Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

- 28 -

Don't worry, I'm still alive.

Slowly, the days of break trickled away and before Roman knew it, Monday had rolled around and he was on his way to school again.

History was dull. Mrs. Kayte didn't seem too enthused with being back at school either, and she eased her way into the week with a class discussion about break. Roman normally would have contributed, but the only major things that had happened he'd rather not talk about.

He entertained himself by attempting to compose a paper-ball catapult to launch scraps of notebook paper at the nerd and the emo. However, after an unsuccessful first attempt that barely missed a redhead's ear, Roman decided that it wasn't really worth the trouble.

He settled for doodling on the edge of some loose paper for the rest of the period -- mostly Disney-inspired characters and far more interesting scenarios than Roman would ever encounter in his life. Finally, drawing seemed to work at getting the time to pass faster and the bell rang. Roman spent the majority of his day following this same pattern, for he couldn't, for the life of him, seem to focus.

Chemistry was the first class Roman talked nearly the whole time in. It started when he arrived, right after Logan, as always. The tie-wearing boy was currently staring straight ahead, seemingly in deep thought.

Roman leaned forwards in his desk, a smile breaking out on his face. "Hiya, Specs, how was your fall break?" His smile widened as Logan jumped.

The boy turned around, an unamused expression on his face. He straightened his striped tie. "I don't remember agreeing to that nickname, but I suppose I can't stop you. It was adequate, to say it simply."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Well, what did you do?"

"I brainstormed for our project for quite a while and baked cookies with Patton," he elaborated.

Though part of Roman's brain was intrigued by the work Logan had done on the project, he couldn't help himself from blurting, "You baked cookies with Patton?"

"He sure did!" Patton had arrived, a fall sweater tied around his shoulders over a lavender polo. "And they were  de-licious, weren't they, Logan?"

Logan's eyes flicked to Patton for a moment. "Though I normally do not indulge in sweet foods, I must admit, they were quite palatable."

"I don't know what that means but I'm gonna take it as a compliment," Roman heard Patton mutter under his breath. "Anyway, how was your break, Roman? I only got to see ya one day!"

Roman raised his eyebrows, trying to think of something acceptable to say. "I didn't do much," he shrugged, "sadly. I would have liked to do something fun or adventurous, but just never got around to it. I suppose I needed the break from everything." Patton gave him a solid nod and Roman asked, "And what did you do?"

"Well," Patton began dramatically, setting his hands out in front of him and raising his eyebrows, "I had a lot of fun. I started working at the humane society on Tuesday or something --"

"Oh that's great!" Roman cut in.

Logan added, "Aren't you allergic to cats, Patton?"

"Yes, I am," Patton explained, "but the dogs are in a completely separate room and as long as I stay away from the cat room, I'm fine." He took a deep breath, "But anyway, I was walking this one German shepherd -- Reina -- and, well, that pesky rascal caught me when my guard was down! She tugged the leash nearly out of my hands and almost ran over this other dog and its owner! Turns out the owner was nice though -- at least I didn't run him over with my dog." Patton chuckled to himself. He pushed up his glasses and continued. "But I guess he didn't have much to do because he took me out for coffee after that! Can you believe it? And he was totally nice and normal. Said he's coming here for school this quarter too."