Science class on monday was one of the things Zain always dreaded. She liked doing geology, biology, and physics every other day, but monday was chemistry day. She couldn't stand doing chemistry because it was the one science she just wasn't good at. But more than anything else in that class, she utterly hated her lab partner. Knowing she couldn't avoid the inevitable, she walked through the lab door. Thankfully, nobody else was there before her, so she had a chance to talk one on one with the teacher. She at least liked him.
"H-Hey, Mr. Klingberg, I have something I want to ask." Zain walked up to the teacher's desk.
"Sure, Zain. Anything." Mr. Klingberg responded.
"C-Can I switch lab partners with someone else? I'm really uncomfortable around my current partner." Zain made her request.
"I believe your partner is…" Mr. Klingberg looked over his list. "Lacey Jansen, correct?"
"Yeah. Lacey. She just gives me the creeps for some reason." Zain told Mr. Klingberg why she felt uncomfortable around Lacey. He nodded in understanding, then began typing on his computer.
"There seems to be one student who also wants a partner switch. Her name is Peyton Hollister. Would you like to be her partner?" Mr. Klingber offered.
"I'd love to! I'm friends with Peyton, so I believe we'll work well together." Zain expressed excitement over the idea of being Peyton's partner.
"Very well then! I'll be sure to notify her when she gets here." Mr. Klingberg did some clicking on his computer to switch up the class orientation to put Zain and Peyton as lab partners. Zain cheerfully skipped over to her new desk just as the other kids arrived. When Peyton arrived, she was immediately approached by Mr. Klingberg.
"Good news. I found you a switch of partners. Naoki Matsumi has been assigned to partner up with Lacey Jansen. You have been paired with Zain Vriska Kilbride." Mr. Klingberg informed Peyton of the changes. Peyton smiled warmly.
"Why thank you, Mr. Klingberg. I'll be much happier with my new partner." Peyton definitely seemed happier already as she went to Zain's desk and sat beside her.
"I'm so happy to see you, Peyton!" Zain gave her a hug, which seemed pretty out of character. Peyton smiled and blushed a little bit.
"I'm guessing you got tired of Lacey's shit. I don't blame you." Peyton tried being relatable to Zain. "Naoki was just pissing me off. Him and Lacey are honestly a perfect match." Peyton mused about the two people she and Zain split off from. Over in the distance, a purple haired girl with glasses and an obnoxiously revealing crop top was staring at her lab set when her partner came along. He had brown hair and glasses of his own. He wore a white labcoat. He cringed at the sight of his new partner.
"So my partner is a slut? That's disgusting." He whinged about his partner's choice of clothing.
"Not everyone wears a lab coat, Naoki. I can do just fine without one." The girl immediately took a defensive stance, glaring right at Naoki.
"It's not that you aren't wearing a lab coat, Lacey! IT'S THAT YOU'RE HARDLY WEARING ANYTHING!" Naoki shouted.
"Naoki, pipe down! I'm about to start the lesson." Mr. Klingberg tried to shut down the argument.
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Naoki immediately reverted to obedient mode as to not miss the lesson. Mr. Klingberg began droning on about the formula for Hydrofluoric Acid and its common use in Anti-Depressants. Then he handed out small test tubes of the acid to each table.
"Your task is to record the chemical's boiling time twice. Once when you only pour one tube into the beaker, and again when you pour three tubes into the beaker." Mr. Klingberg gave the students their task before sitting down in his desk.
"I'm going to record the boiling time. I'll leave you in charge of pouring the chemicals." Peyton left Zain in charge of the chemicals as she pulled out the group lab sheet. Zain nodded and carefully poured the first tube of the solution into a beaker.
"What's the boiling point?" Zain asked as she put on her safety goggles.
"The boiling point is 67.1℉, so don't set the heat too high if you want accurate data. And put a lid on to reduce the risk of burning your eyes." Peyton advised Zain to prepare adequately. So Zain quickly poured the solution into the beaker, put the lid on it, and turned the heat on her bunsen burner to 67.1℉. In about a minute, the solution began boiling. Bubbles began forming as Peyton wrote the time down on her lab sheet.
"Okay, then. Pour three of the tubes into the next beaker and we'll see if there's any change in the boiling time." Peyton gave Zain her next instruction. Zain carefully poured each tube individually into the empty beaker and put the lid on before moving the old beaker away from the bunsen burner and into the sink before moving the new beaker close to the bunsen burner. Peyton smiled and put her hand on Zain's shoulder.
"You looked a bit nervous when you were pouring the solutions." Peyton began. "But I just want to tell you that you handled them very well."
"Thanks, Peyton." Zain's worries seemed to have been relieved, but suddenly, shouting could be heard from the other side of the room.
"You poured way too much into the beaker! That's like, five tubes worth of solution you just dumped in there!" Naoki raised his voice at Lacey.
"It's not my fault you never told me to stop! If you had said something maybe we'd have the correct amount of solution!" Lacey shouted back.
"DO YOU PAY ANY ATTENTION AT ALL?! THE TEACHER SAID THREE TUBES, NOT FIVE! GIVE YOUR HEAD A SHAKE!" Naoki stood on his chair and yelled down at Lacey.
"WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN SOME FROM THE TEACHER INSTEAD OF USING YOUR OWN WHOLE BEAKER!" Lacey stood on her chair and defended herself. When she put her hand on the desk to push herself up, she accidentally adjusted the dial on the bunsen burner and set it to 81℉, which was too hot. The argument was getting extremely heated and neither Lacey nor Naoki was willing to back down. Chrysler was in this class too, and he was sitting behind them with his lab partner She had pink hair and lovely teal eyes, and she wore a fancy pink dress. When they heard the argument, Chrysler stood up.
"Will you two assclowns SHUT UP?! YOU'RE DISTRACTING ME!" Chrysler shouted at Lacey and Naoki to try and defuse the argument.
"Hey, isn't that Khalberg Braxton's son?" Peyton asked.
"Yep. He's the son of that infamous wife beater. No doubt he beats his kid too." Zain added on.
"I think he's doing a good thing by trying to defuse that argument. Those two are being super annoying." Peyton congratulated Chrysler on his efforts. Then Lacey blew up.
"YOU'RE NOT INVOLVED IN THIS, BACKSTABBER! IN FACT, YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE! NOBODY LIKES YOU, AND YOUR LAB PARTNER ONLY WORKS WITH YOU BECAUSE SHE HAS TO! NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BEFRIEND A DRUG ABUSING NO-LIFE HOMEWRECKER! GO HOME AND CRY TO YOUR DADDY!" Lacey shouted at the top of her lungs. The entire room went deathly silent for a whole minute. Then Chrysler's lab partner stood up.
"Lacey, that's not true at all. Chrysler is a really cool guy and he contributes so much to our lab efforts. If you're gonna talk about him, don't lie about him." The girl defended her lab partner as the rest of the room watched in silence.
"S-Sonia… you-" Chrysler was having difficulty getting his words off. Sonia walked right up to Lacey.
"Quite frankly, you've been incredibly distracting to this entire class with your obnoxious arguing. You and Naoki are like an old married couple and it's getting on everyone's nerves. So I suggest the two of you quiet down and pay attention to your beaker, since it's starting to boil over." Sonia told Lacey exactly what she thought of her and her partner before warning her about the beaker. She was right. The acid was beginning to boil over and the beaker was starting to break. A hissing sound began coming from the cracked beaker and everyone climbed under their desks to avoid the imminent chemical explosion. The beaker blew up, spraying hydrofluoric acid everywhere. Mr. Klingberg got up from his desk as the explosion settled and he began cleaning up the mess in order to avoid the further harm. Once the mess was mopped up, he went directly to Lacey and Naoki's desk.
"Come with me to the office. NOW." Mr. Klingberg boomed. Lacey and Naoki reluctantly followed him and class peace was restored temportarily.
"Sonia… why did you stand up for me?" Chrysler asked.
"Because not everyone hates you, Chrysler. You're a neat guy." Sonia told him how she felt about him. "I think you have a cute girlfriend too!"
"I- Uhhhhh t-thanks. T-That means a lot, Sonia." Chrysler blushed.
"You and Ichika are really cool and I'd love to chat more with you guys!" Sonia displayed incredible optimism. Zain's jaw hit the floor.
"N-NOBODY TOLD ME ICHIKA HAD A BOYFRIEND!" Zain shouted. Chrysler turned to her.
"Who are you?" Chrysler asked, annoyed by the sudden shouting.
"I-I'm Zain! I'm Ichika's friend! She never told me she had a boyfriend!" Zain was practically squealing.
"I don't tell people about my relationships." Chrysler seemed like he desperately wanted to get Zain off his back. Just then, the lunch bell rang, and almost by sheer coincidence, Ichika walked into the lab.
"Hey, Zain." Ichika began greeting Zain until she noticed Chrysler. Then she turned back to Zain and sighed.
"I knew it was only a matter of time before you found out. Yes, Zain. Me and Chrysler are dating." Ichika seemed like she was admitting defeat.
"Can I tell all my friends? They're gonna think you two are so cool together!" Zain was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.
"Please don't. We'd like to keep it between us and Chrysler." Ichika responded. "I know your gossip is usually harmless but please don't talk about us. In fact, who the hell told you?!"
"Sonia and I were talking about it. She's my lab partner and she's a friend of a friend. She knew about us but I made her keep it secret. Unfortunately, your friend over here has big ears." Chrysler told Ichika how Zain heard about them. Then he turned to Zain. "Do us a favour and keep us outta your mouth. Gossip about anyone else you want. Just don't talk about us." He gave Zain a stern warning.
"Sure. Whatever ya say." Zain promised. Unfortunately for them, Peyton was still in the room, and Chrysler noticed.
"HEY." Chrysler stomped over to her. "FORGET WHAT YOU JUST HEARD! AND DON'T TALK ABOUT US." Chrysler snapped. Peyton was not intimidated in the slightest.
"I don't plan to. I heard you wanted to keep it secret, so I'll do that." Peyton spoke calmly. Ichika turned to her.
"Hold on, aren't you the girl I saw on the train last week?" Ichika asked. Peyton smiled.
"My goodness, your memory is sharp. Yes, I'm the same girl who saved you from that touchy pervert." Peyton responded. That got Chrysler's attention.
"WHO WAS THE BASTARD WHO TOUCHED MY GIRL?!" He shouted intensely.
"Unfortunately, we don't know. But I'm sure we'll never see him again." Peyton tried to re-assure Chrysler that Ichika was safe. He calmed down.
"Good. Sorry I shouted like that. I'm just protective of my sweetheart." Chrysler gave Ichika a big hug. She returned his hug.
"Awww, you two are so gosh dang cute!" Zain's face went red as she saw Chrysler and Ichika sharing a hug together. It seems Chrysler and the girls would be on good terms for the moment. It was just up to Zain to keep quiet about them, but how long could she stay quiet?