Chapter 3

RING RING RING! My alarm clock rang at 6:30AM sharp the next morning. Groaning, I dragged myself slowly out of bed and crawled on the floor to my clothes. Grabbing them, I went to the bathroom and sat on the stool. Bleh, maybe closing my eyes for a bit will make me feel more awake…

The next time I opened my eyes, the clock read 7:15AM. OH MY GOSH! I ran down the stairs and out the door. It took me at least half an hour to get to school, and I still didn’t know where my laboratory was! I ran out the door and waited in desperation for the bus to come. I got to school at 7:50AM and ran to the Science wing because I thought the lab would be there. Argh! And I can’t even ask anyone! There’s not a person in sight! Well duh, who would take such an early class… To my surprise, as I rounded a corner, I saw a sign with “Chem 101 Laboratory” and made it to the lab with five minutes to spare. Looking at the list of names on the door, I found my name and the assigned lab station. As I approached my station, a figure in the station beside me sparked my memory. Oh great! It’s that guy from my Chem lab who picked up my pen…please don’t remember me, please don’t remember me. I quietly walked to my station and put my bag down, trying to direct as little attention to me as possible. I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed that he didn’t turn my way.

Two hours later, while in frustration of mixing different solutions together, I had no idea what to put on my data sheet. How were we supposed to determine the solubility of a mixture, when we didn’t even have a chart?! I peeked over at the guy’s paper and saw that he had filled most of it out. His writing was too small to see, however… I contemplated in my head, wondering if I should ask him for help. He would totally remember me if I asked though. Sighing, I concluded that getting a better mark was worth more than someone remembering you. Gathering my courage, I looked over at him and poked him.

He looked over with a surprised expression on his face. “Um, can I help you?” he asked. “Uh, yeah, I was wondering if you could show me how you determined the solubility of the mixtures?” I asked, not meeting his eyes. “Oh, you just see if they precipitate, and determine the products from there”, he explained. Right! How could I’ve been so stupid? “Oh, I get it now, thanks!” I smiled and looked up at him by mistake.