KAPITEL ZWEI
Author's Note: When I typed it up in Word the chemical formula looked like it was supposed to, with the numbers in subscript, but when I uploaded it into the document manager at FF, it changed it, so, it's not a typo or anything; it's just my computer or FF being gimpy…
"Ok, everybody, your career papers are due; please pass them to the front."
Faraday had been up all night writing that paper. It's not that it had taken her very long to decide who to write about; she had a forensic lab technician in the room next to her. Greg had the most interesting job out of anyone in her family; he took evidence collected by crime scene investigators and turned it into something useful. He caught the bad guys and put them behind bars. He was, in essence, a superhero. No, it wasn't deciding what to write about or putting the right words down on paper that caused her to stay up until 2:30 in the morning; it was designing, drawing, and coloring the perfect cover.
This was her last class of the day, and, even though they were reading Much Ado About Nothing and Shakespeare was one of Faraday's favorite authors, she was constantly shifting in her seat waiting for the bell to ring. Seven hours a day was just too much time to spend sitting in a desk! Finally, the bell rang, and she was off to meet her friend, Blake Abraham who was going to help her study for the Chemistry test the two had coming up, at the Southside parking lot.
"Hey!" a girl with a crimson-dyed, spiky do called out.
"Hey hey," Faraday greeted.
Both girls carried their skateboards.
"So, am I going to try and teach you this shit before the test?"
"No, I figured I'd just come over, mooch some food, and leave," Faraday told her.
"You do that, like, everyday," Blake quipped.
Faraday rolled her eyes. "I'm going to come over after dinner, and you can go over your notes with me."
The two started off towards Blake's house and Greg's apartment. When they got to the street corner where they had to split off, they paused.
"Bring your notes too, ok?"
"I don't take notes."
Blake sighed, and they skated off in their opposite directions
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After a dinner of two cups of Ramen noodles and a Hot Pocket, Faraday found herself up in Blake's tree house playing a game called "name that chemical compound."
"Ok, if you had H2SO4, what would you have?" Blake asked reading off of her Chemistry study notes.
Faraday took a swig of Coke. "Um, I dunno, sugar," she guessed.
Blake snorted. "Put sugar like this in your coffee, and you'll put a hole in your mouth.
"That would suck; you'd have food all over your clothes," Faraday commented allowing her mind to wander from her Chemistry test that loomed ahead tomorrow.
"You live with a guy who majored in Chemistry; how can you be so bad at it?" Blake asked incredulously.
"Greg is usually sleeping when I get home or out gallivanting around with some girl."
Faraday chugged the last fourth of the Coke bottle, let out a satisfying belch, and set it on the ground beside the beanbag she was laying on and sighed contentedly.
"And the majority of the foods you eat come from the sugar and fats group of the pyramid; how the hell do you stay rail thin?" Blake, who was a health nut, demanded.
"God game me an A-cup and no ass; I think it's only fair He gives me a metabolism that's through the roof. You're way ahead of me over there even with your B-cup. You've got a better shot with the guys than I do."
"Yeah," Blake answered weakly and giving a small smile.
"What?"
"It's just…" Blake trailed off.
"It better not be because you don't think you're pretty."
"No, it's not."
"Good, because you're beautiful," Faraday told her, popping a sour gummi worm into her mouth.
Blake looked at her, and then moved down to sit on the edge of the beanbag.
"Faraday, I…I like girls," she said quietly.
Faraday swallowed the gummi worm slowly and looked at her friend.
"So?"
Blake blinked. "This doesn't change anything?"
"No, why should it? Blake, you're my best friend; nothing's going to change that. What kind of friend would I be if I wasn't your friend because of your sexual orientation? Besides, more guys for me," she said grinning.
Blake laughed and looked at Faraday.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Faraday came barreling into the apartment, threw her skateboard by the door, and headed to her room. Greg sat up from his reclining position on the couch where he was listening to music, taking it easy before he had to head to work.
"Faraday? How was studying?" he called.
"Good," came a flat reply followed quickly by the slam of a door.
Greg got up and knocked softly on her door. When his sister didn't answer, he opened it a crack. He saw her sprawled on her bed, face down, laying on her pillow, her face turned away from the door.
"Faraday?"
"I've got to get a lock for that door," she mumbled from her position on the bed.
"Are you ok?" Greg asked.
"Fine, I'm just beat. It's been a long day."
"Are you coming down with something?" he asked coming around to face her and putting a hand to her forehead. She turned away.
"I'm fine, Greg; can you leave me alone?"
"Faraday, I—"
"It's that time of the month, Greg; I've got cramps, and I'm very irritable!" she snapped cutting him off.
"Oh," he said meekly.
That wasn't the truth; she wasn't having her period. She just said that to keep her big brother off of her case, knowing he wouldn't dare tread into that kind of territory, especially not where his sister was concerned. The phone started to ring, so he jogged into the living room and picked it up.
"Yo, this is Greg," he greeted.
"Mr. Sanders?"
"That'd be moi."
"This is Mrs. Cabellero, Faraday's English teacher," she explained.
Greg cleared his throat and tried to conjure up an air of adultness. "Oh, uh, is there a problem?"
"No, not at all; I called to tell you that Faraday is doing very well. Today, my students turned in papers they had written on somebody who they thought had an interesting job, and your sister wrote about you."
"Really?" Greg asked with genuine surprise.
"Yes, at first I thought she'd misunderstood the assignment and had written a fictional story because she titled it 'The Adventures of Lab Man' and even drew a picture for the cover depicting a guy in a lab coat and gloves armed with a microscope and what looks like an eyedropper," Mrs. Cabellero explained with a chuckle. "Anyway, the reason why I called you was I would like you to be one of our speakers for Career Day on Wednesday of next week; that is, if you're not busy."
"Ah, well," he said trying to decide whether Faraday would want him to show up at her school. He finally decided it wouldn't hurt if he agreed to give a three-minute talk on what he did for a living. "Sure, I can do that."
"Oh, that's wonderful; class starts at 1:20, so if you can come just a few minutes earlier, that'd be great."
"Sure, I'll be there."
"Oh, Mr. Sanders, just out of curiosity, where did your parents come up with Faraday's name? It's very interesting."
"Well, actually, I'm the one who named her. See, all of the doctors kept telling my mother she was going to have a baby boy, but I knew I was going to be given a little sister. So I made a bet with my mom that if I was right and all the doctors were wrong, then I could name her, and, of course, I had this obsession with Chemistry, so I named her after Michael Faraday and William Ramsay. I mean, I wielded so much power; how could I not use it?" Greg asked rhetorically.
"That is a most interesting story Mr. Sanders," Mrs. Cabellero answered laughing. "Well, thank you for agreeing to be one of our Career Day speakers; I think the students will find your occupation fascinating."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thanx to my reviewers on my first ever CSI fic!
colored pink: I haven't really considered putting a romance in; I feel it would complicate things too much…I have considered Greg/Sara because he had such a crush on her in the second season, and he deserves to get what he wants, but I don't think there's going to be any romance. And I hate Mary Sues, so believe me, I read and reread everything I write, and change it around if it makes me sick, lol
Sandersgirl: What a great name you've chosen…I'm glad Faraday is growing on you. I hope you keep reading my fic and reviewing.
SuperKevsLass: I'm glad you think it's looking good! I hope you keep reading and reviewing.
Ok, I'm going to try to keep updating fairly regularly, but college keeps me so much more busier than high school. Although, most of my classes are acting or film stuff; it still takes a lot of time. However, I have most of the core pieces in this fic written; I've been formulating this idea since second semester of my senior year in high school.