Chemistry

Emma

Emma sighed, jotting down her notes for chemistry. She knew most of it already. In fact, She recalled borrowing a previous version of this textbook from someone on the island. There were only a few modifications. She glanced over to her seatmate, busy scribbling in his notebook. She narrowed her eyes before turning away. He thought he was so smart.

Stupid Lawrence. He was the reason that Michael had snapped. The reason that Gisa hadn't spoken to anyone in days. She had half a mind to snap his pen into little shards. Maybe splatter the ink all over his ugly bowtie. The only good thing about her seat was that it was exactly the right spot to look at someone in particular…

Sean was writing the notes down as well, his letters marching beautifully across the page. Not only was he dreamy… but he was very smart. Only a few other people were ranked as high as he was in the class. The teacher asked him to come up and solve a problem on the board which he did with expediency and accuracy. Emma couldn't have done it better herself. She smirked, seeing Lawrence finish almost ten seconds after he did, and then change his answer. Twice.

Emma had gotten the answer on her first try as well. She glanced up to see if he noticed that she wasn't writing anymore like the others. But… He didn't even look in her direction. Sean wasn't interested in her. Sean could have his pick of the pretty Continent girls. What would he want with a skinny and pale islander? What could she do to get him to notice her? Perhaps get him to think she was enticing? She sighed. She'd had men tripping over themselves to steal a moment, a kiss, an intimate touch behind one of those curtained alcoves on the island. But now? Now she actually wanted to kiss a guy and he wasn't interested.

Tourney. He played Tourney. But she didn't want any part of the cheer team or anything to do with that team in general. She wasn't a fan of sports. She only went to the game to support Jamison and Ron who had both made the team. Only, Ron hadn't played yet. But that was beside the point. Sean was co-captain and one of the highest scoring players.

He turned around after finishing another problem, flashing a smile to someone in the front row. His hair was a golden blonde, his eyes were a honey brown, and his jawline was… perfect. Sean Mattuckle. The heir to Sierra and Mattuckle's grand Duchy.

He'd be a duke someday, Emma huffed to herself. There had to be some way to talk to him…

All throughout the rest of the class she absently copied the notes into her notebook, however her mind was somewhere else entirely. Sports were a no, she could join the volunteer organization that he ran, but she doubted he was there often if he only owned it. He was in Student Government, but she was here with children of diplomats, she'd make a fool out of herself if she tried to join.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. "Remember that our review for the test is tomorrow. Study, study, study!" The professor said as students began to shuffle out of the room. "Sean, a moment please." The professor said in a quieter voice.

Emma couldn't help but eavesdrop as she began to pack her books and pens into her bag.

"Recently, we've had some trouble with ah… your behavior. The Dean spoke with me and asked if you could tutor some of the students having a hard time in exchange for us to keep quiet. Your father would be most displeased to hear about this you know. I suggest you take the bargain." The professor said.

"Please, my father doesn't care." Sean said, "I have perfect grades, and I star on the Tourney team which is headed to the finals round. So what if I get into a few fights? There's no—"

"Oh but there is." The professor said, "I'm truly sorry, but Mother Guardian said that if you don't stop getting into fights and in other types of trouble, she will have no choice but to bar you from playing in the final games of tourney…"

"Oh come on professor! There has to be a way out of this! I have so much on my plate already. My dad forced me into student government, I run a charity, I play on the team, I am a straight A student and I still have a social life." When the professor said nothing, Sean sighed, "How long does she want me to tutor people in Chem?"

"Just this semester." The professor said, "Just take it, the team needs you. Especially with Michael missing so many practices due to his… missteps…"

Emma walked out of the classroom as if she was oblivious to the conversation, checking her lip gloss in a little mirror. Her heart leapt. She now had her in. She'd been a good student all her life. She knew the material. She could strategically make it look like she was struggling. And then with Sean's help, she could bring her grade back up to a B or even an A. One bad grade wouldn't hurt…

At her dorm, she dropped her bag on the floor. She almost giggled. This could totally work. She opened up her school issued laptop, searching for his social media page. Picture after picture of Sean with his muscled torso usually at some beach house on the opposite side of the continent… But there were no girls at all on his page until a few months ago. And Emma knew that Kelsey wasn't dating any guys at the moment. Actually, if she remembered correctly, Kelsey told everyone she was a lesbian, and Sean was most definitely a guy.

She sighed happily, no relationships then. She pulled out a few of her pencils, sketching him onto one of the margins of her math pages. As she drew the lines in his palms in, Gisa slammed open the door, throwing her books onto the ground. Her face was pink.

"How was the meeting?" Emma asked as she shaded a portion of Sean's arm.

Gisa sighed heavily, kicking the door shut. "They're putting in two children's homes that will be offshore and separate from the island with a bridge over towards them. There is a security building to go through that will be similar to the embassy building. It's not going to make life much better for them though. As soon as they turn sixteen they'll be turned loose in the streets. I know it will keep them warm and they will have food and clothes, but, I don't know. There are stories about them. Besides, their little interviews for headmasters and mistresses and teachers and workers aren't going to do much. Anyone who has lived on the island knows how to lie to get what they want. You get a few women that want a building offshore away from the island, they'll act like saints. Then they'll get there and take for themselves what's for the children, leaving them to scrabble for what's left. You've seen those flats they call 'children's homes,' right Em?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I know." Gisa continued to ramble. She was right. It would help somewhat, but it would also teach the children that they weren't worth much to anyone. It would be a terrible place to grow up. She was sure men and women would do it for the money, food and clothing alone. They might even hate children. But if there was personal gain involved… "Gisa, you didn't tell them that these children are going to grow up fed, but unloved, nourished bodies, but flattened souls?"

Gisa nodded, "I tried to say that they needed to be loved, and have families or something, but they countered with, they can't be loved if they are starving and thirsting to death. And I had no response to that. It is their best solution for now. They sent a team out today to start appraising the little offshore islands to see which ones would be best to put buildings on. Camden will hopefully send me a response soon, and include the buildings and his thoughts."

Emma sighed, staring out at the leaves, slowly changing colors to the autumnal yellows, oranges and reds. They'd never had full trees on the island to look at in the first place. People would begin to prepare for winter both here and on the island soon. Here, people began to take their tropical plants indoors, and winterize their pools and shut down their summer homes. On the island people would hoard clothing, firewood, matches, and electricity vouchers…

She looked back at her drawing on the page. Just when something good happened, why was it that something bad always followed?