Disclaimer: I do not own "Zoey 101" nor do I own any of its characters

A/N: This is my first Zoey 101 story. This account is created under the observation that there is not much Dustin fantictions within the archive.

The Essence of Kinship

Negligence

Zoey rapidly pressed the buttons across the keyboard of her laptop. She's currently cramming for her midterm paper that is due in about three days time. This research paper is worth 40% of her total grade. True, she's made good for the remaining 60% of her grade and has created a good cushion of support just in case she gets a bad grade in the research paper. However, she wants to get a grade of no less than A- for this subject.

"I knew I shouldn't have gone to that book convention" she told herself. A big time book convention went to town last week and she spent a LOT of time interviewing authors here and there, getting autographs up and down the convention. Before she knew it, time has frowned upon her and a need to put her into overdrive became apparent.

Truth be told, she already finished half of it and even if she were to stop now, she can still finish it tomorrow, or the next day. However, she decided to push through with it and finish the entire paper today so she can relax on the other days.

"Hi Zoey!" Quinn's familiar voice entered the four corners of the room. "Writing the midterm paper?"

"Yeah…" Zoey replied in a monotonous voice. "How about you? You finished with your paper?" it wasn't a question borne out of interest. It was a question that was voiced out just for the sake of it.

"Yeah" Quinn went to her bunk and started taking out some stuff from her bag. Tomorrow is Dustin's birthday and since he's helped her many times with her experiments before, the young scientist feels compelled to buy the boy a birthday present "I hope you're not so focused on that midterm paper that you forget tomorrow's special event"

"Mm" was all she got from Zoey as a reply as the blonde girl continued to type. Shrugging it off, Quinn went out of the dorm room with a laptop and her toolbox in hand. There's no need to nag Zoey about Dustin's birthday, after all, it is nearly impossible to forget your only blood relation's (at least a blood relation that you regularly see) special day.

"Bye Dustin"

"Bye" Dustin waved goodbye to his friends as he headed for the opposite direction.

"Dustin!!!"

The blonde boy turned around to see Quinn walking towards him with some things in her hand.

"Hey Quinn, What's up?" he asked, although he already has a rough and painful idea on what the young scientist have in mind. After all, she has her toolbox and laptop with her which means she wants to perform some weird experiment. And since she called him, it means that he's her chosen lab rat.

"Hi…" the young scientist grinned at the boy just in front of her "…your birthday's coming up…."

"Uh-huh"

"So, I figured I need to buy you a present" Quinn's grin started widening, which made the boy in front of her quite nervous "the perfect present"

"You don't have to do that. Zoey is taking me to the new Oceanarium tomorrow so I'll be gone half of the day so you don't have to bother yourself with what I want…" wanting to get out of whatever the four-eyed girl has in mind, Dustin figured that he should act like a humble celebrant "…anything will do" he took a step back.

"Nonsense!!!" Quinn grabbed his hand "…come on, I'll try to unlock your perfect present with my new device" with that, she dragged the celebrant towards the lab.

"N-new device" the boy asked nervously as he is being dragged to the lab by the scientist.

"Yup…" the dark haired girl replied "…it is a device that captures minute changes in the brain. You see, my hypothesis is that mini brain reactions occur when people see something that they like or dislike. So, in order to know what you want, I'll show you a series of pictures and my device will see if you like it or not"

"Why not just ask me what I like or don't like?" he's really desperate to get out of this situation. Every time Quinn has an experiment, he usually emerges with a bad hair day—and that's the least that can happen

The young scientist stopped in her tracks to look at the boy with a 'are you stupid' face "Where's the fun in that?" with that said, she resumed dragging the boy towards the lab.

"Damn, today's rehearsal was a killer" Lola entered their dorm room, seeing Zoey in the computer.

"I know" Zoey replied in a zombie like manner, eyes fixated on the screen, hands typing rapidly across the keyboard.

The aspiring actress gave the blonde a puzzled look "Uh Zoey, you're not part of the drama club…how can you know how tiring rehearsals are?"

"I don't…" the blonde girl replied, not really taking any interest in the matter "…but if pretending to relate to you would make it easier for me to focus then fire away"

Lola raised an eyebrow "Okay…" Zoey's been rather moody lately. Ever since she found out that the midterm is due in a few days, her mood suddenly turned from cheery to just plain cranky. "…Someone's a little moody"

"I'm not moody…" finally, Zoey rested her hands on her hips and turned towards the aspiring actress. She needs to rest her fingers since they've been typing away all day "…I'm just in a hurry. I need to finish this in three days time. Until then, all other issues must be put on hold"

"Even very important issues" Lola raised her eyebrow again, knowing that Dustin's birthday is coming up.

"This IS a very important issue, the most important of them all" with that said, Zoey resumed to typing across the keyboard. "So don't go nagging me about any other issues"

"Okay" shrugging it off, Lola went to her bed and started reading magazines. It's hot outside, the sushi rox restaurant is crowded and every other hang-out spot has been seared by the sun. She chose not to nag Zoey about Dustin's birthday. After all, she's exhibited herself as an ideal sister. This means that chances are, she won't let a stupid midterm paper get in the way of her brother's birthday.

"Well, I can safely conclude that today's experiment was a success" Quinn smiled to herself as she exited the lab, equipment nicely organized back in her bag. She was followed by Dustin, with a very bad hair style.

Dustin looked at the scientist with an 'are-you-kidding-me' stare. His hair went from his usual clean hairstyle to Frankenstein mixed with Einstein. "Success? Maybe for you! You showed me images that a minor like me shouldn't even think about!"

"Oh you're so uptight…" Quinn shrugged as she left the building and headed for their dorm room. Dustin, on the other hand, headed towards the boy's room to fix his hair.

"Man, this is messed up" the blonde boy whispered to no one in particular as he started to fix his already disheveled hair. A few toggles here and there, some minor adjustments and his hair are back in its usual form (albeit not as good as before but the changes are just a few minor split ends). Once finished, he decided to go to Zoey so that they can arrange the trip tomorrow.

"I'm back" Quinn entered their dorm room, equipment in her hands.

"Hey" Lola smiled at her from the bunk "whatcha been up to?"

"Oh nothing" the young scientist have no reason to tell Lola what she did. If she did, then the aspiring actress would question what she got as a result and would buy the present for Dustin before her. Quinn could still remember the time when Lola asked her what Zoey liked and she told her. The next day, Lola came with a present similar to her. The scientist has no intention of repeating the same incident with Dustin's birthday.

"Could you guys keep it down?!" Zoey interrupted, her voice laced with anger and irritation.

Quinn gave Lola a questioning look.

"She's been in that computer since this morning so now, she's crankier as that chemistry teacher last semester"

The aspiring actress answered her friend's silent question.

Quinn's face turned to worry. She knows that when a person is too focused on something, he/she can forget other things—even important things. "Uh, Zoey, I don't mean to nag but did you forget—"

"Zoey?" Dustin's familiar voice interrupted Quinn's speech as it entered the room, accompanied by a light knock on the opened door.

"WHAT?!!" Zoey snapped as she turned around to glare at the intruder.

Dustin was taken aback by his sister's sudden outburst "Uh…um…I just figured that we should talk about our plans for tomorrow"

"Tomorrow, I plan to rest, Dustin because by tomorrow this paper is done because I'll finish this research paper today…" The blonde girl gritted her teeth. There have been so many intrusions today it's like the entire world is going against her "…but you see, I can't finish this today if you people KEEP BUGGING ME!!!"

Lola, Quinn and Dustin all have the same expression; a look of shock. Dustin was also mixed with a look of hurt and rejection. "O-oh, okay…well….sorry for the intrusion" with that, the boy turned around and left.

To be continued

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