Introduction to Chemistry., a simple introduction post.

[Cowan Wilson]

'Welcome, Class. My name is Mr Cowan and I'll be taking your class for the rest of the week. Your teacher is unwell and will be able to work again soon.' Cowan said, as he wrote his name on the board and a short list of the tasks that were assigned for Monday.

'Periodic tables? Check.' Cowan picked up the small pile of paper from the front desk and handed them out the table to class.

'Today, we will be learning about the periodic table. Luckily for you, this will only be an introduction. There is alot that can be learned from this seemingly simple table.'

The introduction of Chemistry to the Yr10 class did seem to shock some students. "What is this!? He is lucky he is cute or I'd attack him." That thought didn't surprise him. After a life of listening to the things that pass through peoples mind he began to see that everyone was a little crazy.

[Darcy Kerwin]

Dark eyes regarded the new teacher sleepily. 'Wonder where Mr Duncan is...' A large yawn split the face of the teen and she covered it with an outstretched palm. Ugh, I really need to sleep more in the night...' Something near impossible with a vampire living in her closet. Not that she didn't trust the young bloodsucker, he just had a tendency to wander in and out, bringing the live prizes of his illegal poker games mewling with him. 'Whoever decided kittens as a viable currency obviously was hit one too many times with a dose of Merl to the head...'

She looked at the page the new teacher handed them wearily, it was a periodic table, something she had seen countless times before, more recently by her own will in an effort to understand Merldot's ability to cool air into liquid.

Ignoring the other members of the class' horrified expressions and the occasional muffled swearword she let her mind wander to the other young witches of the town. 'I wonder what Matt's doing...' Her head nodded sleepily and she let her eyes close. 'One moment won't hurt right?'

A world of swirling colours and bright lights invaded her mind, like the gaudy casinos she had seen on late night TV, it was the underworld as her subconscious mind pictured it, complete with tri-headed showgirls with actual feathers and scales, not just the cheap outfits prostitutes squeeze into in an effort to tempt those of the opposite gender, and the same depending how accepting they were.

Another moment and she was dead to the world, her head resting on the page in a picture of innocence, quite the opposite of what was running through her subconscious mind.

[Cowan Wilson]

'Elements within the first column of the Periodic table typically have a charge of positive one, this is explained by the valency. They have a positive one charge as they're likely to lose an one electron and be electron deficient. This means that it does not have a total number of electrons to make the element neutral...' Cowan was explaining the basics of the Periodic table to the class as odd thoughts started to enter his mind.

Kittens as a currency? He soon made the assumption that whoever was thinking this up was either high, or sleeping. I doubt it's the later. What now? Showgirls, and prostitutes? Cowan went around the room as he spoke to identify the dreamer and did so with a ruler in hand. 'The pattern is as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, -3, -2, -1, and 0...'

Once located, he acted swiftly. SNAP! The ruler came down on the table with a thunderous clap. Wake up!

'Pay attention,' straightening up 'this is important.'

[Darcy Kerwin]

"No!"

Darcy woke with a shriek and pulled her fists up to defend herself against the demon with a gun. Blinking warily at the class full of eyes turned on her she moved her attention to the man standing in front of her. She had fallen asleep in classes before, but she usually awoke after a few moments, so this was the first time she had ever been caught.

"Sorry Sir..."

She let a rush of blue swirls spin across her legs to release some of the tension and embarassment, the long green pants covered her legs so no one would be able to tell, and it was a far better way to relax than breathing slowly. 'Isn't like he could have woken me up nicely... Geez, for all he knows I could be dying... Speaking of the dead, V had better the hell not be getting kitten goo in the laundry again... 'sides I already read this section of the textbook anyway"

The slight lack of respect was not really in character for Darcy, but she was tired and cranky, so with an exadurated attentive face she picked up a pen and copied the valencies across the top of the page. Just to be a little obnoxious she also picked out three colours and coded the table in the shape she knew well, pink covering the main of the left hand side, skipping Hydrogen, then yellow filling in the semi-metals, with blue taking up the remainder of the boxes including Hydrogen. As the final moot point she carefully scribed 'G' and 'L' on the relevent gaseous or liquid elements.

Shoving the page to the top of the desk she put her head in her hands and closed her eyes again. 'The intelligence level of this class should keep him occupied enough for a while so I can rest... But no more sleeping!'

[Cowan Wilson]

Cowan continued around the classroom, the ruler had been warning enough. Kittens in the laundry? Some students were paying more attention now that they knew he was watching them. It was a scary thought to think that he could demand so much from just one snap of the ruler. It was not normally his style, but he has some pet-peeves that really set him off.

'Do I have to warn you of the consequences for sleeping in class, Darcy?' He turned around while heading to the front of the room to see that the student appeared to be falling asleep. Heading over, 'I really don't care if you think it is ok just because you have coloured the table. There are offer things to be revised in this lesson.'

[Darcy Kerwin]

Darcy stared at the man insolently, half the class hadn't even got their books or pens out, it was ridiculous to single her out just because she'd been asleep.

"No Sir no explaination neccisary,"

She was starting to get more angry, rather than just cranky

"however, if you've got a few moments, perhaps you could highlight the reasons why all of a sudden it's vitally important for me to do over and above what you would have spent all lesson trying to smash into these thick skulls?"

Her tired mind was washed by a wave of adrenaline, like a blast of coffee or energy drink. It was suisidal to challenge a teacher, especially a substitute 'He started it' The thought was childish, and not entirely true. 'he could have at least handled it better... Self-centered jerk...' She curled her lips into what she hoped was a convincing enough smile.

"What else was it Sir that you wanted me to do, sing? dance? juggle? 'cause right at the moment they're probably all more likely, I mean, come on... I'm leaps and bound in front of half these people and even if I wasn't, I'd catch up anyway."

She knew there were worse things in the morning than obnoxious chemistry teachers... Demons, broken arms or snoring Vampires ranked among them, but this, right now, was what she was annoyed about. Mr Duncan would have let me sleep, or woken me up nicely, don't know what got this bloke out of bed on the wrong side... Ugh, I shouldn't have come, another sick day wouldn't kill my record.' another yawn, this one not even bothered to be covered and she stared at the board... this was going to be a long day.

[Cowan Wilson]

'It is important to do the work, and to actively participate, even if you appear to already know the course. Your peers are actively listening. If you would like, you may go and explain why it is that you think all your peers have thick-skulls to the Head of Science.' He looked to his watch, 'Class will soon be over.' Cowan kept calm and appeared almost apathetic as he left and went back to the front of the room.

'You will find that your homework tonight is to balance some simple chemical equations using what you learned today. Remember the valances of each element in the reaction. In the next lesson we will quickly cover the answers and explain some laws of conservation that make it possible to balance these equations,' he spoke to the class. 'as well as applications in explosives.' He added a quick smile as the bell rang.

[Darcy Kerwin]

"Your peers are actively listening."

Darcy raised her eyebrows and looked around the class. Two boys were playing coin-soccer, watched by three or four of their mates. One girl was writing a visibly floral love note, the swirling flowers and stars discernable from where Darcy was sitting towards the middle of the back. She could also see a phone or two clutched beneath the desk and one girl was blatantly painting her nails, waving them gently while waiting for the pungent liquid, a horrid green, to dry. 'You have got to be kidding me...'

"If you would like, you may go and explain why it is that you think all your peers have thick-skulls to the Head of Science."

Darcy blinked

"Erm, Sir, not to be disrespectful, but thickheads is the regular name for this class among the teachers, according to Mr Duncan at least... And have you met Mr Needham? Even if I could pull him out of that book for long enough to explain what's wrong, I'd have to start right at the beginning and explain that he's actually a teacher, and that students are these odd creatures he's supposed to look after"

She gave a snort, the homework was tedious, but not hard, and her record for handing tasks in would mean that even if she didn't hand this in, it would still be her first warning for science. 'Hmmm, applications in explosives, that might actually have some worth to it. She quickly scribbled the page numbers into her book. It was worth attempting them if there was nothing to do. She might as well, if only to prove to the obnoxious new addition that she knew what she was doing.

She glanced at the clock as the bell rang 'that went faster than I expected... maybe this week won't be so bad, if all the lessons go this fast. I'll even put up with cranky-Mc-grump-face if it makes the lesson shorter. Beats listening to the same thing get repeated time after time' She wrinkled her nose at the teacher as she packed her books into her bag. It wasn't liking, it was more a slight respect, or lack of it. This was it, it was on. It was nice to have a target who seemed just so deliciously... Human. With her broken arm the Demons seemed a little much, and fighting took a lot of energy out of her. 'Intellectual battles, or this locking of the metaphorical horns is good, little energy and it get the blood pumping, far better to hate and feel good about it, than to sit back and watch the boring world go by.'

[Merldot Grey]

The bell rang and Merldot swore even louder than he had been the entire run through school. Lacking a car was still new to him and this whole running thing wasn't getting any easier. Well this would be interesting, he had chemistry next, having completely run past his previous lesson of HSIE, he would catch up on it, for now he was focused on getting to a class at all before he died. To think he had almost done a job on that house on the way, then he'd have been even later. Oh well, it struck him as not quite as important as, say, learning, that wonderful thing most people did. As he recalled he had chemistry right after Darcy, in the same lab. Well that was all he needed, that little tramp breathing down his neck, or was that not the phrase? He didn't care, did she even know how old he was?


'Bit of a slut if you ask me. Well I didn't did I? I guess you didn't, but I put it forward anyway. You really piss me off sometimes. Chill out dude.'


He had barely even woken from his trance of thought, a bad habit when one is running at high speed, when a door opened right in front of him. With no time to stop Merldot froze the door, and, in fact the room, before it could fully extend. He had arrived at his destination, well that was good. Unfreezing the room he didn't even bother with the odd look the guy gave him from the doorway. Obnoxious year ten numbskull. On their way out a few of the boys in the class were smiling broadly and almost yelling in glee, mentioning homework and explosives. Dropping his bag and unzipping it MDG pulled out his gear for class and shouldered through the crowd, no, flood of people leaving the room, eyes averted, remembering to give them all a gentle thousand volts or so on the way past. There was a sub in the room, odd, nevertheless he moved to his desk and sat down. "You taking nine science as well or just ten? For that matter who are you, and why would you teach explosives and the use of chemistry within them to a bunch of retards, anarchists, self proclaimed punks and general 'cool dudes'?"


'We going to stay for the lesson? You kidding, second the moron takes the roll I'm freezing the room and leaving. For a whole period? Sure why not? Subtle... Profitable is more my style.'

[Cowan Wilson]

I wouldn't really call it active listening, maybe suggested listening...

"It was nice to have a target who seemed just so deliciously... Human ... Intellectual battles, or this locking of the metaphorical horns..." Cowan was excited and still a little annoyed that a student would try to target him in a form of intellectual battle. At least it would have its merits. The battles would add some spice to the lessons. 'Baby-sitting has become a little more fun.'

'You present some interesting arguements, Darcy. But, do the homework and do try to pay more attention.' He gestured for the Yr10 class to leave as he made preparations for the next class, Yr9 Science. Ouch! What was that? .. A build up? He would look into it later as it appeared a student was trying to get his attention.

'I am Mr Cowan, and I will be taking this class as well. Today, you will be looking into some geology. You will be covering some theory on Continental Drift.' The rest of the Yr9 class lined up outside of the room, waiting for all the students in the previous lesson to leave and to be gestured into the room. 'I think you should have waited outside with the rest of your peers. Don't worry, they will be coming in soon.'

' I wonder how long I will be stuck here, in this job? ... Teens, don't you love them?' Cowan looked out the window closet to the front desk with a shy, thinking back to the time he had just out on the city limits of Goulburn. It had been in an attempt to escape the thoughts of Goulburn's many residents. Distracted from his day dream, one of the few students that were slow to leave asked him a question.

[Darcy Kerwin]

'You present some interesting arguments, Darcy. But, do the homework and do try to pay more attention.'

Darcy rolled her eyes slightly but decided that the rest of her arguments could wait until next chemistry lesson, she also made a mental note to double check on the melting points of oxygen and hydrogen when she had some time. It was almost worth a trip to the library, if it wasn't blocked off for an undisclosed period of time because of a 'gas leak' she had her doubts, but was yet to find Matt and question him, it was almost like he was avoiding her.

Swinging her bag onto her back she paused as Merldot entered the room, and a little flutter swept through her stomach. Flutter here having the meaning of a wave of electricity zapping through her.'With this amount of electrolysis it's a surprise he has any hair at all.' She smiled at the younger boy and gave a slight nod of her head in his direction as he plopped into a chair and questioned the teacher, in a less-than-fully-respectful-tone.

"Morning Merldot."

Darcy grinned, it looked like the new guy was going to have an interesting morning, two students with a stubborn streak in a row, well nothing like a test to see if he would hold up to the position, a public school was no place for a weak teacher who couldn't handle a little opposition now and then. It would do him good.

Darcy held in a squeal of laughter at the word 'peers', there was something just too amusing about the idea of the slimy, rude, plain old human year nines outside being on the same level as the powerful witch with the tousled hair. She had the strange impulse to flatten it actually, especially that little bit right over his ear. A question from the nail-polish girl jolted her back to the classroom and she shrugged the feeling off. Merldot was a person, not Shadow. She couldn't just pat him whenever she felt like it.

Glancing at the girl who was openly flirting with the teacher she pulled a face and left. 'Ah, a study, so much time so little to do...' She walked past the row of year nines and raised her eyebrows at them. They were muttering among themselves about something but she wasn't sure what. With a disinterested shrug she dumped her bag and pulled out a notebook, flicking through the pages she found her timetable and stared at the little box filled with grey dots.

Study, Library 1, Mrs Geeves

With a frown she headed over to the office for direction. There was no way she could sit her free period in the library if it was closed... Tricky.

[James Luskal]

ooc. too lazy to change profiles.

”Bye Darcy.” He responded to the girl as she left the room, he was beginning to hate her a lot.

Merldot waited as the group of morons and sluts walked in, sat down and got out their respective distractions, a few of the more intelligent ones actually getting out their books. If there was one good thing about the class, it was the fact that no one wanted to talk to him, they all said he was emo, or something, just because he preferred the company of himself to them. Well he would have a tiny bit of fun before he left today.

'Open seat two back and one left, two in the back row and one on the far right middle. Fun.'

Merldot smiled at the teacher, the Cowan guy, and froze the room. Calmly picking up his bag and moving seats to the one back and to the left, and unfroze everything again for a second before repeating the process, this time to the back row in the left corner. Another second pause and smile at Mr Cowan and he froze everything again.

'This is going to be hilarious.'

sitting in the seat on the far right in the middle MDG again unfroze the room and waved to the teacher. before freezing it again, moving to the back row, two desks off centre. Another second or so of room activity and he froze everything again, moving to his original position. This time when he unfroze everyone the room was filled with odd mutterings and he gave himself a satisfied grin before refreezing everything, marking his own name off the roll and leaving the room, releasing everyone when he was just outside the school grounds. Stripping out of his uniform MDG sat on the low brick wall, shorting out car batteries as people drove past him, and draining the ones in the parking lot.

[Cowan Wilson]

‘GET YOUR ARSE BACK TO CLASS.’ Cowan had realise a student had left the class prematurely, even before the lesson had actually started. He sent out the mental message as a wave that may have been accidently sent to all within range.

Now that he had focused onto the particular student, ‘Your attendance can be adjusted you Lil …’ Cowan wasn’t entirely sure if he should swear to a student, even in a mental message. The temptation was there, but realised that he was taking on the insult to education too personally.

‘Now. Class, the principles of geology we’ll be covering today are simple in respect to the complexities you’ll later realise in further study. So, pay attention’ He spoke as he suppressed the urge to chase down the student that had mysteriously left the classroom, completely evading the class and himself. ’Twenty dollars says that he does it for the attention? Little shit… And the class is clueless.’

[Darcy Kerwin]

Darcy stared at the office lady. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could almost hear the newer teacher, Mr Cowan, yelling at her to get back in his class. Just her luck to have him for a double period. Even worse as she wasn't expecting it.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

The woman looked a little frazzled, apparently this was not the first study since the library was out of action and she had her speech down pat. Still the little wisps of hair escaping from her restrictive bun and the slight whine in her voice gave her stress away. She was not a woman who liked disorder.

"Please just go back to the classroom where you had your last class. Give the note to the teacher and sit quietly, without causing any trouble."

Darcy inspected the green post-it note again. It had come from a stack of identical notes, her name and the date filling the provided space in her own scrawl. 'Darcy Kerwin, is unable to study in library this period, please allow him/her to sit in on this class and study quietly. Regards" Even the signature was neat, precise, like it was done by a machine. Darcy sighed.

"Oh, alright."

Shouldering her bag and avoiding the others in her class lining up for their own little green note she pushed her way out of the office and padded down the abandoned hall. The faint smell of sweat, sneakers and cheap ink leaked its way up from the ground near her feet and she wrinkled her nose. School halls, for all the bustling and shoving and jolting, smelt so much better when it was fresh sweat and clean skin, the occasional waft of shampoo or deodorant. Far better than the old-sock scent that littered the deserted corridor.

Dumping her bag outside the classroom she yanked a notebook and her English novel from her bag. A quick knock silenced the classroom which rumbled in that strange way year nine classrooms always do. Entering quietly she passed her note to the teacher with a twisted grimace.

"Me again Sir, but this is actually my sleep-period so... you know"

[Cowan Wilson]

'Study would be prefered.' He read over the note and directed to the back of the class room, 'You can sit at the back and do your study.' Looking over, he saw that if any more student were forced to come back that they may be some interference with the lesson. 'I guess I will need to let her sleep.'

The lesson progressed rapidly though the students were forced, in a way, to complete simple diagrams in there books and make notes on each. 'I hope that you all understand, and can visualise the waves. It helps to also understand an analogy, like a water ripple,' 'I wonder if the class has realised yet? Hmm.. Not my place.'