THIRD CHAPTER

After lunch Cathy and Miguel walked with me to the science hall, even though Miguel was in Intro to Physics and chemistry science, a high school class but it was offered, and he got in. It was in one of the newly refurbished classrooms, but it was still in the science hall but closer to the math hall which was not that far away. I knew Cathy was only with us because of Miguel but it helped to take my mind off the day I was experiencing until I walked into my classroom, sadly not one of the newly refurbished huge classrooms.

Yep, she was in my class. Though the worst part was my regular lab partner was out sick, so she was put at my table and made my lab partner for today. I tried to ask the teacher to let me just do it myself and put her at another table, but no the teacher wanted us to ‘play nice’ and do the work.

“You know you’re doing all the work, right!” Natasha stated as she pushed the paperwork and materials to my side of the table. “And don’t forget to put my name on it.”

I just didn’t even want to argue or say anything to her. So, I took everything and started working. It really wasn’t hard given we just had to compare pictures of cells and mark down which was which. It became a problem when the teacher stopped at our table.

“Ms. Cogswell, I know you wanted to do the assignment yourself, but this is a team assignment.” Mrs. Blanchard said.

“I know and I asked to help but she just won’t let me.” Natasha whined as she waved at me dismissively. I just stared at them both as if they had wings and horns. It was just so obvious that everything was pushed onto me, given that Natasha had her makeup bag out on her part of the table and was in the middle of painting her nails. I was so God-smacked that I just sat there as they talked about how selfish I was.

“Ms. Cogswell, please explain to Ms. Ananias what you have done so far!” Ms. Blanchard stated firmly as she looked down at me.

“Yeah Merida, tell me what you have done so far.” Natasha says while smirking as she glances over her still wet nails.

At first, I was stumped before a thought hit me and I knew it was a nudge from Nadia. Looking down at the paperwork and pictures I carefully smiled as I grabbed a random one and placed it in front of them both.

“This one is a picture of brain tissue. Right Natasha?” I asked, looking at her while pushing the picture of muscle toward her. Then before they said anything, I grabbed another one. “Oh wait, sorry this is the brain tissue.” This time it’s a picture of the cartilage and bone. I knew very well that today’s assignments were on cells and the tissues, not of the organs of the body.

“Thanks for the help. Now then let’s move on to the female reproductive system. I just can’t seem to find it among these. Natasha, what do you think?” I ask as I slide the other pictures to her side, causing all her makeup to scatter, given these are thick laminated 4X6 pictures.

“Merida! Wait stop, I don’t know… ” Natasha shrieked as she scrambled to grab her stuff and stop the polish from spilling all over the place. Mrs. Blanchard also moved fast to help Natasha with it all. It was funny to watch, till Mrs. Blanchard shrieked. That’s when I looked under the table to see the bottle of nail polish removal next to her shoes and her shoes were blanching.

Oh shit.

Yeah, the rest of class was spent explaining to the principal why the entire class had to excavate the room or why the teacher was shrieking about her shoes, which she was furiously scrubbing in the sink in the supply closet. Which just so happened to be next to the newly refurbished classrooms, so everyone heard and saw my teacher running in the hall with her shoes in her hands. Another reason for the principal to be called given all the new chemicals and equipment they have now.

And yes, the classroom had to be excavated given that in Mrs. Blanchard’s mad dash to leave, she knocked everything off several more tables. It turned out many other classmates had things they should not have. Some of the items were food, while others were more make-up and one table had glitter and paint. The student was working on an art project and had his personal supplies with him. It also meant that Mrs. Blanchard had more than nail polish remover on her shoes and clothes.