Life Goes On Part 12
Professor G looked to his watch and turned away from the chalkboard that he had been writing on. With a small smile, he nodded to his students, "That concludes today's lesson. I certainly hope that you took good notes since there will be parts of this class featured in your final exam in two weeks."
There was a low roll of grumbling from the students that he'd expected such a response from. Even if they had been good enough to actually pay attention in class that early afternoon, it would take a miracle for them to score high enough on the exam to pass the course. He smirked, "See you all on Thursday."
As the students gathered their books and backpacks to file from the room, the long-nosed professor grinned to his prized pupil, "Very good to see you're back, Mister Maxwell. I certainly hope that you are feeling better after that episode before the break."
Wincing, Duo glanced in the direction of Solo and his friends in anticipation of the snickers and comments of 'Teacher's pet' that they would normally give in such a situation. He was pleasantly surprised that it seemed as though they didn't even acknowledge the sentiment.
The lot simply finished gathered their things and on the way out, the blonde teenager actually grinned and nodded to the neko in a friendly gesture. The same had happened at the end of all of the classes they shared in common since school returned to session the day before.
His violet eyes blinking in shock, the braided boy turned back to face the equally surprised teacher and smiled, "Thank you, Professor G. It's really nice to be back. Those days of bed rest were killing me."
Chuckling deeply, the old man shook his head in amusement, "I had expected as much from you. I've never known a student to want to learn as much as you do. It's a very refreshing change from the young men and women I am used to dealing with. You actually remind me of myself when I was your age."
He lost the slightly wistful and proud look on his face and asked, "Did Christine get the notes from the classes that you had missed? Besides the two of you, there are only a couple others that actually take notes and listens when I teach. So, I knew she was the best person to bring you up to speed."
Duo nodded, "Yes, thank you. I already went read through them and they're very detailed, so I'll be prepared for the exam along with everyone else."
"Very good," Professor G grinned. "A good rest of the day to you, then."
His smile growing, the neko nodded his braided head, "Same to you, Professor." With that, he stepped from the classroom and out into the long hallway.
Just outside the door, Solo pushed off of the wall that he had been leaning against. "Hey, Duo," he greeted when their eyes met. "I was hoping to have a minute to talk to you, if you're not busy."
Having to ease his shoulders that tensed at the initial sight of the blonde teenager while reminding himself of Solo's apology and request of a truce, Duo gave a tentative smile. "Sure," he replied. "That was my last class for the day, so I was headed to the cafeteria for lunch."
Physically easing at that, Solo readjusted his backwards baseball cap and grinned, "Great. I was headed there, myself, so we could talk on the way there." They fell into step together, side-by-side, as the slightly taller student began with a clearing of his throat, "Listen, I was kind of hoping that maybe you wouldn't mind helping me out with something."
Duo froze in place, turning to the fraternity boy with a mild glare. "I knew it," he frowned deeply. "Your whole apology and saying that you wanted to be my friend was just because you want something from me. Must be a pretty big deal if you even went as far as to get your buddies to play nice these last couple days."
With his jaw dropping, Solo's eyes widened. He never planned on having the other neko catch onto him so quickly. From their discussion the night before classes resumed, he thought to have had Duo wrapped around his finger. Silently cursing himself for selling his enemy short, he shook his head, "No, that's not true." He winced at the glare that heated on him and finally admitted, "Well not entirely."
Sighing deeply, Duo started off again with an almost sad, "Goodbye, Solo."
Quickly running to keep up, the taller neko cried, "Wait! I honestly do want to be friends with you, Duo. But, yes, I do need your help." When he managed to keep up the hasty pace that the braided student set, Solo continued, "I am going to fail three of the classes that we have together. I have to do well on these final exams if I'm going to pass and you're the only person that I can turn to for help. My parents are going to kill me if I return home with even one F as a final grade."
"And what about this 'friendship' deal," Duo asked bitterly, peering out of the corner of his violet eye. "What happens to that after you've used my help and you pass the exams? You just go right back to your old ways and give me a hard time?"
Once again shaking his head, Solo all but pleaded, "Tell me what I have to do to prove that I won't. Just say it."
For a moment, Duo considered as he slowed in his steps until he came to a stop. Turning his braided head to meet the brown eyes watching him, he smirked, "All right. Just stick with me." His long tail curled in anticipation as the blonde boy followed with a curious and almost worried look.
Entering the cafeteria, the brown fur on Duo's ears perked up along with them as he scanned the large room. At finding the two people he had been seeking, he smirked to himself and gathered a tray. Solo followed his lead and they went about getting their meals. When they reconnected, the cat-tailed boy led his 'new friend' to the table that he had spotted.
With a sharp gasp, the blonde teenager stopped a few tables short and whispered, "Not there. You don't really mean for us to sit with them, do you?"
At the table just ahead of them, two of the school's social lepers sat together. Both wearing glasses and with a book opened for them to read as they ate, the two students ignored the ruckus going on around them. Chad Gabriel and Beth Robinson were just two of the school 'nerds' that very few of their peers ever troubled themselves with when it came to actually giving them any attention.
To be associated with the likes such as they were was stature suicide at Wayne. That was, unless, you were Duo Maxwell. The braided neko would befriend any and everyone, including those that the majority of their classmates cast aside. From the top of the status ladder to the very bottom, Duo befriended them all.
Duo turned to Solo and grinned, "Of course with them. If you're going to be friends with me, you're going to be friends with everyone I'm friends with." He raised an eyebrow and commented, "You said to name what it would take to prove that you're sincere. This just the start."
'The start!?' Solo's mind screamed.
Swallowing hard, the blonde neko stared at the pair at the table and whimpered, "But Chad Gabriel and Beth Robinson?" He cast a look to the table across of room that he and his fraternity brothers normally shared.
Just Solo's luck, the four of them were all present, watching him with wide eyes and slack jaws in watching their 'brother' being reduced to sitting in the 'nerd' section of the cafeteria. He narrowed his brown eyes and cast them a threatening glare that sent them quickly turning back to their meals. Unfortunately, many other students were staring at him with the same shock. Frat boys just never socialized with anyone 'beneath' their status.
Duo had certainly named one hell of a test. And from his words, this was only the beginning.
His cat ears twitching in waiting, Duo smirked, "Problem?"
Solo was quick to reply, while turning his head back to his captor, "Of course not. It's just that they're... well... they're ne-"
"They're brilliant," Duo cut him off before he could finish the harsh term. His tone remained sharp in a way of warning not to use such words to describe his friends. "Chad is one of the best business students that Wayne has ever had in its existence. Beth is going to be a very important in the world of medicine when she's finished with her studies and might even cure diseases one day. And they're two of the nicest people that you'll ever meet."
A mischievous smirk tugged the neko's lips again as he asked, "Now, are you going to join us or not?"
Slowly closing his brown eyes, Solo took a deep breath. He willed himself to not think about the eyes that he could still feel on him and with a firm resolve, he moved towards the table first. Duo smiled to himself and followed close behind. All around, gasps and whispers spread amongst the students present when the blond frat boy took the seat beside Chad.
Looking up from his book, his short-cropped brown hair swaying and his glasses reflecting the light in his movement, Chad's green eyes widened with a gasp. "S-Solo," he breathed in a frightened voice. Beth, blonde head snapped up at that, her own blue eyes widening in shock when she looked to one of the brutes that was well known for his insults directed at her and her less than popular friends.
Duo took his seat beside Beth and with a warm smile told them, "Hey, guys. Solo expressed his interest to have lunch with us this afternoon. I hope that the two of you don't mind."
Both Chad and Beth looked from Duo then to each other. With a nervous smile, Chad nodded to their new guest, "Sure. That'd be fine." The pair closed their books and began a lively conversation with their cat-eared friend while Solo stared down at his tray and tried to enjoy his food. Every swallow was forced roughly.
Time went by agonizingly slow for Solo as he listened to the discussion going on at the table for a short while. Through the haze of his wishing to crawl into a hole and die, he heard Beth say, "I think I found a way to get back at my neighbors for the loud music that they refuse to turn down every night."
His interest captured by the start of that story, Solo gazed up to the blonde girl as she grinned, "I poured a concoction that I created in my lab class that looks and acts like baby powder at the base of their door and took a hair dryer to it to pour up into the room and fall over everything and everyone inside." [1]
In shock that a nerd would have been capable of such a clever prank, Solo found himself laughing along with Chad and Duo. "You didn't!" the blonde young man exclaimed. "Why didn't the whole school hear about it by now? Nothing that good stays quiet around here for long."
A pleased look fell on Beth's face at finding that Solo was actually listening and participating in the discussion. "Well, two things," she answered. "First, if they had reported what I did to the RA, they would have had to admit that they were being far too loud for me to have to take action. And second, the concoction only stays for a few minutes before it evaporates completely without damaging anything. They thought it was so cool that I could do such a thing that we called a truce."
Never one to turn down the chance to prank someone himself, Solo found it amazing to hear that a nerd was capable of such a thing. He actually smiled, "How did you manage to make such a thing?" Duo grinned widely at the earnest interest that the frat boy was giving his friends.
Beth's smile grew as she answered excitedly, "Well, it's actually not as difficult as you would think. See, I just took some galvanized salt, sulfuric acid..." As she went on, Solo rested his head on a hand that he had propped up and took in her words with great curiosity.
By the end of their lunch together, the blonde neko was grinning from ear-to-ear at the unexpectedly good time that he'd had. As Beth and Chad left and gave their farewells, Duo smiled to Solo. "Well, you've just earned yourself one night's worth of tutoring," he announced.
Taking up his backpack, the braided teenager moved from the table and called over his shoulder, "Does six o'clock work for you tonight? My place?" As impressed as he was with Solo's performance during lunch, Duo was nowhere near comfortable enough to meet with him unless it was on his own terms. He smirked, "No offense, but just judging from the way you goof off in class, you're going to need as much help as you can get for the exams so be better get started soon."
Solo laughed and threw his napkin at the other boy. "Thanks a lot," he smirked back. Duo laughed and just managed to dodge the thrown, rolled up ball of paper. "Yea," he smiled. "Six would work great. Thanks, Duo."
With a wave, the long-tailed student turned and headed from the cafeteria. Checking the message that he had on his cell phone that he had forgotten to turn back on, he frowned at the urgency in Howard's voice as he said, "Duo, Treize and I need to meet with you at his place as soon as possible."
A quick look at his watch showed that Duo had just enough time to catch the next bus that would get him to the address that was on Treize's business card. All but running, he headed for the bus stop.
* * * * * *
Tears stung Duo's eyes as he looked away from the screen that showed the results of the blood test run from the small sample that Treize had drawn from him at his arrival. After the explanation that he was given by the scientist and doctor at what he was looking at compared to the DNA strands from the blood work results taken from him before his transformation, the outlook was very grim.
Swallowing hard, Duo breathed, "Dying. I-I didn't think that it would be this bad." But the evidence was right in front of him. The strands of his DNA were losing more and more rungs in their structure compared to what they were missing in the initial test.
Howard closed his laptop and knelt before the braided neko with tears in his own eyes as he whispered, "Nether did I at first, my boy. Fortunately, the deterioration is going rather slowly for the time being. If and when it will suddenly pick up before we are able to do anything about it, I just don't know."
With a deep frown of concern on his face, Treize walked up to his patient and rested a hand on his shoulder, "We thought that it was only right to let you know." He bit his lip before saying, "I think, in all fairness, that it's only right that Heero be told about this, too."
"He's right, Kit," Howard nodded, his frown saddening all the more. "That boy loves you. He doesn't deserve to have this kept from him any longer."
Tears ran down the Duo's face as he nodded. His thoughts running together in a way that he couldn't begin to sort them out, he finally heard himself reply quietly, "You're right. Thank you for telling me. I better get back to the apartment now, before Heero gets back from his last class." Howard and Treize nodded while reassuring him that they would do everything in their power to save him.
As he headed back to bud stop, Duo dried his eyes and sighed deeply while resolving himself to what he needed to do-what he dreaded having to do.
He had to tell Heero.
TBC...
[1] I actually went to college with a girl that did this, of course it was with actual baby powder to teach her neighbors to quiet down! It was awesome!!!
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