A War of Guns and Roses

Chapter 25

His eyes suddenly looked up and almost met mine but I hurriedly cast my gaze away. I would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that I had been looking at him.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I felt his gaze burning into me. I ignored him as best as I could, busying myself with recalling the steps of various chemical reactions.

Soon, we were given a choice for our topic to experiment and the time started ticking. Carefully, I added the precise amounts of ingredients needed to be added and mixed them thoroughly while heating them, gorging the end reaction and noting it down.

After 55 long and sweaty minutes of work, I finally got the chemical reaction I was hoping for and moved away from my table, rubbing my sweaty palms on my jeans.

I had finished five minutes before the allocated time and before everyone else. My supervisor, who had taught me once as a substitute for our chemistry teacher, clapped me on the back and gave me a victorious smile.

I released a breath of relief and smiled back at him. When he had come to teach us as a substitute, he had taken an odd and quick liking to me, making me present his various explanations to the class. He had even complimented me on my explaining skills, telling me that most of the students had been listening when I was describing the theory part to them.

He walked back to his own station and announced that the time was up and the kids had to pack up.

Everyone groaned as some had not finished their practicals and some had consummated the practical but had not achieved the results they had expected.

Everyone slipped out of the lab and into the hallway, cheering as their exams were finally over. Sighing, I made my way to the exam hall again for my last test. French.

Sitting on my allocated table, I waited until everyone was seated. Papers were given out and I started scribbling the answers, making sure that my handwriting was neat. But, by the time I reached the last few pages, my handwriting was hardly decipherable. 

As I exited the hall, I made my way outside to see Jake waiting for me as usual.

I smiled at him as I entered the car.

"How was French?" I asked him.

"It was horrible. Half of the time, I was wondering what the heck the question wanted me to do."

I chuckled, "Well, you should have studied then."

"I didn't have time alright?" Jake said exasperatedly. "I had other duties to attend to and then had to learn the other subjects too," he groaned.

"Pauvre." (Poor one). I shook my head.

*********

I strolled inside the house with a huge smile on my face. Nobody was in sight. The house seemed eerily silent.

I frowned and made my way to the kitchen, where I saw a note placed on the fridge.

Elaine,

I need to go out of the country on business and I'll be back in two days. Stay safe and don't wander out of the house.