//------------------------------// // Element number 35-Bromine // Story: What’s your past like? // by ZippStorm23 //------------------------------// “Damn it, i messed up,” Izzy groaned “Come here, i have tons of experience in hair curlers,” Pipp replied, taking the curling iron from her hand “Guys, did you forget we have swim class today? Your curls are gonna be soaked,” Sunny said from the breakfast table, her mouth full of toast. “oh yeah, better put this away then,” Izzy said, switching off the curling iron. “Crap we have swim class today?” Zipp said, whipping her head around, her hair half purple half pink, out of the other’s view. “Yea, she can get into the Olympics with her swimming, like no cap, so what are you worried about?” Pipp asked, turning to look at er sister while brushing her waist-length coloured blue hair. They locked eyes for a moment Shit I’ve been caught “Oh, y-y’know, i uh forgot to pack a towel for my hair, heh,” she said, replying to her sister and looked away quickly. “Hey, did Hitch leave already?” Sunny asked, getting up from the table. “Yeah, he left early to help arrange the auditorium for the first graders party,” Izzy said, Shit shit, what am i gonna do i ran out of the waterproof one last week, maybe i could speed off to one of the beauty stores or something, what time is it, shit ill be late to school by then, what if I steal Pipp’s one then, no she’ll immediately get suspicious, THINK ZIPP THINK! Ok i think wearing my full body suit, it covers my arms and legs, that could work, but ill need to secure the shower rooms as soon as i get out of the damn pool, which means I’ll need to avoid the damn teacher talking to me about joining the swim team, that could be tric— “You good Zipp?” Pipp asked, now sliding a book into her bag adorned with sequins all over. “You kind of went all pale and your eyes were wide as saucers,” Shaking her head violently and turning her head towards her sister, she replied, “Huh, what, me? I’m fine, i was just thinking about today’s um, uh, dance practice, in gym class, i really suck at that, now, i need to pack my bag,” Sprinting off into her room she slammed the door and stood against the door. Rummaging through her closet, she found a folded up a body suit that was exactly the same colour as her skin. She tossed it onto the bed and grabbed a bottle of concealer. “Guys let’s go, the bus’ll be here in a couple minutes,” she heard Izzy say from the hall. “Coming-Hey!” Pipp said as Zipp took a quick picture of her in the mirror applying lipstick with her lips puckered up. Smirking at her, she dashed towards the hall before she could say anything. In school “Alright, everyone grab your suits and go change i want everyone back within 10 minutes, and that’s being generous, hustle guys!” As they all dashed towards the hangers, Zipp was ahead of all of them and dashed into the cubicle. Locking herself inside, she changed into the scratchy full swim suit, after putting on her body suit. Inspecting her arms and legs and being satisfied with her looks, she grabbed her dark blue jeans and dark green T-shirt before leaving the stall. “Wow, Davis, you look so bright today, did you finally take my advice and use toilet cleaner to clean your face?” Zipp looked slightly down and smirked at her. The red-haired girl, Whitney Sugar Moonlight, looked up at her, her cronies, Young Rosedust Clive, Courtney Lily Melody and Violette Marcy Barette laughing at her. The 4 thought they were “of prestige” as they all had 3 names, shocker. “Yea i did, how about you take your own advice someday, it could help with all that acne,” She said, walking past her in long strides, a satisfied smirk on her face as she heard her scoff. “Ok glad everyone’s finally done, now your swim test is in 2 weeks, so we’re gonna have a practice today. Im gonna group you guys up by roll number, so like 1, 2 & 3 are gonna be in one group, so on so forth, now hustle!” Ms Abbott clapped her hands together as she urged them to get into their groups. Izzy, Hitch and Gloria Gisella were in the same group, while Sunny was with Mistella Dawn and Percy Smith. While Mistella was a friend of Sunny’s, she had a small grudge towards Percy, who had once accused her of cheating during an exam and got her into a whole set of interrogations and footage watching. That was a long week. Zipp groaned. She was the last one in her class, the second last was Rosedust and third last was, oh crap, Sugar. This is gonna be a looong day She thought miserably as she went to stand with them. “Alright, let’s start with the last group today, Sugar’s group let’s go,” she said calling them out. Zipp swallowed. Sugar and Rosedust were both in the school’s swim team, and coming second among them seemed like a far fetch to Zipp. While she knew she was good, she didn’t know how good they were. “Alright on the count of 3, in position, Zipp! What did I say last week, you look at the water, not at your feet!” She screamed. She cringed internally as Ms Abbott started counting. As soon as heard 3, her feet pushed her off the board and into the cold water. Her muscles tensed as she treaded water, gasping for air less frequently than the average swimmer would. She kept her eyes closed, despite the teacher always telling them to keep their eyes open to avoid changing direction or colliding with something. After what felt like 200m, she opened her eyes and caught sight of the red line marking the end right in front of her. She continued to swim until the red line passed beneath her. She straightened in the water and gasped for air. Wiping her eyes, she was shocked to see Sugar and Rosedust just over halfway done. Pushing herself out of the water, she stood up and walked back to the group. “Damn, she beat Sugar!” “Can you believe it?” “I wouldn’t have if i hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” “Who knew she could beat Sugar?” She folded her arms and held her elbows as she made her way in between people whispering about her. “Oh my gosh Zipp! You beat her!” Izzy gushed, shaking her shoulders aggressively. “Hey, i guess you live and learn,” she said, shrugging and returning to her spot. As she watched the last group plunge into the water, she got ready to grab her tote bag from the shelf and dash into the cubicle. Every muscle of her body tensed as she saw the teacher open her mouth. “Alright, you guys are dismissed, remember your swim test is 2 weeks away!” She said, the second part of her sentence going unheard by the group of teenagers dashing towards the shelves. To her relief, she got a cubicle and locked herself in with shaking hands. Sighing, she hung the bag on the hanger, removed the concealer from the bag and placed it on the small board in the corner, acting as a wide ledge. Quickly showering, drying up and dressing into the same clothes as before, she hurried to apply the concealer on her arms, covering up what looked like Korean rice cakes flattened against her skin. Rubbing them as hard as she could and ignoring the severe burning sensation. Agony coursed through her veins but she focussed on nothing but covering up the lotion. With her arms done, she bent down and folded her jeans up an inch. The lotion seemed to be wearing off a little at the sides, her skin appearing a little red and irritated. Rolling her eyes and scoffing, she applied the concealer and rubbed it in until it looked believable. She straightened up and toweled her hair dry, careful not to rub too hard lest she rub off the hair colour. Stuffing the towel in a plastic bag, she tossed the concealer into the tote bag and left the cubicle in a rush. “Alright, who can tell me the name and exact atomic mass of element 35 of the Periodic table, let’s see, Ms Davis let’s have you answer,” She rolled her eyes and answered, “Bromine, and its atomic mass is 79.904,” Mr Quince narrowed his eyes and said “Was that a hint of arrogance I heard, Ms Davis? You think you’re really smart is it, if that’s so come up here and list all the Elements of the bottom 2 rows and their atomic masses. I’m not even asking to draw it out. If you can get even half of them, I’ll not assign a single piece of homework to you for the next 2 weeks, “ Everyone turned around to stare at her. Sitting at the back had one disadvantage; if people were to stare at you, you could see every single one of their curious eyes burning through your soul. Standing up, the chair legs scraped on the floor, echoing throughout the silent classroom, the only noise heard was the noise in her own head. Oh i cant wait to show this son of a bitch the awesome shit i can do, oh im gonna have so much fun with no homework for 2 weeks Taking the chalk from his open palm, she raised her hand to the board, closed her eyes and opened them, a fire lit in them. Writing on the board, her shoulders relaxed, as though the burdens she had been carrying had all be alleviated. Halfway through the first row, she din’t stop. Murmurs arose from the class that grew louder as she completed the first row. As she shifted her hand lower to start the second row, somebody shouted, and she froze. “Let’s go Zipp! You can do it! Don’t stop now!” The voice sounded awfully familiar, but she willed her hand to keep writing and her head to not turn around to see who had said that. As she progressed further, she heard another shout. Ignoring it she continued to write furiously. Another element, another shout. Within a couple of seconds, the whole class was filled with cheers as though she was an Olympic runner sprinting at the end of a race. Undeterred by Mr Quince’s shouts to quieten down, they continued to cheer her on. As she finished the last element, she raised the chalk in the air and the class erupted in applause. With the most smug smirk she could show, she passed the chalk back to a shocked Mr Quince, “So i take it i won’t be getting homework for 2 weeks? Thanks,” Striding back to her seat, she felt a little queasy from the rush of adrenaline, then remembered about that shout. As people around her gushed to her, she could only hear one thing in her head. The voice still echoed in her head, and she looked to the right, right beside the door. The boy was wearing a black hoodie, his hazelnut brown hair exposed. That feeling returned to her; that boy was with her in only Mr Quince’s class, and he was the most shy and quiet kid she had ever seen. Having heard his voice and matching his hair colour to it, pieces of the puzzle snapped together. Was he whom she thought he was? Him? No way, i havent seen him since…forever. There’s no way The bell ringing snapped her out of her thoughts as she packed her bag and left eh classroom.