Afterschool in the Chem Lab (Carleigh+Olivia)

[Carleigh Davidson]

Spending her last block of the school day wasn't exactly ideal for Carleigh. She hated anything to do with science, especially chemistry. Balancing equations... figuring out answers to questions she didn't care about.. it was a bore. Unfortunately, it was also a mandatory course. So here she was.

Carleigh sat next to Olivia, a sweet girl who didn't mind taking the lead in lab work as Carleigh failed to understand the most basic of chemistry principles. She mostly sat there with a glazed expression on her face and managed to get by with below average marks. Oh well, she never planned on using chemistry outside of high school anyway.

The class had been sitting there, chattering away before the teacher came back with marked papers in his hands. The latest test results awaited in his hands.

Carleigh gave Olivia a worried expression, biting her lip. Normally, her confidence was nauseating and unwaivering but this was different. She couldn't hold her head high and insist that she understood the learning outcomes. Chemistry was one big mystery.

Worriedly, she ran a hand through her impeccable blonde hair, inhaling deeply. Please be good.. please be good....

[Olivia Baker]

Olivia relaxed in her seat as the chemistry lecture came to a close and their teacher retreated to the deep depths of his desk. It was a wonder he could find anything in it, it was covered in papers and a totally unorganized mess. It took a lot of energy every class period not to scream and go up there and just clean it for him. God, it was probably so gross under all the layers of papers, no doubt residue from labs mixed with a dingy layer of dust. Jeeze, when had she become so OCD? Organization had always been a thing but this germ thing... living with Penny must have been getting to her. 

She snapped out of her daze when the teacher started passing out the tests. She didn't think twice about it, she'd known she'd done well. Chemistry just really wasn't that hard, it all made sense and was mostly just a handful of definitions and some math. Of course, Liv was probably in the minority, as usual. 

Liv glanced over at Carleigh, a girl who she was no stranger to. It seemed that every semester they ended up in at least a couple classes together and Liv had grown pretty used to having the pretty blonde as her class buddy. That being said, she knew that they both had their strengths and weaknesses and Carleigh was to Science as Liv was to English. She gave the blonde a comforting smile. 

"You'll be fine Carleigh. You've got this." She encouraged as she was passed her test. 102% She'd gotten the stupid extra credit joke at the end. 

Did you know that oxygen went for a second date with potassium? 

How did it go? 

It went OK2!

Why were science jokes always such dad humor? Actually, she should probably remember that one, her father would probably enjoy it... 

Liv quickly flopped over her paper face down incase Carleigh didn't do so well. "How'd you do?" She asked gently. 

[Carleigh Davidson]

Paper after paper, her classmate's worried expressions easing into ones of relief and content. A couple of kids looked confused and somewhat horrified. Tests always made Carleigh a little uneasy because she couldn't copy down what Olivia had, word for word. It was the only reason she did great on all the lab work.

Carleigh smiled at Liv. The girl was a total sweetheart, and Carleigh was glad to have her in the few classes each semester. She was a familiar face, and since Carleigh didn't have too many friends, it was nice. "Thanks Liv, I hope I did alright." Right now, her grade was wavering around 58%. Not too bad considering tests were weighted heavily, as were labs. Most of the time, Carleigh figured Olivia just pitied the girl in the science classes and let her copy the work.

Finally, the teacher paused in front of the table where her and Liv sat. "Miss Davidson... this is your worst test to date."

He slipped a graded paper in front of her. A big fat, red F. Damn it! Beside it, was a smaller 24%. Carleigh knew enough math to know she didn't even get one out of every four questions on the test. Her face deflated, and she slouched a little more in her chair. Gnawing on her lip, Carleigh slid the piece of paper in front of Olivia and pointed out her percent.

"Uhm, well not very well as you can see." Carleigh said with a small sigh.

"Miss Davidson, this sort of work is completely unacceptable..."

As he launched into another one of those rants, Carleigh tuned him out. It was always the same everytime. She needed more effort and needed to actually do the class work. She needed to stop falling asleep in class. That wasn't her fault. The chemistry teacher didn't understand that it was all because of her stupid, pointless power. He finished speaking, looking sternly down upon Carleigh.

The bell rang and before Carleigh could even stand up, the chemistry teacher shook his head. "Not so fast. Miss Davidson, I insist you take part in our tutoring program here at Hammel. I'll find you an acceptable tutor and from now on, you must meet at least twice a week afterschool and once a week with me at lunch until your grade goes up sufficiently. Like Miss Baker, she would be a great tutor. Besides, it would be refreshing to see her actually help you instead of you copying her lab work."

Rolling her eyes, Carleigh scoffed. "No. You can't make me have a tutor. I refuse." Her stubborn nature was beginning to show. "I'll be fine." She swallowed the lump in her throat. How embarrassing! Even someone like Liv tutoring her would be a bore, especially with all the check up dates.

[Olivia Baker]

Liv's jaw dropped slightly at the rudeness of the teacher. Did he really think it was necessary to tell a student they'd done poorly to their face, in front of their peers? Seriously? That an absolute douche bag! She looked around, it didn't seem like too many people heard the insult which Liv was thankful for for Carleigh's sake. 

The brunette craned her neck to look over at the blondes paper with the tiny 24% written down. A knot gnawed at her stomach... sure the grades were weighted but that still wasn't exactly good and she couldn't help but blame herself a little bit. She'd been doing most of the works on the labs, not that she minded, but it definitely wasn't helping Carleigh learn the materials before it actually mattered, like uhm an exam.
 
The teacher was completely out of line. Liv could feel her face growing hot and as she watched him belittle Carleigh. Seriously? It wasn't like the sciences were for everyone... god what a fucking asshole. It was pathetic, he probably had a small dick or something, the more Liv hung out with guys the more she learned that unreasonable asshole tendencies always came down to one of two things, man periods and small penises. Now she didn't want to think of his penis... but... she had a feeling it was nothing special. 

"I'd love to." Liv answered a little to eagerly, both a reaction of guilt and utter fury at the mans nerve "And actually sir, Carleigh always helps with the lab work. Perhaps its your method that isn't clicking." She jabbed in the nicest way she could. "After all... sometimes your lectures can be a bit dense." As in boring, but she wouldn't give him the clarification. 

Liv turned to Carleigh lowering her voice so it wasn't public information, "I really don't mind... actually I insist... This is my strong suit and the worst thing would be to have to take the class again... plus it gives us an excuse to hang out." She said trying to sell it with one of her 1000 watt smiles. "Pleaasseee?" 

[Carleigh Davidson]

Carleigh yawned, raising an eyebrow at Liv's reaction. Why did the girl want to help her out? Did she even know what she was getting herself into? Hours upon hours of chemistry.. yuck. The teacher's rant didn't even bother Carleigh. Well, mostly because she didn't listen to it. She could tell it struck a nerve with Liv and Carleigh sent the teacher a condescending smirk. "She is sort of right, I don't understand with your teaching methods. What a shame. And I fall asleep during your lectures because it's more productive than rambling about stupid chemicals."

She ignored the teacher's furious expression, sighing again. Carleigh looked at Olivia, and couldn't help but to smile back to the pretty brunette. Ah, damn it. She did have a point afterall. "Yeah.. you're right. I just really don't like chemistry. And I feel sort of bad now that you have to teach me. I'm beyond stupid in this class." Carleigh winced at the thought of spending hours in the library and lab.

Then again, she needed to pass. And the idea of spending time outside of the classroom.. well, not during class time, with Olivia was sort of, really tempting. "Fine, fine." She grumbled. Looking up at the teacher, Carleigh nodded. "Fine, but only if Olivia is my tutor. I insist." she emphasized with a bigger smirk.

Carleigh wondered what hanging out with Olivia would be like outside of class. She understood that as her tutor, the job was to be taken seriously but hoped it wasn't strictly about chemistry. Otherwise, Carleigh would probably do her best to run away from the school. "I apologize in advance." She whispered back to Liv as the teacher proceeded to give Olivia instructions in a clipped voice, mostly due to her subtle insults. Yeah, this girl was great. Carleigh glanced at Olivia with a smile on her face.

[Olivia Baker]

Liv wished she could block out teachers the way Carleigh did. It was actually pretty incredible, she seemed to have a lot of confidence and Liv really envied that... had this been flipped around she wasn't so sure she'd have dry eyes right now... as embarrassing as that was. She didn't do well with criticism from her elders and she wanted so badly to be successful and a good example for reasons she didn't even know considering she didn't even really want to leave Vermont for college and knew that she could get into the local colleges in the area. Of course, that wasn't what her parents wanted though and the idea of disappointing them was a worse fate than death, actually death might be preferable in that situation since the constant harassment and reminder of disappointment would no doubt follow her well into her 20s. 

"You're not stupid." Liv assured her "Plus... I mean Chemistry can be fun! Like those jokes at the end of the tests! What did one ion say to the other? I've got my ion you. Eh? Eh?" Liv was totally cheesing. She knew the jokes were stupid but part of her actually super enjoyed them and it was hard for her not to laugh at her own joke. Liv's heart soared as she heard one chuckle at her joke, but it quickly fell to the ground and smashed to smithereens when she realized it was the awful teacher himself. 

Liv jotted down a few of the notes that the teacher gave her but largely already knew what Carleigh struggled with considering she'd seen Carleigh try to answer some of the questions before. "Ok got it." She said getting up as the bell cut him off. 

"If you want we can start now." she suggested "While it's fresh or if you want a break and to meet later or something that's ok too. Really whatever your comfortable with." She said as the other students flooded out of the classroom. "By the way he's a douche bag.... I don't know how you take it I'd be... a wreck." Her face dropped a little making sure Carleigh was actually ok now that he was out of ear shot. 

[Carleigh Davidson]

Even from Liv, Carleigh had to roll her eyes at the terrible chemistry joke. Not to mention the joke kind of confused her.. man, she really needed to get better at chemistry. "Well, thanks Liv, but chemistry.. and biology.. make me feel incredibly stupid." Nothing made sense but hopefully after a few tutoring sessions, things would change. She'd rather not flunk out of junior year.

Carleigh watched Liv take notes on what to do and looked at the teacher. "Does she get compensation for this or is it voluntary? Cause she totally deserves some cash for this." When the teacher ignored her, Carleigh started mimicking him when he was turned away from the two girls. "No kidding, he's the douche lord of this school. Maybe that's his power." she said, smirking.

"Really?" A wreck? It was hard for Carleigh to wrap her head around this fact. Her ego was massive and she accepted the fact. It took determination to get anywhere in life and if that meant becoming a little bit arrogant, that was a-okay. Other people's opinions didn't affect her. Not to mention, it surprised Carleigh to hear Liv say that. She seemed like a fairly confident girl in classes, except for maybe english. "I... people's opinions don't affect me. I know who I am and I'm proud of it. I don't care what he thinks, really." Her voice didn't falter. "Honestly, you seem to give that impression too." She shrugged.

Looking at the clock for a moment, Carleigh met Liv's eyes. "Well, as much as I'd love procrastinating on this and pushing it to the last possible moment, we should probably start today, for my sake." The sooner she learned about chemistry, the sooner her grade could start going up. "I don't even know where you want to start." She watched the other students file out, and even the teacher. It was only the two girls in the classroom now. "I bet he lashes out on us metas due to jealousy. My power is useless but still. Better than none right?" She laughed, shaking her head slowly afterwards.

[Olivia Baker]

"I wouldn't be surprised." She chuckled as she folded her test into thirds and jammed it into her notebook. 

"Really?" A wreck? It was hard for Carleigh to wrap her head around this fact. Her ego was massive and she accepted the fact. It took determination to get anywhere in life and if that meant becoming a little bit arrogant, that was a-okay. Other people's opinions didn't affect her. Not to mention, it surprised Carleigh to hear Liv say that. She seemed like a fairly confident girl in classes, except for maybe english. "I... people's opinions don't affect me. I know who I am and I'm proud of it. I don't care what he thinks, really." Her voice didn't falter. "Honestly, you seem to give that impression too." She shrugged.

"I admire that." she admitted as she leaned back in her desk letting her hair fall over the back of the seat, her next statement made her laugh. Liv? confident. Oh that was something new. "I appreciate that but iiiii don't know about that." She shook her head. "I mean yeah with school stuff and all but socially? Least confident ever.... I mean, I have to admit I really wish I could borrow some of your social graces, it'd make things a hell of a lot easier." Especially with the cluster fuck she'd managed to get into with boys. She didn't know when she'd become such a slut but she could name three boys she'd kissed in the past couple months easily which was A LOT for her. 

"No power is useless.' She assured her as she straightened up and slipped out of her desk to push it closer to Carleighs to make it easier. "You just have to find their particular use and apply it." She smirked "Watch the clock." She said as she took hold of Carlieghs arm, the entire world around them speeding up for 5 minutes. "I can slow it down too... i mean i wouldn't say it's cheating but during a test it definitely helps."

[Carleigh Davidson]

Carleigh flipped open her notebook to a blank page, one without doodles in the margins. It was a boring time killer but still was an improvement compared to chemistry.

"Well, thanks Liv." Carleigh gave her a beaming smile. "Everyone has an inner, confident diva inside. And I can totally help you find it and let it out! Yeah! I would definitely transfer it over to you girlie if I could. There, that would be a nice power. Transferring traits." She rambled. Really, it was so straight forward. "Honestly, the first step is faking it. Pretend it's there until it actually is. You're so beautiful Liv." Carleigh smiled, giving Olivia a reassuring and gentle pat on the forearm. "So beautiful. Go kill'em." She meant guys, of course. "I can tell from the look on your face you're thinking of something. Or maybe someone." She finished with wiggling her eyebrows.

Confused, she stared at the clock on the wall. Awestruck, Carleigh let out a tiny gasp. After her time at Hammel with Olivia, Carleigh never exactly new the entire details of her ability. Then again, Carleigh didn't go around talking about hers openly either. "Woah... that's so cool Liv! Way better than mine. I'd use your power to give myself more time to get ready in the morning!"

Since they were already off the topic of chemistry, Carleigh laughed, finally tearing her eyes from the clock. The way the hands moved, almost giving her a sense of vertigo. "I can sometimes manipulate people... but it's only in their sleep... and it barely ever works." She pouted. "What are your limits? Like can you change time like that whenever?"

[Olivia Baker]

It was truly amazing how Carleigh talked, even now, even after all of that and being stuck doing overtime with a subject she hated, she still managed to stay perky and appealing. What kind of voodoo magic shit was this girl doing? Sure, Liv was a happy go lucky optimist but even she had her limits, like personal blows to her already shattered confidence, but Carleigh, totally unaffected. 

"Everyone?" She repeated not really buying it. "You can go ahead and try to unlock it but I'm telling you now good luck." She laughed "I guess we both have our work cut out for us." She nodded as she talked about the transfer power. That would be awesome, it could also probably be awful though considering how much work it took to control abilities in the first place, give a psychic a kinetic gift and the place would probably burn down, literally in some cases. 

Her cheeks turned red. "I'm definitely not thinking of anyone important." she answered without missing a beat, opening up their text book. The last thing she wanted to do right now was talk about Peyton, or Flynn, or Reece or ANYONE who could possibly be a possibility because distractions were stupid and they were in high school and the boys acted like they were 12 anyway and really weren't that cute. Not at all. It was stupid. 

"I probably should do that." She chuckled, "But then again makeup... I couldn't be bothered and I don't know how some of the girls here survive in skirts and dresses constantly." She shivered "I couldn't. Jeans, I'll stick with those. Comfort is far more appealing to me and who is there to impress around here anyway? No one." 

"What is your power exactly?" She asked raising a brow, she knew of sleep manipulating powers, powers that manipulated people, sleep walking things, hell there were probably even undiscovered ones left to be found they wouldn't know about for generations, Carleighs didn't seem like something she was familiar with. "Oh.. well I can only manipulate time within an hour forward or back at best and it's really just like slowing things down and what not. I can't time travel or anything like that and half the time after I end up passed out in a corner." She laughed "I can slow time down enough to make it seem like it's stopped and move through the space and if I'm really focused I can bring someone through the space as well through physical contact... but I can only handle that for a couple minutes without being totally burned out."

[Carleigh Davidson]

"Everyone." Carleigh repeated with a smile and a nod. "Well Liv, that's a-okay considering that you have to try and teach me chemistry. I think I have the easier job here." She joked, doodling a couple squiggles in the margin of her notebook. So much for keeping it neat.

Carleigh noticed Olivia's cheeks flush crimson, and she smiled. It was always so adorable to see people react or think of that someone special. But, it wasn't her business since they weren't besties yet. "Alright, sure." she replied sarcastically, tapping her pen against the desk. She stared at all of the equations in their textbook with a confused frown. Ugh, none of this made sense. "Oh Liv I am so not ready for this. I know I need to pass but this is.. gah." She referred to the textbook, shaking her head. "Moles and balancing equations... math is bad enough but this is insanity."

"See, I'm the opposite. I love playing around with makeup and different hairstyles." She twirled her finger around a perfectly wavy hair with a smile. Carleigh looked down at her outfit of the day; a denim circle skirt paired with a pair of warm, black tights, black heeled booties and a dark pink v-neck sweater. "Jeans are alright but leggings are super comfy." She countered. Giggling, Carleigh nudged Olivia. "Oh right, sure. There are a bunch of cuties here."

"The technical name for it is hypnotic subliminal suggestion, so I can try to hypnotize people but only when they are asleep. It's super complicated because I can't touch the person among other things. It leaves them in a trance... but it never works and the side effects are bullshit." Carleigh rubbed the concealer off underneath her left eye, revealing deep set purple bags. "Can't ever really sleep." She sighed, nodding. Liv's power was cool. "Besides the side effects.. that sounds pretty cool. I probably sound like a little kid." Carleigh laughed. It was weird, Hammel was a school for meta humans but nobody ever really seemed to talk about their abilities. "Do you have a good handle on the power? Or do you still find it hard sometimes?"

[Olivia Baker]

"it isn't for everyone." She admitted "But put it this way, you only need to know it for one class and then you never need to take chemistry again so don't kill yourself." She wasn't too worried, Carleigh wasn't the type to get bent out of shape about schoolwork as she'd just shown her. "We'll start with the basics and work a little bit over the next week or so. You won't be pulling A's but you'll at least be able to understand what the question is asking and probably be able to get a B or C just on that... honestly half the battle is how the question is worded.. this guys an ass and puts tricks in there on purpose." She said as she rewrote one of the questions on a new piece of paper. 

She chuckled as Carleigh started to grow in excitement talking about hair and makeup and the "cuties" around Hammel. Liv was struggling to keep the blush off her cheeks. "They aren't that cute..." She said more for herself than for Carleigh. She needed to keep her head in the game, away from thoughts of... Reece.

Her brows furrowed as she explained her power and even worse, showed her the bags that were covered up by makeup. "God that sucks.." She always felt bad for the kids with powers like that, she knew Carleigh wasn't alone. "You know... It makes me think you're even more of an alien if you can keep perky and happy and all without SLEEP. I mean the sleep thing has hit me before too... more than once i've tried to give myself more time and ended up skipping a night... but uhg carleigh! No wonder this stuff is hard for you." It was a proven fact that math and science were easier to learn with a consistent sleep schedule. It was why you were supposed to study before bed. 

"Ever try to trance anyone here?" she asked still curious about her power. 

[Carleigh Davidson]

Carleigh watched Olivia reword the question and nodded. "Yeah.. I'm not expecting anything amazing don't worry." She laughed. "A C is totally okay for my standards. Basics are good." She furrowed her eyebrows together in deep concentration, tapping her pencil against the tabletop again. "Hmm.." The gears began turning inside Carleigh's brain. "How do you know when the Douche Lord is trying to trick you? Like... how do you identify what is bullshit and what is actually important to the equation?" she asked, looking up at Liv.

"Psh, yeah right Liv. Unless you're a lesbian... which is totally cool." Carleigh said a little too quickly. Now it was her turn to blush. "But even then you should still be able to appreciate the cuties. Like Reece. Hot damn, that boy can come over anytime he'd like." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. It didn't even cross Carleigh's mind that that could be who Liv was already thinking about. "In town too, like everywhere I go in Pilot Ridge there are older cuties. Like, is it law that everyone here is hot?"

"I was thinking of making an insomnia club. We'd meet at 3am and go out for coffee when necessary." Carleigh joked, though it was a good idea. "I mean, it does give me more time to do homework." She countered, pulling out a tube of concealer from her purse. She dabbed at her eye, hiding her biggest imperfection again. Even with someone like Olivia, Carleigh still felt insecure without makeup. She smiled at Liv. "Aww, well it's just my nature. If I'm in a good mood."

Shrugging, Carleigh let out a small sigh. "Yes... doesn't work well. The conditions have to be ideal and after experimenting, the intended target has to be taken by surprise. So, it's hard to perfect everything. I've successfully done it a few times but I'll probably have to continue training past my teenage years due to how complex and stupid it is. Your ability sounds way better. Not to mention more useful." Like who friggin would go around trying to hypnotize people? "Sometimes, don't you ever.. just wish you were normal? Normal as in not powered? At times, I still feel that way." Carleigh confessed. "But then again I would have never met you or the other awesome people here."

[Olivia Baker]

"I find that underlining the actual question helps." She told her showing her her own test again. "He adds a lot of filler, it's distracting and trips people up more than it does help. Actually, a lot of teachers do that...." She particularly hated it when kids in the class made their way into questions, like Olivia had three oranges, Carleigh ate two, how many oranges does Olivia have? So stupid. 

Liv chuckled as Carliegh talked. Lesbian? No. She didn't even have the chance to respond before Carleigh went on to bring in Reece. Her stomach dropped, was she talking to him too? She pressed her lips together into a firm line looking back down at the paper. They weren't talking though. They were friends, she'd stand by that and repeat it a million times in her head if she had to. If she kept saying and thinking it it was true and it'd make this whole thing hurt worse when Reece did pick Carleigh over her. "Heh... That Reece Morgan." she said awkwardly, mentally kicking herself. That Reece Morgan? God. 

The topic change was welcomed. "You know... I do wish I was normal... often." She admitted, this was a topic that most of them tended to avoid. "Of course I still would want to know all my friends and all that but.... I feel like all of us have suffered from lack of family to a certain extent... at least a traditional one.... I know my family isn't the most pro meta and God if I don't get into NYU?" She shook her head "It's curtains for sure...." She leaned back into her seat, "Granted, I don't think i would have had a normal life anyway. My mom actually homeschooled me for a bit... wanted me to be a ballerina." she chuckled, "I think if I wasn't at Hammel i'd be at some whacked out dance academy or dancing in the corre somewhere." She looked back over at Carleigh, "if you weren't at Hammel where do you think you'd be?"

[Carleigh Davidson]

For a few more minutes, Carleigh stared intently at Liv's test, looking at the difference between what was highlighted and what was not. Argh, it was so hard to tell the difference. Everything seemed the same to her. "So, just highlight the phrase with the question mark in it and ignore everything else?" she asked, highlighting her own test paper for future reference. Running a hand through her hair, Carleigh sighed with frustration.

Sensing some underlying issue, Carleigh decided to drop the boys and Reece subject. Better not to push something with Olivia, as the blonde really liked her. And she volunteered to help her and her pea brain.

"Me too, I definitely wish I was normal. Even just knowing I have some sort of power is... weird." Carleigh admitted as well. "No kidding. Family..." The thought left a sour taste in Carleigh's mouth. Yeah, home was a travelling dad, an ignorant brother and an alcoholic mom. Wonderful family. "NYU? I'm sure you'll get in no problem." Carleigh smiled at Liv. "No way, really?" She had to giggle at the thought of Liv in a tutu and prancing around on a stage. No offense to the girl, but she... lacked the confidence to be a ballerina. Her mom would have been bound to see that one day. "Good question." She thought about it for a moment. "Probably back in California, hating my family as most teenagers do." Carleigh laughed, half joking half not. "Probably just scraping by with grades, partying... the only difference then and now is I could dress for warmer weather."