Chemistry:

Noun (u) / ˈkɛmɪstri/

It makes you feel as if you are strong enough to do anything.

"Please..." Maya draws out her syllables as she flutters her eyelashes up at me. "No Peaches. We cannot bunk Chemistry to make out." She pouts and tugs on my hand, "But it's a free lesson today." I peck her on the cheek. "Yes, but everyone's going to be asking her questions about the finals. You know this is when the teachers give the best tips." She rolls her eyes but relents. "Fine, but you owe me one."

We stumble into class slightly giddy, surprised to find everyone already seated. Zay waggles his eyes at me and Lucas snorts at our late arrival. We take our seats as quickly as possible under the class's scrutiny. Ms. Hennily eyes us but doesn't say anything.

I was right, the class does ask her questions, and she does give us some good tips. But about half way through the lesson, I feel my eyelids begin to droop. I look next to me and see Maya's curls spread across the desk. It looks like she can't stay awake either. There were openings for jobs at a diner near Maya's apartment. We've both been taking shifts there; Maya to help pay bills, and me to help Maya.

I'm just about to let my head hit the desk when Ms. Hennily comes to tap on my desk. "Riley, can I see you after class today?" I nod my head quickly, "Of course mam." She smiles and walks back to her desk, leaving me to quietly panic at mine. Oh shit. What did I do? I'm not failing, right? This is not happening.

I tell Maya and the gang that I'll meet them at the cafeteria. I approach my teachers desk cautiously, all the while telling my legs to stop shaking. "You wanted to speak to me miss?" She smiled and clasped her hands on the desk, "Yes miss Matthews, I did. I just wanted to talk to you about some of your recent marks." A wave of disappointment and dread runs through me.

"Now, you're a bright girl Riley, and I love having you in this class. It's just that lately your test scores have been dropping." I fix my gaze at the floor, fiddling with the straps of my bag. "You've just been a bit... off. Less attentive, a little slower with answers. Is there anything going on at home?" "What, no." I shake my head quickly and Ms. Hennily raises her eyebrows. "Well, whatever it is, please try to shake yourself out of it. You really are one of my best students."

I leave the room, my face burning with embarrassment. When I reach our table, I notice the absence of a member. "Where's Smackle?" I question as I sit down. "I'm not too sure, she ran out of the classroom when the bell rang." Farkle states with a frown, seemingly worried about his girlfriend, "She didn't even say where she was going. Just that she'd see us in gym." Gym was the other class we all had together, one that happened to be after break.

My thoughts are broken off by large and raucous laughter coming from the other side of the room. I tune into the offending group to find Missy and her minions. Typical. I glare at them so intently that I don't even notice the arrival of a new person. "Hey Riley and co." I snap my head up to see the sweet features of Sarah Carpenter. Today they seem to be placed in a worried frown.

Maya's hand tightens around my waist and I turn to give her a disapproving glance. "Um, so I had gym before this, and I was taking my time in the bathrooms afterwards. Well, your friend came in," She pushes up the glasses on her face and wrings her wrists, "The one with the glasses? Isadora, I think it is. Well-uh, she seemed pretty upset. I wasn't sure if you knew." The bell followed her reveal, and we all thanked Sarah and hurried towards the gymnasium.

Smackle darts out of the changeroom before we can talk to her, having already gotten changed. Maya and I throw our clothes on, refusing to let her keep quiet. When we exit the changerooms, we find that we were beaten to it by our male companions. A shaking Smackle is currently immersed in Farkle's arms, while he speaks to Zay and Lucas. We run over to behind the bleachers where they are situated, hoping for someone to fill us in.

Farkle swallows, his jaw tightly clenched as he relays the news. "Smackle's being bullied." I shake my head, refusing to believe it. "By who." My voice is shaky with anger, and I know the answer before Lucas even says it. "Fucking Missy Bradford." I feel myself flush with anger, my hands curling up into balls causing my nails to pierce my palms. I'm too overwhelmed by the layers of rage washing over me to feel the pain.

"That bitch." The words are quiet, but come out sharp enough to cut Missy themselves. The next few seconds are a blur of scarlet. I can vaguely see the seen opening out before me, but it's as if I'm underwater. Farkle's arms encase Smackle in them as he whispers words for only them to hear. Zay is explaining the situation softly to Maya, who grows more heated by the minute. I don't think Lucas could get more heated if he tried, pacing up and down and keeping a quickly crumbling restraint on himself. Their faces are blurry and words warped, my mind in too much of a frenzy to process anything.

How dare she. Was fucking me up not enough! My mind is whirlpool and I feel myself physically shaking as I resist bringing my fist into the wall behind me. She's never going to stop. How many more people is she going to ruin if someone doesn't put an end to it. She's going to regret this if I get my hands on her. I'm going to fucking kill her.

Suddenly I'm up on my feet. I see her on the opposite side of the room, laughing with her group as if she isn't terrorising yet another innocent person. I storm towards her with more conviction then I knew I contained. I reach her and it takes everything in me not to bring my fist straight into her perfectly made-up face. "What the hell is wrong with you." I burst out, shaking with fury. She is surprised that I confronted her, but as she takes in my current demeanour she tries to hide it.

"Excuse me?" She feigns innocence, either that or she actually had no idea that her attempting to tear down Smackle would lead to consequences. I'm not sure which one is worse. "You heard me Missy. Answer me this, What the fuck is wrong with you! Do you get some sadistic form of pleasure in destroying people?"

My hands are flying out around me as I continue. "Or are you just so insecure that you have to resort to making people feel like nothing to make yourself something. So, which one is it, huh?" She doesn't reply and I speak again, catching the attention of groups around us. "Answer me Missy!" "I don't know what you're talking about." I see the fear glinting in her eyes, and I don't have time to ponder on the feeling of relish that sparks in me.

"Cut the shit." I step towards her now, causing her to start stepping back. I notice Maya, Lucas and Zay walking towards the confrontation. "Look, I'm going to make this quick because I honestly have better things to be doing. Believe me I take no pleasure in talking to narcistic, toxic, ableist bitches." I continue to step towards her, her back seconds away from finding the wall. My friends are close now and everyone's eyes are on us, but it doesn't seem as if anyone is about to step in.

"You listen here and you listen good Missy Bradford. I don't give a shit about what happened in the past. And as I'm sure you've seen by now, I'm not scared of you. On the contrary," I let out a dry laugh, "I pity you. You must feel absolutely awful about yourself to resort to hating on others." I look her up and down, realising that the words coming out of my mouth are not bluffs. "Isadora Smackle is beautiful, intelligent and contains more integrity than you will ever possess. She's different, and that is in no way a weakness. What's even better though, is that she has a group of friends that will have her back no matter what. Which brings me to now."

I close the distance between us to make sure she realises I'm not messing around. I grab her shirt by the collar, pressing her up into the wall as I revel in the satisfaction of our height difference. "If you ever go near Smackle again or attempt to hurt her." I pause and look her dead in the eyes. "I will not hesitate to break your fucking jaw." I push her away from me and into the wall.

I turn and walk away from her and towards where I left my friends. I'm still filled with adrenalin until I hear the voice of Mr. O'Neill boom behind me, "Miss Matthews! To the principal's office now!" My post-confrontation high fades as I swivel around to face my furious gym teacher. Dread sets into me as he escorts me to my father's office. I don't regret it, but oh god. What if I get expelled! Getting expelled by your own father, now that would be a story for the record books.

We reach his office and Mr. O'Neill asks to be let in. The seconds go by slowly and stiffly before the buzzer to enter goes off. My father's face scrunches with confusion as he takes in my ruffled appearance. "What seems to be the problem Mr. O'Neill?" His voice is calm and neutral, but I can see the corks in his head spinning as he tries to figure out what I could have done.

"I walk in to find this one roughing it up with another student." My father's face fills with shock, but he replaces it quickly with a look of stern authority, "I'll handle this, you best be back to your class." Mr O'Neill nods and exits. "Well, take a seat." He addresses me at last and I do as he says. Several seconds of silence follow as he sits and observes me. I shift uncomfortably and wonder what's running through his mind. It feels like I'm about ready to graduate by the time he clears his throat, "So, Riley. Care to explain what sent you here?"

"I was confronting someone," I swallow as the scene begins to replay itself in my head. "Apparently, it got slightly out of hand." He raises a single eyebrow at me as he questions, "Students name?" "Missy Bradford." His eyes glint with recognition; I never told him what happened between Missy and I but he might have heard inklings from the grapevine.

"Was there a particular reason for this said 'confrontation'. "She was tormenting Smackle dad!" I shout out before I can stop myself. I take a deep breath to steady myself before continuing, "I was protecting her. Smackle did nothing wrong and Missy was hurting her." I realise how hard I'm gripping the chair and loosen my hold, "You wouldn't let anyone do that to someone you care about, and I'm not about to either."

"Riley," He says my name softly after my outburst, trying to calm me, "Your heart is in the right place, but there are other ways to handle this that don't include you getting into a fight with a classmate." He sighs, opening a drawer to pull out infamous pink pages. "I'm going to have to give you a detention Riley," He scribbles down onto a slip before tearing it off and handing it to me. "Tomorrow, after school. Be prompt." I stare at the little piece of paper in front of me, pink as my anger-flushed cheeks. "You may leave."

He tries his best to be in principal mode: a stern but fair, but my father shows through under it. He sends a sneaky smile at me as I get up to leave and his eyes gleam with unconcealed pride. As I open the door and slip out I hear him whisper, "Atta girl."

I head back to the gymnasium to collect my things, only to find that the period was almost finished. Everybody was heading to their next venue, something I was highly glad about. I walk into the changeroom, only to be almost tackled by a whoosh of dark hair. I stumble backwards a step, before wrapping my arms around Smackle. "Thank you." She whispers into my ear. "Anything for a friend." I reply, squeezing her hard.

She quickly exits after that, flustered by all the human contact. I move to grab my things, before realising I'm not the only one in this room. "That was pretty amazing what you did back there." I turn to face the beaming blonde, my hands finding her hips as hers link behind my neck. "Pretty heroic..." She continues, standing on her tip toes to press a kiss to my lips, "Pretty hot..."

"Maya." My hands grip her waist as she continues to press kisses across my jaw. "Peaches we cannot bunk the next lesson to make out." She juts out her bottom lip, and continues to pull me into her. "Maya I'm serious." "Please..." I laugh, tugging on her hand and pulling her out the door with me. "Okay, you definitely owe me one now."

AN: I'm on time this week! Who'd've thought right.

Q: any queers? (who am I kidding we're all queer here.)

I have decided on the ship name Zayvier (How Great!?)