[R] Chemical Reactions (Ellie/Sydney) FIN

[Syusaki]

Chemistry was not Sydney’s favorite subject, but at least it wasn’t her most hated one either. Adhering to specific guidelines (which were in place for a good reason) was dull and tedious. Where was the excitement? Was she supposed to be thrilled when the mixture went from red to yellow? Perhaps some of her classmates truly found that to be fascinating, but she did not. Where were the sparks and explosions?

She was plopped on her stool, leaning forward with an elbow on the pale blue desk and a hand cupping her face. Absolute boredom comfortably made a home on her face; listening to the stuffy chemistry teacher for the past few days could do that to a person. All to prepare for the experiment they were going to do today, he said. Sydney didn’t think it was going to help one bit. Most of the information had already flooded out of her brain.

“Alright class, time to begin the experiment! Now, remember to carefully message the chemicals and don’t just dump them in. Do it carefully,” he warned the students.

Sydney sighed and shut her notebook, throwing it into her backpack. She spun around to face all the delicate instruments and liquids on the desk, just about to begin when she noticed something important was lacking. Immediately raising her arm she pointed out, “I don’t have a partner to do this with.”

“Quite true,” he replied, briefly glancing around the classroom. His eyes lit up when he noticed another partnerless student. “Ah, just pair up with Miss Spectre.” He ushered the redhead to the other table.

Tomboy, meet tomboy.  

[LizzyMoo]

Jared was a p***y when it came to getting sick. No, he couldn't do things like normal guys. When he got "sick," it started like a week before he ever got sick. He'd suddenly feel worn out, jump to the conclusion he was getting sick, and start avoiding the world. He then usually did get sick, but Ellie blamed that all on mind-over-matter. His mind was telling himself he was sick, so he basically forced himself to get sick. After the sickness went away, he still avoided the world for about another week to make sure he couldn't get anybody else sick. And for some reason, Jared's mom was okay with him ditching about 3 weeks worth of school in the meantime.

This left a very agitated Ellie Spectre stuck in Chem. Jared was usually her lab partner for nearly anything. Sure, it was because Jared usually insisted, because he didn't want to risk his tomboy friend magically falling in love with some other guy and leaving him high and dry. As if that would ever happen the blonde mused with a roll of the eyes.

So annoyed about the whole lack of Jared (it was week 3, GOD DAMN JARED GET OUT OF BED AND GET BACK TO SCHOOL), she hadn't really caught any of the directions for today's lab. Or bothered to really look for a lab partner.

About the only thing that really caught her attention was mention of her name paired with a title Ellie didn't approve of.

"Hey, Teach! Last I checked, I told ya never t'call me a 'Miss!' Ya call me 'Ellie,' got it?!" Gold eyes didn't even notice the other student and were pretty much glaring at the teacher. It probably didn't help that Ellie didn't have her hair tied up properly for an experiment with chemicals.  

[Syusaki]

Sydney’s face turned blank as the teacher herded her over to the other table, just managing to claw at her bag so that it would not be abandonment in the instructor’s haste. “Awfully kind of you, but I know what Ellie looks like, sir. You don’t need to personally escort me to her table,” she sourly answered, displeased with his sudden eagerness and disgruntled with the entire class in general. It was just another boring, contained experiment that lacked thrills or excitement.

Disinterested eyes turned to stare up at the adult as he promptly dropped her off at Ellie’s table. Never pulling her gaze away from him, she plopped down in the unoccupied stool and dropped her things. “And to think, you could have spent these few seconds reviewing some important procedures. A real shame, sir. A real shame,” she tiredly drawled, unfazed by the glare that was fired back.

“I’d watch your mouth if I were you, Miss Martin,” he snapped and turned towards the blond, exasperated. “Very well, my apologies, Ellie.” The teacher began to walk away, but paused just long enough to say, “By the way, please properly tie up your hair. I’m afraid it may end up into the chemicals and hurting you, as well as ruining the experiment.” Leaving the pair to digest his final words, he directed his attention back to the rest of the class, repeating the usual protocols and instructions.

Brown eyes placidly watched the man’s shrinking back before finally spinning around to meet her temporary partner. “Just in case you don’t remember, I’m Sydney,” she stated, turning back to the tubes and beakers placed before them. “I suppose we should start this stupid experiment? Though I’d very much rather just fling some chemicals into a beaker and see what happens.”  

[LizzyMoo]

The teacher had hardly spun away again before Ellie's hand formed a crude puppet of the teacher with her hand, flapping the "gums" by opening and shutting her hand with the timing of her voice.

"Blah blah blah, watch what ya say. Blah blah blah, don't burn yer hair off."

Letting out an amused snort, the blonde easily began to tie her hair back like she would in metal shop. At least in metal shop, the activities were fun. Never mind the fact Ellie was biased as they came with such a label for a class in regards to entertainment value. She tugged the two long strands of hair running past her face back, and with a basic rubber band, tied it behind her head. It looked stupid, but the tomboy really didn't care about her appearance that much.

Only after she snapped her goggles over her golden eyes did she take notice of her partner. "Yeah, yeah, Sydney Martin." A pause. "Ellie Spectre."

Obviously some sort of introduction to say the least.

"And I have no clue what the hell we're doin' t'day." She grinned before picking up a test tube and bringing it in front of her goggles to inspect it further. "Did ya happen t'catch th'assignment?"  

[Syusaki]

“Wonderful, now that introductions are over I guess we can get started on this thingamajig,” Sydney sighed, swiping the other pair of goggles – erm, glasses actually – and sliding them on. They were cloudy from the numerous scratches and scuffs across its plastic surface and tight on her head, the frames pressing against her skull. She frowned, having never liked to don safety glasses or goggles. Screw protecting her eyeballs, she wanted to rip these things off.

But she didn’t. Damn obligations.

She silently watched the blond eagerly pick up a test tube and crane it closer to herself. “Ummmm.” Sydney opened her notebook and flipped through the pages until she found the last one with hastily scribbled directions on them. “I have them written down, but—“ She paused to lean in closer to her book, squinting her eyes to read her own writing. Sydney leaned back and let out one solid laugh. “—it seems I can barely read my own scrawls.”

“Well, I can sort of read it, so maybe we can get through this assignment?” Sydney hopefully said as she glanced back at the instructions. “So, uh. Take . . . 100 millimeters of hydr—stuff in that test tube of yours and put it in the beaker,” she read off. She gently pushed the book towards her impromptu partner. “You can take a look if you want, just don’t spill anything on it.”  

[LizzyMoo]

For a while, Ellie's eyes still remained fixed on the contents of her test tube. She didn't know what it was, and in all honesty, she really didn't care, but it was still amusing to look at the contents.

It was only when the notebook was shoved in her direction that her eyes bothered to flicker over the instructions. "Eh... I've seen worse... Probably on par with my own writin'..." Casually, she rolled her wrist, jostling the contents inside the test tube a bit.

"So, 100 millimeters, eh? Ain't millimeters fer distance? Ya sure it ain't milliliters?" It didn't really seem to matter much to Ellie, for she was already starting to measure out approximately what she was assuming to be the right amount.

Metal shop was where you were careful.

Not in Chem.

Chem was where you spilled hydrochloric acid on a stack of test papers, and had the teacher stick it in the microwave and accidentally set the test papers on fire.

At least, that was what happened the previous year in the other chem class. God, that would have been a sweet deal! Automatic A because the teacher accidentally burned up your test papers!

She had a rather large grin on her face as she thought of those "what could have been" moments. If it wasn't obvious her mind was wandering a bit, her upcoming question was going to reveal it for her. "So, didja ever have Mr. Rollins?"  

[Syusaki]

Sydney blankly stared at Ellie. Sydney blankly stared at her notebook. Sydney blankly stared at Ellie a second time. She blinked, her eyes brimming with confusion as she grabbed the book and brought it close to her disbelieving face. After a brief pause she slowly set the notebook back down, mildly amused. “Fail. I scribbled so fast that I messed up my ‘l’ somehow. How an ‘l’ can turn into an ‘m’ I’ll never fully figure out,” she mused

She stretched her legs and placed her hands between them, fingers curling over the metal rim of the stool. Her gaze honed in on the liquid that slowly poured into the transparent container. Mouth slightly agape and head tilted to the side, Sydney feigned interest as Ellie measured the correct amount – or she assumed it was, she wasn’t going to be meticulous about this.

“Mr. Rollins?” Sydney curiously stared at her. Where’d that question suddenly come from? She spun around to glance at the instructions and pick up a beaker filled with a green liquid. Grabbing a pipette she sucked up some of it and threw a few drops into the mixture. “A while ago, but my experience is vague,” she replied and looked at Ellie. “Did you have him?” She threw in another smattering of the green chemical.

“Then we gotta turn on the burner to, like . . . thirty seven Celsius?” She narrowed her eyes and closely examined her writing. “Yeah, I think so.”  

[LizzyMoo]

Finishing up with the simple act (or nerve-wracking, depending on the person) of measuring out the stuff, she set the test tube to the side.

"Had him last year. Started first day of school by electrocutin' himself with a pickle!" It was a very common procedure on the first day. Try to get the high school kids interested with the generic "glowing pickle trick," and somehow the bumbling man managed to mess this up by grabbing onto the pickle. It wasn't like how it worked in the cartoons, but it tensed up the muscles in his hand so he couldn't let go of the pickle until he managed to somehow unplug the electrical apparatus. The whole school year had gone downhill for him after that first day.

She couldn't help but grin and chuckle at the fond memories of old Mr. Rollins. At the mention of the temperature, the blonde located the thermometer and placed it in the beaker without a hitch, then began to fiddle around with the Bunsen burner. It wasn't quite the same as in metal shop, but fire was fire. It wasn't too different in reality. Continuing on with the subject she brought up earlier, she easily compared Rollins and their current teacher. "He was kick a** compared to Mr. 'sucks the life outta th'room'... you'd think he'd remember my f*ckin' name of all things." Of course, Ellie wasn't bitter.

"So... 37 ya said, eh?" The fire was going, and now the girl was leaning forward to look at the thermometer, her posture probably against some sort of safety protocol.  

[Syusaki]

Sydney chuckled. “My friend told me about that. Who in their right mind electrocutes themselves with a pickle?” Mr. Rollins, apparently. She really had to wonder how a man like him managed to procure his teaching license. Of course, Sydney was sure that the adult was nice and all, but it didn’t seem like he was cut out for teaching.

With each passing second she could recall more and more stories that her friend dramatically informed her of on a daily basis. Being in Mr. Rollins classroom was never dull, apparently. Some of the tales were actually a bit on the pitiful side. Poor, poor Mr. Rollins and his humorous antics (which students absolutely adored).

“I think having a cactus plant as a teacher would be better than him. At least you can amuse yourself by sticking on random stuff onto its needles,” Sydney remarked as Ellie switched on the Bunsen burner. Once a cool blue fire spouted from the dark depths of the contraption, she slid on the beaker, kindly forgetting to use prongs. Oh well, at least her hands weren’t burnt. “You know, I think it’s just some weird quirk about him. He likes referring to people by their last names to piss them off.” She said it with dead seriousness.

She leaned back and propped her arms against the desk, vaguely noticing Ellie’s dangerously-close proximity to the burner. “You sure you’re not gonna get burned at that distance?” Sydney casually inquired, reading off the next set of directions once the fire reached the correct temperature. “Gently stir until it boils. Sounds like cooking, haha.”  

[LizzyMoo]

"He can call me by my last name all he wants. I just ain't a fan of th'title." She snorted out, as if attempting to blow out the flame with her nostrils. Of course, it didn't work. Why the heck would it work when there was a steady stream of gas blowing underneath the flame itself?

The mention of getting burned just caused another testing snort of air to escape her nostrils. "Oh please, this ain't all that close at all. Now, in metal shop, that's where ya can get a real burn!"

Ellie had her fair share of burns and scrapes and bruises, though these days, most of them came from this stupid Senshi business. She was very careful when she worked in her various shop classes, since it was something she was interested in. However, since her momentary lab partner seemed to voice a concern, she instead rolled her eyes slightly and leaned back again to a normal distance.

"...Yeah, we're makin' a somethin' cake. I don't bake though, so you can do th'stirrin'."  

[Syusaki]

“Ohhh. Don’t like being called a ‘Miss’, do you?” laughed Sydney. Well, it wasn’t like she didn’t mind it either. Miss? Sounded like something from a movie set in the past with those stuffy old bastards and their frilly clothing.

And she’d be damned if she was going to where frilly outfits. Ever.

“Metal shop, hm? How badass,” she casually remarked with an approving smile. “I don’t think I could ever set foot in a place like that. A bit too hardcore for me, I suppose.” Sydney curled her fingers over the edges of her stool and she mindlessly swayed back and forth, staring down the heating beaker with bored eyes.

Half-heartedly laughing she stepped forward and took a stick to carelessly stir the mixture with. “Yes, yes, because I can bake!” Well, Sydney wasn’t a horrible cook, but didn’t exactly do it on a weekly basis either (more like yearly). Messily stirring she flipped to the next set of directions. “Gently pour in . . . pour in . . . I-stopped-paying-attention-after-this-ide.”  

[LizzyMoo]

Gold eyes were glancing up to the ceiling. "Well, if ya got an attitude like that, then of course yer not gonna set foot in a place like metal shop!" Too often was it the excuse for a girl to not go in the metal shop class. Heck, it was also a frequent excuse for why girls didn't go into the auto shop class as well. "Now, if ya go in knowin' what ya wanna do in th'class... and not let any of th'jerks put'cha down... then ya should be fine."

Heaving a sigh, she stood up and began to walk in a very restricted circle around their work space. One thing about Ellie was she had lots of energy to use in a day, which resulted in pacing. It wasn't a nervous habit, it was just a necessary one if a person didn't want Ellie to bounce around in her seat.

However, her partner's words did manage to get her to stop walking. "Wait, really?" Ellie pulled Sydney's notebook over and took a look. Wow, half a sentence? Being the sort of girl who did all or nothing, finding halfway written instructions was probably less than thrilling to see.

There were plenty of options, and going with the most obvious one without even checking with Sydney if it would be okay, Ellie simply hopped over to the next lab-station. "Yo yo yo yo!" she greeted, large smiles on her face. Without much warning, she simply just declared "Takin' a look at yer notebook... I'll give it back when I'm done."

Sure, Ellie was getting dirty glares from the pair next to her own station, but soon enough the blonde walked back to Sydney and plopped the notebook on top of her own. "There... rest of the directions for ya!"  

[Syusaki]

It wasn’t that Sydney was afraid of stepping inside metal shop (except for that one story her woodshop teacher told her about someone having their fingers chomped off . . . erm) it was more that---actually, no, she was a bit nervous about entering metal shop. What if her fingers got chomped off too? It’d be pretty badass, but goddamn painful. Paranoid, she did a quick mental check that she had all ten of her fingers.

“Oh, I’m not worried about what others would think of me if I decided to take metal shop. I bet I could be just as manly as them if I just tried a little,” Sydney confidently declared, smirking. Ellie began to pace back and forward and the redhead wiped the grin off her face, observing her walk to and fro with mildly interested eyes. What could be cooking in that brain of her partner’s?

She strode over to a nearby table, caramel eyes intently following after. Eyes crinkled as she watched the blond nonchalantly snatch the instructions from another group. “Genius, Ellie. Pure genius,” complimented Sydney as she twirled around on her stool to face the confiscated notebook.

Her gaze surveyed the writing, the penmanship so neat it was like a typewriter. Sydney paused, narrowed eyes silently envying the clean writing before shaking her head and scribbling down key points. As soon as her pencil scribbled in the last letter she callously tossed the notebook back to the other table. “Awesome sauce. Thank you!”

Another childish twirl in her stool and she slid the paper towards Ellie. “My scrawl is neater this time, ain’t that fantastic?” Her grin seemed complacent as Sydney half-heartedly measured another liquid to poor into the boiling beaker.  

[LizzyMoo]

"Sauce is only awesome if it's spicy 'nuff."

The teacher was eying the pair from where he was standing in the room, his glance merely serving as a warning for the girls. However, the crime had already been committed, so there wasn't much he could do now.

The blonde's eyes glanced over the directions her partner wrote down.

"Hey look Ma, I CAN READ!!!" She snickered a bit, then moved onto the next direction after the current step. It wasn't a very exciting one, considering it was basically wait, observe the reaction, and record the data.

"Hopefully it explodes or somethin'..." With that, Ellie sat back down on her own stool. That might have made this class worth attending.

Might have.  

[Syusaki]

“I’m afraid I’d have to disagree. Chocolate sauce is just as awesome,” Sydney replied in a deadpan. “That and I greatly prefer sweets over spicy foods.”

She could feel the man’s wary gaze digging into the back of her head. Without batting an eyelash Sydney glanced over her shoulder and waved innocently. Causing trouble? Them? Oh please, you must be imagining, teach!

“Read? Really? Darn! I wish I could read,” she chimed in without the slightest bit of hesitation, grinning as she leaned back and propped an elbow on the table. “We can only hope,” Sydney softly agreed, sliding her notebook and a pencil into her arms so that she could write her observations as soon as the reaction appeared.

It began to bubble ominously, emitting smoke that boiled over the top and creaked down the beaker before dissipating. Warily, Sydney began to jot down notes. “Is it supposed to react this way?” she inquired, eyeing the liquid she had thrown in. She gawked. Wrong liquid! “O-Oops.”