A/N Please read the author's note at the end though - it'll be regarding future updates!

Chemistry Lesson No. 1

He settles down in the seat next to mine, leisurely taking out his belongings and placing them on the lab bench in front of him. Everyone in the room is whispering and muttering, which tells me that for some reason, it's a big deal that Zach came and sat next to me; I was perfectly content sat on my own – why did he have to be in the same class as me?

As I'm complaining to myself, I don't notice him shuffling his chair closer until his elbow brushes mine. I jerk my arm away and scowl at him before shifting my chair, moving it so I'm as far away as I can be without disappearing into the wall altogether.

"What do you think you're doing?" I hiss.

He gives me an innocent look, purposefully leaning closer. "What do you mean?"

I narrow my eyes at him, intending to give him an intimidating glare, but I think it comes off as more of a twitch, and he just gives me an amused grin. I send him a suspicious look before staring studiously at the lab entrance, waiting for the teacher to come and put me out of my Zach-induced misery.

He doesn't try anything again, and for the next couple of minutes starts tapping out rhythms on the benchtop. I try to ignore it, but the constant tap-tapping almost drives me over the edge, and I find myself itching to reach over and slap his hand. Just as I'm about to give in and snap at him, he stops. He pauses for a minute, as if in thought, and then reaches for his book. He rips out a piece of lined paper and scrawls something on it quickly, chuckling to himself. Curiosity gets the better of me and I try to see what he's writing, but whether intentionally or unintentionally I can't tell, his arm blocks the writing from view. All I can catch a glimpse of before he folds the paper into an aeroplane is the name 'Jonas'.

He turns in his seat, peering around the room. The class follows his every move – what is The Great Zachary Goode going to do next? He takes aim at a tiny, pixie-like girl in the middle of the room. She has blonde hair and large blue eyes, and is reading a thick book most likely heavier than she is. She's pretty and cute, and I haven't the faintest idea why Zach would want to pick on her. She doesn't notice him and his stupid paper plane, though, and continues reading. However, the girl next to her – a caramel-skinned, chocolate-eyed goddess who probably inspires envy in every female who sees her – does notice. She's wearing a look of faint amusement as he makes a show of his plane throwing, rolling her eyes and smiling, instead of looking outraged at the fact he's throwing it at her friend. She shifts her gaze to where I'm partially hidden behind Zach, and unconcealed interest flickers across her face as she meets my eyes, no doubt wondering why Zach sat with me, of all people.

Well, wouldn't we all like to know the answer to that question?

I look away, her inquisitive stare beginning to make feel uncomfortable, and look back at Zach, who bends his arm back slowly and then lets the plane fly. It arcs gracefully across the room, a white blur, and lands right in front of the dainty blonde, smoothly sliding to a stop on top of her open book. She looks up in surprise, confusion clouding her features as she picks it up gingerly. She glances at her gorgeous friend, who shrugs and gives her a knowing look, whispering something to her, and then she looks toward Zach, who is watching her and smiling smugly. She sends him a questioning look but he just shrugs and points to the plane, motioning for her to open it.

She unfolds it carefully, her eyes scanning the page. Everyone is still watching either Zach or the girl, and I find myself doing just the same; feeling far too nosey and wanting to know what he sent her. As she reads, a pink blush creeps up her neck and blooms across her porcelain cheeks, and I see her give a tiny smile before folding the paper back up almost reverently and placing it in her book to act as a bookmark. She looks slightly embarrassed, but she can't seem to keep the smile off her face, and as she looks towards Zach again, he gives her a small wink and a salute. She laughs quietly, a tinkle of silver bells, and then notices her smirking friend, who's swiped the note. She tries to take it out of her hands but fails, and instead resorts to giving a defeated sigh and whispering to her friend. Overwhelming curiosity makes me wish I knew what this was about – it obviously wasn't as mean an act as I first suspected, but what is it? Are Zach and her together? But then why would he mention Jonas, who I now remember from my homeroom not ten minutes ago? No, that's not it.

The teacher walks in just as I'm beginning to think the only thing I'm going to learn this lesson is that everyone takes a very profound interest in Zachary Goode. He is a jovial looking man with a round, reddish face and a wide smile. Bouncing in, he deposits a few bulky looking folders and a worn leather satchel behind his desk, and rummages around for a moment before re-emerging with a wrinkled lab coat. He pulls it on, albeit it being a bit too short on the sleeves, and looks around the class happily.

"Good morning, class! I'm Dr Steve Sanders, as you all know, but remember, I want you to call me Dr Steve."

He quickly goes through a register, calling out names – I place the name Liz to the blonde girl who got the paper plane and Rebecca to the beautiful friend, who instantly corrects Dr Steve and quickly reminds him it's 'just Bex'. Dr Steve comes to a customary stop at my name, and everyone's heads swivel towards me as I answer, including Zach's.

"We have a new addition to the class, I see! Excellent! Hello, Cameron."

"Uh… Hi," I say, and give a feeble wave before grimacing and putting my hand down, and try to ignore the snigger coming from my right. "And it's just Cammie," I mumble.

"I do hope you settle in well," he continues ticking off names while talking to me, but doesn't look up, so I'm left awkwardly nodding my head. Once he's finished, he finally lifts his head and gives me an inquiring look. "Where have you moved from, Cammie? I'm quite interested."

"I… uh… moved from Detroit." If he notices the abnormal amount of 'uh's' in my sentences, he doesn't let on, but I still inwardly kick myself for sounding like a fool. Everyone probably thinks I can't speak properly… which I seemingly can't today.

"Excellent," he beams and then turns to the class. "Today we'll be starting off easy, seeing as it is the first day back and you probably aren't in a prime learning mind-set. I think we will begin with radioactivity – can anyone tell me the definition of an isotope?

xxxxx

"Psst."

A poke in the shoulder.

"Psst."

A poke in the side.

"PSST."

A poke on the arm.

I clench my pen in my hand and spin my head around to face Zach, a painfully civil smile stretched across my face as I try not to slap him. "What?"

"I can't do question six," he whispers sadly, pointing at his question sheet.

I stare at him blankly. "And what do you expect me to do about that?"

"Help me!"

"Sure thing, let me just abandon my work and help you do the whole paper because you can't seem to do it yourself! How about… no."

"It's only one question, seriously Curtains."

I raise my eyebrows at him, indicating that I know full well question six isn't the only question he's having trouble answering, and that I don't appreciate the use of my stupid nickname. He really needs to come up with something better – if he needs anything at all, that is.. I mean, it's not as if I expect him to keep talking to me and call me nicknames. Obviously. I mentally wince at my jumbled thoughts and instead revert back to the matter at hand.

I gesture at his page, empty save for the date written in the top right-hand corner and a small '1' in a bubble, neatly placed in the margin. He has the decency to look a little embarrassed as he realises I know he hasn't even started, a pained expression on his face, but I just shrug and turn back to my own work, trying to ignore the fact he's still twiddling his thumbs. I feel a bit bad, but really, he should have been listening. Dr Steve sprung a question sheet on us in the second period, his excuse being it was a double lesson and he didn't want to work us too hard – as if that makes any sense at all – which elicited a fair amount of grumbles from the whole room, but everyone still accepted the fact they had to do it. The incentive of no homework if it was completed during the lesson certainly ensured that the atmosphere was a working one, and add to it the fact that he'd basically given us the answers in the first lesson anyway, it really wasn't too bad.

But evidently, that wasn't the case for Zach.

"Come on, Cammie." He gives me another poke and I let out a huff of frustration.

"Zach, will you please let me get on? Just use your peanut-sized brain for one second; I'm sure you'll be able to think of a suitable enough answer."

"Is everything alright there, Cammie?" I hear a voice say tetchily. I look to the front of the room to see Dr Steve staring at us, and give him a forced smile.

"Just peachy!" I wave my hand through the air. Zach's loud snort can't even be missed by Dr Steve, however, and Dr Steve gives me a testy look as I try to elbow Zach discreetly. Needless to say, I don't succeed in the subtleness department, and overshoot my aim so my elbow ends up connecting with the edge of the table. I inhale sharply and wince in pain, feeling like I just got shot.

"Make sure you're getting on," he says suspiciously.

"Yes, Dr Steve," I manage to get out, my elbow still throbbing. I throw Zach the dirtiest glare I can muster while trying to avoid the interested looks we're getting, and try to go back to question nine – only one away from the end, hallelujah. But just as I put pen to paper, he has to go and open his big mouth again.

"Cammie?" he whispers, almost hesitantly.

"What now?" I say wearily. "Why can't you understand the meaning of shut the hell up?"

He gives me a wounded look, but I can see he's a little hurt and I hurriedly backtrack, feeling cruel. I suppose it's not exactly his fault he can't answer the questions – but why he took the advanced placement class is beyond me.

"I'm sorry," I mutter. "Just…" I pause, feeling my resolve weaken as he looks at me expectantly, a hopeful light in his eyes. "Okay, fine," I sigh resignedly. I hold out my hand for the question sheet and he wordlessly passes it to me under the desk, away from Dr Steve's occasional glances in our direction. Luckily, our whispered conversation isn't too conspicuous, as Dr Steve doesn't really mind chatter as long as the work gets done, and the majority of the class are holding their own conversations, including, I note mentally, Liz the blonde who got Zach's mystery Jonas note, and her beautiful friend Bex.

"Alright." I rummage around for a pencil and then lightly write down the first five answers next to the questions. When he sends me a look clearly asking why I haven't done them all, I hand him back the paper and scowl.

"I can't do them all!" I whisper shout. "It'll be too obvious and besides, you need to do your own work or else you won't learn anything, which is what you're here to do, are you not? I'll talk you through the others, if you want." I add the last part on reluctantly and he narrows his eyes at me.

"Well, thanks for being so generous," he replies sarcastically. "But I don't need you to patronize me. I can do it myself."

I stiffen. "I just helped you. Stop being so damn rude and accept the help you asked for, Zach."

He gives me a long look, and then sighs. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. Forgive me?" He looks at me apologetically, giving me the puppy-dog eyes and even pouting, and I concede, slightly surprised.

"Forgiven," I say begrudgingly. He just gives me a winning smile and goes back to his work, writing down the answers I gave him and then continuing on. I notice that he doesn't copy the ones I wrote word for word, instead adding more detail and changing it, carefully writing out each answer neatly on the lines. This surprises me more than it should, and I can tell that, contrary to my primary opinion, he actually does care about his work. He cares more about presentation than I do, too. I glance at my messy handwriting and then at his almost elegant script, and grumble mentally. So unfair.

The bell rings for the end of class just as I get the last question finish, and I hurry to stuff everything in my bag and hand in my work. But I feel a hand latch onto my upper arm and turn, startled, to see a pair of brilliant green eyes boring into mine.

"Hey, Curtains? Thanks."

"Don't mention it," I say, blinking. He walks off with nothing more than a wink in my direction, dropping off his work onto the pile at the front desk and striding out through the door. I distinctly hear a few sighs emitted when he passes a group of girls stood near the door, and roll my eyes as I exit the classroom.

A/N Hope you all enjoyed that! I'm worried all my chapters are short... I'm sorry! I can just never find enough to write about, I guess. -_- Anyway, regarding future updates: from now on, they will be weekly (which isn't much of a change, because duh, have you noticed my slow recent updates?) I have yet to decide a day. This will be because, brace yourselves: SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW. UGHHH I'm soooooooooooooooo sad and annoyed and irritated about that fact. I want more holidays! It doesn't help I basically dislike MANY people in my school. Anyway, I'm entering GCSE year so I'll have a lot of work, but don't worry, I am not going to abandon this story, even though I don't really have a good track record with that. I really want to finish it, as I haven't actually finished one before *embarrassed face* But updates should (fingers crossed) be regular.

Also, does anyone watch Downton Abbey? Because I recently started watching it and I am OBSESSED.

Anyway, let us proceed to review responses!

BooksLover2000: You are almost always my first reviewer, so thank you! I'm glad the length was good and I will not disclose any information regarding Adam and Michaela but... you may have been correct *wiggly eyebrows* xx

TeenageGallagherGirlSpy: Yes, very interesting, no?

LifeisGoode: Well, I do like it :)

aquagallghergirl-falloutboy: Haha, thanks! I do try :) Yes, a lot of people think that! I hope this chapter makes Zach seems a little nicer? Also, I can't help but notice your username - I really like Fall Out Boy! What's your favourite song?

HippieGuru: I honestly love your little rhymes. Haha, glad you didn't though, that may have been a little awkward to explain ;) Thank you!

OhNobody: That means a WHOLE LOT SO THANK YOUUU.

miaadventure: YES HE ISSS haha ;)

fanficlover4602: Yes, you can freak out! Freak out as much as you wanttttttt! Adam is so cute, I do admit. I'm so happy you like it! You review every chapter with unwavering enthusiasm, so you are too awesome.

Guest: Yay! Thank you so much! Yes she does, everyone's realised it haha. And I think this chapter answers your Bex, Macey, Liz question? :)

x2INFIN3TY-B3YONDx: Boy, your username took me a while to write, I had to keep checking it against your review! Yesss, Michaela and Adam are really cute, and I think they could be... Cadam? Adam is super cute, but I hope Zach has redeemed himself a tiny bit this chap? And don't disintegrate into nothingness, how would I ever explain THAT? ;) Thank you xx

TheAsylumEscapee: YOU'RE WELCOME! So glad you liked it! Don't apologize, I certainly don't mind about excitement :)

gabergirl: Thank you!

: :) That's a good 'wow', right?

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL MY REVIEWERS, AND MY REGULAR ONES, AND ALL OF YOU, YOU'RE ALL GEMS. Wish me luck for school tomorrow! #verysadtimes