mind, really. I like chemistry. Even with the numbers and the formulas, it’s more interesting than math. Except my gloves are way too big for my hands, so I have to keep pulling them up, and then water gets in the tips of the fingers and the whole thing makes them feel totally pointless, but Thomas said it’s unsafe to wash without them, so I guess I’ll have to suffer.
“I think I’ve got it,” I say.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, thanks though.”
“You still up for lunch?”
I glance out the window of the classroom. Even if I wasn’t, there’s really nowhere to go. Apparently, Mrs. Liu is out sick today, and I really don’t want to spend any more time than I need to around her substitute. And whatever sunlight was hanging around this morning is now hiding behind thick layers of black clouds and rain. So the quad’s out too.
“Don’t really have a choice, do I?” I tease, rinsing out the last beaker.
“Not unless you plan on making a paper boat out of your sketches, which is not something I recommend you doing, as it would be a huge waste of talent. So yes, you have no choice.”
“I could go to the art room.”
“There you go, poking holes in my plan. Besides, I hear Mrs. Liu is out today or something.”
“So you orchestrated this thunderstorm and made Mrs. Liu sick, just so I’d have to have lunch with you?”
“Nooo.” He drags out the O sound. “But if you happen to see an evil-looking weather machine in someone’s backyard, I most definitely do not live there.”
“No worries, I won’t call the FBI or anything. And I already told you yes.”
“Just making sure you weren’t having second thoughts.”
“Funny, I think all I have these days are second thoughts.”
Nathan gives me a sort of look, but then he just laughs me off.
“Hope you two are getting real excited about cleaning your station,” Thomas says from his desk.
“Sorry, Mr. W!” Nathan grabs a wet rag and starts wiping down our desk, smiling like a goof the entire time.
The moment I step through the cafeteria doors with Nathan I want to turn around and run. Maybe a paper boat isn’t such a terrible idea. I can probably make something fairly safe with a few layers. But leaving is impossible, thanks to the crowd of my fellow classmates pushing us farther and farther in.
“Sorry, it’s a bit of a jungle in here. Don’t fight the crowd, that’s how you get trampled.” Nathan takes me by the shoulder and leads me to this set of tables that’s in an elevated part of the cafeteria. We steer right toward the one at the far end, settled in the corner where two girls are sitting together.
“Ladies.” Nathan grabs my shoulders. “This is the mysterious Benjamin De Backer you’ve heard so much about.”
Both the girls look around my age. One of them has dark brown skin, darker than Nathan’s, and her hair is done in this mix of black and blue braids. She’s currently unpacking her lunch from this polka-dot lunch box that I have to admit I’m sort of in love with.
The other girl is Korean American, thick-frame glasses sitting on the very edge of her nose, wearing a denim jacket decorated in at least a dozen different buttons and enamel pins. They both look up when Nathan starts talking.
“Ben, this is Meleika Lewis.” He points to the girl with the braids, and Meleika waves at me.
“You can call me Mel.” Meleika smiles.
Then he points to the other girl with all the buttons. “And this is Sophie Yeun.” Nathan claps his hands. “I’m gonna go get in line. You want anything, Ben?”
It’s then that I realize I don’t have any money on me, and I doubt there’s been any magically added to the student account I’ve yet to touch. “No, thanks, I’m good.” I’m used to not eating until I get to Hannah’s house anyway.
“Okay, girls, don’t tear him apart.” Nathan claps me on the back and leaves me with two girls I’ve known for all of twenty seconds. I take the empty seat in front of me, right across from Meleika, mostly so I’m not standing there like some total creep.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ben.” Meleika tears open a bag of chips and offers them to me. “Want one?”
“I’m good, thanks though.”
“Nathan’s told us a lot about you,” she says.
“He has?”
Sophie answers first. “He said you ate lunch out on the quad, with the burnouts.”
“I do.” Then I think about