Weird Science

Cordelia paused her lesson as she was so rudely interrupted by the door creaking open. At that point her eyes flicked over to him, giving him a piercing glare and nodding at his apology. It was hardly accepted; it was obnoxious to just walk in her class so late and disrupt everyone else. Just because he didn’t want to learn didn’t mean she was going to deprive everyone else.

Turning her back to write on the board was probably a bad idea. Though she could hear a desk moving, she did her best to ignore it and continue to write formulas and explanations, intent on finishing this lesson on time. She wasn’t going to stop just because kids were fooling around.

However, when a pencil fell at her feet, Cordelia’s entire body froze. Her blue eyes trailed down the board, down to the tray where various colored markers lay, down the white wall and finally to the tiled floor. Her eyes closed with a white flash of anger as she took in a deep, albeit rough, breath. Her fingers clenched around the red marker to the point where it almost looked as if she wanted to break it. She found the cap on the tray with ease and snapped it onto the marker before whirling around, her gaze fixating on Evan.

Perhaps she was rushing to conclusions to immediately blame him, but what more could she do? He was one of her most troublesome students and she knew that whenever he was in the vicinity he would be causing some sort of mischief. She almost wished that she didn’t have him as a student, considering what he did and how terrible he could be.

“I’ve run out of witty things to say, that’s how much you act up,” she said with a frustrated sigh, walking over to the door and pulling it open in one quick movement. “Hallway with me, now, unless of course you would prefer a more painful punishment.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, her stare seeming to grow more and more icy as the moments passed. She leaned against the door, one hand on the handle and the other on her hip, one leg sticking out with her foot tapping impatiently.

Cordelia rolled her eyes at how long it was taking him to get moving. She didn’t see why he was packing up his papers and his bag, considering he was going to go right back in that room and stay after class with her. He’d get to stay after and have fun cleaning up stuff, feeding her plant, and basically do all the stuff she didn’t want to do. And she was going to give him a cramp in his hands and then force him to write. Oh, yes. This would be fun.

Laughing quietly to herself as he walked out into the hallway, she gave the class a warning look before slamming the door shut. She continued to lean against it, blocking the small, rectangular window so that no one could see what was happening outside. She knew that students liked to know what happened when others got in trouble. It was some instinctive thing that she didn’t understand, but she didn’t care very much either.

“You know that deep down, deep deep deep down, in the blackest pits of your heart, that you really love and enjoy me.”

An eyebrow raised as she stared at him, not very impressed with that excuse. It wasn’t even creative! The least he could have done was blame someone else so that she could point out every reason that it had to be him. To be quite honest, Cordelia was actually surprised that he had confessed and taken responsibility. While that was admirable, what he had done wasn’t and she didn’t appreciate people fooling around in her classroom – especially when there was a dangerous plan and a poisonous spider in there.

“Slater, I’m getting sick of this,” she said, staring at him icily. It was a pity that he wasn’t shorter than her so she could stare down at him and act as if she was going to swallow him up with her meanness at any moment. “Everyday it’s something with you! You’re really a burden, you know that? Why do you even show up to my class when all you do is disrupt and put others at risk? And no, Evan, I don’t enjoy you. Hell, maybe I would if you weren’t such a pain in the rear, but no! You have to go and make a fool out of yourself in front of everyone.” She sighed, folding her arms over her chest. “Why is that? What’s your problem? What, some mental trauma that you can’t get over and you have to take it out on me?”

She rolled her eyes then, not sure if she even wanted to hear whatever he had to say. It wouldn’t excuse him and would probably only serve to push her further and further over the edge.

“Oh, and by the way, you’ll be staying after class with me,” he added, just so he didn’t think he was off the hook.

“And I'm getting sick of you automatically assuming anything that goes wrong in that room is my fault!”

Her eyes flared when he talked back to her like that. Her hands balled into fists and her right hand fell to her hip while she stuck her left index finger right in his face. “That’s because it is your fault!” she shouted. “Don’t you talk back to me when I know better. Your other little goons might think it’s funny in there, but that’s because they’re just as stupid as you. You’re seventeen, for goodness sakes, grow up!” Cordelia didn’t know what she had to do to get through to him. She knew that somewhere, deep inside him, he had potential, just like any other kid. She couldn’t force him to listen though or to do what she asked, even though she wished she could. Why couldn’t she have been granted with mind control instead of pain infliction? Oh, well.

“continuous torturous labor under the hand of a cruel authority figure who shall remain unnamed.”

He was really trying to push her buttons. Still, the idea of torture brought a small smirk to her face. He thought what she had already put him through was torture? He hadn’t seen or felt anything yet. Without a word she concentrated on his chest, and with any luck there would be just a dull ache there in time. If somehow he didn’t feel it, then it wasn’t too big of a deal. She could always put him through other forms of torture, though she had yet to think of some. Still, she was resourceful; she would end up thinking of something in time.

“… but at least we could try to make this bearable.”

At that, Cordelia laughed and shook her head. That was the most amusing thing he had ever said to her. “It’s not me making this unbearable, Evan,” she said. “You’re the one who constantly makes the decision to get yourself in trouble. Maybe if you actually did what you were told, we wouldn’t have to have this discussion everyday.” She was right, of course – she was always right. Even if she wasn’t, there was no reason for him to repeatedly disobey her.

“By the way, your plant didn't seem to think Seamus was all that interesting.”

He didn’t. Cordelia’s haw fell slightly due to shock. She had heard the desk moving, but she hadn’t realized it had been toward the plant! She stared at him, trying to form words and failing miserably. Finally she closed her mouth, not even sure what to say to him. How could he be so stupid?! “I knew you were a damned idiot, but not a murderous idiot!” she finally exclaimed. “You do realize that plant eats meat, right? I know no one likes Seamus, but come on; if he got killed I’d get fired! I’m sure you’d like that, but you’d probably get put in jail for murder and then the whole school would get sued! Are you that stupid?!”

“And yet here you are, taking every chance to cause pain to your students day after day. You know I'm smarter than to actually put someone's life in danger.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes at his tone of voice. She didn’t understand what he was so angry about when all she had done was assume and tell the truth. Of course, she had over assumed this time and that probably warranted an apology. She wasn’t going to apologize, though; she never said she was sorry to anyone, unless it was done to mock them. “Well, if you’re smart at all you don’t act like it,” she said. “And you shouldn’t tempt that plant at all. It can reach for food if it needs to.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “You really don’t get it…” She shook her head, not going to elaborate on that.

“Anyhow, I think these people deserve some laughter after what they've all been through, don't you?”

It was shocking how quickly his moods changed. Cordelia wondered for a moment if he was bipolar, but quickly dismissed the idea. It wasn’t like she could do anything about it if he did, after all. “After what they’ve been through?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I'm sorry, Ms. Brooks, for being a complete arse in your classroom. It won't happen again.”

Again Cordelia rolled her eyes, looking away from him for a moment. “Not even sincere,” she said, frustrated. She did this day after day and no change ever happened. Evan never behaved and it was truly saddening that it had gotten to the point where he had this memorized. “Get back in there. We’ll talk more after class.” With that said she opened the door, standing there and holding it open for him.

In due time class was over, and by some miracle, Cordelia had actually wound up finishing the lesson for once. Once every student had left the room except for Evan, she grinned and put her hands together, bending her fingers backwards to crack her knuckles. Her right hand fell to her hip then and she tapped her left index finger against her chin, looking around the room to find something for him to do.

“Let’s see…” she said quietly. “What can I make you do without me possibly getting fired?” Cordelia laughed at the idea. She knew there was no way she could get fired, since in her lovely opinion she was the best science teacher this school had ever had, but she had already gotten in trouble multiple times for using her power on the students. She walked back to her desk and picked up a manila folder, thumbing through the papers to get some ideas. She did have a few things planned out and written down, should anyone act up too badly, but she wanted to come up with something new for Slater. After everything he had done in her classroom, he deserved something new and creative to pass the time by.

Most of the things she had written down were far too violent, though. Sighing, she threw the folder down, a few of the papers flinging out and onto the floor. She chose to ignore them and instead looked at Evan, walking over to him. “Using your powers isn’t allowed, by the way,” she said. “Not in my detentions.” She grinned, then sighed inwardly, a tad disappointed with herself. Usually she was good at coming up with ideas and new ways to make her students suffer, but today didn’t seem to be one of them. Oh, well; it wasn’t that big of a deal. She still at least had her powers, which she was so very grateful for, and Evan had yet to experience what they felt like.

“Only one allowed to use powers in detentions is me.” She laughed and grabbed his arm lightly, though she knew from the past that it probably wouldn’t feel light at all. Touching wasn’t necessary for her powers to spring into action, but she liked too sometimes to keep the kids from going anywhere. It wasn’t like they could, after all the pain she could do to them, but it still made her feel powerful. She concentrated a little harder, hoping the pain would feel like his arm was being ripped right out of its socket or from his body. She looked at her other hand, gazing at her nails nonchalantly and humming quietly to herself as if this was nothing.