Bounded Minds: Story Hour!

"Achoo!" She blew into her hanky, she looked him up and down trying her best to remember. Her, apparent cold didn't make understanding her English any easier, and to be honest she didn't feel like talking, but she might as well be polite.

"I sorry, I don't remember you, wait...you do look a little a same. No, that's not how you say it." her brow furrowed, she brought up all the English she could bother to remember.

"How you say it? You look, recent, no, you are very fresh? no... Ay yi! My english is worst today then yesterday *Choo!*"

She gave up and just put her head back down. "I feel like Cut"

 

Nick had met foreigners before, but didn't expect her thick accent.

"You feel like what?" he asked, trying to make sense of what she meant.

He looked at her. She seemed sleep deprived due to the bags under her eyes, and her clothes were dirty. She must have been saying she didn't feel well.

"I saw you yesterday with a group of people. It looked like there was an argument. I was across the street but kinda far away. Im new here, my names Nick" he said, putting on a friendly smile.

 

"Kubi, nice to meet you. Oh a never mind what I said earlier. Was a swear. Yesterday was nothing much really, apparently we are all perverts. Halgiehs words not mine, eh, how ever you say her name."

 

"Haley you mean? Who is she? Are you friends?" Nick asked, to keep the conversation going. He wondered where she was from, but didnt ask as he didn't want to be rude.

 

Wow. He didn't even make it past 2 minutes without chatting up a storm. "Travis! Since you're clearly so eager to speak, how would you like to enlighten the class? Do tell, what is redox?" It was almost deja vu; Ewan turned, glaring at the new student expectantly once more. "Go on, don't be shy. If nothing else, share your conversation with the class."

 

Redox? Sounds like Botox....ew.

Haleigh rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her seat. She would've muttered that aloud, but there was an empty place beside her and no best friend to laugh with.

Adelie was late, which was not all that surprising. Maybe she did too much studying with Terry. She had ignored her phone calls last night.

Maybe she'd gotten sick from the chorus of coughs and sneezes. A sneeze in the background quickly proved the point.

She could've cut chemistry without telling her, just for the fun of it...most likely that one.

Well whatever the case; no Adelie, meant no distraction. And no distraction, meant class was b-o-r-i-n-g.

Boring.

Haleigh sighed for emphasis. What was she supposed to do for the next fourty-five minutes to an hour? Actually listen to Mr. Forrester talk about Redox? Which if it had anything to do with Botox would be highly dangerous, considering it had the word RED in it.

She could hardly bare to think on that.

Her last resort was to forget Mr. Forrester all together and take inventory on all the yawns in the room. Which was pretty many, the foreigner and the new guy had even already struck up a conversation. And she thought she faintly heard her name whispered among their words...

"Go on, don't be shy. If nothing else, share your conversation with the class."

Things just got interesting. Haleigh turned with the rest to stare at the boy, her sharp daggers digging into him.

"Yeah, what's more important than redox? I'm just dying to know." she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

 

"Yeah, what's more important than redox? I'm just dying to know." she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Joshua glanced up at Haleigh. When Lady-boss Adelie wasn't around she seemed more irritate-able than his mother when she couldn't find her car keys in the morning. This, in turn, irritated him, as he could not conceive of a more irritating thing than irritated people being irritated and irritating others with their irritation. The word 'irritation' was second in line, and by the time he looked back at his notepad he was nearly bursting with irri- annoyance.

"Redox reactions are chemical processes in which the oxidation state of the atoms change," he grumbled.

He ventured to scowl at Haleigh, "there you have it, happy now?"

 

"Redox reactions are chemical processes in which the oxidation state of the atoms change,"

"huh?" What the f*** was that? was that even english?

"I sorry, what is language you trying to speak, and can you translate?" Kubi asked raising her brow.

 

"What he said" Nick said, pointing at the guy who had answered for him. He was quite relieved as he had never even heard the word "redox" before. Like Kubi, he too wondered what language "redox" was from.

 

Amii quirked an eyebrow at her classmates and just took down notes. Why bicker when they could just get this class over with much more quickly and try to get some semblance of normalcy back?

"In short, and to translate it even more from his description," Amii nodded toward Joshua before looking at Kubi, since she doubted the girl would even understand that explanation, "it is what happens when the tiny things called atoms - which make up non-living things- have a different... decaying cycle than usual. Isn't it like when a coin gets rusty or turns green?" she asked, trying to verify her own explanation. Amii thought that she had it right, but she wanted to be sure.

Just don't bite my head off about it okay? she mentally warned Josh.

 

Nick looked at the brown haired girl, the Mexican girl, then the boy who described redox. He was sure he recognized all of them but said nothing to avoid Forresters wrath.

Looking back down on his desk, he went back to his notes.

 

Tina was lucky enough to have the sick new student sit right next to her. She wrinkled her nose as she got a wiff of bad B.O. Was Kubi wearing the same clothes as yesterday? The conversation about Redox or whatever went completly unnoticed. "Hey..." Tina whispered as she poked the girl. "Why are you here? You should be in bed...sleeping. Not getting the rest of us here sick." Though the statement was blunt it also held a hint of concern.
"No, can't miss school, I must stay get good grades. Is why I am here, though I understand noth- *Achooo!*" Kubi wiped her nose again.

Tina rolled her eyes. School wasn't important enough to suffer through like that. "Well, could you at least have showered before you came." She said still whispering. "Not to be rude...but you really stink. If Adelie smells you...you'll regret the day you came to America."

"Eh?" Kubi looked suddenly frightened, how could she not have noticed? Even now she smelled nothing, not that it mattered. She sank in her chair looking suddenly ashamed.

"I, don't have shower." She muttered.

"What!?" Tina exclaimed, a little too loudly. Several heads turned to look at her. She glared at them and they turned away. Tina turned back to Kubi, "What do you mean you don't have a shower? Every single house has shower...unless you live in like a cardboard box."

"Lets talk about something else!" She suddenly said. "You like movie's no? what your favorite movie?"

Tina scoffed at her attempt to change subjects. "Yeah, good try. But if I have to sit next to you...I at least want to be able to breathe." Her hand shot into the air and even without the Teacher acknowledging her, Tina said, "Teacher, Kubi's sick. I'm gonna take her to the nurse." Without waiting for approval from either the Teacher or Kubi, Tina grabbed Kubi's hand and literally pulled her out of the classroom. But they didn't head to the nurse's office. Instead they headed in the opposite direction, towards the gym. "I don't care why you don't have a shower at home, or why you don't wanna talk about it. But I do care that you smell like a dumpster and that Adelie could use that against both of us."

Tina pushed through the gym doors and pulled Kubi into the girls locker room. "There." She pointed to the back of the room. "Showers. Fresh towels. Soap. Use them...I'll see if I can find you some fresh clothes."

Kubi was speechless. Unexpectedly she began to tear up. "sniff, thank you, thank you. I am ashamed to ask you. But."

She looked away clearly having to swallow a whole ton of pride in order to ask this. "Can I have some food, too? I not eat in, two days."

Tina stopped with her hand on the door handle. She looked at Kubi with a knowing look. All the signs were there. Why hadn't she seen them before. "Too damn stuck on yourself." Max would've said. "Yeah...sure." She cleared her throat and furrowed her eyebrows, obviously trying to keep up her rough exterior. "Now stop wasting time and take your shower. I'll be back in a bit." With that Tina left the locker room.

She took a deep breath, undressing and throwing her dirt stained clothes on a rack. The water felt good against her skin, washing away the, mud dirt and minor cuts she had gotten. It also hid her tears, It was true she was alone, homeless, knowing no one been this way since she got here. But it was not tears of sadness she shed, but of joy. Tina cared, she had someone who really cared, and respected her enough not to pry into her situation. "You don't have to worry about me anymore mom. I think I'll be okay, I have a friend now."

Tina came back 10 minutes later. Under one arm she held a shirt and pants she found in the Lost-and-found. They smelled halfway decent so they would have to do. In her hand she carried a bag which held a sandwich, juice bottle and a cupcake. She put the food on a nearby chair and the clothes on a rack outside the shower. "Clothes are by the shower when 'ur ready." She said, turning away so that Kubi had privacy.

"Tina!" Her misery was gone, and she seemed to be in a much better mood. She had just finished and hopped out of the shower not really caring she was still, in a state of nature, Smiling brightly. "I thanks! You are a good friend. I make it up to you one day I promise." She gave a very deep bow, she sniffed, but the drops of water did well to hide her tears of gratitude.

"It's fine." Tina replied gruffly. She was glad her back was turned so that her smile was hidden. "Just hurry up; get dressed and eat. We're probably gonna get in trouble for being gone so long." She leaned against a nearby wall. "Oh, just so you know...these showers are always free half and hour before school starts. So you'd better not come into class smelling like a dumpster anymore...k?"

She nodded got dressed quickly and ate even faster.She came out looking (and smelling) much better. With a stupid grin she put and arm around Tina's shoulder while they walked back. "Later I show you were I live. I show you my secrets I only show my good friends. maybe after school okay?" A surprise hug as they went back inside the class.

 

"Redox reactions are chemical processes in which the oxidation state of the atoms change."

"Oh, that's funny. I swear I thought your name was Cornfield. Well, very good then, Travis, that's exactly what it is."

"In short, and to translate it even more from his description, it is what happens when the tiny things called atoms - which make up non-living things- have a different... decaying cycle than usual. Isn't it like when a coin gets rusty or turns green?"

"...what? Okay, I'm going to stop you right there. First off, atoms don't just make up non-living things. Atoms literally make up everything. See your arm? Atoms. The air in this room? Atoms. The space between your ears? Vacuum, but that's a different matter. Secondly, decaying cycle? Like, radioactive decay? What, do you think we're going nuclear today? Okay, so clearly we have a lot to talk about. Redox stands for oxidation-reduction, don't ask why it's flipped around. Essentially, it is exactly as Cornfield put it: it's about atoms changing oxidation states clearly Sharp and Sniffles have somewhere very important go be. What this means is basically a transfer of electrons. So, let's take a look at a quick example." Ewan began scribbling on the chalkboard again. Based on the crowd, approximately one person would understand to the faintest degree and, frankly, Ewan was fine with that. If the others didn't understand, they could always study on their own; he had no intention to hold someone back to patronize the rest. "Let's take lead (ii) oxide and ammonia. The first step is to write out the unbalanced equation:"

PbO(s) + NH3(g) -> N2(g) + H2O(l) + Pb(s). ​

"Next, we need to find the oxidation states of each of these. Based on what we know, we can see that the lead in lead (ii) oxide is +2, the oxide is -2, the nitrogen in ammonia is -3, and each hydrogen is +1– be careful, remember that hydrogen can be -1 sometimes, such as when it's bonded with metals. On the products side, we see that nitrogen and lead are in their elemental forms, meaning they have oxidation states of 0. The hydrogens in water each has one of +1, and the oxygen is -2. Any questions so far?"

 

Nick had no questions, but then again he was just mindlessly taking notes and really paying any actual attention.

That's when he noticed Kubi walk back in with another girl. She was dressed different and looked clean. He noticed her smell before but it didn't bother him that much.

"You got different clothes on. Where did you go?" he asked Kubi, turning to the other girl as she sat down "Hey Im Nick." he said

 

"Not interested." Tina replied indifferently, not even bothering to look at Nick. She grabbed a pen and started bouncing it in between her fingers as she often did when she was bored. There was nothing worse than chemistry.

 

"that's Tina, she's really nice. She's like a bee hive, all stings on the outside, but honey on the inside. Don't worry about how she says things Nick." Kubi chirped.

"Oh and I just went to the change room, say you know what teacher is saying? He keep mixing English with some other language, I can't tell."

As the teacher finished and asked for any questions. Kubi shot her hand up and asked.

"Can, you, a speak, english?!"The class laughed at her apparent mockery, not knowing her question was completely genuine.

 

Nick shrugged at Tina's response, but was a little disappointed as he thought he saw her the night before too. He chuckled at Kubi's question "Im wondering the same thing to be honest." He said to her, planning to see Mr Forrester after the bell rang to ask if there was any after school tutoring for the class "So by the way, what exactly happened yesterday?"

 

"Can, you, a speak, english?!"
The question caught Ewan by surprise, locking him into indecision as he debated whether to violently massaging his forehead with the chalkboard or with his desk. "No, I only speak Canadian. Yes I speak English. I'm sorry, did you come to school drunk or did you only start drinking once you got here? Anyways!" Sometimes, I can't help but asking why I went into teaching. "Since nobody has questions, you clearly all understand. Sharp! You look sharp, enlighten the rest of us: what's the next step, hmm?"

 

"Since nobody has questions, you clearly all understand. Sharp! You look sharp, enlighten the rest of us: what's the next step, hmm?"

"Hmm...what?" Tina's head snapped up as she heard her last name called. "Next step? Uh...I'd have to say 'Death from Boredom' for $200."

 

"Next step? Uh...I'd have to say 'Death from Boredom' for $200."

"Death from Boredom for $200? Very good, that would be..." Ewan grabbed a notebook off of his desk and pretended to read it. "'This person is failing chemistry'. You have 30 seconds to choose your answer."

 

Joshua couldn't help but smirk at Tina as she struggled to solve a simple redox reaction. Honestly, she had always struck him as more brawl than brain, and he had grown confident over the years that she didn't come with a heart. She just enjoyed beating people up. Having arrived at that conclusion, he promptly looked the other way and began looking for an explanation why there were so much brainless students at Stickler High who just couldn't keep their jibs shut, and if they were all born with the attention span of a dot, or if they had contaminated each other. The very notion that this people were in the gene pool at all deeply worried him.

 

A grin crept over Haleigh's face as she watched her classmates squirm in their seats. Today was turning out to be not boring after all. The apparent confusion shown was hilarious. Mr. Forrester sure knew how to put on a good show.

The door creaked open, pulling Haleigh out of her thoughts. Turning her head, she planned to find her fashionably late best friend.

But at the sight of a bright smile, Haleigh groaned.

"Good morning, everybody!" The teacher aide said, waving to all in the room like she was Miss America. Haleigh rolled her eyes to the ceiling. She never understood why Ms. Lockwood was a favorite at Stickler. The woman was so...what's the word?

Annoying? Desperate? A kiss-up (and bad at it)?

Yeah, all of the above.

Oh, and can't forget happy. That smile had to be super glued on.

Ms. Lockwood took a step towards their teacher. "So sorry to interrupt your class, Mr. Forrester. I'm sure you're doing a fantastic job teaching the students. Chemistry is one of the most important subjects in life, of course!"

Seriously? Haleigh bit her tongue to hold in her laughter.

"But, I'm here for a reason." Ms. Lockwood continued. "The principal must speak to your students right away. I was sent to come get them...all of them. Again, my apologies, I know this is very inconvenient for you, but Ms. Garlic can't be kept waiting."

A hush fell over the room.

Even Haleigh had to admit Ms. Lockwood was an ocean breeze compared to that stench of a woman.

 

"Oh, are we in trouble?" Kubi asked waving from her seat. "What ever happened it wasn't me."

It was funny Kubi sounded lightly guilty saying that.

 

Nicks hand immediately stopped taking notes but continued zoning out. Speeches involving principles were always boring.

 

The chalk cracked slightly as it hit the chalkboard and landed in the rail. "Well, I'm sure it's important. Heavens forbid they come to school to learn." Ewan sighed and sat down at his desk. "Okay class, you heard her. Off you go. Just act sober and she might not catch you."