Olivia shrugged. "Well, I've got English first block, then chemistry, then lunch. After that I've got French and then P.E.. You haven't gotten your schedule yet?" she asked as they started down the staircase. Passers-by stared incredulously at the two walking side by side.

"No, I should probably go to the office later on, it'll be the last stop on our little tour." He chuckled, she didn't join in.

Olivia showed him around. To the gym, the cafeteria, a couple classrooms and then
finally, the office.

"Well, here we are." She announced dully.

It seemed she was disappointed. He was so interesting… even though she'd done the majority of the talking. He was funny, and understanding… but she didn't find him attractive in the way of romance, more like a best friend. It was strange. He seemed so… unbelievable. The way he behaved, the way he reacted, the way he spoke. Everything about him made her inch closer and closer to the edge of her seat. She could never be sure what he might do next. Little did she knew, his sentiments were rather close to her own.

While they'd sat in the cafeteria, a group of girls, clearly envious of Olivia and her new friend, had hissed venomous whispers. Nikita, hearing their comments, had held up one finger, quieting Liv for a few moments while he turned and faced the girls with a glare cold enough to freeze them and sharp enough to pierce them. Olivia could recall biting her lip to stifle her giggles when the girls' faces went from jealous to terrified as they gathered their bags and scattered. Then, Nikita returned to their conversation as if nothing happened. As if the girls hadn't ever existed. The way he sheltered her from the smallest things made Olivia feel flattered and insulted all at once; it was nice having someone take care of you, but she wasn't completely incapable of everything. He seemed rather protective of her, even if they'd only met last night, and their meeting hadn't been the most pleasant.

Nikita glanced at the office. "Hm… well, thanks." He smiled, then turned, suddenly acting like he didn't know her.

When the door shut, Olivia was left standing there like an idiot. She watched him approach the secretary and ask her about class schedules, as her eyes narrowed. What a jerk! Using her like that.

"See you later, Nikita." She muttered to herself right before the bell. Liv sighed. She guessed it would have had to happen at one point. Him and her, friends? Hah, good one. He'd only needed her for directions, and then she was history. Typical.

Hurriedly, she walked to her locker and opened it. Olivia grabbed her books and her binder, taking a pencil and holding it between her teeth, then she slammed the door closed, locked it, and rushed off to English. She loved English, especially since at that moment in the semester they were working on independent creative writing. She had a solid hour and fifteen minutes to write whatever she wanted. Of course, by now, she was finished writing and in the process of editing the story. Editing was such a tiresome task and she hated it, but she did it anyways. Her story wasn't very complex, but many people seemed to have a difficulty understanding the concept. Probably because it talked about defying the set rules of sameness.

Finally, she arrived at the class, and breathed a sigh of relief hearing the final bell ring as she sat in her designated desk. She'd been lucky enough to get one at the back of the room by the window. Of course, she paid strict attention to her teacher, but whenever they had free time and Olivia was finished all her work, she often stared out the window, day dreaming about random and unimportant things.
Olivia opened her binder and spat out her pencil, then got to work. The teacher didn't bother talking to the class, and just let the students do their own work. Liv read through the first two pages, the only two she'd corrected so far, then continued on to page three and four.

The class went by quickly, and she managed to edit all the way up to the first sentence of page five. When the bell rang, she closed her binder, leaving her pencil inside, zipped it up and marched back to her locker. She dropped off her English books and instead grabbed her chemistry books, belonging to the one class she was much less enthusiastic about.

Olivia let her hair out, feeling the elastic slipping out of place, and then headed off to class. When she entered the room, she nearly stopped right in the doorway and turned around and ran away. Nikita was there, sitting in the class. He saw her too, and his mouth turned up in one corner, into a smug little smile. The class was already full (how slow was she walking today?) and the only seat left was, of course, next to him. She scurried around the teacher who was staring at her in disapproval, and plopped into the chair next to Nick.

"Hey stranger, long time no see." He spoke smoothly, his voice barely that of a whisper.

Olivia didn't reply, still a bit embarrassed for being late and a bit mad at him for the way he'd treated her.

The teacher started droning on about the project they would have to do. Olivia prayed it would be an individual project. Wish denied. He finally announced it would be done in partners. She then hoped they would be able to choose their partners. Nope. He said whoever you were currently beside would be your partner. The project was due in two weeks.

Nikita smiled. The subject was simple: measuring enzyme activity. He tuned out as the teacher started to explain, and focused, once again, on Olivia. She seemed upset by something. What could possibly be wrong?

He pursed his lips, wondering why she was acting so strangely. She avoided eye contact just as she had that morning.

"Yeast contains an enzyme, called catalase, that acts as a catalyst for the reaction that breaks down hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water…." He heard the teacher in the background.

"Hey, you okay?" he whispered, nudging her gently with his elbow.

Olivia neatly dodged the nudge. "I'm fine." She whispered back.

This teacher had always been so oblivious to people talking while he was talking.

"You don't seem fine…"

"I said I'm fine…" she spoke quietly between her teeth.

"You seem upset."

"Shut up, Nikita!" she said harshly, still keeping her voice low.

Okay, so he was the problem.

"What did I say? Did I do something wrong?" It had been so long since he'd interacted with humans, he worried maybe he'd forgotten how to do it altogether.

"You're a jerk." she snapped.

"Well, I may be a jerk… at times, but I'm also your lab partner. You're stuck with me." he reminded her, a smirk returning.

"Your point?"

"I'm going to get an answer sometime."

"Oh? And what makes you so sure?"

He shrugged.

"You're impossible.." she muttered.

"That, I am." He almost started laughing... again.

"Oxygen is a highly reactive gas, adult supervision will be required for this project. Of course, you won't be constructing it in class… but be sure your parents are around. For your background research, be sure that you understand substrate, catalyst, reaction rate, catalase, enzyme saturation and protein denaturation. Use a solution of 3 H2O2 for the substrate then construct an apparatus that allows you to collect and measure the oxygen gas produced…" the teacher continued. Olivia made a mental note to forge her mom's signature for the proof of supervision sheet.

"Now, where shall we meet after school?" he asked when she didn't reply to his last comment.

"What?" she asked, facing him. It surprised her she'd actually gotten used to his striking appearance.

"After school, to work on the project?"

Olivia rolled her eyes, then shrugged. He was really getting on her nerves. Where did all her patience go? "Just meet me in the gym." bitterness seeped through every word.

"Which one?"

"The big one."

"Well, they're both big…"

Liv made a sound of disgust, Nikita chuckled.

"Alright, alright, the gym. That's good. It'll be empty, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"No reason." But there was a reason. A very important reason. Nikita figured that as long as he was going to protect this girl, she should know why. He wouldn't make her guess, he'd make it easy for her by saying it flat out. If she didn't believe him, well, then, he'll just have to prove it. And he couldn't do that with an audience.

"Did you get your class schedule?"

"Yep. And guess what?"

She sighed, she knew the answer, no doubt, but replied anyways. "What?"

"Same schedule as you. Well, except for gym. I got out of that one for the whole semester. Replaced it with a free block."

Olivia ignored the coincidence of the same schedule."What? How'd you do that?"

Nikita smirked. "My Secret. Anyways, same schedule as you."

Olivia decided not to bother, and instead replied to the 'same schedule' thing. Was this guy stalking her or something? "Really. What a shocker… wait, why weren't you in English, then?"

Nick shrugged. "I spent a good fifteen minutes with the guidance counselor getting her to make my schedule match yours. Then I figured I was already late, and there wasn't any point in disrupting the class. So, I skipped."

"Why would you do that?"

"Skip? I just told you, I--"

"No, " Liv interrupted."why would you hassle the counselor just to get the same classes as me?"

"Iunno." He slurred the three words into one

"That's ridiculous." Olivia shook her head.

"So is being mad at me for no reason." He grinned smugly.

"I have a reason." she snapped.

"You do, do you? Is it a reasonable reason?" he seemed amused.

"Maybe." she looked away.

"Maybe?"

"Not…" her cheeks burned.

Nikita stifled his chuckles. She was so entertaining, and her stubborn attitude only made her that much more interesting. "Well that's good. So I guess you aren't mad at me any more, are ya?"

"Guess not…" Olivia sighed.

The bell rang. Lunch, finally. Olivia smiled, as did Nikita. Only his smiled seemed to be suppressing a wide grin. She narrowed her eyes. She was missing something else.

"Where's your locker...?" she asked suspiciously, picking up her books and her binder and tucking them under her arm.

"Right next to my favorite person in the whole world." he replied, picking up his own belongings: the chemistry book and a pen.

"Aw, that's sweet, you've already made a new friend." her voice was bitingly sarcastic. She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, where is it?"

"I already told you."

"A name would be nice."

"Olivia Roberts." he smiled

"Guess I should've known… did you hassle the counselor for that, too?"

"Nope. I just got lucky." In fact, it was a miracle they'd believed he was actually enrolled at this school. After he flashed his smile a few times at the women handling his case, they were more than willing to get him a locker and class schedule and pretend he'd been accepted into the school. It was pitiful, actually.

"Interesting." The two were walking down the hall together, again, turning heads all over again.

They arrived at their lockers, and both turned to unlock them. Nikita had his open long before Olivia had even turned the lock to the first number. She didn't notice though, and this disappointed him. He was anxious to tell her. Well, they had the whole lunch; maybe he could tell her early…? No, too many witnesses. After school was safest.

"You hungry?" she asked him after closing her locker.

He couldn't help it this time, and threw his head back in laughter.