Lion's Gift

Chapter 2

As we enter the lab, Mrs. Davidson looked up from her paperwork on her desk. Mrs. Davidson is a stern, but nice teacher. She's in her late forties, with dirty-blond hair and brown eyes, and she wears blue rimmed glasses. She doesn't wear much makeup, and she always has an impeccable sense of fashion, choosing usually to wear long skirts with a loose-fitting blouse and cardigan. She's slightly taller than Belle and has somewhat wrinkly tan skin.

Mrs. Davidson looked at Belle and I and let us in. We're the kids who have the top grades and never cause any trouble, so we are always let in early for our classes. The rest of our classmates would probably have to stand in line for at least two minutes while Mrs. Davidson finished up her paperwork. I sat next to Belle in one of the desks, and we began to take out our notes from yesterday's PowerPoint presentation. As Belle skimmed hers, I examined the classroom.

The classroom ceiling is about eight feet high, and the walls are that same beige color as the hallway. The far side of the room is filled with cabinets and drawers with lab equipment, and there are windows that face the small courtyard in the back of the classroom. The rain had let up a little more, and the sun was shining through, so Mrs. Davidson let the windows open and the fluorescent lights off. There are two doors on the opposite side with the lab equipment, and that wall has a counter and sinks for experiments. There are three columns of interconnecting desks, with chipped wood surfaces and the familiar plastic school chairs. Two people sit at every desk, and each column holds two rows of two desks.

At the front of the classroom is a whiteboard that stretches about a third of the way into the wall, and then there is the screen which takes another third, and the last third of the wall is taken up by another whiteboard. There is an overhead projector in front of the screen, suspended above the front desks. In front of the screen and the whiteboards is the counter where Mrs. Davidson would do hands-on demonstrations, and her desk which is very messy and covered with paper. The classroom always smells distinctly of chemicals and rust, but it isn't too sharp a scent. The class is almost always exciting, so the atmosphere isn't as nearly as dead as it is in the hallway.

As I finished up my observations, including the fact that there were twelve new beakers filled with purple liquid on the demonstration counter, and twelve is the number of desks there are, the bell rang, signaling fifth period. I have all eight periods filled with classes, not including lunch, while Belle has one free period and seven classes. Most of our classmates have two or three free periods, but we have the highest GPAs, with mine as 4.0 and Belle's at 3.865. Belle already had her free period before lunch, when I was taking the highest math courses, so I didn't miss much, as she was in a slightly different math course.

People started to flood in as Mrs. Davidson opened the door. Belle and I sat in the front, since we asked Mrs. Davidson to be put together and away from the jerks. This was mainly Belle's doing, since I can probably beat up any of them at any given time, but she doesn't like to hear anyone saying any bad words, let alone be partners with someone as dirty minded as some of our classmates. Mrs. Davidson spoke, stirring me out of my thoughts.

"Students, open up your notes and be ready to write. We are continuing the presentation on molecular compounds from yesterday," some of our classmates groaned, so she continued, "If you don't know when to take out your notes, look at Vivienne and Belle," I felt the blush that crept up on my face, despite me stoically staring at the board, pencil in a hard grip, and Belle cleared her throat, looking as if she was about to murder someone with her pencil, "They are the perfect role model students for what you should be doing, instead of talking as soon as soon as entering my classroom." She went on to explain how today we were going to finish up our notes and do a small hands-on experiment for our last grade this year. Tomorrow is a party in all our classes, so we couldn't do much.