Fly High | ✅

21 | Smells like trouble

◈A D R I A N◈

This is awkward, I thought silently as I sneaked a glance to my left.

Kelly had her head hung low and was scribbling furiously on her notebook. Meanwhile, Mr. Chan was still oblivious to the intense drama as he explained about dilution while squeezing distilled water into the test tubes at the laboratory table up front.

I was starting to second guess my decision to attend school when I felt the throbbing in my head slowly intensified. The thrumming was starting to make me feel queasy as if someone attached guitar strings to my head and started to strum.

I would have been able to avoid all these if I stayed home, I groaned as my eyes shifted between Kelly and Amanda. The rest of the class pretended as if World War III hadn't erupted just minutes ago. Even Amanda returned to her chirpy self, asking irrelevant questions to Mr. Chan.

I looked at Kelly again. Silent tears continued rolling down involuntarily down her cheeks and fell on the pages. Guess we were the only ones still affected.

"And that's how you do it," Mr. Chan concluded and passed out the report sheets to us. "This experiment needs to be done in pairs so grab your partners quick and finish it before the bell rings. Let the games begin!" he ended it with an exaggerated bow.

The minute after Mr. Chan returned to his seat, a crash was heard from the back row. Dozens of head swiveled simultaneously to the source of the sound and Mr. Chan hurried to the back with a first aid kit.

He stopped before the broken pieces of a volumetric flask and glared at the perpetrator. Dylan, the class clown looked sheepishly at Mr. Chan and lowered his gaze, feigning guilt.

"I've told you all many, many times to handle the solutions with care. Even if this is diluted acid, it is still corrosive and you can be burned from contact," Mr. Chan reprimanded harshly. "Nobody touches anything while I get Miss Mathers to clean this mess," he shot a stern glare at Dylan once more before leaving the room to get the lab assistant.

Dylan chuckled soon after Mr. Chan got out of earshot and his friends slapped his back playfully at his stunt.

Amanda turned in her seat and leaned over the table to look at the mess. "Who knew diluted acid could do so much harm," she clicked her tongue. With a smirk, she shot a dirty look at Kelly and said, "Consider yourself lucky, Montgomery."

Kelly hunched her back even more and ignored the threat. A sudden, unfamiliar anger welled in me, making me scrunch up the report sheets subconsciously.

I turned to face her and opened my mouth. Before I could stop myself, the words left my lips and I knew I would regret it sooner or later.

"How do you feel about shepherd's pie after school?"

✴

I let out a breath of relief when the 'closed' sign greeted us as we stood in front of Average Joe's Pizza parlour. As much as I craved for a taste of that savoury pie, I was glad that this place remained untainted by a third party.

This place shall remain as his and mine.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and looked guiltily at Kelly. "So, umm... coffee, then?" I asked lamely.