The Little Street Girl (Book ONE)

Happiness and Sadness

Jace:

I was at school. I hadn't been to school since I was 8, and now I was freaking a year 11. "Good morning, class. Are we sitting comfortably?" Oh, and dad was my teacher. "So, physics. Physics, eh? Physics. Physics. Physics! Physics. Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics. I hope one of you is getting all this down, Jacey." Don't you dare. "Okay let's see what you know. Two identical strips of nylon are charged with static electricity and hung from a string so they can swing freely. What would happen if they were brought near each other?" Two of us put our hands up, me and a boy in glasses. And dad knew I knew as he taught me. "Yes, er, what's your name?"

"Milo."

"Milo! Off you go."

He spoke in a dead voice, incredibly matter of factly. "They'd repel each other because they have the same charge."

"Correctamundo!" Oh God. I was teaching him about normal teacher etiquette after this. "A word I have never used before and hopefully never will again. Question two. I coil up a thin piece of microwire and place it in a glass of water. Then I turn on the electricity and measure to see if the water's temperature is affected. My question is this. How do I measure the electrical power going into the coil?" Milo and I again.  "Someone else, not my daughter. No? Milo, go for it."

"Measure the current and PDs in an ammeter and a voltmeter."

"Two to Milo." I smiled a little, then looked at the smart boy. "Right then, Milo, tell me this. True or false. The greater the dampening of the system, the quicker it loses energy to its surroundings."

No hesitation. "False."

Dads turn. "What is non-coding DNA?"

"DNA that doesn't code for a protein."

My go. "Sixty five thousand nine hundred and eighty three times five?"

"Three hundred and twenty nine thousand nine hundred and fifteen."

We asked one together. "How do you travel faster than light?"

"By opening a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of thirty six point seven recurring."

Our jaws dropped. But then it was lunch time and we had to go annoy Rose for the second day in a row, as she was a lunch lady. I was having packed lunches though, much to the schools annoyance. Not my fault that they didn't have a vegetarian option.

"Two days." Rose told us later when she came to wipe down the table.

"Sorry, could you just?" I pointed to the table, smiling. "There's a bit of gravy. No, no, just, just there."

She wiped it, but only because she had to. "Two days, we've been here."

"Blame your boyfriend. He's the one who put us onto this. And he was right. Boy in class this morning, got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth. And that's Jace's level." Hey, I was a Time Lord, remember?

Rose wasn't all to bothered about this. "You eating those chips?"

"Yeah, they're a bit different." I wouldn't know.

She sat down with us, grabbing one and taking a bite. "I think they're gorgeous. Wish I had school dinners like this." It was gross and coated in animal fat.

"It's very well behaved, this place." More interested in the chips. "I thought there'd be happy slapping hoodies. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones. Huh? Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't tell me I don't fit in." I could do that pretty easily.

Then the head dinner lady came over to tell off Rose. "You are not permitted to leave your station during a sitting."

"I was just talking to this teacher and his daughter." We waved. "He doesn't like the chips. And you don't have any vegetarian food."