CHP 4. Chemistry

 

      The more I study science, the more I understood my magic. It seems, to me, that magic was nothing more than the rearranging of atoms. Had my peers nourished the same curiosity, the same drive, that my race had, well, magic would not be out of reach. Lack of motivation holds them back, as far as I can tell. If only these people knew how close they were to discovering magic. If only every researcher, every student, every scientist knew what the destination could bring. If only they knew the final page of the textbook would contain magic.

      I lay in bed awhile, looking at the chemistry book across the room, on my desk. Empirical formulas, acid-base reactions, diagrams of polymers and other textbook pages flash my thinking like a panic attack. What page is it open to? What page did I last look at after finishing the conversions homework? Did I forget? Exothermic reactions?

      I cannot remember. I get out of bed and walk over to the open textbook. Endothermic reactions. I remember now; those diagrams look familiar. Seven twenty-nine, I catch on the face of the clock on my desk. Well, I can go back to sleep – no morning classes today. I will have to make up the programming work I’m missing. At ten, I am going with Lindsey to the city to get her tattoo. I promised her, and I back my word with my life.

      I sink back into my bed and crawl under the covers. The window is slightly open, so the wind sighs slightly into my room. The rest of my body is protected from the cool breeze, but my face is not.

      My roommate, a small, frail-looking one, enters. She is wrapped in a towel (her hair, too). She squints at me, either to see if I am there or to see if I am asleep. Don’t you have class? She says.  No, not going to class today. Ok, she says and then goes into the closet to change.

      The next moment she is shuffling papers on her desk. I must have awakened at the sound. No, it isn’t my papers being disturbed. She is just grabbing her book and paper and going to class. I still have about two hours before my guardian duties with Lindsey.