Chapter 15

     “Yeah, we’re finally done, I’m really tired out, so come pick me up, okay? Thanks, Dad. Bye,” Heather spoke into her cell phone before closing it and joining the rest who had already called their parents or chaperones.
     “And now, it comes down to…” Drew paused for dramatic effect. “…who Strufis is gonna crash with tonight.”
     “Since Strufis is a guy, that would leave the options as either with you, Drew, or Phillip,” Heather stated. “Can either of you do it, or are there issues?”
     “I can do it! Well, maybe, I might have to call my parents and ask, but you know, they’re not too hard on that sorta stuff,” Drew said. “If they’re in a good mood.”
     “It doesn’t matter for me,” Phillip replied. “My parents really wouldn’t care.”
     “Hey, wanna rochambeau for it?” Drew held up a fist eagerly.
     “No, no, forget it, I’ll just take him,” Phillip muttered offhandedly.
     Drew pouted at not only his lost opportunity to redeem himself as the game’s unofficial titleholder, but also Drew’s chance to barrage Strufis with all the questions he could come up with about the newcomer’s dimension. Still, he acquiesced anyway. I can always ask him tomorrow!
     “Okay,” Heather stepped in again, “I dunno what you want to do, Strufis, but if it’s possible, it might be a good idea if you came to school with us, if you register as a visitor in the office. I’ll be happy to escort you there and help you get around.”
     “I can do it, since he’ll be staying with me and all,” Phillip sighed.
     “All right, do that,” Heather nodded.
     “Wow, Phil, this seems almost unlike you,” Anastasia noted with amusement. “You’re being so…hospitable!”
     “Hmph,” Phillip grunted as Strufis glanced at him wryly.
     “…And, like that, I guess we’ll all see everybody tomorrow,” Anastasia sighed. “Life is so casually strange.”

     “I’m thinking,” Strufis said, looking out the window of Phillip’s room that evening after Phillip had finished his work for the day. “I’m going to need some clothes from this world if I don’t want everyone asking me if I’m dress rehearsing for the school play.”
     “Well, you look like you’re about the same size as I am,” Phillip said, getting up and heading for his dresser. “Let’s see…you can have a few of these older ones, I never wear them anymore.”
     Phillip tossed them over to Strufis and he caught them. Strufis glanced down at them. “I honestly think there’s something you want me to do, or something you want to ask. You’re being nice enough; just tell me, already.”
     Phillip looked at him for several moments, but said nothing.
     It wasn’t until after Strufis had gotten out a sleeping bag and had turned out the light that night when Phillip finally spoke again.
     “What’s everyday life like over there?” Phillip asked. “In your dimension.”
     “Depends on who you ask,” Strufis replied. “It’s different for everyone, you know.”
     “You, then.”
     “Well,” he began, “ for me, the first thing I do in the morning is check on whatever project the Professor’s working on that he’s assigned me to look after, and then depending if it’s a training day or not, I’ll either take out my books and study the principles of chemistry – loads of fun, of course. If the Prof’s prepared a lab, then we’ll either be doing some things in the laboratory or outside if we have to.” He grinned. “My favorite so far is the flame test lab, where we tested all different salts and the flames could convert into pretty much any color you can imagine. Strontium chloride – crimson. Potassium chloride – lilac. And barium chloride – that’s when I found out that the green flame it produces can heal and rejuvenate a person if they were immersed in it. It leaves you smelling like mint afterward, though,” he remarked with a chuckle.
     Phillip blinked. “Well, that’s new.”
     “What do you mean?”
     “The multihued flames that that experiment works with, in our world, don’t have any special properties to them. They just change color.”
     Strufis looked up at him from his sleeping bag. “Well, there’s an example again of how our two dimensions are similar, yet different. How about you, then? What’s your day like?”
     Phillip mumbled, “Every day I’ve gotta go to the local high school, like everyone else around, because they require it by law. I go around to classes and they lecture us about stuff, and then we get homework we’ve got to do, which usually consists of worksheets and time-sucking projects that really aren’t that ‘fun’ no matter how much the teacher might say it is.” He rolled over in bed and looked right down at Strufis. “Want to know why? Grades. The measurements of your so-called progress. The first six letters of the alphabet, except for E, determine whether you ‘pass’ or ‘fail’, which are euphemisms for ‘life’ or ‘miserable death’. And really, that’s all that seems to matter. Especially to my parents. All they seem to care about is my grades.”
     Strufis lay back on his sleeping bag. “Well, my parents didn’t even care up to that point. They just did their own thing, didn’t really care what I was doing as long as I didn’t get arrested or anything. I bet they were glad when they could dump me off to be a professor’s apprentice so they wouldn’t have to worry about getting a babysitter for me. And hell, I don’t care. I’m learning enough at the professor’s place, and I’ll be a great scientist someday, without their involvement.”
     Phillip closed his eyes. “You’ve got ambitions, at least, I’ll give you that.”
     Strufis looked back up at him. “Don’t you?”
     Phillip said nothing. He turned over in his bed and Strufis perceived that the conversation was over.