Chapter 3

Friday morning started with a bang, quite literally. As soon as we arrived at the Science class, Mr Porter, a short and balding man who wore his goggles to every class, exclaimed excitedly that we were going to be testing chemical reactions in the presence of oxygen.

"But first, I will assign you all chemistry partners."

I looked around, praying that I would get the same partner as I did last year. Amy Adkins was gifted when it came to all things scientific, and she revelled in completing every task at hand, thus most of the year, I barely lifted a finger. Amy exchanged a glance with me and smiled as our eyes met . I guess she felt as if we had established a friendship of sorts, even though we barely knew each other on a personal basis.

"Adkins, you're with Parker."

My heart sank a little bit. Oh well, it just meant that this year, I would have to pull my weight.

"Ballios, you're with Georgiou."

I caught myself before I groaned. Eric Ballios, aka Ricky, was the quarterback of our football team as well as being team captain. I couldn't have been given a bigger jock if I had asked for one. I caught the glance he sent my way from the back of the classroom, and it was clear that the displeasure I felt was mutual. The only girls he was interested in acknowledging wore thick, black eyeliner, microscopic miniskirts, and straightened their fake blonde hair until it looked as if it would snap if you bent it.

Mr Porter clapped his hands and ordered us to move next to our partners. Ricky made no motion to move so I grabbed my textbook and sat next to him, not saying a word. Clearly the jerk had no manners, but what did I expect?

A range of chemicals and compounds were placed before us and we were given strict instructions on how to conduct the experiments. I grabbed a beaker and filled it up to the 50ml mark, ready to pour into the mixture of sodium chloride and sulphur oxide which I still had to mix and heat in a test tube. I turned to look at Ricky to see if he would help me at all in the experiment but his back was toward me while he mouthed something to his friend across the room. I didn't really care if he was going to help or not, but it would have been nice to have a partner who would be willing to help light the Bunsen burner, also known as my arch nemesis. I was halfway through a box of matches when it happened.

Ricky, I can only assume in an attempt to do his own experiment, grabbed the bottle of potassium and poured a spoonful into the beaker of water I had placed to one side.

A loud blast shook the desk as the beaker exploded in lilac flames. I knocked over the Bunsen burner in fright, which had decided at that moment in time to ignite, which in turn set light to my open textbook. The girls in front of us screamed as a cloud of thick smoke filtered its way toward the front of the room.

Mr Porter came to the rescue with a fire extinguisher, squirting a substantial amount of frothy white foam over the table

.

I turned to look at Ricky. Dumbstruck, he stood standing with the bottle of potassium in his hand, his mouth slightly open in shock.

"I thought that was peroxide." he said slowly.

Shows you how ignorant he was to chemistry! The two don't even look the same!

Mr Porter ordered everyone to open the classroom windows to let any gases in the room escape before he came over to us. "I suppose we need to go through the rules of safety again. It seems as if you've forgotten them over the summer. Now you'd best go and get yourself checked out by the nurse and get any burns seen to."

I picked up my backpack from the floor and was about to make my way out of the room when I noticed that my lab partner hadn't moved an inch, still shaken. I grabbed his bag as it hung off of the back of his chair and took the potassium from his hand, placing it back on the table. I then tugged gently on his arm until he moved, leading him to the nurse's office. I felt sorry for the guy.

As I explained what had happened, Nurse sat him down on the edge of the bed and cleaned his blackened face with water and gauze and gave him a glass of sugar-water to bring him out of his shocked state. From there she turned to his right hand which was covered in small burns, smearing a cream on them before wrapping his hand in a bandage.

"Wel, Eric, I guess the detention you'll get for this will have you off the team." Nurse said softly.

I was overcome with pity for the boy I couldn't stand just minutes before. For jocks like him, their sport was their life. I'd watched enough teen movies to realize that if he was forced to stop playing then there was no way he would be going to college. He was probably expected to get a scholarship for football from one of the universities in the area, which he would never be able to get if he was kicked off the team.

"Well he can't be blamed for this," I began, trying to work out a cover story. "I told him to put the potassium in the beaker. I had read the instructions for the reaction wrong."

A flimsy story at best, but Nurse nodded her head and made a comment about how mistakes happen before she turned to me and began to put some of the cream on my arm. I hadn't even been aware that I had been burned, but the awareness came to me in painful clarity. After she had fixed me up, I left Ricky in her capable hands as I made my way to Mr Porter's classroom to feed him my story.

"Miss Georgiou, I expected better than that from you." he scolded, disappointment shown plainly on his face. "I know that you were expecting me to pair you up with Miss Adkins again this year, but I thought your skills could be put to better use by aiding those who are not as skilled as you are."

Suddenly, my partnership with Amy became my doom.

"However, I except your apology and I will not hold this mistake against you. Although I do recommend that you read through the chemical manual again."

He handed me a replacement textbook and sent me on my way as the lunch bell rang.

"Callie! Are you alright?" Kayla launched her attack as soon as I entered the cafeteria. "I heard about what happened and Ricky is an absolute idiot."

We picked up our trays and made our way to the food station, filling our trays with lasagna and salad as I attempted to convince her that I was alright.

"Don't worry Cal, I'll ask one of my parents to give you a check-up and make sure you're not going to be permanently damaged by today's events."

Walking to our usual table I became acutely aware of the fact that everyone knew about the explosion. Glares and stares were being directed at me from all angles and whispers spread. It was clear that the football players thought that they were going to be losing their quarterback and captain and, judging by the half-eaten apple which narrowly missed my head, resented me for it.

A few members of my regular crowd sat at our table in the corner of the cafeteria, defending me from where they sat. We were a complete and utter bunch of misfit, but we managed to make a statement whenever one needed to be made. Violet, whose real name was a mystery to all except the admin staff, shook her fist at the jock who had thrown the apple and threatened to lodge her shoe in his nether-regions. I looked from her spiky purple hair down to her high-heeled, pointy studded boots and felt sorry for any jock who had the misfortune to get into a physical fight with her.

Sitting across from her, not saying a word sat Robert, the six-foot-two German dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of flip-flops; another project for Kayla. His broody silence made him a wildcard which, for some strange reason, kept the vultures at bay. Robert and Violet smiled at us as we sat down.

"So, we heard you had a fiery start." Violet teased, stealing the piece of chocolate cake which had been placed on my tray.

I showed her the bandage on my arm. "And I have battle scars to prove it."

Kayla and Violet ooh-ed and aah-ed as I told them the story, ending in how I had felt sorry for Ricky so had covered for him.

"Well that was nice of you." Robert's German heritage was evident in his heavily accented speech.

"Could you imagine what a reception I would have got from the jocks and cheerleaders if I had let him get detention? Ouch! That would have been painful."

We all winced at the thought.

"So what are the plans for the weekend?" Violet changed the topic. "I'm going to be helping with the planning of this year's haunted house so we're meeting tomorrow."

"This Sunday is the remembrance day of those who died in the Holocaust from my home town. My family will be celebrating their legacy." Robert made our plans seem trivial in comparison.

We sat for a moment in silence, not too sure what to say. Luckily Kayla broke the ice with a comment on how great it was that the Holocaust victims would be remembered in such a nice way.

"My dad's organised for Callie and I to work at the hospital as volunteers so hopefully we can start this weekend." Kayla looked at me for confirmation.

"Well, I'm working at the restaurant this afternoon, but tomorrow should be fine."

Conversation soon turned to a charity concert which was being held at the Town Hall at the end of the month to raise money for the hospital. The rest of the school day flew by in a blur of insults and angry comments, but I never saw Ricky after I had left him with the nurse.

My mother picked me up from school in the restaurant's delivery van and was horrified to hear about the drama of the day.

"Where on earth was your teacher while this Ricky was attempting to blow you up?" she demanded, more angry with Mr Porter than she was with Ricky. "The supervision in the schools these days is just shocking."

I left her to rant about the education system as I plaited my hair for work; long hair was a pain when it came to dealing with food. We pulled up outside Aphrodite's Haven, the restaurant my parents had owned and run since before my birth, and I made my way to the kitchen. Mikael, my cousin and the head chef of the Haven since as long as I could remember, greeted me with a kiss on the cheek.

"I got a call from you brother this morning, Callie. He said to tell you that he misses you and will have to organize a video chat soon." he grinned, obviously amused that Nik had called him before he had called me.

Mikael's wife shuffled into the kitchen and sat down on a vacant chair. Being six months pregnant with their third child, Stella had an excuse to be constantly tired however, no matter how tired she was, she refused to not be at work. I stood behind her and massaged her shoulders, trying to talk her into going home since I had arrived.

"No, there isn't enough staff for tonight. One of the waitresses called in sick so you're going to have to take her place. I'll just sit here and chop veggies and whatever else comes my way." she winked at me and grabbed a knife as her husband placed a bowl of carrots in front of her.

I went to the locker room and changed into the black, knee-length dress which all the waitresses wore. The hem and straps were decorated with gold embroidery in patters symbolic of ancient Greece, something which my father insisted on to bring the feel of Greece into the restaurant. The restaurant itself was covered in murals of ancient Greece and Greek gods and some random plastic potted trees which stood in strategic positions.

By the time five o'clock came the restaurant was buzzing, filled with both the local regulars and the random tourist who made their way to Carmel to get away from the bustling cities of California. As always, there were the few diners who were ignorant enough to be fascinated by their discovery of a Greek restaurant with a Greek waitress who could speak Greek.

I was carrying my tray of drinks to a table when my eye caught a family who had just walked through the door and were being seated by my mother – none other than Ricky with his mother and his little sister. I was just glad that I didn't have to serve them tonight. My good deed for the day had given me nothing but trouble. I had been verbally and physically attacked the whole day and I didn't feel like facing the cause just yet. Instead I dropped the drinks off at the table which had ordered them and made a detour toward the kitchen.

"Callista?"

I turned around and came face to face with the guy I'd tried to avoid.

"Umm, hi." I replied, trying to sound casual.

"Listen, I heard what you did for me today. You know, saying that what happened in Chemistry today was your fault and all that. I know you did it so I wouldn't get kicked off the team, so I guess I owe you one." His voice sounded unsteady. "And I'm sorry I was such a prick this morning."

His eyes fell to the gauze bandage on my arm.

"Nurse didn't tell me you had been burned too."

"Just a small burn, I can't even feel it." I lied.

"Ok, I'm glad." he said and began to turn around and head back to his family. "Oh, Callie?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

With that, he walked back to join his family.