This ain't a diary, this is a - mirror?

Chapter 25: Nothing Special Aside from Some Science

"Hey, guys, can we sit?" Elena called. Sharon and Luna turned to face them. Sharon immediately started to wag her tail while Luna gave them a half-smile.

"Hey, long time no see! And of course!" Sharon waved, clearly excited, and gestured at the seats. "So, how's school? What's up?"

Samantha put down her plate gratefully and sat. "Well... we had DT separately. It was pretty boring, aside from that one moment where the teacher turned into a dragon thing and scared Oscar half to death. And IT was boring."

"A... dragon? Well, that must've been interesting," Sharon commented. "Are teachers even allowed to do that?"

"Don't know about that." Samantha replied, picking up a waffle fry and popping it into her mouth. "But it was pretty cool. So, how about you?"

"Well, Maths was boring. Our teacher just talked a lot but we hardly did anything." Luna replied. "They gave a lot of homework for not doing anything in class, though, so... that's why we couldn't go with you last night."

"Ah, yeah, last night!" Sharon's eyes lit up. "So, how did it go? What did you do? Did Zephyr do anything weird?"

Elena giggled. "Well, it went pretty well... we went shopping for clothes - in fact, what Sam's wearing right now is a... result of last night."

Sharon looked over Samantha's outfit. Samantha tried not too look too awkward as Sharon looked over her.

"I thought something looked different!" Sharon exclaimed. "Not in a bad way, though - it looks great on you. Mm, not nothing I would've thought you would, you know, wear, but it looks good!"

"Zephyr seemed a little too happy when he texted us about it," Luna commented dryly. "Now, what did you actually do?"

"What?" Elena yelped, caught off guard. "N-nothing! We just ate stuff, talked, and went home. Yeah, that's it."

"I don't know anything!" Samantha raised her paws in surrender. "At least, not about the going home thing. I just left them to their... own thing."

Luna smirked. "I see. Well, if you -" She glanced over at Elena, "- aren't going to tell me, I guess I'm going to pester Zeph until he does."

Sharon giggled. "So, Samantha, what did you do if you didn't... go back with them?"

"Eh?" Samantha jumped slightly. "I, uh, went to the park for a bit to chill. That's it, really." She hesitated for a moment as she thought about Ryo. "And, uh, I saw some guy from our school. But that was it."

"Who was it?" Sharon asked, smiling. "Did you talk to him?"

"Uh... some guy called Ryo." Samantha said, trying not to give out too much. "And he was playing music, so I asked him about it, then he left."

"That's it?" Luna asked, sounding skeptical.

"Yeah." Samantha said quickly. "So, uh, what's that?" She pointed at the plate of half-finished food that Sharon had.

"This? Oh, it's just mashed potato." Sharon smiled and prodded at it with her fork.

"With... ketchup?" Elena squinted inquisitively at it. "I've heard of gravy... but, uh, ketchup is..."

"Sharon likes weird stuff on her food." Luna replied with a shrug. "She also has pepper and salt on there, if you're wondering. And chilli sauce. Ironically, out of all of us - meaning me, her and Zeph - she has the strongest... chilli resistance. I'm second, though."

"Ketchup's great with mashed potato. Want a bite?" Sharon offered, holding up some on her fork.

"Er... no thanks." Samantha and Elena both said at once. Luna just chuckled and went back to eating her own waffle fries.

"So, uh, Science next." Sharon said, after a long pause. "So, Sam, how's your Science class? Since you're not in our Science class..."

"You share a Science class?" Samantha looked between the three dogs and sighed. "Lucky... I hardly know anyone in my class."

"Maybe you'll just get to know some new people," Sharon offered. "It can't be too bad."

"Maybe..." Samantha echoed, sighing. "But I wish I was in a class with... you know, one of you guys."

"Well, we have Power Training next with each other," Elena offered. "So we won't have to wait too long until we're 'reunited'." Elena grinned. "Well, Power Training sounds fun," she added. "I can't wait!"

---

"Samantha, Cheryl and Kiara. You will be one group." Samantha pulled herself to her paws and looked around for her working group.

The pale brown and blue furred dog with glasses padded over as Samantha scanned the room. "S... Samantha, was it?" She said in a quiet voice.

"Uh, yeah. Just call me Sam." Samantha replied, looking over the girl. "And you must be...?"

"Cheryl Bloomsbury... uh, you're in our group, right? With, er, Kiera." Cheryl looked around the room and her eyes landed on said dog. "Ah, there she is... uh, which table do you want to, er, occupy?"

"I don't mind," Samantha replied.

"Oh... I see." Cheryl mumbled. "Well, how about... this one? Kiera, do you mind?"

The brown haired dog jumped nervously at the sound of her name. "Me? Oh, I, uh... it's okay." Kiera's eyes widened at the sight of Samantha and she let out a nervous "meep".

"I-It's you! You were with, uh, her, weren't you? El... Eleanor?"

Samantha scratched the back of her head and chuckled awkwardly. "Um... yeah. But you don't have to be scared of me... I'm not going to hurt you. Elena won't, either. She was just... a bit, uh, angry..."

Kiera still looked nervous, but she nodded. "I... see. So, uh, what experiment are we doing?"

Cheryl smiled and tilted her glasses so they reflected the light perfectly and hid her brown eyes. "Don't worry, you've got me. If I'm good at anything, it'd be Science... so let's get started, shall we? Instructions are on the board..."

---

Much to her word, the experiment went as well as it could. Samantha hardly had to lift a paw to help - not that she didn't want to, but Cheryl did everything so quickly and efficiently it was almost like she was designed to do a job like this. Kiera stood by, watching in awe.

"Done." Cheryl finally announced, gesturing to their now-alight Bunsen burner and the boiling tube of water. "Now, let's add some Benedict solution, and if the food inside contains... er, glucose..."

Samantha watched, wide eyed, as the liquid became a shimmery orange.

Almost at the exact moment, Mr Strey trotted over with his goggles over his eyes. "Ah, that's how it's done. Very good. Now, pack up and write down your conclusion." He trotted past.

"Thanks for doing the experiment. And just... how did you do that so fast?" Samantha asked, still gaping. Cheryl simply smiled and switched off the Bunsen burner. "Just practice, really. Nothing too hard. Now, be careful of the hot equipment... would you mind putting away the lighter, Kiera? And Sam, you can help with putting away the Benedict solution..."