"Ahem."
Mr. Glotzky looked up from his desk to find his student, Gina, standing in front of his desk.
"Uh, hello Gina. Is something wrong?"
"No, Mr. Glotzky. I was wondering if I could stay after school to work on my science fair project." Sweat rolled down her forehead. "Please say yes," She thought.
"Well, Gina, you ARE my best student. I don't see why not."
Gina tried not to smile. "Thank you, Mr. Glotzky."
..........
Gina peeked around the science lab. No one was in sight.
Quietly, she removed the contents of her backpack. A tuft of hair, a few strands of her own, a bit of skin, some pebbles that looked like coal, and a vial.
Casually, Gina strode over to the cabinet that housed multiple chemicals. Inside, she found a vial of cool blue liquid.
She bit her lower lip and removed it. She carefully opened the vial, and dumped half into her own. She then added about a quarter of the tuft of hair she had brought with her.
She watched as the liquid broke down the hair, taking apart its cellular structure, until the cells had melted away, leaving hundreds of DNA strands in their place.
Gina carefully dipped the strands of her hair. She needed her body to recognize it as her DNA, but she couldn't have so little that she didn't change at all.
Next, she added the coal. The liquid did its work immediately, and the liquid darkened to a deep purple. She went over to the sink, and filled the rest of the vial with water. Then, she gave it a good shake.
She rested in a chair, and observed her creation. An opaque purple liquid, with the consistency of fresh eggnog. It had no smell, and Gina noticed a small black lump at the bottom of the vial, from the leftover carbon.
Gina took one last thing out of her pack. A syringe. She was prepared to finish her 4 years of work, and wasn't going to wait for anyone.
For as long as she could remember, she had always been teased, and picked on. When something went wrong, she was the scapegoat. When she wanted to play, she was always picked last, always the odd one out. In the vial that she held was her hopes and dreams.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed. She could feel the thick, violet concoction enter her veins. Now, all she had to do was wait.