Mad Science/Club (Pete) 5

From Create Your Own Story

You decide to raise your hand. Taylor does too, as well as one of the other kids. Allison counts the hands.

"It's decided then. Our class mascot is a wolf." A few hands go up. "Okay, anyone who wants to can draw a wolf for tomorrow. We'll vote on the pictures then, and the best one is our mascot image. For now, it's off to your first class."

Allison stops you and Taylor before you get out the door.

"Okay, what's up with you two?"

"What do you mean?"

She holds up two pieces of paper, both with her name written on them.

"Now, Emily Taylor and Pete Williams, are you two in cahoots?"

You respond in unison, which doesn't help your case. "No." Then you both start giggling.

"Hmm. Just so you know, I'm going to be keeping my eye on both of you." She sends you off to your regular classes.

You suffer through the boring normal-placed learning of your Math, English, and Social Studies classes. But after that it's fourth period, Club Period!

Each student has been allowed to pick a topic for "self-directed study". This is kind of like a class, but the students work together to learn, and teachers are only there to be a resource. Rather than a class, they call it a "club", and it can be in just about any field where five or more students could be found with a common interest. You took Variant Science as your first choice, and apparently so did enough other people. That meant that in fourth period you came down to the sub-basement, room B201.

There are a couple dozen other kids in the room, from all grade levels. They're mostly boys, but there are a few girls here. You spot Taylor and immediately join her.

She starts talking as you come up. "Hey! I didn't know you'd signed up for Mad Science too!"

"Mad Science? I thought it was Variant Science!"

"It is, but the seniors call it Mad Science because it's cooler. So, have you done any experiments?"

"Yeah. I turned our pet canary invisible. Now the only way we can tell he's in his cage is from the singing."

"Cool. I made my pet rabbit semi-anthropomorphic. She can actually take care of herself now, mostly, but she does spend a lot of time ... enjoying herself." She waves her hand up and down near her groin in case I somehow hadn't gotten it.

"That's a little disturbing."

"Not as bad as when she sits in my big brother's lap and does it. She's only eighteen inches tall!"

You try not to think about the image that's forming. "Do you want to sit together?" If you're going to be in 'cahoots' with her you might as well sit together.

"Sure." She takes your hand; this is the first time a girl has actually reached out to touch you, and it doesn't look like "Ew! Gross!" is going to he heard anytime soon.

"Emily!" It was Barrie, the guy she'd fought over the desk with. He was frowning.

"Hi, Trevor. Trevor, this is Pete; Pete, Trevor. Trevor and I have known each other since grade seven."

Trevor smiles, but the smile doesn't come up to his eyes. "Pete. So Emmie, should we grab seats?"

"Good idea. Lets get three together."

Trevor frowns again and you get it. Emily's his girlfriend. Whether she knows it or not. You get the feeling things are going to get complicated.

Trevor finds three seats together and takes the middle one. Emily flashes you a weak smile and sits on the opposite side of Trevor. A few seconds later the Teacher Rep arrives. It's Allison.

Every other male eye in the room is riveted on her; some of the female eyes too. You glance over at Emily in case she's unnerved by the desk-thumping to come, and notice her glancing over at you. She blushes and turns to look at Allison.

"Hello again to you Sophs and Seniors, and welcome to our new crop of bright young freshmen!" She punctuates it with a desk slap. "It's great to see so many interested in Variant Science, or as we prefer to call it ... Mad Science!" A flash of light goes off behind her, accompanied by a low rumble of thunder.

"If you're continuing an old project, I need your updated plan. If you're starting a new project, I'll need a brief summary of what you intend to do and how you intend to do it. It's probably best for you freshmen if you join up with a senior student for a few classes to help you get the hang of the equipment, but that choice is yours. Snap to it!"

"It'd probably be good to watch the seniors for a bit." Trevor was very rational. Not you. An idea for a project is already forming in your head.

• You want to build a time machine.
• You want to turn lead into non-radioactive gold.
• You want to create a mind-reading device.