palette in the moonlight | x-files teen au

i. show attendance and pay attention

Ms Arnis starts going through the list of students attending her chemistry class once again after announcing that she'll be the one to assign everyone a lab partner for this semester.

A good half of the list prays that they'll get paired up with their friend; something that never happens with Ms Arnis's pairing system.

Frankly, Dana doesn't care. She doesn't particularly know any of her classmates, and she couldn't care less about being paired up with any of them for the semester.

Hell, she doesn't know half of their names yet.

Her best friend, Monica, and her boyfriend, John, are in a different class, leaving her with a lot of people who are either unknown to her, or already established idiots.

Either way, she'll probably end up doing all the work.

"Alright, students," Ms Arnis starts, looking down at the highly detailed seating and lab partnership chart, "once you hear the name of your partner, please work out your seating schedule with them. Simple enough?"

She doesn't wait for an answer.

"Alright, let's begin."

Names are called, and students who those names belong to scatter across the classroom to find their partner.

"...Keith Meeks and Randall Baker, Kiara Thompson and Dean Dermott, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, and... Lanie Anderson and Jane Holmvik."

Dana snaps out of her thoughts at the mention of her name, but fails to realise the name of her lab partner. Drifting off in the middle of class wasn't really unlike her.

She turns to the girl behind her.

"Hey, Lanie, did you happen to hear who Arnis paired me up with?"

"Who didn't," Lanie chuckles, rolling her eyes, "It's Spooky Mulder. Have fun, and good luck."

Dana didn't see Fox Mulder much around school. She heard of him more than she saw him, really.

His reputation as "Spooky" comes from his fascination, no, obsession, with aliens and the paranormal.

She didn't even know he was in her class up until now.

Picking up her notebook, Scully looks around the classroom, trying to figure out where, exactly, she should go.

"Lanie, if you don't mind, can you tell me where his desk is?" she asks the girl sitting behind her once again.

"Not at all. Last desk by the row of windows," she replies, just a hint of smugness in her voice.

Scully thanks her and slowly makes her way across the classroom, to the windows.

Lanie wasn't exaggerating. Everybody heard. Eyes showing an odd mix of pity and ridicule were staring at her from every part of her classroom. She sped up her pace.

And she sees him, finally.

He's standing in the corner, by the desk that he, from some reason, moved even further behind everyone else's.

The first thing Scully notices is his wide smile. Cute, in a dorky way. He's looking at her before she can even see him.

His eyes are crinkling at the edges, ever so slightly. She can barely tell, as the edges are almost completely covered by the glasses that are probably the proud owner of the world's thickest frame title.

He cleared out his whole desk, making room for her. She shoots him an awkward, but kind smile as she sets down her books. He replies by, somehow, smiling even wider.

They shake hands, in a friendly, yet professional manner. Miss Arnis said to use this first period to get to know their lab partner better.

As soon as she settles, he starts talking.

Don't be fooled, he's not awfully talkative. He keeps making pauses in his speech to check if she's listening. Because talking to someone who's not listening is like talking to yourself.

It feels awkward when done in public and will definitely ensure your reputation as spooky (amongst other things), and Mulder knows that from personal experience.

Scully cups her right cheek with her hand, relaxing one of her elbows against the desk, trying to looks interested, giving him an occasional nod.

40 minutes pass in a blur, and the bell rings.

"-- and that, Scully, is one of the few methods proven to be efficient against ali-- " he stops once the bell rings, eyes wide open, staring at it for a few moments.

Then, he turns towards her again, giving her an awkward smile.

"Uh, well, I guess that's it for today," he mutters and quickly picks up his books.

Dana does the same, and quickly makes her way across the classroom, towards the door.

"Hey, Scully, wait!" she hears someone shout after her, and turns around.

"Hm?" she looks at her lab partner hurriedly make his way between the desks, bumping into other students and jumping over bags like hurdles along the way.

"Arnis gave us all, uh, worksheets to fill out, and I thought you'd want to have yours before you leave," he pulls out his notebook and quickly flips through the pages, grabbing the folded piece of paper and reaching his arm out to hand it to her.

"Hey, thanks, Fox," she flashes him a warm smile and shoves the crumpled worksheet into her own notebook.

He nods and just as he's about to step towards the door, Scully stops him.

"Oh, and 'Scully'?" she asks as he adjusts his glasses.

"Oh, that?" he nervously chuckles, biting his lip. "Don't know. Just sounds cool."

"Hm," she starts, raising an eyebrow, "I guess it does, Fox."

"Uh -- Mulder... I mean, you can call me Mulder," he replies, scratching the back of his head, "That sounds cooler, in a way, and everyone calls me that, anyway... ish."

"Noted, Fo-- Mulder," she says.

"Well, um, I'll be late for geography, and I bet you've got an important class coming up, too," his eyes drop to the floor, "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Sure," she smiles and he waves a hand at her while she can still see him.

What an odd guy, she thinks to herself.

Odd, but not as spooky as she'd expected.