CHRYSALIS

SCHOOL REUNION

I sit at a table adjacent to the teacher's desk, watching the students pile in.

The Doctor walks into the classroom, announcing to the class excitedly, "Good morning, class. Are we sitting comfortably?"

His gaze meets mine, and he smiles.

He scrawls the word 'physics' in capital letters on the whiteboard and underlines it, "So. Physics." He replaces the cap of the marker and chucks it back down on the desk, "Physics. Eh?" He starts to repeat the word over and over.

He points mischievously to me, winking, "I hope you're getting all of this down, Ms. Grabska."

"You haven't said anything profound yet, sir." I smile at him teasingly.

Looking back at the students, he continues, "Um, okay, let's see what you know. Two identical strips of nylon are charged with static electricity and hung from a string so they can swing freely. What would happen if they were brought near each other?"

A boy raises his hand.

"Yes, uh, what's your name?"

"Milo."

"Milo! Off you go."

"They'd repel each other because they have the same charge."
The Doctor's smile widens, "Correctamundo." When he notices me holding back a laugh, he continues, winking at me, "A word I have never used before and hopefully never will again. Question two, I coil up a thin piece of microwire and place it in a glass of water. Then I turn on the electricity and measure to see if the water's temperature is affected. My question is this: how do I measure the electrical power going into the coil?"

Once more, Milo's hand shoots up, though the Doctor glances around the room curiously, "Someone else? Nope...?" When no other hands raise, he concedes, "Okay, Milo, go for it."

"Measure the current and PDs in an ammeter and voltmeter."

I gauge the Doctor's reaction, he seems intrigued.

"Two for Milo! Right then, Milo, tell me this: true or false: the greater the dampening of the system, the quicker it loses energy to its surroundings."
"False."

"What is non-coding DNA?"

"DNA that doesn't code for a protein."

"Sixty-five-thousand-nine-hundred-and-eighty-three times five?"

"Three-hundred-and-twenty-nine-thousand-nine-hundred-and-fifteen."

"How do you travel faster than light?"

"By opening a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of 36.7 recurring."

I look at the Doctor's shocked face with a grin, 'Not so bad a lead from Mickey The Idiot, now is it?'

Around an hour later, we stand in the cafeteria.

I lean over and whisper to him, "Aren't middle schoolers supposed to be loud? Or is that just an American thing?"
"How should I know? Not human, remember?"

I glare at him playfully, "Yeah, yeah, Time Lords came first. I know."

Before he can respond, slop is slapped onto our plates angrily, and we glance to meet a fuming Rose's stare. I mouth a quick 'sorry' at her before I move back to our chosen table for the afternoon.

"Two days," Rose hisses when she reaches us.