One Question

Chapter Two - Lab Partners are for Life

"Want to be lab partners?" Naomi asked, sitting down in the seat next to Phi. Their teacher had just announced they'd be burning fun chemicals today. Naomi didn't care too much but noticed Phi's face transform the moment their teacher told them.

"Sure!" Phi said, smiling at Naomi. "You're Naomi, right?"

"Yeah," Naomi said. "And you're Phi."

Phi read the experiment over in silence while Naomi got the bunsen burner up and working. Naomi could feel a tension in the air, but she wasn't sure if it was really there or if it was just her.

"I saw what you did yesterday," Naomi said. It felt too blunt in the air, much more than it had felt in her head.

"I think the whole school did," Phi replied, not looking up.

Naomi paused, wondering if there was a better way of phrasing it, and then decided there wasn't.

"Why'd you do it?"

Phi looked up at that, met Naomi's eyes, challenging.

"Why'd you get engaged?"

"Why not?"

Phi held her eyes for a few more moments, then looked away, back at the paper.

"Oh," Naomi said. "Point taken."

If there wasn't tension before, there was tension now, Naomi thought. But pretty soon they were lighting chemicals on fire and boiling water, and they got into an easy working mode.

Naomi had never enjoyed experiments much. Too many moving parts, too much effort, too much watching water boil. But Phi seemed to enjoy herself, loosening up and smiling, and pretty soon they were having completely normal and mundane conversations about tennis versus softball ("you could beat me in arm wrestling," Phi said. "But probably not agility!"), and how soon shorts and dress weather was ("I have this yellow dress I'm waiting to wear," said Phi), and graduation ("I'm so ready to be out of high school," said Naomi), and how neither of them were going to prom ("Oh thank god I'm not the only one!" said Phi).

Naomi started to enjoy the experiment, noting that waiting for water to boil was a lot more fun when that time was spent having a conversation, silly as it was. She realized the last time she'd had a friend in a science class was eighth grade, and recalled dissecting a frog, which had also become a lot more fun with there were two of them there to scream "ew" and one of them there to do the "ew." It was Hana and Lorelai. She felt a pang.

"So, tell me about your fiancé," Phi said. "I think I heard it was a guy?"

Naomi's cheeks burned a little at the suggestion it could have been anyone other than a guy. "His name is Andrew," Naomi said. "He lives in Craig, Colorado."

"Craig," Phi said. "Is that a city I should know? I don't think I know my geography well."

"Oh, no," Naomi said. "It's a small city. Pretty dry. Parts of Colorado are really moist and beautiful, like Aspen, but Craig kind of just looks like a desert most of the time. It's near Utah."

"Oh, Utah," Phi said. "Actually, I know almost nothing about Utah either."

"I got engaged in Utah," Naomi said, quietly, almost under her breath.

"Huh," Phi said. "That's the last place I'd expect to be engaged in."

"Me too," Naomi said. "But it was nice."

After break, it was Spanish. Naomi waited outside the door while other people chatted with their friends. She normally went on her phone, and in the past would text Andrew, but he was too busy these days to respond at this hour, so she would just tap around and pretend to be absorbed.

"Fancy seeing you again."

Naomi looked up to see Phi smiling at her.

"It's been a whole five minutes," Phi said. "I thought you were dead."

Naomi smiled in return. "It was an eon," Naomi said.

Noami was surprised to see Phi at the door during break too. She didn't recall her waiting there during break before, though Naomi also knew that she hadn't paid much attention to her before. Phi was one of the popular people, she thought. So she should be with her friends in a different hallway or a different floor. But then Naomi recalled that even Phi wasn't going to prom. Had Naomi been wrong about Phi? Or did something change?

After the "I saw what you did" debacle, Naomi did not trust herself to ask in a way that was not insulting. After all, they'd only been on friendly terms for, what, an hour? Two? Maybe Phi would mention it herself. Or Naomi could ask at a time that a wrong move didn't have the ability to completely wreck any chance at friendship.

"Profe is a little crazy, huh?" Phi said, pulling Naomi back to earth.

"Oh yeah, totally," Naomi said.

"But I like her," Phi said. "She kind of looks like an old, good-natured fairy. A little crazy is good, I think."

Naomi looked closer at Phi than she ever had before. She was pretty, Naomi thought, and had always thought that, but passively. She'd always assumed Phi was popular because of it. She thought Phi wore makeup, but natural makeup, and Naomi didn't wear makeup herself so she wasn't sure how good she was at identifying it. And Phi's hair was more orange than she remembered, but also a little brown at a top, as if it were dyed. It probably was dyed, on second thought.

Her eyes were green. Not in a screaming way, but still enough to notice if you looked. And she had freckles across her nose and cheeks and actually a little all over her face. Her ears were pierced and had little diamond-colored earrings. Naomi didn't know Phi enough to know if they were real diamonds or not, but she also got the impression that Phi had money, though she wasn't entirely sure how she sensed that.

"I like your sweater," Phi said, and Naomi wondered if Phi had been doing the same thing to her as Naomi had been doing to Phi. She wondered what she looked like from the outside. She didn't exactly avoid mirrors, but she didn't look at them too often either.

"Thanks," Naomi said. "I got it from the thrift store."