Title:
Different
Part: Chapter 1/?
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Not telling ^^ (well okay I sorta am)
Warnings: School social structure generalizations (Goths vs. Jocks), angst, Hilde POV
Hikaru's notes: I wanted to do a story about Heero
and Duo from Hilde's stand point, not as a potential
lover but as a sister since I have yet to really read one of those.
Now on with the story!
Chapter 1: The Assignment
Well, since Duo and I were the same age, it only made sense that we would be in
the same grade, after all, we had met in first grade. So it goes without saying
that of course we would have a few courses together. English, gym, and Biology
II were the three classes we ended up sharing our junior year. While English
was fun because of a way kick ass teacher by the name of Mr. Lockwood; and gym
exciting because I was almost always on the same team as Duo; Bio II was pure
and unadulterated torture scheduled for an hour and 32 minutes every other day.
The proctor for this form of capital punishment was a man by the name of B. P.
Thorpe (Duo called him "Butt Pain" Thorpe) who was runner up for head
of the science office in our school.
He was notorious for making strait 'A' students fall to the 'B' mark with his
nit-picking grading style and assignments from hell. This year was no different
as seeing how the highest grade in our class was a 79.4 held by one, Heero Yuy,
jock and jack ass extraordinaire. He was captain of the varsity basketball team
and one of the only two my brother couldn't beat on the court. We were also
forced to share our gym class with him, who Duo termed "Mr. Perfect Ass
Wipe." I think it's safe to say that my step- brother wasn't very fond of
Heero.
My brother held a 79.3 and let me tell you, it drove him nuts to be a fraction
of a point below the class' resident jerk. Myself, I was stuck at a firm 74.5,
not even the massive assignment Thorpe was about to assign us would really move
me much.
"Congratulations class," our teacher drawled in an attempt to gain
our attention. It more or less failed.
"Today we will begin the project that will determine your grade for this
quarter, and quite possibly this semester. And to make it make it more worth
your while to do your best, any finished project that gets an 'A' will
automatically receive an 'A' for the quarter, regardless of your grade
now."
A few groans sounded from the class, myself included.
Like anyone would get an 'A' on a Thorpe project.
Thorpe waited till they died down before continuing, "It will be the DNA
project I covered briefly when we went over everything at the first of the
year. As you well know, since the project is so long and involved, you will by
working in pairs."
At that, I felt there was a chance of acing the project as I looked over the
two spaces between Duo and I to catch his eye. He grinned in acknowledgement
and I was about to nod and smile when I heard the words that guaranteed hell
for the next three weeks.
"I have taken the liberty of choosing your partners to ensure the best
quality of work."
"Best Quality of work," yeah right. Duo must've thought so as well
because I heard him choke back a snicker.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one who heard him, "Mr. Maxwell, since you
think this is so amusing, why don't we start with
you."
My step-brother gave Thorpe a haughty smirk in response, "Hit me with your
best shot." [1]
I didn't think it was possible to wipe to wipe that smirk from Duo's face as
fast as our Bio II teacher did, "You, Mr. Maxwell, are paired with Mr.
Yuy."
I looked over at Duo in time to see him pale three shades and turn one shade of
baby puke green. Heero's ever present scowl became even darker, which was one
thing I never thought possible. His girlfriend, queen of pink, and head of the
cheerleading squad; immediately spoke up with some useless protest.
"Ah, Miss Darlian, thank you for volunteering to
be next; you are partners with Miss Schbeiker."
"Why me," I muttered before sliding down in my chair. Even though I
was a prep, spending my time with Relena
Darlian was not high on my list of priorities. In
fact, spending time with the clingy cheerleader had once been the premise of
one of my nightmares. Although, maybe something good could
come of the arrangement. She was giving me a glare that was worthy of
her boyfriend. Ah yes, I could definitely use this situation to make her
miserable. A little payback for those "Dyke" comments and her goading
that always persuaded her groupies into giving my brother hell.
Mr. Thorpe must have finished calling out pairs during my musings because he
was ordering us to go sit by our partners. I reluctantly gathered my belongings
and went to take the seat Heero had previously occupied next to "my favoritest person in the whole world" [2]. Yeah, I may
have had a plan to use this situation to torment Relena,
but that didn't mean that I was looking forward to being saddled with her.
Well, lucky for Relena and I,
one of her groupies by the name of Sally ended up sitting next to her, so I got
to do the little preparatory lab without speaking to her once. Unfortunately, I
got to do the lab alone. Halfway through the class, I spared a look towards my
step-brother and his partner. By the looks of things, he was having even less
fun than me. I don't know what tipped me off, but it could've been the sneer on
Duo's face as he wrote down the results or Heero's glare o' death as he ran the
lab.
Before the end of class, Relena gave me her cell
phone number so I could call her about the project. I was shocked! She actually
participated, a little. I gathered my stuff together and jammed her number in
my pocket, fully intending to "lose" it in the washing machine later.
The bell rang, and I ran towards the door in an attempt to catch up to my
brother so we could eat lunch together.
"Hey Duo, wait up," I cried out, relieved when turned around and
waited, albeit impatiently.
After finally catching up, I took one look at the scowl on his face and smiled
mischievously. I knew I shouldn't have asked, but after sitting next to the
gossipmonger of the junior class for a whole period, I couldn't help myself,
"So how'd go with Yuy?"
His glare was so perfect, I couldn't stop it; I broke down laughing. And I
laughed my ass off.
By the time I'd recovered, he replied, "I'll tell you about it after we're
seated."
So once we reached the lunch room, I made my way over to our usual table where Quatre was already seated with homemade lunch of pasta
salad and a bagel turkey sandwich, complete with a thermos of unsweetened ice
tea. God, it must've been nice to have 29 older sisters to baby you. The only
mother figure I could remember having was Duo's mother, Helen.
About five minutes later, Duo emerged from the kitchen area of the lunch room
juggling two Caesar salads, a large size fry, a double cheeseburger, some
plastic forks, and a stack of napkins. After setting his cargo on the round
table, he slid one salad over to me a fork with some napkins mixed in. With a
cheeky grin, he removed two cans of Pepsi from his coat pockets and passed one
to me.
"So." I looked at him pointedly, "What
happened with Heero?"
Duo's scowl returned with a vengeance, but before he could answer, Quatre burst out with, "Do you mean the hunky captain
of the varsity basketball team, Heero Yuy?"
Duo raised an annoyed eyebrow.
"God, Cat! I swear, you get the biggest crushes on the worst guys,"
he said as he spared a look at the "jock table" where Trowa Barton sat.
Quatre ducked his head to hide the blush that crossed
his cheeks.
"Anyway," Duo started, "I've been stuck working with that
asshole, Yuy, for practically a whole month." This was said for Quatre's benefit of course.
"Seeing as how we have to cooperate for the time being, I tried to make
nice and say, 'hey, bygones are bygones, so let's start over and pretend we
don't wanna rip out each other's guts.'
"Well, Heero Yuy, being the complete ass wipe he is, decides to make fun
of my talents with the black eyeliner by commenting that I 'look like some
faggot freak from the 1980's trying to look like an ancient Egyptian queen.'
With a straight face, mind you! I mean the nerve of that asshole!"
Quatre was on the floor, he was laughing so hard. I
took one look at Duo's eyes completely outlined in black. He had even drawn a
black tear drop on his just below the outside corner of the right one.
I shook my head and smiled, "I told you that you were overdoing it one the
makeup!"
Duo gave me a look that would make a mountain crack in two. But what really
scared me was when it was replaced with a decidedly evil smirk/ sneer.
"Oh yeah, Heero's coming over after school, since he doesn't have pratice today, to discuss the project and to get started on
some of the worksheets. Maybe he'll bring his girlfriend, Relena,
along and we could all work together. 'Specially since
she hates being separated from Heero for more than a few seconds at a
time."
I think I turned a rather unappealing shade of green. After
school with both Heero and Relena? God, and I didn't even have pratice
to delay my presence because my sport wasn't till next season!
Quatre giggled hysterically as the storm clouds over
my head definitely began to darken.
[1] What he says is a title of a Pat Benatar song
from the 80's. I love her music and I couldn't help having a reference,
especially since to perfect opportunity arose!
[2] Yes, I realize "favoritest" is not a
word. I'm trying to make a point about how childish the cliques are and just
how much Hilde can't stand Relena.
Hikaru's other note: Duo is a Gemini so that was why
I gave him an early June birthday in the last chapter. And don't disagree with
me on this, I'll send you the personality profile for a Gemini myself!
Astrology's a little hobby of mine. I'm too lazy to figure out what Hilde is so I made her a Cancer. She kinda
seems like one and it fit my purposes, so for this story, she's a Cancer.this note was supposed to be in the last chapter,
but I forgot about it, so bear with me on this, k? Sorry!
The project they are working on is one that I actually had to do my junior
year. It was a pain in the ass! We had groups of like
Thanks for reading! See ya next chapter!