Archive of Our Own

I assume it is natural for parents to cry on their child's first day of school. However, this usually happens when the parents are human and the child is five. I am sixteen, and until today I attended school on Vulcan.

Spock stands before his parents with a book bag slung over his shoulder. It is his first day at a school on Earth; he had read up on the “human high school experience”, and he believes himself to be quite well versed in what school is going to be like on Earth. After a small nod from his father and a reassuring pat on the arm from his mother, Spock strides towards the school with two long steps when a bus speeds past only inches away from his face. He stumbles back a step, turns and gives a small tip of the head to his parents in an indication that he is in fact, fine, before he steps onto the curb and into his Earth school life.

The first thing Spock notices is the chaos on the front lawn of Starfleet High School. Teenagers bumping into him left and right without a single acknowledgement that he was even there, boisterous laughing accompanied by pushing and shoving in a seemingly non-belligerent manner, and what appears to be a group of grungy looking students stomping something. . . flaming into the the ground. It is becoming clear that the quiet society that he had grown accustomed to on Vulcan was exclusive to the planet.

Spock makes his way through the hallway, finding his classroom not soon enough. The chaos outside left him feeling ruffled, though he was successfully managing to keep it under his Vulcan control. He looks around at the students sitting around the classroom and, unsure of what to do, he approaches a girl standing near him at the front.

“Hello, I do not know if anyone has told you about me but I'm a new student here-”

“Talk to me again and I'll kick your ass.” The girl cuts him off, her eyes rolling as she took a seat at the desk before him. Spock looks at her for a moment, deciding it is best to simply sit quietly and approach the teacher at the end of the period. As he moves to sit in the empty seat next to the girl he notices two students giggling his direction a few seats back. A clean cut student with a parted haircut and light eyes, leaning in close behind a grungy looking student with a light dusting of scruff on his face, messy hair and dark eyes. When it becomes clear Spock's intent is to sit beside the girl, the gruff, muscular looking boy sitting in the seat closer to him shakes his head.

“Ya don't wanna sit there. Her boyfriend is gunna sit there.” Spock momentarily notes the playful eyes, crooked smile, and southern accent, when he finds himself being pushed aside by a short kid with glasses held together with tape. The boy sits and immediately leans in to meet the lips of the girl, who had just moments before brushed Spock off, and he finds himself raising an eyebrow at the sight. After a few more tries to sit with that southern drawl guiding him through the problems with the few open seats around he crashes into the teacher, hot coffee spilling over the both of them.

“I apologize.” Spock murmurs as he begins to help clean up scattered donuts. The woman waves his apology away.

“It's fine, It's fine.” She began to remove her soaked sweater, undershirt lifting along with it to leave her bra exposed to the whole room. Spock notices quickly, eyes a little wide as he tries to bring the shirt back down.

“Ms. Chapel?”

A short man steps through the doorway, large black eyes blinking. He stops in front of the teacher with questions evident in his expression. “Is everything alright?”

Ms. Chapel manages to bring her shirt back down and Spock moves to stand to the side of the classroom. Green blood rushing to the tips of his pointed ears in an embarrassed flush was not something he wanted to display to the entire class.

“Yeah, fine.” Ms. Chapel huffs, obviously frazzled. “What can I do for you Principal Keenser?”

The principal nods as if he suddenly remembers what it is he had come there for. “There's a new student here, moved all the way from Vulcan. Name is Spock.” He gestures toward Spock who lifts his hand in a small human wave.

The rest of the day passes in a rush, Spock caught in a whirlwind of high school rules that the books did not prepare him for. He gets chastised by his teachers for things like reading ahead and going to the bathroom without permission. And the cafeteria. . . the cafeteria was like stepping into a new dimension. So many teenagers grouped together into tiny microcosms that Spock did not know how to navigate to find where he would fit in. The loud conversations that attacked his sensitive ears were all topics that he could not entirely understand, most notably “did you see nipple? it only counts if you saw nipple.” Nevertheless, Spock ended up eating in a bathroom stall.

The next day, Spock arrives to class a few minutes earlier than he had before and quickly slides into the seat next to the scruffy student who had been the only one to even talk to him the day before. There is a shine and a smile in his eyes as he watches Spock settle into place. Then, the more proper looking student in a form-fitting red shirt smiles at Spock.

“Is that your natural hair color?” The thick Scottish accent wraps around the words as they enter Spock's sensitive ears. He quirks an eyebrow. “Yes.”

“It's gorgeous,” He leans in close to press his head to the side of Spock's head, “See? This is the color I want.” he poses for the slightly unshaven gruff kid.

“This is Scotty. He's almost to gay to function.” The kid in front teases with a smile pulling at his lips.

Spock dips his head in acknowledgement, “Nice to meet you.”

Another student Spock doesn't know approaches behind the two students across from him, sliding past desks to get to his seat. “Nice wig McCoy. What's it made of?”

“Your mom's chest hair!” He retorts, not missing a single beat with that accent on his lips and coloring his words, “I'm McCoy,” he shrugs.

“I'm Spock.” He responds, nodding slightly to fill the silence as the two continue to watch him. “Do you know where room G14 is?” Scotty pulls the schedule from Spock's fingers and reads it with McCoy. “Health, room G14.”

“G14. . .” McCoy murmurs as he looks on at the schedule, “I think that's in the back building.” he says more to Scotty than to Spock, “We'll take ya there.” They turn back to him with two smiles and Spock senses beneath his carefully built barriers a hint of relief at the assistance, and deeper down, at the contact with another being at the school.

When home room ends, Spock treks behind McCoy and Scotty across a wide athletics lawn while he answers questions about his schedule and academic background, “Ew. Twelfth grade calculus? Why?”

“I enjoy math, as it is the same everywhere you go.” Spock shrugs with his eyes trained on the ground.

Scotty stops and watches Spock's back as he follows after McCoy, “That's beautiful.” He murmurs, a small number of tears welling in his eyes.

“Where is. . .the back building?” Spock says slowly, looking for a building that was no where to be seen.

“It burned down in 1987.” McCoy lazily smiles up at Spock and pats the grass for Spock to sit.

“Will we not get into some sort of punishment for this?”

“Don't worry we won't get ya into trouble. We're your friends.” The relaxed look on McCoy's face makes a feeling of. . .warmth rise in Spock's chest. They sit easily on the grass, and a cool breeze passes with few leaves passing by the two staring up at him. Spock wonders if this is what humans call 'a sign from above'. He lowers himself onto the ground with long legs folding beneath him and briefly wonders what he is missing in health class.

[Don't have sex. 'Cause you will get pregnant. And die. Don't have sex in the missionary position, don't have sex standing up, just don't do it. Now, everybody take some rubbers.]

Probably nothing of importance. He shrugs, when a class of students flood onto the soccer field.

“Oh my god will you look at Pavel Chekov's gym clothes?” Scotty exclaims, his gaze focusing on a student that Spock didn't know but assumes is the short curly headed student with his gym shorts hiked up and shirt cut into a kind of tank-top crop-top.

“Of course the plastics are all in the same gym class.” McCoy grunts, and takes a moment to lift his head from the pad he is drawing on to examine the students.

“What are 'the plastics'?” Spock asks, looking back and forth between his new friends and the class.

Scotty looks to him the way a teacher would to students, “Teen royalty. If starfleet high school was US weekly, they'd always be on the cover,” Spock nods and scans his knowledge of Earth facts for anything that could indicate what Scotty is talking about. He concludes that he will have to settle for assuming that they are at the top of a social hierarchy of some sort.

“That's Pavel Chekov,” McCoy points and Spock follows the direction to rest his gaze on the previously mentioned student with curly blond hair trying and failing to catch a football, “he's one of the dumbest kids you'll ever meet. Scotty sat next to him in class last year.”

Scotty nods with a tone of sass on his lips, “he asked me how to spell orange.”

McCoy turns his gaze to a Japanese student talking on a phone, “that one? That's Hikaru Sulu. He's totally rich because his dad invented toaster strudel.” Scotty turns to Spock with the same teaching tone as before in his voice, “he knows everything about everyone,” Spock internally winces watching Sulu get hit in the head by another football before falling to the ground, “that's why his hair is so big. It's full of secrets,” Scotty nods with wide eyes.

McCoy laughs at that before his smile fades, eyes narrow as someone catches his eye. “An' evil takes human form in Jim Kirk. He might look like your typical selfish back-stabbing slut-faced ho-bag, but in reality he's so much more. How do I even begin to describe Jim Kirk? 'Cause he's the queen bee, everyone knows things about him. . .”

[[“Jim Kirk is flawless.” “He has two Fendi bags and a silver lexus.” “I hear his hair is ensured for 10,000 dollars.” “I hear he does car commercials. . .in Japan.” “His favorite movie is varsity blues.” “One time he met Zephram Cochrane on a shuttle, and he told him he was pretty.” “One time, he punched me in the face. It was awesome.”]]

Spock's eyebrow inches closer to his hairline. Jim Kirk seems to be. . .interesting.

“And most importantly,” Scotty sighs with a roll of his eyebrows, “he's always Spring Fling King.”

“Most importantly?” McCoy squints at Scotty, not believing that out of everything Jim had done the thing Scotty feels is most important is that he is Spring Fling King, “Whatever. Here, Spock,” He passes a large sheet of paper from his sketchbook to Spock, “This is a guide to everything you should know 'bout Starfleet high, and MOST IMPORTANTLY,” he glances at Scotty who just stares at McCoy with faux annoyance, eyes squinting and lips pressing into a line, “a guide to the cafeteria.”

Spock hadn't known that human high school has so many unspoken rules. On Vulcan the rules had been to attend the lessons and absorb the information, go home, study, sleep and repeat. “Why is this so important?”

“'Cause each table is divided by cliques, an' what clique you're in kinda determines where ya stand in the high school social hierarchy,” Scotty crosses his arms across his chest, one hand moving to wave around with his words, “Of course you should pick one based on your interests, but at the same time consider how that will define you to everyone else.”

“It seems illogical to be so concerned with others' opinion of me.”

Scotty and McCoy simultaneously shrug, “No one ever said Earth high school would be logical,” McCoy shakes his head. “Anyway,” he points at the various tables on the map, each one labeled while he goes through and explains what each clique is. “Ya got your varsity jocks who're the football stars. Burnouts, ya know those kids who smoke lots of weed and generally don't go ta class much to hang out somewhere and smoke weed,” Spock's eyebrows begin to furrow in the middle as he tries to keep up with the explanations and simultaneously process the illogicity of such students. “Desperate wannabes, those kids who wanna be popular and try hard but they just don't quite get there, sexually active band geeks, like those kids who made out right in front of ya yesterday. They're like that 90 percent of the time, even in the cafeteria. Let's see, the greatest people you'll ever meet,” Scotty and McCoy grin as they gesture to themselves, Scotty placing a hand on his waist and the other in the air in a flashy type pose, while McCoy puts both hands on his hips in a pose that Spock recognizes from his research into the superhero phenomenon of human comic books. “An' the worst,” McCoy suddenly becomes serious as the words drip off his tongue like he ate something bad, “The plastics.”

When it comes time for lunch and Spock is determined to sit with his new friends in an effort to not be alone in this chaotic world of social rules he has no idea how to navigate, he is stopped directly in front of the plastic's table by none other than Jim Kirk himself.

“Hey why haven't I seen you before?” He says outright, staring directly at Spock's face. Spock is unsure of whether to stop or ignore them and keep walking, but he also is not about to do something to make himself hated among the students. It seems like something the plastics can do to him based on what McCoy and Scotty had described, and he does not want his high school days to be miserable. He is well trained in Vulcan emotion control, but he still feels that it is best to at least attempt to make it through the high school experience 'in one piece' as the humans say.

“I just moved here from Vulcan.” Spock explains, glancing quickly at McCoy and Scotty who are waving him over.

“No way. Vulcan huh? Interesting. But, you're like really hot,” Jim smiles at him. Spock is slightly taken aback by the response.

“Thank you?” Spock doesn't intend for his words to rise in tone into a question, but none of his emotion suppression techniques had prepared him for all these twists and turns.

Jim's mouth lifts on one side into a smirk, “So you agree? You think you're hot?” Spock's mouth opens and closes but no words come out, when Jim Kirk fills the lapse in conversation with more of his own talking, “I love your eyebrows. Where did you get them done?”

“They are my natural eyebrows.”

“That is so fetch.” Sulu nods and smiles at Spock when Jim scoffs at him, “What is 'fetch'?”

Sulu's eyes widen as he tries to validate his own response, “You know, it's like, slang. From England.”

Jim rolls his eyes and hides his mouth from Spock as he leans toward Chekov and then Sulu. When he turns back to look directly at Spock, Spock is unable to tell if the gleam in those blue eyes is something that he should be afraid of. “We don't do this often, but we want you to have lunch with us everyday this week.”

“I-”

“Great! It's settled then,” Jim interrupts, leaning back in his chair, arms crossing over his chest. Chekov beams at Spock with a bright smile.

“On Wednesdays we wear pink!”

“Jim Kirk does not seem to be too bad. Perhaps the appropriate word is 'sweet'?”

Spock stands in the middle of the bathroom with McCoy as they wait for Scotty to finish up in the stall. McCoy gapes at him, “Jim Kirk is not sweet; he ruined my life!” his voice raises, though it is clear he is attempting to exercising a great deal of restraint.

Scotty emerges from the stall to wash his hands, glancing over his shoulder to the others, “he's fabulous but evil.”

“Why do you despise him?” Spock asks with a tilt of his head.

“What do you mean?” McCoy huffs, scowling.

“You seem to really despise him.”

“Yes. What is your question?” McCoy looks at Spock as if he is speaking Vulcanese and cannot understand the words coming out of his mouth.

“Why?”

Scotty steps over to them to stand by Spock, “Jim started this rumor that-”

“Scotty!” McCoy shouts and Spock imagines that Scotty would have startled just as he is internally, though when he doesn't Spock assumes shouting is a frequent reaction from McCoy, who scoffs loudly, “Shall we not?! Anyway, you should take them up on their offer, sit with 'em for the week an' tell us all the shit they say. It'll be like an informal experiement.”

“Perhaps if it is for science it will be alright,” Spock hesitates, but the excited expressions of his friends, particularly McCoy's, convinces him that it would be okay for a short while, “do either of you have anything pink?”

McCoy eyes Spock like he isn't serious and holds his hands out by his sides, grungy flannel over a white t-shirt and loose jeans supposedly indicating a point, “no.” Scotty butts in almost immediately with a grin, “Yeah!”

After the morning filled with learning high school social rules and attempts to understand the reasoning behind said rules, Spock feels a wave of relief sitting in math class. Finally a class comprised of logic. He internally sighs. That is, everything is focused and making sense until the girl in the seat in front of him turns around, long ponytail swinging with the motion and the sharpest line of eyeliner he had ever seen, turns to him, “do you have a pencil?”

Spock doesn't know what's coming over him as he nods blankly and passes a pencil to her. His mind spirals a little out of his own control, only able to process that he thought she was quite attractive. To be specific: quite cute.

“Spock?”

Spock snaps out of his thoughts with wide eyes, quickly filling the silence of the room with the correct answer. He sighs a little and exhales quietly, mentally 'patting himself on the back' for what he imagines McCoy would call 'saving his own ass'.

At the end of class, a young Orion woman approaches him, “Hey, I'm Gaila. I couldn't help but notice that you're pretty quick with the numbers. We need another person on our mathletes team to qualify for the spring tournament. Let me know if you're interested. We want to get jackets.” She winks at him. Spock's eyebrow raises at the proposition and he nods in response. Perhaps it would be a suitable activity, it is a subject that he is incredibly comfortable with.

The next day Spock sits in Scotty's button up pink shirt next to Chekov at the table, Sulu and Jim across from him. Jim gets up to get more food and Sulu leans forward with a sly smirk on his lips, “So have you found anyone yet that you're interested in?”

Spock looks up from his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “Am I supposed to?”

“There has to be someone who has caught your eye. You can tell me, I'll definitely keep it a secret.”

“There is a girl in my math class who is attractive-”

“Who, who?” Sulu and Chekov both lean in closer as if the distance between themselves and Spock will affect the information.

“Nyota Uhura-”

“No!” Sulu exclaims, “You can't like her!” Chekov nods his head, “Yeah, no.”

“No?”

Sulu sets down his fork and folds his hands on the table. “Uhura is Jim's ex-girlfriend. They dated for, like, a year before she broke up with him.”

“I thought he broke up with her for Carol Ma-” Chekov interjects, his accent thicker in his haste. However, Sulu responds by cutting him off with a raised palm, “Irregardless! Exes are off limits to friends!” Spock mentally adds the rule to his high school notes under: 'complexities of human relationships'.

At the end of the day, Spock walks quietly across the campus passing the athletics fields on his way. He glances over, curious about the sport being played when he spots Uhura from across the field. She smiles kindly at him and waves, and as he lifts his hand to return the gesture, a purring engine approaches behind him and Jim Kirk's voice breaks through the quiet moment. He turns to find Jim, Sulu, and Chekov are staring at him from the car.

“Get in loser, we're going shopping!”

After being stuck at the mall for two hours observing loitering high school students gathering to 'hang out', Spock finds himself being dragged to Jim Kirk's house. It is massive, at least twice the size of his own. He finds himself wondering if perhaps wealth had some correlation to high school social status as he is lead inside.

“Hi Mr. Pike, this is our new friend, Spock,” Sulu gestures to Spock and he dips his head.

“Christopher Pike, Jim's dad,” He waves cutely, “If you need anything at all feel free to ask!” He claps his hands together. “I'm not like a regular dad, I'm a cool dad. Right Jim?”

“Please stop talking,” Jim states in a way Spock is sure would normally be considered quite rude.

“Why don't you go on upstairs and I'll make you boys a hump day treat!” Pike smiles and begins to remove things from the refrigerator.

The boys make their way upstairs to Jim's room, which is massive, consistent with the rest of the house, “Your room is quite large,” Spock murmurs, looking around.

“Yeah,” Jim states as he flops backwards onto the huge bed.

The door opens and Pike enters the room with a tray of margarita glasses filled with what Spock assumes is a fruity juice. “Happy hour is from 4pm to 6!”

“Is there alcohol in this?” Spock asks quietly. Pike's eyes widen, “Oh god honey no,” he leans in closer to Spock's sensitive ears, “Why, do you want some? 'Cause if you're going to drink I'd rather you do it in the house.” Spock shakes his head, eyes even wider than Pike's.

“Hey, remember this?” Sulu excitedly reaches for a pink book sitting on one of the many shelves as Pike leaves. Chekov runs to Sulu to look over his shoulder, “Oooh yeah, the burn book! Haven't seen this in awhile.”

“A burn book?” Spock asks. He's beginning to think he won't be able to start a single sentece on Earth without it being a question, human culture is infinitely more complicated than he had prepared for.

Jim pushes himself up to sit on the bed with his elbows, looking intently at Spock, “Yeah we put pictures from the yearbooks into the book and write stuff about the people in the photos. Like stuff we hear through the grapevine, you know?”

Sulu sits down with Chekov and Spock in tow and they all look through the book together, “Oh yeah, Hoshi Sato made out with a hot dog,” Chekov manages to get out between giggles. They flip past a few more pages and finally the book is opened to a page with a photo that makes Spock gasp so quietly only he himself can hear it.

“Leonard McCoy: Homo.” Spock notices how Sulu's words over each sound with a kind of contempt.. He has a slight twinge of a feeling that he may have gotten himself into more than he is equipped for.

Jim points at a picture with no caption, “Hey who is that?” Spock's eyes go to the picture and his gaze rests on Scotty's face. “I think that is that kid Scotty,” Sulu says, his tone questioning.

Spock nods, “He is almost too gay to function.” A bark of laughter spills from Jim's mouth, “That's funny. Put that in there.”

Spock's expression, if his face was more outwardly expressive, would have fallen. Perhaps it is only acceptable when McCoy says that. . . the sinking feeling returns to his chest.

That Friday Spock goes to visit Scotty and McCoy at the all-natural beauty product store McCoy works at. The shop has little foot traffic, so the three pass the time by listening to Spock's findings on the plastics.

“. . .Therefore I thought that Mr. Pike had given me an alcoholic drink, though it ended up being fruit juice. He did offer me actual alcohol after however. There was also a book, a pink book where they write things down about people at school.”

“Whoa,” McCoy and Scotty both lean closer to Spock, “What does it say about me?” McCoy questions first.

Spock illogically feels the ground beneath his feet begin to crumble. Years of meditation to build mental barriers, hone his powers of focus, and create an emotionless expression currently battling with his desire to not hurt his friends. Vulcans do not lie, though humans can occasionally be a little hazy on the matter. His human side seems to be screaming loudly at him. “You're not in it.”

With a harsh exhale he crosses his arms across his chest and scowls into the distance, “Those bastards.”

Scotty gesticulates wildly, pointing across the store, “It's Ms. Chapel! Look!” The three turn towards the front of the store and see the blond turning a jar of moisturizer in her hand. When she finally looks up towards them, recognition crosses her face and she grins.

“Hey, I didn't know you worked here,” She says as she approaches the counter. McCoy purses his lips and nods, “Moderately priced soaps 're my callin'.”

“Are you shopping?” Scotty asks, leaning lazily onto the counter.

Ms. Chapel points over her shoulder to the front of the shop where a grungy old man decked out in leather glances over to them while holding a bath bomb, “I'm here with my boyfriend.” Scotty, McCoy, and Spock all simultaneously raise their eyebrows. “Joking.” Chapel clarifies, “sometimes adults joke.”

“Sometime my nana takes her wig off when she's drunk,” Scotty shifts his weight to his heels.

Chapel smiles sweetly, “your nana and I have that in common. Well, I'm off to work. Gotta make some money to buy these moderately priced soaps.” The three wave her way as she leaves.

“So Spock, how's your grasp on human culture comin' along?”

“It is unclear whether I will ever truly understand the complexities of human interaction.”

McCoy laughs heartily, swatting Scotty's hand away as he reaches past him to touch the cash register, “Honestly, I don't even think humans will ever truly understand the complexities of human interaction. Don't give up though, it takes time. Besides, you got Scotty and I to guide ya,” He winks, “How 'bout you join us for the time honored teenage tradition of watchin' a movie tonight?”

“That is acceptable.”

“I'm surprised ya are so thrilled,” McCoy drawls his head propped up on his hand as he leans into the counter, “never expected such an outburst from a Vulcan,” he smiles and stares at Spock for a long moment. Scotty looks between the two with raised eyebrows before he finally settles for staring at McCoy with his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

Spock's head tilts to the side, “I do not see where I have ever had an outburst in any of our interactions.”

McCoy rolls his eyes, “I'm just sayin' I'm glad you're comin'.”

Spock sits on the floor of his room finally beginning to sink into a deep meditation when the phone rings. He picks it up off the receiver and answers with a hasty 'hello'.

“I know your secret,” Came Jim's voice over the other end.

“I apologize, to what are you referring?”

“I know you like Nyota. I mean, it's no big thing. But you should know that all she cares about is school and her mom and her friends.”

The distance between his eyebrows closes and a little winkle of confusion appears, “Is that bad?”

“If you like her whatever, I can talk to her if you want. But aren't you mad at Sulu for telling me? It was a pretty shitty thing for him to do.”

“Perhaps it was 'shitty', however I am not angry. I assume he just enjoys the attention.”

“See Sulu? I told you Spock isn't mad.” Spock's eyes widen when he pieces together what exactly is happening. Sulu's voice comes across the receiver, and he sounds appalled. “I can't believe you think I like attention!” Sulu scoffs and hangs up. Spock can somehow hear Jim smiling on the other end. “Well. Bye! See you tomorrow,” he says and hangs up. Shaking his head, Spock eyes the phone and sets it back on the receiver.

Spock goes through the next weeks without a hitch. As expected he excels in his classes and continues to examine the complex lives of the plastics. McCoy and Scotty privately foster a close relationship with him, so much so that Spock considers them to be his 'best friends' to use an Earth term. Scotty develops interest in a certain 'engineering wiz' grows over time and Spock finds himself interacting more with Trip Tucker to determine if he likes (or even knows of) Scotty. He himself had found out Scotty's interest one evening when they had managed to obtain alcohol illegally with McCoy's fake identification card and had played a game called 'truth or dare'. Spock and Scotty attempted to determine if McCoy had any interests of a romantic nature. McCoy however had a gift for being evasive, he and Spock without fail had ended up arguing every time, the topic at hand forgotten.

On the topic of Spock's romantic interests, over the course of the semester it does progress albeit slowly. Though Jim had given his blessing of sorts, Spock could not help but remember Sulu's advice about not dating the exes of friends. He does not attempt to engage Uhura much, though she begins to interact with him much more frequently. On October third she asks Spock what day it is.

“It is October third.” Spock whispers as to not attract the attention of Ms. Chapel.

A few days later, Uhura is turned in her seat, not paying attention to the projector displaying displaying complex graphing patterns in the dark room in favor of the downpour outside the back window. “It's raining,” she murmurs, very softly though Spock can hear it very clearly with his heightened sense of hearing. “Yes,” he murmurs his response, the sound of the rain adding a calming background to his now quiet voice, and Uhura twists her body further to look directly into his eyes. The moment lasts for a long time before a small smile tugs the corners of her lips and she returns her gaze to the rain.

After consulting McCoy and Scotty on possible courses of action in regards to Uhura, to which McCoy was no help at all, he decides to take Scotty's advice on initiating an interaction with her through a mutual topic. The day after, he leans forward in his desk. “Excuse me,” he whispers and Uhura turns around as before, “I believe I may be missing some information and have become confused.”

“Oh,” She responds with a nod and cranes her neck to look at the equation Spock had quickly jotted down, “It's a factorial, so you multiply each one by n.”

Wrong. He immediately groans internally, unsure of why he needs to provide a ruse like this to simply speak with her. “Is that the summation?”

“Yeah, it's the same thing.”

Wrong. She is so wrong. She doesn't seem entirely confident in her answer, but it doesn't seem to be the appropriate response to correct her. “Thank you, I believe I understand now.”

At the end of the period, Spock cleans up his notebook and textbook, placing them carefully into his organized backpack. Uhura lingers for a moment, waiting for Spock to stand. “Hey so my friend is having a Halloween party tonight. You're welcome to come!” She rocks back onto her heels with a smile, “But, uh, this invite admits only one person, so don't bring someone else with you.”

“Grool,” Spock freezes, horrified, though his face only outwardly tightens. “I apologize, I intended to say great, though I decided halfway through to say cool as that seemed more appropriate.”

Uhura smiles widely at him, “Grool. I'll see you later then.” She winks and walks away, Spock hurriedly leaving the room to find Scotty and McCoy to assist him in putting together a costume.

Spock quickly finds out that Halloween is the one night a year one can wear anything, even just lingerie or a loincloth accompanied by animal ears. He stands off to the side, watching everyone and feeling incredibly out of place, even though the tip of his nose had been colored with black eyeliner and on his head a headband with brown animal ears. Relief comes to him when Sulu arrives not long after wearing a latex suit and cat ears, whiskers drawn on with eyeliner that also paint the tip of his nose in a catlike shape. Chekov follows close on Sulu's heels, again sporting a cropped top, tight jeans, and some kind of animal ears.

“What is your costume?” Spock asks as Sulu hands him a red plastic cup of alcohol and juice.

Chekov points at his ears, “I'm a mouse. Duh.” He tips his chin back over to Spock, “What are you supposed to be?”

“I am dressed as a dog.” Spock responds simply, a set of rabbit ears catching his sight as he follows them down to their owner: Jim. He remains by Sulu and Chekov at the fireplace as they talk about Chekov hooking up with a 'Travis Mayweather'. Spock tips the cup high as he finishes his drink, surprised he is not disgusted by the taste and excuses himself to get a refill. As he approaches the kitchen, a light grip rests on his arm to stop him.

“Hey! You made it!” Spock turns to look at Uhura, her wide smile threatening to bring a smile to his lips as well. Of course, his Vulcan control suppresses the urge quickly.

“I do not have much experience with parties, however it does seem to be a success.”

“Yeah seems so!” She looks down at his empty cup, “I'll go get you some more, wait here.” Spock lets her take his cup and he moves to stand awkwardly by the wall, not sure what to do at a party alone. He watches from where he is standing as Uhura pours some punch, and continues to watch as Jim approaches her. He must be talking to her as he indicated on the phone.

“So you're getting a drink for Spock?” Jim smirks as he approaches Uhura.

“Yeah, he's pretty cool. I've been talking to him in our math class,” She finally meets Jim's line of sight, “I invited him tonight.”

Jim swallows and inhales deeply, his eyes squinting and his hands clenching at his sides as Uhura continues to speak. “Well, careful. He has a crush on you, you know.”

“Yeah? How do you know?” The corners of her lips show the beginning stages of a grin as she glances over quickly to where Spock is standing.

Jim exhales, his nails starting to leave marks in his palms. He moves to rest one arm on his hip and the other on the counter to support his weight as he leans on it. “Because he told me. It's kind of cute really. He writes 'Mr. Nyota Uhura' on his notebooks, and he has a t-shirt that says 'I heart Nyota Uhura' and he wears it under all his clothes.” Uhura's eyebrows begin to furrow, “Really?”

“Yeah.” Jim glances slyly to the side, “and this is a really big secret, but he saved a tissue you used to do some Vulcan ritual to make you like him.”

“Whaaaat?” Uhura murmurs with a look of slight disgust, risking a glance at Spock staring blankly at the floor.

“I know he's weird and awkward, but he's my friend so promise you won't make fun of him,” Jim leans a little closer to Uhura.

Spock looks over to where Jim is talking to Uhura. What is McCoy so angry for? Jim is not so bad of a person. He is upholding his promise, he really is such a good- his eyes widen as Jim winds an arm around Uhura's waist and pulls her in for a deep kiss. SLUT!

“What are you doing?!” Uhura pushes Jim away, “You broke up with me remember?”

“That's crazy. Why would I break up with you? You're so hot,” he says, and presses his lips to hers again.

Spock spins on his heel and quickly navigates his way through the crowd to the door. He feels such fury radiating to his fingertips, so hot it felt like being back under Vulcan's sun as he practically bolts to McCoy's house. As he runs rain begins to fall, and he can't help but briefly note that the downpour and the nearing thunder reflect his current tumultuous emotional state. He struggles to maintain his emotional control, but nothing on Vulcan had been anywhere remotely close to the complicated social web that humans are caught up in. Nothing had prepared him for this.

He enters the house without waiting for a response to his knocks, the wind throwing the door open harder than he intends. McCoy and Scotty scream wildly at the top of their lungs in terror, already on edge from the tension building in the horror movie they had chosen to watch. After they quickly collect themselves and recognize Spock, both of them can tell something is off.

“He betrayed me. He kissed Uhura.” Spock grits between clenched teeth.

“Oh Spock. . .” McCoy murmurs in a comforting tone that Spock hadn't really heard from his mouth before.

“Why would he do such a thing?” Spock questions, confusion coloring his thoughts and seeps into his words at why someone would not simply uphold their word.

“'Cause he's a life ruiner,” McCoy rests a comforting hand on Spock's shoulder, the warmth actually calming him, “he ruins people's lives.”

Scotty nods in agreement, “When we were thirteen he made people sign this petition-”

“SCOTTY! Please!” McCoy interrupts, “Ok look, if ya want, we can get back at him for this. But you're gunna have ta keep hangin' out with them like nothin' is wrong.”

“How?” Spock's asks as he looks between the two. McCoy and Scotty look at each other with a nod, a plan developing between them evident as they smirk at Spock. “We've got a plan,” McCoy begins, “first, take out her followers. Sulu and Chekov are loyal but even they have limits. Probably. Then Uhura. They broke up before, they can most likely break up again. Let's rock this bitch.”

As Spock continues to spend time with the plastics, he finds it easy to pretend that they all continue to be on good terms. Though as expected, a few occasions test his patience and emotional control more than others. One day when Spock arrives with Sulu and Chekov to their lunch table, Jim glances quickly at him before he moves to play with a few strands of Uhura's hair. “Nyota, why don't you put your hair up more? It looks so sexy pulled up. Spock, will you please tell Nyota her hair looks sexy pushed back?”

Spock exhales a bit more forcefully than normal and he meets Uhura's eyes. He knows he has to maintain his composure even though Jim was obviously dangling his relationship in front of him. “Your hair looks sexy pushed back,” He says quietly, plopping into his chair. It's annoying, but Spock knows he has to fight sneakily. In high school on Earth, all the fighting has to be sneaky.

As time passes, team take-down-Jim-Kirk still aren't making much progress. Spock had told Jim that he had a great Vulcan face cream to give him to clear up his break outs, and he and McCoy instead exchanged foot cream from McCoy's work to fill the jar. They had cut holes into his shirt over the nipples while he was in the shower after gym, which, only created the new fashion trend of exposed nipples. They had also fed Jim these candy bars to make him sluggish and unable to maintain his rigorous work out routine but they had somehow only made him bulk up.

“This is ass you guys,” McCoy leans against a pillar behind Scotty and Spock as they all face front and wait in line for candy grahams, attempting to keep their interaction secret. “It's been a month and all we've done is make Jim's face smell like a foot.”

“What should we do?” Spock asks over McCoy's shoulder.

“We gotta crack Hikaru Sulu. Crack Sulu and we crack the lock on all Jim's secrets,” McCoy taps his foot with his arms crossed over his chest.

Scotty turns his head slightly to talk over his shoulder, “say crack again.”

“Crack.” McCoy grins.

“Jim is coming, go,” Spock mutters and the two shuffle away quietly, “hey,” he says, turning to him.

Jim looks over to where McCoy and Scotty are bent over the candy graham table, scribbling names, “why were you talking to Leonard McCoy?”

“I am not sure, he walked up to me and began to talk about crack,” Spock lies. Vulcans don't lie, but lately he's been utilizing his human side for The Plan to 'bring down' Jim Kirk.

“He is so pathetic. Let me tell you about Leonard McCoy. We were best friends in middle school. Yeah. Really embarrassing. I don't even- whatever,” he cuts himself off. “Anyway, in eighth grade I started dating my first girlfriend, Seven of Nine, who was so gorgeous but then she moved away. But while she was here, McCoy was weirdly jealous of her. Like, if I blew him off to hang out with Seven, he would get all upset and ask why I didn't call him back and stuff, and I was like, 'why are you so obsessed with me'? So, for my birthday party I was having a group sleepover with a whole bunch of guys and I told him I didn't want to invite him because I thought he was gay. I mean, there would be guys in their pajamas and shirtless and stuff in the middle of the night, I couldn't have a gay guy there, right he was GAY. It turned into this huge thing where his parents called my parents and got into a whole fight it was so stupid. So then he dropped out of school because he was pretty much an outcast, and when he came back in the fall for high school he was all grungy and scruffy and totally weird, and I guess now he's on crack,” Jim shrugs, Spock at a loss for words and only able to stare back at Jim.

A passing student catches Jim's eyes and he calls out to him, “Wow, I love your haircut, where'd you get it done?”

“My brother cut it for me.”

“So stylish,” Jim responds with a smile. When the student walks away, Jim turns back to Spock, “That is the ugliest fucking haircut I've ever seen,” he clicks his tongue.

Spock glances to the side, remembering his second day of school 'I love your eyebrows, where did you get them done?' He puts it to the back of his mind as he returns his sight to Jim, “Will you buy any candy grahams?”

Jim shakes his head with a laugh, “I don't give them, I just get them. I'll see you later,” he turns on his heel and walks away.

The gears of Spock's mind begins to turn as he knows just how to start the downfall of the plastics. He takes a few dollars out of his pocket and approaches the candy graham table.

When the candy grahams are finally distributed the week before winter break, Scotty goes around to every classroom distributing candy canes while dressed as Santa Claus. He interrupts Spock's literature class to distribute the gifts.

“Ho ho ho, candy cane grahams!”

The teacher steps aside to her desk with a sigh, “get on with it.”

Scotty calls out a few names of students in class before he gets to Spock, “Spock? Is there a Spock here?” Spock barely raises his hand. “Ah Spock one for you. Glen Coco? Four for you Glen Coco! You go Glen Coco.” Sulu eagerly looks to Scotty as he awaits a candy cane, but Scotty walks right past him, “and none for Hikaru Sulu, ok bye!” He says quickly and exits the room. Sulu looks to Spock as he examines the tag.

“Who's that from?” He eyes Spock.

“Thanks for being such a great friend man! -Jim,” Spock reads aloud and Sulu sits back in his desk with a quiet 'oh' in an attempt to hide his disappointment and confusion at the situation.

The plastics had convinced Spock a few weeks before to take part in the winter talent show with them to some sort of dance that Spock is unfamiliar with. When the day finally arrives, he sits backstage watching Chekov fix his hair and Sulu turn impatiently in a swivel chair.

“I mean,” Sulu begins as if the three of them had been talking the whole time, “Why would Jim send you two candy canes and not me?”

Chekov leans towards the mirror to carefully examine his skin, “maybe he just forgot about you?”

Spock nods, “Jim has been behaving strangely lately. Perhaps there is something on his mind?” He eyes Sulu intently.

“I mean, his parents totally don't sleep in the same bed anymore if that's what you mean. . .” Sulu mumbles before he realizes what he just let slip. The secrets have been trickling out of his mouth like a stream over the past few days, Spock waiting patiently for one useful to get back at Jim. “Oh my god, don't tell him I told you that.”

When Chekov gets up to use the restroom, Sulu still has his mind on the growing distance between he and Jim. “No offense, but why would he give you a candy cane? He doesn't even like you that much,” he tilts his head as he stares past Spock, “maybe he feels weird around me because I'm the only one who knows about his nose job.” His eyes widen, “you didn't hear that.”

After the dance, which went over with a hitch when Sulu had accidentally kicked the CD player into some guy sitting in the front row, the four of them stand together backstage with Uhura talking about the success of the performance in the end. Gaila approaches them with a smile.

“Hey, you did great Spock!” She beams and claps him on the shoulder as she passes by the group.

Sulu's mouth opens in surprise like he just found out a juicy secret, lips curling up at the corners, “you're blushing! You like her!”

“I do not,” Spock says softly, glancing over to where Jim has his arm slung over Uhura's shoulder.

“So that's why you wanted to join the mathletes!” Sulu grins and everyone turns to look at Spock.

“Mathletes? I thought you hated math?” Uhura asks. Spock opens his mouth to respond when Sulu cuts him off.

“You totally like her. That is so fetch!”

Jim rolls his eyes, “Sulu, stop trying to make fetch happen, it's not going to happen,” his voice drips with annoyance. Sulu's face falls and he looks at the floor.

The next day in class, Sulu gets called to read his report on Julius Caesar. “Why should Caesar get to stomp around with his big feet? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody huh? Because that's not what Rome is about, we should all just totally stab Caesar!” sulu ends,voice raising steadily until he is shouting.

Hikaru Sulu had cracked.

“He's so mean. You don't even know the half of it. Two years ago he told me that leather jackets were his thing. So my parents got me this really expensive brown leather jacket and I had to pretend that I didn't even like it! It was so sad. . .” Sulu sniffles a bit. “And you know he cheats on Uhura? Yeah.” Spock's eyes widen, “he's been hooking up with Carol Marcus in the projection room above the auditorium every Thursday. And I haven't told anyone that because I am such a good friend.”

Spock finds that even though he hates Jim, he can't entirely stop hanging out with him. Jim has this weird power of attraction that makes everyone want to be around him, for example, Sulu. The meaner Jim is to Sulu, the more Sulu wants to be back in his good graces. He knows it is better to be in the plastics, hating life, than to not be in at all, although the logic behind the situation confuses Spock to no end. But, being with the plastics had been like being famous, everyone always looking at you and knowing things about you.

[[That new guy moved here from Vulcan. I saw Spock wearing army pants and flip flops, so I bought army pants and flip flops. That Spock is hot, he might even be hotter than Jim Kirk.]] 

Principal Keenser even seemed to be in on the gossip, I hear Jim Kirk is dating Uhura again. The two were seen canoodling at Geoffrey M'Benga's Halloween party. They've been inseparable ever since.

Spock slowly falls into the rhythm of being with the plastics. They walk through the hallway together like its a runway, go shopping regularly, eat lunch at their table in the center of the cafeteria, hang out constantly. His plastic life and normal life begin to merge together one step at a time.

“Hey, I'm havin' an art show this weekend,” McCoy says sleepily as he leans into the hand propping his head up. Spock looks over to the counter from where he is smelling each one of the scented candles on the display. “Why don't ya take a break from your double life, I want ya to see it,” he drawls.

Spock nods, “of course.”

Spock finds quickly that he doesn't have much to talk about with Uhura outside of math class since she had been spending all her spare time with Jim. With his top grades in the subject, he doesn't even have the excuse of not understanding the material. So, he decides drastic measures must be taken.

“Not your best.” Ms. Chapel says as she plops a test onto his desk that had been marked with a 'D' at the top.

Gaila looks over to him from her seat to his left, “Damn, what happened there?”

“How'd you do?” Uhura asks, twisting in her seat to look at his paper.

“Unsatisfactory. I may be in need of a tutor,” he trains his eyes on the paper laying on his desk to avoid any detection of his obvious lie.

Uhura's eyebrows furrow in concern, “I could tutor you if you want.”

“That would be acceptable, do you think Jim would mind?”

“I don't see why not, you're friends,” she stops and purses her lips for a moment, “well. . .maybe we just won't tell him.”

Spock sits at the dining room table of Uhura's house, the calculus textbooks open before them.

“What did you get for this one?” He asks, point his pen to a problem in the text.

“The first time I did it I got zero,”

Wrong, he sighs internally.

“. . . But when I checked it I got one,” she says confidently.

There you go. “I did as well.” Spock gazes into Uhura's eyes, the setting sun hitting her irises make his breath catch slightly in his throat. He leans in closer to her, “you are a good tutor,” he murmurs for a brief moment until Uhura pulls away.

“I can't. . .I can't do this. It's not fair to Jim,” She looks away.

Spock also turns away, the rejection 'stinging like a bee'. “What is the reason you like him?”

“I know he can be mean but-”

“So, what is the reason you like him?” Spock repeats, looking back at the growing fire in Uhura's eyes.

“Why do you?” She snaps, “there's good and bad in everyone, Jim is just more up front about it.

Spock's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, anger and annoyance at the whole situation rising so he could feel the heat on his cheeks. Everything on this world is so convoluted. His desire to make sense of all the loose ends brings and unidentified feeling up from his stomach and to his voice.

“He's cheating on you,” he blurts, words dropping from his mouth like vomit.

Uhura's face doesn't fall in sadness, but becomes hard as her jaw clenches and eyes narrow, “What?” Her mouth sharply punctuates the word.

Spock finds himself at Jim's house the next day, sitting on the edge of the large bed as Jim cries from the sting of his fresh woulds of his break up with Uhura.

“Did she tell you why?” Chekov asks as he rubs Jim's shoulder.

A sniffle, “Somebody told her about Carol Marcus.”

Sulu glances at Spock, “Did. . . did he say who?”

“She said someone in her linguistics club told her. I can't believe this, I gave her everything. I was half a virgin when I met her,” more tears stream down his cheeks.

Chekov bites his bottom lip when his face lights up, “You want to do something fun? You want to go to Taco Bell?”

Jim's sadness briefly flares up as anger as he snaps at Chekov, “I can't go to Taco Bell, I'm on an all carb diet! God Chekov you are so stupid!” He shouts and storms to his bathroom. Sulu moves to follow him.

“Jim wait! Talk to me!”

“Nobody understands me!” Jim wails from the other room.

“I understand you!” Sulu replies, their voices muted as Spock sits next to Chekov.

“You are not stupid Chekov,” Spock tries to assure him.

“No I am actually,” Chekov says quietly, “I'm failing almost everything.”

“Surely there is something that you are good at.”

Chekov's face lights up, “I can put my whole fist in my mouth. Want to see?” He lifts his hand to his mouth.

Spock raises an eyebrow and gently pushes Chekov's hand away, “No that is quite alright, anything else?”

“I'm kind of psychic,” Spock can't help but raise both eyebrows at that. “I have a fifth sense,” Chekov points at his head.

Spock's eyebrows move to gather in the middle, “What do you mean?”

“It's like I have ESPN or something. My dick can always tell when it's going to rain.”

Spock's eyes go visibly wide this time and he hesitates to respond, “Really? That is. . .amazing.”

Chekov taps his index finger to his cheek, “Well, it can tell when it's raining.” Spock cocks his head to the side with eyebrows knit in confusion, completely unsure of what kind of response this situation would require.

“. . .and as a reminder, no open flames are allowed outside of the chemistry labs under the supervision of a teacher. That means absolutely NO unauthorized experiments behind the bleachers.” The old classroom television at the front of the classroom announced the daily school news through occasional static and flickering of the image. “And now for the Spring Fling King and Queen nominees. For king: Jim Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, Leonard McCoy. . .” Jim stares at the tv in disbelief, “What is this world coming to?” He mutters under his breath. McCoy's head whips around before he punches Scotty in the arm. Scotty giggles, “It was so easy! I just slipped in a bunch while I worked the table.”

“. . . and Spock. The candidates for Spring Fling Queen are: Gaila, Nyota Uhura, Janice Rand, Carol Marcus, and Jaylah.” The announcement concludes with a reminder about the parking policy and Ms. Chapel stands on her chair briefly to turn off the television before she begins the day's lesson.

As class finishes and Spock turns to leave the classroom, Ms. Chapel calls him over to her desk. “I need your parents to sign this so they know you are failing this class. You know, all the work is right but the answers you write are wrong,” Spock swallows. “I know dating and relationships feel like the most important thing in high school but there's more to it and I know you are more capable than this. I know how students are taught in Vulcan schools and I know you can do much better so I'm going to push you.”

Spock nods and accepts the paper that Ms. Chapel extends to him, “I will do so. Please inform me of any opportunities there are to improve my grade.”

“Definitely,” Ms. Chapel smiles and leans back in her chair.

That afternoon Spock spends time at Jim's house, talking out his anger over the whole situation, it helps slightly, but not enough. Sulu holds out the burn book to him, “Let it out dude. She wants to push you? Well she did it.”

Spock stares at the book for a long moment before he accepts it and begins to scrawl words onto the page as Sulu speaks, “she said she is going to push me. What does that mean in human translations?”

“Dunno,” Sulu shrugs.

“Maybe she's a drug pusher,” Jim interjects from where he is doing sit-ups with the Chekov on the floor. Spock considers it for a moment and presses the pen to the page. I know it may appear that I am an asshole, but that is only because I am behaving like an asshole. He thinks angrily, his emotional control crumbling.

“Sulu thinks that you are upset with him because he has been nominated for Spring Fling King.” Spock speaks into the telephone receiver wedged between his cheek and shoulder as he works on his physics assignment.

“I'm not mad, I'm worried about him.” Jim sighs into the other end of the receiver. Spock picks up the sound of him trying to chew something up quietly, but his hearing is so sensitive he hears it anyway. “Spring Fling King is always handsome and he's not handsome. I think someone nominated him as a joke or something and when no one votes for him and he has a meltdown, who's going to be left to comfort him? Me. The thing is, it should be Chekov, but everyone forgets about him because he's such a slut. Alright I gotta go, talk to you later,” he hangs up abruptly.

Spock checks his phone screen to be sure that Jim is no longer on the line as he returns to his ongoing call with Sulu. “As you heard, he is not mad at you.”

“Hold on,” Sulu replies hastily.

“But-”

“SHH!” Sulu hisses and dials Chekov into their call.

“Hello?” comes Chekov's sweet-toned voice.

“If someone says something bad about you, you'd want me to tell you, right?” Sulu says quickly.

Chekov takes a moment to reply, trying to determine what Sulu was talking about “. . .no. . .?”

“Even if that person is someone you thought was your friend?” Sulu continues.

Chekov's call waiting beeps, “I don't- wait hold on, hold on other line” He says and switches calls, “Hello?”

“Let's go out?” came Jim's voice over the phone.

“Ok hold on I'm on the other line with Sulu-”

“DON'T invite Sulu.” Jim exhales loudly, “he's driving me nuts.”

“Hold on,” Chekov replies and switches lines. “It's Jim. He wants to hang out tonight and he told me not to tell you,” he responds to Sulu and Spock.

“Don't hang out with him,” Sulu warns.

“Why?”

“I don't think I should tell you. . .” Sulu hesitates.

“You can tell me, hold on,” he switches lines again and huffs into the phone, “Oh my god he's so annoying.”

Sulu's voice came through the receiver. “Who is this?”

“Sulu?” his voice raises into a question.

“Right. Hold on,” He switches calls for sure this time and huffs into the phone again, “Oh my god he is so annoying.”

“I know!” Jim rolls his eyes, “Just get rid of him!”

Chekov switches back to the line where Spock and Sulu are waiting, “Ok, what is it?” His accent getting thicker in all the frustration used on concentrating on going back and forth between calls.

“Jim says everyone hates you because you're such a slut.” The words spill out of Sulu's mouth in a rush.

Chekov's face falls, “he said that?”

Sulu nods even though no one can see him, “You didn't hear it from me.” Chekov's mouth is wide open as he switches calls again.

“That seemed a bit harsh Hikaru.” Spock states. Sulu sighs heavily, “Well he deserves to know.”

On the other call, Chekov finally responds to Jim on his offer. “I can't go out,” he fake coughs into the receiver, “I'm sick.”

“Boo, you whore.” Jim is obviously annoyed as he hangs up on Chekov, leaving him holding the phone to his cheek with his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

Though Spock's parents had plans to take him on a visit to Vulcan, Spock lies and explains to them that he had promised to go to McCoy's art show and had forgotten all about the visit. Amanda convinces Sarek that Spock is old enough to be left on Earth alone for a night or two and they leave on the next transport off planet. Sulu and Chekov arrive at his house not long after.

“I purchased enough snacks for ten people. Do you think it will be sufficient?”

Sulu's lips purse and his eyebrows raise, “uh. . .yeah. Sure.” Spock raises an eyebrow in response.

It wasn't enough.

Somehow Spock's house is filled with high schoolers before the clock even hit 10:30. Between the music blasting and the increasing intoxication level of everyone involved, Spock finds himself eating a box of chocolate at an alarming rate. He had discovered before when hanging out with McCoy and Scotty that while alcohol doesn't do anything for him, chocolate gives him the inebriation that he realizes he now needs to get through the party that has spontaneously come to his doorstep. The crowd is difficult to navigate, everyone bumping against each other as the house draws closer to maximum capacity, making it hard to find the girl he'd 'been crushing on'. He also finds that the drunken habit of 'breaking the seal' as McCoy had called it applies also to his chocolate induced inebriation, and he finally pushes his way to the downstairs bathroom. He does not expect to find Sulu with his lips and body pressed against Chekov's with even less clothing that he had seen them in when they had arrived. With eyes wide and eyebrows disappearing beneath his hairline he quickly exists the bathroom in search of another place to relieve himself. With the world leaning, Spock half pulls his way up the stairs using the bannister in desperate need of a bathroom break. When the door swings open with the weight of his body against it, the couple making out on his bed jumping in response. “Get out,” Spock orders, and they leave in a rush with hands clasped between them. He closes himself into the bathroom to get a moment alone to himself.

When Jim passes by Spock's house on his way home in his silver Lexus and Carol Marcus in the passenger seat, the bass beats of nearby loud speakers catches his attention. His mouth drops open as the convertible slows to a stop and throws it into park. “A party!? He's having a fucking party?!” The door slams shut behind him as he storms toward the house, Carol following on his heels, “Piece of shit!” He throws his hands wildly into the air and bursts through the front door. Beyond the number of people standing between her and Jim, Uhura spots that blond head and ducks behind a group of football players so as to not be detected as she moves away.

Upstairs, Spock fumbles with the door handle of his bathroom before he manages to push it open. When he emerges, he finds Uhura standing in his room looking at his lute. She spins around and grins sheepishly at him, “sorry! I just wanted to get away from the noise and this was the first door. I've uh. . .been looking all over this place for you.”

“It is all right, I have been looking for you as well. Would you like to sit?” His arm moves languidly as he gestures to the bed. She nods and sits next to him.

“I'm glad you invited me here, I needed to get out of the house,” she fidgets, “I was thinking, I've spent so much time being pissed at Jim and I don't want to waste my time on any more liars.”

Spock struggles to keep his vision and his entire body steady as Uhura speaks, “Of course, I would not lie to you. Actually,” He pauses with a bite of his lip. He isn't sure if he should tell her but his mouth moves on its own, “I did lie to you before.”

“What?” A giggle escapes Uhura's lips, Spock's tone seemingly light so the lie doesn't seem to be serious, “What is it?”

“I pretended to be bad at math so that you would assist me,” Spock leans forward slightly, the full effect of chocolate induced drunkenness finally taking hold. “However, I am not bad at math. I am very good at math. You are really bad at math,” he points to her, “but now I am failing.”

Uhura's eyebrows knit together though her lips still curved upwards slightly at the corners, “Wait. You're failing on purpose? Why? That's so. . .illogical.”

“I was unsure of how to approach you without the discussion of math. I focused on the commonalities between us,” his words grow more languid and less precisely spoken.

“That's so silly, you should have just talked to me!”

“I could not, because of Jim. You were his. . .property. . .”

Uhura's eyebrows shoot up, eyes wide, and head tilting to the side looking incredulous, “His property?!” She leans away from him.

“No, No I mean-”

“You know,” she moves to leave, “I thought you were cool but you're starting to act a lot like Jim.”

This feeling. . .word vomit? He places his hand on Uhura's shoulder to steady himself as he sways, the room spinning. The door swings open and slams against the wall, Jim's mouth wide open and an angry sound seeping between clenched teeth. “What is this?!”

It was all too much for Spock to take, his efficient mind overloading further with each passing second, No. . .actual vomit. He lurches forward, vomiting loudly all over Uhura's lap.

Spock runs after Uhura as she furiously stomps down the stairs and out of the house. He doesn't want to leave anything misunderstood but Uhura angrily gets in her car, not interested in talking further. Spock watches the tail lights disappear when a small run down car he had become familiar with sputters by, a fuming McCoy standing with his torso out of the sun roof.

“You dirty little liar.” McCoy snarls as the car rolls slowly by, giving Spock the chance to walk next to it.

“I can explain-”

“Yeah, explain how you forgot to invite us to your party?”

In the drivers seat, Scotty looks over at McCoy's legs next to him, “Leonard I cannot stop this car I have a curfew.”

“I could not invite you, you know I had to pretend to be plastic!” Spock begins to glare at McCoy, assuming that McCoy would have understood.

“Hey you're not pretendin' anymore. You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard, plastic,” He spits, jabbing his finger at Spock to punctuate each word.

Scotty shoots Spock a glare out the divers side window before he turns his eyes back to the road, still coasting along, “Curfew, 1 a.m., it is now 1:10,” he announces.

“Did ya have an awesome time?” McCoy smiles down at Spock from where he sticks out of the sunroof, but it wasn't a happy expression, rather, a vicious and angry one. “Did ya drink awesome shooters an' listen to awesome music, then just sit around an' soak up each other's awesomeness?” His accent grows thicker as his anger rises into fury.

Spock feels his own anger rising steadily, “you are the one who made me like this so you could use me for your eighth grade revenge!”

A bark of laughter escapes McCoy's mouth, “see, at least Jim an' I know we're mean. You just sit there an' act all innocent like 'oh I used to live on Vulcan with all the logic an' lack of emotion'!”

“You know what, it is not my fault that you are in love with me or something!” Spock spits back. The car comes to a complete stop as both Scotty and McCoy look incredulously at Spock.

“What?!” McCoy screams as Scotty slams on the breaks.

“Oh no he did not!” Scotty shakes his head, arm out the window ready to use as leverage to launch himself at Spock.

McCoy laughs bitterly as the car starts moving again, “ya know, that's the thing with you plastics. Ya think everybody 's in love with ya, but the truth is everybody hates you!” His voice rises until he's nearly shouting louder than before to Spock, who's anger is dissipating while hurt and regret take its place. “Take Uhura for example, she broke up with Jim an' guess what? She still doesn't want ya. So why're ya still messin' with Jim? I'll tell ya why. Because you're mean. You're a mean dude, an asshole, a piece a shit!” McCoy reaches down into the car and picks up a roll of paper, throwing it at Spock, “Here, have this. It won a prize,” he spits before he retreats back into the car, Scotty already pushing harder on the gas. Spock stares after them, speechless, even as Scotty pokes his head out the drivers side window, “And I want my pink shirt back!” he shouts, “I WANT MY PINK SHIRT BACK!”

As Scotty's voice fades and the car disappears, Spock bends down to pick up the roll of paper McCoy had thrown at him. He opens it carefully, eyes wide as he looks at the inked image of he, McCoy, and Scotty together. It is an image of the three of them sitting on the green just as they had the day their friendship started. Scotty was lying across the grass, pointing at what was probably the school map McCoy had drawn. Spock was sitting cross-legged looking on with Scotty, with the tiniest hint of a smile at the corners of his lips and McCoy was leaned back on his elbows, looking at Spock with warm eyes and a smile. A tear rolls down his face and he bites his lip, wishing illogically that everything was different.

“Hey baby, baby, slow down,” Carol says out of breath as she runs after Jim. He seethes, angry that Spock had butted him out, made a move on Uhura, and couldn't even invite him to the damn party. He was becoming a joke around the school and it was all Spock's fault. He unlocks the car and slides into the divers seat. “It's like. . .I can't trust anyone anymore,” he hisses, running a hand through his hair as he pulls away, slamming the gas pedal down. Carol exhales loudly in annoyance, throwing her hands into the air as Jim just leaves her at the party and goes back to the house to get a ride with Janice.

When Jim gets back to his house he rips the burn book from its spot on the shelf, grabbing a picture of he and Spock from his desk. He opens the book to an empty page and begins writing. “This is the nastiest piece of shit bastard I've ever met. Do not trust him. He is a fugly slut.” Jim scrawls before moving to cut the picture in two. He applies the glue to half the image and slams it onto the page, his own picture now covering the middle of the page. “Jim Kirk” He adds at the bottom, exhaling harshly.

At around 11 am that Monday, two days after the party, Jim sits in a chair across from Principal Keenser.

“I found it in the bathroom,” Jim lies, looking innocent, “Why would someone write this? It's so mean.” The principal flips through the pages, shaking his head.

“What does this say? Ms. Chapel is a drug pusher? We are going to find out who did this Mr. Kirk.” The principal sets the open book on the desk, still flipping through the contents.

Jim's eyes flit upwards, “there's only three people in the whole school that aren't in it.” Principal Keenser's head tilts to the side.

“At your age, you're going to be having a urges,” says the school coach to Spock's health class, “you're going to want to take off your clothes, and touch each other. But if you do touch each other, you will get chlamydia. And die.” Spock's right eyebrow inches closer to his hairline with each word. Janice Rand enters the gym and hands a note to the coach.

“Spock, you've been called to the principal's office.” A taunting 'ooooooo' comes collectively from the entire class as he silently stands and leaves the classroom. Once he arrives at the principal's office, he takes a seat next to Sulu and Chekov across from Keenser.

“What is going on?” Spock glances at the other two when Principal Keenser holds up the burn book. “You tell me Mr. Spock. I want to know who did this.” He looks between the three of them.

“You've got it wrong,” Sulu shakes his head, “we didn't write that.”

Spock nods in agreement, “I have seen it before. Jim did write it.”

“And why would Jim Kirk call himself a 'fugly slut'?” As the words come out of the principal's mouth, Chekov lets a giggle slip out, and the principal shoots him a glare.

“I do not know.” Spock admits, completely lost.

Outside the office, Jim walks through the hallway with a determined, smug look on his face and a swing in his step as he tosses copies of the burn book pages into the air, sticking some to the lockers and walls and even sliding some under classroom doors. He moves through the hallways until the papers are gone, lip curled up on one side as his plans are set in motion. The bell rings, signaling the end of class, and students pour into the hallways only to find gossip of themselves lying all over the school.

The anger level in the hallways rapidly and dangerously escalates. Secrets that had been whispered rumors were now out in the open for every single person in the school to see. Chaos breaks loose as fights break out left and right over the rumors and their sources.

“Made out with a hot dog?!” Hoshi Sato reads aloud as she pulls a flyer off the wall, “That was one time!”

“Johnny Archer has a weirdly shaped ass?! Who would write this?” Jonathan scoffs to his water polo teammate. “Who wouldn't write that?” Came Trip's response, and Jonathan spins around with his mouth wide before he pushes him so hard he slams against the lockers.

Accusations fly left and right, and when screaming isn't enough, fists start flying too. The sounds of people being shoved against lockers and rolling down the stairs in a furious tangle among the general fighting surrounds Jim as he stands tall in the middle of the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest, a point of calm among the chaos. Ms. Chapel rushes out of her classroom and barely registers what is happening when she attempts to separate two girls at each other's throats. When one of the girls throws a left hook and the other dodges, Ms. Chapel finds a fist connecting with her face before she falls to the floor. She groans softly and moves to stand, but before she can push herself to her feet she notices a flyer with a picture of her from the yearbook. 'Ms. Chapel is a sad, old drug pusher' it reads. She looks to the floor and bites her lip somewhere between anger and hurt but decides quickly that there are more important matters to attend to in the form of unleashed high school rage.

“Do you three have anything else to say?” Principal Keenser looks pointedly between the three boys.

“Oh, I can't answer any more questions until I have a parent or lawyer present,” Sulu smiles politely. Keenser turns his gaze to Chekov.

“Whoever wrote it probably didn't think anyone else would see it,” Chekov says with innocent eyes and a nod.

“I hope nobody else does see it,” Keenser huffs.

Jim stands at the top of the main staircase with a smug expression, watching over the swarm of angry students. A girl sits on the stairs near him, crying. Another cautiously passes by the staircase, looking around with wide, terrified eyes, “M-mon, can you pick me up? I'm scared.” He gasps and stumbles backwards when a Trill girl backs into him to avoid a punch from her Bajoran opponent.

McCoy and Scotty step through the hallways slowly being bumped and shoved around almost every step of the way. McCoy moves to push some students yelling curses at each other over dating drama away from his locker when he notices the flyer stuck to the wall and pulls it off forcefully. “Leonard McCoy: Homo. Wow, that's original,” he scoffs and rolls his eyes. Scotty bends down to pick up a crumpled paper with his name on it, “too gay to function!?” McCoy's mouth drops and his nostrils flare as he pulls it from Scotty's hands, “That's only ok when I say it!” He yells, rising blood pressure turning his face red.

“Who would write this about me? Did you write this?” “No I swear!” “But you told somebody?!” “She told!” “You little bitch!” Jaylah tackles Janice into a table that had been set up for the Spring Fling preparations. A boy watching the fighting turns when he hears the slam of the table collapsing and his face lights up, “yeah! Take your top off!” He shouts, but immediately turns terrified when Jaylah and Janice both stand to face him, fists raised. His eyes go wide as Jaylah's knuckles connect with his face.

“So this is what we are going to do-” Keenser begins before his secretary bursts through the door, “Principal come quick! They've gone wild! The students have gone wild!” Keenser rises with a huff, pulling a baseball bat out from under his desk. He walks out the door, the three in the office following to see what's going on.

The sight of the hallways remind Spock of what he had been taught on Vulcan about their primitive, violent ways, before the teachings of Surak. Everyone is at each other's throats, the raw rage directing every action each student takes. He closes his eyes, thinking that perhaps it is not real, however the action is illogical, and without fail when his eyes open again he finds one student hurtling through the air to tackle another to the hallway floor. A girl hanging from the top of a door by her shirt catches Keenser's attention.

“Here, let me help you down-” he has to duck when she attempts to kick him away, “Hell no!” he growls, “I did not leave Delta Vega for this!” With the baseball bat in hand, he uses the base of the handle he punches through the glass of the fire alarm and as a result sets off the fire sprinklers. The students start screaming and yelling for a new reason as they become soaked.

“ALL JUNIORS REPORT TO THE GYMNASIUM IMMEDIATELY!” he turns to make sure everyone hears him clearly, “IMMEDIATELY!”

Spock realizes quickly that he is one of the last people to enter the gymnasium. It felt as if every person has their eyes on him, completely obvious that they had all been just talking about him, and the quiet that had settled in the room weighs heavily on his shoulders. He finds a seat on the bleachers about halfway between top and bottom, eyes scanning the people around him to try to find a friendly face. When his eyes land on McCoy sitting in the back he lifts a hand to give a little wave, prompting McCoy to smile at him completely insincerely and wave back. His gesture changes after a quick moment before he holds the inside of his right elbow and pulls his right hand up in a fist in an expression Spock recalls from reading “Understanding Human Gestures,” in the chapter on insults. Movement beside McCoy catches Spock's attention and he sees Scotty, hidden under a hoodie and sunglasses. The Scotsman looks over the sunglasses and glares daggers at the Vulcan.

“Never in my time as an educator,” Keenser begins, his disapproving gaze scans over the entire crowd, “have I seen such behavior. I have parents calling and asking if someone got shot. I ought to cancel your Spring Fling.” A collective groan and a few 'no's' come in response before Keenser finishes his sentence, “but I won't do that because we already paid the DJ. Now, what you all need is an attitude makeover. And you're going to get it. I don't care how long it takes, I will keep you here all night-”

Ms. Chapel leans forward towards the principal's back, “we can't keep them past four,” she says quietly.

“. . .I will keep you here until four.” He corrects himself, “Ms. Chapel, will you direct this?”

Ms. Chapel sighs loudly, “I don't know they seem like they're all pleased with themselves.” When Keenser turns to look at her she glances at him with resignation takes a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah I'll give it a shot. Ok. . . everybody close your eyes. Now raise your hand if you've ever had someone say something bad about you behind your back. Okay, open your eyes.” Everyone opens their eyes and looks around at the room full of raised hands, though continue to remain quiet, “Now close your eyes and raise your hand if you've ever said anything mean behind someone else's back. Open.” The students look around again and a dull murmur sweeps over the bleachers, “So everyone's a culprit and a victim here-”

Jim stands up in his spot suddenly causing everyone to turn and look at him, “I just want to say that we don't have a clique problem at this school and some of us shouldn't have to take this workshop because some of us are just victims in this situation.”

“That's probably ture, how many of you have felt personally victimized by Jim Kirk?” Every person in the room raises their hand, even the other teachers standing behind Ms. Chapel and Principal Keenser, who looks down as his hand slowly rises. Ms. Chapel locks eyes with Jim, a small smile at her lips as he sits back down with a huff. “Alright, I have an idea. Everybody up!” She gestures for the students to move to the floor and for the teachers to arrange tables into a makeshift stage, “You are all going to take turns, stand up there and apologize. Here's some notecards to write things down. After you get things off your chest and you feel lighter, you're going to fall into the crowd and they're going to catch you. Trust fall, you know? That's how this is going to work.” She explains as the students begin to congregate in front of the stage, “Alright start lining up, whoever wants to go first, you're up.” And so the students begin lining up to give their apologies.

“Deanna, I'm sorry I called you a gap-toothed bitch. It's not you're fault you're so gap toothed.” When she finishes speaking, Beverly crusher sighs contentedly and turns to fall backwards into the crowd.

“Hikaru,” Chekov begins, reading directly off his notecard, “I'm sorry I laughed at you when you got diarrhea in Barnes and Noble. And. . .I'm sorry for repeating it now,” He falls into the crowd lightly, smiling as he is caught.

“. . .um . . .I just wish we could all get along like we did in middle school. I wish I could bake a cake of rainbows and smiles and we could all be happy,” the boy starts choking up. “He doesn't even go here!” Scotty calls from the back of the crowd, still disguised.

Ms. Chapel throws a questioning glance at the stage. “Do you even go to this school? Who are you?”

“I'm Khan and. . .uh. . .no I don't. I-I. .I just have a lot of feelings,” he looks sheepishly at the floor. Ms. Chapel gestures over her shoulder to the door, “Ok, go home.”

Sulu steps up to the stage after Khan leves, and looks out into the crowd, “I'm sorry that everyone is so jealous of me. I can't help that I'm popular.” He turns around to fall backward and as he does so the entire crowd moves away save for Chekov. When Sulu falls, Chekov reaches to catch him and they both fall heavily into the floor as Sulu crashes into him. Ms. Chapel eyes widen as she looks over to them, “Oh! Walk it off, walk it off! They're good everybody,” she laughs nervously.

Spock stands next in line staring at his card. He inhales quickly, his stomach fluttering, and nervously makes his way to the back of the line. McCoy's nostrils flare as he watch Spock move and he suddenly skips the line to go next. He stands up on the table about to speak when a voice comes from the side of the group.

“Wow it's his dream, diving into a big pile of boys,” Jim smirks. McCoy's eyebrows push into an angry crease in the middle, when he abruptly shoves the notecard into the front pocket of his flannel shirt.

“Um yeah I got an apology. I'm pretty sure y'all know me, I'm McCoy. So I have this friend who's new this year, y'all know Spock, yeah well I convinced him that it would be fun to fuck with Jim Kirk's life. I had him pretend to be friends with Jim an' spy on him, an' afterwards we would get together to laugh 'bout all the stupid shit he said. Let's see, we got his best friends to turn against him. . . oh! Spock made out with Jim's girlfriend an' then convinced her to break up with him,” Jim's mouth dropped open in disbelief as complete offense crosses his face, “oh an' we gave ya foot cream instead of face wash. God! Wow it feels so good to have that off my chest. I'm so sorry Jim. I don't know why I did it. It's probably because I have a big, GAY CRUSH ON YOU! SUCK ON THAT!” He yells, a wild smile on his face as he turns and falls into the group who chant his name over and over in praise.

Jim catches Spock standing on the other side of the crowd looking at him. His hands ball into fists and he storms out of the gymnasium, Spock moving quickly to catch up, “Jim! Jim, wait I can explain!”

“Explain what?!” he spins on his heel, already stepping into the street in front of the school, “That everybody hates me? Well you know what, they hate you too. You know what everyone says about you? That you're an unnatural hybrid being that's just a less hot version of me. So you can take that apology and shove it right up your a-” Jim is cut off as a bus slams into him. Spock stands in shock, wide eyed.

And that was how Jim Kirk died.

“I am joking,” Spock assures Sulu and Chekov as he recounts to them what had happened, “but he did get hurt.”

The next few days pass so agonizingly slow. Police were in the school to investigate some of the allegations against the teachers, and were questioning students on what they knew of the situation. To top it off, Spock never felt more alone than he did now. He ate alone in the bathroom stall as before, but the first day of school didn't even compare. At least then the whole school didn't hate him.

In Spock's math class, Principal Keenser stood at the front of the class with two cops behind him.

“Did Ms. Chapel ever off you marijuana or ecstasy tablets?” Principal Keenser asks sternly.

“What the hell are marijuana tablets?” Dax giggles from the back of the room. Uhura rolls her eyes, “why is this even necessary? Ms. Chapel doesn't sell drugs. That was just some stupid rumor some stupid people made up because they were bored with their own damn lives.”

Principal Keenser purses his lips, “well since the allegations about the coach sleeping with some of the students were true, we must investigate every claim made.”

Uhura scoffs loudly. Spock sits behind her biting his lip. If I admit to just the one page, I will be blamed for the entire book. . .goodbye Nyota. You will hate me forever. He stands, shoulders back and chin up, “Principal Keenser, I wrote it.”

The principal sighs heavily and gestures for Spock to leave the room, “Come on Spock.”

Spock's parents are, unsurprisingly, furious. Of course his father simply looks at him with a slight downward tug of the corners of his lips, but the burn of his disapproval weighs heavily on the entire house. His mother is more understanding, telling stories of the trouble she got in with the law back in her youth.

“You have disappointed me Spock,” Sarek says simply as he leaves the table. Spock stares at his hands in his lap when Amanda places her hand on his shoulder, “Spock, you messed up. We have all messed up at some point. You just hold your head up and I promise, it'll pass. Besides, you still have your excellent academic standing,” Spock's eyes shift off to the side and Amanda exhales, “Oh Spock. . . well, now you get to experience another human custom. Being grounded,” she grins at him.

Spock works hard the next few days keeping his head down. He focuses entirely on recovering his GPA, especially in math, as purposefully dropping his grade to get Uhura's attention dealt the biggest blow. After he completes the next test in class, he walks up to the front of the classroom to hand it in. Ms. Chapel stares up at him, “Oh hi, would you like to buy some drugs?” she practically spits at him.

“No, I am simply turning in my test.” Ms. Chapel nods and tells him to wait as she grades it.

“You know, watching the cops search my house was the icing on top of a great year,” she scans the writing on the page, “how much trouble did you get in?”

“I am grounded.”

“Well I know you weren't the only one who wrote it. Did you tell the principal about that?”

Spock shakes his head, “no, I am trying something where I do not talk about others behind their backs.”

Ms. Chapel gives him a small smile, “98. Good job.” Uhura passes by to turn her test in, “Welcome back, nerd.” She eyes Spock before sitting back down. Ms. Chapel looks back up to Spock from behind the desk, “Oh, and I know how you can get that extra credit,” She smiles over to where Gaila had come to stand next to Spock.

“Hope you're ready to get your math on, pointy.”

The night of Spring Fling comes much faster than Spock realizes. Though, since everything went down with Jim, Spock had stopped paying attention to anything having to do with the dance. He doesn't leave the house much instead focusing on his studies and the extended school hours with the mathletes. Besides, the math tournament is the same week as the dance with the finals the same night. At six o'clock Spock stands before his mirror checking that his already impeccable hair is arranged properly. He slips on his team jacket, courtesy of Gaila who had ordered it at the beginning of the year in hopes that Spock would join the team, and heads downstairs. His father glances up at him from the dining room table where he is reading research papers, “will you be out late?”

“I will not be,” Spock answers and nods to his father before stepping out the door.

At the finals, the auditorium is mostly empty. Spock isn't surprised as it had become clear long ago that high school Terran students did not generally take interest in academic after school activities. As he scans the five members of the opposing team he finds that there is no possible way to be distracted here. Uhura had been the biggest distraction in his mathematical studies, and now that she didn't 'give him the time of day' he is entirely focused. The event begins without a hitch and both teams proceed to relentlessly display their expertise in mathematics.

“3.9876!”

“The natural log of 1,412!”

“Three times n squared.”

When the event draws to a close the announcer explains the protocol for breaking a tie, “We will now enter a sudden death round. One question, whoever answers it correctly wins the tournament. Each team will select one student from the other. Starfleet, please select your opponent.”

The team whispers amongst themselves and Gaila speaks into the microphone, “We pick Worf.”

The Federation Academy students gather together in a group huddle. They look up and the Vulcan captain of their team announces their choice, “We have chosen Spock,” T'Pol speaks with an even tone that belies no fear of losing, if the feeling was even there.

Spock steps up to the podium facing Worf directly. The Klingon is tall, imposing even, but Spock doesn't feel intimidation. All the previous events of the school year don't bother him at all. He doesn't even feel upset over not being on good terms with anyone at school besides the mathletes and Ms. Chapel. Though he does feel incredibly sad and regretful over losing McCoy and Scotty. He had really valued their friendship before it crumbled to pieces, and feels a clench in his heart when he thinks about not being around him. Perhaps this was what mother meant, this too shall pass.

“Contestants, find the limit of the equation on the projector.”

Moments pass as Spock works through the problem. He works quickly, and is slightly startled when Worf's buzzer sounds. Dammit. The thought reminds him of McCoy and he bites his lip, though whether it is from Worf buzzing in first or missing McCoy he is unsure.

“The limit is negative one,” Worf's strong voice resounds in the nearly empty auditorium.

“That answer is. . .” the announcer pauses, “incorrect. Now, if Spock can answer the problem correctly, we will have a winner.”

Limits. . .limits. . .I cannot remember. . . Spock struggles to think of the correct answer. Limits. . .that was the week Uhura cut her hair. She looked quite nice. . .stay on track Spock, he chides himself, what was on the board behind her head? Infinite limits. . .if the limit does not approach anything, “the limit does not exist,” he mumbles, “the limit does not exist!” he exclaims confidently.

“And we have a winner! Congratulations to the regional mathlete champions, Starfleet High School!” Spock's team crowds around him, jumping with excitement. He leans over and shakes Worf's hand, before he turns to pack up and leave with the others.

Gaila stands outside by her van that the five of them had all arrive in. She poses in her jacket, a lilting laugh on her lips, “These jackets are great! We are going to look so stylish rolling up to Spring Fling.”

“I am not sure I-”

“Come on pointy,” Gaila lightly punches his shoulder, “this is your night. You just won the tournament, and you are a nominee for Spring Fling king. Don't let the haters get you down and keep you from shaking that thang.”

Ms. Chapel steps up to them, “Spock you don't have to punish yourself forever. Go have some fun.”

Spock inhales, eyes flitting between the ground and his teammates, “I am grounded.”

Gaila throws his arm over his shoulder, “Then make the best of already being out. Come on,” she herds him into the van.

Amanda rounds the corner into the kitchen where Sarek is still reading research articles, “Where's Spock?”

“He went out,” Sarek replies simply. When he looks up to his wife his head tilts to the side ever so slightly, “are they not allowed to go out when they are grounded?” Amanda squints at him like he should have known better and then rolls her eyes, “Come on, we are going to get him.”

Spring Fling is in full swing when Spock arrives with the team, students dancing and mingling by the snack tables. Spock's examination of the room is interrupted by applause and the sound of Principal Keenser's voice from a microphone, “Are all the nominees for king and queen on the stage?” He glances over his shoulder to where they stand behind him, “alright. Well, I just want to say that regardless of the outcome you are all winners, and I can't be happier that this school year is finally ending. Now, your Spring Fling queen is. . .” he opens a small card, “Carol Marcus!” The crowd claps, and she steps forward with a large smile as a tiara is placed on her blonde head. “And your Spring Fling King is . . .” he opens another card, “Spock! Oh he's not on stage. . . Spock? If you're in the audience please come forward.”

Spock stops in his tracks. Somehow his parents had tracked him down and were standing by the wall, Amanda gesturing for him to go there, obviously furious with him. When his name is called, he locks eyes with her, and turns to go onto the stage instead. He steps up and a plastic crown is placed on his head.

“Thank you. I understand that here this is a big deal, to win this crown. I thank you for voting for me, although it does kind of. . .suck,” he internally cringes at what his father will say about his word choice when he gets home, “that some of you think I pushed Jim Kirk in front of a bus and voted for me because of that. I want to sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt by the burn book. No one deserves to be treated badly when we are all simply trying to make it through this time in one piece.” He takes the crown off his head and snaps it, an audible gasp from the crown that Spock immediately identifies as Scotty, “everyone deserves to be Spring Fling royalty. Hikaru Sulu, Leonard McCoy, and Jim Kirk. Even after being seriously hurt he still looks like a rock star. . .” he hands pieces of the crown to each of them, and then breaks it further to throw some into the crowd before he turns to the principal, “I am going to go now.” The principal sighs and steps up to the microphone, “have a good time everybody.”

The music resumes and the students all get back to dancing. Spock makes his way through the crowd to where Scotty and McCoy are flaunting their small crown pieces, both dressed in nicely tailored suits, “hey,” Spock bites his lip.

“Hey.” McCoy gruffly responds.

“Are we still not on speaking terms?”

“That depends, are you still an asshole?” McCoy glances to the floor.

Spock shakes his head, “I do not believe I am.”

McCoy gives Spock a crooked smile, “Then I guess we're alright.”

Uhura comes up behind them and McCoy raises an eyebrow, but steps away with Scotty, “So, on behalf of the senior class I would like to formally present you with two tickets-” McCoy's arm pushes past Spock's head and swipes one of the tickets, “suckers!” he snickers. Uhura shakes her head, “-one ticket to the pancake house. Congratulations,” she smiles. “So I would ask you to dance, but I really don't think we have a romantic thing going. Besides, I think you may not have noticed this past year, there is already someone who is and has been quite interested in you,” she rolls her head to the side so her line of sight lands directly on where McCoy and Scotty are standing, looking at the coupon. McCoy must have noticed there were eyes on him and he catches Spock's gaze in his own, causing him to smile crookedly and look down to the floor. “Look, he's even blushing. Listen, you may have had a crush on me and I admit, you're quite handsome and I did have a little crush on you too, but let's be honest. After our short run there can you really say you're into me?”

Spock purses his lips and then gives a tiny shake of his head, “if I am being honest, no. I do not have any desire to take our . . .friendship?” Uhura smiles and nods, letting him know that they indeed can be friends, “beyond just that.”

“So what do you think?”

“About?”

“About McCoy. After everything that has happened, and don't think I don't know you two had a falling out that night, how do you feel about him?”

“As a Vulcan I do not-”Uhura shoots him a warning glare that he better be honest with her “losing my relationship with him hurt the most out of everything. My heart still aches.”

“You know, this lighting and the music, it's all quite perfect. Go get him!” She grins, her attention shifting to somewhere just past his head. Gaila appears from behind Spock, pushing past him to stand in front of Uhura. “Care to dance?” She winks, Uhura's head tilts back as she lets out a carefree laugh, “I've been waiting for you to ask.”

Spock watches as the two leave to dance and he turns back to see McCoy standing alone, leaning against the wall. His feet seem to move on their own to stand in front of the other. McCoy's eyebrows lift, “thought you'd be dancin' with Uhura?”

Spock glances over his shoulder, showing McCoy the end result of their talk. “There was someone else more suited to her. And. . .” Spock extends his forefingers between the two of them, “I think there may be someone more suited to me.” McCoy straightens up and gives Spock a questioning expression.

“This is a Vulcan kiss?”

It is Spock's turn to raise an eyebrow, “how did you know?”

A blush blooms on McCoy's face as his eyes widen, his crush on Spock exposed, “I uh. . . wanted to know 'bout Vulcan customs so I did my readin'. . .before we got into that fight y'know,” he looks away but raises his fingers to Spock's with a smile tugging at his lips.

McCoy leans forward and presses his lips to Spock's, humming happily as strong arms wrap around him. “You're quite oblivious aren't ya? Not knowin' I liked ya this whole time an' all,” he drawls when they part for air and rest their foreheads against each other.

“I suppose I am,” Spock's ears flush green before the color seeps down onto his cheeks, “I may have felt it when we met, but after we ceased speaking I found that your company was the one I missed the most. Could this have been that feeling?”

“Depends, what do you think?”

Spock looks away, and when he meets McCoy's eyes again there's warmth in the brown irises. He presses McCoy's hand to his heart, rapidly beating away in his abdomen, “Perhaps this may answer the question.”

“Well darlin' we got a lot of time to make up for,” he grins and pulls Spock with him to the dance floor, swaying to the music and sharing soft kisses.

After the school year ended, and possibly even before then, the plastics broke up. After the various fractures in Jim's body healed, he was advised to take up sports to channel his anger so he joined to the football team. It worked out pretty well, they won many games with his raw fury pushing him to mow down any player standing in his way.

Chekov got a job doing the weather announcements with his special talents. “This is Pavel Chekov!” he shouts over the rain pouring around him, “It's 68 degrees and there's a . . .” he reached down subtly to touch the front of his jeans, “30 percent chance that it's already raining!”

Sulu joined a new clique, sharing his penchant for knowing secrets and gossip with the members of the communications club. The whole thing was perfect really.

Uhura and Gaila both went to the same university, Uhura in communications focusing on xenolinguistics and Gaila on the engineering track. They occasionally visited to hang out with everyone and simultaneously flaunt that their relationship was as strong as ever.

Spock and McCoy had been “goin' steady” as McCoy called it ever since the Spring Fling dance. They spent alost all their time together, usually bickering, and unless someone was close friends with them it would seem like they hated each other. It only took one glance at how they looked at each other though, when sitting in class, or across the room with Scotty and his new boyfriend Trip Tucker when they all went to the mall or watched movies at McCoy's house, to know that they had fallen helplessly in love. Everything was at peace after the previous year's disaster. And if any new freshman tried to disturb the peace, the bus system was reliable as ever to pass by just as someone wanted to cross the street.

Spock's lips curved into a small smile. Just Kidding.