Hey, wow okay sorry this took me so long! I had to register in uni classes, sort out a timetable, buy books, apply for jobs, got sick and then had my dog punch me in the eye so I couldn't look at a screen! Anyway here it is hopefully it's not awful as well as being late ^.^ Also thanks for the response so far guys, please feel free to keep letting me know what you think!
Ps. Now that life has settled I should be more than able to update once a week at least, probably on Wednesdays, I have most of it all planned out so I just have to write it!
Gail made her presence known as she sat next to Dov in Chemistry, allowing her books to fall to the table with a thud and huffing as she dropped into the hard plastic chair. Dov looked up from where he was hurriedly trying to finish the weekend's homework and smirked at Gail's stony expression.
"I take it you had a great weekend?" Dov taunted lightly, chuckling to himself as Gail turned to glare at him.
"The best." She punctuated, flipping her Chemistry book open to the page she'd spent the last night torturing herself over, waiting for their teacher to show up and subsequently begin the agonising class. She could feel Dov's eye's digging into the side of her head, pleading wordlessly for her to show him the homework answers as shifted in her seat, ignoring his cry for help. Dov persisted through her false obliviousness though and with a dramatic sigh shoved her work in front of him.
"There. Happy now?" she growled at him but the corner of her mouth still twitched upward slightly when he thanked her profusely, promising her his first born child.
Dov stuck his head down, frantically comparing the two pages, scribbling and crossing out most of his answers and replacing them with hers. She and Dov had a strange friendship, born purely out of circumstance in their first year of high school when Dov had been in her PE class and was stung by a bee, his allergies throwing him into anaphylactic shock. Gail had initially hung back on the periphery until it became obvious nobody, not even their clueless teacher knew what to do and the first aid training that had been ingrained into her kicked in. She'd sent somebody to get his gym bag while she demanded their fumbling idiot of a teacher call an ambulance and upon receiving the bag fished out an epipen and stabbed the much needed adrenalin into Dov's thigh. After his airways begun to clear and the paramedics arrived Gail slunk back to where she'd once been standing on the outside, shrugging off the praise of those around her.
The next day Dov who had been fine after the incident, found her in the quad and stood awkwardly in front of her table with a Tupperware container in his hands. Gail had looked up from her sandwich and asked what he wanted and after much stumbling over his words he finally thrust the box of cookies his mum had made for her into her hands along with a mumbled 'thank-you for saving my life'. She'd nodded at him, sceptically nibbling on a cookie before making a small grunt in approval and vaguely gesturing for him to take a seat opposite her. The first lunch they'd shared had been like eating with a wild deer, with Dov seeming cautious and about to flee at any quick movement which had amused Gail thoroughly. Their lunches tentatively became a regular thing, with Gail soon wishing he'd stayed that frightened little deer from their first encounter as she began to learn that Dov liked to talk, a lot. Sometimes, like when he would show her a new addition to his creepy fossilised beetle collection Gail would seriously rethink her friendship with the boy but for the most part she enjoyed Dov's company and it's not like she was particularly spoilt for choice in the friendship department, though that was probably mostly her fault.
As the bell rang, signalling the end of class Gail allowed her head to fall to the desk and groaned.
"None of this makes sense," she practically whimpered to Dov, looking up at him, trying to fish for sympathy.
"Yeah," Dov breathed, looking similarly traumatised by their lesson, "why did we choose chemistry again?"
"Hey," she warned as she gathered her things, "you're the only idiot who chose to do this subject. I'm being forced to do it."
Dov rolled his eyes at Gail's response as they exited the classroom and began walking down the hallway.
"Do you want to come over after school and maybe see if we can work this equilibrium expression stuff out?" Dov asked hopefully.
Gail let out a sigh, "I can't, I have tutoring," she mumbled trying not to let her mind wander to the meeting she was dreading three hours later.
"Since when do you have a tutor?" Dov asked, almost offended at the idea that Gail did not keep him up to date with the inner workings of her life.
"Since my mother decided it would be a great way for her to help out her colleague's son and help me redeem myself after our last test." Gail responded shaking her head, like she hadn't already beaten herself up enough for the 75% result.
"Nobody did well on that test," Dov tried to reason causing Gail to throw him a look suggesting she was very aware of this fact. Dov sighed as he recognised that Gail would probably have told her mother that if it weren't for the fact that excuses did not go down well in the Peck household. He gave her a pat on the arm as they parted ways to go to different classes, wishing her luck.
"Hey, maybe if he's hot you can make all of your mother's dreams comes true, be dating someone with police connections AND be the perfect student."
Gail paused, before allowing herself to smile slightly and let some of the tension she'd been carrying around since their Chemistry class dissipate. For all his dorky idiocy Dov knew the right things to say when it came to her mother, knowing that generally the last thing Gail wanted to do was to dwell on the rigid and unfair hold her mother had on most aspects of her life.
"His name's Weston," Gail said with a slight grimace, knowing the name alone would be enough of an explanation for Dov.
"Well, even pompous douchebags can be hot," Dov levelled over his shoulder as he kept walking to his next class.
XXXX
Gail was sure she looked anything but interested as she sat opposite Weston in the university library, propping her head up by resting her chin in her palm and allowing her eyes to drift over the pages of the textbook listlessly. It was taking large amounts of willpower to stop herself from rolling her eyes every few minutes. Even without the English accent which Gail had found out was definitely not authentic he still had an exceedingly smug and irritating way of conducting himself. Worst of all he was quite literally apart from maybe Dov the least qualified person to be helping her with Chemistry. She had found out he was not actually studying Chemistry but rather relying on vague knowledge he still had from his senior year of high school. He had spent the better half of the hour just working the problems out by himself then showing her the answer he'd worked out and asking if she understood.
Gail probably could've squealed in delight when it was finally 4.30 and her time with Weston was up if it weren't for the fact they were in a library and that Gail wanted to get what had almost been the most excruciating hour of her life over with, as fast as possible.
"Don't worry about paying me," Weston informed her with a sincere smile that suggested to Gail that he genuinely thought his attempts at tutoring had been life-altering for her.
"My mother would probably insist…" Gail trailed off, making sure to exclude herself from that statement.
"Well in that case how about you shout me a coffee?" He suggested assertively, crossing his arms as he lent back in his chair, cracking that same smug smile that seemed permanently etched onto his face. "Three dollars is a very generous tutoring rate, if I don't say so myself."
Gail felt her eyebrows shoot up as she appraised Weston with a look of disbelief that slowly transformed momentarily into one of disgust at his wonderful display of arrogance. She moderated her expression quickly, plastering on a phony saccharine smile that did not meet her eyes, assuring him that while that was a lovely offer she was extremely busy with much more important things. Luckily he seemed to miss the implication that she would rather keep company with her worst enemy, Chemistry rather than spend time with him.
"Well maybe next time then, Gail," he shot back, seemingly unfased by her rejection as he threw her wink before exiting the library.
Gail allowed herself to exhale the breath she felt like she'd been holding that entire hour, trying to unwind the crazy amount of tension and irritation that 'tutoring' session had built up. Weston was a classic example of the snotty, self-assured, assholes her mother always not-so subtly tried to force her into spending time with. It was an obsession Gail had never quite understood about her mother seeing as she was constantly emphasising the importance of Gail being strong, capable and independent yet at the same time trying to set her up with boys. She speculated though, that while this wildly contradicted most of Elaine's ethos it probably was again due to the fact Elaine needed to operate full control over all aspects of Gail's life. Unless she completely forbid Gail to ever interact with members opposite sex, the next best thing she could do was screen and hand pick candidates for her.
Gail rubbed her eyes, forcefully trying to refresh them in the hopes that she could look at this damn question in a new light. While Weston may have completed most of her homework answers, Gail was still none the wiser as to how to do it, plus she wasn't entirely certain he had known how to anyway. Gail released the pressure off her eyes, balling her fists in her sleeves and glaring at the sheet in front of her, wishing that it would disappear, never to bother her again.
"Wow, what did that piece of paper ever do to you?" a voice that had become all too familiar this week asked jokingly, a hint of a chuckle audible.
Gail looked up to see Holly smirking at her from where she stood behind the chair opposite Gail. She was the last person Gail wanted to see right now, the appearance of her self-satisfied smile bringing all of her frustrations to a boiling point and she couldn't restrain the loud, exasperated groan from exploding out of her mouth.
"Why are you here?" Gail demanded, trying her best to keep her voice at an acceptable library level.
"Well that's definitely not the nicest greeting I've ever received," Holly replied hesitantly but still unable to resist throwing in a witty retort, "and anyway this is my university, why are you here?"
At Holly's antagonising though, Gail felt her usual straight-faced armour slip as a lump began to rise in her throat and tears sting threateningly behind her eyes. Gail felt herself face go red at this flood of uncontrollable emotion. Gail was used to bottling things up and presenting a united front and normally liked, actively enjoyed even the verbal sparring she and Holly participated in. But for some reason today, in this moment, the sight of that crooked smirk had reduced her to a near blubbering mess.
Holly's expression softened as she noticed Gail's obvious distress, lowering herself into the seat facing her.
"Hey, I'm just kidding," Holly offered gently, meeting Gail's eyes with what appeared to be genuine concern, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Gail stated angrily, avoiding Holly's gaze and staring down at her textbook instead, trying to convince those stupid little tears to disappear. When she realised Holly wasn't going anywhere after such an unconvincing response she looked back up at the older girl and drew in a shaky breath.
"I'm fine," she assured, this time more softly, her eyes silently pleading Holly to drop it.
"Alright then," Holly replied, smiling slightly though obviously still not believing her.
"Chemistry used to get me down too," she offered in attempt to cheer Gail up, gesturing slightly toward Gail's books.
"Isn't liking Chemistry an essential component to being a nerd?" Gail asked in an attempt to steer the conversation with Holly toward a playing field she was more comfortable with.
Holly raised an eyebrow at Gail's response, surprised at the sudden 180 but glad that she seemed more like herself as Holly was not entirely sure how to comfort somebody who clearly did not want comforting.
"Nah, that one's optional," Holly conceded, "you just have to be good at it."
Gail paused at this, trapping her bottom lip between her teeth tentatively as she debated asking Holly for help on the subject that was currently crippling her.
As if she could read Gail's mind, Holly reached over and spun the textbook to face her where she quickly scanned the page to assess what it was Gail was struggling with.
"You know," Holly began tentatively, not wanting Gail to outright refuse her offer for help, "I could help you with this if it's causing you trouble." She shrugged and handed the book back to Gail to show that the ball was in her court and she wouldn't push it if Gail said no.
Gail toyed with the corner of the page as she looked up at Holly, fighting the urge to decline the offer. She had always been independent when it came to homework, ever since first grade she never asked for assistance and accepting Holly's help was going completely against her doctrine of not relying on anyone but herself. She would just have to suck it up though she figured, since there was absolutely no way she would pass the next test if she didn't understand this and she'd much rather have Holly think she was stupid than deal with the fallout with her mother if she failed a test.
"Sure," Gail accepted non-committedly, "you know if you have nothing better to do."
"Great, don't worry I was taking a break so you're not interrupting anything," Holly replied, smiling toothily as she dragged her chair over next to Gail's, sitting back down and examining what Gail had done so far.
XXXX
Gail waited as Holly finished looking over the answers she'd just completed; hoping that she'd finally got it and could rest easy knowing she was not doomed to fail Chemistry any time soon.
"Great!" Holly chirped with same enthusiasm that had prevailed throughout their entire tutoring session as she passed the answers back to Gail, all accompanied with little red ticks.
"You got everything right," she congratulated, "told you it was easy, right?"
Gail snorted at this and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, sure. Easy."
"Well it's probably just because I'm such a good tutor," Holly said with a mock air of superiority as Gail finished packing her books up.
"Yeah well it's not like my tutor before you was much competition," Gail informed her in attempt to smother her ego.
"Wait, you had a tutor before me?" Holly asked puzzled, "why didn't they help you with this?"
"Because his idea of 'help' was to work all of the questions out wrong and then expect his knowledge to somehow transfer over the paper to me."
"Hope you didn't pay the guy," Holly said while shaking her head, "that was pretty basic stuff for anyone studying science."
"Fortunately no, I didn't have to pay him as he was just a pawn in my mother's attempt to marry me off to someone with a PhD/law degree/police family… insert desirable profession here." Gail replied, quite clearly failing to stop her bitterness creep in.
"Yikes," Holly replied shooting Gail a sympathetic look as they began to exit the library together.
"Ah, I take it you have normal parents that aren't weirdly invested in finding you a future husband?"
"No," Holly replied, "I mean they used to try and set me up every now and then before they realised why I never managed to find a boyfriend by myself."
Gail slowed her pace slightly, shooting Holly a questioning look.
"I'm gay," Holly supplied helpfully, smiling as Gail's mind finally clicked onto what Holly had been suggesting.
"Oh," Gail said, appearing not at all bothered by this new information, "maybe I should try that one on my mother."
Holly regarded her with amusement as Gail then started shaking her head.
"Actually no she would probably just try and find me a super successful lesbian instead," Gail concluded with a sigh, "I'd be stuck going on dates with nerds like you."
Holly scoffed at this and bumped shoulders with Gail in mock outrage.
"You would be lucky to go on a date with me, Peck." Holly warned her with in a serious tone, though her face betrayed her attempt to seem offended.
"Too bad I'll never find out."
Before Holly could respond though, Gail's bus pulled up at the stop in front of the library causing Gail to hike her bag strap up on her shoulder as she began to walk away from Holly in quick long strides.
"See you later nerd," Gail she said over her shoulder as she hurried not to miss her bus.
As she approached the door though and realised the bus was in no hurry to leave she turned to face Holly, not feeling quite right to leave their conversation there.
"Thanks for the help," Gail offered softly, barely audible over the bus's engine as she looked down at her shoes and fiddled with her sleeve.
Holly smiled back at her realising this was probably one of the only genuine things to come out of Gail's mouth in the short time she'd known her.
"Anytime," she reassured Gail casually, trying not to make Gail feel more awkward than she already looked. She gave Gail a final half wave from where her hand was still clutching her backpack strap before walking away ensuring that Gail didn't have to think of any more normal farewell conventions from where she stood looking quite unsure of herself.
As the other girl walked away Gail blushed upon realising she'd just been standing there in front of the bus's open door for longer than necessary, turning around immediately and scampering onto the bus, careful to avoid eye contact with the bus driver who had just been waiting for her to get on. She sat back in her seat and was taken aback by how much lighter she felt compared to earlier that afternoon. All of the pressure and expectations had been weighing her down recently, settling deep in the pit of her stomach, the unshakeable heaviness there to remind her every time she struggled to do something the way she was supposed to. Though this new lightness should probably be pleasant for Gail, the absence of the familiar, heavy weight made her feel empty, emptiness she had no idea what to do with.