Chapter 9: Chemistry Exam
The next days, Finn tried as he had never tried in his life to study in order to pass the Chemistry exam at school, but no matter how much he checked the papers assigned by his professor, notes and the class textbook, he could not understand much of the topics he had to memorize for that day, he was lost, he was going to fail again and he had no one to ask for help, for a moment he thought of calling Phoebe to see if she could help him study for the exam, but then he remembered that while they were dating the girl had already offered more than once to help him to study and he always ended up flunking, no matter how many times she explained the topics, it seemed that his mind did not process them, so she ended up giving up on being his tutor, so he simply discarded the idea, since he did not want to bother his now friend with that problem, then he opted to ask his mother but he himself had told her not to bother him while studying, so he ended up discarding that idea as well. Frustrated for not understanding the topics and not knowing what to do to make him remember them, the teenager put aside all the Chemistry class material and lay down on his bed trying not to think that in a few days he would have the damn exam that would put at stake not only his social life, but also his future, he turned over in his bed to take his phone and entertain himself with something, but he stopped when he saw Jake seated there looking at him with a confused glance.
"I don't know what to do, Jake" the blond teenager told to his dog friend as if he could understand his words "I'm lost, tomorrow I've to take the exam and I'm not ready" he brought his hands to his face covering his eyes "if only I could've more time to study or find someone who is willing to explain me what I should study..." he uncovered his eyes, averted his gaze to the yellow almost orange dog that was now lying on the floor of the room and chuckled lightly "sometimes I wonder if you really understand what I'm telling you or just pretend to"
"Finn" the boy stopped talking to his dog friend and looked away from the door of his room when he heard his mother's voice calling him "Finn, are you still studying for your exam?"
"Uh... y-yeah, I was studying mom" he knew it was a lie, but he could not tell her that he was talking to Jake at that moment, he turned his eyes towards the dog and spoke to him in a low voice "pst, Jake, you have to get out of here now, do you hear me?" the dog did not even move, he just kept watching him with his black eyes "come on, man, you have to leave, mom can't see you here"
"Finn, are you still there?" Minerva asked from the other side of the door "could you come out or come out for a moment? I need to talk to you"
"I'll be right there" the boy answered, quickly he got up from the bed and approached to Jake "okay, since you don't want to come out by yourself, you leave me no choice..." he grabbed the dog tightly by his neck to lift him from the floor, which caused him to let out high-pitched squeals of pain, but Finn took care of covering his muzzle with one hand; however, this did not go unnoticed by his mom.
"Finn, what was that noise? Did you bring another animal into the house without telling me?" the short blonde-haired woman asked, suspicious of the strange sound coming from her son's bedroom.
"What?! pff... n-no, of course not! I just... fell off the chair and hit myself, that's all" Finn, said, gosh, Fern was right, he was a bad liar, he turned his gaze towards Jake and without taking his hand off his muzzle, still holding him by his neck, he took him to the window of his bedroom and opened it so he could get out "come on, buddy, you have to get out, don't make me look bad in front of my mom, will you?" Jake remained seated on the floor without showing any signs of wanting to get out through the window "all right, I'll help you get out, it's not that hard, you know?" without even thinking about it, he lifted Jake as best he could and helped him escape from his bedroom, he barely managed to get him out of there, he closed the window and quickly ran to the door, he opened it and found his mom standing with her arms crossed "what do you want to talk to me, mom?"
"I'm worried about you, since you mentioned your chemistry class exam you haven't left your bedroom for days, I must assume it's because you are really trying hard to pass the subject this time" Minerva answered looking at her son with a worried look on her face, "so, I thought about this..." she handed him a folded light blue paper, Finn looked at it with distrust, usually when his mother gave him a paper it was for him to go shopping with her, but this time he took the paper without thinking, he unfolded it seeing that it was a flyer to attend a rock festival "there will be a festival in the city soon and it will be next weekend, I took this from a bulletin board at the hospital so I thought that maybe you would want to go with me"
"But... mom, I don't know if I want to go, besides I don't know much about rock music, in fact, I hardly listen to it on my phone" the blue-eyed teenager replied.
"You don't need to be an expert to go to a festival, besides, you don't need to go to see what bands are performing if you're not interested, there are other things to do during the day and not get bored."
"I don't know, don't you think it would be a bit weird? What if my classmates are there and they see me with you?"
"Don't make a big deal out of it! Besides, it's been a while since the last time we did something fun just the two of us" the short blonde haired woman said, she could not help but feel a little sad when she remembered the last time she and Finn did something fun together, it happened two months after his father's funeral, she immediately reacted and regained her composure looking at her son again "but... if you want to go to the festival with Phoebe or some other friend, then I'll understand"
"No, it's okay! Don't worry, I'd love to go with you, mom" Finn interrupted her, he did not want to hurt his mom so he had no choice but to accept and go with her to the festival "in fact, I miss spending time with you too... sometimes"
"Well then, it's already decided, we'll go to the festival together next week" Minerva cried excitedly; however, her excited tone of voice changed to a serious one in the blink of an eye #but only if you promise me that you'll pass your exam, I trust you'll pass this time"
"Yes, I'll do my best to pass this exam, Mom."
Trusting that her son would keep his word, Minerva left, telling her son that she had to go to the hospital because she had been called for a last minute emergency and they needed her help, she told him that she had already prepared dinner and that he should heat it up if he was hungry. Finn offered to accompany her to the house entrance, to which the woman did not refuse and they both went downstairs to the main entrance, once there, the blond boy opened the door to his mom, she said goodbye giving him a kiss on the cheek, took her bag, left the house and went down the small staircase directly to her car.
On the other hand, Marceline, Fern and the other members of the band were gathered in the cellar where they now rehearsed daily, all seated in front of a folding table with pens and a blank paper sheets, they had been discussing and thinking for hours about which song they would perform on the day of the festival but for the moment there was no concrete decision.
"Well, let's be reasonable" Marceline spoke to break the bubble of tension and discomfort that had formed both in the atmosphere and in the remaining members of the band "do any of you, besides me, have the talent to compose a song?" at that moment, one of the girls who played the role of chorister in that band was about to open her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Marceline who added "something that doesn't have to do exclusively with that k-pop shit?" she asked.
Most of them recognized that their skills to create a song were scarce or totally null, they had discarded a part of the musical genres to choose and thus have something to rehearse until the day of the festival, no rock/pop, blues, or any other musical genre that resembled or came close to those two, and apart from knowing how to play some instruments, they did not know any other rhythm for the rehearsals that was not darkwave or indie rock.
"Well, since nobody could think of something better" the red coppery haired girl said, wanting to contribute something to the conversation, they had not let her join in the debate because she had arrived just when the group was finishing rehearsing, but while she listened to her mates, she began to think of a suggestion in her mind "I've an idea, isn't it better that we put lyrics to a music we all already know, that way it would be more original, don't you think so? I suggest we use the music that comes from the "A Message" by Coldplay"
It seemed like the perfect solution, in fact, most of them (including Marceline) agreed with the idea; and one of the girls suggested creating a poem-like song, beautiful but with a soft rhythm, however, among the band members there was one who was not convinced, and that was Fern, who thought it would be impossible to avoid the audience's displeasure or laughter as soon as they started playing the first notes, plus he was more than determined to win the contest, since if the prize was money, he could pay part of the electric bills in his home and maybe renovate it a bit, since the paint on the kitchen wall was falling off as well as the one in his bedroom.
"Yeah, sure, that's a great idea, FP" the blond boy with the green-tinted tips commented sarcastically to his band mate "it's a great idea for someone who likes to be embarrassed and laughed at their face in public"
"Well, I'm sorry my suggestion isn't of your tastes, Fern. But I thought the idea of entering the contest was only to join in and have fun" the young girl said sitting in front of him, feeling a little bad about how the older teen had spoken to her "that's what we agreed in the beginning, unless... unless you're not interested in entering the contest to have fun and you're only looking for the prize, right?"
"What? pff, of course not, besides, if I wanted to enter just to win the prize and keep it for myself, it would be selfish of me, don't you think so?"
"Besides" Marceline said, who got up from her chair and positioned herself next to Fern, putting an arm around his shoulders "if Fern wanted to win the contest prize, clearly he would share it with all of us, right?" she looked at the blonde boy sitting next to her "right?"
"Ah..." Fern hesitated a little at the questioning expression of his long dark-haired friend, swallowed and answered with a relaxed and carefree attitude "yes, of course! why wouldn't I? you're my friends and it would be unfair of me not to share the prize with you"
"Well, since the mystery of why Fern wants to join in the contest with us is solved, does anyone else have any ideas about what kind of song we could play for the festival?" Georgy asked wanting to change the subject and focus again on what was paramount for the band, that was next week's festival.
Another hour went by where everyone was discussing ideas or proposals on what to do for the day of the festival, Wendy wanted them to play something more typical of the sixties, disco style, so she could show off colorful clothes or her dress full of sequins and jump around like a real rock star, Georgy wanted to play something that would allow him to use his drums, Booboo had no proposal, whatever his other colleagues suggested was fine with him, Phoebe kept insisting that they add original lyrics to a rhythm that everyone knew and Fern? He thought that if he was going to participate in the contest and he had to play his electric guitar, he would choose some rhythm he felt more comfortable with, and in that, he remembered that not long ago while he was at Marceline's house, he saw her working on what seemed to be the lyrics of a new song, but that unfortunately he didn't get to read, so he had an idea, he just hoped the others would agree or else they would spend all night there without getting anywhere.
"Hey, Marcy" Fern said, calling the attention of her friend who was discussing the idea that Wendy had proposed "if my memory serves me correctly, I remember that one day when we all spent the night at your house, I saw that you were working on a new song, weren't you?"
"Uh... y-yes, I think so, why do you ask?" the long dark haired girl asked turning her gaze towards her friend who was sitting not far away from her.
"I was thinking, why don't we use that song and play it for the contest when it's the day of the festival? what do you think?" Fern proposed waiting for his friend to agree to his proposal, but instead of answering quickly, Marceline felt a blush tinge her pale face and looked away slightly embarrassed.
"I don't know... I don't think it's a good idea," answered the girl trying to hide her blush but it was impossible to hide it, since it increased more and more as she spoke and she felt that her heart was going to burst out of her chest at any moment, "it's not ready yet, I need to give some last corrections to the final verses and besides... it's a little embarrassing, maybe they won't like it... What are you talking about? nothing you write will be embarrassing to us, Marceline" Booboo commented encouraging her best friend, "what did you write in your song for you to say that?"
"Don't tease her, Booboo. If Marcy doesn't want to sing the song she's working on for the festival because it's not ready yet and lacks details, she doesn't have to" Wendy said, then looked away from her friend "just let us know when it's ready so we can rehearse it together, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep it in mind... maybe" the girl answered with an indifferent and unconcerned attitude at the same time.
"And what are we going to do? we haven't solved that yet" Phoebe said not only attracting her friend's attention but also that of the rest of her band mates "since nobody can think of a better idea about what to play for the day of the festival, why don't we sing something hip hop or rap? No one suggested it 'till now"
"What, you want us to sing something like that in a rock festival? you're crazy, FP!" Georgy exclaimed at the proposal of the red-almost coppery haired girl.
"But, I've heard many alternative rock bands fuse their style of music with hip-hop or rap, think of Gorillaz, maybe it could work."
"Well, I think it's a lousy idea, our band is not alternative rock, we're looking for a more serious beat!"
"Agh..." Marceline grunted to herself before the others, she got up from her chair and went to sit with Fern at the back of the cellar, both with their backs leaning against the dirty and dusty wall of the facility. The girl remained a few seconds observing the ceiling, the rusty beams full of cobwebs that supported it to then divert her gaze to the blond boy next to her "it looks like we are going to be here for a long time until we reach an agreement..."
"I guess so..." Fern muttered shrugging his shoulders, they both silently turned their eyes to the ceiling, for a moment neither of them uttered a sound or a word until the blond teenager with the green tips spoke again "hey, since we're going to stay here for a while, do you mind if we order a pizza?"
"Really? do you even think about eating something at a time like this?"
"I'm hungry, okay? And I haven't eaten anything since I left my house."
"But didn't your parents leave you food for the days they would be out of town?" Marceline asked arching a confused eyebrow, Fern looked away slightly embarrassed and unable to tell his friend what he had done with all the food his mother had left in the fridge "Glob, don't tell me that..."
"Most of it was spoiled, so I had no choice but to throw it away, so I've been without food for three days now" the boy replied "besides, it was supposed to last a week like this, but it's been a month since they left and I haven't heard from them."
"And didn't you think of going to the police to find out what else can be done? Maybe they can look for them and tell you where they might be" the long dark-haired girl advised him "if it's been a month since they left, they've probably disappeared or I don't know"
"Yeah... maybe you're right, I think we should go and ask the police for help to see what they can do."
"Well, then tomorrow morning we'll go early to the police to let them know that your parents are missing so they can find them" Marceline said, Fern did not answer and just nodded to her friend, the girl returned the gesture with a smile and looked away to the food delivery app open on her phone "where do you want to order the pizza?"
"Wherever you want, but first" Fern replied who got up from the floor and turned around standing in front of Marceline "let's ask the others if they want to eat pizza with us"
Without even stopping to think about it, the blond boy extended his hand to his friend to help her stand up, of course he looked away, Marceline observed his hand arching an eyebrow for a few seconds, she analyzed her friend carefully looking for any vibe that would make him distrustful or tell her that she should not accept the gesture, but finding nothing, she took his hand and Fern pulled her towards himself helping her to stand up. Once that was done, the long dark-haired girl dusted off her clothes and walked with Fern back to the table where their other bandmates were still debating their ideas about what they would do for the day of the festival.
The next morning, around 7:00 a.m., Fern came out of his half-arrested home and was now in the corner of a pub (which was closed at that time of the morning) waiting for Marceline to arrive so they could go together to the police station to report his parents' disappearance. The place was not far away from where he was waiting for his friend, and the pale skinned long dark-haired girl's home was also not far away from the pub where he was waiting for her, but as the minutes passed until it became three and a half hours, the blond boy began to get impatient, he moved his legs which were starting to cramp up from standing for so long, besides it was a bit cold that morning and the jacket he was wearing did not keep him warm so he had to blow hot air on his hands to warm himself up, he looked to the right hoping to see Marceline approaching, then to the left and oh surprise! He could see the long dark-haired girl approaching towards his position, unlike Fern, she had at least left her house moderately warm, she was wearing a gray and red sweater with a cat in the center, a long white scarf and her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail whose tips brushed her hips.
"You told me you'd meet me here early in the morning and I did" Fern exclaimed, looking at his friend with a frown "I've been waiting for you for three hours, what the hell were you doing?"
"Oops, I think I forgot to tell you that when I meant to come here early it was around this time" Marceline replied rolling her eyes, she put her hands behind her head, raising and tousling her hair in a ponytail "but don't worry, we've plenty of time, we can still go to the police station to report your parents' disappearance and then if you want I'll buy you some breakfast, I guess you left home without eating again, didn't you?"
"Ah..." Fern was about to lie to her; however, his stomach started to growl betraying him "yes, you're right, as I said yesterday, I don't have any more food so I left home without having breakfast, besides I don't have any money either but I promise I'll try to pay you back when I could"
"Well, I hope you keep your promise. Now come on, we have to go to the police station, then we'll go for breakfast."
On the other hand, that morning, Finn was sleeping soundly in his bed surrounded by a pile of notes and the chemistry textbooks he had been studying for that day's exam, he was so tired that he did not even notice that the alarm on his phone had been ringing for more than half an hour, indicating that he was late to go to school and attend the first class of the day. The sound of the alarm became so irritating to the teenager that he turned it off so he could sleep a little more and recover the sleep he could not have after spending all night awake trying to study for the exam; however, as soon as he woke up to turn off the alarm on his phone he looked at the time and not only discovered how late it was, but also that all the papers he used to take notes from the books of his chemistry class had fallen both from the bed and from their respective textbooks forming a big mess on the bedroom floor.
"Whatever, I've nothing to worry about, I'm sure I'll remember what I barely managed to study" Finn thought looking the mess that his bedroom had become "I'm sure I'll remember it, I read the textbooks and everything I wrote down for the exam a thousand times!"
"Finn, are you still asleep?" the teenage boy came out of his thoughts when he heard his mom's voice on the other side of the door so he pretended to sleep "honey, your phone alarm has been ringing several times, I need you to get up, get dressed and go downstairs to have some breakfast or you'll be late for school, besides, you have to take your chemistry exam today, or am I wrong?"
"I-I'll be right there, mom. Just..." Finn said who again looked at the mess around his bedroom "just... uh... l-let me put my stuff in my backpack and I'll go have breakfast"
"Oh, okay. But don't take too long, you have to go to school" Minerva reminded him as she walked away from her son's bedroom. Finn sighed in relief because now that his mother was not around he would have some extra time to go over all the contents quickly, and that he did, once he finished he busied himself with putting everything he needed for that day's classes in his green backpack, he closed it as best he could and went downstairs two by two, he was already getting too late to go to school or at most, to be able to have some breakfast with his mom, Minerva had just poured herself a cup of coffee on the one that she used to drink every morning, but as soon as she turned around to go sit in her respective chair at the small kitchen table, she was startled to see her son leaning out the door and almost dropped the cup from her hands, luckily, she only spilled a little of the liquid inside which was not even as hot as she expected it to be "Finn! sheez, you scared me, son, what's your hurry, aren't you going to stay for breakfast?"
"No, I'm sorry, mom. But I don't have time" the blue-eyed teenager replied who hurried to finish his toast and approached the woman now sitting in her chair 'if I stay, I'll be late for school' he kissed her cheek, arranged his backpack and headed to the front door of his house "I have to go now! see you later"
"Goodbye, son-good luck on your exam!"
"And your good luck at work."
"I don't need it, I know I'll do fine" Minerva replied, who put aside her coffee and breakfast to approach to the kitchen door "I'm more worried about you"
"Mom, I'm sure I'll be fine this time, I read everything I wrote down for the exam a thousand times!" Finn assured his mother "now, I have to go or I'll be late, see you later!"
"Tell me how it went!"
Professor Bonnibel, passed by the desks of her students leaving two sheets of paper with the test assignments written on them, that morning they would take the exam where half of the activities already seen and put into practice the previous weeks were to be found, in addition, the professor had been thinking about this for several days and decided that those who managed to pass the exam, would have a special class with her.
"Students, I want you to pay attention to what I am going to say" the young pink-haired woman said calling the attention of all the teenagers who were present in the class that morning "as you know today we have an exam, in it I'll take you basic exercises that we've seen and practiced these last weeks" there were some murmurs, complaints and protests in the classroom, most did not understand what good it would do them to learn such a thing, besides, it's not as if many of them were interested in pursuing any career that involved studying chemistry when they graduated from high school "order, order!" Bonnie asked them as she put a hand to the bridge of her nose, sighing in frustration "those of you who get the highest score on this test will be rewarded with a special class that I will be taking next week" that at least sparked a little excitement, plus now the students were intrigued to know what special class Bonnie would be giving to those who managed to pass the test "okay, now I must ask you all to turn over the sheets of paper that I left on your desks" the kids in the classroom did as the professor indicated and immediately turned over their papers leaving the written part face up "you all have the assignments that I'll take at today's exam, they're very clear and very easy to interpret, read them and tell me if there is anything you don't understand or if you're confused, take advantage now because later I can't help you while you take the exam. You will have approximately one hour to complete it, is it clear to you?"
"Yes, teacher" they all answered in unison, except for Finn, who did not answer because he was more busy looking at the assignments that his professor had put in the exam.
Chemistry & Physics Exam.
1. Bromine and Silver combine to form Silver Bromide.
The following chart shows data obtained by analyzing three different samples of Silver Bromide:
Silver Mass
Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3
10,10 31,21 12,86
Bromine Mass
Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3
7,48 23,12 9,53
A) Check if Proust's law of definite proportions is satisfied.
B) Calculate the amount of Silver that will combine with 15 grams of Bromine How much Silver Bromide will be formed?
C) If 70 grams of Bromine are mixed with 80 grams of Silver, calculate the amount of Silver Bromide that will be formed.
2. Let's imagine that we have two identical containers of 20 lts. Volume.
In one of them we introduce Butane (C4H10) and in the other Nitrogen (N2), both under the same conditions of pressure and temperature. Explain whether the following statements are true or false.
A) They contain the same number of moles.
B) They contain the same number of molecules.
C) They contain the same number of atoms.
D) They have the same mass.
3. A certain amount of ammonia (NH3) occupies a volume of 4 liters at a pressure of 650 mmHg and 20 C. Calculate:
A) The amount of gas in mole.
B) The number of gas molecules.
C) The number of hydrogen and nitrogen atoms.
Atomic masses(u): H = 1; N = 14. KmollatmR-082'0=4.
Answer the following sections:
A) Justify, according to kinetic-molecular theory, why the pressure of a gas increases as the volume decreases, keeping the temperature constant?
B) Define vapor pressure of a liquid.
C) Can you boil water above 100 C and make it boil at 60 C?
5. When analyzing a certain compound, the following centesimal composition has been obtained:
71.8% chlorine, 24.2% carbon, and 4.0% hydrogen.
Deduce its empirical and molecular formula, if it is known that when 2.780 grams of the compound are placed in a one-liter container at a temperature of 127 C, the pressure is 700 mmHg.
He read the assignments again and again but he could not understand anything of what was written there, for the teenager, what is said by understand, understood a single word of what was showed on the exam, so he lowered the paper and looked around himself, his professor was again seated on her desk working on the class that she will give next week and the rest of his classmates were already writing down the answers of the assignments from their respective exams, he did not know what to do, Bonnie had told them to ask if they did not understand something but how was Finn going to tell her that he did not understand anything that was written there? He came out of his thoughts when he heard his professor's voice speaking to him.
"Are you all right, Finn?" Bonnie asked to the blond teenager with a worried look on her face.
"I-uh..." Finn hesitated for a few moments before answering "yes... yes, professor! I'm fine! It's nothing to worry about"
"Okay, remember that I gave you the chance to get your doubts out before starting the exam" Bonnie answered, adjusting her reading glasses "if you have doubts now, until you finish giving the exam or at least complete it, I won't be able to help you, you should know that that would be cheating and I could automatically fail you"
"Yes, I understand, thank you for reminding me again, professor" the blue-eyed boy said from his desk, Bonnie smiled one last time and resumed her work. Finn stared at her for a few more seconds and immediately started to complete the exam, he had wasted a lot of time worrying about how to solve the exercises and now he was very late, he had to hurry if he wanted to catch up with the rest of his classmates "well, let's see, Bromine and Silver combine to form Silver Bromide" he thought while he read the first assignment silently "in the following table there are data obtained from analyzing three different samples of silver bromide, uh... I think I'll leave this for later, let's look for something else" he looked at the exercises one by one trying to find one that was easy to do "a certain amount of ammonia (NH3) occupies a volume of four liters at a pressure of six hundred and fifty mmHg and 20 C. Calculate, the amount of gas in mole, the number of gaseous molecules and the number of hydrogen and nitrogen atoms..."
Finn stopped reading his exercise for a moment to look at his other classmates to see how they were doing, many of them were already halfway through their exam and he was still stuck on which exercise to start working on first, as it all seemed incredibly difficult and he had no idea what to do next. One of his classmates noticed what was going on, he turned his gaze towards Professor Bonnibel to check that she was not checking what they were doing during the exam, luckily, that did not happen, the pink-haired woman was more focused on whatever she was working on than paying attention to her students, so again he turned his gaze towards his classmate, who looked very worried without taking his eyes off his exam papers, whose exercises were still blank.
The blank space on his sheet seemed to grow, filling up with a pressure that could be felt in his chest. He swallowed saliva and twirled the pencil between his fingers. Why couldn't he concentrate? Perhaps lack of sleep, or the echoes of the party and all that he had experienced in the last few days, were still haunting his head. Phoebe, sitting a couple of seats over, looked up for a moment. Her eyes scanned the classroom calmly, but stopped on Finn. She noticed how his pencil remained suspended over the paper, barely trembling, while he seemed lost in another world.
Chewing her bottom lip, the copper-red-haired girl glanced back at Bonnibel. She was engrossed in looking through a stack of papers, completely oblivious to what was going on in the classroom. Taking advantage of her distraction, Phoebe turned her own exam paper towards Finn and slyly pointed to one of the answers on her sheet. It was a small gesture, almost imperceptible, but enough to bring her friend back to reality.
Finn squinted, trying to decipher the message. At first he hesitated to copy, but his friend's insistent gaze convinced him. He drew a shy smile of appreciation and scribbled something on his sheet. He was not sure if he got it right, but at least with that he had managed to break the tense atmosphere a little.
When the bell rang, announcing the end of class and the beginning of the first recess, Finn let out a sigh so long it almost seemed like physical relief. He awkwardly put away his things as Phoebe approached him.
"Wow, you looked like you were in another world in there" she commented, folding her arms.
"Yeah, something like that... thanks for the help. Although, if Professor Bonnie sees that I cheated on the test, she's going to fail me or worse, she would tell my mom."
Phoebe let out a soft laugh, cocking her head to one side.
"It was no big deal. But seriously, Finn, you should pay more attention in class."
"Yeah, I guess," the blond boy replied, lowering his head.
"Look, to cheer you up a bit, I've an idea. Next week there's going to be a band festival in town. Some friends and I are going to go, do you want to come with us?"
Finn blinked, surprised by the invitation. It wasn't the kind of plan he was used to accepting, but after the humiliation at the exam, anything sounded better than staying home alone while his mother took extra shifts at the hospital on weekends.
"Eh... sure. I guess that wouldn't be bad" he replied.
Phoebe smiled, and something in her gaze made Finn remember those days when their relationship had been different. There was something uncomfortable but familiar between them, like a knotted string that neither of them wanted to touch very hard.
"Perfect. See you at the festival" she said before waving a goodbye, leaving him alone in the hallway as the bustle of the school enveloped him.
The cellar resonated with the echoes of poorly tuned guitars and the repetitive tapping of a pair of drumsticks against a drum, Fern adjusted the strings of his electric guitar, while Marceline hummed a melody with her eyes closed, trying to find the right tune. The other band members were sitting on the floor or leaning against the dusty graphited walls, discussing among themselves the list of songs to play at the festival.
"How about opening with something more aggressive?" Georgy, the drummer, suggested punching the air as if he were playing a solo.
"Aggressive? Do you think we're at a punk concert?" Marceline replied with an arched eyebrow. Her tone was clipped, but her nervousness was reflected in the way she drummed her fingers against her bass.
Fern, who had been silent for a long time, decided to interfere before the situation worsened.
"Cool down, we're just trying to sound decent, and you guys are already arguing about how to start the song."
"That's easy for you to say it, genius" Wendy, one of the girls in the band, said crossing her arms "you don't have to sing in front of hundreds of weirdos."
Fern let out a dry laugh, but did not answered. Instead, he went back to focusing on tuning his guitar, though his hands were shaking slightly. It was true: he would not have to be under the spotlight like Marceline, but the idea of playing in front of a crowd was not reassuring either.
"Okay, listen guys" Marceline said standing up and adjusting her bass strap "we're all tense, okay? there's only a few days left and this festival could be the opportunity to showcase our talent. I know it's a lot of pressure for all of us, but if we don't do it well, what choice do we have? Keep on playing in this cellar for nobody, in dingy halls or clubs where we're sure to get dinged?" an uncomfortable silence spread through the room, which was only broken by Fern's amplifier. Marceline sighed and ran a hand through her black hair in frustration "let's try it again, from the beginning" she ordered finally settling in front of the microphone. The drummer gave the signal by tapping his drumsticks three times, and the rehearsal began. Fern tried to concentrate on the chords, letting the music drown out the thoughts that tormented him. The melody filled the room, chaotic at first, but gradually finding its rhythm. Halfway through the song, Marceline stopped abruptly, raising a hand "no, no, no!" she exclaimed, her frustration much more evident "Fern, you're getting ahead again!"
"Me?" the boy with light green dyed locks replied dropping his guitar to hang from the strap "maybe if you set the pace better we wouldn't have this problem!"
"Oh, right, because I'm sure you never make mistakes, do you?" the young woman replied, her tone of voice as sharp as a taut string.
Fern did not understand why, but he could feel his heart shrink when he heard those harsh words coming out of his friend's mouth, those words took him to a painful memory of his childhood where his father told him those same words, a memory that he (honestly) preferred to forget.
For a second, Marceline's figure blurred, replaced by a flashback. He could see his father with a frown telling him the exact same thing after he accidentally broke his favorite guitar (and the only one he'd ever owned in his whole life).
"You always make mistakes, Fern. You never do anything right."
The teen felt his chest tighten as if someone had reopened an old wound. He lowered his gaze, clenching his fists so no one would notice how his hands were shaking; however, it did not worked since Marceline noticed the hurt expression on her bandmate and immediately softened her expression as she realized what she had done.
"Oh no, Fern... Fern, I... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for what I said to affect you."
"It's okay," Fern said, looking up slowly, trying to control the lump in his throat "don't flatter yourself, what you said meant nothing to me. I'm fine, Marcy. For real" he added, his voice barely a whisper, but deep down he knew he was not okay.
Marceline walked over to him, taking off her bass and setting it on the floor to let it rest for a while.
"Seriously, Fern. We're all in this together. If there's something bothering you or weighing you down... you can tell us."
The rest of the band was silent, watching the scene uncomfortably. Finally, Georgy gave a couple of gentle taps with the drumsticks.
"Well, I guess we should take a break."
Marceline nodded, not taking her eyes off Fern. He, for his side, sat down next to his guitar, running his hands through his hair as he tried to calm his mind. He remained seated as the others began to gather their things, he could hear Marceline talking about the festival schedule, but her words sounded far away, as if they were coming from the bottom of a tunnel.
"Hey, Fern" the young woman said sitting down next to him. He did not look at her, but he could feel her presence beside him.
"Look, Marcy, I..." the teenager said stopping himself for a moment looking for the right words and when he found them, he finally spoke "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay, for the way I reacted before"
She shook her head, smiling sadly.
"You don't have to apologize, man. We're all under pressure, you know, and you've got stuff to deal with too."
"That's an understatement" Fern replied with a bitter laugh. There was a long silence before Marceline spoke again.
"You know? when we started this band, I thought it would just be something to hang out, have some fun and escape from our day-to-day problems. But now... I want this festival to be something more. Something that shows that we can do this for real."
Fern nodded slowly.
"But what if we fail?" he asked a little doubtfully.
"Then we'll fail together" Marceline replied standing up "but I'm not going to give up without doing my best."
Fern looked at her as she walked back to the others. Her words stuck in his mind: "we will fail together". For some reason, that gave him some comfort. As the rehearsal ended and they left the cellar, the group said goodbye promising to meet again tomorrow at the same time, Fern simply waved goodbye to everyone with his hand, Marceline reciprocated the greeting with a smile as she closed the metal curtain of the cellar and put a lock to keep out intruders, after that, they both went their separate ways. Fern walked down the street with his hands in the pockets of his jacket and his electric guitar resting on his back while he sang a song in a low voice, he was in no hurry to go back home, no one was waiting for him and besides he could take his time to get there.
He arrived when the sun was almost setting, crossed the neglected front yard, took the key out of his pants pocket and inserted the key into the lock but for some reason, it would not budge.
"Huh, that's weird" the boy thought arching an eyebrow "I'd swear I locked everything before I left, but I don't remember locking the door" with no other option, Fern opened one of the windows of the house and went inside, everything was dark, he tried to turn on the lights but the switch did not work, the power service had been disconnected. He took out his phone as best he could and turned on the flashlight so he could climb the stairs to the bathroom, he needed to pee, he had not been able to go to the bathroom the whole time he was rehearsing with Marceline and her band, and his body was urgently asking for a liquid flush. Carefully he advanced through the dusty stairs until he found the bathroom, once there, he stood in front of the hole on the floor where the toilet once was, he opened his jeans to take out his dick and start pissing, that was what he was doing, until he saw the curtain of the bathtub move, startling him a little "hello?" he said, quickly adjusting his pants as he approached the curtain with slow but determined steps "who's there?" he heard a soft but relaxed breathing as if someone was sleeping in there "really, man? couldn't you find another place to sleep other than in...?"
He pulled back the curtain, thus getting the worst surprise of his life and also the reason why the door had been blocked. Inside the bathtub rested a homeless woman with her two small children, a boy who could not have been more than five or six years old and in one of her arms rested a baby girl a few months old. The woman moved a little inside the bathtub, she squeezed her eyelids when she felt a light illuminating her face, she slowly opened her eyes and found Fern's silhouette in front of her.
"AHHH!" they both shouted in unison, by not looking where he was stepping, Fern tripped over a loose floor tile causing him to fall backwards.
"Who the heck are you? and how did you get into my house?" the blond boy asked, a bit frightened, while still reflecting his light on the woman who was trying unsuccessfully to calm her children down.
"What are you talking about? This is my house" the woman exclaimed, emphasizing the word 'my' "get out of here right now if you don't want me to call the police, you fucking creep!"
Fern took a deep breath as he remained on the floor, his mind racing through the surreal scene in front of him. The woman in the tub looked at him with a mixture of fear and defiance, holding her two children tightly. The frightened toddlers were sobbing in her arms.
"What do you mean, this is your house?" Fern asked slowly getting up with one hand behind his back from the fall. Keeping the flashlight on, he pointed to the ceiling "I've lived here for as long as I can remember"
"Well, not anymore. No one lives here but us. This place was empty when we arrived" the woman spat, squeezing her children closer to her body. They, feeling fear, hugged her tighter, while the woman's eyes sparkled with a mixture of fear and fury "get out of here, get out now if you don't want me to call the police" she cried standing with difficulty from the bathtub while holding her children.
"Wait, wait! I'm not an intruder. I live here..." Fern tried to explain, raising his hands in surrender.
"I don't believe you! This house was empty when we arrived. So go away, I don't want you here" the woman replied, taking a step towards him. Fern wanted to protest but something in her tone and in the terrified look in the children's eyes stopped him. He realized there was no way to convince her. From her perspective, he really did look like an intruder. He swallowed saliva and nodded slowly, standing up with his hands still raised.
"Okay... okay" the boy said as he backed toward the bathroom door "there is no reason to get upset, I'm leaving right now" the woman kept looking at him menacingly as Fern walked out of the bathroom and downstairs. Each step echoed like a sentence. He grabbed his guitar and backpack from the doorway, his only luggage, and opened the front door "sorry..." he muttered before leaving and closing the door behind him.
The cool night air hit him immediately. Fern took a deep breath, looking up at the dark sky. His whole body was shaking, he did not know if from the cold or from the mixture of anger and sadness that consumed him.
What now?
He had nowhere to go. He thought about calling Marceline to ask if he could stay at her home again, but dismissed the idea immediately. He did not want to look like a basket case in front of her, not after the rehearsal, nor did he want to get her in trouble with her father if he ever found out, so he started walking aimlessly with his hands in his pockets and his guitar hanging off his back.
After a few minutes walking he arrived at a park. He plopped down on an empty bench, watching the wind move the branches of the trees. He took out his guitar and began to play softly, more to calm himself than for any other reason.
"Fern?" a voice startled him. He looked around until he saw a familiar figure under the light of a street lamp. It was Bonnibel, his old chemistry professor. She was wearing a long pink coat and a lavender scarf, probably on her way home from a long day at work "what are you doing out here at this hour?" she asked, approaching with a mixture of curiosity and concern.
Fern did not answer right away. He looked down at his guitar, his fingers playing meaningless chords.
"Long story" he finally muttered.
Bonnibel sat next to him, folding her arms as she analyzed him.
"You don't look well."
Fern let out a bitter laugh.
"Thank you for noticing" he said sarcastically.
"Look, I'm not going to insist if you don't want to talk about what happened" she said, softening her tone "but I can't leave you here all night. If you don't have anywhere to go, come with me, I know a place where you could stay at least for a while."
Fern looked up, surprised.
"Are you... are you serious?"
"I'm serious" Bonnie replied, getting up and adjusting her scarf "let's go"
Fern hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. He stood up with his guitar and followed her silently, feeling that, for the first time in a while, someone was giving him a shot without asking anything in return. Part of him wanted to refuse the offer; accepting help had never been an easy thing for him. But the weight of the guitar on his back and the emptiness he felt in his chest convinced him that he did not have many choices.
"Okay" he said also getting up.