Cosmo || Doctor Who

33 : The Writer

  He replied in an instant. "False."

  "What is non-coding DNA?" The questions were being reeled out faster now.

  "DNA that doesn't code for a protein." Even the other children couldn't understand where this was coming from, as they stared wide eyed.

  "65,983 times 5."

  "329,915."

  "How do you travel faster than light?"

  "By opening a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of 36.7 recurring."

  The Doctor just looked to Milo, almost gobsmacked. EJ just looked at him, and whistled lowly. "I think I'm in the wrong class."

     By lunch, the Thompson boy was completely burned out. It was like being a student all over again, and it wasn't as if he'd enjoyed it the first time around, so this was something new entirely. He and the Doctor made their way to the cafeteria, and stood in line like everyone else.

     The red plastic trays and fold-down tables were both nostalgic and terrifying at the same time. They piled the food into the small compartments in the tray, almost like prison food. The only thing which made it worthwhile was seeing the disgusted look on Rose's face as she dolloped some sort of sauce onto his plate.

     They sat together at the only empty table. It was guaranteed to be; none of the children wanted to sit with the teachers. EJ was starving, so scoffed the food at a faster pace than he'd eaten in a whole. The Doctor, not so much. He didn't like it, and kept sniffing the chips.

"But why did it have to be physics?" EJ complained, his mouth completely stuffed with food.

  The Doctor raised an eyebrow, looking over his food. "What would you have wanted to do?"

  "English, or something."

  "I've never seen you read a book."

  He knew that the Doctor wasn't being malicious, but EJ couldn't help but retort. "I've never seen you do a physics equation. Once."

  He deadpanned. "The Tardis is physics."

  In response, EJ shrugged. "I'm English."

  Their petty argument could have lasted forever, but thankfully, it didn't. Rose approached them, wiping the table, and complaining even more than he had been. "Two days."

  "Sorry, could you just...?" The Doctor teased, pointing to the edge of the table. "There's a bit of gravy... No, no, just there."

She repeated. "Two days we've been here."

"Blame your boyfriend, he's the one that put us onto this. And he was right. Boy in class this morning, got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth."

Her eyes cast down over the Doctor's tray and the half eaten food. "Are you eating those chips?"

"Yeah, they're a bit... different." He grimaced, but Rose took one all the same.

"I think they're gorgeous. I wish I'd had school dinners like this."

"I wasn't allowed to eat in school." EJ told them, nonchalantly. "I'd pick up the food from the canteen, and then have to bin it whole."

Rose furrowed her brows. "Why'd you do that?"

"My father would have killed me." It shouldn't have come out as easily as it did. "Eating ruined his surgical schedule."

The Doctor's face grew sad and downturned; EJ was a hard man to comfort. "I'm sorry."