Chemistry is, well technically, chemistry is the study of matter. But I prefer to see it as the study of change.

OKAY, before I go on any further, I wanna put it out there that Carmen is a real pain in the ass and yet, ironically, I would end up owing most of what would happen next all to her.

Carmen had come up to me after lunch, taunting me once again for failing to ask out the new girl.

"It's now or never, Des," she said, just as the next period, Chemistry, was about to begin and we were all walking to the lab.

Once we were all settled in, Carmen moved away from our table, which was a bit strange as we always partnered together during lab lessons. Darcy was not taking Chemistry at the time so she was not in our class.

Before I could even ask what the hell Carmen was doing, Mr. Clarkson had already walked into the lab.

"Alright, everyone," he started, his thick sandy hair contrasting greatly with his short stature, "everybody partner up! We're going to be practicing Titration today! I'm looking at you Mr. Turner."

I looked at Carmen and going like "what the hell?" to which she responded by nudging her head to a different direction and going, "duh".

Following her gaze, I soon realized what she was trying to do. She was pointing me towards the new girl who, like me, was lacking a lab partner.

Son of a bitch just chem-trapped me!

I tensed, turning back to Carmen who furiously spread out her hands and mentally asking me, "Bro, what the hell are you waiting for?"

For a brief moment, I thought I could get myself out of that situation but the new girl had already spotted me and I could not look away. So, I decided to take the high road and let her walk over to my table.

"Hey," she said, shortly before taking a seat next to me and I think I might have replied, though I'm not sure what came out of my mouth.

The lesson's equipment was already being laid out on the table like flasks, tripod stands, burettes and thermometers. I was positive that if I picked up that thermometer, the mercury inside it would have literally burst out of the glass.

I knew I had to find a way to salvage the situation before I made a total dick of myself and I saw my chance.

The new g—okay. . . I knew her name. It's just that's what everybody had been calling her ever since she set foot at Stonewall High, two weeks ago and other than that, all I knew about her was she was Asian and had long black hair that flowed straight down over her back and shoulders, kind of giving off that early two thousand vibe as it settled over her dark brown eyes in bangs.

A stray strand of hair had found its way onto the table as she leaned to examine the equipment and was whisking it back with her right hand when I noticed something on the inside of her wrist.

"Nice tat. . ." I said, waiting for her response but instead got a puzzled look.

"Oh, sorry," I quickly added, sensing the confusion, "I mean, nice tattoo."

"Oh," she reacted with a smile, her cheeks reddening. She pulled down the sleeve of her blue sweater and covered up the tattoo, "thanks."

"Sorry," another apology, sensing I'd crossed a boundary of some kind. "I—"

"You didn't mean to," she cut me off, saying exactly what I was about to. She smiled some more, her eyes meeting mine. "I know. It's okay, Desmond Turner."

"How did you—"

"Instagram and the teacher called you earlier."

"Oh," I said, feeling like a fool but I didn't let that hold me back. "You're Sabrina. . ."— my eyes quickly darted down towards the Chemistry workbook on which she rested one hand. I caught the inscription 'Sabrina P. Lin'— "Sabrina Lin, right?"

"You cracked it," she said.

I set up the equipment, using that moment to steal a glance from Carmen, who bore her eyes at me and going like "So, have you done it?"

I turned back to Sabrina Lin. "Hey, I umm. . .I was wondering if umm. . ."

Shit! What the hell's happening to me? Just do it!

"Would you err. . ." I accidentally dropped a flask and barely managed to catch it before it could hit the floor. I returned it to its initial position and it happened again. A sudden flash of unnatural green light, on the flask's reflective surface. I blinked and the light was gone.

"Are you trying to ask me out?" The words came out blunt and direct, the same eerie way she'd finished my other statement, and it was when I caught her smiling that made me even more embarrassed as I replied, "W-would you say yes if I was?" I shook my head as subtly as possible, trying to ignore what had just happened. No way I was going to let whatever this was ruin it for me.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"I'm pretty sure your friend over there is going to murder you if I don't," she said, "yes, I'll go out with you."

At that, I turned around to give Carmen a thumbs-up like the total doofus I was, and she went ecstatic to say the least.

That was not all. There was more. Towards the end of school, Sabrina had called me over. "Hey, so, what are you doing tomorrow right after class?"

"For starters, try to make sure a certain friend of mine isn't planning an elaborate scheme to pull on me on my birthday," I said.

"There's something I wanted to show you."

"Oh, okay," I remarked at that random proposition, "what is it?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to be there to see it."

I started getting a little excited and confused. What was she up to?

"Consider it a birthday present."

I nodded with a frown. "And where exactly is this 'present'?"

Sabrina did something unexpected. She started by looking over her shoulder as if making sure that nobody else could hear her before going on to whisper in my ear.

"Immediately after school," she then added aloud, "don't be late."

Carmen found me still pondering over what Sabrina had just told me and had already left before I could ask further questions.

"Now that wasn't so hard!" Carmen teased. "We're heading out to the Santa Monica Pier, wanna come?"

"I can't. There's some books I gotta return to the library," I lied, showing her a set of different History covers. An entire rave disguised as a birthday party was waiting to tear me apart over the weekend—I couldn't bear getting into more parties before then. Being a party animal was more Carmen's style.

"You and your books," Carmen lamented, "you really need to take a break!"

"Err. . .that's what tomorrow is for, thanks to you!"

I watched Carmen get into her Camaro with her girlfriend along with a group of other seniors and we parted ways.

It was already dark out by the time I was coming from the library. Turns out I didn't even have to lie after all. One way or another, a book would always seem to find its way towards me; kind of like a curse. Little did I know how much I would come to miss such moments—when all you had to worry about was paper clustered and bound together with covers. I digress. As someone who cycled on the daily, I had come to learn my way through multiple streets and alleys in the whole of Midtown Sacramento and had just decided to ride down a street when my bike acted up.

Great! Here we go again!

There was a light gale blowing by that could be heard cutting through the power lines as I dismounted and set down my backpack in order to examine the bike. I sat on my haunches, slipping back a silver chain into my shirt. A chain that served as the last physical reminder of someone I wished I had known longer.

I proceeded to identify the problem and to my amazement, nothing seemed to be wrong with my bike. Its own chain was still in place. I thought about reconsidering Carmen's offer and getting a car and had stood up to get my backpack when I thought I heard something.

The wind. It had reduced its blowing and I could feel a breeze across my face. Across my ears, brushing past my lobes and that was when it came.

One can hear a number of things in the wind but then the voice came again, louder this time.

Desmond. . .

I gasped and dropped my backpack. I waited for the voice again but the whispering had reverted to being just a breeze, a soundless breeze that had me standing still, as if expecting something to happen.

That feeling started to get worse and I swear it was like someone or something was watching me. Why was I feeling this way? I'd been through a lot of shady streets before and not once had a single hair on my body ever stood up, except for every time I had tried to talk to Sabrina Lin. What was I feeling? Was it. . .fear?

The foreboding feeling intensified and I tried to turn around but my whole body had somehow lost its mobility.

I then caught a strange sound. It was in rhythmic fashion, unable to discern at first until it started growing louder and clearer. It was a sound that I was quite familiar with. It was the sound of hooves. Yap, that's right. Hooves as in horse hooves, slowly approaching me from behind and then they stopped. The sound stopped.

I waited, struggling with my own breathing.

On my right shoulder, I felt something like a human hand gently settling itself and my whole body went rigid but not with shock or fear but more like a peculiar warmth and I could feel myself calming down.

I risked a glance, slowly turning my head and my eyes went wide after catching the arm on my shoulder start glowing. It was a brilliant neon green and the light grew brighter and brighter as I could feel my body regain mobility until I was able to finally turn around completely.

I did not see anything—at least nothing I could make out as I ended up getting hit by a wave of bright green glowing light and lost my footing. I fell on my back and watched as the light glowed brighter until it waned out all at once and it was the end that really had me. I was sure I could hear a horse neighing, its sound vanishing together with the light. Everything then returned to normal: the wind and the darkening night sky.

"What in the. . ." obviously, I was shocked beyond my wits and did not want to hang around there and wait for more weird stuff to happen.

My bike then magically worked after that and I rode all the way home where I found a note on the fridge from my mom. She had written that she had to go to work early that night due to an emergency and finished with a 'happy birthday' and a terribly drawn heart emote that looked more like Pac-Man turned upside down, his mouth facing upwards.

My mom was a nurse and worked the night shifts at the Sacramento Hospital and we rarely saw each other most of the day, except maybe for the weekends and that was if I did not have some kind of project going on. Damn, Carmen was right. I really do need a break. But so does my mom and yet here we are. . .

I set the note down and was just opening the fridge when I noticed something on my right arm. It was right over the crook of my elbow and as I squinted at it, it started to take form. A pointy symbol. It was barely visible and I almost ignored it, assuming that someone at school had used a pen on it when it started to glow. It was only for a second but it had lit up in the same neon green color as back in the alley, allowing me to make out a clear outline of what looked like an arrow, pointing down along my arm.

Once the light had waned, the symbol was still there. I tried rubbing it off first with my thumb and then with water and soap but it did not wash off. I then stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, looking back at a fairly tall black kid with thick dark tapered hair, down to the brown eyes and thinking to myself, what is going on?