The Duet

Chapter 4: Oktober

It had been around 3 weeks since Chase, Ethan, and Lukas got in trouble. Ethan and Chase promised not to cheat off Lukas again. After their homeroom, The first class they had was science. Mrs. Stockton explained what they were doing in class today.

"Today, class, we are doing a lab today." started Mrs. Stockton. "We are doing something fun today! We are going to learn how to make some handheld fireballs!"

Everyone seemed skeptical at first, but Mrs. Stockton continued.

"Don't worry! We are going to use a fuel that burns with a cool flame. Let me explain how this experiment works."

Mrs. Stockton continued to jabber on when Chase decided to put his head and take a nap. Lukas quickly folded a paper airplane and drilled Chase in the head. Chase quickly sat up and saw Lukas.

"Why did you do that?" Chase mouthed.

"I think Mrs. Stockton said something important," Lukas mouthed back, shrugging.

At that moment, Mrs. Stockton grabbed a cup full of popsicle sticks.

"Class, I will put you in groups of two for this lab. Each of these Popsicle sticks say your name on them. I will pick two at a time."

Of course, the class knew this was important. They could be chosen to be with their friends, or with someone completely random. Everyone buzzed with excitement.

"Okay. The first pair is Lukas...and Reina." Mrs. Stockton announced.

Lukas' face turned fire-engine red as he went up to the front of the class with Reina to get his supplies while everyone was whispering to each other and giggling. The pairs kept on coming and coming after that. Chase knew he was getting picked soon. He surveyed the unpicked classmates: Mark, Brandon, Eliana...Alicia! He looked in disgust at his potential lab-mate. Mrs. Stockton pulls two more sticks out of the cup.

"The next group is Chase... and Jonathan."

Chase jumped up with joy. He was one of Chase's elementary friend, and even though they have grown apart, he was a cool guy, and was a billion times better than Alicia. Speaking of which, where is Jonathan?

"Oh, wait! Jonathan is sick today. You need a different partner." Mrs. Stockton explained.

Uh-oh, Chase thought. Back in the suspense again....

"Ok. Chase's partner will be...Ren!"

Who is that? 

His question was answered soon enough by a girl who grabbed their supplies and sat herself down at the nearest table. She gestured for Chase to sit down.

"Hello!" She said. "My name is Ren Akiyama." Chase was nearly blinded by her white teeth as she gave a big smile.

"Hi," he managed to say trying to avoid eye contact with the lustrous teeth. "My name is Chase Park."

"Ok, Chase! Where are you from? Ren asked.

"Korea. Or at least my parents are," He answered easily.

"Well, my parents are from Japan." She continued on, "Do you have any hobbies?"

"I like to play the saxophone and the guitar." He answered.

"Well, I like to sing." Ren said.

"Whoa, like professional level." Chase said in awe.

"What do mean professional level?" She gushed, " I just take voice lesson."

"You are set for life with just doing that. Don't tell me. You do anything else?" ventured Chase.

"Well I like to do comedy." She blushed.