Chemistry

Chapter 1

I worked so hard to get into this school.

Well, not really that hard.

I have always been good at chemistry. I used to combine cleaning chemicals in the laundry room, which either would result in huge blasts or improved cleaning supplies.

Either way, Mother was always mad.

So when I got accepted to San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, well, let's just say I was the only one excited.

Mother was only glad to get me out of the house with my "dangerous science experimentation things."

So, two months and 572 miles later, I made it to my first day of college life.

The city was beautiful that first time I saw it, from the plane. I had turned on the screen that showed footage from underneath the plane and watched the bridge, then the city, go by underneath us before we touched down on the tarmac.

Then, there was the school.

All the latest architecture, built by the world's most brilliant minds.

It was the most beautiful campus I had ever seen.

And that was during the daytime.

At night, it glows.

And now, I am starting my first day as a student.

Weirdly enough, I got placed in the robotics program.

Professor Callaghan seems nice though. He instructs us, then tells us to pick a work area.

I choose a corner one, that way I don't mess up too many other projects.

I soon learn that my neighbor is a neat freak, though he doesn't look it. He's tall and muscular, of African descent.

I drop a bottle, and he springs in front of his neatly arranged table of tools before I pick it up. Turning around, he readjusts the tools.

I laugh through my nose.

I explore my work area, gathering chemicals.

Then, at lunch time, one of my classmates asks me to come with them to Shark Sushi, a restaurant just off campus. The neat freak is there, as are two other guys, and the girl who invited me.

At the restaurant, we start introducing each other.

A tall, scrawny boy speaks up, pushing his brown hair back into a beanie. "I'm Fred, and I don't do science. I'm mascot and sign spinner extraordinaire."

The neat freak gently dabs some of the spicy wasabi on his sushi roll, spreading it evenly. "I work with lasers."

"What's your name, then?" asked the girl, popping her gum.

He's about to answer when a glob of the wasabi slips onto his shirt.

Fred jumps up. "Wasabi!"

We all stare at him.

"His nickname!" He explains shamelessly.

We all laugh, and the newly named Wasabi grumbles into his dinner.

"I'm Honey Lemon, that's what everyone calls me." I tell them.

"I'm Gogo Tomago," the girl who invited me says, spitting out her pink gum to eat her food. "I'm developing a vehicle with hyper suspension, to make it faster."

"I'm Tadashi Hamada. I want to design a robotic nurse."