Chemistry and Shopping Malls

Emma

Emma couldn't focus in class. For real. She wasn't pretending to continue her plan for Sean to tutor her. She kept thinking about Gisa. It had been a few days since she was caught in the fight. The school was secure and the beast was currently in captivity. Aside from increased security, everything was back to normal. Kids were still buzzing about it, gossiping. Her only consolation was, in every story she'd heard, Gisa had been the one defending the school against it.

"... and so because of this, we have been able to push the boundaries of chemistry further than ever before." The professor said, bringing Emma back to the present. "And, since this was an easy lecture… Pop quiz. Should be easy points for those of you who are listening." A collective flurry of grumbles arose from the classroom at the professor's words. "No, come on, just take it."

Once the quiz was passed out to everyone, he signaled time, and everyone flipped the paper over to begin. Emma scanned the paper. She knew most of the answers without thinking too hard. She mentally marked the hard ones, and fudged some easy answers. It would be about a C grade if her math was correct. Perfect for the type of student she wanted to be. Trying hard, but not quite there. She waited until a few people turned their papers in before smoothly standing to place hers in the bin as well.

Sean grabbed her sleeve before she could pass by and whispered, "Hey, can I tutor you this afternoon by the Tourney field? There are some picnic benches nearby, plus I want to get to practice as soon as I can. Two thirty sounds alright?"

"Perfect," she smiled back. Her heart leapt as she walked back to her seat. Her face was pink. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as she sat down.

Lawrence leaned over and whispered, "Crush on Duke Mattuckle Junior?"

Emma rolled her eyes but whispered back, "I'd be surprised if there was a girl here who didn't find him attractive."

"No it's not that." the bell rang and Lawrence returned his voice to normal volume, "He's got like a body count. Most of those include dating for a few weeks before he breaks their little hearts. You're not going to mean anything to him."

She scowled. Jealous much?

"Don't believe me? Fine." Lawrence said about to turn away. But he looked back and sighed "Look, you seem sweet, so don't go after him." He walked away, slinging his book bag over his shoulder. Emma watched, wondering if there was any truth to his words. She'd heard plenty of good things about Sean. And he hadn't publicly dated anyone in quite a while… Plus all of his charities…?

It slipped her mind when Emma visited Gisa again during lunch. The doctors informed her that she had been healing remarkably fast, and the healer had not been needed by the time she arrived. Emma had sighed in relief when they told her she would recover completely. Gisa's magic had not only healed her, but neutralized the poison from the creature. "Quite a lucky person here. Those injuries would have killed a mere mortal." a doctor remarked.

Emma had almost smiled in spite of it all. Of course Gisa who had only just begun to experiment with magic would fight against a century old shift shaping, poisoned monster and magically gifted minion from her mother's once powerful army and walk away from it with a full recovery. Gisa hadn't woken up yet, but they had no doubt she was going to.

With her spirits lifted, she took the bus back to the school. Emma smiled as she watched the colorful countryside fly by. She could navigate the whole bus system now by herself all over the capitol city. She had made other friends all on her own. She was meeting two of them at a shopping mall this evening. She'd never been to one before. As soon as they heard that, her friends had scheduled a date for it. And then they laughed when she tried to compare her experience at the island's flea market.

Sophie's face had been red as a tomato. She snorted and laughed, holding up her hand while she tried to stop laughing, "Seriously Emma, you…" she laughed again as Mara egged her on, "Mara!"

Emma giggled with them. "So it's not like the flea market even a little?"

"Not at all, but I promise it is a good thing. And if you like it, we'll have to make this a routine occurrence, okay?" Mara said, squealing when Sophie threw a notebook at her.

"You listen to Mara but not me?" Sohpie demanded through her unladylike guffaws, "I said that exact sentence at the beginning of this conversation!"

Emma still hadn't told Sophie that she had an enormous crush on her older brother. Sophie, like her Sean, was extremely smart and had inherited the same good looks from their parents, but the two were as opposite as could be as far as Emma had judged. Mara was just the daughter of some rich business man who paid in millions for Mara to have everything she needed at the school. But strangely the girls hadn't put on the typical self-important airs at first as the other students did around Emma. It is what drew her to them.

She remembered the way most girls had judged her at first. Especially when Gisa wasn't around. But now she seemed to fit in. The others accepted her.

She smiled when the bus driver called out her stop. "Thanks Mark!" she chirped as she swung down the stairs and skipped onto the sidewalk, waving the bus driver goodbye.

The hours ever so slowly spun down until she was supposed to meet Sean for her tutoring. She had dashed back to the dorm to touch up her makeup and fix her hair. She even changed her shoes. These made her feet look smaller anyway.

Emma dashed through the center courtyard, ducking behind a dorm building, a shortcut she'd learned, to the tourney fields. She came around the corner practically skipping in happiness. The bright fields loomed before her, players already shouting at each other, goofing off before the warm ups.

Sean spotted her and waved her over to a bench by the tree line. "Hey Em! Over here!"

Her heart skipped a beat as she watched his crooked smile flash her way. He called her Em. A nickname. Maybe he didn't mean it to be anything other than friendly, but Emma couldn't help but take it as something… more. The way he smiled at her when she sat down, setting her bookbag on the table, motioning for her to pull out her notebook.

"So, having trouble with chemistry this semester, huh?" he asked, thumbing through his book.

She nodded, "I guess you could say so. I'm doing all the homework and studying, but it just isn't enough."

"That's okay, Chemistry is a hard class, I get it. I took a pre-course over the summer so I knew what to expect, are you doing well in your other classes?"

"All A's aside from this class," she said, opening her notebook to a blank page. He was dressed in his Tourney uniform, ready to go practice as soon as they were finished.

He opened the textbook to the beginning of chapter four, what they'd just had a quiz on. "I know we just did this chapter, but it is important for the next one. You know, it builds. I hope you don't mind that the professor showed me your grade and the questions you missed?"

"No, that's okay," Emma said. She had made sure her answers looked like she somewhat knew what she was doing. "I'm more interested in how to fix them."

"Looking forward, I like it," Sean said without looking up while he skimmed a page. Emma smiled. Stupid Lawrence. He'd had her worried for no reason. Not only was Sean smart, he also was super nice about it, even though he was missing his practice. He seemed like he would be an encouraging tutor.

He brought up the first question she missed, showing her where in the chapter it covered that material and how to analyze the question. He pulled a few practice questions from his bag and the two of them worked side by side. Emma was delighted to see that he had the answer at the same time she did, though of course, her answers were in her head. On paper she slowly scratched it out, stopping to think for a moment before writing something, then erasing. But she made herself appear to progress until Sean announced that their half hour was over.

"You did really well today," he smiled, shoving his books into his bag. "If you keep this up, you and I could probably get you caught up with only a few more sessions. And of course I can help if you fall behind again."

Emma nodded, trying to keep herself from blushing. "Thank you, I really do feel like I'm understanding why I got those questions wrong now."

Sean smiled, "No problem. And hey, since you're doing fine with the rest of your school subjects, there's a party off campus tonight. You should grab a few friends and join us. A lot of us students are heading out. Shoot me a message if you want in and I'll send the address." He left a sticky note with his number on the table before jogging off to practice.

Emma's heart swelled. She lifted the note off the table, tucking it carefully into her student planner before skipping back to her dorms.

She had just been invited to a party, by Sean Mattuckle. She almost squealed as she wandered through the center of campus, taking the scenic route back. The trees' leaves glittered like rubies, citrine, and amber in the late afternoon sun, sending bouncing reflections across her path. Emma inhaled the chilly breeze, enjoying the way it blew through her hair. Today was so perfect!

At her dorm she found her two friends waiting for her, bus passes and wallets in hand. Wallets. Right.

"D—do you think they'll accept my currency from the island?" Emma asked, looking down, kicking her toe against the floor. Her face heated. Would they?

Sophie shuffled to the side without saying anything. Emma nodded somewhat understandingly to herself. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.

"Well, if they don't accept it, we can always cover you," Mara offered, "Besides, my father would probably be interested in taking that money off of your hands. He loves things from other places. He collects currency from the other continents too. He'd make you a more than fair trade."

Emma shot her a grateful smile. It couldn't hurt to try at least. And Mara said that she'd cover her for now, and she could pay her back. So with that sorted out, the girls walked to the nearest bus stop, Emma glowing as she eagerly awaited their trip.