Chapter 9

I make my way to the lab, backpack in one hand, and phone in the other. God, it's boring without Grey-Man. I had a feeling this would happen. I had a feeling he was going to get in trouble. God, he might go to jail.

I finally reach the lab, and slowly open the door to find, Thomas, talking to the chemistry teacher, Mr. Harrison. They both look at me, so I simply wave. Thomas waves, but Mr. Harrison, god I hate him, gestures me over.

"Ok, so I'm going to head out for now. I expect when I come back in here, it should be just like how I left." He explains, Thomas and I nod. "Sir trust me, everything will be just fine," Thomas says, in his basic smile. I nod, agreeing with him. "Ok, we'll see." He says, grabbing his file bag, before walking out the door, shutting it behind himself.

The classroom goes deadly silent.

"Ok, well let's get started. Mr. Harrison gave me the stuff to work on with you, and I was always a visual learner. So, let's start with some simple experiments." He says, smiling as he took out a paper. I just sat on one of the many tables in this classroom.

"Ok, you know what Synthesis is in chemical reactions, right?" He asks, looking at me. I nod, and he smiles. He walks to a closet, grabbing a graduated cylinder and a beaker. "Well, I'm going to show you what it can do."

He points to another cabinet on the other side of the room. "I need you to get hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide." He explains, and I nod. I walk over to the cabinet labeled, chemicals. I open it, looking at all the different colors in tubes. Potassium and Peroxide. Pretty easy to find. I read the labels until I find both chemicals.

I grab both chemicals, before walking back over to him. He grabs the beaker, and fill it with warm water. "Ok, so this is what's going to happen. The hydrogen peroxide and the potassium iodide are going to make, number one," He sticks up one finger, "Heat. So, don't touch. And, two," He holds up a second finger. "a lot of gas. What happens is with the chemical reaction, it dissolves the oxygen found in the water and potassium iodide, which is going to make everything rise quickly." He explains as I nod my head.

This is too much information. He looks at me with a smirk. "You ready?" He asks, and I nod. He quickly pours the hydrogen peroxide with the potassium iodide and water. But instead of the mixture rising quickly, nothing happens. I look at Thomas, a smirk on my face.

"So, you still positively sure about the whole, nerd thing?" I question as he waves me off. "That should have worked." He says, and I can tell gears are turning in his head. The mixture on the table started to emit a fog, and I guess I was the only one to notice, since Thomas just looks at the wall, thinking.

"Uh, Thomas. Is it supposed to do that?" I ask, looking up at him. He looks at me, before looking back at the mixture on the table. "Uh, no?" He says, quickly walking back over to the table. He looks at the empty tubes that the chemicals were in. "Shit." He mutters under his breath. "What? Thomas, what does shit mean?" He turns back around to me, his shadow from the windows lay on the ground. He hands an empty test tube. I read the label.

Benzoyl Peroxide

Shit. "Um, please tell me you didn't mix up Benzoyl Peroxide with Hydrogen Peroxide." He says, looking at me with pleading eyes. I glance back at the smokey liquid start to rise at the ceiling, creating a foggy atmosphere.

I glance back at him, and his worried face. "We need to get this fume out, it smells," I say, walking over to the window. He nods, walking over to another window. I stand on the counter to reach the window opening, only to breathe in the mysterious gas. I go into a coughing fit, almost falling onto the floor. God, it burns. I cough some more, feeling someone's hands help me off the counter.

My eyes start to water, the smoky substance getting into my eyes. I look at Thomas's face, it's flushed, and his eyes are glassy as well. "I'll open the window." He says as I cough some more. I place my hand onto my knees, trying to get some air, into my lungs. My head hurts as I watch Thomas open the other window.

He jumps off the counter, the sunset finally becoming prevalent. "You ok, now?" He asks as I nod my head, though I was still coughing. "I'm fine," I say simply as I walk over to the smoking liquid, grabbing the test tube with the tongs, swiftly walking over to the sink, and pouring the chemicals into the sink.

"We should be good," Thomas says, before coughing like a smoker. "Damn, are you ok?" I ask, walking back over to him. "Yeah, just some stuff in my lungs, I'll-" He starts, before coughing again. I pat his back, as he goes into a coughing fit.

When he finally stops coughing, most of the gas has left the classroom. "That Park," he says gesturing to the classroom. "Is a Synthesis reaction." He explains as I laugh, though the laugh turns into a cough. "You should probably go to the doctor." He says as I shake my head.

"If I'm going to the doctor, so are you," I say jokingly, and he rolls his eyes. "We should probably get out of here." He says, pointing to the door, to which I nod. "Yeah," I say simply and follow him to the door. He opens it and walks out, and into the cold hallway, me following closely behind.

"You have a ride?" He asks, and I nod. "Yeah, my ma is picking me up," I explain, and he nods his head. "Ok, well I'll see you tomorrow, Park." He says, waving his hand, before walking the opposite way I'm supposed to go. "Bye, Thomas," I say, before walking towards the back parking lot.