Welcome to Deadwood

Chapter Ten

  She reached for the bottle of Hydrochloric Acid, slowly turning the glass stopper, holding the bottle against her stomach. The poison seemed to fit perfectly in her hands, as deadly as each other, and I wondered then if the acid would eat away at Amaya’s skin or the opposite, the molecules corroded by her killer touch. Her hair had fallen over her face in dark curls as she poured some of the acid into a test tube, turning to me with expectant eyes.  

   “Ethan?” 

   “Yes?” I replied quickly, standing from my seat and leaning against the workbench. 

   “I don’t know if you think it’s endearing when you stare at me, but it’s not.” 

   “Oh right, no, I wasn’t staring at you.” 

   “No?” 

   “No,” I shook my head, narrowing my eyes, “I was merely watching you do the experiment, so I can do it so much better the next time around.” 

   “There’s not going to be a next time, no one is going to let you near any harmful chemicals after the last time.” 

   “I thought we agreed that was an accident.” 

   “Yes, but that doesn’t make you any less inept when it comes to this class, especially if you continue to stare at me like some,” she paused, “I don’t even know.” 

   “Hey, I’m great at science, I used to want to be an engineer, build planes and that.” 

   “Engineers don’t really have any use for corrosive materials so I think you’ll be alright,” she giggled, tipping a spoonful of zinc into the test tube, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. I knew I was staring again but I really couldn’t help it. “If you’re not going to help you might as well sit down and start writing up the results,” she straightened up, placing a hand on her hip. 

   “The results?” I asked and she nodded. “And those are?”

   “Just forget it, class is nearly over anyway,” Amaya rolled her eyes. 

   “Speaking of, you should come eat lunch with me, like, you know, actually be seen talking to other human beings?” 

   “That’s okay, I already have a hot date with Milan Kundera, in fact, I think I’m already running a little late,” she started to hurriedly pack up the chemistry equipment as I frowned, confused. 

   “But, like, I thought this was working out, me and you, talking, normal social interactions.” 

   “Yeah, no, Ethan don’t get me wrong, you’re great,” she shrugged and looked down at her scuffed sneakers. “I just, I can’t deal with the other people out in the open, Isaac and Leah seem fine but I can’t I’m sorry.” 

   “They’re really nice they’d love you, Isaac has been dying to get you close enough to draw, he does that to all his new friends, and Leah’s nice, and they know I like you-” 

   “-So you’ve told them about,” she motioned between us, “this?” 

   “Well, they’re my friends, yeah.” 

   “Ethan, I hate this school, I hate it, so the thought of hanging around with people from this school, it just, it doesn’t sit well with me.” 

   “You thought that about me when we met, you thought I was like the rest.” 

   “Yeah but there’s a reason I dislike ‘the rest’, they’re not like you.”