Glasses and Tattoos

Chapter 5: Awkward Being And Thoughts

Copyright

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Ollie sits next to me in the science lab and his arm occasionally bumps against my elbow. The process of our project sits in front of us so we can evaluate it.

"Wait." He says and I flick my head towards him. "Is this step four, or step three?" He asks.

I look at his work and write the number three next to it. I look up at him and smile. He returns it.

"You don't talk much do you?" he asks. Pushing up my glasses, I look back to my work and continue. He just laughs under his breath, shakes his head and gets back to focusing on his work.

"Why are we doing this substance again?" Ollie questions. Screw it. I'm talking. Why not? He seems nice enough. I take a deep breath and talk.

"This substance is the easiest on the list. Everyone will think it's complicated because it's an unusual process. Also it's the quickest to form. The chemicals used for this one are more reactive, therefore more gasses will form and we don't need to incubate it. So it uses less resources, which means less cleaning and a quicker project process." I say still looking at my work.

I look up at him and push up my glasses. His jaw opens so wide, it could snap out of its hinges.

"What?" I ask confused.

"Well, you just spoke. And it wasn't stupid." He says blinking away his shock.

"Well I didn't skip a grade for no reason."

"You skipped a grade?" Again? He's shocked again?

"Um, yeah. I've only just turned 16." I say turning my head back down to the table. His eyebrows go up.

"Wow." He breathes.

"Why 'Wow'? Loads of people skip a grade or two." I say flipping my head up again.

"No, I just wouldn't expect it from you. You're really quiet. But you're extremely smart. That is completely unexpected."

"I would of thought the glasses and the clothing would have given it away, my 'nerdiness'." I say using my fingers to emphasize the word 'Nerdiness"

"But that is so stereotypical." He says looking at me with a smirk on his face.

"Not in all cases."

"What's wrong with being a nerd anyway?" Ollie asks.

"First off, everyone wants you to tutor them, secondly, they think because you're smart you don't care about insults directed towards you. Also they just see us as fresh meat to pick on." I debate.

"That's idiotic."

"Tell me about it." I agree.

"You seem like a nice chick."

"Chick?" I question with a smirk.

"Yeah." I roll my eyes and continue with my work. As soon as the bell sounds I rush out and make my way over to math.

I have one friend in math. Carter. She's a nice girl.

"Hey Robyn!" She shouts across the room as soon as I cross the thresh hold. She motions for me to sit by her and I obey. I have nobody else to talk to.

"Hi." I say.

"Ready for another hour of torture?" She asks in a teasing voice. I smile back at her and shake my head. The substitute teacher walks in and starts the class.