I'm back chickadees!
This chapter should've gone up yesterday with the update of Drabble Edition, but the ending felt wrong so I had to tweak it. And I was plotting something to happen in the near future. :D
*cue evil laughter*
In all seriousness though, I apologize in advance for any spelling/grammar mistakes. Proofreading is like the Tai Lung, and I'm the Viper. We just don't get along together...
The Nobody
Chapter 4: The Best Thing That's Ever Happened to Po
Reality took its rightful place in Po's life when he walked into class.
Sitting in the back, staring studiously at her notebook sat Tigress—just as stoic as ever. She was surrounded by her usually group of friends, but didn't take part in the joking and laughing.
He gulped and froze mid-step. If he sat in the back, there was a good chance they might end up talking (aka, him getting insulted) but if he sat up front, there was a better chance Mr. Shen would kill him.
He would've stayed in that unsure state the whole class period if Viper hadn't grabbed his elbow. "Let's sit in the middle!" she said in a sing-song voice.
Duh. The middle. Why didn't he think of that?
"Uh, sure," Po said as he slapped his forehead. He followed behind Viper as she took a seat a few rows in front of where Tigress sat, yet four rows away from the front. With a grunt, he dropped into the desk and let his backpack fall to his feet. Viper sat next to him and aligned her binder with her desk, then sat ramrod straight, staring at the board.
An excited smile threatened to split her face in two. Po finally couldn't take it anymore; he leaned across the aisle and frowned. "Why are you so excited?"
"Because I love biology! And learning! You asked me that in the class before lunch," she responded, grin never leaving her face.
Po relaxed into his seat. "You're so weird," he stated simply, just as the bell rang for class to start. He slunk into his seat and tried to hide behind the dirty blonde girl sitting in front of him, while Viper leaned forward in anticipation.
A tall, slender old man with bird-like features stalked in from the hallway. He had a balding scalp, with stringy white hair in a ring around the crown of his head, and pale skin that practically gleamed. "Hello, students," he greeted them coldly. The old man turned sharply on his heel and picked up an Expo marker to carefully scrawl his name on the whiteboard. "Welcome to my class. I am Mr. Shen, and I can assure, this will not be an easy grade.
"Now, which one of you can tell me what we'll be learning in this class?"
All thirty students in the class suddenly feigned interest in their binders or shoelaces; anything to get out of being called by Mr. Shen—except one blue-eyed eager girl waving her hand in the air enthusiastically. Mr. Shen raised one bushy white eyebrow and pointed a long curling finger at her. "Yes, Miss…"
"Viper, sir," Viper said sweetly. A few kids gagged behind their hands, but she ignored them and kept her eyes on the teacher. "Biology is the study of life and living organisms; we'll be learning about their structures, functions, growth, origin, and evolution." She finished her explanation with another broad smile.
Everyone who had been making fun of could only gape.
Even Mr. Shen looked surprised. "Yes, that's exactly right, Miss Viper."
"TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" someone in the back of the room yelled.
A chorus of snickers rang through the class, only to be stopped when Viper put up a hand. She turned in her seat, smirking at the guy who had called out. "Don't patronize me; I'm a Ravenclaw."
Po laughed along with everyone, daring to sit up in his seat. Viper winked at him and turned to face the front again. Mr. Shen settled the class down and told them to get out their textbooks; as he was doing the command, Po felt something hit his head. A piece of paper rolled to the ground by his feet. He unfolded the note and read it, and then turned around to see who had thrown it. Nobody was even looking in his direction. For a moment, his gaze lingered on Tigress.
She was hunched over her desk, eyes on the passage he was supposed to be reading. Po couldn't help but find it weird; it was common knowledge that she was a straight-A student, but for some reason that never classified her as a nerd.
Maybe kung fu exempted people from being labeled.
"Mr. Ping!"
Po cringed and turned his seat to meet the eyes of his annoyed teacher. "Uh…y-yes sir?"
"Please read the assigned paragraph instead of ogling over your fellow students," Mr. Shen said pointedly, eyes narrowing. Viper made a tsking sound in the back of her throat, while other simply snickered at the blush growing on Po's face.
He ducked his head quickly, staring intently at the words in his book and forcing himself to focus. Despite his efforts, the words from the note replayed over and over in his head.
Don't drag Viper into your problems. You may deserve it, but she doesn't.
0o0
Viper practically vaulted out of her seat when the final bell rang. As much fun as trigonometry was, and she said that with complete seriousness, it wasn't exactly enjoyable when the teacher was cramming homework down your throat on the first day. It also didn't help that she knew no one in the class; but did happen to befriend a shy, messy haired boy named Zeng.
But as much as she loved talking to Zeng – the kid was a riot when he finally dared to speak – she wanted to find Po.
Not for any particular reason other then to talk to him. Honestly, it made no sense why he was an outcast—he was funny, he was sweet, and he just had the most adorable little dimples…
A hand covering her eyes pulled Viper out of her thoughts. She emitted a yelp while digging her elbow into the attacker's stomach, then grabbing their wrist and easily flipping them onto the tile floors.
"Gods Viper, it's nice to see you too…" Mantis mumbled, dazed as he glared up at his sister.
Heat rose to Viper's cheeks, but she scoffed and offered him a hand. "You of all people should know not to sneak up on me."
Mantis continued glaring at her, even after being helped to his feet. Ignoring the horrified/amused looks of onlookers, he put an arm around Viper's shoulders, despite being only a few inches taller then her. "I thought I was prepared for it that time," he explained, using his other hand to mess up her hair.
Viper emitted another yelp as she tried to fix the mess Mantis created. "Prepared my a—"
Mantis wagged his finger at her, "Nuh uh, Miss Pottymouth. Daddy would go absolutely berserk if he heard his 'wittle angel' talking like that."
He snickered as Viper shoved him away, glaring menacingly. "That's why Daddy doesn't come to school." She smirked and reached forward, messing up his spiky black hair. "'Big' bro," she added teasingly, emphasizing how short he was.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. It's not like you've used that one before," Mantis said with a roll of his eyes. "Do you need a ride home, or did you want to catch the bus?"
Viper shrugged and hugged her binder closer to herself. "Well, now that you mention it, a ride home would be nice…but I think I'll pass."
"You want to ride the bus?" He fixed his red eyes on her suspiciously. "Should I be worried?"
"No, I just want to meet up with someone. And why are you wearing those?"
"Wearing what?"
"The colored contacts! They look stupid."
At this, Mantis covered his eyes self-consciously. "No, they look awesome. You say that because you're jealous. I'm secure; sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me…and, uhm, any other overused cliché you're supposed to say to bullies." He flashed a grin at her then, despite her annoyed look, and shoved her arm. They walked out the school doors and down the steps; Mantis headed to his car and Viper to the buses. "See ya at home!"
"Bye!" Viper replied, already running in the direction of a certain plushy friend.
She walked up to him just as he was about to board the bus. "Hey, Nobody," she greeted him sociably, "How was your last class?"
Po shrugged, a smile taking over his face. "My Spanish isn't as bad as you'd think."
They walked up the few bus steps, Po first and Viper behind him (shooting death glares at anyone who looked ready to peg her friend with a wad of paper no less). "Are you ever going to go to Spain or something?"
"Nope," Po replied as he plopped into a seat. She sat down next to him, awaiting his explanation. "Actually, maybe. I don't know, I haven't really thought of it."
"You should go," she said, using her binder to deflect an incoming projectile aimed for Po's head, "it's insanely pretty there."
"You've been?"
She grinned. "Yup. We were planning on moving there too, but then my dad got promoted." Her smile suddenly dropped. "Hey, did you finish the biology homework in class?"
Po gave a derisive snort. "No, I was busy thinking about—I mean, I didn't finish reading the chapter in time." He chuckled nervously. "Did he really have to assign a report on the essay? I thought it was science, not English."
"Well, he did say it was going to be a tough class. Maybe you could come over to my house later so we can work on it together."
She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling as a happy grin worked its way onto Po's face. "R-really? I mean, yeah, sure, that'd be awesome!"
"Yay!" Viper responded. She pulled out her phone to exchange numbers with him. "Just send me a text when you're free and I'll tell you my address."
Finally, the smile made an appearance as he gave her an awestruck nod.
0o0
Nervous. Clammy. Freaked out. Anxious. Terrified out of his mind.
Those were a few words to describe what Po was feeling—and he wasn't even inside her house yet. At five o' clock, he had borrowed the keys from his dad, hinted at wanting a car for his birthday, and drove to Viper's house.
At 5:08 his jaw dropped; apparently, she lived in a mansion.
At 5:10, he rang the doorbell.
And at 5:11, he got scrutinized from head to toe by a short, black-haired, red-eyed (wait, what?) boy that had a rather nasty cut on his upper lip that Po couldn't help but stare at.
"Who are you?" the boy finally said, opening the door a little bit more and revealing that he was more then just a floating head (he was a whole person that apparently could pull off an Abercrombie shirt).
Po gulped; there was an unmistakably hostile tone in his voice. Luckily, a familiar fragile hand came into view, yanking the boy away from the door. "That's my friend, dummy, and no you don't need to interrogate him." Viper reached out and grabbed Po's wrist, pulling him inside.
"Sticks and stones, Vi," the boy muttered in reply.
Inside the house was even more expensive-looking then outside. It was a soft cream color that was easy on the eyes; pillars surrounded the front door, and a small set of stairs lead deeper into the house. However, Po didn't have to ogle at the house because he was too busy ogling at the Viper and the boy.
In the few seconds he had spaced out, they had attacked each other over something, and now he held Viper in a tight headlock. She was going supremely purple in the face, and just when Po thought she would pass out, kicked the boy behind the knees and they both went down on the wooden floor.
Viper stood up quickly, brushing off the shirt she was wearing—blue, like the other one, but unlike before it had a giant peace sign on the front. She had also exchanged her skirt for a pair of baggy sweatpants. "Po," she panted, gesturing at the boy preparing to jackknife onto his feet, "Meet my brother, Mantis. Mantis, this is my friend Po."
So this was the infamous brother. He had expected him to be…taller.
"Uh, hey," Po said awkwardly, trying not to shift under the boy's threatening gaze.
"Hey," Mantis responded flatly, using his green shirt to dab at the cut above his lip. "I imagined you…skinnier."
"Mantis!"
Po jerked back. "I imagined you taller," he shot back.
Mantis' eerie red eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed when Viper delivered a smack to his shoulder. She turned to apologize to Po, but to her surprise both boys were shaking hands and smiling.
"You're alright, Po," Mantis said. He walked down the steps and disappeared behind a wall. "We'll finish that match later," he called over his shoulder. A second passed before he stuck his head around the corner, "And yes, this is my real eye color."
Po gaped at his back, then at his sister. "What were you guys doing?"
"Sparring," Viper said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "We were just too lazy to go to the dojo. But, enough of that, did you bring your homework?"
"Yeah." Po nodded, eyes still glazed over.
Viper took his elbow and pulled him down the few steps and to a larger staircase a few feet away. "Good, we'll get started then. Oh, I forgot to ask you on the bus, how come you didn't finish the chapter in class?"
They arrived at the top of the steps, where Viper pushed him down the long hallway and into her bedroom. It was painted a soft shade of blue, with posters lining the walls, a laptop sitting on the desk, and organized so perfectly it was almost intimidating. "I…I got this note and I was trying to figure out who sent it," Po replied, too busy gawking at the cleanliness to pay attention to what he was saying.
"Hey!" Viper snapped in front of is face, effectively bringing him out of his spaced out state. "What did it say?"
"The note?"
"No, the potato. Yes the note."
"Uh…" Po trailed off, suddenly not wanting to share. "…just some jerk calling me a nobody."
Viper frowned, and for one horrible second he though she didn't believe him. A small sigh of relief pushed out of his lungs when she folded her arms and scowled. "Don't forget, Nobody was able to kill a Cyclops in Greek mythology. But you're not here for a history lesson, you're here for biology. Go ahead and get comfy; I'll get us some snacks."
With that, she left the room and Po to go towards the kitchen (and probably fight with Mantis again). Po sighed as he sat down on the floor. Yesterday, he was a fat kid dreading to go to school, with no friends and no self-esteem.
And today, he was a fat kid sitting in a girl's room—and not just any girl, a pretty girl that had somehow decided to be his friend, with a lot more confidence then he'd had in years.
Viper was definitely the best thing that had ever happened to him.