Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

- 13 -

Logan found himself blissfully staring out the window on his way to school on Wednesday. It was still raining, and after his strange experience with Patton the day prior, he found the rain oddly ensnaring.

Logan was driving to school in his family's gray sedan, staring at the raindrops bouncing off of his windshield and windshield wipers. It was slick on the road but he had gotten his license years ago and had no problem maneuvering through the streets.

Once his first period at Sidebay High finally started, Logan's day passed slowly. He found himself struggling to pay attention and eagerly awaiting the end of the period. He was shocked by this new development, for he had never been restless in class before. Why?

When he arrived in chemistry, he was exhausted -- exhausted by his own boredom and lack of focus. He wasn't much for emotions -- he didn't enjoy nor understand them. They were complicated, unpredictable, and unnecessary. So naturally, he was not enjoying his emotional fluctuation and was made nervous by it.

"You okay, Specs?" Roman leaned over and asked. "You look more jittery than usual."

Logan shook his head. "I am fine, Roman, just a bit unfocused." Roman looked confused by this as well.

Patton arrived and gave Logan and the others his signature wide grin. "Happy Wednesday, everyone!" he told the table and sat down. "That's halfway through the week, you know." He pointed a finger and winked, as if he were telling them all some obscure, quirky fact.

Logan rolled his eyes and Roman laughed.

Virgil arrived upon the bell, as per usual, and sat down. He gave Patton a wave, Roman a smile, and -- upon seeing that Logan was also turned around, looking at him -- flashed some finger guns to which Logan did not know how to respond.

He simply turned around after giving Virgil a look of part confusion, part unamusement.

Mr. Tamm seemed especially enthusiastic that Wednesday, for he practically bounced across the room to the stack of papers on his desk.

"Now class," he said with a smile, "as many of you may know, I have taught biology at this school for many years and this is my first year only teaching chemistry." Logan saw a few kids nods. "Well, every year, I would give my bio students the option to either take the semester one final or go on a self-organized trip. This trip would take place either over a break or during our final study week, and would have to be for the purpose of a project or experiment that you will -- as a group -- present on the day before our class final." He adjusted his sleeves. "Who would be interested in going on a trip such as this?"

Logan, interested in the idea of a self-driven experiment, raised his hand. He noticed that the others in his group, upon seeing him, decided to raise their hands too.

Mr. Tamm walked around the classroom and gave out yellow papers to everyone with their hand up. The yellow paper was a packet, actually, and was extremely detailed. Logan began reading over it before Mr. Tamm made it back to the front of the classroom.

The main points were that a group of four (there could be exceptions, but four was the preferred amount) would organize a trip somewhere -- most commonly in nature -- where they would perform an experiment. After the week-long trip, they would compile their data into a poster and a report of which would be, as Mr. Tamm said, presented to the class.

Logan was definitely interested in this. As much as he loved good old bubble tests, hands on activities were so much more interesting. It meant planning your own steps and variables, being responsible for the continuity and overall legitimacy of a chosen experiment. He loved things that were methodical and precise, which is exactly what he could mold an experiment to be.