Short Stories

For the Better- The End of Normal

With a yawn, I tap my pencil against my sketchbook, waiting for the teacher to call my name. Middle of the day, and I'm still tired. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the life of a high schooler. I just want this class over with. Science is my favorite subject, and just so happens to be after the most boring class ever- History. I mean, I know that it's important to learn the history of humanity and stuff, but honestly, I don't see the point of dragging it through high school. I've been learning it ever since preschool! I think I know my way around a globe, thank you very much.
"Kai Lightwood?" I raise my hand lazily and wave it around, too tired to speak. The teacher looks up at me and raises an eyebrow, then looks down at her clipboard, checks my name off, and resumes calling out names in a monotone voice. That's another thing about history teachers. This probably doesn't apply to all of them, but every single history teacher I've had has always been monotone. Not a single drop of emotion in their voices. I tend to sleep in history.
Absentmindedly I lift my pencil
and start to twirl my light brown hair around it. I had dyed it with kool-aid so many times that the bottom of my hair faded to a fiery red. I didn't even have to dye it anymore. The teacher begins to speak. With a sigh I lower the pencil and slide my sketchbook towards me, ready to draw the class period away.
As I walk out the door of the classroom, I shiver. I hadn't noticed how cold it was in there until I felt the sunlight hit my skin. I groan in satisfaction and stretch, then unzip my hoodie. I had a good nap in that class. Now I'm ready for Chemistry. A couple of giggles reach my ears and I turn around to see Alexa Williams pointing and laughing at me with her best friend, Corina. Alexa is at the top of the food chain at this school. For the most part, Cloudbank High has no cliques, and therefore there aren't many 'Populars'. Alexa, however, is rich, so everybody flocks to her. Everybody knows her name. I, on the other hand, am on the opposite side of the spectrum. Practically nobody knows me. I'm not poor, but I'm not rich. I couldn't care less, though. I'm perfectly happy with my life.
I raise an eyebrow at the duo and frown. "Is something funny?" Corina laughs even harder and Alexa stifles her laugh, causing her cheeks to fill up with air in an impression of a pufferfish. I roll my eyes and turn around, and the laughter begins again. Ok, I think I know what's going on. I swiftly take off my jacket and turn it around to reveal a yellow sticky note with the word 'NERD' spelled out in all caps. I snort and peel it off, dropping it into the trash can near the door of the classroom. They must have stuck it on me when I was asleep. I roll my eyes at the two and head over to Chemistry.
That's another difference between us. While Alexa is at the top of the History, I'm at the top of Science. She finds my dislike of history offensive and I find her hatred of science stupid. We live in separate worlds.
I quickly walk to the stairs and make my way upstairs with short, rapid steps. Holding both straps of my backpack, I fast-walk to room 455 and peek in. Practically everyone is in here already, eager to get the last period of the day over and done with. I take my seat and look up at the board, scanning the homework and the objective. Spread across the white surface of the board is the lab for the day. 'Tic-tac lab'.
After a few minutes the teacher, Ms. Pickski, enters the room with a smile. "Hello, class!" Half the class murmurs back a hello, but smile back and wave at her. "Hi, Ms. Pickski! How are you?" Ms. Pickski waves back. "Very good, Kai, Thank you. How about you?" I grin. "Pretty good." She nods and begins to explain the lab, then sends us to our lab stations, where worksheets are waiting for us all.
I pick up my worksheet and read the procedure. "Well, seems straightforward enough. Does anybody else want to participate today, or am I going to be doing all the work again?" I look up at my group, which consists of two other girls and a boy. One of the girls is an artist. She rarely speaks and is always drawing on something. She shows no signs of hearing me. The other girl and the boy are currently staring into each other's eyes and talking about the upcoming Halloween dance. They're a couple. I sigh and look down at my worksheet again. I suppose I'm on my own again. Well, more science for me!
I grab some safety goggles and strap them on my head, sliding them over my blue eyes. I grab the graduated cylinder from the box of materials sitting on the table and take it over to the beaker on Ms. Pickski's desk labeled 'Potassium Petrachlorate', then fill it with 20 milliliters of the clear liquid. Setting the cylinder down, I pick up a medium sized test tube and place it in the metal clamps, adjusting the padded metal to hold the tube securely. I pour the Potassium Petrachlorate into the test tube and shake one orange tic-tac out of the box. With a pair of metal tongs I pick up the sweet and hold it over the test tube. With a smile, I drop it in.
Immediately purple-blue Flames tinged with green spring up, and I let out a laugh of delight. I love combustion reactions! This fire is so pretty, too! I watch as the flames lick higher and higher up the thin glass tube, then finally die down. I pout at the absence of the beautiful light and begin to write down my observations. Yeah, I'm a bit of a pyromaniac. I like fire. It's just so pretty and warm, and the science behind it is amazing! Elements coming together to create a dancing, moving display of power.
I look around to see other identical reactions happening all around the room. I take the test tube and rinse it out, flushing the remainder of the experiment down the drain. With that done I grab a few paper towels and dry the test tube and the cylinder out. I carefully set everything down in the materials box and go back to my seat. Turning back to my worksheet, I write down the last information I need before turning it in.

NAME: Kai Lightwood
PERIOD: 6
DATE: October 10, 2015