Chemistry
Vi hated her.
Rich, uptight, stuck-up, Piltie looking mongoose. The only time she had the pleasure of her company was at a party during the summer of sophomore year. Vi was fetching a drink for her friends, Mylo and Claggor, and after pouring a mix of some alcoholic beverages she thought were decent, Vi turned around and something tall and dense bumped into her, causing her to spill the drinks.
"Oh, bloody hell, Lane! You ruined my sweater!" Caitlyn shrieked.
"You bumped into me, Kiramman. It's your own damn fault." Vi grumbled as she pushed herself away from Caitlyn, heading back to her friends. She didn't turn her head back, but she could feel Caitlyn's piercing blue gaze, the thought of it making her jaw clench.
Of course, Vi had seen the Piltie in the halls, or had some classes with her, but she never interacted with her. She knew Caitlyn hated just by the way her face always had a sense of 'I'm better than you' whenever Vi glanced her direction. Caitlyn probably hated Vi cause she was just a lowly Zaunite, who happened to go to Piltover High. The feeling of hate was definitely mutual.
Vi remembered that gaze on her during that party, when Vi was dancing with some girl from her softball team, or when Vi was destroying Claggor in beer pong. Vi returned Caitlyn's intense gaze for second while sipping her drink between dance moves, but the moment their eyes locked, Caitlyn quickly dropped her eyes and continued talking to her friend, Mel Medarda.
...
The RINGG of the tattered school bell brought Vi back to the present as she caught herself staring at Caitlyn who was leaning against her locker with her arms crossed, talking to her friend, Jayce, in the hallways of Piltover High. Seeing Vi staring there awkwardly, Caitlyn seemed to catch her staring and gave Vi a smug look.
She looks so stupid, Vi thought.
Vi grabbed her books from her locker, taking a breath preparing herself for the day.
First day of junior year, let's hope I don't have any bad seating arrangements, and remember, we need to stay out of trouble, Vi thought as she scoffed and walked over to Mylo, who was talking to Claggor in the halls.
Vi, was only here on a athletic scholarship for Varsity softball all she had to do was keep her grades up, which wasn't that hard because Vi was expectational in math and science, and stay the fuck out of trouble. That was very hard for Vi, considering her temper was about as flammable as a gasoline soaked rag dipped in a bottle of vodka.
After saying goodbye to Mylo, Vi walked to her first period class, AP Chemistry, and she sighed heavily as she scanned the room, hoping for a seat next to someone bearable. She quickly scanned for any familiar faces; she saw her friend from middle school, Viktor, who was also from Zaun. But he was sitting next to Jayce Talis, the person Caitlyn was talking to.
Caitlyn saw Vi standing in the doorway, very aware of the empty seat to her left, and prayed,
Please don't sit next to me, sit next to anyone but me.
Vi's mind erupted as she locked gaze with Caitlyn and the empty seat next to her.
There was no other empty seats.
Vi just grumbled as she slowly started to make her way over.
What a great start to junior year, Vi thought to herself.
She plopped her backpack down and huffed as she sat her ass down in the chair as her teacher, Dr Heimerdinger, started greeting the students.
"The seats you are in now will be your permanent spots for the rest of the year. And the person next to you will be your lab partner, so let's hope you aren't sitting next a mortal enemy that will affect the ways of science!" Dr H exclaimed.
Great. I bet I'll be doing all the work, Caitlyn thought with annoyance.
"Now we will start with icebreakers to form a flourishing friendship with your future partner. Ask the person next to you what they did over the summer", Dr H exclaimed again.
Both Caitlyn and Vi both heavily sighed as they slowly turned their heads towards each other in annoyance.
"Spill any more drinks over the summer, Piltie?" Vi scoffed as she stared into Caitlyn's gaze. Caitlyn's eyes rolled so fast Vi barely caught it.
After meeting her gaze again, said scoffed and said blankly, "Why are you even in this class? Aren't you an athlete?"
"Stalker much?" Vi said with a laugh on her face. "And how presumptuous of you, Piltie? I can't be smart and good at softball, right?" Vi exclaimed with an increasing amount of sass.
"Stop calling me that, my name is Caitlyn." The Piltie said sternly.
"Wish I didn't sit here", Vi mumbled under her breath as she turned her body away from Caitlyn, but saying it loud enough so she could hear.
Vi looked at Viktor, and it looked like he was actually having fun with the star quarterback and Piltie's friend, Jayce Talis. This was very strange because Viktor never had fun, unless it was by himself in his basement working on experiments.
"Well, I don't want your annoyance to affect my work and my grade. So either be helpful or not at all", Caitlyn said.
After that, Vi and Caitlyn didn't speak all week.
...
Vi disliked starting the morning with her. It's not like much words were exchanged, but looks and side-eyes sure were. Their eyes played this game of cat and mouse, and neither was sure who won.
Caitlyn was also in her English class, AP Seminar, and fifth period Calculus taught by Mr. Silco, who had one eye and was weird. Luckily, they didn't near each other in those classes.
Their silence broke on a Tuesday morning when they had to do their first lab together and Caitlyn said,
"If you want to be helpful instead of moping around, go grab the bunsen burner while I grab the chemicals." After staring blankly at her for what seemed like an eternity, Vi eventually complied.
When she got back to the table, Caitlyn was already started with the lab by organizing the chemicals and completing the first procedure, yet the scene before her was hilarious in Vi's mind.
Caitlyn had an oversized lab googles and a white dirty coat on, and her brows were furred as she tried to read the methods for the lab. Her dark blue hair put into a messy ponytail with some strands left on the sides.
Vi let out a giggle and said jokingly, "So much for partners" Caitlyn looked upright at her with a confused state. Vi continued giggling but couldn't help that the Piltie looked okay in that ponytail.
"What on earth is funny, Lane?" Caitlyn blurted out.
In between smiles and giggles, Vi replied, "First of all, if this is gonna work, call me Vi, and secondly look at yourself! You look like a nerdy mongoose!" Vi cackled.
Caitlyn broke her gaze, but slowly the curves of Caitlyn's lip went up slightly, but she quickly surpassed it. She couldn't help but enjoy Vi's warm-hearted jokes even though they were directed at her and said with that stupid smile on her face. She could tell Vi lit up a room wherever she went.
"Well we better get started, Vi", Caitlyn said with less intensity than normal. It was almost like she was at a slight ease.
After Vi had touched all the chemicals and almost accidentally burned herself on the bunsen burner. She easily did all the calculations needed for their future lab report, while Caitlyn copied and interrupted the results.
Despite Vi's accident, they worked surprisingly okay together.
As they were packing up their bags for the next class, Caitlyn said hesitantly, "I suppose you'll need my phone number, so we can finish writing our lab report".
Vi shrugged, but gave Caitlyn her digits anyway.
She's only being nice because we are forced to be partners, Vi thought.
But maybe this class won't be so terrible after all..
...
Vi loved her friends, they were like family. Her and Claggor were juniors, Mylo a sophomore, and Ekko and Powder were freshmen. Claggor and Mylo she met in middle school one day when Claggor accidentally threw a basketball at her head, and she almost beat him to a pulp until Mylo intervened. The three of them had been friends ever since.
Ekko was mostly ‘friends’ with her sister, Powder. They met through the foster system when they were both 9, and Ekko got adopted by Benzo, a dear friend and coworker of Vander, their adoptive dad.
Her and Powder were sisters, through and through, they were always with each other, even when they were worlds apart. Vi’s childhood had been rough, her parents died in a car crash when she was 7 and Powder was 5, so most of her tween years they were moving through foster care. Until one man, Vander Lane, a firefighter, took them in for good. Because of his job, he works long hours, but he loves them all the same. Everyday Vi knows how lucky she is.
After lunch with Mylo and Claggor, Ekko and Powder, Vi headed towards her locker to grab her books for English class, when she got a text from her girlfriend , Clara.
Clara was a girl Vi met at a party during the summer, and after some flirty compliments and vodka, the rest was history. Clara didn’t go to Piltover High though, she went to Zaun, but lived close to Vi. They only really saw eachother on weekends, because both were extremely busy. Vi never had a girlfriend before, but it was nice.
The text read, “ Hey, wanna hang tonight? My parents are gone all night ;) ”
Vi smirked and tried to type out a quick reply when suddenly her shoulder collided with the same dense muscles from that sophomore party. Her books splattered everywhere and she dropped her phone, but before she could look up to see who it was, the familiar voice said,
“Oh my gosh, I am sosorry”.
Of course its her thats bumping into me , Vi thought.
They both kneeled down to clean up the mess off the floor, muttering to themselves in annoyance, and tilted their chins up and meet eachother’s gaze.
Caitlyn brows furrowed a bit when Vi said,
“We have got to stop meeting like this. It's become an annoying habit.”
They moved in silence as they were cleaning up Vi’s paper and books, but when they both went out to reach for Vi’s phone, which had the texts between Vi and Clara open for the whole world to see, Caitlyn found her trying to read the texts when their fingertips grazed for a split second, and they returned eachother’s cold gaze. Vi then quickly grabbed her phone and shut it off before anything embarrassed popped up.
What am I doing? I don’t care about Vi’s personal life , Caitlyn thought, shaming herself in her actions.
"You have English next with Dr. Singed, right?” Caitlyn asked trying to forget what had just happened, as they finished picking up the mess in the halls.
Vi nodded as they both stood up and continued down the hall together in silence until they reached the door. Vi opened the door and make a silent gesture for Caitlyn to walk in first. Caitlyn flashed a polite smile in return, and then Vi followed her into the classroom.
But when they entered the room, Dr. Singed abruptly stopped lecturing his class on Moby Dick and keeping his head towards the chalkboard he deadpanned,
“So nice of you ladies to finally join us. Unfortunately, I do not tolerate late students. You both have detention after school.”
Caitlyn gasped dramatically and said quietly, “But.. But we were only five minutes late, sir!” She stubbornly crossed her arms while Dr. Singed gave them a hard stare as they took their seats.
Vi took her seat next to Claggor, who asked her,
“Why are you late with the Piltie? Something going on?”
“It’s nothing, “ Vi huffed as she pulled out her notebook to start class.
...
After school, Vi walked to detention only to find that her and Caitlyn were the only ones in there besides their gym teacher, Ms. Ambessa, apparently also the detention supervisor.
Ms Ambessa didn’t look up from her steamy romance novel to tell Vi, “Don’t talk and do your homework or whatever”. She then put headphones on and continued reading her novel.
Can’t believe I have to miss pre-season practice for this and I don’t want to be late to see Clara, Vi thought as she sat down in a seat a bit away from Caitlyn
Caitlyns blue eyes followed Vi’s movements as she sat down and mumbled loud enough for Vi to hear it, “Can’t believe you got me into this mess, Lane.”
“Oh, calm down its not like you’ve never had detention before, princess”, Vi replied.
Shocked by the rude pet-name, Caitlyn scoffed, rolled her eyes, and whispered back,
“I haven’t! You broke my perfect record!”
Vi turned around to face her and pointed as her as she whispered back with a smirk on her face, “Remind me again, who bumped into who?”
Caitlyn then rolled her eyes again and returned to the work in front of her. Vi pulled out her calculus homework and finished it in record time. After that she got pretty bored and started doodling in one of her notebooks. She glanced as Caitlyn who was, with a very focused look on her face, reading Moby Dick.
Her scribbling must of gotten pretty intense because Caitlyn threw a eraser that hit Vi in the back of her head.
“Ouch! What the fuck” Vi hissed and she turned around to face the Piltie.
“Stop your extremely loud scribbling. I’m trying to focus here” Caitlyn said in a hushed tone.
“Focus on what? That terribly confusing book about a stupid whale?” Vi said, a little louder this time.
“Its not completely about the whale, Violet. Its about Ishamels journey and the lessons he learns along the way… Also be quieter I don’t want get in trouble again!” Caitlyn whispered harshly.
Vi glanced over at Ms Ambessa, who was blasting HOT TO GO by Chappel Roan in her headphones and intently focusing on her steamy novel.
“I think we will be fine. Whatever we are talking about is less interesting than the smut shes reading.” Vi said back.
“And thats cool I guess… about Moby Dick I mean..” Vi stuttered as Caitlyn’s eyes never left her gaze. “I um.. English isn’t my strong suit.” she said quietly breaking her eye contact with the blue haired girl.
Chill the fuck out, Vi. Its just some rich bitch who happens to be your lab partner. Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?
After a couple mintues of long silence, Vi grabbed her chair and turned it over to face Caitlyn and flipped the chair backwards and straddled it with ease. She then pulled out a deck of cards.
Caitlyn’s eyes flickered up as she did this, watching her in awe. She quickly cleared her throat and tried to focus back on her book.
Get a grip, Caitlyn.. Its just Vi Lane. She hates you. But she couldn’t think that that action was extremely hot.
She stole quick glances at Vi as she was playing cards with herself. She couldn’t help but look at Vi who was was so focused on her game, and look at her calloused hands as she effortlessly shuffling the cards and placing them in the right position.
After a couple games of Solitare, Vi noticed Caitlyn’s gaze on her,
“Something wrong, Kiramman? Am I being too distracting?” Vi smiled as she gave Caitlyn a playful smirk.
Struggling to find any Engilsh word at first, Caitlyn then gulped and said, “No.. um. You are not.”
“Do you want to play?” Vi asked, her smirk not leaving her face.
Caitlyn glanced at Ms. Ambessa and decided to put her book down and sit next to Vi.
After a intense games of Texas Hold ‘Em, with Caitlyn completlyin dominating Vi every round, Vi had enough of it.
“I quit!” Vi said. “How’d you get so darn good at poker?!”
Caitlyn chuckled quietly watching Vi get so frustrated, but then quickly returned her cold gaze.
“My mother and I used to play after dinner every night” She said, not showing an ounce of contentment.
The RIINGG of the bell ended their silent staring contest as Vi shouted, “Finally!”. Vi quickly packed her bag up and ran out of the classroom, ready to go to see her girlfriend, Clara for the first time in weeks.
Caitlyn, walking down the outside steps of the highschool, saw Vi getting on her motorcycle in the parking lot and zoom away.
"Typical", Caitlyn scoffed under her breath.
Remembering that her and Vi have a lab report due tomorrow, she quickly pulled out her phone and searched up Vi’s contact and texted her.
Do your part in the lab report tonight, Lane
After that she got into her black SUV and started the drive home.