Developing Chemistry and Applied Biology

The first class Nick had after lunch was Chemistry 12, and as with his two previous classes, Scott was in this one too, along with two of the three others who had been at the confrontation at the end of English class, buzz cut, better known as Frank Winston aka Tank, and sandy hair who turned out to be named Roger Watson.

The desks in the classroom were actually two person workstations, the tops covered in chemically impervious and heat resistant black colored phenolic resin, equipped with a sink in the center and a gas nozzle on each side. In all, they were four rows of four. All of the workstations were occupied by two students with the exception of one.

The teacher was a Mrs. Dahlgren, a tallish lady maybe double his age, shoulder length straw colored hair held back. She wore a white lab coat. As soon as he walked into the room, she motioned him over to her large desk at the fore of the room.

“Welcome to chemistry Mr. Tasker,” she said. “Given your arrival in the class, you are going to need a lab partner, and this is perfect, so I am going to pair you with Miss Primrose,” she said, pointing to the workstation with only one student, a slight framed, short, bespectacled girl with honey colored hair on the far side of the room. Unfortunately for Nick, it was also the desk directly in front of Scott and Roger.

“Thank you,” he said, nodding and making his way over the desk and pulling out the stool.

“Look, Needledick and Nerdgirl,” Roger sniggered, loud enough for Nick and the girl to hear, but not the teacher.

Nick turned to smile at the vocal boy.

“Ignore the vulgarians. My name is Hester,” she said, sticking out her hand sharply.

Turning to look at her, the prescription of her glasses she wore, slightly too large for her slender face making her hazel colored eyes appear overly large. “Nick,” he replied, capturing her much smaller hand in his and giving it a shake. She seemed to possess a tic, moving her head slightly to the side, reminding him of a bird.

She smiled and nodded, extracting her hand, a touch of color staining her cheeks. She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, delicate, pretty pale face behind her glasses.

Turning forward, he leaned his elbows on the desk.

“You know you are very attractive,” she said, direct and unfiltered, more statement rather than an emotionally laden observation and unfortunately at a volume loud enough for pair seated behind them to overhear.

Nick wasn’t quite sure how to respond or what to say back. “Um, thanks, I guess.”

“Oh my god, Nerdgirl has crush!” Scott said with a chuckle, voice loud.

Mrs. Dahlgren looked in their direction, “Problem?” she inquired.

Still guffawing, Scott shook his head.

Halfway through the class, Nick had a much better understanding of his newly assigned lab partner. She was practically a genius, but almost completely devoid of any adaptive social skills, hence her observational statement on his physical appearance.

She could cite all 118 elements in order and provide atomic weights for each, but she had absolutely no clue about how to socially interact with others.

Initially, he thought her manner somewhat disconcerting, but by the end of the class, he actually found it refreshing, saying exactly what was on her mind without artifice. Further, she was able to help him conceptualize the work in a way that he had never considered before. It was also painfully obvious his presence had some type of an effect on her.

At the end of the class, he turned to her and thanked her, eliciting a small smile from the girl along with a fresh blush.

Walking the short distance to his last class of the day, Biology 12, Nick shook his head and smiled, reflecting on his previous class. Normally chemistry was one of those subjects he dreaded, but now he hoped Mrs. Dahlgren would keep him paired with the waifish Hester.

When he arrived at the classroom, he found the same kind of black workstations in the room, laid out similarly to his chemistry class. He espied Asha seated at a desk near the back left hand corner of the room, a gorgeous looking girl with reddish auburn hair in the accompanying chair. He also noticed Scott and Frank seated together, as well as TJ and Hester.

Scott, seeing Nick, rolled his eyes.

The teacher was a Mr. Wexler. His tall, gaunt spindly body straight out of a Guillermo del Toro movie, giving Nick the immediate impression of a mortician rather than high school teacher.

“I’m,” Nick started, only to be cut off when the teacher brought his arm up and extended a long bony finger, pointing at a vacant space next to a dark haired boy seated alone at a workstation in the front right corner.

Nodding, Nick walked over and put his books on the desk, turning his head to look at the other boy. He thought he recognized him from his math and chemistry classes.

“Tom, Tom Clady,” said the other boy, smiling. He was tall and lanky, dark brown hair kept short and parted on the side.

“Nick,” he replied, nodding, plunking down on the stool.

“I know, you were in The Rock’s math class this morning,” replied the other lad.

Nick nodded, “I thought I’d recognized you,” he confirmed.

“I’m in chem with you too,” he said, nodding. Looking about furtively, “I heard you had a dust up with Scott at lunchtime,” he said, flicking his eyes surreptitiously in the direction of the aforementioned youth.

Nick shook his head and grinned off the side of his face, “It was just words,” he replied.

The buzzer to begin the class sounded, Mr. Wexler turned to face the class, dark sunken eyes commanding silence from his students.

“Welcome our new student Nick,” said the teacher, voice dry and raspy.

“Needledick,” Scott said, masking it with a cough.

There were a couple of sniggers from around the room, silenced quickly when Mr. Wexler frowned.

Nick knew it was only going to be a matter of time before he needed to put Scott in his place, and the time would most definitely be sooner than later.