“Yes, mother,” Adam gave her a little salute.<span style="font-style: italic">Is she serious?</span>He peered down at the blank sheet of paper she'd replaced his notebook with.  He tapped his pen on the table impatiently.  “Taking notes” was not something he did, ever.  What was he supposed to note on?  He couldn't understand a word Mrs Ford said to begin with.<span style="font-style: italic">Something, something, pH balance.</span>She started drawing some kind of line on her chalkboard, and without even looking down, Adam started pulling his pen across the page in a similar fashion.  He wrote numbers across it.<br/><br/>Honestly he had no idea what it was supposed to mean.  Something on one side was acidic and the other was called alkaline.  He scribbled “mushrooms?” under the acid side.  He tapped his pen impatiently again and eyed the clock.  Class was almost over, at least.<br/><br/>“So, partner, how am I supposed to build fireworks with this?” he indicated the uneven line on the paper, smiling.  “Or is this less exciting?  I think she wants us to build a meth lab.  If that's the case, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to shield your eyes, miss.”