"Oersterd's Experiment – who's heard of it?"

Silence. I glanced around at my classmates. Everyone was zoned out, and the lesson hadn't even begun.

"No one? Well, that's disappointing. But by the end of this period, you will know exactly what it is, because guess what?"

"What?" Denise asked, being the only student to reply to Mr Newton's rhetorical questions.

Mr Newton picked up his hat, the same black trilby hat that threw me and Damian together, and held it up as if it were a prize. "You're going to do this experiment here in this classroom, but first I have to choose your partners because it just makes my job all the more fun!"

Groans. Why was I not surprised?

"Denise and Damian," Mr Newton called out the first two names, and Denise wrinkled her nose, exchanging a look with me.

I patted her arm sympathetically. "Good luck, girl. You're gonna need it."

Denise nodded, pouting her bottom lip as Mr Newton pulled out more pieces of paper form his hat. He had this theory that we worked more efficiently when we were paired up with strangers, because then there would be no futile chatter between the work. Plus, he loved to see us squirm. He didn't use this method last year, which was why I had enjoyed physics more back then. Ah, those were the good days.

"Aidan and...Mariam!"

I leaned my forehead on my palm, my elbow leaning on the desk comfortably, and let my gaze wander to the opposite side of the classroom, where Aidan and Damian sat. "Looks like a double date," Denise murmured to me sarcastically. I sighed.

"Before you can go off with your partners, I need to explain the experiment, since you're all so clueless," Mr Newton gathered us around a bench and began to set up a compass and an electric wire, which was connected to a battery. "If you all did the homework I assigned for the weekend, you would've come across magnetic fields, which is what I'll be demonstrating here. By closing the circuit, the needle of the compass moves. Can everyone see?" We all murmured yeses.

"Good. Now can someone explain to me why?" Mr Newton scanned our faces, and to my surprise, Damian raised his hand. "Yes, Damian?"

"An electric current passes through the wire, and so a magnetic field forms around it. The compass needle moves because it is detecting the presence of the magnetic field."

I was pretty sure the entire class were just as shocked as me, including Mr Newton, who stared at him for a couple of seconds before regaining composure and saying, "Yes, that's exactly correct, Damian. In fact, I couldn't have explained it better myself."

Damian smiled smugly at Mr Newton. "Maybe I should replace you as teacher, Mr Newton."

Mr Newton chuckled. "Maybe after I retire."

"When will that be, Mr Newton?" Denise questioned.

"Next year?" Mr Newton shrugged nonchalantly.

"Is this your last year, Mr Newton?" Russell asked, sounding sad.

"I suppose it is, Russell. But it's your last year too. Now, what I'm going to get you guys to do is..." Mr Newton explained a different experiment which we would be conducting using iron shavings, a solid conductor and a battery. "Once you get all the materials and set them up, write down what happens because this will be in the test."

At the mention of a test, voices filled the room. "Test? When's the test?"

"What test? I'm not ready for a test!"

Mr Newton calmed us all down with his hands patting an imaginary mattress in the air. "Relax guys, the test isn't for another two weeks, but until then, I'll make sure you guys are well informed on the matters of the universe."

Denise clutched her heart. "I think I almost had a heart attack," she sighed in relief. I chuckled at her antics. The mention of a test didn't scare me, it was the revision that did. Because revising was so tedious, and it made my brain feel like exploding.

"So do you want to get the materials or...?" Aidan seemed awkward for some reason, so I took charge. "Let's get them together."

Aidan nodded, and we both weaved towards the trolley, grabbing what we needed like everyone else. We decided to work at my table, but guess who else had the same idea? Damian.

"Hey, Virgin Mary," hearing him speak my 'nickname' was weirdly comforting. I glanced up at him, frowning a little as I took in his smiling expression, wondering why he was suddenly so cheerful. I then recalled him telling me a couple weeks ago why he had been cheerful that day, and I mentally grimaced.

"No hello?" Damian pretended to sound disappointed. Beside him Denise mouthed, "Ignore him," so I did, concentrating on setting up our experiment. Aidan was struggling to poke a hole through the cardboard, his tongue tucked in the corner of his lips, but he finally managed to pierce the conductor through with a grunt. "Got it!"

"Okay, now we gotta connect up the circuit," I muttered, grabbing the battery and the switch. Aidan grazed my arm with his as we linked the conductor to the battery, and I sneaked a glimpse across to see Denise doing the exact same thing, while Damian held the cardboard in place. For a second his eyes locked on mine, but I quickly glanced back down to our experiment.

I was ignoring him because our mission involved avoiding Damian for a week while we laid down the ground works of our plan. Yasmine called it 'isolating the subject' which was a very advanced description for simply leaving Damian alone and 'observing' him. We couldn't just jump straight into this business, it had to be approached with caution and care, for one who had patience would surely see more progress than one with haste.

"That's so cool!" Aidan exclaimed as the metal shavings began to curve around the conductor in spirals. I used the right hand grip rule to confirm the direction of the current, then scribbled my observations into my notebook along with Aidan. As I did I felt Damian's eyes on me, yet again. I shot him an arched eyebrow, to which he imitated, so I rolled my eyes and began to draw a rough diagram of what we had just witnessed.

"It's like magic," Denise breathed, staring at her own magnetic field.

Allah's magic, I thought to myself.

"Actually, it's just the magnetic field," Damian said casually. When Denise gave him a blank look, he pointed to the shavings and began explaining how it worked.

"When did you get so smart?" Denise let out a laugh after Damian finished his explanation. The way he explained it actually made sense to me, so I wrote down some of his words for my own notes.

"I've always been smart," Damian scoffed, bending down into his seat to write something down.

"So why do you act so stupid all the time?" Aidan asked his friend bluntly with a snigger.

Damian sent him a scowl. "I'm not stupid, Aidan. I'm just lazy," he replied simply. "I can't be stuffed half the time."

Aidan nodded, as if this made perfect sense. "Sure, man. But all this time, you had me fooled."

"I sure did," Damian grinned, but it slowly slipped off his face, and he lowered his gaze, though not before I saw the sad look in his eyes. He had us all fooled, I realized.

"Well, thanks, partner, I now understand it better," Denise said to Damian.

"No problem," Damian sent her a thin smile as Mr Newton clapped his hands in a rhythmic pattern, like teachers did in primary school.

I chuckled under my breath. "What are we, kids?"

Aidan laughed along with me. "I know, right?"

I stole a glance at him, and he was smiling, which wasn't surprising because he was always smiling, but it was surprising because the smile was directed at me. And to think all this time I had thought he had something against me because of what happened with Yaz. Maybe it was just a feeling, and I was being paranoid, so I sent a smile back as Mr Newton gained our attention. The clapping method always worked, no matter how old we were.

***

"You're avoiding me."

"I'm not avoiding you."

"You are," Damian insisted as I packed away my books. "See, this is exactly what I was afraid of."

I turned to him, cocking an eyebrow. "What, me avoiding you?"

Damian smirked. "So you admit it?"

"No!"

"Well, if it's because of..." his trailing off indicated he was talking about –

"The bet?"

Damian shook his head, closing his eyes as he answered, "No, my mum."

"What about her?" I shut my locker, grasping my apple and muesli bar in one hand and slipping my keys into my pocket. I stepped away from the locker to give Damian room, but he made no move to get to it.

"Nothing," Damian muttered, bending down on his knees to get to his locker. He was no longer ditching school, and he smiled in physics, so he must be getting better at handling it. But better was an overstatement.

"How is she?" I asked out of pure curiosity. I suddenly cared for his mother, and I could almost feel his pain, feel it emanating off him as I clutched my recess, waiting for his answer.

"She's..." Damian sighed, slamming his locker and standing up, empty handed. Did he not eat food or something? Or maybe he was buying it...

I nodded. "I understand."

"No, you don't, that's the problem," Damian snapped, spinning on his heel and striding away.

I stood there for a moment, watching him storm off. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was bipolar, but I knew better, and that's why I had to fix this problem. Damian needed guidance, and in this case I would be his compass.

"Are you successfully avoiding him?" Yasmine whispered as we settled under the tree. Theo and Denise were busy eating their food, lost in their own little conversation, so I had the chance to reply with, "It's complicated."

Yasmine sighed. "Mims, you have to stick with the plan. No matter how complicated it gets, we have to approach this slowly."

"I know, but he's everywhere, basically – my locker, the bus, physics...avoiding him isn't exactly working," I reasoned.

"Well, make it work," Yasmine was fully committed to our plan, but I was having a hard time, especially when all I wanted to do was help Damian. Who knew one day I'd want to help a guy like him rather than avoid him, something I would've gladly done without hesitation earlier this year.

"I need guinea pigs for my sport assignment," Theo brought up, crunching his chips simultaneously. He and Nasr were exactly alike in terms of showcasing the beauty of mashed up food.

"What's it about?" Denise inquired.

"I have to design a training regime for a group of people, and then I have to present the progress," Theo explained. "I was hoping to get one of you girls involved."

"No way," Yasmine shook her head. "I hate exercise."

"Come on, it'll be totally fun," Theo pleaded. He turned to me and Denise. "Mariam? Denise? Are any of you interested?"

Denise shrugged, popping a tiny teddy into her mouth. "I mean, if it'll get me in shape, sure, why not?"

"Now I just need one other person..." Theo looked at me pleadingly, so I sighed.

"Okay I will be a guinea pig for the sake of your assignment," I gave in. "But I am not doing anything crazy."

Theo grinned. "Don't worry, by the end of the eight weeks, you'll be almost as fit as me!" He flexed a bicep to showcase his 'fitness.'

"Almost is never enough," Yasmine sung under her breath. Did I mention she was a terrible singer? Not as terrible as Theo and Zeinab, though. Though she wore the hijab, her old habits still lingered, such as music. Music was like a drug – hard to quit. But once you did, you felt reborn.

"Will we be doing a lot of ab exercises, cause," Denise slapped her stomach, which honestly was completely flat, but all girls had insecurities. "I need to tone up."

Theo nodded. "Oh, of course! And we're also gonna be doing a lot of running," his grin grew wider when Denise groaned. Denise was more of a yoga/Pilates girl. Anything that involved rigorous movement was her mortal enemy.

"You know I hate running," Denise whined.

"It'll get you fit, though," Theo persuaded. "Isn't that what you want?"

"I guess," Denise mumbled.

"How many people are doing it?" I asked.

"Well, each student has to have at least three other people in their training program," Theo answered.

"Who's the third person?" Yasmine asked.

Theo smiled. "Samantha."

"So you'll be training just girls, then," I gathered.

"My focus is the female body," Theo said slyly. "We'll be doing feminine exercises."

"Um, excuse me, girls can do the same exercises as guys," Denise snapped her fingers sassily.

"Can you lift fifteen kilo weights?" Theo asked.

"Well, no, but –"

"How about a hundred push ups?"

"That's ridiculous," Denise claimed.

"That's what the workout is for the males," Theo said. "I know because Aidan is focusing on that. He's training guys like Russell, Damian and Toby. They're going to go real hard core, so they can get real buff, like moi." He flexed his muscles yet again, causing us girls to roll our eyes and smile.

"We don't want to get buff, we just want to get slim," Denise explained.

"Which is why we will be focusing more on here, here and here," Theo tapped his belly, his thighs and then finally, his butt.

"Yay," I said flatly.

"Yay indeed," Theo winked. "Our first training session will be this Saturday at the park. Can you two make it?"

"We have no choice, do we?" Denise looked to me, and I shrugged. "We'll be there."

"Prepare to be slimified!" Theo declared.

"I'm pretty sure that's not a word," Yasmine giggled.

"It's not a word," Denise confirmed.

Theo just grinned. "Well, it is now."

***

Wednesday came by quickly, and if it weren't for my mother reminding me, I would've completely forgotten about my first shift at St. Vincent's Hospital. Straight after school, I was to come home, change out of my uniform, and wear casual clothes, since the volunteers would be receiving the hospital uniform when we get there, according to my father, who had a friend who worked at that hospital.

It was Baba who drove me there, deciding to walk in with me since I had no idea where the reception was, or anything for that matter. I didn't have much experience with hospitals, except for the couple of visits for our grandpa when he was sick, and the time Auntie Rima had Mahmoud, my ten year old cousin. But I myself had never been the patient, alhamdulillah.

"Hey, Mark, good to see you again," Baba greeted a doctor in a white coat and a stethoscope who was in the elevator with us. "This is my daughter, the one I told you about."

Mark smiled, crow's feet at the edges of his eyes and a receding hairline. "Ah, yes, Mariam, our brave volunteer. Nice to meet you."

I nodded, returning his smile. "Nice to meet you, too." I was a little nervous about this volunteer work. I didn't know what to expect except lots of sick people and ugly scrubs.

The doors opened and we stepped into a brightly lit hall, the polished floors reflecting the lights and our shadows. I followed Mark and Baba to a reception, overhearing snippets of their conversation. Apparently they went to the same high school, which was how they knew each other well.

I shuffled from one foot to the other as I waited with Baba while Mark went to speak with the receptionist, feeling a little nervous. Having good connections helped, and I wondered if I would ever end up working here, helping people like Mark was.

A blonde woman in navy blue scrubs approached us, holding a clipboard and offering a wide smile.

"You must be our latest volunteer!" she had a chirpy voice, one that I could imagine on a Disney princess. "I'm Sharon." She turned to Baba, and shook hands with him, "And you're the proud father, am I right?"

Baba beamed at me, "Yes, indeed. Now I have to go, so..." He kissed my forehead, murmuring, "Call me when you are finished."

"Okay," I waved at him. Sharon glanced down at her clipboard, pronouncing my name as, "Merry-um, is it?"

"Um, actually it's Mariam," I corrected her out of politeness.

Sharon pinched her brows together, laughing and revealing two rows of white teeth. "Sorry! I'm hopeless at names. Remind me if I get it wrong."

I nodded, rocking on my heels expectantly. This was all new to me, being in a hospital, let alone working here. Sharon gave me information about what volunteers actually did, nothing like what Nasr had fabricated, and then handed me an identification badge and a volunteer's vest. Then she assigned me to my first location – the kitchen.

"This is where you will be working for tonight," Sharon told me as I scanned the place, bustling with cooks. I followed her to where a shelf of trays were laid out, the aroma of cooked food making me hungry, even if hospital food was rumoured to be revolting.

"You just have to serve these to the patients on this floor with this trolley," Sharon said it like it was the easiest thing in the world. She pointed to the piece of paper with the room number and details of the meal that sat atop each tray. "Just read the details and deliver! Shouldn't be too hard for a first day, huh?"

"Hopefully not," I joked. Sharon laughed airily, wishing me luck before leaving me alone with a bunch of food. One of the cooks, a chubby woman with greasy black hair swept under a net, dried her hands on a towel and approached me with a smile.

"You are a volunteer, yes?" she had a slight European accent, perhaps from Yugoslavia or somewhere in that region.

I nodded. "Yes, I'm Mariam."

"Louisa," we shook hands, and I gestured to the trolley. "So I just load the trays onto the trolley and deliver?"

Louisa grinned, her rosy cheeks shiny and dark eyes sparkling. "You know what you doing very well, Mariam. You seem like responsible girl, I leave you to it. I am head cook here, you tell to me if anything wrong, okay?"

I nodded, and she left me be, picking up each plastic tray of covered hot food and placing it on the two rows on the trolley. I managed to fit six at a time, and there were twelve rooms, so I would have to make two trips. I wheeled the trolley into the hall and glanced down at the first room number. One. That seemed convenient. It was in the east wing, so I headed towards there and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" called a frail voice from within.

"Dinner is served," I placed the tray onto the table, smiling at the old woman with a cast on her left arm.

"Thank you, dear," the old lady croaked as I shuffled out.

And for the next ten minutes, I managed to deliver all six trays. One of the patients was Muslim, as she greeted me with 'Salamu Alaykum' as soon as she saw me. She didn't wear a hijab, and she had a neck brace. Her name was Yusra, and she and I had a conversation before I left. A couple of the patients didn't even thank me, they just grunted and stared at the mini television screen. I realized how nice it felt to be thanked, because the absence of verbal gratitude felt empty and cold. As a volunteer I just had to do my job, nothing more, nothing less, but I still felt affected when I didn't receive a thank you.