The smell of white board Markers ànd teenage boredom lingered in the stale airbof class like an old sock no body had the courage to remove . The sun trickled through the blinds half closed against reality and tje air conditioner coughed weakly like it ,too ad given up on life .
Eliza leaned back in her chair and looked at Noah Reyes, who was sitting in the back row with her chin resting on his palm and drawing something superfluously creative in the edges of his notebook.
His half-lidded eyes appeared as though he had just woken up in a fragrance commercial, and his hair was accidently styled just over his ears.
Harper Lee, her closest friend and the daughter of businessman Xavier Lee, the CEO of Standard Machinery and Futuristic Concept Design (SMFCD), adjusted her spectacles next to Eliza with the tired precision of someone accustomed to her diversions.
"Eliza",Harper whispered, deadpan ." Please stop mentally marrying him ."
I am not ",Eliza hissed back , snapping out of her trance ." I was observing the shadows . For scientific purposes .
Sure ,very scientific . Want me to plot the curve of your crush over time? It is exponential .
You are annoying .
Harper smiled smugly .
So is you naming your future children during chemistry .
Unfortunately ,the whisper floated a little too far across the dead silence of the classroom .
" Miss Eliza ",came a deep controlled voice .
Eliza's stomach dropped like a thermometer in liquid nitrogen .
Me Arlen Drake stood at the front ,arms crossed,one elegant brow raised like a man who spent exactly fourteen seconds combing every strand of his silky dark hair into submission and knew exactly how good he looked in his white lab coat . He was the kind of teacher who could explain electronic configurations while half the class swooned and the other half plotted heor escape through the windows .
Today he was particularly dashing,in a maddening,soul sucking way . Who hired this guy,was this even legal,if beauty was a crime ,he would surely spend half of his life behind bars .
He was undoubtedly a book smartheart, but behind that fake visage, who was this person and why was he even a teacher? He had the body type of a model, after all.
If you are tired of mumbling love formulas, try one in actual chemistry.
The class turned , everyone knew how wise Eliza was at being a scientific failure if talking science.She was the type of student who informed the teacher that he had counted backwards and that she should have received 83%, but instead she received 38%. She was not stupid; rather, she was a fascinating person who few pupils would attempt to comprehend.
Eliza straightened in her seat .
Absolutely,hit me with your best shot , professor .
His eyes twinkled dangerously . " Very well ,tell me the balanced chemical equation for the redox reaction between potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide in acidic medium ."
Silence .
Eliza blinked .
Then blinked again .
Her brain desperately tried to assemble a sentence using the three words she recognized : potassium , acidic and despair .
Umm ...so ..... potassium permanganoodle ....reacts with hydra....zina to form chaos plus water .
Mr drake stared at her like she had just attempted rocket science using pasta .
As if she could answer it ?hehe ", someone from behind snickered.
Eliza turned furiously ." If I was asking the size of your tool then I would answer easily because it is 3.5 inches."
The guy's face fell as the shame and laughter from other students crept in .
Silence everyone.
The correct answer miss Eliza", he said slowly," is as follows:
Two permanganate ions reacts with five hydrogen peroxide molecules and six hydrogen ions (from an acid ) to produce two manganese ions(2) ,five molecules of oxygen gas and eight molecules of water
In acidic medium , potassium permanganate acts as an oxidizing agent and is reduced from ...while hydrogen peroxide is oxidized to oxygen gas . This is a classic redox reaction .
Eliza nodded solemnly ." Ah yes . That is exactly what I meant by chaos ."
A few Snickers scattered across the room like spilled marbles .
Mr drake sighed ." You are lucky ,this isn't an exam ..
I am lucky everyday but since we are asking each other questions , then I have one .
He paused .
Go on .
Eliza leaned forward,her tone dead serious .
If I drank sulphuric acid but my tears were made of ammonia, would my face explode or would I become a walking titration?
Dead silence .
Harper facepalmed ,of course she would have to ask a stupid question to gain attention from his crush and annoy the teacher . Who could be as mischievous as her ?
Mr Drake opened his lips, closed it, and then opened it again, as if deciding if it was acceptable to partake in this degree of craziness.
"Well," he responded after taking a deep breath. "First and foremost, do not consume sulphuric acid.
Second , sulphuric acid is a strong acid ,and ammonia is a weak base . If you somehow cried ammonia, ignoring the alarming fact that this suggests your tear ducts are alkaline . You would end up neutralizing small amounts of the acid on contact . However,the net effect would be catastrophic tissue damage and likely death .
"If death would send you away it would be better ",he cursed under his breath.
So ....I would go boom ?
Not explosively,more of a fizz .
Eliza gasped theatrically . " So like a over shaken soda can ."
Yes you would explode like that,and your insanity would go away .",he said , turning back to the board .
The class laughed and Harper leaned over again .
You aren't going to ever get a recommendation letter from him .
I don't want one ,I want answers and validation .
No ,you need therapy .
Eliza pretended to write down what Mr Drake was writing but instead drew a stick figure of herself melting under a rain of acid , holding up a tiny sign that read . " At least I tried ."
Just then ,the bell rang and everyone stood up with their backpacks ready to escape from the horror of science only a few could understand .
Wait everyone . In the next period ,we may have a practical lesson so prepare .