Turn the Lights Off (under revisions)

Chapter 4

I spent all night looking forward to Chemistry. It's by far the easiest subject. And to my delight, I think I found my favorite teacher too.

"Everyone has an assigned seat. Your seat will be over on the right side of the classroom next to Draculaura," he directs shortly.

Short and sweet.

I nod and take my seat next to a very pudgy vampire. She smiles at me, flashing her fangs. "Hi, I'm Draculaura. Pronouns: she/her," she starts with an overly bubbly tone. "You must be Jackson, the human who transferred here yesterday. It's nice to meet you. I'm the Student Bloody President, so if you need anything, just let me know."

I watch her out of the corner of my eye. I can already tell I'm not going to like her.

As the teacher starts on a lengthy rant about titrations, I open my notebook to a fresh page and start taking down every word.

"So, it's Jackson, right? Or would you prefer I call you Jack?" the girl whispers in my ear. "Do you use he/him pronouns?"

"Look," I growl back at her without taking my eyes off my paper, "I'm trying to pay attention."

"Hey!" Mr. Hackworth shouts. "There's no talking in my class, Normie!"

"Yes, sir," I respond politely.

Draculaura huffs. I can feel her eyes burning into the side of my skull.

Once Mr. Hackman finished his speech on lab safety, he dismisses us to the lab tables, paired with our table partners.

"You know," Draculaura starts, "I'm pretty good at Chemistry. It's not all that different from brewing potions. I don't know if you know this, but I'm actually a witch. Do you practice witchcraft?"

I look her over for a good, long moment. Surely, I think, she must be kidding.

"No," I respond as though that was a dumb question.

"Oh," she says, disappointed. "Well, I've got this. Don't worry about it."

"I don't mind," I say as nonchalantly as I can. "I'm pretty good at chemistry."

"No. I've got it," she states. Now she's testing me.

"Seriously, I insist."

"Look, Chemistry is totally a piece of cake. I'll just do the work. You're new, and I just don't want to mess anything up," she pushes, her voice rising.

"Biology is cake," I tell her. "Chemistry is pastry making. All the measurements have to be precise and accurate and done in the most precise and accurate order. I don't mind sharing the work, but I will not sit idly by and watch you."

Her eyebrows shoot upward under her bangs that have been so neatly divided, cut, then died with a part down the middle.

"I know my way around a high school chemistry lab," I tell her. "I practically live in one. You aren't doing this project without me."

Slowly, Draculaura puts her hands up in surrender. "Okay, let's work together."

"Excellent," I state. "I'll set up the titration pipe if you go get the stuff."

She nods slowly, clearly taken aback and says, "Okay, I'll be back, partner."

I nod back and start taking the equipment out of the boxes. As long as our relationship remains amicable, I can tell this is going to be an excellent semester.