CHAPTER FOUR | making plans like the organized people we are

RANDOM SONG OF THE CHAPTER:

Take On Me - a-ha

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"I see a dog, I pet the dog- that's the routine here."

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I relished that satisfying bang the notebook made when I slammed it against the tabletop. Whoever Zane was eating with almost hit the ceiling when he violently flinched from the noise. The freckle-faced boy gave me a look as he clutched his pudding container to his chest.

"Hey!" The boy said indignantly.

I wasn't that bothered by him, in a competition of height I would totally win. Heels or no heels. Not that I ever wear heels. They're like twig stilts just begging you to break your ankle on them. Zane glanced up, icy blue gaze curiously flicking to the book pinned beneath my hand in front of him. His illusion was so realistic that if I hadn't seen the titanium all over him the previous day I wouldn't have known he was an android.

"Can I help you?" He asked politely.

"Yes," I said solemnly. I raised the flower-covered book before him. "This is my dream journal. Now you have to write one too."

I placed it back down and slid it across the table to him. I ignored the interns around us that were slowly leaving the table. The freckled boy remained, eyes bouncing between me and Zane.

Zane raised an eyebrow, taking the book and examining it closely. "Why?"

"Because diaries are cliché," I said like it was obvious. I slid into a chair across from them, snagging a fry from the other boy's plate, much to his complaint.

"I've had this same journal since I was eleven. It was where I wrote all my hopes, dreams, goals- all that stuff. It allowed me to figure stuff out about myself and will allow me to learn more about you." I explained.

Zane still looked quizzical, he took the journal and opened it to the first page. His head tilting in confusion as he read the first line. "You wanted a purple motorbike."

Oh right. I forgot that was in there.

"And..." his brow furrowed. "You dreamed of marrying someone named Zuko?"

Sheirjsgjebfj.

"Ho-kay, that's enough of eleven-year-old-me." I grabbed it from his hands and shoved it back in my bag.

"I still do not understand the purpose of listing my goals," Zane said honestly.

"Well, I realized I needed to get to know you more since we kind of just met properly yesterday." My gaze flicked to the curly-haired boy in the blue sweater still sitting there. Is he going to leave...?

"Why?" Wow. He is like an annoying little kid right now.

"Because I can't find a date for you if I know nothing about you." There was a beat of awkward silence. "So tell me about you."

Zane blinked. "I'm a robot." Oh, I definitely will not be able to forget that.

"Yes, but no one has 'I'm looking for one hot, smoking robot.' on their dating profile." I pointed out.

"Woah, woah, woah!" The random other dude there waved his hands suddenly. He whirled on Zane. "She knows?"

"Yes. I told her." Zane told him calmly. My eyes bounced between them like a ping pong game. Ooh, so this guy knows too.

"Why didn't you tell me?" The guy said incredulously. He made wild arm movements as he spoke, Zane watched the limbs move around with an expressionless stare.

"I didn't realize it was crucial information for you to know," Zane answered.

The brown-haired boy sighed but then turned to me. I had subtlety stolen the rest of his french fries, he seemed like the type who wouldn't mind a random girl stealing from his lunch.

"Hey," I mumbled awkwardly through my snack.

"Uh, sorry about that." The guy said sheepishly. "I-I'm Jay."

I gave him a little wave and his gaze focused on what I was eating. His eyes flicked to where his french fries used to be. "Hey, are those-"

"Maybe." I popped another in my mouth.

Jay blinked rapidly for a second before just directing the conversation back to Zane. "Did you tell her about the other thing?" He hissed through the corner of his mouth as if I couldn't hear him.

Zane shook his head.

I chewed slowly on another greasy stick of deep-fried potato. "What other thing?"

"Nothing!" Jay squeaked.

A little weird and suspicious but I'll just continue eating Jay's meal and let it slide.

There was a moment of more awkward silence where Jay and Zane just watched me eat. At last, Jay spoke up.

"Can I have my fries back?"

-❄️-

"So, our goal is to have a series of dates to try and find you a pal," I gave Zane a grin, "Gettit?"

"Very amusing." Zane complimented me with a shake of the head.

"I thought so," I said, watching as Zane carefully put together whosits and whatsits galore.

I picked one up, ignoring the funny looks from the other interns as I examined the little itty bitty screw. "So, the people you go out with will be the independent variable in this experiment. The thing that changes. While you, Mr. Glowy-Eyes will be the dependent variable."

Zane's eyebrows rose and he held out a hand. I placed the screw in his palm and he set back to work. "I believe you told me you weren't good at science."

I rolled my eyes and my fingers found another screw, I began to spin it around subconsciously.  "I still remember some of the stuff from high school, I'm not a total idiot." As I said those words, irony came and laughed in my face. The screw slipped from my fingers and rolled off the table, clinking into the dark corner of the lab. I froze and silently went crawling under the table to go get it.

"We also need a dating profile." I continued, my nose twitched as the dust wafted up to my nasal passage. Crumbs. I'm allergic to dust mites. With a sneeze, I clambered around until I accidentally placed my palm right on the screw.

Ow. I cursed loudly and jerked up, slamming my head into the table. To my chagrin, more tools and little metal stuff clattered off the table. "Cheese and crackers," I muttered, snatching the screw and retreating into a standing position beside Zane.

Zane paid me no mind as he carefully placed the pieces back on the counter, lining them up in perfectly straight lines.

"We also need a hypothesis," Zane added, delicately picking up a panel and placing it on the machine. I watched as he worked so gracefully, as if it was a precious treasure, with so much care.

"I hypothesize that you're going to find your one true love, ride off into the sunset, and have your happily ever after, the end," I told him with a wide smile, I frowned when he just stared at me. "Are you writing this down?"

Zane tilted his head. "I do not need to write it down, I can remember."

Lucky duck, I can barely remember my phone number. With a huff, I grabbed my notebook from my bag and scribbled it down myself.

"Gwen!" I glanced up to see Jenna marching on into the room with an annoyed expression. I glanced around, is she talking to another Gwen that isn't doing what she's supposed to be doing?

"What are you doing in here?" Jenna exclaimed. "You need to get those designs to Cyrus!"

I glanced at the notebook and flipped to the previous page. Indeed the designs were in there. Whoops.

"Whelp," I said, quickly grabbing my overly-colourful jacket and zipping away. Jenna's heart-shaped lips were drawn in a frown, hazel eyes squinting. I hypothesize that she is overjoyed with my idea of being fashionably late.

I grabbed Zane's palm, much to his confusion, and scribbled my number into his hand with a pen. "Text me when we can meet up again to go over your type."

Before he could sputter out any questions I had skipped away.

-❄️-

"I can't believe you told some random girl you were a robot and didn't even tell me you told said, random girl!" Jay complained, stomping into the monastery.

Jay's loud screeching had startled Wu, causing the sensei to spill his tea. Master Wu scowled and gave Jay the stink-eye before slinking away to let his nephew deal with this.

Zane suppressed a sigh, exchanging a look with Nya in a silent plea for help. The master of water unfortunately was too busy scolding Kai over something. The team each have their own houses, many living with their significant others, but they often met up back at the monastery to catch up and annoy each other.

"Wait, wait, wait." Cole, one of the only people who were listening to their conversation, suddenly cut in. "You told a random girl that you were a robot?"

All other concerts still ceased and all attention was now on Zane. The nindroid shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, unsure what to say.

Lloyd searched for the right words. "Are you sure that's....a safe decision?"

Zane scowled, giving Jay an irritated look. "She isn't a random girl."

"Ooh, What kind of girl is she then?" Kai asked, intrigued. "A girlfriend kind of girl?"

"She is helping me with an experiment," Zane replied hotly. He hadn't told his family his plans and he didn't realize how tricky it was now that he hadn't. "It requires her to know what I am."

Nya squinted at him suspiciously. "What kind of experiment are you two doing exactly?"

"Well..." Zane grimaced a little.

Jay waved his hands for their attention. "Wait a moment, the random girl said something about a dating profile..." slowly realization dawned on him. A wicked grin spread across his face. "Is she getting you a date?"

Zane scrambled to get a hold of the situation as the rest of the team began to squeal with excitement.

Nya appeared in front of the poor robot, grasping him by the shoulders and shaking him violently. "Oh my gosh, Zane! This is so exciting!"

"Wow, the mom of the team is finally getting into the dating game." Kai snickered, earning an elbow into the side from Lloyd. "Oof."

"It is an experiment," Zane emphasized, fixing a glare on Jay.

"That's what they all say, Buddy." Cole stood and patted his friend on the back.

"I am being perfectly serious!" The master of ice took a deep breath. "I want to believe that androids can find love too."

All laughter slid away and was replaced with pity. "Oh, Zane!" Nya cried, hugging him. "Of course you can!"

"Yeah! Somewhere out there will be a boring, literal, annoying little worry-wort just like you!" Kai added with a chuckle.

"You'll see."