AN: Echo's surprisingly good at science... Wonder why... O:)
Rythian and Echo headed over to science, Rythian walking slightly ahead of Echo as she followed him, maintaining a careful distance so it didn't look like they were walking together. Echo's mind was racing. It had been great to open up to Rythian slightly, to not be judged for not being a wreck or being sad after everything that had happened... Echo wondered if that was one of the reasons why Rythian was talking to her; maybe he felt exactly the same in his situation.
"Echo!" A voice called to her as Echo turned around, having just reached the science room as she watched Alex make his way over to her. She glanced back at Rythian, who gave a subtle nod before entering the room as Echo waited just beside the door as Alex reached her, the bell ringing distantly in her ears.
"Hi! You alright?" Echo asked as Alex smiled at her oddly, his teeth too wide and his eyes distracted. He nodded before smiling again, this time succeeding in it being more genuine.
"Yeah, I just didn't say hi to you this morning. So... Hi!" Alex said as Echo looked at him in bewilderment.
"Okay... Hi!" She repeated as Alex laughed before she waved to empathise her greeting and turned to enter the science labs.
"How long have you and Hector been together? Kim didn't mention..." Alex asked causally as Echo turned back towards him.
"About a year and a bit? It's complicated... I don't know if he's still my boyfriend actually..." Echo admitted as Alex immediately straightened up.
"Really? Why?" He asked curiously as Echo laughed.
"Can I explain later? I have a lesson now..." She motioned to the door as Alex laughed with her.
"Of course you do. I have a free so I'm just going to go... Be free!" He waved before heading off quickly down the corridor back the way he had come as Echo shook her head, entering the classroom. For the whole of the week she had been working alone on her experiments, taking her time as she had no help; thankfully, Rythian was sitting at the back, waiting for her and already setting things up as the teacher looked at her with a frown.
"Come now, Echo, you're late!" He said with exaggerated sternness as Echo smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry Zylus!" She apologised before making her way back to the class, where she joined Rythian in collecting equipment for their experiment. Seeing as Parv was in hospital, Zylus had just been writing experiments for them to do each lesson; Lewis and Duncan were working at the front together, already reading the first instruction. Echo made to take out her notepad but was surprised when Rythian shook his head at her.
"Don't bother; no one can hear us and if anyone sees us chatting they'll assume I'm explaining the experiment to you" Rythian said as he set up the Bunsen burner in place, adjusting it carefully before attaching the gas. Echo narrowed her eyes at him.
"Why wouldn't people assume that I'm explaining the experiment to you?" She questioned as Rythian glanced at her, humour in his eyes.
"Because people don't know how exceptionally clever you are at science... So let's show them otherwise." Echo slowly grinned as Rythian motioned to the board, Echo starting on measurements whilst Rythian passed her the different liquids, taking the measured versions and pouring it carefully into the bubbling vial of hot water. He had to stop himself from smiling too widely as he watched her kneeling down, carefully measuring each liquid.
"You can start on weighing the powdered substances you know..." She mumbled as she finished measuring and poured it into another vial before mixing it with a clear substance, turning it a sea blue. She beamed at him happily. "I've got instructions one and two sorted out."
Rythian didn't even need to ask if she was sure, heading to the front of the desk to collect some scales and fighting the urge to laugh as Duncan watched him, stunned. Parv, who had been marking, also looked up in surprise.
"Finished one and two already Rythian?" He asked calmly, whilst Rythian nodded.
"Yes sir; Echo's speciality is science." With that, Rythian turned around and headed towards Echo again, who was just finishing off the measurements. As he passed Lewis and Duncan, he couldn't help but note that Lewis had added too much to one of the vials, which was now a dark blue. Rythian was momentarily glad that the scarf hid his face as he couldn't stop smirking when he heard Duncan tell Lewis off about it being slightly the wrong colour whilst Lewis objected.
Echo grinned as he put the scales down. "Perfect! Thanks Ryth." She paused for a moment, looking at him curiously. "Does anyone ever call you that?"
Rythian nodded. "Zoey, and Teep has adopted it in his sign language as a lazy form of saying my name... Apart from that, no." Echo nodded to herself as she became distracted with the measurements again, adding the powder quickly but carefully as Rythian checked on the Bunsen burner, turning it down ever so slightly as an adjustment.
"So what did Alex want?" Rythian asked curiously as Echo continued to pour powder onto the scales. Unlike Echo, Rythian had not failed to notice the look of dismay that had briefly flickered across Alex's face when Kim had been speaking about Echo's boyfriend.
"Hm?" Echo asked, adding the powder to the bubbling liquid as it hissed slightly, turning green.
"What did Alex want?" He repeated as Echo bent down to measure more liquid, Rythian mimicking her by taking the other liquid they had to measure after Echo added hers.
"Oh... Well he asked about Hector... And how long we'd been together... I mentioned I wasn't technically dating..." Echo responded slowly, focusing more on the measurements than talking. Rythian laughed slightly as he turned his attention to measuring as Echo straightened up and poured the silver liquid into the vial, instantly causing it to shimmer slightly. She waited impatiently for Rythian to finish carefully measuring his liquid, a light purple, as he made to pour it in.
"Can you do this bit slowly? I love this part!" Echo burst out unexpectedly as Rythian looked at her in surprise. She smiled, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry... I read ahead on this experiment and it was my favourite part..." she admitted as Rythian nodded in agreement.
"Mine too..." he spoke softly as he tipped the purple liquid in slowly, which instantly began to swirl around, turning the light green into a gradual shade of dark purple, slowly swirling and mixing with the powder. Rythian turned down the heat as they both sat down, watching the contents race around the bubbling vial almost peacefully.
"It reminds me of a storm... But being unable to hear the sound..." Rythian commented as they watched the remaining traces of green start to fade.
"It's gone the same colour as your scarf" Echo noted as Rythian glanced down in surprise, comparing the two colours.
"So it seems..." He allowed himself to trail off as Echo looked around her, glancing at the other experiments. No one was even remotely close to finishing, and they had to let the experiments simmer for a few minutes. The only ones close to them were Duncan and Lewis, who were obviously at the same stage as them, but...
Echo giggled, nudging Rythian. "So, I'm guessing they went slightly overboard on question two?" Rythian followed her gaze and laughed with her as they watched Lewis sulkily adjust the temperature as Duncan added more powder into their mixture which was a sickly dark purple, on the edge of black. As he added more powder, it seemed to get steadily more closer to the colour Rythian and Echo had achieved; the only difference was Duncan's experiment was twice the size of Rythian's. As they sat down, Echo spun to Rythian, excitedly.
"You promised me a magic trick and no one is looking. Do you have you cards?" Echo asked hopefully, her face falling as Rythian shook his head.
"No..." He said sadly, rolling up his sleeves and opening his hands to show he had nothing in them. "I did however..." He continued, reaching up to Echo's ear and drawing back a 50p coin, "...bring my magic."
Echo giggled delightedly as she turned over the coin in her hands, examining it closely. She was trying to figure out how Rythian had done it before she noticed he was looking at her thoughtfully. "What?" She asked as he looked at her, a smile growing on his face beneath his scarf.
"I think I can see something behind your other ear..." Rythian said jokingly as he reached out and drew back his hand with another 50p. Echo held onto the side of her head, covering her ears and laughing as Rythian began to laugh too.
"Rythian, stop playing with Echo's hair!" Zylus's voice reached them from across the classroom as everyone turned to look at them, Echo and Rythian turning slightly red.
"He wasn't playing with my hair, sir!" Echo caused out defensively as Duncan and Lewis looked at each other with an eyebrow raised. Echo turned her attention back to the experiment as Rythian glanced over at the last instruction on the board, noticing Duncan's and Lewis's faces.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that..." Rythian apologised as they poured out the liquid into a separate container, leaving a solid substance at the bottom of the original. Echo shrugged, still giggling.
"Totally worth it!" She declared as she scooped out the solid substance and placed it on a petri disk, examining it carefully. Not the most impressive of tricks, yet it had been a fantastic distraction to exploding the experiment.