Tsubaki and I left English to go to lunch. We made small talk on the way to the cafeteria. I could tell Tsubaki was still upset about my comment earlier, but why did she think she could just say as much as she wanted about Soul and I with no repercussions?
"Are we cool from earlier? You seem a little upset still." I said, wanting to sort everything out.
"Yeah, I'm not upset with you. We were both at fault." She said. I nod and grin, grateful she wasn't still upset.
"How's English?" Liz asks when we sit down.
"Mifune isn't here. You have a grumpy old sub." Tsubaki responds. Liz groans and puts her head in her hands. I pull out my lunch and begin eating, listening to Kid and Liz debate Pokémon again.
Crona mutters something inaudible, her hands over her mouth. I look at Tsubaki to see if she understood, but she returns the same confused look.
"Can you repeat that, please?" I ask. Crona takes a deep breath and removes her hands.
"I-I heard w-we have a surprise dis-dissection in M-Mr. Stein today." She said quietly, her face down. I nod, not entirely surprised.
While Mr. Stein, our eccentric science teacher, had quite a few quirks, he was easily my favorite teacher. His knowledge was unsurpassed, and was a very kind man. Soul often teased me in saying I was one of his favorites, and I didn't doubt it. Stein was fond of my interest in science, often telling me about special opportunities and experiences.
"No surprise there." Tsubaki said, smiling. Crona gives a shaky smile, not being one for being the center of attention.
I continued eating my lunch when I see Soul enter the cafeteria. I raise an eyebrow at his appearance. He normally doesn't eat in here; he usually hangs out by the benches in the forum. He holds the door open for someone, and I see Maka follow him. I get it; he's showing her around.
I watch them from my seat as they laugh. Soul tugs on her pigtails, in which she slaps his hand away. A strange feeling fills my chest as I watch them flirt. Almost like a combination of sadness, annoyance, and anger. Was I jealous..?
"ALLIE!" Kid yells. I snap out of it and look at him, his face scrunched in annoyance.
"Geez! I've only called you 4 times." He exclaims.
"Sorry, just thinking about something."
"Whatever. Would you mind coming with me to math to ask Mr. Barrett something?"
"Yeah. That's fine." I said. I pack my lunch bag away, joining Kid at the door.
"We might as well stay in there since we have it next." He said, opening the door. I nod, my thoughts still remaining on Soul.
Surely I'd seen Soul be flirted with many times before. Why is this time any different? And then it hits me; I've really only ever seen Soul be flirted with. This was the first time he'd ever reciprocated the affection. Still, I shouldn't be upset about it. He's free to flirt with whomever he chooses... Right?!
"What is with you all of a sudden?!" Kid exclaims, stopping outside the classroom.
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean, Allie. You've been in a daze the entire time we walked up here! And I've been talking the entire time, I now look crazy!"
"I'm sorry." I said glumly. Kid's face softened, and he put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, I didn't mean to make you upset. Do you need to talk?" He asks.
"No, I'm fine. It's nothing, really." I said, mustering a small smile. He removes his hand from my shoulder and grins back.
"Alright, well, let me know. I'm here for you." He said.
The bell rang, jolting us both.
"Aw Kid, you didn't get to ask your question. Maybe we can run in really quickly and ask?" I suggest.
"No, it's not a big deal." He said, shrugging. I raise an eyebrow as he walks into the room. As much as I like Kid, he can be very strange sometimes.
An hour and a half of math left me brain dead. When the bell rang, I jumped from my seat. Kid caught up with me in the hall as we walked to Mr. Stein's class.
Mr. Stein's class wasn't my favorite period just because I liked science and Mr. Stein; it also had all of my friends in it: Tsubaki, Crona, Liz, Kid, and Soul. The only unfortunate thing about the class was that a good amount of Soul's friends were in there too, meaning we didn't really talk much.
We walk in and see Tsubaki and Liz unpacking their bags.
"Hey guys." I said, setting my stuff down. They smile at Kid and I. I glance over at Soul and see he's talking to Blair. I roll my eyes.
Blair, also known as "Busty Blair" by the boys, is constantly on the hunt for a new guy. She's been vying for Soul ever since freshman year, but Soul was never interested.
"I'm nice to her and stuff, but the minute she starts throwing herself at me, I usually leave." Soul had once told me when I questioned about his relationship with Blair.
I look back over and see Blair is practically on Soul's lap, batting her eyelashes. His smile is forced, and he looks extremely uncomfortable.
"IT IS I, THE GREAT, THE ALMIGHTY...BLACK STAR!" Black Star shouts from the doorway, throwing his hands up. He runs towards Soul, slamming into a newly-arrived Crona. She slams to the ground, and Black Star continues on. Soul sees him and shakes Blair off his lap by standing.
"Fucking spazz!" Liz shouts in his direction, helping Crona up from the ground. Black Star glances behind him.
"Sorry! One must know to never get in the way of THE Black Star!" He shouts, standing proudly.
"Are you alright?" Tsubaki asks quietly. Crona was shaking as she sat in the seat next to me.
"I-I..." She began, but stopped. Everyone in the room was looking between us and Black Star. Crona put her head in her hands and sunk lower into her desk.
I clench my fist. Fucking Black Star...
"Hey, Crona. You okay?" A voice behinds us asks. Soul was standing next to her desk. She still had her head in her hands.
"Yeah." She said, muffled.
"You didn't do anything wrong, what Black Star did was totally uncool." He said, smiling. Crona didn't look up from her hands. He looked back at me desperately, not knowing what to do.
"Thank you for asking." Crona whispers, sitting up a little. Soul turned to her again and grinned.
"Anytime." He turned back to me, his mouth open to say something, but the bell interrupted him.
"Better get to your seat." I said quietly. He laughed and walked to his desk.
Mr. Stein had a tendency to heavily enforce the rules. According to the rules, students are to be in their seats when the bell rang. In Mr. Stein's class, if a student were not in their seat, he marked them tardy. It took two phone calls to his mother about his tardiness that Soul finally did as he was asked. It wasn't that Soul was a bad kid; he was just very social.
"Good afternoon. I'm sure many of you heard we have a surprise dissection today. We'll be dissecting a lamprey today!" Mr. Stein said, practically jumping up and down. I glance at Tsubaki, who gives me a small smile.
"I already made your lab groups. You'll be working in pairs." Stein explains. People begin to groan as he projects the lab groups up on the monitor. I scan the screen, my heart sinking when I find it.
Allie-Black Star
"YAHOO! Whomever Allie is, she has a god as her partner!" Black Star screams, standing from his seat. I groan and put my head in my hands. Liz laughs at me.
I turn to look towards Black Star, who is now standing on a chair and waving his hands and shouting my name. Soul looks in my direction and gives me a sympathetic face. He hits Black Star's side and points toward me. Black Star jumps down from the chair and races over to me.
"Prepare to be astonished by the genius that is your ruler." He said, sitting in the chair next to me. I roll my eyes.
I risk another glance at Soul and see Kid is sitting next to him with a scowl on his face. I frown at his expression, wondering what the issue could be. I keep my eyes locked on Kid, hoping he'd look in my direction, but to no avail. I'll have to ask him later what was upsetting him.
Stein sets down our dissection kit. I pull out the materials, handing Black Star a pair of goggles and gloves. He puts the goggles over his turquoise hair and begins laughing and shouting about how he looked like a mad scientist. I sigh and reach into the bag, gently wrapping my hand around the lamprey and placing it in the tub.
"I wanna cut it!" He yelled, sliding in front of the tub. I quickly step back to avoid him landing on me. He carelessly lifts up the scissors, about to make the first cut.
"It might be easier to cut with this." I said, holding up the needle. He either didn't hear me or ignores me, because he spreads the scissors and sticks them into the lamprey's body. Clear liquid begins coming out of the lamprey, and Black Star's eyes widen.
"Is this piss?!" He exclaims, continuing to maliciously cut the lamprey's body.
"No, it's formalin." I explain. Black Star makes a disappointed face.
"You do know we have to find these objects inside the lamprey, right? You're not cutting it all up yet?" I ask, holding up the instruction sheet. He squints at it, and then looks at the lamprey. I follow his gaze and gasp to see he'd cut it in half. He laughs like it's all a joke, but rage built inside me.
"You know what? I'll finish the lab. You go relax for the rest of the class period." I said, praying he'd leave. He looks a little taken aback, but steps away from the tub. I take his spot quickly before he changes his mind.
He walks away from the lab station and joins Kid and Soul. I can hear him making a scene from the opposite side of the room. I risk a look back at Kid. His jaw was set, his lips in a thin line, and his eyes were filled with rage. He glared at Black Star as he paraded around their lab station. I mentally send him an "I'm sorry," and continue on with the lab.
AN: Ah yes, dissection labs. Fun times..
I promised I'd upload later to make up for a short chapter 3, hope you enjoyed!
~Greenybean