Promising Azra

by Helen Thurloe

  I nodded. ‘One more from mine. And three from the boys school.’

  ‘Really?’ she said, like it was weird. ‘You needed two schools to make one team? We always have a full team from ours.’

  She grunted as she heaved her case onto the bed. She sat beside it and sighed. ‘I was going to get changed, but if you’re wearing that, I won’t bother.’

  I looked down at my clothes. Was something wrong with them?

  She laughed. ‘Don’t stress. Geek-wear rocks.’

  I couldn’t tell if she was being mean or funny.

  ‘We need to be there in ten anyway,’ she said, retying her hair into a stumpy ponytail. I thought I saw a small tattoo inside her wrist—the symbol for pi.

  ‘You coming or what?’ she said, stepping into the corridor.

  I followed her down the stairs, feeling confused. Was she being friendly or rude? It was hard to tell. For the millionth time that day, I wished Bassima was here instead.

  ‘Hey there,’ Kate called to Joe as we walked into the hall, ‘I’m Kate!’

  ‘Hey, Kate.’ He shook her hand first, then held out his hand to me. It was always awkward for me to shake hands with men, but it felt rude to refuse, so I did it anyway.

  ‘Here, girls: name tags.’ He peeled off stickers that had our first names in bold black letters, and handed them to us. As I looked down to put mine on, there was a sudden slap!

  Kate and I both stumbled forward. Someone had whacked us on the back.

  Joe laughed. ‘Can I introduce Toby?’ Grinning at us was a young man with spiky dark hair, and a spacer in one earlobe.

  ‘Hi, Toby,’ said Kate. ‘Party trick? Or not-so-stealthy sticker ninja?’

  ‘Introductory game,’ he said. ‘Everyone gets the name of a famous scientist on their back. You have to ask yes-or-no questions to work out who you are. And only ask one question of each person. One person, one question only. Goddit?’

  On the backs of other students in the hall, I could read ‘Albert Einstein’, ‘Ernest Rutherford’ and ‘Rosalind Franklin’.

  ‘Okay, let’s see then,’ said Kate, spinning me round. ‘Ask me a question.’

  ‘Am I a man or a woman?’

  ‘Weren’t you listening? It has to be yes or no.’

  ‘Oh, sorry. Am I a man?’

  ‘’Fraid so. How about me?’ She turned around. I saw ‘Marie Curie’.

  ‘No,’ I said, ‘you’re not.’

  ‘Well, I’ve got it easy. Only need a couple more questions. Now, I’m starving.’

  Along the wall was a long table covered in stainless steel pans and large bowls. People piled up food on their plates, then sat to eat at the tables in the centre.

  Kate and I joined the end of the queue. There were little cards next to some dishes. Dairy-free, gluten-free, kosher, vegan, halal. I guessed Mrs Kaminski had checked.

  I put fish and salad on my plate, and saw Tom and Bradley at a nearby table. There were four seats left.

  ‘I’m going here,’ I said to Kate, pointing with my cutlery. She looked around the room like she was looking for girls from her school, but then she followed me, and plonked herself on the seat next to Tom.

  ‘Tom,’ I said, ‘this is Kate.’

  ‘Hi,’ he said, chewing on a sausage.

  ‘And Bradley,’ I said. He gave a nod.

  ‘You know Azra’s really a guy,’ said Kate. ‘On her back, if you see what I mean.’

  Tom leaned back to see the sticker, and started to laugh. ‘Oh man, you’ll be asking questions for a long while!’

  ‘So who have you got?’ I asked him.

  He turned around, and I read ‘Amedeo Avogadro’.

  ‘Ask us a question then,’ I said.

  Tom put down his fork and pushed back his chair. ‘All right. Am I still alive today?’

  I shook my head. ‘No. Not at all.’

  He pulled a mock-crestfallen face. ‘Then please tell me I’m a famous Australian scientist?’

  ‘Not this time,’ said Kate.

  ‘Maybe at a science camp in fifty years’ time, the kids will have your name on their backs, Tom,’ said Pratik, pulling out a chair beside Bradley.

  ‘For discovering how to read letters through the nerves of my skin?’ asked Tom.

  Kate laughed too loudly, and covered her mouth to stop food from falling out.

  A dark-haired woman in a patterned dress tapped a spoon on her glass.

  ‘Attention, please. I’m Professor Kimble, head of the chemistry department. Welcome to our fifth annual New South Wales Chemistry Camp. We’re delighted to have you here. I’m also quite certain that in this room today are some of Australia’s scientists of the future.’

  Kate rolled her eyes at Tom. He smirked.

  ‘We expect you’ll have a challenging and enjoyable three days of learning and working together, and I look forward to meeting you all.

  ‘Enjoy the rest of your lunch—there’s half an hour left to work out which famous scientist is on your back. At two o’clock, we’ll start the first prac, so please bring your safety gear to the auditorium foyer and we’ll escort you to the labs.’

  Everyone clapped, and I could feel the excitement in the air.

  ‘Well, Azra, who are you?’ asked Pratik, breaking into my thoughts.

  For a second, I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then I remembered the game.

  ‘Umm,’ I said. ‘Well, I know I’m a guy. A dead one.’

  Pratik nodded. ‘That narrows the field,’ he said. ‘Not. The question?’

  ‘Okay. Right. Was I European?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, thanks,’ I said. ‘Now I need another person to ask. Bradley!’ He looked startled. ‘I need to ask you a question. Was my work in chemistry?’

  He stood up and walked behind me. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’d say so.’

  ‘Okay, thanks.’ I looked over to Tom, who was leaning close to Kate, whispering something. She pushed herself away from the table, her eyes large.

  ‘No!’ she said, her face flushed. ‘I don’t believe you.’

  Tom pulled an innocent face. ‘Would I lie about something like that?’

  Was he flirting with Kate? I thought he liked B.

  ‘Hey, Tom!’ I called. ‘Here! Urgently.’

  He looked up. I waved him over.

  ‘Is my work still relevant?’ I asked.

  Tom craned over to see. ‘Yes. Definitely.’

  I could see Vanessa two tables away. She seemed to already know the girl she was chatting to. She had ‘Max Planck’ on her back.

  ‘Hey, Ness,’ I said. ‘Scuse.’

  Vanessa pushed her glasses up her nose as she turned to me.

  ‘Quick favour,’ I said. ‘Am I Dmitri Mendeleev?’

  She squinted over my shoulder, then nodded.

  ‘Yep. Periodic table. What about me? Am I still alive?’

  ‘Nah, you’re not,’ I said. ‘Good luck!’

  I walked towards the drinks table. Pratik intercepted me.

  ‘Hey, Az,’ he said, ‘am I a dead European guy too?’

  I smiled. His sticker said ‘Antoine Lavoisier’.

  ‘Yep. But an interesting one,’ I said. ‘Probs only another five questions to go.’

  ‘How long-ago dead am I?’ he asked.

  ‘Uh-uh,’ I said. ‘You know the rules. One question per person. But here’s a clue—don’t lose your head. Conserve your energy.’

  I shooed him away as I poured myself a glass of orange cordial. It tasted like school sports day. And Australia. And now it tasted like university.

  XVII

  Solvent

  liquid in which something else is dissolved

  The first lab session was a titration procedure like we’d done at school, except with different compounds. Vanessa and I did pretty well, I thought.

  In the half-hour break before dinner, I walked up the path to International House, counting the stairs to my room. Seeing if I could find a
pattern to the numbers.

  I was relieved Kate wasn’t already in there. I checked my phone. Bassima had messaged me.

  Hope Bradley hasn’t combusted the lab yet. Or Vanessa. It’s just me and the Kardashians at home.

  Nothing to do but watch my nails grow. Xx

  I thought carefully about my answer. I definitely wouldn’t mention Tom, and the way he was flirting with Kate. Or her with him. It was hard to know who to blame.

  No exploding organs seen here yet. Might need your fingernails for transplant to VC on return. She’s already Very Chewed. Miss you. Xx

  I shook out my hair and brushed it up, gathering it into a ponytail. Then I let it fall over my shoulders. Perhaps I would leave it out tonight. Free hair on a free head.

  In the bathroom, Kate’s stuff was over most of the sink top. A make-up bag with sticky bottles. A hair straightener. A big hairbrush with tangled red hair in it. A toothpaste tube without a cap.

  My phone buzzed. And buzzed again. It was a call. A call from the shop.

  ‘Hello?’ I said.

  ‘Azra!’ said Mama.

  ‘Hello, Mama. Everything all right?’

  ‘Yes, no; I hope so.’ I could hear the tightness in her voice. Surely she didn’t need me home already?

  ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Well, everything’s fine here. We’re just about to have dinner, and we did a new experiment this afternoon.’

  She didn’t say anything.

  ‘Hello? You there still?’

  ‘Yes, yes, I am.’

  ‘What’s up then?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘That’s the problem. I haven’t seen Rashid since the weekend. Can you ring him?’

  ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘But why don’t you try, Mama? You’re the one who wants to talk to him.’

  ‘Because he won’t pick up. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. Or hiding from me. Azra, please.’

  ‘Okay, okay, I’ll try.’

  ‘Tell him to come home right away. Except if he’s at work.’

  ‘He might have lost his phone,’ I said. ‘You’re probably worrying over nothing.’

  ‘I hope so,’ she said, ‘but I’d like to know.’

  ‘I’ll try. But I can’t make him answer.’

  ‘I know, I know,’ said Mama. ‘Please try.’

  By the tremor in her voice, it seemed like something more was up, but I didn’t want to ask. I’d only just arrived at camp, and I so didn’t want Rashid’s problems dragging me home.

  ‘Sure. I’ll let you know when I hear anything. Say hi to Soraya. Bye.’

  ‘Thanks, Azra. You have a nice time. Bye.’

  Out the window, I watched the high blue sky fade to pink and grey. I didn’t want to ring Rashid. If I asked him to go home, he’d say probably swear at me. He’d say it was none of my business. And if he’d already decided not to take Mama’s calls, why would he answer mine? He either didn’t want to, or he couldn’t.

  A text was easier.

  Hey Rash, Mama wants to see you. Call her? Az

  I pressed send, put the phone at the bottom of my bag, and went down to dinner.

  Dinner was in the Johnson Room, next to the main hall. From the entrance, I could see the flicker of candles.

  ‘Welcome to the Periodic Table, Azra,’ said Joe, looking down a list on his folder. ‘Or Asra, for this evening. As. Arsenic. You’ll be sitting with the Group 15 Elements, the pnictogens.’

  Rectangular tables of different sizes were draped with coloured tablecloths, helium balloons floating above. The teachers sat on a single round table to the side. Mrs Kaminski tapped her finger on the table, making a point to a white-haired man next to her. Vanessa chatted with a girl at the largest table, the transition metals. She must be vanadium.

  Kate was on table one. K for potassium. Tom was already sitting on the chair right next to her. How come? I couldn’t see how his name could match an alkali metal. Maybe it wasn’t even his table, but he and Kate were already sticking together like oxygen atoms. B wouldn’t like it. If she was here, I bet it would be different.

  No one was on table 15 yet. It was set with eight tea-lights, one for each place, bread rolls on side plates, and a water jug. Green and yellow helium balloons tugged at a stand in the middle.

  As I watched people find their tables in the low light, a chair grazed my elbow.

  ‘Oops,’ said Pratik. ‘Seat taken?’

  ‘No, not yet,’ I said.

  My arm tingled where he’d touched it.

  ‘Pratik,’ I said. ‘Phosphorus?’

  He nodded, his teeth glinting in the candlelight. ‘I could have been a lanthanide metal, but they already had enough randoms. Water?’

  He reached for the jug and filled my glass. Rashid would never have done that.

  ‘Your hair looks nice,’ he said.

  ‘Oh,’ I said, pushing it over my shoulder. ‘Thanks.’

  Two girls came closer. ‘Group 15?’ asked one.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Pratik. ‘I’m phosphorus, she’s arsenic.’

  She laughed. ‘Hi, poisons! I’m Natalie, nitrogen. This is Siobhan, she’s antimony!’

  They sat down as the short, freckled boy we met near the car park came up to us. ‘I’m Ashley. More arsenic. Okay to sit here?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Pratik. ‘Two arsenics on one periodic table. What are the odds?’

  Two more boys arrived, one broad and athletic, the other lanky and awkward. The athletic one spoke. ‘Hey, Group 15? He’s Billy Bismuth and I’m Nathan Nitrogen.’

  The room rang with bursts of laughter as people discovered their tables and introduced themselves. The voices got louder, the laughter lasted longer.

  Nathan sat on the other side of me. ‘Hi,’ he said, offering his hand for me to shake. I held it lightly, as he asked, ‘How are your outer electrons behaving? Not giving them away too easily?’ He thought he was being funny, but it sounded sleazy.

  ‘Not really,’ I said, pulling my hand away, and turning towards Pratik. He was a known uncomfortableness. One I could manage.

  Two waiters approached with a trolley of soup. They placed the dishes around the table.

  ‘Vegetable soup!’ said Pratik. ‘Who would think it could be this easy?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

  ‘It’s not simple being a vegetarian at Mount Lewis Boys High,’ he said. ‘Real men eat meat.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Because you’re Hindu?’

  He nodded. ‘But at least I can pretend it’s because I’m a hippy. Especially here.’

  I laughed. He was so not a hippy.

  I swallowed the soup, feeling the heat slip into my belly. If this was university, I thought, then I wanted more.

  At the end of dinner, there was a lecture in the auditorium next door, about the chemistry of forensic science.

  Someone had had the idea to take the balloons from the tables, and soon heaps of people had balloons tied to their wrists, or ankles, or waists.

  Kate tied the ribbon of her pink balloon around her ponytail. It bobbed as she nodded, and in the foyer, she posed for a bunch of girls from her school, making her arms into different extended shapes.

  ‘Here’s helium. Now lithium. Sodium. Potassium.’

  Her friends cheered as she modelled atomic shapes. I couldn’t watch.

  Vanessa sidled up. ‘See that?’ she whispered. ‘What a show-off.’

  I nodded. ‘Guess what.’

  Vanessa looked puzzled. ‘What?’

  ‘She’s my roommate.’

  ‘Oh no,’ said Vanessa, ‘you poor thing. But it doesn’t look like they’re coming to the lecture. Too much into themselves. Come sit with me. Maybe she’ll exhaust herself, and be fast asleep by the time you get back.’

  I hoped so. But Kate looked like she could party all night if enough people were watching.

  The lecture room was only half full. I could hear the shrieks of laughter from outside. Joe shut the big doors to keep out their noise.
/>   Vanessa took my arm and led me to near the front. I hoped she was right and that Kate would be asleep, or not there at all.

  After the lecture, Vanessa and I walked back to our rooms, our arms linked.

  ‘You on the second floor too?’ I asked, as we went up the stairs.

  ‘Yep, just further along the corridor. Weird to be staying here, like grown-ups. My mum keeps texting to check I’m okay.’

  ‘Yeah. I’ve had a couple of calls.’ But I doubted hers were about a missing brother. I wondered if any more messages had come in.

  ‘Actually, my phone slipped down a gap at the top of my bed this morning. I can’t even see where it is.’

  ‘I’ve got a torch, if you like,’ I said. ‘Let me get it.’

  I wasn’t even thinking about Kate when I turned the key. Until I turned on the light.

  ‘Hey, cut it, will you! Lights off!’

  In the sudden brightness, I saw Kate on the bed, her shirt unbuttoned. She wore a green bra on her pale body. But that wasn’t the bad part. There was a tall, fair-haired boy lying next to her, his arm around her naked waist.

  ‘Shit, Az!’ he said. ‘I didn’t know this was your room!’

  ‘Lights off!’ called Kate. ‘Like, now!’

  I switched off the light, and shut the door. My head throbbed. I couldn’t believe it was Tom. How could he do that? What the hell was he up to? I thought he liked B.

  ‘Was that Tom?’ whispered Vanessa. ‘With her?’

  I nodded. I had no words.

  ‘Come on, you can’t go back in there.’

  I let Vanessa take my arm and lead me up the corridor to her room. Her roommate wasn’t in. I sat on the end of one of the beds and dropped my face into my hands.

  ‘Oh my God,’ said Vanessa. ‘That’s so not allowed. They could get sent home.’

  I shook my head. ‘I don’t care if she does. But what about him? Our team is already short.’

  Vanessa looked serious. ‘That would be bad. But I thought he had a thing for B? They were flirting like anything in the car when my mum drove us home from the prac last month.’

  ‘Yeah. I thought he did too. But not anymore. B will be gutted.’ I sighed. I wouldn’t tell her anything until she was better. But she needed to know. I’d warned her that boys could be jerks. Now she might believe me.