Just a Roommate (H.S)

Chapter 6

EDITED 2021

"Alright everyone- no, don't sit down. Line up at the front, everybody. Chop, chop!" The chemistry professor is a petite woman with ginger hair and green eyes. We all line up. There is only forty in this class, seeing it is advanced and skilled. "Come on, younglings. Quick, quick."

Finally, we are are lined up at the front of the room.

 "Okay! Chemistry is easier to learn when you have a partner. Instead of having everyone running around trying to partner up, I will go ahead and pair you each to a partner," she looked down at a paper. 

"Michael Scots and Shay Fields go to Table 1. Zayn Malik and Aria Jacobs, Table 2."

Zayn?

When I turn around Zayn is there with a grin plastered across his face, looking as handsome as ever. I smile, trying to conceal the blood rushing to my cheeks. "I didn't know you took this class."

"I guess it's a coincidence, eh?" He laughs. "I have a thing for medicine. I want to do surgery one day, maybe plastics. Grey's Anatomy got the best of me."

I raise my eyebrows as we make our way to table two. "A surgeon? Impressive."

I am surprised that he wants to go to medical school one day. He did not seem like the professional type with the way he dressed and the array of tattoos visible on his skin.

He grins and takes a seat next to me. The table is reasonably large with an organized set of test tubes, flasks, a bunsen burner, small telescopes, and other essentials. I'm slightly nervous about this class, but I'm sure I'll pass it. I did pass with an A in high school chemistry, but it was never the easiest for me. Honestly, I am mostly scared that I will burn myself and mix the wrong chemicals together. 

"My father is a doctor. So obviously he expects his son to have the same future one day. It is a bit exhausting."

"I know how you feel," I replied truthfully.

My mother had a great career as an editor for People magazine until my dad died. After that she was laid off. Now she is a banker, and I can tell it isn't the same for her. 

"So, you said you wanted to be a veterinarian?" Zayn asks.

"That's the plan."

"I'll remember to hit you up when Sam gets sick," he laughs. "He's my puppy."

Puppy. He's adorable-but definitely not my type. You just don't stroll down a street and see a responsible, organized girl with a bright future holding hands with a man whom is covered with tattoos and clearly parties every weekend. It defies nature. 

"Well, you'll have to wait a few years," I point out jokingly.

Zayn locks his eyes with mine. I swallow nervously before looking away and at the professor. Why does my partner have to be a solid ten out of ten? The professor smiles in relief as the last two people are paired up and sent to the last table. 

"Alright," she breathes. "You can call me Professor G. G is for Grieshaber, but that's much too complicated some people to remember. Anyway, you young beings, this term we'll be learning chemical reactions. Chemistry is such an astonishing subject. I'm surprised it isn't a requirement for all majors. Chemistry explains... well, everything! Chemistry explains how your phone works, how pasta cooks, how a battery charges, how a nuclear bomb explodes. Literally everything. For now, I'm going to introduce you to the basics of Chemistry, starting with the periodic table..."

...

"This is an obvious ionic compound as it's a metal reacting with a polyatomic ion," I state, pointing at the compound written in front of Zayn and I. I fill ionic bubble on our paper with my pencil. Zayn agrees and bubbles his out too. We take a breath of relief, finishing the assignment early.