Plop. My stone thumps into the water. Plop. I set down my stones I have left to watch the seeds of my dandelions blow through the air into the wind. It's beautiful, the pearl white mixed with the baby blue of the spring morning.

I hear footsteps. Class must be starting soon. I grab my bag and give my dandelion one more blow before setting it down. Time to do my daily struggling. I laugh because there is nobody else to do it for me.

I step into the science lab to the usual smell of chemicals. I sit down in my normal seat, right next to Patrick. I decide to sleep through the instructions, like always. Plus, I never get caught and Patrick, my annoying yet loving older brother, always picks me, and boy he blabs all the answers out, and therefore, I get A's. Some would think of that as "cheating my way out", but I think of it as "hearing everyone's ideas."

" Today, I will be assigning lab partners. Pick up where you left off on Wednesday. Jayden... with Jack. Helena with...let's see... Patrick." Mrs. Dancer, the science teacher, says. All hope lost there. At least I may get Emily.

"Katie, Karissa, I do think you two may work nicely, yes?" Mrs. Dancer continues. "Stone... hmmm... Emily, I'll try you two together." Is Mrs. Dancer seriously out to get me? She knows how much I wanted Emily and Patrick. "Ohhh, only a few left. Thats a lot of boys, err... you, Mayflower. With Crystal."

Mayflower? I have never heard of a Mayflower in this class, she must be new.

"You three boys can be together, if you behave. This is not gym class." She finishes.

" Hello, Crystal. I saw you by the pond this morning. You are so good at skipping stones. And your dandelions are so pretty." She says energetically. She talks really fast, and a lot.

"You saw that?" I ask her awkwardly.

"Yeah. But who cares? You shouldn't have to hide that."

"So you're new?" I ask. She looks at me, puzzled.

"I've been here for a month now." She replies. Oops.

I play with the bottoms of my fingers. "That is still sort of new." I recover hopefully. Don't want to ruin another chance to meet someone new and actually get them to like me.

"I like the way you think." I let go of the breath I was holding.

"Thanks," I say, "how far did you get? I got to the part where I fell asleep."

Mayflower giggles a little. "You are sooo funny." She says as if I were joking, so I laugh with her. In fact, I was sort of joking. I have never met someone so bubbly. "I had only just added that." Mayflower explains. She points to the beaker full of a blue, foamy substance. "Now, according to the periodic table of elements, Lead mixes with Aluminum, but not with Oxygen. So we are going to need to be extremely careful. Polonium also mixes with lead, so... what do you think C?"

C? Is that my nickname now? Most of the time I go by Chrys.

"I don't know." I say like I was a little kid, trying to hide what a messy thing I did from a demanding adult.

"I think we can use that, that, and that to conceal the mixture away from the oxygen. And then we use something to get the nitrogen in safely.  When we... I drift off to sleep knowing that I might have made a new friend, and something tells me she isn't involved in drama.

                                                    ***

"Wake up" May said. What? She made a nickname for me, it only makes sense if I do the same.

"Don't worry, I'll make you look like you did your part." A sleek grin spreads upon her face like peanut butter on bread.

"Thanks May." I smile as hers gets wider. I really did make a friend.