Footsteps

4

I was still incredibly upset that Joey was mad, but I just kept it inside and showed all smiles to everyone I talked to. I wondered if this is why my mom was in a mental hospital. Being falsely happy like this was driving me insane. I thought I might just drop to the floor and die.

My class after lunch was choir, and when I filed in, all the girls gave me strange looks, and I saw Aaliyah being quiet in the corner. "Aaliyah!" I shoved past the girls and bounded over to her.

"I talked to Joey," Aaliyah said nervously.

"What, you act like he's dying or something," I laughed. Aaliyah was silent. "...Oh my God, he's dying?" I screeched.

"No!" Aaliyah stopped me. "But...I feel like this is something he needs to tell you, not me..." she gave me a sympathetic look.

"What?" I was over it. "Well, when I talked to him, he just kept saying he couldn't tell me, but he's not jealous because he said he was happy I was hanging out with you, but for some reason he was upset I was hanging it with Bade."

"Eaden, I think...without saying too much, I'm pretty sure he is jealous, just...in a different way..." She still had the pained expression on her face.

"That doesn't even make sense!" I wailed after thinking about it for a minute.

"Alright, choir, we have a new student," our teacher, Miss Stone, started. She motioned to me, and I stood up with a nervous smile, waving to the people that all looked at me. The choir was large compared to my old school's. "Thanks, Eaden," Miss Stone smiled, and I sat back down. "So, I have some time after class, and I know some of you have been asking about pointing out your friends who are good at singing, so come talk to me after if you'd like," she smiled.

"Are we gonna do anything else except for talk?" I whispered to Aaliyah.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Okay, so I'm gonna give you guys a new song to rehearse," Miss Stone walked over to her bench and started passing out booklets.

I didn't know the song, but learning it was really fun. I was a soprano, so I was with Aaliyah, and I sang the higher notes.

"This is so much better than my old choir," I laughed to Aaliyah.

"Probably, why not, though?" She laughed too.

After class, Miss Stone called me over. "So, are you signed up for band or dance?" She asked. "You're very talented," she added.

"Thank you, and I'm signed up for dance," I said.

"Which one?" She asked.

"Lyrical, and as far as Music Theater goes, I filled out the form, but for some reason, it's not on my schedule..." I sighed.

"Ah, you'll have Lyrical with me, and this year was supposed to be the first year ever for MT, but only two people signed up, so we dropped it," Miss Stone said sadly.

"No!" I gasped. "I've been doing Musical Theater since I was little, and everything else around here is too much money, there's gotta be another way!"

"Well, during what now is your free hour instead of MT, I'll test you and the other person who signed up and see if there's another class we can put you in," she offered.

"Wait, you're in charge of the dance classes?" I asked.

"Yes I am,"

"Okay...let's do that...what you said..." I said, hoping this would work out for me in the end, and hurried to my next class, which was Science.

I was in it with that Evan kid, which was really the only person that I somewhat knew. And ironically, he was the only person without a table partner, so I would have to be with him. We would be partners for the rest of the year.

Ugh...

"Alright, so, first assignment, since this is your first week with your permanent table buddies, I need you ask them their name and one question, and not their age, go!" Mr. Stevens said.

"I'll go first..." Evan hurriedly said. "What's...your name?" he grumbled.

"Eaden Foley, what's yours?" I mocked him.

"Evan, but you know that," he said, like he suddenly realized something. "...So, you're the Foley that Joey talked about,"

"What?" I huffed, not wanting to talk about Joey.

"Never mind," Evan shook his head. "You go first with the other question, I gotta think," he added.

"Fine, uh...what's your favorite color?" I asked.

"Black, you?"

"Hm, either red, orange, or brown," I replied.

"I've never heard anyone tell me that their favorite color was brown," Evan said.

"Well, there's a first for everything I guess," I shrugged.

"Alright, now you see this paper?" Mr. Stevens interrupted the chatter of his students. "The chemical on the end of the paper, we're gonna call it M11, is a highly reactive gas, and you all are going to get to perform an experiment with it," he said.

"Could be fun," I shrugged, whispering to Evan, who shrugged as well.

"Each of the tables are set with different powders in small containers, as I'm sure you've all seen, just follow the instructions on the paper I'm about to give you along with the M11, and you'll be official eighth-grade scientists," Mr. Stevens finished, proceeding to do exactly as he said.

I examined the paper with the pink-tinted end, wondering why we didn't need gloves or something for this procedure. Evan snatched the instructions and read them once, then aloud. "You will be dipping the tinted end of your test stick into the So-pro-meh—"

"Skip it!" I interrupted his struggle to pronounce some word I probably wouldn't be able to even say myself.

"Anyway, basically, we're gonna put the stick in the powder stuff, and everyone's powder is gonna react differently to the gas," he summed up.

"Is there anyway we have to do it specifically?" I asked.

"It says we need to drop our test stick in very quickly and move our hands from the reactive area, and also, someone needs to be holding onto the dish holding the powder once the stick goes in," he replied.

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

"I wanna drop in the stick!" He grinned.

"Knock yourself out," I shrugged, getting ready to death-grip the container.

"Okay, ready, one, two, three!" Evan dropped in the stick and I grabbed the container for the life of me. Our powder started to literally disappear in front of our eyes, along with the stick. The powder was becoming a gas, and forming little crystal-like particles in the air.

This science class was way more fun then my science class at my old school. When the bell rang, everyone bolted out with a big grin on their faces, and I was destined to dance.