The Immortal Stargazer

Equilibrium

"Hurry up, Sam!"

I ran as fast as I could, chasing my best friend to the bus stop. I caught up to him and put my hands on my knees. I looked at my watch. Five minutes to spare. I sighed, finally catching my breath. Jake, my best friend, laughed at my obsession with being punctual.
"What?"

"Heh, you're always looking at that watch of yours! Can you not be completely taken up with being on time for everything?"

"Nah," I said, straightening up. "If I didn't, you'd be late for school everyday! Besides, if I didn't also plan out our afternoons, we wouldn't have time to play video games cuz we'd be studying the whole time!"

"Eh, good point. Whatcha got planned for today?"

"I was thinking we could play this game called Undertale. I saw a few things about it, and I got it on Steam for my birthday last week. If we get bored of it, though, we can always play Call of Duty."

"Sounds great!" Jake said enthusiastically as the bus pulled up. We boarded and took our seats on the right pretty close to the front. Everybody on our block had chosen seats at the beginning of the year, and these were the seats Jake and I chose. I sat next to the window, and Jake sat next to the aisle between the seats. It's been like this since the beginning of highschool, and now that we were seniors, it's time I figured out where I will be going after I graduate. My parents thought I should go to college, but I convinced them to let me try and pursue my dream of becoming a musician. I especially loved stringed instruments, such as the guitar, the cello, and the violin. I've practiced singing since I was little, and Jake has heard it. He says I'm really good, but it still makes me selfconscious. But hey, good to know there's someone out there who enjoys my singing, right?

We arrived at school, and headed off to our respective classes. I didn't have the same ones as Jake, but we saw each other briefly between classes. He told me his class would be easier than he had originally thought; it was calculus review.

He was a wizard when it came to math. We often joked when we were in elementary school that he'd be a math teacher when he grew up, he was so good. It made me jealous.

And yes. We've known each other that long.

And why have I not asked him out yet, you may ask? Because I'm a shy, flusterable, girly girl. That's why.

Ok, me being a girly girl isn't entirely true. I love video games, and I'm pretty good at soccer and basketball. The only people I hang out with are guys, and I don't have much in common with any girls I've met.

Anyway, I told Jake we would meet up after lunch to discuss how studying will go after school so we can hang out. He nodded and left for his next class.

"Oh, look. It's the wannabe jock."
A girl with rich, chocolate brown hair, wearing a cropped denim jacket, a white tee with a tye dyed heart in the middle, and a black mini skirt that looked way too short to be allowed, approached me. A posse of cheerleaders (probably, since she is the captain of the cheerleading squad) trailed behind her, wearing similar clothes and smirks.

I smirked back, knowing exactly what she was here for.

"Trying to hook yourself a new boyfriend, eh Tania?~" I teased.

"Ugh, you're insufferable, Sam," she pouted, but her cerulean eyes held a playful gleam.

"At least your grammar is improving. Otherwise, I wouldn't be agreeing to be your private tutor."
Other than Jake, I had a few friends that were close to me. One was Tania, sort of. She was the popular girl and well-known bully, but I had a decent relationship with her. I've even gotten her to spare some of her regular victims! However, just being associated with her led to trouble. The people I save from her viewed my help as hypocrisy, and showed it in their tendency to avoid me as much as possible. Without so much as a thank you, to boot. I get it, though. I look like a villain because I'm helping her with her grades. And I couldn't save everyone. She had promised to do any one thing I requested, and I told her to leave some people alone for good in exchange for straight A's. And that was the start of our uneasy friendship.

"Tch, yeah yeah. Are you available this afternoon? I have a bunch of compositions to write, and I need you to check my grammar and punctuation to make sure I get an A, got it?"

"Aw, you need me? How sweet~"

"Don't get cute. I don't date girls. Speaking of dating, how's your love life with Jake? Oh wait, that's right. It doesn't exist."
She turned slightly and snickered to her lackeys, and they joined in. I smiled and shook my head.

"Oh please. I'd rather date a girl than him cuz I'm such a tomboy."
I struck a pose and winked at her. She rolled her eyes, but they belied her amusement.

"Hah hah, very funny. So, what time should I come over?"

My eyes widened as I looked down at my watch. The time! I forgot I have physics in-

FIVE MINUTES!!!

"Sorry, Tania," I said quickly as I gathered my textbook and notebook.
"I gotta go, but we can discuss this at lunch. Cya!"

With that, I raced down the hall, bumping into people and apologizing the whole way. I got to the right room, went inside, and sat at my desk. Phew, made it just in time to get organized. Just as I opened my textbook to this week's chapter, the teacher walked in.

"Good morning, class!"
He was greeted with a classroom of laughing teenagers at the sight of him carrying a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke and three packs of Mentos. Ooh, I know where this is going.

"Now, can anyone tell me what this soda is made of?"

The room was silent for a good minute before the teacher answered for us.
"It's made of purified carbon dioxide, water, and sugar, mostly. How about Mentos? What are they made of?"

More silence. Apparently, we should've studied candy and soda last weekend. And by study, I mean over half the class would've eaten our subjects of study.

"Fair enough," the teacher muttered. He took the wrapper off one of the packs of Mentos and placed one on his desk.
"They are made of sugar as well, but they also have aspartame. This is an artificial sweetener, used in lots of commercial products, even Diet Coke."

He raised the bottle for emphasis, then put it on the floor. He unscrewed the cap, and it fizzed up somewhat before settling down.
"Here's an easy question. What happens when I put one of these-" he picked up the Mento. "-in here?"

A few people raised their hands, while others mumbled the answer.

"Correct! It will explode! Do you know why?"

Nobody answered.

"Well, the carbon dioxide in the soda is currently at equilibrium, meaning it's equal to the pressure of the air around it. Now, when we put a Mento in, the gas that's been dissolved inside the soda has to create a new equilibrium as the Mento sinks. Here's where the sugar comes into play; see, you could probably get a very similar reaction to what I'm about to show you if you were to put, say, a rock in the soda. It might not get as big or showy, but it would be something. But, the artificial sugar, all the tiny crystals it's made of, provide more space for the carbon dioxide to collect. The pressure builds inside the bottle until it has nowhere to go but out. Watch this."
He paused and put a couple of Mentos in the bottle. It fizzed up and shot into the air, creating a mess in front of the desks.
"Voila, a soda geyser!"

"Who's gonna clean up the mess?!"
A girl with black hair and glasses spoke up from the back.

"Thank you for volunteering, Haley!"
The teacher smiled innocently. Haley huffed and stood up from her seat. I looked at her with pity, and stood up myself.

"I'll help."

"Thank you, Sam. You both know where the cleaning supplies are, right?"

We both nodded and got to work. When we were done, we put the cleaning stuff away, and sat down at our desks. The teacher then gave us each a pack of Mentos. Welp, gotta remember not to drink soda with these.

"Today, we will be discussing chemical equilibrium..."

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Hewwo, people! I have started a new book, even though I haven't finished the ones I've been trying to get done for months now :')

But, I hope you enjoy this first chapter. Might seem boring at first, but it escalates very quickly, trust me. I have been writing out the plotline for this story for a long while now, so expect fairly frequent updates. Hopefully.