Teenage Memories
Chapter 5
The two boys keep their silence, but Tony was still smiling slightly. He was nervous but he was really excited at the same time. And then, the bell rang, and the both boys split up. Tony went to his chemistry laboratory. He sat down at the only vacant seat because he was late. And luckily, Mr. Gerald was replaced by a new, younger teacher, named Mr. Kyle. And he sat next to a guy named Jack, if he wasn't wrong. Jack is a silent, mysterious guy. He was not smart, and he wouldn't listen. And he had heard people talking about how Jack had push someone against a wall and he pull that someone up by his collar just because the guy was chuckling at him. But Tony pushed the thought out of his head and just focus on the teacher.
They were doing some experiment; the teacher already placed a small amount of something grey-ish in a plate, a small amount of a transparent liquid in another plate, another small amount of yellow liquid in another plate and a light blue liquid inside a glass thingy. He said that we should pour the grey-ish liquid first into the glass and see what happened and write it down. And we should pour in the yellow liquid, and we can't forget this step and put in the transparent liquid first or it might done something fatal. And lastly put in the transparent liquid.
After Mr. Kyle done explaining, he let us start. He put on the glasses first before he remembered the steps one by one. Then, he took in a deep breath and glanced at Jack, who had the transparent liquid plate on his hand, confused. Tony shook his head and wish himself luck. Two years ago when he was still in middle school, there was an accident when they were doing an experiment and Tony had burnt a quarter of his face. And it was painful; he was not trying that again.
"You understand, Jack?" Tony abruptly asked, wanting to make sure. He know asking this kind of question is a death wish but come on, he don't want anything to happen.
Then, Jack looked down at him and was giving him a sharp glare. "Mind your own business, dork." He growled under his breath and continues his own observation.
Tony was taken aback but nodded slowly. "Okay." He whispered with a slight sarcasm. Then he starts his own experiment. He picks up the grey-ish liquid and slowly pours it into the glass. The liquid inside suddenly bubbled up and turned into the darkest shade of blue. He was amazed, looking down at it awed and he noted it down. He glanced again at Jack and saw him pouring down the grey liquid and got the same result as he does and he saw Jack's face light up and he smiled to himself. And he continued. He pours down the yellow liquid and nothing happened and he stared blankly at it. And suddenly someone whispered.
"Mixed it." He heard Mr. Kyle whispered and he looked at Mr. Kyle confused. Why on earth was he whispering to him?
"What?"
"Mix the liquid, use the spoon." He whispered once more and he walked away and Tony straightly went for the spoon and stirs it. And slowly, the liquid turn again into neon blue color and Tony found himself beaming at the color change. He had always liked the color blue, and this is mesmerizing him. He quickly went down and scratches his pen against the paper. When he's done he was about to continue but he saw Jack pouring the transparent liquid into the glass.
"Don't!" He almost yelled and it was too late, and he was waiting for some short of explosion or something but nothing happened. The only thing happened was the water turning green.
"What, dork?" Jack asked, eyes boring a hole in his skull.
"You shouldn't-"
"Don't tell me what to do." Jack tells him firmly and went back to writing down the reaction. Tony gave up and continues. He pours the last liquid and the neon blue liquid turn back into the original color. He writes it down and when he's down, he raised his hand, waiting for Mr. Kyle to notices and come to him. But right there and then, Jack was pouring his last liquid, which is the yellow liquid. And there it is, the explosion. It was small but big enough that the liquid reach Tony's right arm also Jack's own covered face. And it burns. It made a hole in his favorite blue hoodie and now burning his skin. He let out a scream of pain and Mr. Kyle runs to him. He glanced at Jack, who is perfectly fine. His face was perfectly covered; none of the liquid touches his skin. And for once, Tony glare at him.
"Does it burn?" Mr. Kyle asked and Tony nodded repeatedly, clutching his injured arm into his chest. "Class dismissed!" He suddenly yelled and Tony heard some sighed out of disappointment and some yelped out of happiness and Mr. Kyle lead him into the nursery.
On the way there, Tony look down at his arm –from elbow down- and saw that some of the liquid had vanished and some is still rolling down toward the palm of my hand and fingers. And also, some red open flesh and blood trickled down from them. When he's there, he met the nurse, again.
"Dear god, what happen to you now, Tony." She said and Mr. Kyle takes his place and answered.
"Chemical explosion, can you check for any infection please, I think the skin absorb the liquids." Mr. Kyle said and he sat Tony down at one of the beds. Tony lay down, still clutching at his arm, letting out soft, small noises of discomfort and pain. And he was whimpering when the nurse start cleaning the injury.
"I thought it was another beat up." The nurse said and Tony eyes widened and he shushed her down. "Huh? Why? You haven't told anyone?"
"Yes, I haven't, now stop talking about it." Tony whispered and the nurse shook her head.
"You gotta tell the teacher Tony, or I will." The nurse said and raised her voice necessarily so that Mr. Kyle heard her. And he did.
"Tell us what?" Mr. Kyle spoke up and walked closer to the other two. The nurse nudges Tony's good arm and Tony shook his head making Mr. Kyle more curious. "Tell me, Nadine."
"Someone beat him up yesterday." The nurse said and Tony closed his eyes and groaned.
"Stop!" Tony whined and the two adults waved him off.
"Who?"
"Don't know, all I know is, the one who did this is in the football club." The nurse said and Tony groaned and whined louder and the nurse press harder on his injuries on purpose, making him whimpered. "Quit your whining, it's for your own good."
"I know, but it is not necessary, it's alright, we already made up." Tony said and Mr. Kyle just stares at him, arms crossed against his chest.
"Actually, Tony, I don't care if you already made up or not, still, you should just tell someone. And by someone, I mean teachers." He said and Tony groaned again.
"But, please, Mr. Kyle, let this one go, please!" Tony pleaded, afraid that they will do something if they found out that Dylan is the one that did this, Dylan would do something worse to him.
"No, I can't just let this go, Tony. Now tell me, who did this?" Mr. Kyle asked with his firmest tone but Tony stay silent. Mr. Kyle raised one of his eyebrows, "Don't play this with me Tony." He said and starts tapping his fingers against his other palm. "George?" He asked and Tony kept his silence. He remembered then that Mr. Kyle knows when people lied or sure about something or panicking or anything by their eyes and movement. So, he's probably test him right now. "Khan?" He asked and Tony shook his head and Mr. Kyle sighed. "Dylan?" He asked and I tried to hold back my inside of panicking but he was so good, he nodded his head. "Dylan it is."
"No, don't tell him anything, please." Tony pleaded and Mr. Kyle sighed.
"I'm sorry, Tony, but I have to do this." Mr. Kyle said and walked toward the door. "And, don't worry; I'm not going to say that you report this or anything." He said and he disappeared out of the door. Tony sighed and kept his mouth shut as the nurse continued her works, babbling about something about hiding things from the teacher, which he doesn't pay attention to much. He was scared, he admitted, from his experience is that if you tell somebody, it'll get worse.
The last bell rang and Tony sighed. It was a pretty long day; he won't be able to face any other weird things if any would happen anytime soon. He quickly swapping his backpack and went to his locker, outing back his books and locked it. He was about to head home but he remembered that he would have to meet Gibbs in the orchestra room. Then suddenly he became more excited and walked his way into the orchestra room, cradling his bandaged arm. When he arrived, he stopped in front of the door, feeling nervous. He took in a breath and finally walks in. Ads he open the door, he looked around and found the lean figure of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, his back was faced toward him, leaning against the grand piano. And as the door closed with a loud thud, Gibbs quickly turned around. He smiled slightly at Tony.
"Hello, Tony." He greeted Tony and Tony can't help but melt into the hoarse voice of Gibbs' and the soft, real smile Gibbs doesn't usually wear.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." Tony said and stand awkwardly in the middle of the huge room, watching as Gibbs softly chuckled.
"No, princess never been late, I'm just simple here too early." Gibbs said and Tony recognized the movie he just referred to.
"Don't tell me you watch Princess Diary, I'm already convinced that you are not that kind of guy." Tony groaned and again, Gibbs let out his rare chuckle.
"Cousin had always forced me to watch that kind of shitty movies." Gibbs explained and sighed. "So, what happened to your arm?" He asked curiously. Tony shrugged. "Tell me, Tony." Gibbs asked once more, firmly this time.
"An accident from an experiment." Tony said simply and shrugged once more.
Gibbs cringed, "Must been really hurt, does it?" Gibbs asked and Tony nodded dramatically, clutching into the injured arm for dear life.
"It was really, really painful." He said with some extra dramatic slowness and Gibbs snorted.
"Oh please, don't be so mellowing dramatic." Gibbs chuckled, "Can you still play the piano, tough?" Gibbs asked, nodding to the grand piano that he was leaning into.
"Uh, yeah, I guess." He said and Gibbs nodded curtly and he walked toward Tony. Tony was tensed, he was nervous. Then Gibbs grabbed both of his shoulder and wheeled him into the chair in front of the grand piano and sat him down. "What do you want me to do?" Tony asked as he brushed his fingers against the while tiles. It was clean, really clean and looking freshly new.
"Play something." Gibbs said and Tony looked up at him with a confused eye, full of disagreement. "Come on, Tony, I need to hear you play." Gibbs pleaded. Tony sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Alright, fine. Sit here with me, I'll teach you something for a bit." Tony said patting the empty space next to him; Gibbs was about to protest but Toy cut him off. "You force me into this, would it be fair if I force you into something else?" Tony said and Gibbs sighed and plopped himself down at the empty space. "That's better. Now, what do you want me to play?"
"I don't know, it's up to you." Gibbs said and Tony sighed, choosing one of his many favorite songs. And one of the songs comes striking into his brain like a lightning bolt. Preparing the key F in the tiles, he started singing. "Hey Jude, don't make it bad." Then he continue singing and playing the song Hey Jude by Beatles. He caught a glance of Gibbs nodding his head to the beat and he got this successful feeling in his heart. After the song ends, he sighed and looks up at Gibbs. He saw him smiled and said.
"That was great!" He said and Tony just shrugged and blushed. "I'm so recommending you to the teacher." He said and Tony shook his head.
"No, you won't. Now come, let me teach you." He said and he started instructing Gibbs to put his fingers here and there. They were both struggling. Gibbs was a stubborn guy and Tony is really willing to help.
"My fingers aren't long enough!" Gibbs yelled, Tony groaned in frustration.
"I know! Mine too! Just try harder." Tony said in a high pitched voice and Gibbs let out a whine of frustration before he broke off laughing.
"Don't ever use that tone again, it sounded so bad." Gibbs said still laughing and Tony rolled his eyes.
"Okay, now put your fingers back here!" Tony said and Gibbs obeyed. And before they had reached the main song, they both had given up. Tony had decided from then, that he would never teach Gibbs anymore.
"So that's it, you gave up on me?" Gibbs asked with a smirk lingered in his face and Tony just shook his head. A few moments ago Gibbs was yelling at him, complaining at how he can possibly understand if Tony kept teaching him like that. And now, he was complaining that Tony had stopped.
"Whatever." Tony said and then he hit his injured arm against the piano and he suppressed a hiss of pain and ignored it. But then he remembered the fact that Mr. Kyle know about the Dylan problem and his curiosity grew. "Gibbs, can I asked you something?" Tony asked and Gibbs nodded.
"Anything."
"What would happen if suddenly a teacher knows about Dylan beating me up and they just grounded him or something?" Tony asked and Gibbs shrugged.
"Then maybe you're in a great danger." He stated calmly, not knowing the truth.
"Yikes." Tony said and shivered.
"Why did you asked?" Gibbs asked, eyes roaming around Tony's eyes.
"Nothing." Tony murmured and Gibbs sighed.
"Someone knows, yes?" Gibbs asked and Tony nodded slowly and Gibbs sighed again, "New rules, you don't leave my side unless I said so."