Thursday

Lemon Zest quickly donned her safety goggles, a giddy grin plastered on her face. Chemistry class was one of her favorites, next to maybe music class. She was so eager to dig into a new lab that her signature headphones were nowhere to be found—tucked safely away in her backpack.

She blinked when she realized there was a new student in the class—and her smile grew wider when she realized who it was. Maybe Indigo’s idea wouldn’t be so hard after all.

“Hey, Moondancer!” Lemon called. “You want to be my lab partner?”

Moondancer frowned as she slipped on a pair of specialty safety goggles—ones meant to go over glasses—and seemed to look around the room to gauge her options. With a defeated sigh, she finally trudged over to Lemon.

“I may as well,” Moondancer said with a tired tone.

“Cool. Name’s Lemon Zest. We met last week,” Lemon said.

“I remember. Let’s just get this lab over with,” Moondancer said, reading through the instructions.

Lemon peered over her shoulder as Moondancer read, working on getting the mixtures and measurements ready in advance.

When Moondancer noticed, she scowled. “What are you doing?”

“Getting things set up,” Lemon said. “I read ahead.”

“I prefer reading ahead and doing the steps in order,” Moondancer said.

“Oh. Well, that works too,” Lemon said with a shrug.

Moondancer rolled her eyes and set to work, carefully following the steps on the lab sheet while Lemon looked on. After a few minutes of rereading, measuring, pouring, and watching reactions, Lemon began to bounce on her feet.

“Hey, uh, Moondancer? I can do stuff too, if you want. We kinda have to be working together here,” Lemon said.

Moondancer glanced at her, then back at the sheet. With a sigh, she handed it over to Lemon. “I’m used to working alone. I’m not great at working with others,” she admitted.

Lemon took the sheet and quickly found where they were at. “Yeah, I get that. Some things are better done alone,” she said. “But lab partners make sure we do things correctly and prevent mistakes.”

Moondancer glared at her. “I’m not making mistakes!” she snapped.

Lemon held up a hand defensively. “I didn’t say you were,” she said. “It’s for a worst case scenario thing. “

Moondancer still frowned, glancing at the sheet. “Add the last measurements. The mixture should turn blue,” she muttered, crossing her arms.

Lemon carefully added the last of the mixtures and the two of them watched as the chemicals swirled, changing into a dark shade of blue.

“Awesome!” Lemon said, writing down their findings.

“Has anyone told you you’re entirely too loud?” Moondancer asked.

“Yeah, a lot,” Lemon said. “Sorry. I get loud when I get excited.”

The pair waited in silence as the rest of the labs finished up. Once everyone was done and proper cleanup procedures were finished, the students handed in their lab sheets and began filing out.

“Thanks again for being my partner, Moondancer,” Lemon said as Moondancer picked up her backpack. “Hope we can do lab together again soon.”

“Yeah, sure,” Moondancer said dismissively, quickly walking past her and out the door.

Lemon frowned, her head tilted to the side. Maybe this friendship thing wouldn’t be that simple after all.

Author's Note

Apologies for not being more precise. It's been a long time since I've been in a science lab.

-The Legendary Bill Cipher