He arrived at the school right before the first bell rang. Which meant that he found himself running down the hallway so he would get to class before his biology teacher got there. His biology teacher, Ms Shaina was a petite woman who always wore glasses and a smile, but was as tough as nails. No one was late for her classes unless they wanted to find themselves serving detentions for the better part of the school year.
Gabriel rushed into the classroom and heaved a sigh of relief when he realized Ms Shaina wasn't in yet. He rushed to his seat and quickly sat right before the teacher walked in.
"Good morning,"
"Good morning, ma'am," they all chorused.
It seemed like the start of a normal day, but he could see Harry's face as the boy repeatedly glanced at him with a frown. Harry was a boy who seemed to hate him from the very first moment he met him. He usually tried to avoid clashing with him, but as he saw the determined look and renewed resentment in his eyes, He realized that maybe a quiet day was out of his reach.
"Today, we're going to dissect frogs. Pick a partner and get your tools ready, because you also need to draw what you see and correctly label in structure of the frog," Ms Shaina said, and everyone sprung into action. Gabriel and Jai-Lee made a bee-line for each other.
"Wanna be partners?" He asked, prompting a laugh from her.
"It's not like you have a lot of options. Let's go pick a frog fast so we don't get left with the smallest one," she said with an eyeroll.
Once they got the frog, Jai-Lee turned to it with a glint in her eye.
"You know you look like a mad scientist when you get like this, right?" Gabriel said as he slowly reached for the scalpel in her hand.
"I feel like that's my cue to laugh like a villain, but I'm sure MsShaina will have detention slips with our names on it if I do. And my parents have already told me that if I get one more detention, I don't get the birthday gift I want this year. There's a serious lack of trust in that house, maybe I WILL become a mad scientist. That'll show them." She moved the scalpel out of his reach as she spoke.
Gabriel had a wry smile on his face as he listened to his friend. She always had many complaints about her parents and how they were always in her business, he didn't admit it but a lot of the time, he felt jealous of her. His mom did her best, but she was spread too thinly and his dad was barely ever around.
"Why do you look like that? You know I'm just kidding, right? Don't worry, I'm sure you'll stop me from really becoming a mad scientist. Plus, what are the odds that you'll know two mad scientists?" she joked, right before she made the incision on the frog's belly. Gabriel looked away in disgust for a moment before he turned back to it at her urging. They often joked that his dad was up to comic book level science in his lab, mostly because he didn't understand his dad's work enough to explain it to her. And also because of how secretive he was about it.
Robert tried his best to keep his work and personal life separate, which meant that he rarely took his family to his lab. Gabriel was thirteen years old the last time his dad let him in the lab, and even then he was always being told not to touch anything. The thing that stuck in his mind the most was how secretive the whole thing seemed and the safety measures his dad had in place. It made him and Jai-Lee curious.
Biology class went by fast, and soon he and Jai-Lee were rushing to their next class.
Gabriel sat at the back of the next class, already bored out of his mind. Rather than listen to the teacher, Mr Carson, he found himself watching sunlight drift lazily across his desk. Mr Carson was a well-meaning teacher, but he was also extremely boring. Well into his fifties, he had been teaching for years. Gabriel assumed that was what made his lectures so boring; he had done them so often that he was practically reciting from memory.
Mr Carson was a creature of habit. Some people even used test answers from previous years to pass his tests and it worked. Many students felt like his class was an easy A. Gabriel was one of them. His notebook was open, but it was empty. Instead, he planned to copy notes from one of the more studious students. He looked over at the front row where Jai-Lee sat, no doubt with a notebook that was filled with perfectly spaced notes in blue ink, every header highlighted in green. Mr. Carson's voice droned on about the French Revolution, but Gabriel had already zoned out. He let his gaze flick to the front row, where Jai-Lee sat slumped in her chair, tapping her pen against her chin.
She glanced back at him once, offering a smirk before turning her attention to her phone beneath her desk. She typed quickly without looking at the screen and a second later, Gabriel received a text from her that read "You're bored too, huh?"
Gabriel smiled softly, and typed a response, trying his best to go unnoticed. However, his efforts were unsuccessful as a malicious gaze landed on him. He didn't know it, so he continued zoning out while he waited for the class to be over. Once the class was over, he began packing up his stuff to prepare for the next class. However, the moment was broken by a sharp, familiar voice.
"Hey, rich boy. Looks like you have more pens and books than you can carry. Why? Is there a problem with your locker?" Gabriel's face grew solemn once he heard the voice, he knew exactly who it was. Harry, part time student and full time football player with a penchant for bullying. He looked up to see the boy practically hovering above him.
Harry stood in front of his desk, hands stuffed into the pockets of his worn-out jeans. His backpack sagged on one shoulder, covered in little stickers, and, with the smell coming off it, Gabriel could bet there was at least one pair of used workout clothes in there.
Gabriel stiffened but said nothing. He hoped that ignoring the boy would make him go away, but he was wrong.
Another student nearby, Jason cleared his throat but didn't address what was going on. Gabriel saw him scurry away but didn't blame him. It was the way things were in their school. People like Harry and David usually did their bullying of a one person at a time and anyone who stepped in would be the next target. Gabriel looked around, hoping there would be a teacher nearby, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw another teacher coming into the class. Once Harry spotted the teacher too, he rushed back to his seat. Although bullying happened in their school, it was seriously frowned on by the management.
Harry slouched into his seat two rows away from Gabriel, still watching him. The back of Gabriel's neck prickled, it felt like Harry still had a problem with him and would be back.
He exchanged a look with Jai-Lee who looked concerned. This kind of behavior from Harry wasn't new.
It had started in sophomore year when Gabriel transferred to the school. Private school hadn't worked out; he had gotten suspended and his parents thought he was out of control. He was suspended because he snuck into the school's chemistry lab after hours and accidentally caused a small explosion by mixing around some chemicals. Luckily no one had gotten hurt, but the blowback from that incident was huge. The school practically branded him a criminal. Although his parents had fought for him in front of the principal and made sure they didn't press charges, when they got home, they yelled at him.
"What were you thinking?" His father looked exhausted, he had come straight from the lab after he got Nicole's call, he was even still wearing his lab coat.
He tried to explain to them that it was an accident, but they weren't having it. It seemed to him like ever since then he became the black sheep of the family. They accused him of forgetting his roots and shoved him into this school so he could be in touch with the "real world". Ever since then, every time he got into a bit of trouble, his parents assumed it was his fault.
He found it ironic that they never worried about how he would integrate into a public school, but he knew from his first day that he would hate it there. If not for anything else, for the mere fact that the school has a student like Harry.
Harry hated him almost immediately they met. Maybe it was Gabriel's shoes, they were clean black and red Jordans. Or maybe it was the way he talked, he enunciated every word like he was a news anchor. No matter what, he thought Gabriel was acting like he belonged there when he really didn't. He thought he looked down on them, and it irritated him to see a boy like that in his school.