Chapter 3
The clinking of glass flasks and test tubes, students discussing the experiment, and the faint smell of chemicals made the entire room lively in a way. It was the last class of the day, and we were in the chemistry laboratory. I'd say way better than our previous classes, which turned half of my classmates into unresponsive zombies. The entire day dragged on and after physics class drew out half of my soul, a practical class feels like finding an oasis in a desert. Whoever kept practical chemistry after physics, I bless you with immunity from getting your toe stubbed for a month. I cannot take another theory class. Although it'd have been better if I had this class before so I could skip.
I'll have to ask David or Duke about skipping classes. It has been more than a month and a few weeks since I left my old place. We've hung around a lot since that day. I feel naturally comfortable with them now. Felix helped a lot with the notes and the chapters I missed. Ezra is a really fun guy too. He's the golden boy, I guess, spreading his smile everywhere. Everybody loves him. Kairn rarely starts conversations by himself, but he takes part in discussions when asked for his opinion, and he seems to be willingly hanging out with the guys more these days compared to him being alone when others aren't talking to him.
Now we were just recalling random funny stories about ourselves. David kept laughing and catching his breath that made it challenging to understand what he was trying to say, "You remember the time.... hahaha aha...." Duke finally wrapped up David's story about how he called his house phone and posed as his girlfriend using voice changer, claiming her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend.
"It's only funny to him," Duke muttered in a sour tone. Felix and Ezra told their awkward stories too. I painfully recalled about the time I asked a squint where he's looking at while talking to me. I swear I didn't know he had a bad squint in both eyes.
"Wow, that must've been awkward," Ezra picked on me, laughing at my stupidity. "Yeah, I wish I could say I'm desensitised of these embarrassing situations by now, but I'm not," I admitted, shrugging. Even Kairn smiled. He has a pleasant smile. It's so rare. We focused on our experiment for a while after that.
As usual, Marvin kept bugging Lance. "How 'bout this? Are you full of beryllium, gold and titanium. Because you're Be Au Ti... full."
Everyone else waited for what comeback Lance would throw at him. He always looks about ready to punch. Literally and figuratively. But it never came. This seemed weird. Others noticed it too.
"I mean we're in chemistry lab... I used a chemistry pick up line..."
Lance just shrugged and focused on getting exact 10mL of solution in the pipette. Did they get into an actual fight? Marvin frowned for a few seconds... then smirked?
"Oh, come on, one would fall for me without these pickup lines. But I can make them smile with this. That's one way to start conversations. Take notes."
"Cringe." Maya scoffed.
Marvin just laughed it off like he was complemented.
"Notes. From you?" Felix questioned with mock incredulity.
"At least I'd get smiles."
Ezra soon quipped in a low voice, "Or..*cough* get smacked." There were some muted laughs. Even they don't want to disturb this scene. Marvin narrowed his eyes as if he accepted the challenge.
"Watch me."
I don't really see where this is going, but Marvin Lance drama is the best. I'm pretty sure Marvin won't stop till he gets his reaction. Well, I'm in the front-row seat. Where's the popcorn?
Marvin then turned to Felix with his innocent, not-so-innocent smile, "I got one for you. Are you made of Copper and Tellurium? 'Cause you're so CuTe." Some snickers and laughs slipped away. Maya, Lia and few girls close to our table awed, leaving Felix flustered. That's cute.
Ezra teased as well, "Yeah, he is Sodium cute," looking at a blushing Felix with a grin.
Duke chuckled, "Yeah, he is."
Everyone laughed, trying to keep it on down low so the teacher didn't notice. There is no lab assistant today and our table is relatively farther. They get Felix so easily. Poor guy.
"See, I'm a total 10." Marvin announced all proud, styling his hair with his fingers.
"Yeah, on a pH scale. 'Cause you're basic." Lance finally piped in with a smug smile. And there it is.
There were a bunch of oofs and oohs. Duke high fived Lance and David patted his shoulder in appreciation. Everyone broke into a series of laughs and snickers, Marvin among them. I noticed Kairn smiling too. All this time, he focused primarily on the experiment, but I guess he was listening in as well. I've established that he doesn't really 'not like' me, but maybe he doesn't really care either. I mean, he offered his biology notes, but Felix was already helping me.
I've never had such an entertaining laboratory class before.
The teacher finally noticed and reproached us in frustration. Guess she's done for the day, too. We then concentrated on getting the titration experiment right. Kairn was the first to finish. He really got it right in the first try itself. His solution in the conical flask changed from colourless to pink perfectly after one drop of the base from the burette.
"You're good at this."
"Thanks." he said, focusing on his flask. He then looked away, towards the window. Okay...
"You're doing well too." He said in a low voice, still glancing outside.
"Thanks, Kairn." That was nice of him, I guess.
The rest of us got it after a few tries too. Kairn went to help the girls beside our table when they asked for his help. Two of them had a dreamy look in their eyes. I mean, yeah, he is good looking. But way to be obvious.
"Hey Marc, it's David's birthday this Saturday. We're going to the mall. He had a big party last year with a lot of guys and girls, but he wants to celebrate with us guys this year. Ryan and Liam will join us as well. You should come, it'll be like a guys' night out. That'd be fun." Duke beamed, stating the plan.
David agreed, "Yeah, we could play for a while at the arcade, have snacks and then dinner at the rooftop restaurant there. I just want to have a quiet and fun birthday this time. Not too much alcohol or smoke."
Not that I've tried all of those before, just Breezer (it's an alcopop) and light stuff. Even artificial flavoured smokes affect me badly. I'm really sensitive to smokes. "Yeah, sure, it'll be fun. I haven't been to many such get-togethers. And food!" They chuckled, and I grinned back.
"Yeah, free food! I'm gonna have cereal and a light lunch so I can stuff my face in the evening." Marvin explained his plan for the day. All the guys snickered. Even Lance smiled and shook his head. Ezra agreed with all his heart, told him he should try it out too and that we could go to that 'all you can eat buffet' place next time. Then they started talking about the best food in town. I took some mental notes. Kairn soon joined our table again.
Duke immediately spoke up, "Kai, you have to join us this time, it's not even a big party, just us guys, and Marc is joining us too. You always cancel that very day or make up some excuse." Kairn shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes darting a glance at me for a millisecond, before turning away.
He looked like he was debating something in his mind for a few seconds and agreed, "Fine, when and where?"
That made the guys absolutely thrilled. Maybe he doesn't really like parties. Everyone seemed really excited, and we talked some more until the bell rang. The noisy students did not bother the teacher in the least. I feel you, miss. I just want to go home and sleep too.
"We'll do tests for aldehydes and ketones in the next class. And you have to submit the record of this experiment as well." The teacher screamed while everybody was in a hurry to leave, wholly ignoring her.
I joined Ezra, Felix and Lance. They seemed busy discussing something. The weather is already warmer now, anything and everything exhausting the life out of me. I could just sleep on the grass right now.
"Hey, don't you have an extra class for biology with us. It was for the Biotech chapters. Lance, Duke and Kairn have that class, too. Those are some pretty important chapters. They have to catch up with the course plan too," Felix reminded, facing me. Of course. How can I forget we have extra classes?
"Yeah, I guess I'll see you guys again."
Kairn was just leaving as well. The others were ahead of us, continuing their conversation.
"See you later."
"Yeah. See you." He mumbled with a faint wave, turned away and left.