Oh, Heather

Chapter Twenty-nine

She made it to lunch after a few slow classes. Jada hadn’t been there for any of them, it was normal for her, but Heather needed to talk to her. She didn’t want to rush her, some things take time to figure out, but she needed to get her feelings out. Jada might have missed her other classes, but there was still a chance that she would show up to chemistry.

“Why don’t you just get her number?” Miley asked.
“Why would I do that?” Heather said.
“Well you want to talk to her.”
“Yeah.”
“Get her number and ask to meet her in the park or something.” She suggested.
“I guess I could do that. But what if she thinks It’s weird?” 

“If you ask her for her number, I doubt she’ll think it’s weird. Just don’t go through her friends to get her number.”
“Who does she even hang out with? I’ve never seen her talk to anyone.” Leo asked.
“I saw her and Taylen at a cafe a while ago.” Heather replied.
“The cheerleader?”
“Mhm. I’ve never seen her with anyone else though.”
“Ah okay.”

They talked about a plan for what Heather should do. Miley tossed out a lot of ideas, but they all felt too forward for Heather. She still wanted to give her time to figure herself out.

“I’m out of ideas.” Miley said.
“I don’t have anything.” Leo added.
“Change of subject then.” Heather said. 
“Leo, did you ever properly talk to Vance?”
“Yeah.”
“And?” She questioned.

“He said that everyone knowing we were together was stressing him out.”
“So he’s just gonna ignore you?”
“Yeah.”
“And you're okay with that? I get not talking to you in public, getting outed is stressful, but if he wants to be in a relationship he should still talk to you at least in private.”

Leo sucked his teeth, changing the subject again. Every time Heather tried to bring it back up, he would ask random questions. She gave up and made her way to chemistry. As she slouched down in her seat, she laid her head onto her arms.

“You okay Heather?” Mia asked,
“Barely.” Heather mumbled.
“What’s going on?”
“Problems with the girl I like.” She said, lifting her head up.

Heather didn’t want to tell Mia that it was Jada, not because she was worried she would act like Miley did, it just didn’t feel right.

“Awh. Is she straight?”
“I don’t know. She said she doesn’t know.”
“She might just need time to figure herself out. I bet if she’s into girls she’d be interested in you, you’re super fun to be around.”
“Thank you Mia.” She laughed.
“No problem.”

She pulled out her notebook, expecting to have to write something down the second the teacher entered the room. Ms. Evans walked in and began jotting something down on the whiteboard.

“Outside experiment? Could she not have just said that?” Heather said.

The next few students walked in, but Jada wasn’t with them. Heather would have to try again tomorrow. They walked outside and were each handed a small vile of a clear liquid. 

“What’s even in here? This could be a lot of things.” Mia asked, looking at Heather.
“I have no clue.”

They were instructed to mess around with the liquid. Heather’s first thought was to smell it and her nose was clouded with a sweet smell.

“Now students, what do you think the liquid is?” Ms. Evans asked.
“It looks like benzene but I didn’t mess with it at all.”
“It is benzene, good job Ryder.”

Heather watched as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

“How did she not see that?” She questioned.
“She probably did but just doesn’t care.” Mia replied

She handed each pair a different colored class as well as a clipboard and some paper.

“I don’t know any bright purple liquid.”
“Open it up, maybe the smell will give us an idea.” 

Heather popped off the lid and the color inside was a dark blue.

“This is different.” She said, showing Mia the inside.
“That looks like Phthalocyanine.”
“Huh?”
“Well It’s used in paints and such to get dark blue color. Maybe not actually put into the paint but I don’t know.” 
“I’m glad you know something about chemistry.”
“It’s a hobby of mine. I just like mixing things and seeing what will explode.”
“That’s really cool!”

She smiled and wrote it on the paper they were handed. The rest of her classes blew by, but her walk home wasn’t as easy. It started raining, and she had forgotten an umbrella. She tripped several times, leaving marks all over her legs. When she made it home, she was soaked.

“Well hey honey.” Alyssa said, laughing at Heather’s annoyed expression.
“Hi mom.” She replied, rushing to the shower. 

She changed into a pair of plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt she borrowed from her mom, falling asleep just as the sun began to set.
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I finally got another chapter written!
I'm going back to only Wednesday's for theses updates.