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Brain hated the cross house classes with a burning passion. Most of the time, they were very disorganized- you'd have students paired up with those three or more years below them, you hardly ever got to choose who you worked with, and -possibly the worst offender- there was still only one teacher supervising the whole mess. It would probably help if these dates were actually known to the students beforehand, instead of everyone walking into class to find it far more crowded than usual. That was one thing Brain hoped to fix once he graduated and took up Ava's internship offer; cross house classes either needed a major overhaul, or complete removal.
"Alright everyone," the science teacher, Mr. Rourke called out once everyone was settled, "As you all know by now, we're having a cross house science class today. So, please, members of Leopardus, play nice with the members of Unicornis, and vice versa. Alright? We don't need to see a repeat of the Vesuvius accident."
A few students (mostly stemming from Leopardus) let out a round of snickers at this. Hearing it made Mr. Rourke shake his head and give an exasperated sigh.
"To prevent some of this," he went on, "I have assigned you all a partner and a table to sit at. You can not ask for a change of partner or seating."
"This ought to be good." Brain mumbled under his breath as he gently tilted his fedora down over his eyes a bit. The murmurs from around him were also coming to this conclusion as well.
Mr. Rourke only waited for most of the murmurs to die down before reading through his list. Brain was only half listening to the teacher, more or less preparing to move from his spot when he was called. Eventually, Mr. Rourke called out, "Skuld Niyati, your partner is Brain Renzhen. The two of you will use station number six."
Brain smirked. There was no accident that he and Skuld had been paired together. Despite the rather few cross house classes the five have had so far, the teachers seemed to purposely place the Dandelions with each other when the time came. He had a theory that it was done out of spite; from what he understood, Ava had dropped the concept of a student council on the other teachers and headmasters the same day they were formed. Communication was also an issue that needed to be addressed at Daybreak Academy, apparently.
When Brain got over to the right table, Skuld already had their science tools out and was cleaning off the graduated cylinder with a dry cloth.
"Need any help with that?" Brain asked as he took a seat next to her.
Skuld shook her head before moving her notebook over in his direction. "Can you write down the ingredient list and the initial hypothesis? I'm just about done cleaning everything off."
Brain grinned and gave her a nod before turning his attention to the ingredients she had laid out. In a smooth, careful handwriting he wrote down everything they had; a 10 milliliter graduated cylinder, a bottle of universal indicator, a small container containing sodium carbonate, a bottle of white vinegar, a glass beaker, and a cup filled with what he assumed was water.
"Any ideas on our hypothesis?" he then asked her, using his pencil to tilt his fedora up a bit.
"Based on the fact we're using a universal indicator, we're testing for pH balance." Skuld told him. "Both the water, vinegar, and sodium carbonate will have a reaction when introduced to the indicator. Theoretically, when the three are mixed they will become a homogeneous mixture, but with the indicator it will likely show their different pH balances instead."
"Love it when a girl talks science to me." Brain teased as he wrote down Skuld's theory. "Too bad at this point, you're in little sister territory."
"I assure you, the feeling's mutual." Skuld smirked. "Would you like to mix the indicator, water, and vinegar together? I'll do the stuff in the beaker."
"A dangerous job, but I think I can manage it."
Skuld let out a bemused snort of her own before opening up the sodium carbonate jar. Brain's grin did not waver as he took the universal indicator and an eyedropper to start filling up the graduated cylinder.
"So," the young man mused as he mentally counted out 15 drops of the indicator, "How's our love-sick leader doing when he's not swapping air with his girlfriend?"
"They don't 'swap air' as often as you think they do, first of all." she told him, a certain edge to her voice indicating that he needed to watch what he was saying. "Second, he's slowly coming off that honeymoon high. It's still a pain in the butt to get him to focus when Anora's in the room though."
"Do you not have any jealousy toward them?" Brain continued to probe "Especially Ephemer? Weren't you two an item for a hot second two years ago?"
Skuld snorted. "Two years ago." she reiterated. "Besides, it was totally one-sided. Ephemer overcompensated a lot just because he thought that's what you're supposed to do when you date."
"Weren't you mad when he said he wanted to cut it off, though?" Brain continued to press. "There's no way you two just walked out of that all sunshine and rainbows and with no hard feelings."
"Sure." she agreed with a shrug. "But seeing how he reacts just when Anora breathes is enough for me to realize that he didn't love me like that. And that's fine; it was something new for both of us."
"It can't be that easy."
Skuld set her beaker down for a moment to give Brain a long, curious look. He stared right back at her until she resumed her business. In a voice that was almost mocking, she asked him, "Are you jealous?"
Brain paused. He turned to Skuld with a raised eyebrow and a darkened glare.
"And what, Miss Niyati, do I have to be jealous over?" he questioned, his voice possibly just as dark as the look he was giving her. But Skuld didn't answer him- instead giving a small roll of her shoulder before returning to their experiment. Brain glared at her for a bit longer before continuing his mission as well; now using a separate eyedropper to add three drops of vinegar to the indicator and water mix.
It took a bit of stirring for the solution to become a light red. Brain made note of the change on the notebook. Skuld took the notebook not long after and wrote down that her solution was still clear.
"Now we just need to combine the mixtures into the cylinder." Brain said out loud as he looked back over the instructions. "You want me to do it, or do you want to?"
"I can." Skuld offered. "I think I have a clean eyedropper over here anyway."
Brain nodded as he watched her get the eyedropper and gave it a tentative wipe down with a dry cloth.
"What did you ever see in Ephemer?" Brain asked as Skuld filled an eyedropper with the sodium carbonate solution. His only answer at first was a small shrug before she squeezed the dropper's contents into the graduated cylinder.
"He was my friend." she told him. "But if I had to, I'd almost date him again. I liked having someone kind and friendly as a partner- maybe even a bit of harmless unpredictability thrown in for good mix."
"So you do still love him?"
"I didn't say that." she informed him- sounding more like she was correcting him. "I'm just saying that he's the type of guy I'd go for again."
Brain only half registered that the sodium carbonate solution became a deep purple in the vinegar and indicator mix- Skuld was the first to react when she pulled the notebook toward her to write down the changes. She picked up the cylinder and gently swirled it a bit to give it a little agitation for good measure. Now all the duo could do was wait for the solution to settle, creating a rainbow in the graduated cylinder.
Skuld smiled at the result before casually turning to Brain.
"You know," she mused, placing her hand under her chin, "She does like you."
"And that doesn't mean I have to like her." came the immediate, almost automatic, reply.
"Let me rephrase that," the young woman clarified as she placed both hands on the table and carefully straightened her back, "She respects you. Has since the trip back from the beach. Thing is, she won't tell us why."
"She's a selective mute, Skuld; she barely tells anyone anything."
"Would you just listen?" she asked him, adding in an impatient huff to show her point. "Whether you like her or not, she likes you. The girl doesn't know anyone besides us, the headmasters, and her study group. It takes her a very long time to get out of this comfort zone bubble she's created. But, since she seems to have taken a shine to you, don't be too surprised when she tried to talk to you. If she does, hear her out. What's the worse that could happen?"
Brain looked Skuld over, unsure on whether he should be amused by her suggestion or annoyed.
"So I take it Ephemer isn't the type to get jealous?" he wondered. At this, Skuld immediately let out an unflattering snort.
"Of course he is!" she even snickered. "But that shouldn't stop her from broadening her horizons. Look, she may never talk to you, but if she does, all I ask is for you to hear her out. She's a good kid and with or without Ephemer she needs to grow a bit more. I trust you to help her with that, that's all."
For a long time, Brain didn't know how to take this information. So Skuld wanted him to listen to Anora? What was that supposed to mean? How could Skuld tell who Anora liked or didn't like when they were barely friends themselves? A thoughtful sigh escaped Brain's lips before deciding to shrug it off. Anora was an odd one, that's for sure, and he was never going to get roped up in her business. Ever.