Razzledazzle [ ✓ ]

Chapter 1 | The Project

Ding. Ding. Ding.

I always liked the sound of the seventh-period tardy bell. It was the last bell before the end of the day, and it marked my last and favorite class of the day.

Science.

After running hard in P.E., memorizing pages of math facts, and conjugating tons of verbs in French, it was nice to chill out in a dark classroom, watching a cool video of breezing through an easy worksheet, my friends by my side.

Well, mostly my friends.

There is one. One person that annoys to no end, one person that I've hated since we met back in kindergarten, one person that could always find a new way to push my buttons.

Lee.

Lee Cancer is by far the most aggravating, annoying, irritating, exasperating person to ever exist on this planet. I'm dead serious: when he isn't being a smart-aleck, sarcastic, arrogant student, he's teasing people in the hallways and getting into trouble.

I swear, he's the worst.

Anyways, I'm distracted from my wandering thoughts as the bell dings for the final time and just as the science teacher is about to close the door, it's thrown open.

And guess who it is.

Naturally, it's Lee Cancer. He's trying to act slick as he slides into the room, closing the door swiftly behind him. He looks like he just came from the middle of a hurricane, rushing to try and get here on time.

His short, strawberry-blond hair is spiked up in different directions, his jacket is barely clinging to his arms, and his electric-blue eyes are bright. He's panting slightly, and his entire appearance kind of reminds me of a dog.

"Leon," the science teacher greets him calmly.

"That's my name," he replies, his voice high-pitched. "Glad you've learnt it, Ms. O'Carthy. Took you a while."

Most science teachers would flip out if they were talked back to, but Ms. O'Carthy is probably the chillest teacher I know. That's why me and my friends love this class so much.

"Lee, why don't you sit down," she suggests, her voice sharp.

Lee nods and yanks his chair across the floor, plopping his backpack on the table. He collapses into the chair, still panting.

There's silence.

"Well, aren't you going to teach? My tax dollars aren't paying for you to just stare at me," Lee informs Ms. O'Carthy, who simply rolls her eyes.

"The day you start paying taxes won't be for a long, long time," she mutters, meandering back over to her desk. "And I mean long."

"Ms. O'Carthy, I didn't think you were allowed to make fun of the students."

"Lee, I didn't think the students were allowed to be this stupid." She sits down in her rolling desk chair, a slight smile on her face.

Like I said, totally chill.

For right now, Lee decides to shut up, which is a total miracle, considering the fact that he's Lee Cancer. Ms. O'Carthy scrolls through her computer and takes attendance.

"Cancer, Leon," she calls.

"Here," he answers, leaning back in his chair. "Wish I wasn't, though."

"Don't worry, I feel the same way," she retorts, marking him present and then scrolling through the other names. I don't really pay attention until the last few, because I'm always the last one on the roster.

"Reeves, Gloria." Here.

"Singleton, Troy." Here.

"Singleton, Tyler." Here.

"Virgo, Rose."

"Here," I call softly, and Ms. O'Carthy enters the last name in before clicking off her computer and getting up from her desk chair. She walks up to the front of the class on her short legs, her ash-blond bob bouncing up and down.

"Today marks the day that we start a new project," she announces, the bright lights of the classroom reflecting off of her round glasses.

"Yaaay," Lee groans sarcastically. "Work. My favorite."

"Would you act more excited in the principal's office?" asked Ms. O'Carthy. "Because I would happily send you there."

Lee shuts up.

"As I was trying to say, today marks the start of a new project. We've spent the last few weeks learning about the elements, and I want you to use what you've learnt wisely: I want you to design a T-shirt displaying an element of your choice, and the features of it."

"Can I pick gold? 'Cause that's what I am," Lee calls out, to the annoyance of Ms. O'Carthy.

"Yeah, Lee. That's exactly what you are. A gold digger," I retort. I can hear the oohs and ahhs from the class at my reply.

"You need some ice for that burn, Lee?" shouts Gloria, who sits to my right.

Gloria, or Glory as she prefers to be called, has only known me for two years: since sixth grade. She's tall and skinny with a mop of tangled blond hair, and she's been on my side ever since Lee tried to steal her pencil and she proceeded to whack him on the head with it.

"Why don't you get some ice for your pimples instead, pizza face?" There's Lee again, with his terrible comebacks.

Ms. O'Carthy sighs. "We do not refer to the other students as "pizza faces". To answer your question, Lee, you can do whatever element you want. Just don't blame me if you get a bad grade."

"A bad grade? Me? Never," he scoffs. "I'm a straight C minus student."

"Hmmm," Ms. O'Carthy says noncommitally before going back behind her desk. "I'm glad you're proud of your grades."

After that, the class just disperses. People start wandering over to other people, discussing the project. Glory is deep in thought about what she wants to do, and I don't want to disturb her when she's in thought.

So we sit there for a while in silence until a girl called Alex comes up to us. She's got short, dark hair and calculating dark eyes. I've known Alex since seventh grade, too, and she's clearly one of the smartest people in the class.

"Guys," she whispers. "I have some news."

"IS THE NEWS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO DISTURB MY THOUGHTS?" Glory hollers, her hazel eyes flashing. Sometimes she can be very melodramatic.

Alex rolls her eyes. "Well, I—"

"THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT. Now, what's the news?" she adds casually.

"Do you want to hear the bad news or the good news first?"

"I don't care as long as you hurry up and tell me before I die of boredom," Glory insists.

Alex lets out a sigh. "Okay. The good news is that I got the three of us invited to a party.

"The bad news is that this party is being hosted by Lee Cancer."