Chapter Text
For the first day of senior year, Even’s day had been going relatively well. And the last thing he wanted to do was ruin it by going to his 3rd period Chem.
He’d nearly failed the Introduction to Chemistry portion of his general science course last year. Though he’d ultimately managed to scrape by that unit with a grade that counted as ‘passing’ only in the most generous sense of the word, he doubted he could get through this year’s actual Chemistry class itself without some sort of extra help. Science had never quite been his strong suit. Typically he wouldn’t have worried about it too much, but he was in his senior year now. Even couldn’t afford to flunk classes if he wanted to apply to colleges, or walk at all on graduation day.
Over the summer he and Mutta had devised a game plan: they would find a way to get into the same Chem periods so that they could take the class together. Mutta wasn’t the biggest fan of the subject either, so at least this way neither he nor Even would have had to endure the class all on their own. But right before classes started, Mutta was forced to switch out into another Chem period so he could get into another elective class he’d wanted, and Even was once again left to tackle the class on his own.
Though he wasn’t completely without reassurance. Elias had texted him last night with the assurance that Sana would be in his same period, so at least there was that. Maybe if Even got there early enough, he could snag a seat beside her. While Sana was a little intimidating to ask for help, she was also brilliant, and Even would take whatever help he could get. Maybe he could absorb a lot merely by sitting beside her.
But when he walked in, there was already another girl with long brown hair sitting beside Sana—Eva, he realized after a moment. Even didn’t know her well, but he did know she was on the dance team and recognized her as one of the many friends Vilde had herded into joining Nissen’s Student Government organization.
Even settled for sliding into one of the empty tables in the back row. It would be fine, there were plenty of other people in the class he would be happy to have for a partner. He’d find a way to make it work. He always did.
“What’s up, bro?”
Even looked up to see a tall redhead in a varsity jacket sliding into a seat at the desk in front of him. “Mathias,” Even grinned. “Hey. I didn’t know you were in this Chem. Good summer?”
“Yeah,” Mathias said. “I mean, you know. Right up until about August.” He dropped his backpack to the ground with a sigh. “Our coach has been drilling us like crazy. We started conditioning the first week of August this year, so I haven’t really done much but football since then. Like, I love football? But I also love sleeping in till twelve.”
Mathias was known as something of a legend at the school, having made the quarterback position on the team as a sophomore last year. Even mainly knew him because Mathias was a member of their high school Student Government too, as the Public Relations Chair.
Even had to give credit to whoever had managed to talk him into taking that position. While Mathias skipped most Student Government meetings and didn’t actually do much Public-Relations Chair work, it certainly helped that he was popular enough to make his position work. One word from him and the entire football team would show up to any Student Government event, no matter how boring or mundane. And if those guys showed up, often the rest of the school followed.
“By the way,” Mathias said, “You coming to the home game this Friday? Tom’s holding a back-to-school party at his place afterwards and—”
“Boys.”
They both looked up to see Sana standing between their desks.
“Sana,” Even said, smiling. “What’s up? Elias told me you were in this class.”
“Hey, you coming to Tom’s after-party on Friday, Sana?” Mathias asked. “Bring Vilde and them, too! It’s the first party of the school year, it’ll be wild .”
Sana hummed. “That depends.”
Mathias exchanged a glance with Even. “On?”
“On whether you two are planning on showing up to the SGA meeting today after school?” Then, before either of them could even react, “I know the both of you saw Vilde’s texts in the group chat, even though neither of you bothered to respond.” She raised an eyebrow at them. Mathias and Even both had the decency to at least look guilty.
It was probably in vain, but Even gave it a shot anyway. “Technically I did thumbs-up her message, though?”
“I didn’t know we were supposed to respond,” was Mathias’ attempt.
Sana looked unimpressed. “Really? That’s funny, neither did seven out of the other fifteen Student Government members. Tell me, which part about the line in Vilde’s text that said ‘let us know if you can or can’t make it’ wasn’t clear enough for you? Anyways,” she looked at Even and waved a dismissive hand. “You’re an Officer, so attendance isn’t even a question for you, it’s mandatory. But committee chairs—” She cut a chilling look at Mathias, who withered a little under her gaze, “—seem to be under the impression that just because they aren’t Officers, they’re allowed to ditch SGA meetings to pursue other activities.”
“Aw, c’mon, Sana! It’s football season! I have practice.”
“That’s not my problem,” she shrugged. “You knew what time commitment you signed on for when you signed up for SGA.”
“But I’m literally just the Chair of Public Relations. You won’t miss me that much, I’m not even that important. School’s just started.”
“Exactly, it’s the first meeting of the year,” Sana frowned. “And everyone’s attendance is important and necessary today. There’s a lot of stuff to set up for the school year, and the entire council needs to be there for it.”
The two-minute warning bell before the start of class rang then. Seeming satisfied with what she’d had the time to say, Sana turned and made her way back to the front where her desk was. The classroom was beginning to fill up now, and Even could see many more familiar faces now.
Mathias checked his phone for a second, and then turned back to Even with a sigh. “My coach isn’t gonna like me being late,” he sighed.
“I wonder what’s so important that all of us have to be there,” Even mused. “Usually they’re not this strict about attendance.”
Mathias opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment the final bell rang. Their teacher stood up at the front of the classroom, and the conversations around them began to die down. Even glanced around the classroom, smiling hello at a few people and idly noting that after a summer most everyone looked more or less the same, if not with a few more tans and new haircuts.
The biggest shifts actually seemed to be within the social dynamics: while some friend groups had endured, others hadn't been so lucky. There were two people who Even could have sworn had been together when school first let out for the summer, but were no longer sitting together now—or even acknowledging one another's presence, for that matter. He felt a twinge of a strange emotion at the sight, having been reminded of his own break up at the beginning of the summer. He did feel a little guilty about not having reached out all summer, but both he and Sonja had known neither of them were cut out for long-distance. She would be starting at her new high school in another state this year.
He had just been absently thinking that despite everything Sonja would have actually made a pretty good partner, considering how she was infinitely better at science classes compared to him, when he glanced beside him to wonder about his own partner when—
Shit.
In his carelessness, he’d accidentally put down his own backpack on the chair beside him, making it look like he was keeping the seat from being taken. He immediately moved to pull his backpack off and onto the floor under his desk, but it seemed like it was too late. Most everyone appeared to have already arrived and settled into the other remaining seats, which meant Even was the only one left without a partner.
A slight twinge of panic shot through his stomach. Chem was his absolute worst subject. Even needed someone if he was going to even dare to hope to pass this class. But the bell had already rung, and their teacher had already begun introductions at the front, so this was probably it for the semester.
His mind ran ahead on a tangent. He could switch into Mutta’s section, but that would mess up the rest of his schedule, which he rather actually liked at the moment. But wouldn’t it be worth it to have a friend in a class he would most probably fail otherwise?
He held back a sigh and cast another look around the classroom with a new intent—no, he would probably be fine. Ms. Andersen wouldn’t make him work alone, would she? She’d probably have him join a pair to make a group of three instead. Even was well-acquainted with most everyone in the room anyway, so finding a group wouldn’t be too much trouble. Maybe he could work with Sana and Eva, or even with Mathias and his partner, and he was pretty sure Halvor, who was sitting by the front, wouldn’t mind letting Even join his group either.
It was right as their teacher was finishing up introductions and was about to go over the first unit’s material that Even heard the click of the door to the classroom opening behind him. He and a few of the other students in the room turned to look back, and Even saw a guy in a grey hoodie slink into the room, the hood drawn over the cap on his head.
Ms. Andersen paused ever so briefly in seeing the latecomer, her eyes flickering to the clock on the adjacent wall. And then, looking like she was trying very hard not to roll her eyes, she continued speaking as if nothing had happened. Even glanced back at the guy, whose face was now turned forward enough for Even to realize with a jolt that it was Isak Valtersen.
Seemingly satisfied with the lack of their teacher’s reaction, Isak’s eyes moved to scan the room once, before zeroing in on the only empty seat in the room—the one beside Even.
Even tried not to stare as Isak slid into the seat beside him. He could have sworn that Isak was a junior, but this Chemistry class was something that only seniors were actually required to take. The only other juniors that were in the class were the ones who were ahead in their science classes, like Sana, Eva, Mathias, and Niel. Even wondered if Isak fell into that category.
Isak didn’t spare a glance at him. From what Even could gather from watching out of the corner of his eye, Isak spent no more than thirty seconds staring at their teacher before slipping his phone out of his pocket and looking at it underneath the table. At the front of the classroom Ms. Andersen had begun to actually write things down on the whiteboard, and people were reaching into their backpacks and grabbing their notebooks and writing utensils. Even followed in suit, determined to actually try and pay attention in Chemistry this year. It was only after he’d finished copying down his first line of notes that his attention flickered to Isak again.
Isak wasn’t taking notes.
In fact, he hadn’t even pulled out a notebook and pen at all. He was still positioned the same way he’d been for the last ten minutes: cheek propped up on his hand, frowning down at the phone under the table with slow blinks.
Even turned back to his notebook, trying not to get distracted. He glanced back at the board.
“This should all be a review from what you learned in your Intro to Chemistry section of your General Science class last year,” his teacher was saying, as she continued to write things onto the board that Even was certain he had never before seen in his entire life. Not even half a class in, and he was already lost. He’d only gotten another line written down before his attention wandered yet again to Isak, who still wasn’t taking notes. Which was fine, Even thought to himself. To each their own.
Fifteen minutes, eight lines, and one messily drawn diagram on Even’s page later, Isak had fallen asleep.
At this point, Even wasn’t even trying to pay attention anymore. Instead, his mind was zooming into overdrive in another direction: potential damage control assessment. If Isak clocking out on his first day of classes was any indication of what his attitude towards the class was, then that wasn’t good. Even already had a history of slacking off in his science classes. Half of the reason why he’d nearly failed his Intro to General Sciences last year was because he mostly doodled and zoned out whenever he should have been taking notes.
But if both he and his partner were going to be slackers, they were about to be in for some trouble.
It went on like this until there were only thirty minutes left in class, at which point Ms. Andersen began handing out a stack of white packets that didn’t look like good news.
“As your teachers from last year should have warned you, these are assessments,” she said a moment later, confirming Even’s fear. “To evaluate how much content you all have retained from last year. Do your best on it because they are graded. Don’t worry,” she added when the class began to murmur in concern. “They won’t be a big part of your grade. They’re mainly to allow me to see where you all are, what you remember from last year, and what your strengths and weaknesses are.”
Mathias, who was sitting in front of Even, turned around to hand back the test packets as they were passed down the row. His eyes fell on the sleeping Isak and he cast a questioning glance at Even. Even could only reply with a shrug. He slid one of the two packets over to Isak, who still hadn’t woken up. Was it up to Even to wake him up? He looked up at their teacher. She was still busy handing out packets to the other rows.
Even gave an unnecessarily loud cough into his elbow, and it seemed to do the trick. Isak barely flinched, but Even saw him blink awake out of the corner of his eyes.
If Isak was concerned or alarmed by the fact that he had woken up to find the class taking a test, he certainly didn’t show it. Even heard him stifle a yawn before he slowly leaned over the side of the table and dug around in his backpack, came back up with a pencil in hand and started on the assessment without hesitation.
Even internally shook himself. They were taking an exam, and there were more important things he should have been concentrating on than what the person beside him was doing. He forced himself to read the first question. It didn’t make any sense, so he read it again. He skipped to the second question. He didn’t know the answer to that one either, so he skipped to the third.
The fourth. The fifth. He flipped the page.
Time continued to tick by, and Even’s sense of desperation seemed to increase tenfold with every tick. He’d glanced through just about every question on the test, and he’d only written down two things, one of which was his name and date at the top of the paper. His leg started to bounce. All around him, pencils were moving—he heard Isak erase something beside him and Even wondered briefly, how difficult Isak was finding this exam.
How had he managed to find a way to fail something on the first day of school? Surely there had to be some sort of record for that. Though he supposed he should have seen this coming. His science teacher last year had only passed him with the warning that he would have to do some serious revision over the summer if he wanted to do well the next year. A warning that Even had promptly shelved and forgotten about as soon as the summer began.
He had just been considering that maybe he should just circle C for every answer and see where it got him when the sound of a chair scraping as it was pushed back came from beside him: Isak was getting to his feet.
Even tried not to stare, dumbfounded, as Isak slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked to the front of the classroom to turn in his exam. A lot of the other kids turned to glance up at him, too—they still had a little over ten minutes left to take the test, and Isak was the first one done.
Even stared down at his own barely completed test paper. Either Isak knew the content so well that he’d zoomed through the material on the exam, or like Even he had no idea what he was doing and turned in a bullshitted exam. Going off the way Isak hadn’t paid attention all class, Even thought the latter was more likely.
And as Even turned in his own completely bullshitted paper at the end of class (he’d ended up settling for circling C for every question), he comforted himself with the thought that if anything, at least he and his partner were starting out on the same page.
Sana seemed to have gotten her wish. Somehow, it seemed like everyone had actually shown up to attend the SGA meeting that was happening after school that day—the room was packed. It was an impressive feat, because the number of after-school clubs and sports that began on the first day of school was pretty high. Elias had joked last week that Sana had started blackmailing people into showing up for meetings, but looking around right now, Even was beginning to wonder if it was a joke at all.
He was especially surprised to see a slightly harried Yousef sliding into a seat beside him.
“I thought you said you had soccer practice today?” Even asked. Yousef had just been selected captain this year, and these days it was rare that he prioritized other school activities before his beloved sport.
“I did, but I told my team that as the newly named—” he cleared his throat for emphasis, “—Student Athlete Representative of Nissen’s SGA Council, I had a very important responsibility to both the school and the Student Government to attend this meeting.”
Even smirked. “Oh, right. Because we all know how dedicated you are to the school.”
“Of course.”
“And the Student Government.”
“That’s me.”
“And not like, any certain SGA Officer in particular…”
“Oh, shut up.” Yousef jabbed him in his side as Even started laughing. “Sana can be…persuasive.”
“Oh, is that what we’re calling it? What, did she corner you, too? I’ll bet she didn’t even have to blackmail you into coming.”
Yousef sighed. “Nah, she barely even had to ask. She just came up to me and like, barely finished the question before I was already saying I would—wait,” he blinked, looking impressed. “She actually blackmailed people? I thought she was kidding about that.”
“You know what? I think Elias was right,” Even teased. “You are a lost cause.”
“Elias is one to talk!” Yousef scoffed. “Grinning like an idiot from sunrise to sunset for a week when Irene DM-ed him back on Instagram back last June—”
“Oh yeah, whatever happened with her, anyway? He hasn’t brought her up in a while.”
“Not sure, but I think he’s still into her, though—"
“Alright, everyone!” a voice called from the front. Even looked up to see Hector standing there, with Vilde hovering behind him. The chatter in the room died down as people redirected their attention to the front. Hector Marsett was the type of person who always looked well put together, especially for a high school environment: crisply ironed T-Shirts and button downs, expensive-looking watches, scuff-less shoes, and the fact that he seemed to own more khakis than Even and all his friends put together. Even didn’t think he’d ever seen Hector in jeans. But today Hector looked like he had gone the extra mile, with his dark brown hair gelled and combed back, not a single strand out of place.
“Is it just me,” Even heard Iben in the row in front of him murmur to Eva, “Or does it look like he got his teeth whitened?”
Yousef gave him an amused glance, also having overheard. Now that Iben had pointed it out, Hector’s teeth did look exceptionally white.
Hector clapped his hands together twice, flashing his toothpaste-commercial smile in its full glory. “Welcome back, everyone!”
“Oh, he definitely did,” Eva whispered back.
“It’s great to see everybody back today,” Hector continued. “We’ve got a lot to cover, so I’m just going to go ahead and check attendance before we get right into it. I think all our main officers are here, right? Secretary, Treasurer,” he glanced at Vilde behind him and Sana in the row in front of him. “And Student Ambassador...”
Even waved his hand from where he was sitting until Hector’s eyes found him. “Great! And now for the Council of Reps—Public Relations and Student Athlete Rep?” Mathias and Yousef raised their hands, and Hector nodded at them. Vilde made checks on her list as Hector went on. “Junior and Sophomore Class Reps?” Noora and Zach raised their hands. "Cool. And the seven other council members?” Seven hands went into the air, including Eva and Iben’s in front of Even.
Hector quickly counted them all off before flashing another smile. “Wow, that’s actually everyone here for once! This is great. We actually really needed this because, first things first: as you all know, our President, Mari, graduated last year. So the most important thing to do is to get started with the election for the Student Government President. I was her Vice President last year so I’ll be helping things run along until then. You all know the drill. The teachers nominate potential candidates for the next president, and eventually we as a student body vote on the best one. So, Vilde—?”
Vilde jumped forward and began speaking before Hector had even completed his sentence. “I’ve gathered nominations from the teachers, and we have four people nominated this year! Two of them are from our SGA itself, and two of the nominees aren’t. So for our first nominee for president we have—our own VP, Hector!”
The room broke into polite applause, although Even was sure no one was all that surprised. Everyone knew there was no one gunning for the spot of President more than Hector was, it was practically common knowledge. He was born to be a leader through and through. But for his part Hector at least had the decency to pretend to look surprised, although his attempt at masking his satisfaction was less convincing.
In front of him, Even saw Iben roll her eyes at Eva as they clapped along. “I can’t believe I ever dated him,” Even thought he heard her mutter.
Vilde went on to list two other nominees, Tara and Ray, two juniors who weren’t in the SGA but received a smattering of applause from the other juniors in the room.
“And finally,” Vilde beamed. “Our final teacher-nominated candidate—our own SGA Officer and Student Ambassador, Even!”
There was a stunned moment of silence; a few people turned around to look at him. It took another beat for the words to click in Even’s head—before the room broke out into more cheers and applause.
Yousef clapped him on the back. “Bro!”
Vilde was still beaming at him, people were congratulating him and calling his name left and right, and even Sana was smiling at him from the front rows. Suddenly, her insistence of his attendance at the meeting made a lot more sense.
Even shook his head, stunned. This didn’t make sense. How did he get nominated, of all people?
“I don’t understand.” He shook his head in confusion at Yousef, who was still grinning at him. Even looked back to the front. “Vilde,” he called to her when a little bit of the sound had died down. “Are you sure?” A few people laughed at that, taking it for a joke, but Even was serious.
Vilde nodded. “Of course! You and Hector had the same number of teacher nominations, actually!” Hector, who was standing behind her, had a strangely neutral expression on his face.
There must have been some sort of mistake. Even knew that he wasn’t by any means a terrible student, and that teachers generally liked him, but to be nominated for president? He opened his mouth to protest, but Vilde was already addressing the room as a whole again.
“Anyways, with the election coming up, it’s up to us as the SGA to get the word spread around and encourage people to get involved in the school’s activities and school spirit. So keep that in mind over the next few weeks.”
Hector stepped up then and guided the meeting into another topic, but Even couldn’t bring his mind to follow along. Instead his mind was whirling, trying to figure out what the implications of the nomination might mean. Was every nominee simply expected to run, just like that? He wondered if he was allowed to turn down the nomination. He liked being an officer in the SGA, and he liked his role as Student Ambassador, but he didn’t think his leadership capabilities were nearly as extensive as needed to be president.
Him as class president…there was no way. Hector would likely do a thousand times better than him in a role like that.
The decision Even needed to make was simple. He would respectfully turn down the nomination, and that would be that. They would understand. There was no way Even was anywhere near good enough to be class president.
The rest of the meeting breezed by with Even lost in his own thoughts, and before long everyone it was time for everyone to start packing up, scattered conversations starting up around the room. Yousef quickly gave him another big smile and congratulations, and then patted him on the back with a we’ll talk later before he was running off to soccer practice.
The minute he was gone, Even stood, spotting Vilde in a corner at the front of the room, chatting with a few people. He began to weave his way through the groups of the other SGA members to the front. People threw comments at him from the left and right the whole way there, congratulating him and encouraging him, some people even going as far as to saying he already had their vote. He began to feel increasingly guilty with each comment, and by the time he’d made it to Vilde his initial resolve had all but vanished.
“Even!” she smiled when she saw him approach her. “Oh, good. I was hoping to catch you before you left.”
“You were?”
“Yes, yes,” she produced a sheet of paper from the clipboard she was holding. “I have to go over the guidelines about running for the election with you—obviously I’ll email you the entire packet later tonight but this is just to go over the main details—”
“Guidelines? I don’t—actually Vilde, I don’t think I can run for President.”
She broke off the tangent she was going on with a startled blink. “Why not?”
“It’s…” He didn’t know how to explain it. “I just don’t think I’m capable of it.”
“Oh,” she gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “No, don’t worry about that, you’ll be fine.”
“Even then, it’s more about...I don’t know, I just really don’t think I’m the right person for the job, you know?”
A sudden seriousness took over her face. “It’s about making a difference, Even,” she said. “I still remember what you told me when I was thinking about joining Student Government. You were the one who encouraged me to join, do you remember? You told me that you liked being in the Student Government because you liked the people at this school and you liked making a difference. This is the perfect way to do it!”
Even didn’t know what to say to that—he was stunned that she’d even remembered something from over a year ago.
“Besides,” Vilde went on, “I’ll help you get started. First off,” she glanced back down at her clipboard, back to business again. “From now on, you should be very careful about your image, because how the school sees you will be very important when everyone starts voting and everything. I think we’re planning on having all the nominees give a little introduction speech at the Homecoming Pep Rally, so heads up for that, and you should also probably start getting together a campaign team—”
“A campaign team?” Even balked at her. “Is this that serious?”
“Of course.” Vilde looked at him as if this was obvious knowledge. “Mari had a campaign team when she ran last year.”
“She did?” Even only had a vague memory of getting out early from class to attend the election assembly where Mari won and gave a victory speech onstage. He didn’t remember much of what she had done to actually get there. “But...just for a high school thing?”
“Last year our school got awarded the SPAA honor in the state for having great political participation with its students,” Vilde said, impassioned. “Our principal wants to continue that trend. That’s why Nissen’s Student Government is so active and strong. And you could be leading it! So, it’s really a great opportunity.”
“When is the election?”
“November twenty-first is the day of the voting and assembly,” Vilde told him. “So you do have some time.”
“Oh,” Even breathed, feeling an enormous wave of relief wash over him. “Oh, okay.” November was ages away, over two months from now. At least this wouldn’t be something he had to worry about right away. November meant that he had had enough time to back out if he wanted to.
Vilde beamed at his smile, mistaking his relief for acceptance. “Great! And—” She began to say something else, but at that moment Noora called her name from the other side of the room. Vilde glanced over at her and then back at Even.
“I have to go,” she said, turning to leave. “But check your email tonight! I’ll send you the forms and the list of guidelines and rules you should know. Okay?” And with one last smile she was off, and Even was left to wonder what on earth he was getting himself into.
What Vilde had said hadn’t been wrong—he had joined the SGA because he wanted to help people and make a difference. He loved this school, and he loved working with people. It was what he’d always liked doing. It was why he helped volunteer with Yousef at the homework club at the Youth Center on the weekends, it was why he loved making films with his friends, it was why he stayed after to help with clubs he wasn’t even a part of, it was why he liked his role as Student Ambassador in the SGA.
But it was much easier to help from the sidelines than to captain the entire game.
Him, as class president? It was definitely a stretch of his capabilities.
Wasn’t it?
The first two weeks of school had flown by, by which point any lingering thought of any sort of student government election in Even’s mind had effectively vanished. Instead, his headspace was now occupied with matters that were more pressing: trying to stay on top of his homework, helping Elias and Mikael edit their latest YouTube video, trying to steer the boys away from devising a senior prank that would get them expelled, and studying the newest and most interesting development in his life—Isak.
Over the last two weeks he’d spent far more time observing Isak than he had taking notes in Chemistry. A poor choice on his part, because now he was more than thoroughly lost in the class, but he also couldn’t help it: Isak was kind of fascinating to watch.
It wasn’t like Even didn’t know who Isak was. He doubted there was a person at Nissen who hadn’t heard at least some of the rumors, but Even had also stopped taking rumors as seriously after his own sour experience with the high school rumor mill during his freshman year. This was the first time Even had ever thought about Isak in a way other than a curious after-thought from gossip, and now that Even considered him, he couldn’t help but wonder.
He had never met anyone who was as blasé as Isak was about a class. Every 3rd period went by exactly the same—Isak would come into their Chemistry class just barely on time, if not a few minutes late. Once he was in his seat he would stare at the board for all of about two minutes until their teacher started lecturing, and then he would promptly fall asleep. Every now and then, he would spend the time aimlessly scrolling or playing games on his phone under his desk. He carried around a backpack but Even had never seen him pull anything but a pencil out of it. Isak didn’t even take notes.
For her part, their teacher seemed to have turned a blind eye to everything Isak did. This in itself was strange, seeing as how Ms. Andersen never seemed to hesitate to call any of the other students out for not paying attention or talking during class. The rare few times she did address Isak directly, it would be to tell him to take off his hat, which Isak sometimes remembered to do and sometimes didn’t—either way he always, always left his hood partially pulled up over his hair.
Isak hardly addressed Even’s presence, much less the rest of the class. In fact, Even didn’t even think Isak had spoken a single word the entire time he had been there. It was weird—Even was pretty sure that this was the first time he had sat next to someone and not talked to them. It felt wrong, as if he had failed in some way. Talking to people and making friends was what he was best at, it was what he loved to do the most. He didn’t see why Isak had to be any exception.
Which was why, when Ms. Andersen announced that they would be doing their first lab in class with their lab partners that Monday, Even felt a sort of nervous excitement. This was the perfect opening he needed.
Thankfully, Isak hadn’t had the time to fall asleep yet. He was on his phone again though, so when the rest of the pairs began to get up and move towards the lab stations in the back, he didn’t seem to notice. Even waited for a solid ten seconds, hoping Isak would catch on on his own, before he let himself actually speak.
“Uh…should we go on back?”
Isak blinked up from his phone. “What?”
“Shall we—?” he gestured to the back of the room, where a majority of the lab pairs had already gathered at each of their respective stations. “The lab?”
“Oh,” Isak said, following Even’s line of sight towards the back of the room. “Yeah, okay.” He glanced down at his phone for another split-second before clicking the screen off and rose to his feet, making his way towards the lab stations without any other prelude. Even blinked in surprise before hastily grabbing his own lab packet and pencil—dimly noting that Isak hadn’t seemed to have grabbed either—and made his own way to the back.
At their lab station, Isak was frowning at the equipment that had been set up in front of them: glass test tubes, an electronic scale, some sort of blue crystalline powder, a pair of tongs, a flint lighter, and a Bunsen burner.
“It’s determining empirical formulas,” Even offered. Isak looked at him almost as if he was surprised to see him standing there—almost as if he had forgotten Even was his lab partner. Even held up his lab packet. “The lab, I mean. I think that’s what we’re supposed to do?”
Isak took this in and turned back to their supplies, quiet for a few short moments. Eventually he asked, “You have the directions?”
Even held out his packet, and Isak took it. His eyes skimmed the page with indifference for a few seconds. And then, just like that, he put the packet down and began to do the lab. He reached over and scooped a bit of the blue stuff onto the weight scale, then scooped some more and began adding it bit by bit as the weight crept higher.
Even hovered beside him, unsure of what he was supposed to do. On one hand, he was perfectly fine without having to actually do the lab himself—the less Chemistry he did, the better it was for all parties involved—but it also seemed a little rude to make his lab partner do all the work. Isak seemed to be fully invested in what he was doing though, and didn’t seem like he had any plans of talking any time soon, so Even decided to take the first step.
“So, how can I help?”
Isak blinked up from where he was frowning at the scale. “What?”
“Is there anything you want me to do while you do that?”
“Uh…” Isak straightened, placing the spoon back in its original pot. “You can…write stuff down, I guess. I think the sheet asked for values.”
Even beamed. “I can do that.” This was perfect, the ideal situation: this way, he wouldn’t have to interact with any of the actual experimentation and they could still get the lab done together. This, he could work with.
Isak looked at him blankly for a moment, and then turned back to the weight scale.
“Four point one-three grams,” he said after a moment, glancing at Even. At Even’s confused stare, Isak gestured to the blue stuff on the weight scale. “For the copper sulfate hydrate.”
“Oh—” Even felt a little embarrassed that he’d missed that. It took him a moment to find it, but he quickly wrote down the value in its designated slot on their lab sheet. “Sorry, got it.” Once he was done he looked back up, ready to make some sort of friendly quip to break the ice, but Isak had already moved on to putting the blue stuff into one of the glass test tubes.
“It’s actually a good thing that you’re handling that,” Even chuckled as Isak began to fiddle with the Bunsen burner. “I’d probably end up burning this place down if I tried to use it.”
Isak gave a sideways glance at Even. Even smiled at him. Isak blinked, expression unreadable, before turning back to twisting the bottom of the burner.
Even tried for a new angle. “Had a good summer?”
Another sideways look, paired with a shrug. “Sure, I guess.”
“Do anything cool?”
“Not really.”
“Ah, well, that’s okay. I didn’t do anything all that big, either.” Even paused for a moment to see if Isak would add anything else, but when he didn’t, Even tried a third angle. “You going to the game on Friday?”
Isak snorted. “Uh, no.”
Even raised an eyebrow at that—finally, an actual reaction. “Football games not your thing?”
“Definitely not.”
“More of a baseball person?”
“Not really a…” Isak idly flipped back to the directions on the lab sheet. “School sports person.”
“Yeah?” Even smiled. “Do you have any hobbies, though?”
Isak gave another noncommittal shrug, and continued to read the directions.
Even watched him, perplexed. So maybe befriending Isak wasn’t going to be as easy as Even might have hoped. He had never met anyone so difficult to read before.
It wasn’t like Even hadn’t heard the occasional whisper now and then that Isak wasn’t the most friendly student at their school. Asshole , Even believed, was the term that he’d heard most colloquially used, but Even had staunchly ignored that. It wouldn’t do if Even wasn’t on good terms with his lab partner, especially in a class where he would need the most help. And besides—he always believed that he owed it to people to judge them for who they were when he met them, not for the things they might have done in the past. Everyone deserved a clean slate to start with.
But this—making friends, talking to different people and learning different things—this was Even’s comfort zone. It was why he signed up to be Student Ambassador in the first place.
All in all, he wasn’t sure what madness possessed him to make the joke. Maybe it was the quiet atmosphere that he couldn’t stand. Maybe it was the desperate need to get Isak to talk to him. Making friends, talking to different people and getting to know them—those were the things he was best at, it was his comfort zone. Maybe he was desperate to find that ground with Isak. But either way, he was taking one quick glance at the lab sheet, reading a compound name off the sheet and then taking a leap.
“So, copper sulfate, huh?” he asked. Isak didn’t respond, focused on turning the knob that controlled the gas into the Bunsen burner. But Even persisted nonetheless. He couldn’t do Chemistry to save his life, but there was a large number of other things he’d learned from the subject. “Do you know how sulfur and oxygen communicate?”
Isak’s brows furrowed and he turned his head to give Even a confused look, momentarily distracted from his task at hand. “What?”
“A sulfone!” Even said, feeling his smile grow.
Isak stared at him, brows still furrowed and mouth a little parted. Maybe it was a little selfish as they were supposed to be doing the lab and Even was technically distracting him, but he was happy that he at least had Isak’s full attention now.
“Get it?” Even asked, huffing an involuntary laugh despite how thrown-off Isak looked. “Sulfur and oxygen, a sulfone! Like, a cell phone. Get it?”
When Isak didn’t answer, Even gave him a little bump on the arm. “Come on, you know it’s funny. You can laugh.”
Isak shook his head a little. For a moment it looked like he was going to say something, but then seemed to think better of it, turning back to the lab table to pick up the flint lighter. He brought it to the tip of the Bunsen burner and flicked the lighter, and a steady flame ignited atop the burner. Even felt a tug in his memory.
“I actually have another one,” Even said.
Isak slanted him a glance. “Another what?”
“So, when the ice fell in love with the Bunsen burner—” Even started laughing when Isak immediately began shaking his head no. “No, no, just listen, this one’s got dialogue—when the ice fell in love with the Bunsen burner, the ice was like, Bunsen, I’m melting for you, and you know what the Bunsen burner said? No listen, I swear, this is the best part—Bunsen was like, don’t worry, it’s just a phase you’re going through.”
The conclusion of this joke earned Even a flat stare from Isak in response, and he was sure that if he’d ever held any sort of credibility in Isak’s eyes, that he’d managed to lose it all right then and there. But for what it was worth, he couldn’t bring himself to care very much—not if it got Isak to actually talk to him.
Isak gave that little head shake of incomprehension again. “Why?”
“Why not?” Even shrugged, smiling. “Besides, admit it, that last one was kind of funny. You know it was.”
Something about this seemed to finally push Isak to speak. “You actually think those were funny?”
“They’re hilarious!”
Isak looked as if he was seriously doubting Even’s abilities in judgement and taste, but he turned back to the experiment without further comment nonetheless. With the metal tongs, he picked up the glass tube with the blue stuff and expertly moved it back and forth on the flame.
For someone who barely paid attention in class, Isak seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
The rest of the lab went on along that same tangent, with Isak doing most of the experiment work and Even writing down values whenever prompted, paired with the occasional joke from Even that left Isak either shaking his head or frowning. And even though he was probably making a complete fool of himself, Even couldn’t help but be happy about the slight decrease in Isak’s aloofness. It was barely noticeable, but it was there—in the way Isak actually made eye contact with Even here and there, for one, which hadn’t existed the past couple weeks. It was also in the way he actually specified what the values he was reading out loud were for, without Even having to prompt him for it. It wasn’t much, and Isak still didn’t speak much more than a few words at a time, but Even was more than happy to take it. He had a whole year ahead of him to keep trying, after all. This was good progress for a first-time attempt.
When the lab was finally over and they were done cleaning up, they both headed back to their seats with the rest of the class to pack up their stuff. Most of the class was on their way out, and Isak himself was just about to leave when a sudden idea had Even speaking up again.
“Hey, wait.”
Isak turned to look at him from where he had half-risen from his seat. He almost looked suspicious, like Even was about to throw another joke his way.
“Maybe we can meet up later in the week?” Even offered. “To work on the lab reports together, or something?” While the request was half because he wanted to get to know Isak better, it was also largely because he didn’t think he could manage doing this lab report all on his own. For one, he had absolutely no idea what they’d actually done in their experiment just now. Isak, on the other hand, seemed to be quite comfortable with all of it.
But Isak was looking at Even like he had spoken in another language. “Work together?”
“Yeah,” Even said, a little confused by Isak’s reaction. Wasn’t it normal for lab partners to work on their lab reports together? That was what he’d always done for his other science classes in the past. “It’s due next week, so I was thinking that maybe we could work together and help each other out.”
Still looking confused, Isak shrugged. “I...guess.”
“I can text you?” Even offered. “And we can figure out a time or something? What’s your number?”
Even began to reach for his phone, but at that moment a guy in a striped blue track sweater and snapback appeared at the doorway of their classroom, calling for Isak.
Isak turned to look at the guy, and for a moment they seemed to have some type of silent back-and-forth before the guy finally shook his head. “Jonas just told them last night. They’re not happy with it,” was all he said aloud.
Isak turned back to Even, blinking a couple times as if he was trying to remember what they were talking about.
Even raised the phone in his hand a little higher to remind him.
Before Even could say anything, Isak was leaning over, picking up Even’s pencil where it lay on the lab. He scribbled something on the edge of Even’s lab report before sliding it back to him. Even blinked, startled by the abruptness of it, and it took another moment to realize Isak had written his phone number there. But before he could say anything else or thank him, Isak was turning on his heel to leave and was out the door with the other guy.
Even abandoned the task of packing away his stuff to instead turn on his phone and quickly put the number into his contacts. As he left the classroom himself, he spared a thought to wonder what it was that had Isak leaving the classroom in such a rush, but Even was much more interested in replaying the events that had just occurred in their lab session prior.
Mostly, he wondered what it would be like to make Isak Valtersen laugh.