Virals Pack: Reborn

Chapter 17: Another Day in Paradise

A/N: Heya! I'm so excited to be able to post this chapter this early! Classwork pressure has greatly decreased now that I took a big final test for one class, so I can dedicate more time to writing. Yay! Hope you all enjoy!

Thank goodness today is Friday. I survived the other three days, I can make it through this one.

I remind myself this as I walk into the chemistry room and am met by another bout of snickers and thinly veiled whispers, all of course directed at me. When Mr. R had called for us to choose our new lab partners for the semester, practically everyone jumped away from me towards another person. Everyone, that it, except Hi. He had calmly walked straight through the swathe of retreating classmates and claimed me as lab partner, before the group of three girls in the back were even done arguing who would be the odd one out.

I smile a bit, wondering whether Hi regrets his decision yet. I wasn't quite certain how much he was targeted before by the other kids, but now that we were paired up, the pure nonsense directed at us was relentless. Our lab items were constantly being shifted around when our backs were turned, insulting notes were slipped into our locked lab drawer, and other such shenanigans were directed at us all this week. 

Today we were mixing Sodium Iodide with Silver Nitrate to observe the chemical reaction. First we had to create the balanced equation,  AgNO3 + NaI → AgI + NaNO3 , then we had to go into the lab and replicate it with actual materials. That was supposed to be yesterday, but Mr. R has a tendency to ramble on about topics that range from chemistry to not chemistry, for example his cat named Doodle. So we had to stop halfway and leave materials, like the large test tubes of Silver Nitrate, out overnight. 

I was actually having an okay time today, once class got started and we got dismissed to the lab area. Hi and I were bantering back and forth in a comfortable, friendly manner, and things seemed alright. "Would you like to do the honors, madam?" Hi inquires, holding out the graduated cylinder full of Sodium Iodide. "Such a gentleman" I reply, making a show of carefully taking it from him. I can feel the eyes of the other people on the back of my head, and it gave me an especially sharp pang of unease for some reason. 

Shaking it off, I proceed to pour the sodium iodide into the silver nitrate. I could tell as soon as the first drops hit the clear liquid waiting innocently in the test tube that something was wrong. But the following reaction was so sudden and unexpected that I froze. Steaming hot foam bubbled and burst forth out of the test tube, overflowing everywhere and landing on my still bandaged arms, scalding them. 

I'd heard the whispers that spread once the others got wind that I was injured somehow. But as far as I knew, they didn't know about how I'd been hurt or anything else involving the accident back home. Maybe before I would have jumped back, shouted a bit in shock. But the memory of the burning hot flames licking at my room, surrounding and stifling me, scorching my throat, my lungs...my arms... 

It was too much for me. The memories, they consumed me, overwhelmed me. I stumble back feeling like I had just been punched in the chest. All the breath whooshes out of me in a shaky shriek and I drop to the floor because the room suddenly feels too big, too bright, and I just want to curl up and disappear from the world. I can hear their muffled laughter through ringing ears, as they circle like vultures. They want to break me, and they've done it. Maybe unintentionally, but the damage was still done. I could feel my mind losing it's grip on realty and spiraling into a dark haze....

Hi kneels next to me, and I can see his lips moving, but I can't hear what he's saying. I can see the others surrounding me, clustered in groups with one of them holding up a phone. The chemistry teaches lumbers up, and his commanding voice barely manages to pierce the fuzzy noise blocking my ears. He's talking to Hi, who nods and reaches towards me, attempting to pull me up. 

I rise, a numb, complacent doll, and follow Hi as he leads me out the door into the hallway. Darkness creeps around the edge of my vision as I stumble down the hallway and I fear I am about to pass out. Hi notices and quickly pulls me into the corner of a stairwell, gently guiding me into a corner where I can sit and rest. 

I curl my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them, staring vacantly at the floor at my feet. My hearing is slowly coming back and I can begin to hear my ragged gasps for air. I startle a bit as Hi crouches next to me and tentatively wraps his arms around me. I feel a sudden need to be comforted, and reach out towards him to return the embrace. I yelp as my tender hands brush against his jersey and quickly withdraw. 

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Ssssssshhhhh, can you hear me now?" His eyes are full of concern as he sits back out of my reach. Unable to find the words, I simply nod. "Alright then, I'm going to leave for a bit and get some damp paper towels to go on your hands, is that okay?" 
Nod, nod
"Great, now sit tight and I'll go get them." 

He gets up and quickly walks away. I start to panic, thinking he won't come back, but within the next minute he's already back, gently draping cold paper towels over my arms. I sit there silently, statue-still. Hi looks up and sees me watching him work. 

"Are you a little better now?"
Nod, nod
"Good, because Mr. R told me to take you to the nurse's office, they'll be expecting you soon."
Nod, nod. I still can't speak.
"Do you, do you want me to go with you?"
Nod, nod.
"Okay, then we'd better got going. Here, take my hand, I can lead you there"

I gingerly take his proffered hand and he helps me stand back up. I follow him as he guides me down the hallway towards the offices, and wonder what's going through his mind right now.