The Physics of Falling: Study Buddies #1

Chapter Four

As everyone bottlenecked around the lab door, shuffling in single file, Sidney realized that she recognized a few familiar faces. There was a guy and a girl from her high school. She didn't know them very well. Jared, and perhaps Nicole? She wasn't a hundred percent sure of their names. They had graduated a year ahead of her. But there was no mistaking that they knew Sidney. The girl stared at her and elbowed Jared, whispering something in his ear. He looked up, and after a moment, gave her a hesitant smile and nod. Sidney smiled back, awkwardly. She hoped it didn't look like a grimace. She was probably the only person in the world who needed to practice smiling to get it right, she did it so rarely.

Fortunately, there were a lot of people in between them so Sidney didn't have to worry about small talk. Once they entered the lab, they took the opposite end of the same long, black counter but did not say a word to her.

It was a complicated room full of all sorts of equipment one would expect in a college laboratory. There were fume hoods all along the side of one wall, and cabinets full of beakers and graduated cylinders in every volumetric size imaginable. The lab assistants must have been doing some serious inventory and cleaning because the entire back of the room had been gutted, and all manner of equipment lay out on tables. Sidney recognized centrifuges and digital scales, but most of it was alarmingly foreign. At the center of the room was a complicated glassware apparatus set up under a Bunsen burner. The loops and bulbs of glass with bubbling liquid being heated over a flame looked like ancient alchemy. A girl exclaimed, "Whoa, I feel like I'm in the dungeons at Hogwarts, learning potions."

"I suppose that makes me Professor Snape?" A cheerful voice answered from the door, startling everyone. "Of course, ordinary chemistry classes are never in the basement," Dr. Crick added as he walked in. "Dungeons make for an eerie atmosphere, but not an ideal laboratory location. Chemistry labs are almost always on the top floor of a science hall - that's a bit of trivia your legs will come to appreciate when the elevator is closed for maintenance. Does anyone know why a chemistry lab would be built on the top floor?" Crick leaned back on his heels and looked around expectantly.

"In case it explodes. It won't take out the other floors if it's at the top." A voice answered brightly from just behind Sidney.

She turned and was surprised to see that it was puppet show boy who had answered. His blue eyes met her gaze and he waggled his eyebrows at her as he squeezed an old Bunsen burner lighter in his hand. Tiny sparks flickered a little close for comfort and Sidney stepped forward with a scowl.

"Very good, Mr. Summers. Let's hope we never have to put that to the test. Though, if your work last year is to be any indication, we should all review the locations of the fire extinguishers."

There were a few nervous titters, and Dr. Crick naturally segued into a lecture about lab safety. It was not your typical lecture. Crick was sure to point out the many ways the items in the lab could kill or seriously maim you. After a particularly energetic reenactment of how one could die by leaning too far over an open centrifuge, they were all reminded to never wear a scarf or necktie in the lab. There were dozens of other rules when it came to clothing, and even how to wear one's hair. Sidney was tempted to write them down, but no one else had so much as picked up a pencil. She wondered nervously if this was all general knowledge. Did everyone learn this during the general chemistry classes that Sidney had tested out of?

"Okay! Let's pair everyone up. Once you have a partner, go ahead and take out all of your glassware and equipment from your drawer so we can take inventory. You will need to replace whatever needs replacing and wash whatever needs washing. I can't guarantee the former owners of the drawer were not complete slobs."