“Each of you will select a partner.” Ms. Kupel told the class in her slow, drawling voice. “You will have thirty minutes to test each of the liquids in front of you, and determine which substance dissolves more quickly in each — the sugar, or the salt.”

Emberlynn sighed softly to herself. What a stupid, pointless assignment. She started doodling absentmindedly in the corner of her notebook as the long list of directions continued on. Chemistry was by far her least favorite class, and Emberlynn was already counting down the minutes until the torture would be over.

She hadn’t even realized that they’d been given the go-ahead to begin until she heard the scraping of several chairs around her, and noticed a figure suddenly standing beside her desk.

“Hey, Emberlynn.”

She looked up to see one of her classmates, Dominick. He was in her English class too — in fact, they’d worked together on an English assignment back during the first week of school.

“Hey.” She replied with a small smile.

“Do you wanna be partners?” He asked kindly.

Emberlynn hesitated for a moment and glanced across the room toward her friend Cleo, who would have been her usual go-to for a partner.

Cleo gave her a small shrug and a smile that was difficult to read, before turning to the girl sitting beside her, presumably asking if she wanted to work together.

Okay then… Emberlynn turned her gaze back toward Dominick, smiling. “Sure!”

Dominick was one of the smartest kids in the class, and pretty cute too. Definitely not a bad choice of partner. Why he’d want to work with one of the worst students in the class, however, was a mystery.

While Dominick went to the front of the room to collect their materials for the experiment, Emberlynn could feel a pair of eyes watching her from the other side of the classroom. She glanced over just in time to see Serenity Ziegler peeking at her from over her shoulder before going back to her loud and animated discussion with Natasha.

“So like I was saying, Jace invited me over last night… We had the house all to ourselves.” Serenity’s snooty voice carried across the room as she spoke. “So… Well, you know.” She gave her friend a little wink.

Her loud announcement seemed to be having the desired effect, as several classmates turned their heads curiously in her direction.

Natasha let out a squeal of excitement. “Oh my GOD!” She cried much more loudly than necessary. “Lucky!”

“Yeah… he is!” Serenity burst into a fit of obnoxious giggles as she spoke.

“Ladies, settle down.” Ms. Kupel scolded, walking over to them.

Despite their teacher’s intervention, several members of the class were still staring — and not with the disgust that Emberlynn was, but rather curiosity… Maybe even jealousy.

Emberlynn couldn’t believe it. Seriously?! What the hell?! How did nobody see how obnoxious she was being?

Her hands were still clenched into fists when Dominick returned to their table.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked as he took a seat beside her.

“Yeah, sorry. Just… annoyed.” Emberlynn shot a look across the room at Serenity for a moment.

Dominick followed her gaze. “Ah… yeah. Serenity.”

“She’s the worst isn’t she?”

He shrugged. “I guess… I don’t really pay much attention to girls like that anyway though.” He replied softly. “I guess some guys are into the stuck-up, bitchy type… But not me.”

“No?” Emberlynn asked, almost in surprise. “Most of the other guys seem to be falling for it.” She gestured vaguely toward the handful of boys in their class who still watched Serenity with interest.

“Not me…” Dominick leaned closer to her as he spoke. “I like nice girls. And ones with more than two brain cells to rub together.” He let out a small laugh before continuing. “Like… artistic or creative ones. With big, dark eyes…”

She felt her cheeks grow warm under his gaze. Oh my God, is he flirting with me? What do I say?! She’d never run into this problem with Mason. It just happened with him. It all felt so natural. But this…

When Emberlynn continued staring at him in silence, Dominick cleared his throat somewhat uncomfortably. “So, um… Spoiler alert, but I’m pretty sure the sugar is gonna dissolve fastest in most of this stuff.” He said, bringing their attention back to the experiment.

“Really?” Emberlynn couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved at the subject change. “But the salt’s smaller, isn’t it? The little grains, I mean. So wouldn’t it be easier to dissolve?”

“Right… But the sugar’s less dense.”

Emberlynn had no idea what that meant, but she nodded anyway. “Okay… You’re the expert!”

Dominick chuckled softly. “Expert, huh? We’ll see about that…”

As it turned out, Dominick WAS something of an expert after all. His prediction had come true, and, in most of the liquids, the sugar did dissolve more quickly. Or at least, that’s what the numbers seemed to indicate. Much to her delight, Emberlynn didn’t have to actually participate in any of the experimenting. Dominick mixed all the solutions and set the timer, he just told Emberlynn what numbers to write down. Easy-peasy.

At the end of class, Emberlynn hung back a bit to avoid overhearing more of Serenity and Natasha’s drivel before finally heading out into the hall for their morning break. It was one of the few times during the school day that she got to see Zelda and, after a long and boring morning spent in Chemistry class, Emberlynn was looking forward to it.

As she lingered outside of the classroom door to wait for Zelda, Emberlynn turned toward Dominick, smiling gratefully. “I think that’s gonna be the best grade I’ve ever gotten in Chemistry before… I told you you’re an expert!”

“Science is kinda my thing.” He admitted with a small shrug. “It’s sort of a hobby for me..”

“I see… Wow, what a thrilling hobby.” Emberlynn teased.

She saw his cheeks redden a bit. “I’m into other stuff too.” He said quickly.

“I know… I was joking.” She assured him. “So, what other stuff do you like?” Emberlynn figured she would give him the chance to redeem himself.

The smile returned to Dominick’s lips. “Movies, video games, a little football too…”

“Ooh, nice!” Her eyes lit up at his mention of video games. “Do you play any Galaxy Quest?”

He nodded. “Yeah! I, uh… I was actually thinking of heading to the arcade sometime this weekend to play some.”

“Cool!”

“So… what about you? Any plans this weekend? Like, like maybe Friday after school?”

Emberlynn shook her head. “Nope. Nothing exciting going on.”

Dominick nodded. “Okay. Cool. Because, um… I… I was thinking… Maybe… Maybe…” A sudden glimmer of fear seemed to flash in his eyes. “Uh, I’ll see you tomorrow, Emberlynn.” He walked right past her, and started heading down the hallway without another word.

Before Emberlynn even had the chance to fully register what had happened, she heard a bright, familiar voice from over her shoulder.

“Hey, Ember!” Zelda called happily. “Ooh… who was that? He’s cute!”

“He is…” Emberlynn agreed, furrowing her brow in thought as she watched Dominick’s form grow smaller and smaller. “Could you hold on a sec, Z?”

Before she even realized what she was doing, Emberlynn found herself practically sprinting down the hallway after Dominick.

He must have heard her coming, because he suddenly stopped as he neared the corner and turned around, facing her. “Emberlynn?”

“Hey, I just remembered.” She said with a soft smile. “I DO have plans Friday.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “You do?”

Emberlynn nodded. “Yeah… I’m going to the arcade with this cute guy from my Chemistry class.”

A smile of relief came to his face instantly. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Awesome… I’ll figure out what time and let you know?” He suggested.

“Sounds good.”

Dominick gave her one last smile before finally disappearing around the corner.

“Ember?” Once again, Zelda’s excited voice reached her ear. She must have followed her down the hallway. “Did you just ask that guy out?! What the heck was THAT?!”

“I dunno.” Emberlynn admitted with a smile and a shrug. “But I guess I’ll find out…”