he mentioned her friend . He continued having a completely one sided conversation with the nerd until I decided that if he didn't get the message soon I would personally staple something to him - preferably something flammable .

When he began to drone on about Aquaberry , I decided to save the poor girl .
"Excuse me , lady ?" I asked , hoping I'd get more of a response than the trust fund brat did .
"What do you want , pauper ?" Bif sneered before she had chance to respond. "I don't think she cares about bikes and I highly doubt she's had Lola , so run along to your garage or whatever it is poor people do ." Resisting the urge to slap him into another era, I turned my attention back to my experiment , which was going a worrying shade of green as opposed to the blue one the girl was tending to with more care than most would a new born baby .

A few minutes later , someone nudged me quickly , irritating an old bruise I had from a few days beforehand (preps - need I say more?).
"Watch it !" I said sharply , rubbing my arm .
"Oh ... sorry . I just thought I should apologise about Taylor." she explained softly , despite the venom in the word 'Taylor' .
"It wasn't you acting like a turd , lady . It's fine . Anyway , Johnny asked me to let you know you left something last night - he'll be at the autoshop if you want it back ." . She looked a bit puzzled , realisation hitting her face as she checked her green pockets .
"Oh that ... um , if you see him before I do , will you tell him not to taste it , please ? I know it sound strange but ..."
"Not a problem . And one last thing ..." I ventured , hoping I wouldn't get the answer I expected . "If the solution thing you have is blue , then what the hell have I made?" . Her face went greener than her dress when she looked at my assignment .
"Put it this way ; if he asks you to set it alight , don't do it . It'll go through in the roof , not to mention us ." she warned .
"Right." Maybe I could throw it at Bif , the aquaberry wearing , cousin fu...
"So , my girl , have you found out who Pasteur got on the wrong side of ?" he went on pompously , not able to grasp the concept of people not wanting to talk to trust fund brats . In response , she whipped off her thick glasses, took one look at his assignment and stepped back a few steps as she put them back on , going paler than Watts every time he sees Edna . Dr Watts bounced over (too many lab fumes again would be my guess - let's just hope he doesn't agree to meet the lunch lady again .) to them with a lit splint in his hand .

Only then did I realise that Taylor's liquid was the same shade as mine ...

I have never seen a substitute teacher madder than the one glaring at the prep through the hole in the ceiling .