Chapter 8

My third period of the next two days was chemistry. Half of the second-year seniors moved towards the library. Charlie walked briskly beside me. I must be honest, I envy Charlie a lot. From what I’ve seen here in Edwin and Co the student system was divided into two, the popular students and the unpopular ones (these were prey to the popular ones). But Charlie, she was in a world of her own neither popular nor unpopular, she didn’t care what category she was anyway, she was herself without a care in the world for anything. She walked too fast for a short girl of 5’4.

The lab was at the end of the hall and opposite it was what used to be the former lab although now it was used as a store of some sort. According to some rumors by the students in the hostel, it also served as a rendezvous for smooching and making out. Outside the lab was Ms. Elena the chemistry teacher and Mr. Denver the lab technician.

“Two to each station, make sure your apparatus is complete,” Ms. Elena was saying as she filed into the lab. It was painted white, the bulbs overhead were white too casting an immaculate glow around the room. The stations were rows of slabs and each station held beakers, volumetric flasks, retort stands and among these were 2 reagents with labels on them; both acid and base. Charlie handed me some gloves, a lab coat and goggles.

“You know what we would be doing this morning. I already said today would be a practical class for you all so get right to work,” Ms. Elena was saying then she paused when her eyes caught mine. “Oh, Jessica Underwood, you are the new student.” She looked around the class and murmured to herself. “I don’t suppose you’ll find class easy and Charlie would be the perfect partner for you since Miss Forge is not an A student.”

“Was she ever?” someone said from 2 stations behind me, a few members of the class laughed. I turned to look and saw Heather looking smug. She raised a challenging brow at me and turned one Charlie’s way. I looked down to see a ghostly smile at the corner of Charlie’s lips.

“She’s playing hard to get,” she murmured. I shook my head. Charlie was definitely obsessed if she thought Heather was playing hard to get, the girl obviously hated her.

Ms. Elena rolled her eyes and slapped a palm to her forehead. “Enough,” she said in a firm voice and the laughing ceased. “Charlie you would have to switch places with Ward if you don’t mind. I trust Ward should be able to put Jessica through the entire analysis.”

Heather huffed. “Ms. Elena, that cannot be possible! You already made Christian and I partners for the school year.”

“Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble Heather,” Ms. Elena said without a hint of empathy in her tone, “but we’ll have to make some adjustments there.”

“But…”

Ms. Elena assumed a firm tone. “If you have a problem with that decision please speak to Mr. Edwin when you see him.”

Mr. Edwin co-owner of Edwin and Co and be also happened to be Tyler’s father. I saw Heather cross her arms in front of her chest before walking to Tyler who occupied the next slab with Dahlia to say something to him. She was probably asking him to speak to his dad on her behalf but something tells me Mr. Edwin has other issues to be bothered with than teen drama about a practical schedule. Charlie on the other hand gladly took her books and moved to take Christian Ward’s place.

Christian Ward. Member of the Bad Boys Club.

His hair was at least combed today. The light of the lab highlighted the gray of his eyes. He walked with a slight frown on his brow. I moved and made some space for him, he is just as tall as I am.

“Okay, now that we’re all set,” Ms. Elena was saying. “You have 30 minutes to work.”

Everyone got to work immediately. Christian buckled his goggles around his eyes and I did the same. Without a word he opened his notes and started to follow instructions from it. At first, I simply watched him read, mouthing words to himself but soon he started to work. He rinsed the pipette, burette, conical flask and everything.

I raised a brow. “Uh, you do realize we’re partners and are supposed to be working together right?”

He equally raised a brow. “Ms. Elena made it clear that I should put you through the processes of this practical.”

“Yeah and you’re not exactly doing that.”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. “You’re a bit of a smart mouth, no wonder you got into trouble on your first day.”

I rolled my eyes “Look you and your small dick confraternity don’t scare me. I’m not here to exchange words with you I want to learn and you’ll do what is right by including me in this practical or I’ll have to report you to Mr. Denver or Ms. Elena.”

He watched me for what seemed like an eternity. His lips quaked as though he was struggling to keep his smile in check but soon he frowned and stepped back. A few minutes passed and he didn’t move, just stood there waiting.

“Well?” I asked.

He gestured at our slab and all the apparatus. “Well, what? Do you want to be included? The slab is all yours.”

What the…? “Why are you being so dramatic right now?”

He shrugged. “Do you want to start this practical or not? We have just thirty minutes, we have 3 titres to do and we need to get going.”

Wow. He was so dramatic and annoying. And rude!

“Well, I haven’t done something like this before so I don’t know what to …”

“Then you keep quiet and watch.”

I opened my mouth at his rudeness. But before I could say anything Ms. Elena was reminding everyone that 5 minutes was gone already. I closed my mouth reluctantly but there was a lot I wanted to say to Mr. Rude. He attached the burette to the retort stand and started the process of titrating but I could barely concentrate. Behind me, Charlie wasn’t faring any better. Heather was resting her hip on the side of the slab and was watching Charlie with a disdainful look. She barely even lifted a finger to help Charlie. She noticed me looking and raised her palms up in question.

“What?” she scorned.

“Nothing,” I replied.

“Then stop looking at me you weirdo.” She looked from Christian to me. “And keep your hands off my boyfriend, okay?”

Whatever. Who cares about the boyfriend anyway?

The said boyfriend was already on the second titre. I looked around and noticed we were the fastest in the lab because with two minutes Christian was already doing the last round of titration. Well, look who’s smart. I studied him as he worked and couldn’t help but notice how his brow drew together and how his head tilted to the side when he was thinking. It was kind of adorable if I would be honest.

“Why are you staring Underwood?”

I blinked. I didn’t even know he noticed.

“Well, I’m impressed by how smart. How can you be smart and still belong to a stupid confraternity?”

“None of your business.” He jotted our titre values down and started to do some calculations.

I rolled my eyes again. “Are you going to tell me what you’re doing?”

“Calculating the concentration of our base as you can see. Since we have to submit as partners I will leave my book with you so you can copy the answers and submit.”

“Hello, I have a brain of my own. Just tell me the values and let me do the calculations myself.”

He paused mid-writing and straightened. For the first time he looked at me, I mean really looked at me. His gray eyes were the most beautiful thing if not for the challenge I saw in them.

“You do?” he asked. From the side of my eyes, I could see Heather watching us. “Well, Underwood, I should tell you now that I happen to be the honor student of our class. Which means that I’m the smartest, it wouldn’t do for my partner to have a low score in this class since it might also affect mine and I don’t want that. So, here’s what we’ll do, prove that you’re indeed as smart as your mouth,” his gaze dropped to my lips and I was forced to lick them. His lips tipped up. “And I promise not to play any pranks on you as a member of the Bad Boys Club.”

His voice was spellbinding to say nothing of the intensity of his eyes. “And what happens if I fail?” I crooked.

He smiled and my knees went weak. “Then you’ll learn that my bite is worse than my bite. I’m not your friend Underwood, I’m part of the enemy.”