“Magnesium!”

The word snaps out of me, sharper than I intend. The ribbon of magnesium, silvery and inert, lies on our lab bench between us like an accusation.

“Sorry,” Guest murmurs, her gaze drifting past my shoulder for the third time in as many minutes. Her hand fumbles for the element, her fingers brushing it without seeing.

Guest is my friend sure, but I'd be lying if I said she hadn't been completely useless the past hour we've been here. Instead of waiting for her move, I just take over majority of the experiment. The clink of glass on glass a punctuation to my irritation.

“Guest, pipette.”

When she doesn't respond, I simply reached for it myself with a click of my tongue.

Then,

“...Potassium tri— ugh, what are you looking at?”

This was the experiment I've been looking forward to the past week. What the hell has Guest so distracted?

When I turned to finally look at Guest, her head was tilted, and there was this soft, utterly foreign smile playing on her lips.

It’s a smile I've never seen before, one I've never earned. I finally follow Guest line of sight, and the there it was. She was staring at the new kid.

A hot, sour feeling pooled in my stomach. I didn't know where it came from and frankly, I didn't want to find out.

The stupid new kid, seriously?

"Oh my god."

At my voice, she finally turned as if waking up. Her eyes, finally caught mine, looking apologetic.

Still, I was pissed.

“Hey.” The word is flat, final. “You’re supposed to be my lab partner.”

“...I am,” she says, and had the audacity to sound faintly wounded, her attention already slipping sideways again towards the idiot.

It's obvious I was sulking by now.

“No, you’re not.” I grip the neck of the flask harder than I intended. “You’re disloyal.” I scoffed.

I look back down at our abandoned experiment, the careful order now feeling meaningless.

"Just record the results,” I mutter, my voice shaky. “Before the bell rings.”

My shoulders were set, tension coiling up my spine, I moved to wash and dry the glassware, slamming them down on the counter with a resounding clink.