City of Shadows

Ignorance

Aurelia's POV

I find myself sitting in chemistry class wanting to hit my head against a wall. Around me the classroom is buzzing with noise as lab partners work to complete the assignment at hand. The air in the room smells strongly of varying chemicals. The teacher has one of those scented wax burners going. The scent is hazelnut coffee, a scent that would in theory improve the smell of the room, but only serves to make it worse.

As for wanting to hit my head against a wall, it has nothing to do with the task at hand. Sure, chemistry isn't exactly my forte, but at least it's not math. Sure the lab at hand wasn't the most glamorous either, we hand to test the conductivity, malleability, and corrosiveness of various metals. What was bothering me was my lab partner. The chemistry teacher had the audacity to assign lab partners for the semester. Worst of all, since I joined the class mid semester I got partnered with the guy that literally no person ever wants to work with.

My lab partner sits next to me, slouching in his chair. This is the standard way in which most people slouch, it's an extreme sort of slouch. It's the kind of slouch that says 'I don't give a crap'. I notice that his wavy brown hair has a slight greasy sheen to it as though he needs a shower, and his hair is messy as if he didn't bother to comb his hair this morning. Come to think of it, even his AC/DC t-shirt is wrinkled.

He stares off at nowhere in particular as he drums the song Living on a Prayer with the end of his pencil. I can't help but roll my eyes. The timing for that song is all wrong. He's missing out on the golden opportunity to start playing that song when class is half way over.

"Hey Cameron." I call his name is an attempt to get his attention, but he ignores me.

"Cameron!" I try again with a firm tone of voice.

Cameron doesn't acknowledge me. He simply continues to drum on the table top while staring off into who knows where.

"Cameron!" I try again, this time tapping on his shoulder.

I scrunch my nose in disgust when he continues to ignore me. This time, I snatch his pencil to get his attention.

Cameron turns and glares at me. His empty hand quickly flies up to his ear. The motion of his hand, draws my attention to the fact that he has hearing aids.

"What do you want?" Cameron asks in an unamused tone of voice after switching on his hearing aids.

"We have a project to do." I deadpan.

"Yeah...." Cameron trails off, "I don't really care. This class is trash."

"I don't care if the class is trash, we still have to do the assignment." I retort. This guy's lack of motivation is starting to get on my nerves.

"If you want the assignment done, do it yourself. I'm only here because I have to be here." Cameron replies. He snatches back his pencil, and returns to drumming.

My left eye twitches as I glare at him. This boy is literally the worst. Does he not realize that if he doesn't do the work, he'll fail and have to retake the course?

Cameron glances over at me, his evergreen eyes meeting mine. He smirks at me as he switches off his hearing aids and returns to ignoring me.

I slam my hand down on the table top and inhale sharply. I swear... Oh just forget it! If this boy wants to fail, just let me. I tried to get him to help. If he fails now, it's his own fault.

***

After class, I fish the note out of my backpack. I unfold the crumpled paper to double check the meeting location: room 208. I inhale sharply upon reading those numbers. I have this inexplicable feeling, like a sort of weight bearing down on my shoulders. It feels as though my entire world is about to change.