Changing the Future

Chapter 44

Going back to school was just as bad as I remembered, especially when I found out from Leah that Dr. Atomos had finally called it quits and retired, meaning that we'd be getting a new chemistry professor for the last two years of school.

"Fun," I'd muttered as I clutched my summer assignments and textbooks under my raincoat, the rain pouring down in sheets outside. You know, for going to such a prestigious school, you'd think they'd have canopies for students to walk underneath, but no-o-o.

"Of course," Leah said, pushing aside her soaked hair so that it wasn't dripping onto her books, "you would've known that if you came to orientation in July. Or, you know, if you picked up my calls or responded to my texts."

I sighed as my hand closed around our door handle, pulling it open for the both of us to walk into the lab for today's experiment. Of course, Joe and Pete were already there, flailing their arms above their heads to catch our attention, earning themselves wads of paper to the back of the heads courtesy of two boys that'd I'd never seen before.

"I already told you," I said as we moved towards our seats. "I don't have a phone."

"Then how did Pete call you earlier in the summer?"

"That was a friend's phone. And it just so happened that I was there when Pete called."

"Yeah, sure," Leah scoffed, huffing angrily as she slammed her books down on her desk. From the way she pulled out a pen and flipped open to the first chapter, I knew she wasn't going to be talking to me again for the rest of the period.

I didn't make any motion to talk to her either, preferring to eavesdrop on the boys' conversation. Though, I began tuning them out when I heard them come up with plans on how to prank whoever our new chemistry professor was going to be.

"Knock it off," one of the newcomers said, chucking another ball of paper at the back of Joe's head. For some reason, he was wearing sunglasses even though he was inside and it was raining outside, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.

"Oh, geez," the second boy muttered, pulling his hat lower on his face, as if he were trying his best to become invisible. "Pete, I don't want a repeat of Mrs. Sherman's class again!"

Pete merely smiled back at the boy, expertly dodging another wad of paper from the first boy. "Lighten up, Patrick. College is way more relaxed than high school."

"Unless you go to an Ivy League," I pointed out, "which we do. So, no, we're never relaxed. Don't you remember last year's finals?"

Pete and Joe shuddered in unison.

"We don't speak of those days," Joe said ominously, hiding his face behind his hands. "Those are the days which make accounting look like a viable career option."

"Hey, what's wrong with being an accountant?"

"Nothing, Andy, but just imagine dealing with numbers all day. The horror."

"Says the guy who wants to be a software engineer."

Pete pretended to faint, causing Joe to laugh, Patrick to sink lower in his seat, and Andy (huh, same name, I guess these were the guys Pete wanted to introduce me to) to shake his head, probably thinking Why am I friends with these idiots?

Little did I know, those two newcomers would become some good friends of mine as well, always joining movie nights and late night study sessions, where enough coffee was consumed to kill three large water buffalo.

But as much as I loved hanging out with my little group of five (six if I counted myself), having two more friends made it that much harder to keep my secret. It wasn't helping matters that I was still being called upon by the camp every other day to help secure the boarders or train the younger campers.