AN: Linkie, thanks for your review. I almost htought I wouldn't get any. Guess I was wrong. I also thought I already uploaded chapter 3. Guess I'm getting old...
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The next day was a Friday and for the kids it seemed to drag on forever. With the weekend just ahead of them, school was more boring than ever. Most of them were half-asleep or at least lost in their thoughts and not paying attention at all.
It was the same for Ezra. His mind was occupied by the upcoming summer break and the prospect of switching between his parents. If they just wouldn't talk bad about the other 'parent unit' to him. It always made him feel caught up in the middle… Suddenly he realized that the physics teacher was staring at him. He obviously expected an answer.
"Umm, sorry, I didn't get your question."
The teacher seemed annoyed. "Now that you've been so kind to join us, could you please explain the concept of relativity?"
"Well… free time goes by relatively fast, boring lessons go relatively slow…"
Surprise showed in Mr. Green's face. Then: "I don't like the attitude you show towards school; but yes, that is a valid example for relativity. The example Einstein used is time spent with a good friend versus time spent sitting on a hot plate…"
He was interrupted by the bell ringing. "Ok, since we had enough examples for the relativity of time, for Monday everyone will think of an example for relative speed of moving objects, relative temperature and one thing of your choice that is relative. You can go now."
Everyone was relieved that school was over for the day and left as fast as they could. But soon they all gathered around Ezra. "I don't know what to do with that homework.", Shelby complained. Everyone agreed with her.
Ezra looked at them all, surprised. "Didn't you listen to what I said in there?" he wanted to know.
"Not really." Jules admitted, "I only started paying attention, when I heard 'for Monday'…"
It was much the same for everyone else.
"Well… I think something is relative, when the same thing looks different from different perspectives… I can't really explain it better…" Ezra tried to explain.
Daisy was the first to catch on, "I think I get it. When you are standing on the docks of an harbour, you think you are standing on solid ground. But if I just came back from a long boat trip in rough water, the same dock seems to move beneath me because I got used to the movement of the boat…"
"Exactly!" Ezra exclaimed, happy that his explanation had been understandable.
Scott was next. "So, an example for temperature would be…. If my hands were cold and yours were warm, and we put them in the same lukewarm water, the water would seem warm to me and cold to you. Right?"
"Yeah. Anyone still not get it?" Ezra wanted to know.
Most of them were ok after these explanations. Only Jules spoke up "I completely understand your examples…. I just can't think of anything myself."
"We have all weekend. I'm sure you will think of something. Or we can work something out together." Auggie told her. "Thanks, Auggie." She smiled at him happily.
After everyone went their separate ways, Daisy caught up with Shelby. "What's up with you? You don't look so good."
"Nothing." Shelby said, turning away and trying not to show how upset she was. But Daisy wouldn't just let her go like that, "Did you have a fight with Scott? I saw you coming in after curfew last night and you looked upset then. Come to think of it, you didn't speak to him or go near him today. So what's up?"
Seeing that Daisy wouldn't give up, Shelby sat down on a bench. "Last night, Sophie caught us. Again." Remembering that, her face got angrier. "For today and tomorrow, we are not to speak to each other or come within ten meters of each other. She half threatened to extend these restrictions for even more days!" Shelby almost shouted. "So as much as I'd like to, I won't risk anything by talking to him!"
Hearing that, Daisy hugged her. "I'm sorry. Really, that's pretty hard. Aren't you already on wood-chopping?" Shelby just nodded, looking miserable. "So you just have to be content with my company. You'll still have all of Sunday to spent with Scott."
"Daisy, it's not that I don't like your company, just…." - "I know. I'm just saying: Make the best of it. Staying in a bad mood won't do any of us any good. You really spent a lot of time with Scott lately. Maybe this is a good opportunity to get back on track with the other Cliffhangers. I mean, they're your friends, too."
For the first time, Shelby smiled. "You know what, that's good advice, counsellor, I guess I'll take it. Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Do you remember the Trackers girls challenging us for a Scrabble competition? We were planning on playing today. The Trackers are sending four girls, so we'll need you." – " Sure, I'm good at Scrabble. Let's go!"
Later, when it was time for dinner, Daisy split from the group and went to look for Sophie. She was disappointed to find her with some financial stuff. That wouldn't have put her in a good mood…. But Daisy decided to speak to her anyway. "Sophie, do you have a moment?"
"Sure, anything that gets me away from this…What's up?"
"Don't you think you might have been a bit hard on Shelby and Scott? She was really miserable today and it took quite some effort to talk her into a better mood…"
Sophie was silent for a moment. Then she sighed, "Peter asked the same question yesterday. I don't WANT to be on their case all the time, but I already turned a blind eye so often, that I'm really in violation of the school's rules. I think they'll survive two days on restrictions. Maybe you could drop them the hint to be a little more discreet? I mean, they could choose times and places, where I wouldn't have to run into them…"
Daisy was surprised by what she just heard. "Did you really tell me what I think you did?" That would mean that Sophie didn't have anything against Scott and Shelby making out…
"Of course I didn't! You're imagining things…" Sophie replied with a straight face, but she had a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Daisy couldn't help it. She had to grin and shake her head. Then she went to dinner.
In the cafeteria. By now all the Cliffhangers knew about Shelby and Scott's restrictions. So as not to push one of them out of the group, Auggie, Juliette and David were sitting at Scott's table, while Ezra and Kat sat with Shelby. Daisy went to Shelby's table. Kat and Shelby were discussing whether or not they would have won the competition without Shelby's help.
"Look at the scores." Shelby was saying. "We won by 100 points. I contributed 85 points. If I hadn't played, you would still have won by 15 points."
"But if you hadn't played, the letters would have been distributed differently. We can't say what'd have happened then. Everything could have been different." Kat said, being reasonable.
"Kat's right, you know." Daisy joined the conversation. "It's like the butterfly effect in chaos theory."
"What's that?" Shelby had never heard of that.
"Chaos theory says, that if you change even a little bit of the setting, it can affect the result in a big way. Like a butterfly fluttering in Brazil. The air movement might lead to a hurricane in the final result." Daisy lectured.
"Isn't that how everything goes in life? You, or someone else for that matter, make a little mistake and everything builds up, until your life is completely fucked up?" Ezra seemed to have his insightful day.
"Exactly. That's why I always keep the butterfly in mind. As a metaphor for life. That brings to mind, I talked to Sophie and I think I saw a butterfly that could lead to a hurricane for you." She looked at Shelby when she said that. In response to the scared look she got, Daisy quickly added: "A positive hurricane, I mean. I'll talk to you later."
Shelby groaned. "You like to keep me waiting and wondering, don't you?" – "My favourite hobby.", Daisy grinned.
Just then Peter came up behind them. "Hurry up, group in two!", he announced cheerfully, pretending not to see everyone rolling their eyes.