Chapter 1
Monday
“History is more than just the study of the past. It shapes us. It defines us. It determines who we are.” Mrs. Bakare grabbed a piece of chalk and scribbled on the board, her wooden bracelets clicking together as she wrote. “I want you all to think about this quote for tomorrow. Study the past if you would divine the future. Confucius.”
I lifted my pen to record the quote, but as the tip touched my notebook, the back came unscrewed and the spring went flying into the air.
“Hey!” The guy behind me ducked as it soared by his ear.
“Sorry.” I mumbled a quick apology and pulled another pen out of my pocket, clicking the button at the end to extend it. As I lowered the pen toward my paper, the tip came loose and the ink cartridge fell out.
“Here.” My friend Rachel grinned and handed me a mechanical pencil. “Go easy on the pens.”
“Thanks.” I gratefully accepted the pencil and finished writing seconds before the bell rang for lunch.
I headed to the cafeteria, surveying the room as I stepped out of the lunch line. The first day of school means new classes, new teachers, and new students, but the cafeteria never changes. The popular kids hold court at the long tables by the windows and make a concerted effort to ignore everyone around them. The wannabe’s sit nearby, doing their best to imitate the popular kids and hoping fruitlessly for the all coveted invite to their table. The drama queens and show choir members cluster along the south wall, while the AV club and the debate team sit on the opposite side. I headed to the center of the room, which hosts a rag-tag bunch of smaller cliques, including science and math geeks like myself.
“Nikki! Over here!” I spotted my best friend hovering by the south wall.
“Jasmine!!! Thank God you found me. I’ve been roaming the cafeteria for like a hundred years.”
I grinned as I pulled out my chair and sat. Nikki is a drama queen in every sense of the word. “So how was-” Thump! I stopped talking mid-sentence as I landed, abruptly, on the floor. The legs of my chair had snapped away from the frame.
The cafeteria went silent until Josh Matheson, the starting shooting guard of the basketball team, stood and pointed at me. “Nerd down!” The room burst into laughter.
I stood with as much dignity as I could muster and grabbed an empty chair from a nearby table, gingerly testing it before fully sitting down again.
“Are you okay?” Nikki’s eyes were wide.
“Yeh, I’m fine. Just embarrassed.” I was thankful that my chocolate brown skin hid the blood rushing to my cheeks. “Can we just pretend that never happened?”
“Sure.” Nikki lifted her lunch and polished it against her t-shirt.
“You’re not hungry?”
“I’m starving!”
I eyed her apple and bottle of water skeptically. “I don’t think your lunch is going to help with that.”
“I know, I know, don’t say it.” She sighed. “Yes, I’m on a diet again, but this time I’m gonna stick with it, I swear.” Nikki is always on some kind of crash diet. She’s got an hourglass figure I’d kill for, but she’s obsessed with the idea of moving from a size twelve to a two.
She eyed my lunch enviously. “I’ll probably gain twenty pounds just by smelling your food. I hate how you eat whatever you want and still look like a supermodel.”
“Yeh right. Being 5’10’’ and skinny doesn’t make a model. It makes me awkward.”
“No, you’re pretty, you just have no style. And why are we sitting all the way over here?” Nikki gazed wistfully across the room. “We should move to that table.”
“No way.” It was next to the cheerleading team, smack dab in wannabe territory. “Second hand arrogance kills.”
“Does not.” She laughed and opened a purple notebook to an earmarked page.
Uh-oh. I recognized that notebook and quickly spoke up. “You’ve gotta hear about my morning. I got Ms. Cabana for gym and she’s completely psycho.”
“Quit trying to change the subject. “ Nikki interrupted me with a hand on her hip. “It’s time to discuss our Four Point Plan to Achieving Popularity.”
I rolled my eyes. Nikki has been working on her Four Point Plan since our freshman year at Morris High. The rules change, but the goal remains the same: become more popular. “Is this really necessary?”
“Yes, Jasmine, it is. I know you’re okay with being an eternal nerd but I want more. And since you’re my best friend, I’m bringing you with me as I ascend the social ladder.” She turned her notebook to show me what she’d written.
Nikki’s Four Point Plan to Achieving Popularity
1) Dress better
2) Look cuter.
3) Stop doing nerdy things.
4) Date popular boys.
“I know it looks simple but putting this together was a lot of work. We’ve got a whole new approach and if we follow these rules, we’ll be popular in no time.” I wanted to laugh, but unfortunately, Nikki was dead serious.
“Rule number one,” she pointed to the notebook. “Dress better. It’s pretty self explanatory.”
“What’s wrong with the way you dress?” Nikki was wearing Baby Phat Jeans, a pink shirt which said ‘DIVA,’ and matching Pastry sneakers.
“Nothing. That was for your benefit.” Ouch.
I glanced down at my jeans and t-shirt. “What’s wrong with the way I dress?”
“First of all, distressed jeans are in, but they’re supposed to be machine distressed. In a factory. Not threadbare at the knees because you’ve actually worn them out.”
“But I love these jeans! And it’s not easy finding pants that are long enough for me.”
Nikki ignored my protest and continued. “And don’t even get me started on your shirt…”
I glanced down. I was wearing my ‘A day without nuclear fusion is a day without sunshine!’ shirt. “What’s wrong with my shirt?”
She sighed. “Just because you’re super smart doesn’t mean you have to look like it!”
“I’m not trying to look smart. I just wear what I like.”
“I like musicals, but you don’t see me wearing my Rent shirt to school.”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Yes you do. Quit playing dumb, because I know you get it.”
“What am I supposed to do, start dressing like that?” I nodded towards Nina Casby, captain of the Morris Majestics dance team, as she pranced by in a short pleated skirt and baby tee.
“Yes! But for now I’ll settle for no more science shirts at school.”
She was being absurd but Nikki looked so earnest that I caved. “Fine. I will reserve my science t-shirts for the weekends. Any other plans for me, Dictator Johnson?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. This brings us to rule number two. She moved her pencil down. “Work harder to be cute.”
“You mean like this?” I stuffed a handful of French fries into my mouth and chewed with my mouth open “Om nom nom!”
Nikki laughed despite herself. “Pay attention, this is serious! This is where hair and makeup come into play.” She gestured to the braid hanging over my shoulder. “I’m gonna need you to stop doing that.”
Easy for her to say. Nikki’s micro braid extensions are a lot easier to manage than my wild natural curls. “I can attempt to transition to more ponytails instead of braiding it,” I compromised. “But wearing it down is out of the question. You know my hair gets crazy when I let it loose. By second period I’ll look like Lady GaGa with that birds’ nest on her face at the VMAs.”
“You will not. Wild hair is in. Wear it down, trust me, you’ll look super chique.”
“I’ll consider it.” I wouldn’t, but Nikki rarely took no for an answer. “Next.”
“Makeup.”
I rolled my eyes. Nikki is a former pageant queen who’s never quite grasped the distinction between makeup for the stage and makeup for everyday life. She wears prom face to the grocery store.
I watched skeptically as she pulled a Lovely Girl magazine out of her purse and spread it on the table. “This is the Lovely Girl Ultimate Color Guide, guaranteed to show you which colors will highlight your best features. I have caramel skin, blonde hair, and dark brown eyes so I’m…” Nikki ran her finger down the page, “A Deep Sea Diva.”
She flipped to the description. “Highlight your eyes with the colors of the ocean, dark blue and coral green. Use a pale pink lipstick and clear gloss to really shine. Now you,” she turned to me. “Your skin is mahogany brown and you’ve got black hair and green eyes so you’re…Hmmmm.”
I sipped my drink. “What does that mean?”
“Well, technically you don’t have a result. I guess they didn’t account for such an exotic combination.” Big surprise. Most people don’t expect a brown-skinned Black girl to have jade green eyes. And before you ask, no, I’m not biracial.
“Let’s just pretend your eyes are hazel.” Nikki read my modified results. “That makes you a Mother Earth Maiden. Use earth tones like gold and brown to make your eyes pop and a dramatic red lip to call attention to your kisser.” Call attention to my kisser? No thanks.
“I don’t even own red lipstick.”
“Lucky for you, I do. We can practice at my house later.” Awesome. “On to rule number three. I think this could be the toughest one.” Nikki paused dramatically. “Stop doing nerdy things.”
“Like what?”
“I’m quitting drama club and show choir.”
“But you’re amazing on stage! You can’t quit!”
“I know it’s kind of been my thing but it’s time for a change.” Kind of been her thing? Nikki’s been singing and dancing since she was three. She’s practically a shoo-in to play Carmen in this year’s production of ‘Fame.’
“It’s fun,” she continued, “but it’s not winning me any cool points.”
“Forget about cool points. You’re taking this plan way too seriously. What about your future? What about Broadway?”
“I can still do that. In fact, if my plan works, I’ll actually improve as a performer. Instead of doing the musical, I’m trying out for the dance team.”
I was shocked. After her cheerleading audition last year I kind of thought she’d shy away from team try outs. But I should have known better. Nikki never shies away from anything. “Can’t you do both?”
“No. The Morris Majestics are not just any dance team. They’ve placed in national competitions. They practice every day.”
“You’d really give up a chance to star in ‘Fame’?”
“Yes! If I become a Morris Majestic, all of my high school dreams will come true. You should try out too.”
“No thanks. But I’ll do whatever else I can to help.”
Nikki pounced on my last statement as an opportunity to continue with her plan. “Glad to hear that. That brings me to your next task.” She took a deep breath and I knew this one would be a doozy. “Lose the Urkel glasses.”
Uh-uh. No way. I shook my head. Nikki is the only person at school who knows the truth about my glasses so I was surprised she’d even ask me to take them off.
The thing is, I’ve got perfect vision. My glasses are kind of a security blanket.
In third grade I went trick or treating as a mad scientist, in a lab coat, glasses, and a wild gray wig. Lots of people commented on my weird costume, but for once, no one mentioned my weird eyes. They were so distracted by the huge frames that they didn’t look closely at my face. I’ve worn big glasses with clear lenses ever since.
Nikki seemed to be reading my mind. “Jasmine, we’re not in the second grade anymore. No one’s going to think you’re from the Planet Voltron if you take your glasses off.”
I knew she was right, but old insecurities ran deep. I crossed my arms. “Nope. Not doing it.”
“Then get brown contact lenses.”
“And poke myself in the eye every morning? No thanks.”
“C’mon.”
I shook my head again. “It’s non-negotiable. The glasses stay. Are we done yet?”
Nikki sighed. “You. Are. So. Stubborn.” But even she realized this was an argument she couldn’t win. She returned to her list. “Our final objective is ‘Date popular boys’ and if we follow the first three rules that shouldn’t be too hard. You just need to select a target.”
“Select a target? What is this, paintball?”
“No. Quit joking, this is serious. How about Bruce Green? He’s cute and single.”
“I don’t want a high school boyfriend. I’m saving myself for Will Smith.”
“Jasmine, get real. He’s old enough to be your father.”
“I like men with some maturity.” Nikki frowned and didn’t seem to realize I was joking so I tried another approach. “How about I just focus on rules one through three and see what happens?”
She finished the last bite of her apple “I guess that’ll work. Anyway, I’ve got big news about my target, Triple A.”
“Isn’t his name Andrew?”
“Yes, but his friends call him Triple A. And I’m doing what his friends do as part of my plan to get close to him. You’ve got to visualize. Live your beliefs!” She’d obviously been watching too much Tyra Banks Show again. “I’m super excited to report that Triple A is in my study hall! And I talked to him today!”
I rolled my eyes. I’ve never spoken to Andrew Anderson but from what I’ve seen, I’m not missing much. The varsity basketball players stroll into classes late, cut the lunch line, and do whatever else they please. Andrew, the team’s captain and starting center, is the golden child of this entitled set and the worst of the pack. “You talked to him huh? Was it everything you hoped and dreamed of?”
“Don’t mock me; this is my future husband we’re talking about.” Nikki proceeded to tell me, in excruciating detail, the story of how she’d approached Andrew (I refuse to call him ‘Triple A’) and asked to borrow a pencil. Then, lo and behold, he’d given her a pencil! Only Nikki could turn a story about borrowing a writing utensil into a ten minute tale of suspense and intrigue. “And when he handed me the pencil, he smiled and it was like the heavens opened. I swear I heard a chorus of angels sing.”
I shook my head. Sure Andrew is 6’4’’ with the toned, muscled body of an athlete, smooth chestnut skin, dark brown eyes with a hint of mischief in them, and dimples…but that doesn’t make him any less of a jerk. “Just because he’s ridiculously good looking doesn’t mean he’s capable of having an intelligent conversation. You’ll get bored.”
“No way. He could never bore me.”
“Really? What are you two gonna talk about? Basketball? You don’t like sports and I doubt he likes anything else.”
“We don’t have to talk. He can just sit and look beautiful while I sigh and admire him.”
“Isn’t that what happens now?”
“You know what I mean!” Nikki tossed a balled up napkin my way and I tossed a French fry back at her. I was finished eating anyway.
She eyed my neglected fries. “Are you gonna finish those? I’m starving.”
“They’re all yours.”
“I’ll be right back.” She headed toward the condiment table.
I was fiddling with my straw when I spotted trouble. Jen Valerie and all three feet of her hair were headed straight for the condiments too. At first I was surprised that she’d gone for her own ketchup; on the rare occasion that she eats food instead of air for lunch she usually sends one of her lackeys for that sort of thing. Then I saw that she wasn’t focused on the condiments, she was focused on Nikki. Uh-oh.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the popular kids but Nikki has always longed to be one of them. And she’s actually got the looks, the clothes, and the confidence to pull it off. Only one thing stands in her way: Jen Valerie.
Jen Valerie is exactly what you’d imagine a head cheerleader to be. Petite, with silky black hair that flows to her waist and ridiculously long eyelashes, she’s nothing short of adorable. But she’s also got a mean streak that runs deeper than the Grand Canyon .
Unfortunately, Nikki has been the object of Jen Valerie’s wrath since they both competed in the Eastern New Jersey Miss Princess Prettiness pageant as five-year-olds. Jen Valerie was first runner up while Nikki walked away with the crown, and she’s done everything she can to make Nikki’s life miserable ever since.
I watched closely as the two of them exchanged words. I was ready to go if she needed backup but I wasn’t worried. Nikki can hold her own.
Last year, after Nikki tried out for cheerleading, Jen Valerie announced that she was “wasting her time because we don’t allow cows on the squad” and suggested she “break up with Ben & Jerry and get to know Jenny Craig.”
Nikki was hurt and embarrassed but she didn’t give up. The next day, in a moment of epic karma, Jen Valerie lost her balance and took a spectacular fall off the top of the pyramid while Nikki was filming the routine to practice at home. That night she looped the footage, added background music, and posted it to YouTube. Jen Valerie was known around Greensborough as “that girl that fell off the cheerleading pyramid” for the next few months. It was Nikki’s finest moment, and Jen Valerie’s worst.
I practically sighed with relief as their conversation came to a close. Nikki returned to the table looking grim and violently ripped open her mayonnaise and ketchup packets. She mixed the contents together into what she calls ‘mayup’ and dipped a fry. “What a poisonous witch.”
“What happened?”
“She said it was great to see me and it’s a good thing I have such a pretty face because it looks like I put on a few pounds over the summer. Then she offered me the name of her personal trainer.” That was Jen Valerie’s style, delivering a vicious insult packaged as an innocent compliment.
Nikki continued, “I told her I hope she spent the summer at cheerleading camp practicing her pyramids. And that instead of the name of her trainer I’d like the name of her hairstylist because her weave is looking fabulous.”
Jen Valerie’s super long hair is one of the few things she’s sensitive about. She swears up and down that it’s all hers but she had a chin length bob at eighth grade graduation and hair down to her waist on the first day of freshman year. I give the girl credit for maintaining such a realistic looking weave, but she’s not fooling me.
“Nice comeback.” I grinned.
“I know. But she just works my nerves…”
“Don’t let her get to you. What kind of weirdo stays hung up on a pageant loss for eleven years? And who uses two first names anymore? They don’t even go together like Beth Ann or Mary Kate.”
Nikki gasped. “You mean I never told you that story?”
“What story?”
“The Legend of Jen Valerie or, How Jennifer Whyte Convinced All of Greensborough County
“No, I don’t think I’ve heard that one.” Nikki has a never ending catalogue of Jen Valerie stories.
It happened on the first day of kindergarten, she explained, when the teacher went around the room making name tags. When she got to Jen Valerie’s desk, she put her nose in the air and announced “I’m Jen.”
The teacher kindly pointed out that they had another Jen in the class so both would have to use their last initial. But before she could write “Jen W.” on the name tag, Jen Valerie snatched it back, protesting that she hadn’t finished explaining. Her name was actually Jen Valerie, she said, so it was fine for the other girl to be just plain Jen. Then, not satisfied to have smugly established the cooler name, Jen Valerie convinced the other kids to call Jen H. “Just Plain Jen,” leaving her in tears on the playground almost every day.
“So in sum,” Nikki finished, “she’s been evil incarnate since the day she was born.”
I laughed. “Well, she’s done at least one good deed. I know she didn’t mean to, but she did bring us together.” I moved to New Jersey San Francisco
“So is it true?” she asked, fiddling with one pigtail.
“Is what true?”
“You know,” she leaned in close. “Are you really an alien?”
“What? No!” I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Oh.” She looked disappointed. “I’m Nikki. I should have known she was lying.” Nikki explained that Jen Valerie had convinced everyone I was an alien from Planet Voltron and would zap them with my laser beam eyes if they talked to me. I guess they’d never seen a Black girl with green eyes before because they believed her.
Back in the present day, Nikki chimed into my thoughts. “You know, I was really upset when I found out you weren’t an alien. I’d just seen a great episode of Invader Zim and was planning for us to join forces and destroy Jen Valerie.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“It’s alright, I got over it eventually.”
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and I grabbed my tray. “Meet me at my locker after school?”
“Yep!”
We headed off to class.
After a long day, I finally made it to twelfth period. I walked into the classroom and surveyed the space. Unlike the regular rooms with rows of desks and empty walls, it had two-seater lab tables and shelves filled with lab equipment. A poster of the periodic table hung on the back of the door.
As I sat down and unpacked my books, a sense of calm washed over me. I know it sounds corny, but a science lab is one of the few places I feel totally at home.
“Jasmine. I should have known you’d be the one person to beat me here.” Walt strode in, grinning, and sat down next to me.
“Hey.” I smiled. “Partners again?”
“Of course!” Me and Walt been lab partners every year since 6th grade. Nikki calls us Ebony & Ivory because of Walt’s pale skin, red hair, and freckles, but we’re a lot more alike than we are different.
Walt unpacked his books and started filling me in on the new experiment he’d done over the summer. He was describing his results when he paused, mid-sentence. I followed his eyes to the door.
None other than Andrew “Triple A” Anderson, the king of the school himself, was sauntering through the entryway. He had to be lost.
“You’ve got the wrong room,” I called. “This is AP Chemistry.”
“With Wozalski?”
Why did he know the name of the teacher? I faltered a little. “Yeh.”
“Naw, I’m in the right place.”
I turned to Walt, horrified. This could only mean disaster. AP Chemistry was supposed to be my safe haven, a place where no one asked stupid questions and I didn’t have to deal with arrogant jerks like the ones in the cafeteria. And now Andrew Anderson was going to ruin it all. He’d probably hold up the entire class with stupid questions and shove his way to the front of the line for lab materials.
He headed down the aisle in the center of the room, stopping at the table behind ours, then folded his long frame into a chair. This was just great. Not only did I have to listen to Nikki talk about him all summer long, now I had to tolerate his presence right behind me in my favorite class too.
“Hey. I’m Andrew, but my friends call me Triple A.”
I opened my textbook and did my best to ignore him, but Walt was too nice to leave him hanging.
“We know who you are.” I glared at Walt. Andrew already had an entitlement complex; he didn’t need us to encourage it by acting like he was some kind of celebrity. “I’m Walt and this is Jasmine.”
“Nice to meet you.” Andrew leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table as he continued, “You guys look like you know a thing or two about chemistry so maybe you can show me the ropes.”
I whipped my head around. Now he’d gone too far. First he waltzed into the room like he owned the place, and now he had the nerve to tell me and Walt that we looked like we knew about chemistry. I was sick of jocks like Andrew thinking they could do and say whatever they wanted, and in here, it wasn’t going to fly.
“We look like we know about chemistry?” My voice was almost as cold as the look I gave him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Andrew looked surprised that I’d asked. “I, uh, I just meant that…you guys look smart. You know, with the glasses and everything?” I rolled my eyes. He was even dumber than I thought.
“So…” I responded in a voice I usually reserve for pre-school children. “You think that we’re good at chemistry because we wear glasses…” Walt shot me a look that said ‘Give him a break’ but I ignored him.
Andrew frowned. “I was joking. I only meant that you two look confident in here, like you know what to expect.” He shrugged. “I don’t.”
I pounced on that statement. “What do you mean? You need a B+ average in two years of honors science to be here. And you’ve got to opt-in.” Advanced Placement classes at Morris aren’t automatically assigned by GPA like the honors classes. You have to request the class, meet the requirements, and be approved.
Andrew shrugged. “I didn’t take honors chem. And to be honest, this isn’t really my speed. I’m only here because the admissions office at Duke wants me to ‘increase the difficulty of my course load.” He didn’t sound excited about it.
I sighed in relief. “The guidance office must have made a mistake. You can’t take this class if you didn’t take honors chemistry. So just let them know, and you’re off the hook!” I was thrilled with my discovery until he burst my bubble.
“Naw, they know. My dad met with Principal Harrison and they waived the requirement.” He sighed unhappily and ran a hand over his head. What a brat.
There had to be a way to fix this. The last thing I needed was an unprepared, under qualified meathead ruining my lab experience. “You’re gonna be way behind. Your dad probably doesn’t understand how hard this course is. You should give it a few days and then explain that you just aren’t ready for this.”
Walt shot me another “Stop being so rude” look. I knew I was going really hard at trying to convince Andrew to leave, but I wasn’t about to let him ruin my favorite class.
He crossed his arms. “You don’t think I thought of that? Trust me, I did my best to convince him this is a bad idea. But he doesn’t care. If I don’t take the classes he wants and get the grades he requires, I can’t play ball this year.”
“No basketball? The horror!”
“Exactly.” Andrew nodded solemnly. He either didn’t get my sarcasm or chose to ignore it. “Anyway, I don’t know if you guys are any good at this stuff,” he eyed me warily, “but I might be a little lost in here and I’d appreciate any advice you can give. I’ve got to make this work.”
Walt chimed in before I could give Andrew another piece of my mind. “We’d be glad to help. And you’re right; we do know a thing or two about this stuff, especially Jasmine.” I glared at Walt to shut him up but he kept going. “I know my way around a lab, but she’s pretty much the queen of chemistry.”
Andrew raised an eyebrow in amusement and looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. “The queen of chemistry? Really?”
I glared at them both. “No, not really.” I was working on a wittier comeback when a stream of students entered the room. That meant class would be starting soon. Finally.
The bell rang, signaling the start of the period, and Mr. Wozalski bustled in. He’s notorious for assigning lab work three or four times a week, so I was thrilled to hear he was teaching AP Chem this year. He says it’s so students can learn by doing, but rumor has it that he can’t focus enough to lecture most days because of his online poker addiction. Either reason is fine with me as long as I get to do plenty of lab work.
He dropped a pile of papers on his desk and handed one to a student, then booted up his computer. “I’m passing around an attendance sheet, initial next to your name. Let’s start with some introductions. Tell us who you are and one interesting thing that you did this summer. I’m Bill Wozalski and this summer I almost qualified for the World Series of Poker. Missed it by one hand...” He grumbled and focused harder on the computer screen, completely tuning us out.
We sat in silence for a moment until a cute girl at the front of the room spoke up. “I guess I’ll get this party started. I’m Asia Marchaman and this summer I was stuck in an elevator with the Jonas Brothers for half an hour. They’re even cuter in person and Nick smells like cotton candy and sunshine.” She put a hand to her heart and swooned dramatically.
We laughed and the guy sitting next to her grinned. “That’s gonna be tough to follow…”
When we finished introductions, Mr. Wozalski looked up from his screen and announced that it was time for us to pick lab partners. I was thinking about the work Walt and I would do this year when he dropped a bomb that completely changed my plans.
“I know you guys are used to picking your lab partners, but I do things a little differently. Advanced Placement Chemistry is for students with a serious interest in science, and part of being a great scientist is being able to work with a variety of people. So instead of picking your partners by agreement, you’re going to pick them by random assignment.” A collective groan went up from the class.
“I know, I know. Your lives are so hard, this is terrible, and you hate me. I’m OK with that. Write your name on one of these, fold it, and stick it in the jar.” He passed around a large empty jar and a small stack of note cards cut in half.
When the jar came to us, I softly nudged Walt. “Hey,” I whispered, “let’s fold ours into triangles so we can find each other.”
He grinned. “It’s devious, but I like it.” We dropped our papers into the jar and I crossed my fingers, hoping for the best.
When all of the names were in, Mr. Wozalski took the jar to his desk. “I guess we’ll start at the top of this list.” He eyed the attendance sheet. “Andrew Anderson, you’re up first.” So we were doing this in alphabetical order. Excellent. Walt’s last name is Baker so there was a good chance he’d pick me before anyone else could.
I watched as Andrew unfolded his long frame from the small chair and loped to the front of the room. Please, I plead silently, pick anyone but me or Walt. Working with a lab partner requires a delicate balance of egos and intellects and I already had a good thing going.
I held my breath as Andrew drew his hand out the jar and held up a small white slip. It looked…triangular. He grinned and met my eyes.
My jaw dropped. Could he have overheard me? And if so, why on Earth would he do that??? He unfolded the paper with agonizing slowness and broke into a huge grin. No. Please no.
“I’ve got Jasmine. Jasmine Powers.”
Girls around the room released a collective sigh as they lost their chance to be Andrew’s lab partner. I would’ve traded with any of them in a heartbeat. Now, instead of enjoying the awesome new lab equipment, I’d be babysitting a spoiled jock who was only here to maintain his basketball privileges.
As Andrew returned to his desk and Walt went to pick his partner from the jar, I turned around and hissed, “What is wrong with you? You heard what I told Walt and you broke us up on purpose!”
Andrew grinned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re obviously thrilled about me being here, so I thought you might like to work together.” So that was it. This was his revenge for me being obnoxious at the beginning of class.
Now I was furious. “Look, I know I was a little rude, but did you really have to ruin my entire year?”
He blanched. “You’re actually mad. I didn’t think it was that serious.”
“Of course you didn’t!”
I turned around just in time to see Walt break into a smile. He’d picked Asia , the girl who met the Jonas Brothers. She was cute and funny so I knew he’d have a good time working with her. At least one of us was happy.
After we finished picking partners, we changed seats so that each new duo shared a lab table. Mr. Wozalski made a seating chart then returned to his “computer work” and gave us the rest of the period to chat. As the two tallest people in the room, Andrew and I ended up sitting in the back, while Walt was in the second row. He expressed his regret that we wouldn’t be working together, but I assured him that it wasn’t his fault. I guess Andrew finally got smart because he left me alone for the rest of the class.
Finally, the final bell rang and I packed up my things. A shadow fell over me as I pushed back my chair; Andrew was leaning down with a grin.
“So does this make me the chemistry king?”
I glared. It was going to be a long year.
Chapter 2
When I got to my locker, Nikki was waiting. “You’ll never believe what I heard in chorus today. Max Carter has been cheating on Janine with a girl from Lowell High.” She paused for dramatic effect. “For the last three months.”
“Wow. That’s…dishonest.” I tried to feign interest for Nikki’s sake, but I didn’t know Max or Janine and I didn’t care about their relationship. I packed the books I needed into my bookbag and slung it over one shoulder. “I hope they work things- Hey!” The strap of bag my ripped loudly as it tore away from the main compartment before tumbling to the floor.
“Ugh!” I had just bought that bookbag a week ago. I leaned my head against my locker. “Worst day ever!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything. I’ve been breaking things all day. First, my calculator in calculus class, then pens in history, then the chair at lunch, and now my backpack. And on top of all that, remember how excited I was about chemistry class?”
Nikki nodded.
“It’s ruined. Instead of getting partnered with Walt I got stuck with-”
“O-M-G.” Nikki interrupted me with big eyes.
Speak of the devil. Andrew Anderson was walking toward us on the way to his locker. As he came down the hall, the crowd parted like the red sea. The only things missing were paparazzi and screaming fans.
No, wait, there they were. As he stopped at a locker a few doors up from mine, a yearbook photographer snagged his photo and a group of cheerleaders rushed up to surround him.
“You didn’t tell me Triple A’s locker was near yours!”
I was as surprised as she was, but not nearly as excited. “I didn’t notice. Silly me, this morning I was focused on getting to homeroom. Guess I should get my priorities straight.”
She was too busy staring to catch my sarcasm. “Yeh you should. He’s like a caramel coated Abercrombie model. How could you not notice him?”
I shrugged as Nikki asked a series of panicky questions. “Omigosh, how do I look? How’s my hair? How is my breath? Do you have mints? Is my lip gloss okay? Do you have lip gloss? I need more lip gloss!” The way she was shaking you’d think the President himself was standing a few lockers away.
I handed her my ChapStick. “Relax. And breathe. You look great. And since you asked, sure, I can tell you about my day later. For now, let’s just completely change the subject and focus on how hot Andrew looks.”
Again, my sarcasm was lost on her. “Omigosh. Look!” Nikki’s jaw dropped and I followed her gaze.
Jen Valerie was laughing at something Andrew said and linking her arm through his. Nikki’s face fell as she pulled him down and stood on her toes to whisper in his ear, then playfully smacked his arm when he responded.
“Did you see that? Omigosh- they-must-be-dating. He’s probably totally in love with her!” I could practically see the wheels spinning frantically in her head. “Now I have no chance! I have no chance and I’m going to die a crazy cat lady, old and alone because no man will ever compare to my one true love. I’ll have no husband and no kids, just my twenty-five cats and a collection of life-sized dolls and-”
“Nikki, breathe,” I interrupted. “First of all, I think sixteen is a little early to declare yourself a crazy cat lady. Second, we don’t know if they’re dating, they might just be flirting. And third, even if they are dating, who cares? You know these things never last. They’ll probably go out for two weeks and then she’ll move on to the captain of the football team and Andrew will fall desperately in love with you. Now can we go?” I’d been ready to leave for the last few minutes but had continued to rifle through my locker so Nikki could finish drooling over Andrew.
“Just a few more seconds, he’s getting ready to leave and he has to pass us to get to the door. I’m gonna say ‘Hi’ to him!”
As Andrew passed with a group of his friends, Nikki tossed her hair and flashed a brilliant smile. “Hey Andrew.”
He paused. “Hey, uhhhh…Nancy
“Nikki. It’s Nikki. And thanks again for the pencil. It was really helpful.”
“Yeh, sure.” His eyes traveled to me. “Jasmine.” He grinned lazily. “I didn’t know your locker was right here. That’s cool, maybe you could help me out with the chem. homework in the mornings?” He was already trying to cut corners. I thought I’d made it clear that I was not the one for that. Did this idiot never learn?
I snapped. “If by ‘help you out with the homework,’ you mean let you copy mine, absolutely not.” His friends looked surprised as I continued. “And I’m pretty sure that is what you mean, because there’s no way I could teach you the even the most basic concepts of chemistry in the ten minutes before homeroom. If you don’t get it, read a book. Or better yet, drop the class!” I slammed my locker shut and grabbed my bookbag.
One of his cronies broke the silence. “I think you just got owned.” They all broke into laughter.
Andrew chuckled too and licked his lips. Was that supposed to be sexy? I was getting ready to tell him that the nineties had called and were asking for their moves back, when Jen Valerie interjected.
“Babe, what are we standing here for? Let’s go!” She tugged on his arm possessively.
Andrew ignored her. “So that’s a no on the homework then?” I rolled my eyes and he broke into a megawatt grin. “See you tomorrow, chem. queen.”
Nikki was silent until we were out of the school parking lot, where we could talk without being overheard. “O.M.G. What just happened?”
“We just left school…” I adjusted the remaining strap of my book bag and used one hand to shield my eyes from the sun. Nikki and I live at opposite ends of the same block, about half a mile from Morris. It’s too close to be on the bus route so until one of us gets car, we’re stuck walking.
“I mean what just happened in the hall? Andrew was talking to you! He knows your name! And he called you chem queen… What’s that all about, you guys have pet names for each other or something?”
“No. Slow your roll, Nikki. Not only was that not a pet name, he was making fun of me. Unfortunately, he’s my chemistry lab partner and Walt thought it’d be funny to tell him I’m the ‘queen of chemistry’ so that’s why-”
“Wait, what?” Nikki interrupted. “He’s your lab partner?”
“Yes, that’s what I was trying to tell you at my locker until he walked by and you got all googly-eyed.”
“That was your bad news?!?? You’re crazy!” She shook her head. “I swear, some girls get all the luck! I’m so jealous. I knew I should have taken AP Chemistry. I knew it!”
“But you hate chemistry. You hate science.”
“I know, but I could learn to love it.” She stopped suddenly. “Omigosh.”
“What?”
“This is it! It’s fate! I knew it was going to happen for me, I just didn’t know how. This is my chance.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“I’m making perfect sense. It’s vital that Triple A fall in love with me, but I’ve been having trouble figuring out how make it happen. I can’t do much in study hall because we’re not supposed to be talking in there, but you, you’ve got access to him in a major way.” Her eyes lit up. “So here’s the plan. Talk to him as much as you can, find out what he likes, and let me know. Then I’ll become his perfect girl and you can orchestrate a way for us to meet outside of study hall. I’ll take it from there.” Geez. She made the request sound so simple. Meanwhile, I didn’t want to talk to Andrew, much less quiz him on his interests.
“And while you’re at it,” There was more??? “You can casually mention how cute and funny and cool your best friend is. And see what he thinks about me.”
“Yeh, that’ll be real subtle. I can see it now, ‘Be careful, that Bunsen Burner is hot. And speaking of hot, you should see my friend Nikki!”
She laughed. “Ok, maybe not exactly like that. But you’re smart, you’ll figure it out.”
“I don’t know... We don’t exactly have a lot in common; I doubt we’ll be making a lot of small talk.”
“C’mon Jasmine! You could get along with him if you wanted to, you just don’t want to give him a chance. I know you think Triple A is an arrogant jerk and blah blah blah, but you don’t even know him. He’s a really nice guy. He loaned me a pencil, remember?”
I shook my head. “I wish I could help, but I just can’t see myself being friends with someone like that. And I’m not letting him piggy back off my work. ”
She was practically begging now. “I’m not asking you to let him copy your homework. I just want you to be nice to him. If you can make him trust you and put in a good word for me it would really help me out. Pleeeeeeease. Jas, this is super important.”
She sounded desperate. And Nikki had been trying to get Andrew’s attention for a while now. Too bad I couldn’t switch and make him her lab partner instead. “I guess it wouldn’t kill me to try…”
Nikki threw her arms around me. “Thank you! I knew I could count on you! We’ll name our first child after you, I promise.”
“What if it’s a boy?”
“Then we’ll name him Jasmino”
I chuckled. “Please don’t.”
“Now give me my first report. I need to hear all about your class. What was it like, what did he say, etc. etc.?”
I recounted everything, including how Andrew was only in the class so he could play basketball and that he’d mockingly asked if being my partner made him the chemistry king.
Nikki giggled. “That’s so clever! Isn’t he hilarious?”
“Not really.”
A few minutes later we reached Nikki’s house. She started digging for her keys in her enormous shoulder bag, but I stopped her. “It’ll take you twenty minutes to find your keys in there. Just use the spare.” I lifted a potted plant on the porch and picked up the extra key.
“Wow. I totally forgot that was there.”
“You always do. That’s why your mom tells me where the spare is.” I followed Nikki into her house and dropped my bookbag by the door.
We headed to the kitchen, where she flung open the cabinets. “As usual, we have nothing to eat.”
I eyed her full cabinets. “What are you talking about? All I see is food.”
“Well, yeh, but we don’t have anything good. No cookies, no peanut butter, no toasted cheese crispies. My mom knows I love toasted cheese crispies, I don’t know why she didn’t buy them.”
I knew it wouldn’t help to remind Nikki about her diet, so I just kept quiet.
She started up the stairs. “Let’s go to my room and try out the makeup tips from Lovely Girl.”
“Let’s not.”
“C’mon, Jasmine. My four point plan will never work if you keep being so stubborn. ”
I aimed for a compromise. “How about I just watch you try the makeup tips. I can probably learn more that way.”
Nikki tilted her head. “That works.” She never could resist an audience.
I grinned and trudged up the stairs behind her.
Tuesday
The next day of school flew by in a blur. Before I knew it, it was time for chemistry. I headed to class with a mixture of excitement and dread: excitement because we had a double lab period but dread because I’d be working with Andrew. I set my book on the table and waited for class to begin. Andrew slid into the seat next to mine only seconds before the bell rang.
Mr. Wozalski stood up. “Let’s get right into the swing of things. Today is your first lab. You’ll be doing qualitative analysis of cations. Materials are on the table in the back. There’s an instruction packet and it’s all pretty self-explanatory.” He rubbed his hands together eagerly and booted up his computer.
Andrew looked confused. “Qualitative analysis of what?”
“Cations. Positively charged ions. “I grabbed our materials from the back of the room.
“So what exactly are we doing?” Andrew flipped through the instruction packet as I started setting up.
“We’ve got an unidentified substance” I held up a test tube filled with murky yellowish brown liquid “and we’ve got to figure out what’s in it.” I glanced at the first page of the instruction packet in his hand. “The possible ions are: lead, silver, copper, iron, nickel, and manganese. Three out of the six are in our solution.”
“So how do we figure out which ones we’ve got?”
“We’ll run a series of tests which allow us to isolate the different components.” He didn’t look like he was following so I added, “We’ll split it into parts. And they’ll be different colors.”
“Oh.” Andrew seemed to get that because he nodded. “So this is kind of like when you drink a Dr. Pepper and then try to name the 26 flavors.”
“Ummm, sort of. I guess. But please, don’t drink anything. These are chemicals.” I had a horrifying vision of Andrew sipping from our mystery test tube and then falling to the floor in convulsions.
He laughed. “Relax, Jasmine. I know that.”
I eyed him warily. “Just to be on the safe side, how about I take the lead on this one?” Like I’d ever intended to let him take charge. “This experiment is lengthy, but I’ve done it in my lab at home before so I should get through it pretty quickly.”
“Excuse me?” Andrew sputtered. “Did you just that you’ve done this before? In your lab at home?”
“Yes.” I crossed my arms. “I’m going to be a scientist so I’ve got a lab in my basement for practicing new techniques. I bet you’ve got a basketball hoop in your driveway, Air Jordan
He grinned. “Actually, it’s a full-sized court behind my house. Point taken.”
“As I was saying, I’ve done this before. So how about I do the experiment and you just…watch.”
He grinned, showing off his notorious dimples. “Sure. I like to watch.”
I sighed and got to work. Pretty soon I was absorbed in the lab. I added hydrochloric acid to our solution and an off-white solid formed. I recognized it as an insoluble chloride, which meant our solution contained either lead or silver. Once I figured out which one, I’d be a third of the way through the lab.
I headed across the room to the machine I needed and Andrew followed me. He pointed to the small, desktop contraption, with its dome shaped lid and deep circular slots. “What’s that?”
“It’s a centrifuge. You stick a test tube into one of these slots and it spins around really fast. When it’s done, anything solid is separated from the liquid and settled at the bottom.” I stuck our test tube in with another one full of water, closed the lid, and flipped the switch to start it up. A few minutes later, it slowed to a stop and I removed our tube.
Back at our lab table, I carefully poured the liquid away from our centrifuged mystery solid and into a second test tube. I set the liquid aside to get back to later; for now I was focused on identifying my solid. I added twenty drops of hot distilled water to it and waited to see what would happen.
Silver chloride doesn’t dissolve in water, so when the solid disappeared I knew I had lead. But since you can never do too many confirmation tests, I added two drops of potassium chromate just for good measure. When a bright yellow solid formed, my conclusion was confirmed. There was lead in my mystery solution.
I sighed as I recorded the results on my lab sheet. One phase of testing down, two more to go. And I had just done the quickest, least complicated of the three stages. Andrew had done a decent job of staying out of my way, spending the last few minutes fiddling with his phone, but I needed to pick up the pace if I was going to finish the lab with enough spare time to test out the digital microscope. It’d be nice if there was a faster method of doing this, but unfortunately this was the only way.
I lifted the tube with the remainder of our mystery solution and reached for a clean eyedropper. When I turned back, what I saw made me catch my breath. No way. That wasn’t possible. Andrew looked up from fiddling with his iPhone, and I quickly wrapped my hand around the test tube to hide it. I could feel my heart beating through my chest as he asked, “Jasmine, are you ok?”
“Yep!” A bead of sweat formed on my forehead. “It’s just…really hot in here.” Either I was crazy or I was suffering from hallucinations. Maybe all the chemical fumes in the room were getting to me.
Andrew looked at me strangely but shrugged and returned to his Facebook messaging. “Ok.”
I took a deep breath and waited until I was sure no one was watching me to take another look at the test tube in my hand. I wasn’t seeing things. Somehow, while I was reaching for an eyedropper, my chemistry lab had finished itself.
