Enthralled (TT AU)

Friends?

Richard finally yanked his hand away from his twin's grasp once they made their way into the large Chemistry classroom.

"What's your deal Rachel? I was just gonna invite Gar to eat lunch with us." He reasoned.

His sister had acted so weird around that new guy. First, she was caught completely off guard, which was strange because Rachel always seemed to be so observant. She was never surprised by much. Secondly, she let that guy hold her arms for way too long, Richard couldn't even recall touching his sister for more than a second without getting lashed out at. Lastly, she had been inexplicably rude. Sure, Richard knew that his sister hated school and everyone in it, but she never really went out of her way to be purposely rude to anyone unless they deserved it.

"I just got a weird vibe from him is all." Rachel shrugged as she made her way to her seat in the far corner of the room. The large classroom was set up more like a lab, with counters long enough for two lab partners set up in rows. There was an odd number of students, so on the first day Rachel had claimed a lab station for herself. Richard sat down at the station to her left and looked at her suspiciously. She could see the wheels in Richard's head begin turning. If Rachel knew anything about her twin, it was that he was terrible at letting things go. Truth be told, it wasn't a vibe she got from Gar, but a feeling. Why hadn't she been able to look away from his eyes? Rachel Roth had never liked the color green in her life, yet she couldn't get the image of Gar's eyes out of her head, or that stupid smile that she found annoying yet wouldn't mind seeing again. What was happening?

Richard opened his mouth to speak but his attention had been stolen by a certain redhead. Kori Anders was the kind of girl that Rachel Roth would never be. She had long, flowing hair and perfectly sparkling bright green eyes that had made Rachel want to throw up when she first met her. Her skin was flawless and tanned. Kori was tall and slim, but had enough curves to make her the most discussed topic in the boy's locker room. Kori happened to be from some foreign country that Rachel couldn't remember the name of. She was still new to American customs, so she was painfully oblivious to most things. One of those things being Richard's embarrassing attempts to show his affection for the tall girl. Kori knew who Richard was, she had agreed to be his lab partner after all, but she just couldn't seem to pick up on any of his shy hints.

"Good morning Friend Richard and Rachel!" Kori beamed as she strutted to her seat, her short purple skirt barely doing its job. Kori always seemed to be wearing something that barely covered her body. No one ever saw the way she dressed as slutty or provocative though, because she was incredibly innocent whenever anything came to male and female relationships. Rachel questioned if Kori had ever even dated anyone.

"Hey Kori," Richard managed to drool out. "You look nice today."

The girl simply smiled sweetly as she took her seat beside Richard. Nearly everyone was seated by now. The bell gave another annoying ring. The teacher, Ms. Jacobs, was a perky blonde woman who Rachel resented for obvious reasons. She began to babble away about the notes they were about to take as she shut the classroom door. Rachel sighed as she took out her black pen and notebook. Chemistry by far wasn't her worst class; she found it simple enough and never did poorly on a test. The subject just wasn't interesting to her. She preferred English and Art classes, not Math and Science. Just as Rachel began titling her notes in cursive, there was a knock at the door.

"Come on in!" Ms. Jacobs squealed as she continued to scribble on the board. The door creaked open to reveal a boy who Rachel recognized to be Victor Stone. He was tall, dark-skinned, and had short black curly hair. His built figure looked about ready to rip through his grey V-Neck at any moment. Rachel had never talked to Victor, but knew little things about him, like how he was a varsity football player or about how he was surprisingly good at math and science. She had to admit that she had stereotyped him as just another dumb jock back in the early months of ninth grade. That was, until she heard that he scored the highest standardized test grades the school had in years. Near perfect scores. Since then she had a sort of a respect for Victor; he was kind and stayed out of trouble unlike the rest of his team.