Unlikely

Chapter Eight: Open Book

"Shawn?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are your notes?"

I smirked at her and then shrugged, "I don't take notes." I thought the answer to that question would have been obvious, her looking through my notebooks and all, but clearly it wasn't. I kept my tone nonchalant as to not make her sound dumb. She glanced over at Jesse and Abby, but Abby had her focus completely on the screen in front of her and Jesse looked like he was half-listening in on the conversation.

"What do you mean you don't take notes?" She repeated, turning to face me incredulously. "How else do you study for tests?" Her signature sneer was making an appearance and I tried to keep my cool at seeing her cute nose scrunch up under her glasses.

Instead I dropped my notebook and leaned back on my arms propped up behind me. "I don't study for tests." She looked displeased with my answer, her face growing less friendly by the second. Though a large part of me told me to quit being an ass and just explain that my memory was incredibly good, above average even, I felt that would probably not help my case. She'd think I was bragging.

She narrowed her eyes at me, "So, what, do you just not care about school then? Too cool to take it seriously?" I understood how she could get that impression.

I glanced over at Jesse and Abby and noticed they were watching us intently. I turned my gaze away from them and back to her, she was staring at me just as intently, waiting for my response. "No, I care as much as the next guy. I just don't need to take notes to do well on tests." I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood since I could see she was genuinely annoyed by me. That seemed to have the opposite effect.

"I don't believe that." She muttered.

I smiled at her before saying, "Test me." In a cool tone. Maybe if I could show her, she'd get I wasn't just fooling around at school. I found a system that worked for me, and I didn't need written notes to help me out.

She handed my notebooks in a slightly harsher way than I'd expected her to, but I brushed it off immediately. She seemed rather perturbed and I wasn't trying to make it worse. She opened her mouth to speak, but was beaten to the punch.

"During meiosis," Jesse jumped in, reading from his own notes, "A blank cell undergoes how many rounds of cell division?" He looked up from his notebook and I noticed her lips turn up slightly in a smirk. So she wanted me to get it wrong? I felt a small spark of competitiveness in me that made me match her vibe. Though while she probably had some malicious intent behind her smile, wanting to so desperately be proven right, I just liked the thrill of the game.

I turned to Jesse and smiled. "Diploid cell, two rounds." Then turned back to her, keeping my smile on face before adding, "By the end you'll have four haploid daughter cells." Her smirk faltered into a frown as Jesse confirmed I was right. My smile grew and she glared.

"Basic biology, anyone would know that." She stated lowly. So she wasn't going to readily admit that everyone had different learning styles? Hm, she was more stubborn than I realized, which was surprising because stubborn was immediately what I would have described her as from the moment I met her.

"I wouldn't." Abby joked and Jesse snickered.

"You're a Chemistry kid, Bee."

"True." She chuckled before looking up at him. "Try another one though." He scanned his notebook for a different one but Liv stopped him.

"No." She stared at me a moment, seeming to scan her brain for other information, presumably something to trip me up. Once she had it, her face relaxed and she sat up straight before asking, "What is the instantaneous change of a function at a specific point called?" That was the big question? Basic Calculus? I didn't answer, instead continuing to stare as her face changed again to one of triumph. I did enjoy watching her smirk at me like that.