thunderbirdgirl - glad you like it. Virgil will make another short appearence in the next chapter but there isn't going to be a lot of him. Sorry to dissapoint you.
Iniysa - well here you go, this chapter gets back to the chemistry class where the "explosion" takes place (if you want to call it that). Hope you like it.
AngelMouse5 - Well, I had Alan doing his homework because I didn't want to give the impression that Alan doesn't try at all. I think Alan is a good kid but that he just doesn't like school. As for the part with virgil and Gordon throwing John in the pull I just wanted to set up that things were calm and peaceful back on Tracy Island prior to what is about to happen. The Tracy boys rough housing seemed pretty normal to me.
Queen of the Elven City - glad you liked it. As for it fitting in with the other story I never said it did fit perfectly. (I know what a cop out). Alan talking to John just seemed like the logical thing there. Besides fire and avalanche don't exactly fit well together either. Also I never did say that Alan never talked to John in The Brother I Don't Know just that he didn't see him as much as the other brothers so if you go by that you can still make the two stories fit. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing and here's the next update.
star-shimmered-dragon - what can I say- I needed a little set up and as I had just come back from Lake Placid and the snow I had snow on my brain. Glad you liked it.
May Portland - you know I hadn't though about it but a little John revenge at the end of the story sounds like a pretty good idea. I'll see what I can do about that. Meanwile, I have the main plot line to carry out and John is going to stay involved throughout, as you'll see later.
IloveSam - anyone who loves John is a great friend of mine. As for Alan, what can I say, I started exploring his character a little bit and discovered that if you look at him a certain way he isn't so bad of a character (I hated him on the move. I though he was a spoiled brat). And thanks for your compliments on my writing style. That means a lot to me!
kelly - I'll try to get a little alan/tin-tin in for you at the end. Right now it doesn't work well because Alan's in New York and Tin-tin's on the island. I guess I know what characters you like though, lol. Thanks for reading.
Cinn -thanks for the review! much appreciated.
moonlightbear - glad you liked the pool part. That was a fun scene to write. Keep reading, enjoying, and reviewing!
ladc - thanks for giving this story a try. I honestly don't think I could right a Thunderbird fic without having John play a big role in it as I just love his character.
Marblez - so here's you update. You can take a break in the cheering to read it now, lol! Thanks for the support!
Alan's POV:
The sound of the alarm clock ringing woke me up the following morning. Trying to ignore it, I stuck my head under the pillow. Although I could still hear the alarm clock it did help considerably. The ringing was drowned out enough so that I could successfully ignore it.
I was drifting back to sleep when the pillow was snatched away from me. Not happy to be disturbed out of my pending state of sleep again, I was however relieved that the alarm clock had been shut off.
"Give me my pillow back," I mumbled not bothering to open my eyes. I knew who had taken it - the only other person in the room. Sometimes I really hated rooming with someone who actually enjoyed school. Of course I always knew where to find help with my schoolwork when I actually bothered to do it.
"It's time to get up Alan," Fermat told me, tossing the pillow back at me. The pillow hit me in the face but I simply grabbed it and put it back under my head.
"Just give me five more minutes," I told him.
I heard his footsteps as he walked away from my bead and then shortly after I heard the shower come on. Satisfied, I tuned out the sound of the running water and tried to drift back off to sleep.
The next thing I was aware of was Fermat calling my name again.
"A-A-Alan, come on and get ready. I don't want to be late," Fermat was saying.
I was tempted to tell him to go without me but I decided not to waste my time. That rarely ever worked. Especially not since the last time I told him to go to breakfast without me I skipped all my morning classes altogether.
"Okay, okay, I'm getting up," I mumbled finally opening my eyes and throwing back the covers. It didn't seem as if Fermat planned on leaving the room until I went with him. I cold deal with getting in trouble for skipping classes again but I didn't want to be responsible for getting Fermat in trouble again.
In slow motion, I got out of bed and walked to my dresser. Not really caring what it was, I pulled some clothes out of the drawers and then headed for the bathroom. The warm water of the shower finally started to wake me up. By the time I rejoined Fermat in our room I was fully awake. Of course by that time I had remembered that I had to do the chemistry lab by myself today and all I really wanted to do was climb back under the blankets and hide. I definitely saw another F coming up.
I grabbed my heavy jacket from the chair I had thrown it on the night before and put it on. As I picked up my back pack, I looked longingly at the bed one last time. I really wished I could just climb back under the covers and hide. Hide from the snow I knew to be outside. Hide from my teachers. Hide from that stupid chemistry experiment. Why did I need chemistry anyway? I wanted to fly rocket ships not be a scientist.
"Let's go," I said to Fermat letting him know I was ready.
The two of us walked out of the room and headed down the hallway. As we headed toward the front door of the dorms, I noticed that my normally chipper classmates were all dragging a little this morning. Usually, by the time Fermat and I got around to venturing out to breakfast very few of our fellow schoolmates were still in the building. This morning many were just heading out now. I guess the excitement of the snow had them up late. If I was lucky I wouldn't be the only one sleeping in classes today which meant I might not be noticed as easily.
Breakfast was too short for my opinion and before I knew it, Fermat and I were headed off to first period. English was first period for which I was thankful. At least I knew I was prepared for that class and my day would get off to a pretty good start. Of course math followed English and I hadn't even touched my math book last night.
All too soon it was time to go to Chemistry class. As the bell finished ringing I just sat at the table I had been sitting at contemplating on not going to next period. I was convinced I was going to fail the experiment anyway so why not just skip it. At least I wouldn't expend any energy in getting my F that way.
"A-A-Alan, we're going to be la-la-late," Fermat said quietly from beside me.
"That's the general idea," I muttered under my breath. 'How can someone so smart be so dense sometimes' I thought to myself. The words were actually on the tip of my tongue but I knew even muttering them might get me in trouble. If Fermat overheard them he would be hurt by them and I didn't want to do that. The last thing I needed to do was to alienate the one friend I actually had at this stupid school.
"What was that Alan?"
"Nothing," I told him, picking my backpack up off of the floor. "Let's go and get this torture over with."
"You know Alan if you would just apply yourself a little more you might actually find school at least tolerable."
"Now you sound like my father."
"Well, your father is a wise man Alan."
Those weren't the words that I wanted to hear but I kept my mouth shut. This sounded too much like a lecture for my liking.
As usual Mr. Caulfield had the equipment we would need for the experiment set up already as we walked into the room. Sure enough there was three sets of equipment set up at the table I sat at instead of the usual two. I had been hoping he would forget about having me work alone but it didn't look like I was that lucky.
Why did Chemistry have to be twice as long as all of the other classes? If it wasn't so long, I might not get so bored. If I wasn't bored I wouldn't fall asleep and therefor I wouldn't get in trouble. I swear it was conspiracy against me. The school wanted me to fail.
Too bad I didn't actually believe that little theory of mine.
I sat down in my usual spot and pulled my notebook and lab book out of the backpack which I then sat on the floor. I opened the notebook to the spot where I had stopped copying Fermat's notes last night and waited for class to begin as the second bell rang.
Mr. Caulfield stood up from his desk and walked toward the board in the front of the classroom.
"Good morning class," he said to which a few of the students replied good morning too. By this time most of us had finally waken up. "I'm going to cut the lecture portion of the class short today because the experiment that you will be doing is a little more involved than the others you have done so far this year and I want to give you some extra time for it."
"Just great," I muttered softly. Fermat hit me in the ribs with an elbow. I knew he was trying to tell me to shut up and pay attention.
"This will be your last experiment for the year. Tomorrow, I will use the whole class time to finish what I need to cover for the lecture portion of the class and then Monday we will start reviewing for the final you will have on Wednesday. Any questions before we get started."
'Just one, can I have the zero now and skip the experiment?' I thought to myself. I so wanted to ask that question out loud but my luck Mr. Caulfield would let me do just that. However, then he would call Dad and tell him about it and then I would be in for a really long lecture when I got home. Dad would be furious that I took the zero and didn't even tried. That I had given up. Not exactly the way I wanted to start out the holiday break.
As I tuned back into what Mr. Caulfield was saying, I realized that he had already started the lecture. I attempted to figure out what he was talking about for a little while and then just gave up. I'd just get the notes off of Fermat again tonight. Lucky for me, Fermat to very detailed notes and somehow they didn't seem to put me asleep as quick as Caulfield did.
I started doodling on my paper. It didn't take me long to realize that the doodle was starting to look like Thunderbird 1. Too bad I wasn't actually learning how to fly it instead of stuck in this stupid classroom hearing about molecules and electrons and protons. Who cared anyways about things we couldn't see. Who cared how water was structured. We drank it. Used it to wash in and about a million other things but none of those things actually required that we know what it is made up of.
Had did that ever come about anyway. Was someone sitting there one day, looking at his glass of water and wondering, 'I wonder what this liquid is made up of.' If that was the case, he must have been one boring dude. Even more boring than John could be at times and John was pretty straight-laced. He was more than happy to stay up in space alone with his experiments. If Dad didn't make him come down to Earth from time to time, I really think that John would have been more than content to stay up on that space station of his. Maybe Scott had a point. Maybe John was adopted. Gordon, Virgil, and Scott were more like me, wanting to fly the other thunderbirds and out looking for adventure. Not John. He reminded me more of Fermat at times.
"Alan," I heard Fermat whisper urgently beside me.
I came out of my thoughts and looked around me. My classmates were all moving about. Some going up to get the chemicals needed for the experiment, and others starting to prep things. I realized that not only did I daydream through Caulfield's lecture but I had also managed to miss the introduction to the lab. Oh well, I didn't think it really mattered anyway.
By the time I had come to this realization, Fermat had already left the lab table and was headed to get the chemicals he needed. I got up and followed him. I had no idea what chemicals this experiment required but I planned on keeping an eye on what Fermat got and just mimicking him. I couldn't go wrong copying the kid with the highest grade in the class.
Things were going fine, until I had trouble with one of the stoppers. As I fumbled with the stopper, I tried to glance over at Fermat to see what he was currently getting. I couldn't really get a good view as I was trying not to spill or break the beaker I had in my hand. By the time I had that figured out and the beaker safely back on the table, Fermat was already heading back to the lab table.
I moved a couple of steps to where he had just been standing and looked at the beakers in front of me. Which beaker had Fermat been pouring the liquid out of. I looked at them trying to picture it in my mind. It wasn't working.
"Mr. Tracy, is there a problem," I heard Mr. Caulfield call out.
"Uh no. No sir. No problem," I stammered quickly and grabbed a beaker real quick. No way was I going to admit that I hadn't been paying attention again. What harm could having the wrong chemical do anyway. I already knew my experiment was not going to come out right.
All of my small beakers now had chemicals in them and I headed back to my seat next to Fermat who had already started. I sat down and opened my lab book to the right page. Fermat had gone over this experiment with me last night and I was wishing now that I had paid more attention. As I read the set up instructions I was completely lost. Caulfield was right. Fermat did get the lab grades for me. I was starting to wish I had been a little bit more helpful as a lab partner this semester and then maybe I wouldn't be quite so lost.
Well, I wasn't about to ask for help from Mr. Caulfield. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. I also didn't want to get Fermat in trouble by asking him for help. No, I was just going to read the manual and mutter through the best I could.
I actually didn't think I was doing too bad for awhile. My solution looked to be about the same color as the other two at my table.
"It should be a light blue in color," I read softly to myself.
I looked at the two chemicals I had left to mix. One was a red color which definitely wasn't the right one. The other one was more of a medium blue than a light blue. Oh well, that had to be the right one.
I picked up the beaker containing the blue liquid and slowly poured it into the other beaker over the Bunsen burner. The solution immediately started making a fizzing noise and started to bubble. The other two definitely had not done that.
I was aware of John and Dave across the table now looking in my direction as I just continued to stare at the bubbling solution. I had definitely did something wrong. Maybe it was just too hot. Maybe I should move the beaker off of the heat.
I grabbed the metal tongs and did just that. As I sat the beaker down on the table though the bubbling continued to increase not diminish.
"A-A-Alan what did y-y-you do?" I heard Fermat ask from beside me. He sounded just a little bit worried and I couldn't blame him. My heart was beating twice as fast as it usually did.
"I don't know," I told him as smoke started coming out of the beaker.
"That de-de-de isn't good," Fermat said beside me.
"Tell me something I don't know," I told him as John and Dave ducked down out of sight on their side of the lab table as the chemicals started bubbling over the side of the beaker. They probably didn't have a bad idea.
Fermat and I ducked down beside the lab table, covering our heads. I could hear the panic voices of my other classmates as they tried to get away from my bubbling, smoking beaker of chemicals. Obviously the wrong ones.
I heard Mr. Caulfield voice giving orders. Ordering those closest to the door to leave the room and others to just get behind or under lab tables if they could. Too bad Fermat and I were on the wrong side of the lab table to climb underneath it.
Then I heard the small explosion above me. Heard the glass of the beaker break. Felt the pain as some of the liquid fell on the back of my neck and hands. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. Beside me though I heard Fermat's yelp of pain.
I smelt burning now and looked up to see the curtains on the windows now on fire. I ducked my head back down as I heard two more small explosions from up above. Evidently the chemicals from my beaker had been splashed into the other beakers at the lab table by the explosion and reacted with them.
'My father is going to kill me,' was the only thought that crossed my mind as I coughed from the smoke that was now filling the room.
"Everyone make your way to the exit," I heard Mr. Caulfield yell just before the fire alarm for the school started going off. This was the first time I had heard that bell go off and known that it wasn't a drill.
I heard Fermat coughing beside me along with other sounds of beakers breaking in the distant, probably chemicals that didn't react well with heat. As another wave of coughing came over me, I realized that Fermat and I had to get out of the room.
"Come on Fermat," I said grabbing for his arm. "We need to get out of here," I told him pulling him to his feet. Ducking down I moved around the lab table and headed in the direction I thought the door to the classroom was in as smoke now filled the room.
I heard a soft thump behind me and looked back. Fermat was now laying on the floor. I turned back and knelt down beside my friend. I didn't waste any time as I put my arms underneath his and started to drag him toward what I hoped was the exit. I needed to get us both out of that classroom.