Have a Nice Day

Fiddling Around in Chemistry Class

When Feather and I took our seats, Mrs. Eleanor had already started class for sixth period. We had entered right when the bell rang.

"Today, your assignment is to follow the directions that lead you to making a perfect spell. The spell is for turning your chosen animal into a human for a few short moments. If your spell lasts for ten or more seconds, you will get an A." Mrs. Eleanor said.

Suddenly there was a push of the door behind Feather and I and I looked back. One glance and I spun back around as fast as I could.

"Oh crap." I said.

"What's wrong?" Feather asked me. Shielding my face, I turned back around to look once again at who the person was at the door.

Jace was standing in the doorway with his red binder in his hand at his side. His other hand was stuffed into his pocket on the other side.

"It's him." I whispered to Feather, spinning back around. I held my hand to my face, shielding it from Jace.

"Can I help you young man?" Mrs. Eleanor asked.

"I think so, I'm looking for room 237?" Jace replied.

"You're in the right place then." Mrs. Eleanor said. "To whom may I be asking is looking for it?"

"Uh, I'm Jace, I'm new and I'm still trying to figure out where my classes are." He said.

I knew what was happening, and in pure fear and nervousness, I shoved my binder over to the empty desk right next to me.

"Ah, I was told I would have a newbie." Mrs. Eleanor said, walking over to her desk. She checked her computer and typed something in it. "There is an empty desk next to Meep there, she can show you what to do for the day."

My face flushed white. I could feel his gaze burning into the back of my head. Feather stood up.

"Mrs. Eleanor, I am already partners with Meep for the day." She said. I looked up at her, a smirk on her face.

"Well, why don't you be partners with Willow?" Mrs. Eleanor asked, gesturing to the girl next to her. Feather's face faded into a frown. I pulled her down by her sleeve.

"What did you do to the spell?" She whispered to me angrily.

"What? Did you think I would make it permanent?" I asked. She punched me in the arm and moved her stuff over to the lab desk with Willow.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" I heard Jace say. I jumped and scrambled to move my stuff, knowing that I couldn't leave it there. I put my hand to my forehead and rolled it up into a fist. "You're not going to punch me, are you?"

"No," I laughed. "No, I won't."

"Good. I didn't know you had this class." Jace said.

"Well, you didn't ask. I didn't know you had this class either."

"You didn't ask either." He replied. 

For the first time since he walked into the room, I looked over at him and kept my gaze on him. He was smiling, a black curl on his forehead. Without thinking, he reached up and brushed his hand through the swoosh of his hair and replaced the curl. As seen from pictures, he looked almost exactly like his father.

"Alright, come and pick your animal." Mrs. Eleanor said, and I looked away for him for a moment.

"Uh, I can go pick our animal, if you want." I offered.

"Okay." He said, still smiling. I forced myself to look away and got up from the lab table.

Unfortunately, my foot didn't agree. I had looped it through the legs of the stool I was sitting on and forgot to un-loop it before standing up. The second I tried to stand, I tripped and fell on my stomach, my nose brushing the ground.

"Oh, gees! Are you okay?" Jace said, getting up from his own stool and helping me up from my armpits. I stood and backed away from him a little, adjusting my crop top underneath my short overalls.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said. My face had to be purple with all of the blood rushing into my cheeks. I fixed my hair and quickly walked to the table with the animals displayed.

With each size of the animals came a different set of instructions. Almost all of the animals were already picked off, but there was one that caught my eye. I picked up it's cage and a sheet of instructions for a small animal and returned to the lab.

"Okay, let's see what you got." Jace said. I held up the cage.

Inside was a small black spider with red markings. I saw Jace briefly tense up.

"Okay, I guess that's alright." He said, letting out a long breath. I stared at him as I put the cage on the table. He backed up a little and his body was like a board.

"You're afraid of spiders." I said, smiling.

"What? No!" He said, laughing.

"No, you don't have to be all manly and hide it. I get it. Arachnophobia. I get it." I said. He looked at me and smiled.

"Alright, so do you wanna sit down and tell me what the assignment is?" He laughed.

I came over and sat on my stool, careful not to let my leg wrap around the legs. "We're supposed to follow the directions to create a potion that makes this spider into a human. The longer it's human, the higher grade we get." I said.

"Okay, I'll help with the potion, if you're willing to actually put it on him." Jace said, pushing the cage towards the corner of the desk with his pointer finger.

"Okay, but you'll owe me." I laughed. He chuckled back and looked at the directions.

I glanced over at Feather to see her staring at me, actually, more like glaring. I didn't know why, but I guess I didn't care.

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"Alright class, time to present your potions, please bring up your animal and your concoctions!" Mrs. Eleanor said. Jace and I got in line a few people back from the front, Jace holding the serum potion and I was obviously holding the spider.

After a few groups had gone, Jace leaned over and whispered into my ear.

"Why would someone choose a dog to be a human?" He asked, as the third group in line captured their dog after their test. "Didn't you see it? The guy was all over the place!"

"Yeah, I heard it go over to Gertrude and yell: "Whatcha doing? Whatcha doing? Whatcha doing?" Over and over again." I laughed. He chuckled and stood back up. He wasn't much taller than me, only by a few inches, but it seemed like three feet when you're a tall girl wearing three and a half-inch heels. 

Yes, Hona, Crimson, and Feather made me wear the pumps that I had stolen. The guilt was eating me alive and my feet were burning with shame. As I remembered the heels on my feet, my ankle gave out and I dipped a few inches before returning back to a standing position. Jace didn't seem to notice.

It was our turn next. I gave Jace a nervous smile as I set the clear plastic cage on the ground, and Jace bent down and put a drop of our potion on the spider's back. I noticed that he took a step back and waited behind me to see what the result was.

Suddenly, a pasty-white tinted girl emerged from the cage, straight black hair laying down her back. A red mark on her back was almost completely covered by her hair. I heard Jace take a deep breath, stepping back a few more feet.

The girl was odd looking, bony and thin. Her cheeks were caved in and her face was almost like a mask. She looked around the room, scared and confused. I saw Mrs. Eleanor look at her stopwatch.

But then, I saw the girl shrink, as well as my hope. I knew that we hadn't made the ten seconds. Jace returned to my side.

"So, what was our score?" He asked.

Mrs. Eleanor showed us the stopwatch.

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