All at Sea

13: Lack of Chemistry

Content Warning ➙  homophobic speech; internalized homophobia


♆♆♆

Walking into school that morning, Percy knew it would be utter hell. Side eyes glances aimed at her followed Percy down the linoleum halls, still, she kept her strides strong and her gaze on the horizon despite the subtle fidgeting with the buckle on the strap of her bookbag.

Percy was not a fool. She knew there would be some form of fallout after the party, but that didn't mean she would look forward to it. Today she had to deal with the backlash of several things: Theo, who was an issue all on his own; Grace and her not-so-heterosexual tendencies; and the concept of her 'falling out with the It Crowd'.

Percy had no issue with not being in the It Crowd, in fact, she was glad to be out of it. The issue would be that if she thought she got enough attention being the new girl who stepped in with the popular kids, she would get so much more attention being the girl who managed to get kicked out of the It Crowd after her first party. She'd be the talk of the town and if she got really lucky, she might even make it onto the gossip column in some newspaper.

Grace walked in shortly after, a step behind Kennedy and looking uncomfortable with Daniel's hand on her waist, his hand tugged at the cable-knit fabric of her out-of-dress-code sweater. Grace looked up, kitten heels tapping rhythmically against the tile, and made eye contact with Percy. She shot Percy a nasty glare before faking a laugh at whatever Daniel had said.

She got the hint and rolled her eyes before walking into their shared homeroom class.

Overall, she was not thrilled to be back in school. The beginnings of a cold still lingered with no sign of presenting itself, leaving her head pulsating indefinitely. The boisterous laughter coming from inside the classroom died down as she walked to her seat. She felt eyes on her--which wasn't uncommon, but no less uncomfortable--and idle chatter turned into pointed whispers.

She sat in her homeroom class, waiting for the last couple of students to file in while she scratched anxiously at the palms of her hands. The teacher entered the room, shooting Percy a nasty look before straightening out the papers on her desk.

Grace found her seat, and rather than trying to make small talk with Percy like she usually would, she turned to Kennedy and the two talked about the party and their respective boyfriends.

They all got their share of stares and the class passed by sluggishly. The teacher lectured about some book nobody had read and the students all pretended to be interested in the teacher's personal life to avoid doing the work.

♆♆♆

The bell rang and she walked over to her chemistry class, being the last one to get there. She shuffled as quietly as she could (not very)  into the first lab station with an empty seat, the girl who occupied the other seat had bleached blond hair and mostly ignored Percy in favor of her phone. 

"Hello, class!" The teacher exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Percy didn't hate this teacher, after the five classes she'd had with her, Percy found that she was probably the least insufferable. This teacher--Ms. Windsor-- went against just about everything the school stood for; the pristine put-togetherness Gotham Academy was lost on her, her prescription glasses enlarged her eyes comically behind the mess of frizzed curls that was her hair. 

"I'll be assigning lab partners today. I know it's a little late in the school year for that, but I wanted to make sure you all got the basics down before we started doing lab activities So, everyone up and line up against the walls," she continued, pushing the glasses up her nose bridge and bringing out a clipboard.