“I’m not getting my hopes up.”
“You haven’t shown me a picture,” Alisha said, leaning her elbows on the table. “I want to see what he looks like.”
Mei reached for her phone, tapping at the screen and showing them all a photo of a grinning white, sandy-haired guy, a black and white cat curled around his shoulders. “Here he is. His name is James.”
“He’s cute.”
“He seems…nice.”
Lily smiled at the two different responses, agreeing more with Andrew than Alisha. “He doesn’t look like a serial killer,” she said, and Mei laughed.
“Well, I’m glad he has your seal of approval.”
They chatted until their glasses were empty before going their separate ways. Lily drove home content, her cheeks hurting from smiling, feeling like she finally belonged.
* * *
Lily checked and rechecked the PowerPoint she’d made for her first science club three times while waiting for her classroom to fill, students trickling in from classes they’d had in other parts of the school.
There was no reason for her to be nervous. She had four weeks of teaching under her belt with no disasters, but this felt different. These weren’t all kids she was familiar with, for one, although she did recognize several of the faces settling at the desks in front of her. Macie was one of them, smiling shyly when Lily made eye contact with her.
These were kids that were really interested in science, and she wanted to win them over, nurture the curiosity within them—and do a better job than the teacher she’d replaced. According to Mei and Alisha, she wouldn’t have to try hard to achieve that, but still.
Lily waited five minutes after the bell to start, giving everyone time to arrive, and wiped her sweaty palms on her black slacks as she rose to her feet to stand by the board.
“Welcome, everyone. For those of you that haven’t met me before, I’m Miss Cross. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with chemistry, but for those of you that are, these sessions won’t contain nearly as much math or theory as you’re used to. I want to show you how many different things chemistry can do, and more importantly, I want you to have fun. Is that okay with everyone?”
“Yes, Miss Cross,” sounded as a chorus, and Lily relaxed.
She took a leaf out of Eva’s book and noted down the names of everyone in the room, making her own cheat sheet for when she asked them questions, and then Lily dived right in.
“I want to start with some friendly competition. I have a task for you to do in groups, and the group to get the best results will win a prize.” She tapped a box of chocolates on her desk, grabbing their attention. Another trick taken from Eva, maybe, but Lily wasn’t going to give her credit. She’d been handing out candy for answers since she’d started teaching.
“Your task is to make me copper sulfate crystals from copper oxide and sulfuric acid. On your benches is all the equipment that you need to use—you have ten minutes to brainstorm with your group members and write me a method. Each group can ask me up to three questions, but no more, and there will also be a prize for the best method. Once you’ve shown it to me, you can get started. Your time starts…now.”
They scrambled into action, hushed whispers filling the room, and Lily watched them from her perch on her desk. She gave them a few minutes before she wandered around, knowing they were more likely to ask her something if she was passing by.
“Miss Cross?” Sure enough, a timid voice from the back desk called out as she was making her second pass. “The acid has already been measured out for us, but how much copper oxide should we use?”
Lily glanced down at her sheet of paper. “Good question Jonathan. What do you think?”
“Uhm…not a lot?”
“Are you asking me or telling me? Because if you’re asking me, that counts as another one of your questions.”
“Not a lot,” Jonathan said with more confidence.
“Right. But you do need to add it in excess, or you won’t get any crystals. Do you know what that means?”
An answer came quicker this time. “Keep adding it until it stops dissolving.”
“Good. Let me know if you have any more questions.” Lily continued her loop of the room, stopping to talk to some of the other groups. One seemed reluctant to ask her anything, even when Lily pried, but she couldn’t do much to help them if they didn’t want it. Hopefully they’d start to relax once they got to know her better.
Jonathan’s group won the prize for best method, but it didn’t mean they would make the best crystals. Lily wouldn’t be able to choose a winner until the following week, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of her students as she set them off on the lab task.
Lily liked every part of teaching, but labs were always her favorite. The kids loved them, and it was a good opportunity to engage those of them who struggled with the theory. Watching understanding bloom behind their eyes when they put what they’d learned together with the task they were doing was always a highlight.
Lily couldn’t let them have fun for the whole hour, though. Once they had a dish of copper sulfate to be left to evaporate, she called them to attention. “Now that we’ve done the experiment, let’s go back a step and find out why.”
