Simone Elkeles Quote

During chemistry, it’s another experiment/observation. Alex swirls test tubes full of silver nitrate and potassium chloride liquids. Looks like they’re both water to me, Mrs. P., Alex says.Looks are deceiving, Mrs. Peterson replies.My gaze travels to Alex’s hands. Those hands that are now busy measuring the right amount of silver nitrate and potassium chloride are the same ones that traced my lips intimately.Earth to Brittany.I blink my eyes, snapping out of my daydream. Alex is holding a test tube full of clear liquid out to me.Which reminds me I should help him pour the liquids together. Uh, sorry. I pick up one test tube and pour it into the tube he’s holding.We’re supposed to write down what happens, he says, using the stirring rod to mix the chemicals together.A white solid magically appears inside the clear liquid.Hey, Mrs. P.! I think we found the answer to our problems for the ozone layer depletion, Alex teases.Mrs. Peterson shakes her head.So what do we observe in the tube? he asks me, reading off of the sheet Mrs. Peterson handed out at the start of class. I’d say the watery liquid is probably potassium nitrate now and the white solid mass in silver chloride. What’s your assumption?As he hands me the tube, our fingers brush against each other. And linger. It leaves a tingling sensation I can’t ignore.I glance up. Our eyes meet, and for a minute I think he’s trying to send me a private message but his expression turns dark and he looks away.What do you want me to do? I whisper.You’re gonna have to figure that one out yourself.Alex…But he won’t tell me what to do. I guess I’m a bitch to even ask him for advice when he can’t possibly be unbiased.When I’m close to Alex I feel excitement, the way I used to feel on Christmas morning.