Shut up // Judd Birch x reader

2: Chemistry

My eyes batted open at the sound of shouting, it sounded like Jessi and Shannon were in another argument- very similar to the one I had heard last night. I stretched out my limbs and sat up- knowing that my hair was probably all over the place. I rubbed my temples and got up. I was wearing one of my mums old baggy shirts, which had her lingering scent- it was comforting and exactly what I needed in stressful situations.

"I love you sweetheart, never forget that. I didn't have long with you, I wanted to watch you grow old and have children- actually when am I going to have grandchildren." Her voice turned sassy all of a sudden which made me chuckle.
"Oh mum." I replied, choking on my own sobs, ignoring the tears that were running down my cheeks. She cupped my face and rubbed the tears away with her thumbs.

I batted away the painful memory and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. The smell of pancakes filled my nostrils but I wasn't hungry all of a sudden, instead I pulled a packet of cigarettes out of my bag and lit one of them with my lucky pink lighter. I only smoked one whenever the memories of my mum became too much or I felt like shit.

The shouting match between the Glaser intensified by the time I finished the cigarette, so I decided now was time to go upstairs.

At the sound of my footsteps coming up the stairs the shouting stopped. They were in the kitchen, Jessi was smaller than I thought she'd be- she was around the same height as the bitch blondies little brother. She turned around to face me and her face fell, it looked like she surprised to see me.
"(Y/n)? What are you doing here?" I chuckled at her words.
"You remember me? And I'm staying with you and your mum for a little if that's ok with you?" She smiled and ran to give me a hug. I embraced her for a while and looked over her shoulder to see Shannon smiling at me, it looked like she was relieved that they had stopped arguing.

"You've got orientation today, if you feel up to going to school?" Shannon said, breaking the silence that had settled in the room.
"High school sounds like a plan for today." I replied, watching a smile break out on her features.
"Perfect! I can drive you both there."
"I'm walking." Jessi snapped at her mum. I grimaced and shrugged.
"Guess it's just you and me then." Shannon said, looking at me- slightly hurt at the way Jessi had spoken to her.

It became awkward very quickly and I had to quickly come up with something to change the conversation and consequently the mood. "Pancakes?"
"Yes! Yes, I made you two pancakes for breakfast." Shannon gazed at the stack of pancakes and I took a seat at the table.

After breakfast I went downstairs and got changed into a fishnets, a short red and black tartan skirt and a long sleeved baggy white shirt which was tucked into the skirt and a black belt which cinched my waist. I tied my hair into a messy bun and brushed the wisps that fell out away from my face.

When Jessi saw me walking towards the bathroom with my makeup, her eyes widened, as if she was fascinated by the way I was dressed. I winked at her and walked into the bathroom. When I made eye contact with my reflection I almost gave up there and then, I looked gaunt. I prodded my eye bags and groaned. Makeup wasn't going to be enough to cover up the fact I had barely slept last night. I settled for concealer, eyebrows, winged eyeliner (which I always exaggerated and made the wings too long but it made my eyes look nice) and mascara. By the time I had finished I looked presentable.

Shannon was waiting for me downstairs at the door, when she saw me she gasped and widened her eyes- similar to what Jessi had done. "Y-You look so-" she paused for a second, trying to find the right words, "beautiful." I smiled and thanked her for the compliment, a warmth spreading from my heart.

The car journey wasn't as awkward as I had expected, which was always nice. But when we arrived I cringed, seeing all the high school students always scared me, despite the fact that I was probably older than most of the people I was seeing. "Have a good day, if you go to the front desk they'll give you your timetable for the day." Shannon explained, noticing how I was freaking out. I nodded and grabbed my backpack, getting out the car.
"Oh- and good luck!" Shannon quickly cried before driving away.

Everyone was glancing in my direction and I suddenly felt alone again. I could see people whispering amongst themselves but I ignored them, the ever growing turmoil in my stomach and focused on finding the front desk and collecting my timetable.

"And you must be?"
"(Y/n)- (Y/n) Glaser." I replied nervously to the woman in front of me who was currently searching through paperwork. I had found the front desk but on the way there I had received dirty looks from every single student I passed.
"Ah yes, here we go." She slid the sheet towards me which contained my timetable for the next year. I thought she would say something else but she glanced up at me questioningly, "Well get going then, lessons start in five minutes."

I clenched my jaw and nodded, walking off.

1st period- Chemistry

Fuck, I hated Chemistry- or just science in general. I glanced at my timetable, relieved to at least have art on my first day.

I successfully found the chemistry lab and saw that everyone had already taken their seats and were talking amongst themselves.
"Ah Miss Glaser, I'm glad to have you in my chemistry class," The teacher said, attracting everyone's attention, "Everyone, this is (Y/n) our new student, now I hope you'll all make her feel very welcome. I'm Mr Langley, I hope we have fun in chemistry this year! Now I'm going to put you next to Mr Judd Birch at the back." He pointed to the only empty seat at the back of the lab, the boy I was sitting next to had black hair with blue tips, which was parted down the middle to form curtains, he had a permanent look of annoyance plastered on his face. I took a deep breath and forced a smile.
"Perfect." I mumbled under my breath sarcastically.

Judd didn't speak to me the whole lesson even when we were supposed to work in pairs, instead he looked down at his text book. He wasn't taking any notes, he was literally just staring at his book as if it was suddenly going to talk to him or move on it's own.

At the end of the class Mr Langley got everyone's attention once more to make another announcement. "I'm expecting you to all revise with your lab partner because there's going to be an assessment which you're going to have to complete in pairs, no excuses, no changing partners last minute, I don't care if you don't like who you're with- get used to it kids, you're going to work with a lot of people who you're not going to like in your lifetime." I bit my lip and turned my head towards the grumpy teen sitting next to me. I watched him roll his eyes and turn his head so that we were making eye contact.
"I don't care if I fail. So I don't think we need to revise together."
"Perfect, I don't want to see you out of this class either. You're not exactly the sociable type." I kissed my teeth and clenched my jaw, averting my gaze from his face.
"I don't have to talk to you, so don't talk to me." His voice was gruff and very low, he sounded like puberty had hit his vocal cords with a train.
"Great, then don't talk, your voice pisses me off." I snapped, this fucking idiot was so arrogant, but what I said seemingly shut him up for the time being.

I already could tell how much fun chemistry was going to be.