Taking The Queen's King

No Problem

"So how was your date?" Valeria sang the following Monday.
"It wasn't a date!" Linda laughed, "we had greasy burgers, crispy fries, and chocolate milkshakes."
"Diner food? I thought you were going to learn gourmet cooking."
The teen snickered at her friend's fake, fancy French accent. "We were. But Laura and I wanted greasy food. Can we stop talking about food? I'm gonna break out and eat the huge chocolate bar in my lunch bag!"
"Alright, fair enough. But this is working out perfectly for our plan. Erin told me Danny was asking about it on Saturday."
"Didn't he have a date with Marianne?"
"Yes," Valeria almost sneered. She and Linda stopped walking when they heard a scream. They looked to see CC drenched with water, Niles laughing hysterically.
"Alright! Niles!" Was heard sporadically throughout the hall.
"You- you-" CC growled, then cursed him out loud.
Linda's eyes went wide when she heard the doozy CC let out. She noticed how the crowd quieted when they heard the profanity.
"What was that, Miss Babcock?" Vice Principal Woods stood with her arms crossed.
"Uh, well, I- that is-" the blonde stammered.
"That's what I thought. Come with me." She gave the students a pointed look, everyone going back to their normalcies.
"At least it was water," Linda said, walking to her locker with Valeria. "I'd hate it if it was a snake!" The blonde shivered, unaware of the secret she just spilled.
***********
Linda sighed as she figured out the chemistry problem. It wasn't that chemistry was hard, it was just so boring! She had already learned all of it in her old school. Her old school was wise- the last year of junior high, they had a high school level physics class. Her first year of high school was biology, next was chemistry. I'd be taking bio-chem if this was my old school. Then whichever I wanted to major or minor in.
"What's with the little letters next to the chemical?"
She looked up to see Danny pointing in his book, looking a little confused.
"Anybody know?" Mrs. McCartney wondered, looking around. She noticed a hand, "Miss O'Shea?"
"That tells what it is. See the tiny G?" Linda looked towards her crush.
"Yeah."
"That means it's a gas. The AQ is aqueous, so it can dissolve in water. The L is liquid."
"Ohhh," Danny nodded, then smiled. "Thanks."
Linda blushed, "no problem."
"Very good, Miss O'Shea." Mrs. McCartney praised. "Does that help, Mr. Reagan?"
"Yeah."
"Good..."
************
"Hey, Linda!"
Linda stood at her unopened locker and looked towards the direction of the voice. "Hi, Danny. What's up?"
"Thanks for explaining that. I had totally forgotten about it."
"No problem."
"How come you're so smart?"
She felt her face heat up, "I took chemistry last year, is all." She shrugged and opened her locker. Letting out a little scream, she jumped behind Danny.
"Hey, that looks really real!" He bent over and picked up the snake that had jumped out at Linda. It moved in his hand, and he dropped it. "Oh, shit. That is real!"
"What's the problem?" Principal Mazor walked up to the students who were gathered around.
"It's a real snake!" A student pointed to the green snake.
"Cool!" Joe Reagan pushes his way through the crowd. "A real snake! Can I keep 'im?" He asked his older brother.
"Uh, no, sorry, Joey. But I don't think Mom would like him."
The principal picked up the snake expertly, "who does this creature belong to?"
"Linda!" Marianne shouted above the crowd.
"Eww! Gross, no! That is not mine! I hate snakes!" The blonde still stood behind her crush.
"It was in your locker."
"And our lockers don't have locks. You wouldn't even have to pick it in order to get in!"
"She's got a point, Mazor," Danny looked to the principal. "Very lousy security. Anybody could waltz in here and plant a bomb in a locker."
The principal gave Danny a look he was very used to. "Who's snake is this, then?"
"Who cares?" Linda spoke up, "just get rid of it!"
"Here," he gave it to Joe. "Extract it to the outer perimeter."
"Got it!" Joe smiles widely and walked out with the snake, while the students went back to getting their books.
Danny bent over and started gathering Linda's things. "I guess you hate snakes, huh?" He handed her the books.
"Boy, do I hate them!" Linda peered into her locker, "how'd he jump out at me anyways?"