Chemistry

You soon make it to the chemistry block; it's not far to walk. As you arrive at your chemistry class, you see that you’ve only just made it, and are the last one into the lab. You grab a lab coat and sit down with a couple of your guy friends, Nick and Jake. Your teacher outlines the day’s experiment - you’ll be working in pairs on titrations, and will be starting immediately. You turn to Jake, your usual lab partner.

“Shall we work together then?” you ask.

“Sure,” he replies, “You go and get the glassware, I’ll get the reagents.”

Between you, you soon get the experiment underway, despite your usual arguments over the best way to conduct the investigation. After a few titrations, you run out of the acid you are using, and head over to the prep room to get some more. As you return, you see Jake looking confused.

“It’s just not reacting,” he complains, “There’s no colour change at all.”

“What happened?” you ask, frowning, “Did you even put in any indicator?”

Suddenly it dawns on him what a silly mistake he’s made, forgetting the phenolphthalein indicator which will show when the reaction has finished. You roll your eyes in exasperation.

“Bloody hell, you stupid boy!” you snap, “Why do I even work with you? I spent ages making up those damn standard solutions, and now you’ve wasted them!”

Across the table, Nick and his lab partner laugh.

“Keeping him under control are you, Lysandra?” he teases, “You little dominatrix!”

You laugh along, secretly half amused and half exasperated at your friends' obliviousness: little do they know, the truth is the complete opposite. His comment reminds you of your strange experience on the bus, the arousal and the powerlessness. You find yourself longing for it once more, and your mind wandersfor the rest of the lesson, while you and Jake try and rescue your experiment. You are rather relieved when the lesson ends, and you clear away your apparatus and lab notebooks. You leave the classroom, and are about to set your books down and read in the chemistry block’s study area when you hear a loud noise from outside.