"Brain tattoos? You can do those?"
Erin turned her head to the left, towards the door, where someone was now standing. The girl made her way into the classroom, flashing a toothy grin at the two of them before approaching the man.
"Mr. Spengler,"
"Ah, you must be our Sophomore student."
"Is it my height?" she teased, chuckling at herself as she placed her hands into the pockets of her oversized black overalls, rocking back and forth ever so slightly on her heels.
"Is that bad of me?" he asked, smiling softly as she shook her head.
"Holtzmann," she introduced, reaching her hand out for him to shake before shaking her head. "Jillian, actually. Jillian." she corrected, as if she'd forgotten her own name.
The man furrowed his brows, shaking her small hand firmly. "Holtzmann is a nickname, I'm assuming?"
"Last name. It's what my friends call me, but most teachers won't call me by anything other than Jillian, so." she simply shrugged her shoulders, shifting her weight to one foot with the utmost, yet probably unintentional, swagger Erin had ever seen.
"I don't mind calling you Holtzmann if that's what you'd prefer."
"Really? Thanks." the blonde said, her eyes brightening at the simple idea.
A moment went by of silence, Holtzmann's observant eyes scanning the surrounding area, all but the senior who was still awkwardly standing there with her eyes locked to the ground, before they landed back on the teacher. "You mentioned wanting to speak with me to my mother, I believe."
He nodded his head, placing the cap back on the dry erase marker before setting it down, turning to face her completely. "Oh, yeah. It's nothing bad, I just wanted to double check that you wanted to take AP Physics."
She nodded her head slowly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she stared up at him. "I do."
"You sure? I'm not doubting your intelligence, I just want to be sure you're not going to drop out on me."
"Oh, no, Mr. Spengler." the blonde shook her head, puckering her lips slightly as she did so. "I took most of my other classes over the past two summers, and I pretty much finished my science credits. It was this or AP Biology, and I'd rather take this. Plus, I'm not sure that I want to dissect anymore eyes."
"So... This is a default?"
Her intensely blue eyes narrowed shut as she teetered her head back and forth, deciding what to say. "Well, yes and no. Yes because there's no other science class, and no because I'm actually interested in physics."
His brows arched questioningly, an impressed look washing over his face. "You want to work in anything physics related?"
"Most likely, but I'm not sure. I'm mostly looking to become an engineer, though."
"Really? Funny enough, I used to be an engineer before I decided to retire to the good old classroom, though I still keep that passion close to my heart."
"As you should," she agreed, smiling at the man. Her gaze suddenly moved to the other girl, cocking her head to the side as if she was studying something new and confusing. "What about you?"
It took a moment for the taller girl to decipher that yes, the mysterious blonde was speaking to her. "W-what do you mean?" Erin stammered out, her breath hitching in her throat as her stutter processed in her mind. Did she always have to fuck up?
"What do you want to be?"
"Oh... a physicist. I'd like to work with equations and things like that," she shrugged her shoulders as if it was the most boring thing on the planet. In reality, at least to her, it was the opposite. Numbers and equations kept her busy, kept her company.
"Must be excited for this class, huh?" she asked, a soft smile pulling at the corners of her pink lips. Erin simply nodded in response, much too overwhelmed to speak again.
"Well, I hate to break up this social event, but class starts in about a minute." the teacher noted, his eyes scanning the roster for the next class. "How about you two go on ahead and sit in the front? You're both paired together anyways."
Both girls looked at him in confusion, wondering how much of a coincidence it was that they'd both come early that day. "Gilbert and Holtzmann," he spoke up, noticing their confusion.
'Gilbert' the short girl mouthed, making her way over to the hightop tables, pulling out a black folder before hopping up onto the chair. She let her feet dangle, swinging them back and forth with a content expression. Must not take much to cheer her up, then.
Erin hesitantly sat next to her, removing the green binder from her bag and placing it on the tabletop in front of her, setting the pencil parallel to the edge.
"Green's science's color, innit?" she asked, resting her chin in her hand and directing her gaze right at the older girl.
She shrugged slightly, her eyes focused down on the table before they lifted back up to look at her. "I suppose. Just always used it for science," she breathed out quickly, as if it hurt her to speak.
"I see black as a science-y color too," she continued, obviously not getting the clues that Erin didn't want to conversate. Or maybe she did, and just didn't care. "You see, whenever scientists mess up experiments, and shit blows up, it can turn black. Or maybe that's just an excuse to use a black folder that I can doodle on with my silver Sharpie."
Erin nodded slowly, her eyes shifting away to watch the seniors file into the room, all of them immediately looking over to their table. The short one was attracting an awful lot of attention. Not to mention, she was awfully eager to speak whenever spoken to-- or when she wasn't, to be quite honest. Great, she thought, resting her head on her hands until the final bell rang.
This is going to be Hell, isn't it?
