How Much Wood Could A Woodchuck Chuck? [Tina!]

In the end, Oliver opted to continue fiddling with the device. What were the chances that someone would approach him while he was clearly busy working on something anyway? He was a freshman, and it wasn't like he was Mr. Popular at Riverdale High School.

Except that he was in the RSOR, and a recruiter on top of that, so he had connections to quite a few people at Riverdale. Having an older sister in her senior year certainly helped as well.

Oliver looked up at once when he heard someone clearing their throat. He hadn't known the throat clearing was directed toward him, but it was a natural instinct. When Oliver saw Hayden standing over him, he hastily placed the parts of the fingerprint scanner into the pockets of his jeans. Probably not the best place to conceal what would potentially be the best security measure RSOR had seen yet, but it wasn't as though he had much other choice. He certainly didn't want Hayden to get too close to what he was doing. He might not be able to gleam that Oliver was the reincarnation of Orville Wright from his fiddling with a fingerprint scanner, but he would probably realize that something was off.

Considering Hayden's presence during an argument between Isabella, Natalia, and Iskander was the entire reason why RSOR meetings were canceled for the next two weeks, Oliver felt the need to be that much more careful around the older boy. Careful and subtle were two things he needed to work on, but hopefully he would pull it off and not repeat the library incident.

"Hi..."[/color] His eyes trailed down to the skateboard in Hayden's hands. He could not help but smile slightly. Poor guy was constantly breaking his skateboard. Perhaps he should start charging the boy every time he came up to Oliver with a broken skateboard. He'd done bicycle repair before, why not skateboard repair? Modernize the industry a bit, so to speak.

"Sure, I'll take a look at it."[/color] Oliver took the two broken halves of the skateboard and studied them. He studied them for a quite a while, letting out a small 'hmm' every once in a while. Finally, he looked up to Hayden with a nonchalant expression. "Ah, I think I see your problem. Your skateboard is in two pieces."[/color] Oliver grinned a bit at these words, showing that he was indeed joking, and that Hayden did not have to freak out on him. He didn't know Hayden well enough to know that he wouldn't do such a thing, but it wasn't like Oliver/Orville to keep a joke to himself.

"Seriously, though, I'm sure I could fix it. Shouldn't be too hard, really. Bit of tape, maybe a bit of an adjustment on these wheels..."[/color] He turned one half of the skateboard over and spun one of the wheels. "They seem like they're kind of loose."[/color] All of this was stated in a rather matter of fact tone, as though it was nothing for a fourteen year old boy to be giving a mechanical diagnostic on a skateboard. Nevertheless, the wide eyed stare of a fourteen year old boy masked the skilled inventor beneath, or so Oliver/Orville hoped.

Word count: 563
To: Hayden/Tina
Notes: It wasn't bad at all. ^^

Oliver did not expect Hayden to entirely ignore what had just happened. He knew that Hayden was a normal, yes, but being a normal did not mean that one was stupid. However, it would be much easier to come up with an excuse if Hayden did not see the little parts right before him. "It's just a project I'm coming up with for my science class."[/color]

Well, he was working on a project for science class with Kimaya, but that was a rat trap, and what Oliver was fiddling with was very clearly not a rat trap. However, how was Hayden to know what freshmen were currently working on in science class? Sure, he'd been a freshman once, but they could have different teachers, or the teacher could switch up the curriculum from year to year. It seemed like a good cover story.

Oliver could not help but let out a chuckle as Hayden's eyes practically lit up when he indicated that he knew what was wrong. After the punchline, however, Hayden did a literal facepalm, and Oliver shook his head.

He was happy to see Hayden perk up once more as he declared his diagnosis on the poor broken skateboard. "Yes. Really, skateboards aren't that complicated."[/color] At least, not compared to bicycles and airplanes. All a skateboard consisted of was a board and wheels. Honestly, with how simple the skateboard was, he was surprised that it had taken until nearly the end of the 20th century to catch on as a fad. Of course, one did have to consider the fact that the board needed to be able to hold the weight of a person, but other than that, there wasn't too much to it.

At the subject of pay, Oliver didn't know what to say or do. The subject did appeal to Oliver, who, at age fourteen, did not have much of an opportunity for employment. This wasn't like the 1880s, where he would have been able to take up an apprenticeship, like the one he took up at a print shop. At age fourteen, he would be relegated to working at a Dairy Queen or McDonald's at best. The idea of making a little money here and there doing something he loved was certainly appealing. "I don't need much. It's not like I'm installing wings on it or anything. Five bucks would probably be fine."[/color]
He didn't want to overcharge Hayden either. He did not know anything about the boy's financial situation.

Oddly, five dollars was hardly anything in the 21st century. In the 1880s, a fourteen year old asking for five dollars to fix something would probably be considered a small fortune to said fourteen year old. How the times did change.

"If we left it be for long enough, it probably would come off."[/color] Oliver gave another spin to the wheel and turned his attention back to Hayden once more.

"I don't suppose you brought any tape with you? We might have to head back to the school to perform this surgery."[/color] He somehow doubted that your average Riverdale student carried around duct tape in his back pocket.

However, he also doubted that any Riverdale student could really be considered average, to be fair.

Word count: 566
To: Hayden/Tina
Notes: It wasn't bad at all. ^^

Obviously, Hayden wasn't as easy to trick as he looked. This put Oliver in a hard spot. "The normal freshman science class."[/color] Oliver replied to his first inquiry with what he hoped to be a nonchalant shrug. The second question was a bit more of a challenge. What would Hayden believe? He obviously couldn't come out and say that he was fiddling with the parts of a fingerprint scanner. "I'm not sure what it is yet, actually. We were just assigned to make a simple machine in science and I got a bit carried away."[/color]

Well, that was believable to some extent. Oliver did have a tendency to get carried away when it came to mechanical experiments. He could recall a nephew of his getting annoyed with him because he wouldn't keep his hands off of what his nephew was working on. The simple machine project was also a very real project that he and Kimaya were working on, albeit in the form of a simple rat trap. Well, it was supposed to be simple by the teacher's instructions, at least. Oliver wasn't so sure that he could keep it as such.

Even Oliver knew that his joke wasn't the best on the planet, but he'd been hoping for at least a reluctant smile, something to cheer Hayden up. But obviously, his depression over his skateboard had been too much for that.

Realizing that perhaps he'd been a bit too blunt with his statement about the simplicity of a skateboard, Oliver quickly backtracked. "Well, I mean, when you compare it to other things."[/color] He really had to watch what he said around this guy.

"Of course I'm sure! What I'm doing with it's nothing big."[/color] Oliver trailed off as Hayden asked him if he could put wings on it. He could not hold back the snort that came loose at these words. It sounded almost as though the boy expected adding wings to a skateboard to magically allow it to fly. He hated to tell the boy that it was a lot more complicated than that.

"Well, I could, but I doubt it would do much. The aerodynamics of your skateboard might improve a little. I don't know, we'd have to perform tests to see..."[/color] With those words, for a few seconds Oliver was no longer in 2010. His mind was thrown back to the infancy of the 20th century, testing little miniature wings in a wind tunnel of their own making in an attempt to see which design would be best for a flying machine.

Then Hayden had to ruin it all by making his comment about eating concrete, and Oliver was ripped away from his reminiscences and placed back in 2010.

Oliver watched vaguely as Hayden dug through his backpack for the elusive duct tape. His mind was still on the past, and it was clear by his expression that he was still highly distracted. It wasn't until Hayden removed the roll of tape that Oliver realized that he had a job to do. He held out a hand to catch the roll that was flying toward him, then turned his attention to the skateboard that was still in his lap. He took both halves of the skateboard and pressed them closely together. Then he took the tape and began to wrap it around. He gave it a few wraps and then placed the board on the ground. He placed one foot on the skateboard and pushed his foot down a few times, testing if the skateboard could hold even that much weight. When it worked, he laughed and picked up the skateboard, turning his attention to the wheels. "Duct tape can really work wonders. It's too bad we didn't have it when..."[/color] Oliver's voice trailed off as he realized his mistake. Fortunately, he was fairly certain that he'd stopped himself before any harm was done. After all, he hadn't made any references that the 'when' he was referring to was a time before duct tape was even in existence. He would not provide any explanation unless Hayden asked him, though. Otherwise it might look even more suspect.

"Well, it looks like it's retained most of it's strength, at least."[/color] Oliver noted with a small smile.

Word count: 767
To: Hayden/Tina
Notes: Don't know why it's so much fun throwing them in awkward situations, but it is. XD

Oliver kept a close eye on Hayden. The junior had already shown that he was not as dumb as he looked, and Oliver wanted to make sure that he kept an eye on how Hayden was reacting to everything that he said.

Though Hayden did not believe his assertion that he was indeed in a regular freshman science class, this actually was the truth. He was not in advanced science. He was capable of advanced science. He was capable of advanced math as well. He'd retained it all from his first go-round. However, he preferred using his math and science talents toward things that actually interested him, rather than assignments that teachers would give out.

Oliver nodded in response to Hayden's request. He wanted to know more about the device that Oliver had been fiddling with. Honestly, if it did not concern RSOR security, he would not have had a problem sharing it with Hayden. However, this was a little more serious than Hayden could ever guess, and thus Oliver had to remain mum. It was therefore getting on his nerves a tad when Hayden kept pushing for more information. Hence his silence.

The freshman busied himself with fixing Hayden's skateboard. It wasn't until Hayden volunteered himself as a guinea pig for tests that Oliver's gaze shot back up from the skateboard. With the last comment in this string, Oliver's eyebrow went up at once. "Flying skateboard?"[/color]

Oliver was torn between amusement and annoyance. Amusement at the fact that Hayden thought it was as simple as that! However, he was also annoyed at the same time. He and his brother had, after all, done years of research and work to get into the air. Hayden seemed to be suggesting that it was nothing to get a skateboard with a teenager on it into the air. The idea was a bit insulting, if Oliver had to be honest. Nevertheless, he had to remain as calm as he possibly could, otherwise Hayden might start getting suspicious of him. More suspicious than he already was, anyway.

"It's going to take a lot more than wings to get a skateboard off the ground with you on it. I doubt that skateboard will look much like a skateboard. First, you need a wing design that will generate enough lift to get you off the ground. That's going to take a bit of work in itself. Then you need something to propel you through the air, and that's not even bringing into consideration that you'd need to find a way to control which way you're going when you're up there."[/color]

Yes, a lot more difficult than just adding wings.

However, Oliver looked contemplative. He could not deny the fact that he really wanted to try it. However, he could not exactly rise to the challenge without putting himself and others at risk, could he? Not to mention he wasn't sure if he was going to get through to Hayden that this wasn't going to be some overnight thing!

Fortunately, the subject changed. Unfortunately, it was to another awkward subject that Oliver wasn't entirely sure how to work his way out of. He would, though. He had to.

"Actually, duct tape wasn't around until World War 2..."[/color] If Hayden asked where he'd learned such a thing, he could always claim he'd seen it on the History Channel. They seemed to cover everything else.

Oliver grinned. "Well, it certainly came in handy now."[/color] He watched as Hayden stuck a hand out after Oliver tested the skateboard with his foot. "Wellllll, I still need to fix the wheels, but they shouldn't pop out just from you standing on the skateboard."[/color] The grin remained on Oliver's face, simply because of the amusing mental picture than ensued of Hayden stepping on the skateboard only to fall off of it and break it again.

...what was sad was that it didn't seem all that farfetched, from what he'd heard of Hayden and his luck with this skateboard.

Word count: 767
To: Hayden/Tina
Notes: Why is it so much fun picturing Hayden beef it? The world may never know... XD