We Really Should Be Studying (Peyton)

[Kailin Bishop]

Another request from her old Biology teacher to tutor a student came one day after school while Kailin was collecting a notebook she left in her Chemistry class right across the hall. There was a test on the Atomic Structure and Electron Configuration Notation that she had to study for herself, but when she walked out the door, it seemed as if Mr. Nelson was practically staking out the hallway for someone, who Kailin had a feeling was her.

"Kailin!" Mr. Nelson's soft voice carried across the hallway, and sometimes she had to wonder how a previous military man had such a monotonous voice that rarely ever raised in pitch. He was wearing the signature plaid button down and Khaki pants that Kailin always had seen him wearing last year.

"Mr. Nelson," She greeted with a polite smile. His bearded smile made her raise a brow in confusion, but it seemed he was just going to get to the point.

"Kailin, You helped a few students last year when it came time to study for the final exam." He started, and Kailin wanted to instantly say no, but if this could get her some sort of recognition...

"I need you to tutor a student for me, his name is Peyton Turner. I see the potential, but he just keeps acting out. I thought maybe a serious student may be able to help him out a bit. We are only studying Scientific Classification which, if I remember correctly, was one of your strongest points in class last year."

It didn't take long for Kailin to answer, because despite the fact that she had her own test to study for, she could potentially get some praise for having this boy pass. And that was all the motivation she needed.

"Alright, I don't mind. But tell him to meet me in the Library after school tomorrow, whenever you see him next." She nodded. "But right now, I have to study for my own test. See you later, Mr. Nelson!" She turned on her heel as he thanked her.

-----

It was four PM sharp when Kailin sat down at an empty table, the old Biology Textbook sitting in front of her, opened to the chapter where it explains Taxonomy. Her blonde curls were put up into a neat ponytail, and she wore a comfortable, floral pattered blouse and grey slacks. Her face sported light makeup: lip gloss, eye liner, and a bit of foundation to even her skin tone, and hopefully cover her scar. God, she hated that scar.

She didn't know what this kid looked like, so she just continued to scan the crowd for anybody who seemed as if they didn't want to be there, but for a while, Kailin wondered if the boy would even show his face. If all he did was clown around in class, why would he accept help from her? Especially when Mr. Nelson told him to?

With a sigh, Kailin began flipping through the pages, scanning the words within the book.

[Peyton Turner]

Peyton was not excited. Jumpy, yes. He couldn't stop flicking his pencil against the side of his leg as he walked toward the library, but that was NOT a sign of excitement. He wasn't looking forward to this at all. He was scowling to himself as he walked, chewing his tongue, flicking his pencil, scuffing his feet... He was not a fan of tutors. He hated needing help. At his last school, the school he never wanted to talk about but loved going to, it was different. Because the tutors had the same problems he did, and had legit advice about it. Everyone had a tutor there, or multiple tutors, and it wasn't something to be ashamed of. But here, in a (relatively) normal school, it came back to the stigma. And it was made worse by the school system that put him in biology with the 10th graders when he really should've been in 11th grade science.

Shaking his head and shoulders as he rounded the corner to the library hallway, he put up his front - a smirk that came off more malicious than playful. But when he caught sight of the tutor he was meeting, another look came to his eyes. A challenge. Because this girl was cute, and looked like she could loosen up a bit. And he was not going to be studying. Not seriously, anyway. He did that alone, where no one could see him or laugh at his stupid studying habits. Tutoring sessions like this were purely for other things. Whether that would be flirting or just being a pain in the ass, Peyton was not yet sure.

As he approached her table, smirk still in place, though it had brightened a bit toward mischief rather than malevolence, he tossed his bio binder onto the table. "This tutoring session is entirely unnecessary, just so you know: I'm a biology genus." The pun was incredibly stupid, but he didn't care. In fact, another had come to him. "If you give me your digits now, later I can phylum."

[Kailin Bishop]

Kailin could be patient when she wanted to, especially now. Mr. Nelson had asked her to tutor a student who 'acted out', which she automatically assumed he was a class clown, rather than a serious student. She could understand, because not understanding something could be frustrating, but it made it easier if you just laughed it off. Making others smile was something Kailin tried to do on a daily basis. She was peppy and outgoing, smiles pretty much came with the package.

A binder hit the desk with a thud and a very masculine voice filled her ears with some really bad Taxonomy jokes. It didn't stop her lips from forming a smile though. She turned in her chair to face him. "At least we know you know the names of two of the levels, but do you know where to place them?" At this point, she can recite the levels without a second thought, which was why she had gotten a perfect score on that section of her Final.

"As much as I'd like to believe, Peyton, that you are a genius in Biology, I don't think Nelson would ask me to tutor you." Kailin's head tilted to the side, her brow raising. "So can you sit down? The sooner we start, the sooner you and I can get back to our normal lives. And maybe if you're nice, I may or may not give you my number at the end of this. So chop chop!" She teased lightly, patting the chair beside her.

[Peyton Turner]

Peyton was actually pretty proud of the fact that he did indeed know the order of classification for taxonomy. Anything beyond that... okay, not so much. There was something involving the order on names, that he didn't really get, and some stuff about what made certain things certain kingdoms, and the history stuff they were supposed to know - but in terms of the hierarchy of classifications: yup. Thanks to seventh grade science. Where he learned them to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. (Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species... you get the idea.)

But he had gotten her to smile. Maybe he could just work with this, and get her to drop the whole 'studying' business. Or, if that failed... nah, he really shouldn't. He preferred to not manipulate girls. He wasn't sure why, it was probably the same reason you don't hit a girl. It's just not right.

"As much as I'd like to believe, Peyton, that you are a genius in Biology, I don't think Nelson would ask me to tutor you. So can you sit down? The sooner we start, the sooner you and I can get back to our normal lives. And maybe if you're nice, I may or may not give you my number at the end of this. So chop chop!"

Okay, that last bit was annoying, but he'd ignore it. Just like he ignored her request to sit next to her. Instead, he pulled the chair out that was across from her, and flipped it around to sit on it backwards. "You know, in our species it's polite to introduce yourself." He pointed out with that same rakish smile, "Or should I just keep calling you 'that gorgeous blonde tutor I was lucky enough to end up with'? Accurate, I know, but it's a bit of a mouthful."

[Kailin Bishop]

Instead of taking the chair she had pointed to, Peyton walked right past her and took the chair in front of her. Fine, so be it. It was still early, and she had a very high tolerance for annoyance being that she was both a younger and older sibling. The twins were always getting under her skin, but she wasn't bothered. Usually. She would just bite her tongue and continue interacting like nothing was wrong. And that was what she did now, while a legitimate smile graced her features.

"I apologize," She said simply. So he was really trying to flirt with her, and she suspected it was just to get out of this whole 'studying' thing. It was obvious, really. His eyes refused to fall on the book in front of them, and for a moment, Kailin felt bad. He was being forced into the whole 'studying' thing, and he probably felt stupid. Kailin was fairly certain he wasn't stupid, he was probably just frustrated.

With a blink, she shut off that part of her overly analytic mind and focused on the task at hand: Tutoring Peyton. "I'm Kailin. Kailin Bishop." That would probably turn him off of her, as the Bishop's are notorious for their large 'litter' size, you could say. Eleven kids was plenty, especially when they were all meta. It was definitely news worthy.

Kailin rolled her eyes and snickered. "I'm relatively sure you aren't feeling very lucky, but I'll take the compliment." She said as she leaned forward on both elbows. "So about your test, we should really be studying."

[Peyton Turner]

If Peyton had known the Bishop name, he may have reacted. But he didn't. So he didn't. In fact, even if he had known that Kailin had older siblings, he wasn't really one to think these things through. Instead he smirked playfully and mimicked her forward lean, bringing himself well within her personal bubble. "You know, you don't have to do something just because someone said you should. Science taught me that. Challenging pre-conceived notions and all that stuff. Well-behaved women rarely make history, you know." He'd heard that last quote a lot, mostly from his older sister, Beth. She always used that line when she got in trouble.

[Kailin Bishop]

"You're right," She said, her eyebrow raising in a challenge. This wasn't bothering her in the slightest. In fact, she was enjoying herself much more than she had expected she would. Kailin was expecting another hard case who basically ignored everything she said. Instead, she had gotten a boy who was doing everything to evade the task at hand in the most interesting of ways. "I do it because I want to. Contrary to belief, I enjoy helping people even when they think they don't need it."

At this time, she leaned back and opened up the book and flipped to the chapter that explained all that one needed to know about the levels of classification and things of the like. She flipped over to the general levels, hoping to find out whether or not he really did know where to place the levels and what they stood for. "Also, think of it this way. If you fail this test, you'll have at least four F's in the gradebook, which means that it will be significantly harder to bring your grade up to pass. And once you start digging a hole, it's difficult to get yourself out of it. So come on, let's study."

[Peyton Turner]

Being right made Peyton happy. So happy, that he almost forgot how totally un-thrilled he was about this who tutoring business. He was too busy talking back.

"Contrary to belief, I enjoy helping people even when they think they don't need it."

He followed her lead in leaning back, though he put on an air of suave roguishness, like, perhaps, a man settling down for his night's whiskey before the fire. In his hunting lodge. On safari. Yes, that's right, a lodge while on safari. Tents were suckers. In any case- "Ah, but you see; it's not that I think I don't need it - I knowww I don't need it. I'm an expert at taxidermy."

....Oops. Well, he didn't let that phase him, he simply added, as though it were his purpose all along, "Which uses taxonomy, in case you didn't know." Totally cool, Peyton, you know what you're doing, and you have known the whole time. "To distinguish between the different kingdoms." Oh, come on, you can add a little more than that. "Like-" Oh wait, crap. "-Plants... and animals." Cause those were kingdoms. And then, did that make mammals and shit a phylum? Or a class? Okay, so maybe he didn't know this stuff. But he would keep bullshitting because that's what he did. "...And fungi." Okay, yeah, that was about all he had. So he just gave her that fancy raised-brow nod that made him feel a little more confident that at least he was being funny.

He wouldn't fail. He was really good at asking for extra credit. And also bullshitting. He could usually guess things at 70% accuracy, and sometimes better. He could handle the C or D that he would probably get. But if this happened for the rest of the year... well, he knew a lot of people that would be disappointed in him. Including, though he hated to admit it, himself.

[Kailin Bishop]

Kailin just laughed softly, her head shaking from side to side. Of course he was trying to play it cool after a slip up like that. Honestly, she was just finding this more and more worth her while. He was babbling now, as if he was digging himself out of his grave. It was obvious that he didn't know much about the classification of Organisms. She used this opportunity to begin her tutoring session.

"There are six kingdoms, actually. Animalia, Plantae, Protista, Fungi, ArchaeBacteria, and Eubacteria. There used to be only five, where Archae and Eubacteria were just Monera, but it was changed as classification started getting more complex."

Kailin started off slowly, turning the book so he could see the pictures on the pages. It was an outdated book, still showing Monera instead of the more recent bacteria groups, but that was fine. She could work with that. "Within the book, it says there is still only 5 kingdoms, so unless Mr. Nelson specifically says the two others, then I am assuming you only have to learn the one. Basically the Kingdoms are relatively self-explanitory. That is, except for the Monera and Protista, but we can get into that soon."

Hopefully he was following, though Kailin had a feeling he was zoning out. He was stubborn, that was for sure. But so was she.

[Peyton Turner]

"Eubacteria?" Peyton couldn't help it, it had to be said, it needed to, the words just had to leave his lips - "I never would've guessed, you look human to me." Yeah, he said that. And he wasn't gonna take it back. It was keeping the smile on his face, after all, even when he was already getting frustrated with the material.

He'd heard her list. And he recognized some of it from class. But holy shit what words are these, Latin - or whatever it was - was not something he remembered easily. And then she made it even more confusing by changing what she'd just said and contradicting herself, how was he supposed to follow that?

He wanted to tell her to slow down, to give him some way to remember this stuff, like a poem or an acronym or something, but that would be admitting defeat. And he wasn't ready to do that.

"Then again, I suppose I'm a fungi, so you can't judge a book by its cover." He still managed to pull off the 'yeah it's a stupid joke, it's still funny' but he was getting a little desperate.

[Kailin Bishop]

Kailin could see the confusion written plainly on his face, which caused her lips to turn down in an uncharacteristic smile. She was going to fast for him, and if she didn't slow down, he would get even more frustrated than he already was. That would then cause him to be even more unresponsive to her tutoring today. With a deep breath, she started up once again.

"You don't know that, I could be a cat disguised as a student," Kailin winked playfully. Honestly, she could attempt to make him believe she was anything in the world, thanks to her power. She'd just have to attempt to create an illusion around them. "Speaking of cats, they go in the category 'Animalia'. Birds, reptiles, amphibians... any animal goes into this category. Animalia sounds like animal, right? Just remember it that way."

She watched him carefully, though not obviously, to see whether or not he was understanding a single word she was saying. He didn't seem too much younger than herself, in fact, he looked as if he was supposed to be her age or even older. What was he doing in a tenth grade biology class?

"I enjoy the jokes, by the way. It makes this time a bit more amusing. It's not often I hear taxonomy jokes, so good job for making good ones." Kailin laughed.

[Peyton Turner]

"You don't know that, I could be a cat disguised as a student."

Her wink made him smile, but there was a very slight hint of a blush on his cheeks. He wasn't about to say the joke that popped into his head. That was a little inappropriate. Okay, a lot inappropriate. But goddammit, cats just lent themselves to inappropriate jokes! "Does that mean I can call you Kitty?" He joked with slight smirk. This part of the tutoring session was fun, but then she went on.

"Speaking of cats, they go in the category 'Animalia'."

Peyton's smirk dropped and he rolled his eyes, a slight crease of a scowl appearing on his face.

"Birds, reptiles, amphibians... any animal goes into this category. Animalia sounds like animal, right? Just remember it that way."

He hated being talked down to. "I'm not stupid - I get what animals are." His annoyance was a lot more clear now. "And plants. I'm not an idiot."

Okay, that was maybe a little biting, but her next words cheered him up a bit, begrudgingly. He tried to pull himself out of the annoyance that was gnawing at him, to lighten it up, to get back to something pleasant. His smile was a tad forced as he tried to spin her words into something fun. "Yeah, my walls are papered with the certificates of honor I received from the science people, commending me for making them slightly less boring. They wanted to give me a Nobel prize, but I told them that it deserved to go to the man who invented the Shamwow."

[Kailin Bishop]

"Then Plantae and Animalia are down packed. I should have listened to you when you said you knew your stuff," Kailin said in response to his evident annoyance. "Fungi may be a bit more tricky to understand though, since it's not just mushrooms. I had to study for a while to make sure I wasn't classifying a really weird looking plant in the fungi category." She wanted to go slow for him, not because she felt he was incapable of understanding, but it has been abundantly clear that if she began spewing fact after fact, he'd probably become frustrated. So she tried a different approach to this studying session.

"The science people seemed to choose the right man, then." Kailin mused as she flipped through the pages of the biology textbook, mentally pinpointing the places where they spoke of Fungi and Plantae differences and similarities. There weren't much, but Kailin had enough knowledge on the subject to elaborate. She glanced up and opened her mouth to comment on something a bit off topic to keep Peyton's attention on her when she noticed what his shirt said.

"That video is hilarious," Kailin gestured toward the shirt Peyton wore. 'What does the fox say' had to be the most unusual song/video combination she had ever seen in her life, and while most people were annoyed by it already, Kailin was still amused. One of her friends had shown it to her on a studying break they had, and Kales couldn't seem to contain her laughter. Even her friend was a bit weirded out, but it didn't matter much to her.

"Where did you get that shirt?" She inquired.

[Peyton Turner]

"Then Plantae and Animalia are down packed. I should have listened to you when you said you knew your stuff."

Damn right she should've. But he appreciated the (kind of) apology. ...And, admittedly, she made a good point about fungi. Cause, to be honest, he totally hadn't thought of that. His general first impression of mushrooms, even, was vegetable (aka plant), as much as he hated to admit it. If he was asked, and had to think of it, he'd remember they were fungi, but when he wasn't thinking he assumed plant. So maybe she had a good point. And she'd admitted to being wrong in something without seeming like she was just trying to relate to him.

"The science people seemed to choose the right man, then."

"I'm flattered." There was a hint of wry sarcasm to his tone. He liked that she appreciated the joke, but he was not happy that she was still pushing the whole tutoring business, no matter how much he might need the guidance. As she flipped through the book, he was tempted to mention the things he'd learned about his learning style - maybe she could help him make a mnemonic, or a rhyme, or a song, something easy to remember. Or if she could show him things, if he was doing real things with real items, sorting them. He was about to open his mouth, when she mentioned his shirt, and he let the comment drop, giving her a little smirk.

They might force him to go to the library, but he could force anyone who saw him there to have a song stuck in their heads for at least four solid hours. It was just a little payback.

She seemed amused, and he was glad she'd been distracted. It had done it's job part way, at least. She didn't seem annoyed, though. Maybe she was like Peyton. He tended to think things were funny long after their popularity had died down. He was still proud of the fact he knew the Gangnam style dance. The fact that she liked his shirt, he had to admit, definitely earned her some points in his book.

"Where did you get that shirt?"

"Ooooh...." He sucked air in through his teeth as he looked at her, as though evaluating something. "You know, I really don't like to share that information...." His voice was teasing, growing into something rather flirtatious, his tone implying that there was something to add to that statement. Because she was seeming more relatable now, and she was still cute, that part hadn't changed. "But... I may be able to make an exception if you'll let me take you out some time."

[Kailin Bishop]

He was clearly still a bit upset about the whole 'tutoring' business, considering his tone dripped with sarcasm in response to her little comment. 'I'm flattered,' He said. Obviously that was only half true, but he was slightly smiling, which happened to be a complete win in her eyes. He started off with a frustrated scowl, and slowly she was getting him to a smile. Perfect.

But... I may be able to make an exception if you'll let me take you out some time.

Well, wasn't he a flirt? Kailin leaned back in her chair for a moment to look at him with a raised brow. She waited for the 'Oh yeah, just kidding' or something along those lines, but when he didn't say anything else, she realized he really was serious. Peyton was really eager to get out of this tutoring session, wasn't he? Lucky for Kailin, she was a stubborn child; not so lucky for Peyton, though. Well, maybe just a little lucky, since her response may be something he enjoyed. Slightly.

The blonde adjusted in her seat and leaned her elbows against the table, her head falling into her hands. "And I have a busy life... but I may be able to make an exception if you listen and allow me to tutor you. You're cute, but you'd be so much cuter if you pass that science test."

A teasing smile formed on her lips, "So what do you say? I'll let you take me out if you put an effort in trying to grasp this material I'm trying to teach you? Sound good?"