Sweet Sweet Revenge

Chapter 8: You plus Me equals Chemistry

“It’s perfect!” Mel yells.  It’s Sunday morning, the day after the dinner, and I’m sitting in Mel’s bedroom again.  This time Sarah is the one standing next to the black board with one box ticked off, and Mel’s sitting next to me on the bed.  “You become his lab partner.  You spend the week fooling him into thinking you’ve both got this prac down pat.  Then you completely mess it up on the day.  You could make explosions and stuff.  It’ll be so cool!”

“Okay, before you go any further Mel, your plan has some issues.”  Sarah says.  “Number one, I doubt Gemma will be able to make any explosions, and number two, won’t this ruin your grade too?”  Sarah has turned to look at me.

“Yeah you’re right.  Failing this prac for him will mean failing for me too.”  I’m gnawing on my lip.  I hadn’t thought about this complication.

“Oh come on Gemma!  You can fail one prac!  Take one for the team.  Explosions aren’t even necessary.”  Mel obviously doesn’t understand the need to get good grades.

“Would you possibly be able to talk to the teacher after, to raise your own grade?” Sarah asks. 

“Mmm I guess I could tell Mr Shaw that Will messed up the prac as a prank and provide some sort of proof.  I’m not sure if he’ll believe me though.” I say.

“Of course he’ll believe you!  Will’s known for playing jokes and stuff in the school.” Mel says.  “You could probably even swear Mr Shaw or whatever his name is into confidentiality.  He’d understand.”

“Okay, yeah.  I guess I could do that, but even then, I still would have to settle for at most a B+.  There’s no way I’m getting an A from a messed up prac, even if it was on purpose.”

“Will it mess up your chances for valedictorian?” Sarah asks.  I shake my head.  One B+ in chemistry, which isn’t even that important a subject to me, will be redeemable.  I can still get valedictorian.  It’s no big deal.

“Great.” Mel says.  “Chemistry tomorrow, you’re getting a new lab partner.”  She winks at me.

I stand outside the chemistry classroom and take a deep breath.  I can already see Will taking his seat at the back inside.  I’d put off asking him in homeroom and ignored him as usual because I’d been too scared to do it then.  C’mon Gem.  You have to do this for the team.  Revenge for Will, remember?  I think about what his face will look like when he receives his F as I walk into the room.

“Hey Will.” I say when I reach his table.  The brunette next to him glares at me.  What did I ever do to her?

“Hey Gemma.  Aren’t you supposed to be down there next to Mr Nerdy McPurdy?”  Will smirks and points towards Adam, my current lab partner.  What kind of nickname is Nerdy McPurdy?  Sure Adam is a little nerdy, but he’s a really nice guy.  Also, that nickname sounds really stupid, even for Will.

“Yeah about that.  Listen.”  I begin the speech I’ve been rehearsing in my head since yesterday morning.  “So on Saturday night your mom seemed really keen for us to be lab partners, remember?”  Will nods and I continue.  “Yeah well just before you guys left she asked about it again and I didn’t know what to say so I told her we would be.”  In reality I had just gone up to her and said we were keen to be lab partners.  She never asked.

“Oh.” Will says.

“I am so sorry.  I didn’t know what to do.”

Will sighs.  “Well, we can’t displease my mom or she’ll go berserk on me.”  Will’s face crinkles up.  “Sorry Fiona.  You’re with Adam now.”  He grabs his books and follows me to my table at the front.  The brunette, Fiona, gives me an even meaner glare than before.  This time I can tell why, but she’ll be fine with Adam.  He’s nice.  Adam looks terrified when Will walks up to him and tells him to move, very rudely might I add.  His face lights up a bit when he sees Fiona though.  Oh Adam.