Lavender - {G.B}

vingt-deux

Gilbert grabbed his things on his desk and we walked out of the school after Gilbert dressed into his coat, scarf, and hat.

Alice waved to Diana on her way out as she waited for Anne to come out. "Hey, I'm going to visit Cole. Do you want to come with?" Alice asked.

"I should check up on Bash," Gilbert told her. "But I'll see you tomorrow in the morning."

"Speaking of Bash, how is he? Feeling any better?" Alice asked, concerned for her new friend.

"He's good. I can't wait to tell him the news!" he exclaimed.

"Well, Cole is just down that way," Alice pointed in the direction to her left. The mini broken down shack was close enough that you could see its exterior.

"Love you," Gilbert hugged her tightly, pecking the top of her forehead.

She smiled and the two parted ways. She walked around, being careful where she stepped since there were many beautiful sculptures laid out on the ground.

Once she stepped inside, Cole was making another sculpture of a human. He looked up when Alice cleared her throat to catch his attention.

"How's it going?" Alice asked, taking a seat next to him. "You should really come back to school."

"You know I can't," Cole refused. "No one likes me."

"I'm sure that's not true. And the new teacher doesn't tolerate any sort of bullying," I told him. "When Anne was talking about my past, Ms. Stacy cut her off and gave her an assignment, but I'm not sure what -" Alice stopped talking when Anne appeared through the entrance. "These are really great, Cole. I'll catch up to talk to you some other time."

She stood up and walked out of the shack. It was an uncomfortable position for her. If she stayed longer, she was afraid of Anne possibly lashing out in front of her. She walked back home and she greeted Fred and Angelica who was in the kitchen having tea.

-

"Gil! Hey, come on," Alice exclaimed, trying to get her notebook back. "You have your own thing to study." Gilbert still had her book, reading it up high. "Fine." Alice grabbed Gilbert's book that laid closed and untouched on his lap.

"Hey," Gilbert cried, reaching for his book.

"Trade," Alice ordered.

Gilbert scoffed and handed Alice her book. "All right. I'll study harder," Gilbert agreed.

The corner of Alice's mouth curled into a small smile as she looked at Gilbert who was reading his book, very focused.

"I hope you weren't eavesdropping," Anne said, walking over to them. She just came back from talking with Ms. Stacy about the essay she had to write.

"I'm trying to study," Gilbert told her, saying he wasn't but in less polite words.

"I'm going to need Ms. Stacy's help with my vocation soon, too," Anne informed him.

"Do whatever you want," Gilbert said, annoyed. Alice raised her eyebrow at Gilbert and his new attitude.

"What is your problem?"

"How is your vocation mine?" he questioned.

"It's not. So sorry to interrupt. Please carry on with your goals!" Anne snapped, getting attention from a few of the girls and boys in the classroom.

"Hey!" Alice whacked him with her book.

"What was that for?" Gilbert rubbed his knee area.

"Yes, you want to study and focus but you don't need to be violent," Alice told him.

"Violent?"

"With your words...and your tone. It doesn't suit you," Alice explained.

Before Gilbert could say anything back, Ms. Stacy asked for the two to join their fellow classmates, allowing Ms. Cuthbert to take a seat.

"Science changes the world for the better. Does anyone know what electricity is?" Ms. Stacy asked.

She had a basket of small potatoes with a few laid on the table. Next to the potatoes was a bag of small tools like scissors and a small blade.

"Light," Anne and Alice said together. Anne gave a short glance at Alice and she tried to ignore it.

"And?" Ms. Stacy dropped coins on the table.

"A form of energy." Anne glared past Alice to Gilbert this time.

"Electricity is indeed a form of energy," Ms. Stacy confirmed.

"I was going to say that," Anne said, looking at Gilbert. Alice was glad she stood between the two to keep them from having another academic contest. She and Diana gave each other the same look and looked back at the teacher.

"If you've ever watched a thunderstorm with mighty lightning bolts darting down from the sky, that's electricity. Powerful stuff. A bolt of lightning is a sudden, massive surge of electricity between the sky and the ground beneath. Electrical currents live inside atoms. And atoms are small particles that make up all matter. They're so small that it takes billions and billions of them just to make something useful like a nail." She stabbed the potatoes with one nail on the end of it. "All objects take up space and have mass are called matter. And everything around you is made up of matter. Chocolate cake is made up of matter. These walls, the school is made up of matter. You are made up of matter. Now today, without a standard power source, like they have in the big cities, we are going to make our own electrical current order to illuminate a light bulb."

She attached a copper wire around the nails attached to the potatoes. She screwed on the light bulb on the potato and the light bulb illuminated as she said.

A woman cleared her throat, catching everyone's attention off from the lightbulb. Without Ms. Stacy there to watch the students, Moody picked the potato up and the wire touched his mouth, causing a jolt of electricity to his tongue. The warnings of Alice, Gilbert, or Anne wasn't enough to get him to stop.

"Everyone stand still right where you are!" Ms. Stacy ordered. "Let's keep our heads. Logic dictates there are no shards under your feet and I'd like to keep it that way."

Ms. Stacy found a broom in the closet and cleaned the shards on the ground. She threw them in the rubbish. Alice helped the others put the desks back to how they were while some of the mothers took their children away from the school.

"Ms. Stacy, if you're doubting it, you really are the best teacher I've had," Alice told her. "I mean, we're actually learning something."

Ms. Stacy laughed half-heartedly. "Thank you, Alice."