Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

- 5 -

The first Friday of September arrived very slowly, but Logan didn't mind. He was conditioned for a routine -- for work. While most kids were bound to, eventually, grow tired at the end of the week -- especially by the second week -- Logan managed to maintain the same amount of focus, enthusiasm, and motivation throughout the week. The weekend was simply a break in time.

The days started to follow a similar routine: Wake up at precisely six-thirty, arrive at school five minutes early, sit in first period silently, sit in second period silently, sit in third period silently, work on homework during break, sit in fourth period silently, be continuously chattered at in fifth period, eat lunch and do homework, sit in sixth period silently, go home and finish homework. It quickly became apparent to Logan that his most interesting class of the day was chemistry -- whether he liked it or not. And 'interesting' meaning 'social' -- frankly he was more interested in his level two calculus class or physics, but he could not deny that chemistry class never ceased to surprise him.

Logan walked into chemistry early, just like every day. Students often questioned how he was able to move around so fast -- it seemed nearly impossible for him to travel as quickly as he did.

Patton arrived before Roman, which was the first out of the ordinary thing to occur. The sweater-clad source of unextinguishable optimism greeted Logan happily, as he did every day.

Patton smiled upon seeing his seat partner. "Howdy there Logi!"

"Don't ever call me that again."

"Oh alright, if you insist." Patton waved a hand playfully but was generally unfazed. "Well anyway how has your day been?"

Logan flicked his gaze over to Patton. "Adequate."

"Good, good. Mine too," Patton replied, nodding. He settled into a somehow energetic silence.

The second out of ordinary thing to occur was the fact that Virgil, right as the bell rang, arrived before Roman. Again, nothing too interesting or questionable, but Logan noticed nonetheless. Perhaps the strangest thing about the situation was that Logan had seen Roman in first period -- and walking through the halls periodically after that. The boy was never really late.

Virgil sat down at his desk, almost looking relieved that Roman wasn't there. He had been increasingly pestered all week with passive aggressive smiles and blatant displays of annoyance-fueled aggression. It was no surprise that the boy was already feeling smothered by Roman's constant bombardment.

Logan knew how Roman was. They had lived on the same street for years simply as neighbors. When they hit high school and finally had school with each other, they exchanged the mutual feeling of awkward recognition -- it took the two until junior year to start interacting. Though his interaction with Roman himself was slight, Logan had picked up quite a few things through observation.

Roman was very proud. He took anything that could be interpreted as an attack on him or his ideals as an insult -- most of the time only when he didn't know a person, but it was still an issue. His ability to hold a grudge also contributed to this characteristic. Roman's need to be the best and appear the best was one of his greatest downfalls. He was so centered on appearing confident and appearing strong that he sometimes went overboard, coming across as simply mean or degrading. As much as he was a lover of poetry and theater, he was awful when it came to words. He had trouble articulating ideas that really meant a lot to him -- which baffled Logan, considering how often Roman talked and how good he was at memorizing scripts -- and especially had trouble softening his words for the sake of others' emotions or situations. He was very loud with his opinions and it was often very difficult to sway him from his stiff position -- once he got an idea he wouldn't let it go. Truthfully, Roman's creativity and confidence could be used to his advantage, but he let it get the best of him at times.

Logan was feeling unusually sympathetic at the moment -- despite his dislike for acknowledging emotions -- and part of him wanted to make Virgil feel included. Maybe it was because he could sense some sort of buried intelligence and contemplative spark within the boy, and his antisocial nature reminded Logan of himself and how miserable he had been before finding himself.

Either that or Patton was rubbing off on him.

"Good afternoon, Virgil. A good Friday, I should hope?" Logan said, turning around in his chair.

Virgil gave him a hesitant look, almost as if trying to analyze the hidden contempt within Logan's statement. Finally, he sighed, looking tired, and replied, "Hey Logan. It's been alright."

Logan nodded, unsure of what to say. But, lucky for him, he didn't have to conjure up any sort of comment, for Patton stepped in for him.

"Say, Virgil," Patton said, also rotating in his seat, "have you seen Roman? I saw him on the way out of my fourth period class, but he's not here yet -- and that firecracker's rarely late."

Virgil shrugged, his face hardening. "I don't know what's up with that prick. For all I care, he could be skipping class just to avoid me." With a sour expression, Virgil began fiddling with his jacket string.

Patton sighed lightly and gave Logan a concerned look. The change of energy in him was refreshing and Logan was surprised to see how aware of Virgil's undertones Patton was -- not that they were particularly hard to notice. Patton pursed his lips. "Hey kiddo, I think you're being too hard on yourself."

Virgil let out a humorless laugh. "Are you kidding me? You've been listening to him this week, right?" He shook his head. "The kid hates me -- already. Not that I really blame him. I'm not the most pleasant person to have around."

Logan frowned, detecting the notes of negativity in Virgil's statement. He didn't know how to go about comforting the boy so looked at Patton for help.

Patton looked lost as well. "Virgil..." he began.

Virgil lifted up a hand. "Look, we've been over this," he said, not meeting either the eyes of Logan nor Patton. "You're not my friends and I don't expect you to throw a pity party every time I say something depressing. I don't want your attention or your sympathy."

Logan was about to butt in and say something, but at that moment -- five minutes late -- Roman walked into the classroom. His usual casual saunter had been replaced with a sombre, guilty slouch, and he walked in as if trying to hide himself. However, there was nowhere to hide in his blinding white, black-sleeved t-shirt.

This is very troubling, Logan thought, with a knot of contained apprehension in his stomach. He heard Patton gasp. For both of the boys -- and likely the whole class by that point -- had noticed the breathtaking amount of blood that was splattered on Roman's shirt.

Mmmsorry.
That escalated quickly, I know.

Also, I hope I'm getting the characters accurate enough for this to be entertaining. I'm trying but it's hard to be sure.