Lightning Moments

“Hi there, Louis!” I exclaimed with enthusiasm as I stopped in front of his locker.

He gave me a confused look before glancing behind him, only to bring his gaze back to me again. “Why are you so chipper? Are you high?”

I let out a loud burst of laughter. “No! Of course not. I just came to tell you that Mika and I are going over your house after school to study.”

“Today?”

“Yeah. Do you have something to do?”

He thought about that for a second. “Depends on what kind of studying we’re doing.”

Cocking an eyebrow at him, I asked, “Um…what?”

“Are we studying her,” Louis grinned cheekily, “or are we going to be studying some lame arse school shit?”

“Lame arse school shit,” I replied automatically. “Chemistry, to be more specific. And God, Louis, desperate for a shag, are you?”

“No way. I’d never shag Mika,” he told me in a strangely reassuring voice, slamming the locker door shut. “She’s all yours.”

“What are you-?” I started, blushing, but he cut me off with a shake of his head.

“You don’t have to say it, mate. I already know.”

“Know what?!”

Giving me a smirk, he maneuvered around me to go down the hallway, toward lunch. “See you after school!” he called, waving for a second by throwing his hand up in the air.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair as I started going the opposite way from him to get to maths. God, that boy was strange sometimes.

* * *

“Okay, so the easiest way to balance an equation,” I started to explain, scooting my chair closer to Mika and leaning over so I could point at the paper of problem sitting in front of her, “is to list all the separate elements so that you can keep written track of how many atoms of each you already have.”

She nodded and did as she was told, writing down the chemical symbols and the number of atoms next to them.

“Now just throw numbers in there until they all match up. I’d start by making sure the ones that are diatomic match up first. Like the hydrogen in the H2O.”

“Oh, okay,” she nodded as she gave the problem a go.

“Are we done yet?” Louis grumbled, throwing his head back against the chair. “I feel like my brain is going to melt.”

“Louis, I haven’t even taught you anything yet. And you’re going to fail the class if you don’t start getting way better grades.”

“That doesn’t bother me,” he mocked, sticking out his tongue.

“That doesn’t bother you?” I laughed loudly. “How are you going to feel when all your friends move up a grade, and you have to stay behind? That we’ll all be graduating, while you’ll still have a whole other year to go?"

“Well, it kind of sucks when you put it that way.” He narrowed his eyes at me, trying to look intimidating, but ultimately failing.

“Welcome to reality, my friend,” I teased, pushing his chemistry book closer to him. “Why don’t you read up on ionic compounds? I think you’ll find them fascinating.”

“Oh, fascinating, huh?” he replied back in an exaggerated dumb voice.

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to Mika. “Having any luck?” I asked her with a smile.

“Yeah, I finished it. I just didn’t want to interrupt you.” She shot a look at Louis and bit her lip to keep herself from laughing.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about him. He’s kind of a loser.”

“Hey!” Louis butted in with a chuckle. “I’m not a loser. School just doesn’t appeal to me. There’s a difference.”

“Mhm,” I patronized. “So you said you got the answer?”

“Yeah, I did. And it’s hard to get them wrong, since, you know, it’s all about counting. So if you can solve the problem, it's pretty much a guaranteed right answer.”

“Right,” I laughed. “Is there anything else you need help with?”

She pondered for a second before pulling out her failing grade, her ridiculously blue eyes scanning the page for anything she might have needed assistance with. “Oh, how do you make a Lewis structure?”

“A what?” Louis questioned, raised eyebrow.

“LEWIS structure, Louis. Not Louis structure.”

“Oh. The s’s run together.” He let out a sigh and snapped dramatically, in an ‘aw, man’ kind of way. Like Swiper the Fox from Dora. Not that I watched Dora. “I thought Ms. Spears finally named something in chemistry after me. Because she and I…” He turned to Mika and raised his eyebrows, “have a lot of chemistry.”

“You wish,” I snorted.

“We do! I know she wants me.”

“To jump of a cliff, maybe,” I offered.

“NO!” Louis laughed. “She wants my body. Everyone wants my body.”

“Mate, I can tell you right here that I don’t want your body.”

“Yes, you do.” He winked at me suggestively. “It’s okay, Liam. I want yours, too.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Mika was scribbling on a paper, pretending not to be listening. Probably because we were making her feel awkward when we crossed over into the gay territory. After all, she didn't really know us well enough to get our humor yet.

“Sorry, what did you ask me to explain?” I asked, blushing a little.

She shook her head. “Never mind. I looked back in my notes and figured it out. God, I’m so dumb.”

“You’re not dumb!” I encouraged her. “Everyone has off days.”

“Whatever you say,” she mused, not really paying much attention to me.

“Ouch,” Louis muttered, snickering under his breath.

Glaring at him, I snapped a kick in his direction, connecting with his leg, just under his knee.

“SHIT,” he exclaimed. “That hurt.”

“Having a problem over there, Louis?” I asked condescendingly, raising my eyebrows warningly.

“Yeah. I think a crab crawled into my shoe and snapped at my toe.”

Mika finally perked up her head, giving him a look. “We’re nowhere near the beach…” she trailed off. “And I’m pretty sure a crab is too big to fit into your shoe while you’re wearing it.”

I laughed and nodded, pointing at her. “What Mika said.” Then, I turned to her and smiled. “I knew I liked you.”

“I thought I liked you,” Louis snuffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “But you just ruined my joke. So I changed my mind.”

She pouted at him for a second. “Ouch, Louis. That hurts. Really. I’m crying on the inside.”

“I sense some sarcasm in that,” he countered, “and there shouldn’t be. I’ve sent people into spiraling depressions because I didn’t like them.”

“I like how you’re proud of that.” She laughed and shook her head slowly.

“Of course I am. I’m super influential, love.”

“If you say so.” She looked back down at her work, flipping through a couple pages, her long eyelashes making shadows on her cheekbones.

I grinned over at Louis, who was obviously keeping himself from laughing.

God, who knew studying could be so entertaining?

“Okay, so, Liam” Mika started, leaving the silliness behind her as she leaned toward me, her pen pointing at a specific problem on her exam, “how do you do oxidation problems?”

I smiled and started explaining it to her, ignoring Louis’ constant grumbling in the background.