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The worksheet for the lab was handed out, and the class started. Tension was high, and the groupings were not reasonable in the slightest. They would shift station every few minutes, meaning she would have to sit next to Isaac at some point. Like she had thought earlier, eventful class. As long as Isaac or Erica got close to Lydia, the chance of them testing if she was the kanima was high. But with Mr. Harris monitoring their every move, it was nearly impossible to control the groupings.
Thankfully, Aspen was grouped with Lydia while everyone else was scattered. But she felt Isaac's eyes on the back of her head, making her sit straight. "Isaac is back." Lydia mumbled, eyes trained to pour a substance in a vial. "things seemed pretty tense back in the classroom. Have you guys talked since?"
"He's an ass. I have nothing to say to him." Aspen replied, writing down some notes. As long as she kept Lydia away from wondering why everyone was acting strange, she didn't mind her being nosy for a while.
"He seems rather cozy with Erica. You never get jealous?" she asked with her light tone, being rather inquisitive in her relationship, probably because she didn't have one to live at the moment.
"Why would I?" Aspen mixed their bubbling blue liquid after pouring some sugar.
"Because them spending every waking moment together requires some jealousy," she snipped with pursed lips.
Aspen looked ahead and huffed. She had tried not to think about Isaac and Erica, but now the picture was embedded in her mind. Mr. Harris tapped his bell, signaling for everyone to switch stations. This raised slight alarm, knowing they had to move quickly in order for Lydia to have a safe partner. "Listen to me, okay?" Aspen said. "Don't talk to Erica or Isaac."
"Why?"
"Just don't," Aspen warned with desperate eyes.
"Let's go girls, next station," Mr. Harris rushed from behind them before strolling off toward another table.
Aspen gathered her books and gave Lydia one more stern look. "Trust me, all right?"
Erica slid in the seat next to Charlie, and her interest quickly spiked, seeing that they haven't appropriately been introduced. "So you're Aspen's cousin. The one with the water--"
"Don't talk to me, or I'll make you choke on your own spit," Charlie snapped flatly, keeping her eyes on her blue liquid.
Erica was taken aback by the venomous words dripping from her tongue. Charlie looked her way with an intense stare and a devious smirk that she knew she sported better than Erica. "Pass me the sugar?" she asked sweetly, unphased by Erica's terrified expression.
Aspen caught Isaac taking the stool next to her and bit her cheek as she forced herself to go through the agonizing minutes of being partnered with him.
"Hello again," he rasped quietly, adjusting his leather jacket as he watched Aspen work. The crease on her head was forming, and he willed himself not to flatten it out with his thumb. He was pretty sure she would slice it off anyway.
"That's cute." he said, once he caught onto her intentional plan to ignore him. "according to Boyd and Erica, you were real talkative at the game."
Aspen continued working until she paused completely. She tilted her head with mouth agape and a lifted brow. "Seriously? You're jealous of Matt?"
Isaac scoffed and shook his head, turning the dial on the bunsen burner. "Only stating the obvious flirting. You were batting your eyelashes at him."
"Oh my go--it's what you call blinking Isaac." Aspen poured her mixture in the vial over the burner, watching as it began to foam over. "So you're keeping tabs on me now? What am I a lab rat?"
Isaac lets out a laugh that he disguises as a scoff. "It's not like I asked. They just told me, and I couldn't help but notice that he's not your type."
"You have no idea what my type is," she grumbled under her breath, uncapping her pen to jot down what she saw.
"I totally do," Isaac grabbed her pen once she set it down to add more ingredients to the liquid, and he placed the cap on again.
"Really?" Aspen mocked interest, glaring once she noticed he capped her pen when she went to use it again.
"Mhmm," Isaac hummed lowly, making Aspen shiver when she realized how close he was. His leather-clad arms brushed her bare shoulder. She flinched away when she felt Isaac grab the tip of her hair to tickle her cheek. She swatted at his hand, leaving him to chuckle.
"Then what's my type?" she sneered, eyes finally meeting his.
This satisfied Isaac significantly, and he grinned sheepishly, leaning on his elbow to get closer. "Me," he whispered, clicking the cap back on her pen.
Aspen flushed on the spot. Her head tilted to the side, tongue pushing against the inside of her cheek as she kept down a smile. He gave her an expression as if he'd made his point from her reaction.
"Sorry arrogant jackasses aren't my thing but thanks." Aspen finally said, snatching her pen from his hand, "and quit capping my pen."
As her hand pulled away, he noticed the red nail indents in her palm. He knew she had no control, but he hated seeing that she resorted back to her old habits to keep her power at bay.
"Ease up, gotta have control, remember?" he raised his eyebrows, teasing her, but she wasn't as receptive to his tone as he had hoped.
She sent him a sideways glare and twisted the dial to the burner to cool. "I'm in control," she confirmed slowly. "if you weren't trying to kill my friend, I might be a little more stress-free."
Aspen looked up to see Lydia utterly oblivious to the intensity in the room. Isaca followed her line of sight before he looked back at her. Aspen met his eyes before diverting her attention to the work before her, letting out a breath of frustration through her nose. The time was ticking especially slow for no convenient reason.
"You don't think it's her." Isaac gathered.
"I think the worst thing she's done is shoot down a particular freshman and tell him to get a car," she drawled, raising her eyebrows. Isaac did his best to suppress a smile and failed.
Isaac rolled his lips into his mouth. "If it's true and she is the kanima, I won't have an issue killing her."
Aspen's pupils flared, and she swore if he said one more word, she was going to throw him out the window. "I'd like to see you try to get past me, Lahey." her supernatural white was vibrant against the gold of her eyes, and they quickly melted into their soft brown.
"I'm always up for a challenge, Veata. Especially when it comes to you."
Aspen wanted to slam her face into the wall and see stars forever. His stupid grin was contagious, but it just made her want to scream. "I just don't see why you're so protective of a girl you called you a skank."
"She apologized."
"With a laté from your job."
Aspen closed her eyes, her tongue running over her teeth in mild annoyance. "It's innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven kanima."
Finally, Mr. harris tapped his bell, and Aspen wasted no time in collecting her things and hurrying off to the back table, where Danny greeted her as she sat down. Aspen frowned when she noticed Isaac had taken the empty seat next to Lydia. When Stiles saw this, he tried standing up but was stopped with the tip of Mr. Harris' wooden ruler slamming on the table. Scott groaned beside him, sending a look behind him where Allison sat next to Erica. Charlie sat just on the other side of the room, shrugging in Aspen's direction. They were stuck. Thanks to useless conversation among the group of supernaturals, the rest of the class was dismissed and only left the nine of them.
"Hey, I noticed you and Isaac--" Danny started quietly, chewing around a mint in his mouth.
"Could we not talk about that?" Aspen snapped out unexpectedly. Danny nodded with a bewildered expression, a little taken back, and her mind was already regretting it. Apparently, her bottled up emotions were genuinely getting the better of her today. "Look, I'm really sorry. Just a really bad day. Hormones or whatever."
Danny being the gumdrop he is thankfully understood, already forgetting about her little outburst. "Don't worry about it," he assured with a smile, "Although, for the record, I wouldn't put a broken heart down as hormones." His words caught her attention, and her neck snapped toward him. "I just mean you have a right to be upset. Isaac coming back is a lot, and no one blames you if your upset for some reason. But just don't let your emotions cloud what you do, what you think. You're smarter than that."
Aspen tilted her head, "That was pretty decent advice. Thanks."
Danny shrugged, just as impressed. "I have my moments. Just don't dwell on things you can't control. If he wants to be a jerk, just look away."
Danny and Aspen continued the rest of the project in silence, and she made sure to keep her ears open on any conversation. That said conversation just so happened to be between Erica and Allison.
"What are you gonna do to her?" Allison asked sternly.
"Don't you think the better question is what's she gonna do to us?" Erica cooed, batting her eyelashes as if she gave a damn. Allison made the mistake of flickering her eyes to Scott as a means for comfort, and he was looking right back at her. Erica didn't miss the exchange and began to grin. "I have to say, you guys are cute together." Erica laid her hands on Allison's hand under the desk, and Allison tensed. But being the Argent she is, she braved a smile and stared the blonde dead in the eyes, hearing what she had to say. Aspen shifted uncomfortably in her seat, something bothering her.
"But you know," Erica continued. "I've always had this feeling like I'm a little psychic." she giggled at this, and Allison just nodded with narrowed eyes. "I just don't think you guys are going to last."
Allison wanted to scoff but swallowed and smacked her lips. Aspen could tell the words were getting to her. "You think you can hurt me by sliding your hand up his thigh?"
"Would you like it better if it were your thigh?" Eric's nails were extracted and planted firmly against the skin of Allison's leg. The raven-haired girl froze, and her eyes widened. Aspen's hands curled in a fist at her lap, and she wanted to scream the hell with control. "Come on. Girl fight in the lab. It'll be hot." Erica sunk her nails in, and Allison breathed in sharply, suppressing a whimper.
That set Aspen off faster than expected. Erica suddenly jerked forward, her hand flying to her throat. Mr. Harris was too busy writing new lesson plans on the chalkboard and speaking on the phone to notice Erica choking.
Aspen gave her air once, and she had no problem stripping it away. Her eyes were white, and papers, microscopes, and vials began hovering in the air. Lydia was glued to her work to notice anything but Isaac always felt when Aspen's power was surging. He exchanged a panicked look with Scott and Stiles, and they both reached for things to hold them down while Isaac distracted Lydia. Allison recovered quickly, joining along and jumped to grab floating papers. Danny was in a complete frenzy, eyes wide and slowly rising from his seat to give Aspen space. Charlie rushed to her cousin's side and whispered for Danny to hold things down. Thankfully the boy complied and helped Allison reach for more papers.
"Hey, hey June," Charlie twisted the stool around so she could face her cousin. But the blonde almost felt intimidated. Aspen was unrecognizable, her eyes shining brighter, glowing white, and hands flexing as if she was literally holding Erica's neck. The girl began to gasp, and they knew it was only a matter of time before Harris turned around. "Son of a bitch, you're stubborn," Charlie murmured with an eye roll as she thought of the only solution.
Charlie grabbed the back of Aspen's neck with one hand and pressed the pad of her thumb and pointer finger on her forehead. Aspen began to feel the water pressure in her head until it was so intense, her eyes squeezed shut, and the strangle she had on Erica released. The girl gasped and slapped her hands on the floor, alerting Mr. Harris. Aspen almost fell forward, but Charlie's shoulders softened her fall, her arms wrapping around her shoulder to keep her in place.
Just as the man turned around, all the items dropped, and everyone paused in the midst of what they were doing. Allison was kneeling on a stool with her arms outstretched, with Danny holding her waist to steady her as paper floated to the ground. Scott had a microscope under his arm while Stiles cradled multiple vials with a grin.
"Erica, what are you doing on the floor?" Harris asked with annoyance, not regarding her red face.
"Um," Erica croaked and cleared her throat, "I dropped the paper," Allison climbed down from the stool, and Danny acted as if he were retrieving something for their table and walked back to Charlie. Aspen was staring straight ahead, hands shaking with her fingers balled in a fist once Charlie released her.
Mr. Harris scoffed and rang the bell. He had seen enough things in Beacon Hills not to question what was going on. "That's time. If you've catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal."
Everyone seemed to have a sort of goo by the end of the project except for Lydia, of course. "Now for the part of that last experiment I'm sure you'll all enjoy...you can eat it."
It's like time slowed. Lydia lifted the clear crystal from Isaac's tweezers, some kanima venom dripping from the side. Lydia bit right into it. And not a thing happened.