Lexa

I plan to check on him via text after the class, that way I'll also have information on the samples. The plan lasts but a few minutes. That's how long I was seated in the Chem Lab class before he entered looking like last night didn't happen. He was even on time today. Before I could ask questions Glenn came in. The class flew by and the end of the class Glenn gave us the samples we had asked for. I accompanied Axel to his locker to store the samples while we wait for the final bell to take it home and store it properly.

Axel

I knew I was going to a negative reaction to having someone in my space after all this while but I didn't expect something of that magnitude. It used to happen all the time when I was a kid. When I get pushed out of my comfort zone, I get really bad fevers. I haven't had an episode in a couple of years. The last time was when my mom tried to pressure me to go ice skating. The reaction is involuntary and only lasts a few hours. This last episode made me feel weak, like a kid. I don't like feeling that way. No matter what it takes I'll get rid of the the feeling.
"Lexa, I was thinking, since I have the room already set up and equipped as a lab, we could have our sessions there permanently. If that's not okay with you, we could always move the equipment back and forth."
"The first idea sounds smarter. I propose Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 6:00 to 8:00pm. Sounds good?"
"Yeah...except on Saturdays, I'll prefer 4:00 to 6:00pm".
" Deal. We'll take today off and  start tomorrow".
"Deal"

Lexa

This is the best thing to happen all day, Axel suggesting that we use his house exclusively.
I am in a very good mood. So when I see Glenn, I suggest that he rides with me again today instead of having Angel pick him up. He agrees.
After school we leave, I even let him drive. My car is my baby and I don't let anyone drive her. This one is a stand in so I don't mind him driving it. I tell him to park in the garage and he does. This garage was one of my reasons for choosing this apartment, a safe space for my babies. I am the only occupant with a car so I have sole access to the garage. I notice when Glenn notices my real car, he stares. It is a sports car, worth six figures. He doesn't ask any questions and for that I'm grateful. We switch clothes and head out. He goes for the car we came with and I shake my head. For a few seconds I let him look at the sports car with unbelief before pointing to the bike. I can't help it, I like messing with people. We wear our helmets, safety first. Again, I let him drive. We arrive fifteen minutes early.
We are the first to get here. The room is empty. I take off my hoodie, warm up a little and practice some tricks. I have a dance space at home but it is not large enough to safely pull off some off these tricks. I can't practice them during class because I like to keep my cards close to my chest.
"Showoff"
Glenn's voice startles me so much I almost fall off. I had a palm on the ground and I was bent in half with my butt on my head and my other arm in the air, showing off back flexibility and arm strength.
He tries to mimic me and barely succeeds. He has  more arm strength but less back flexibility. He  strikes a pose and I try to copy it. That's how Angel finds us some minutes later, laughing and having so much fun, immediately evoking a scowl from him. I and Glenn the dance instructor are getting along really well. I only hope it doesn't change my professional relationship with Glenn the Chen Lab instructor.

The class went by in a blur. After  stretching, Glenn asked us to pair up and produce a thirty seconds sensual routine from last class's knowledge. We were to use any thirty seconds of the song 'Señorita'. We had till the end of the class to practice and present tomorrow. Before I could canvas the class and pick a partner, five walked up to me. It was a little sexist of me, canvassing for a male partner. Five and I are a better option, plus we have the uniqueness factor on our side. Most of the other pairs were hetero. Twenty was absent, so we had exactly ten pairs. Glenn and Angel left about an hour into the class. Five and I left about thirty minutes later. She is an excellent partner. Tomorrow's going to be lit. I am a great dancer but she is fire.
After choreographing the routine, we practiced it till we perfect, fluid and breathing in synch.

I rode the bike to my apartment, took a bath, then drove my car home.
I had dinner with my mom. We spoke about our respective days. I filled her in on our project progress and showed her pics of the lab. She likes this, makes her feel like an integral part of my life.
"Mom, since Axel has a lab already, we've decided to work on the project at his place only".
" That sounds practical"
"It is also impractical to drive back here on Tuesdays and Fridays after school only to drive back in an hour. So I was thinking I could just hang out  around there, grab lunch, do my assignments, before going to his place.  Or I could drive back here.....I don't know... What do think mom?"
"I think staying there will be better. I won't even be home during those hours"
"Okay mom. Sadly, I'll miss dinner a few times. Hopefully, this will only go on for a month."
We finish dinner with a little more chatting.

Once in my room, I change into something more comfortable. It's going to be a long night. I run the software that checks all my investments. It takes a while to munch on all the data coming in. I play a few games on one of my favorite gambling sites. Yes, it is completely legal. Yes, I am old enough to gamble. They have a minimum age limit of sixteen. Funny thing is, I've been gambling way before then.
I started at the age of ten. The first time was an accident. I was playing a game on Lyde's phone when the ad for the gambling site popped up. Even with my tiny fingers, I missed the 'x' and instead of closing the ad, I opened it. I found it interesting. I knew enough about Lyne to create an account, including her bank number. I  didn't have her pin so I couldn't take money out. But I could send some in. I had a free spin as a welcome gift. Call it beginner's luck or whatever, I landed a hundred dollars on the first spin.
After a lot of convincing and a promise of fifty dollars, Lyne gave me her pin, allowing me to place more bets. I placed five ten dollar bets. I lost two. Two fell on forty and thirty dollars, seventy dollars in all. The last spin fell on a bonus bonus spin. And that bonus spin fell on a hundred dollars. I promised Lyde twenty more leaving a total of one hundred and fifty dollars for  me in her account. That was the beginning of our partnership and it has lasted seven years so far. Whenever I was in need of something and I felt my mom wouldn't sign off on, Lyde and I get it, and she deducts from my money. That's how I got my first pointe shoes . Lyde was busy with school and so was I, so I didn't play for months after that. That changed the day my father died. Lyde gave it to me as a distraction, it didn't work. In less than thirty minutes I lost  fifty dollars. Five bets, all lost. A bet is placed at ten dollars. The circle has one hundred partitions. Nine of which offer between ten dollars and five hundred. One of them offers a chance at another spin. Ninety of them are loser options. Probability of success is only ten percent.
In the days leading up to the funeral, I lost and lost and lost until I was left with only ten dollars.
Just before we left for the church, I placed a final bet. It spun and stopped five hundred dollars. That was the sign to me that everything was going to be just fine.
From church we went to the cemetery where he was to be buried.
Of course I cried throughout the service and the burial, even though all I felt was numb, no pain. It would've looked weird if I didn't cry. I didn't even need to pretend. Watching my mom cry over him was enough to make me cry. My tears were angry tears, angry at my dad but the world didn't need to know that.
My mom was busy entertaining guests and well wishers. She didn't notice when Lyde and I left. We weren't gone long. We came back with a brand new phone. My gambling phone. I kept using Lyne's bank account. By my twelfth birthday, I had over 2.5 million dollars, not including the 500.000 dollars I had given Lyde. I had expanded to games with higher stakes and to more gambling sites, all legal sites, in Lyne's name. Three years later, I had an egg nest of almost ten million dollars. It was not an easy life. Sometimes I cam e down to  two million, sometimes I went up to twelve. The hardest part was pretending to be a regular kid. At least my parents were rich. So even when I got myself expensive stuff, it didn't stick out.
At fifteen I decided to invest in something else, something a little more stable than quicksand.
So I bought a few shares in some two small companies.
Sometime after my sixteenth birthday, the prices of shares in one of the companies rose to about four times its original price. I let someone buy my shares for twenty million dollars.
I kept investing.
My dad left me a healthy trust fund for when I turned sixteen. It gave me the cover I needed to buy an expensive car without my mom getting suspicious. I try to take care of Lyne as much as I can but not even Lyne knows my net worth right now.
I still have an account in her name, and she has unlimited access to it. I also found a bank that allowed sixteen year olds to create accounts. I have three accounts there, because they are a small bank, with limits on how much money an account can hold.
I still gamble, for the fun of it.
The machine beeps indicating the end  of the software cycle. I spend about two hours studying the charts. All my money and investments accounted for. The tech company share prices just keep skyrocketing. I won't invest in any more companies. I've spread my investments over many domains. I'm financially settled for two lifetimes even if I have a large family.
And to think this started as a mistake. I'll try to call Lyne in the morning.
It's almost 11:00pm  when I shut the laptop and climb in bed.

Bedtime. More like nightmare time, same difference.
I almost make it through the night without the nightmare.... Almost.
My alarm pulls me away from the night's terror around 7:00am.
I use the rest room, then I freshen up.
Already in my running gear, I find her in her room, reading in bed. I ask her to come for a run and she declines..like I knew she would.
I drive to where the jogging tracks start and I do a full cycle back to my car, enjoying every minute.
Next I drive to my apartment. I fix breakfast, eat and feed my plant too. I find an interesting thriller to watch. After watching, I leisurely drive home, listening to NF all the way.
I get home to find my mom and Mrs Hartley in the pool. I get a bikini and join them. We swim around, making light conversation and lots of jokes.
I ask about her son, Caleb. He lives with his father now, her ex-husband. Caleb is a very nice guy, good looking too. He is tall, average build...maybe not average anymore. From his IG feed, he has been been working out a lot lately. He always spends the holidays with his mom. In a few months, he'll be here and we'll  spend the holiday having lots of fun. He is like the little brother I never had.
I volunteer to make us a light lunch and I do just that. After the meal, I spend the next hour preparing for the session even though I know Axel will. I hate feeling like the less superior in the duo.
I get my things ready to leave for Axel's. I just need to find my black hoodie with cat ears...or any of my black hoodies. I can't believe all five of them are at my apartment. I drive to the apartment, get the hoodie and head to Axel's. When I ring the bell, the door is answered by my neighbor. The lady in the other apartment on my floor. I can't remember her name but it starts with a K. Before she says a word Axel comes to the door.
"Katrina, you can take the rest of the day off."
We spend two hours testing half of the samples and recording the findings. It was quite easy. We burnt some of the salt, note the color. Melt some of the same salt, check color of soaked litmus. Then we repeat for the next salt. When we were done for the day, we cleaned the petri dishes and all other equipment used.
At exactly 6:00pm, Axel was walking me to my car.
I arrived just in time for dinner with my mom and Mrs Hartley. I shared details on the project. The conversation strayed to Axel and it was quite informative. Mrs Hartley knew his parents. His father died about a year ago while they were on vacation. He drowned and Axel watched it happen, he tried to help but it was too late.
That sounds vaguely familiar.
I don't feel that hungry anymore so I leave the table.
I get ready for bed almost immediately.
I am barely asleep before the nightmare shows up.

"Maria"