The Detention Club by David Yoo

Author:David Yoo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

That night during study hours I sat there thinking about my idea for self-lighting cigarettes. Drew was right, how could I possibly make a prototype if I didn’t actually have any cigarettes to work with? I was completely stuck, but the next day at school I had a stroke of luck in science class—we were burning chemicals over a Bunsen burner to record the reactions. The chemicals lit up in different colors when you held them over the flame. Mr. Reardon picked out random partners for lab, and I ended up working with Angie! I figured I’d impress her somehow and maybe that would get me on the invite list for her next party. I started burning chemicals and she seemed impressed.

“You know, this would make for a really cool display at, say, a social event, um . . . on the weekend,” I suggested.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.

I sighed. She started recording results in her lab notebook, but all was not lost, because for once I actually enjoyed science class. I just mindlessly burned stuff over the Bunsen burners for a few minutes until Angie started complaining.

“You’re wasting the phosphorous, we need more of it,” she said. “Come on, we have to burn seven more chemicals before class is over.”

“But I like the yellow color this one makes,” I said.

Mr. Reardon stopped by our station.

“Do you know what phosphorous is used for?” he asked.

“Nope,” I said, scorching another piece over the Bunsen burner.

“It’s used in making matches.”

“That’s really interesting,” I said, not really paying attention at first, but then a second later something clicked. “Wait—what?”

“Basically when combined with friction, it causes the flame to spark on the tip of a match,” he explained.

That was it! The key to my prototype was to simply glue some phosphorous to the end of a cigarette, then you could just rub the tip of it against a matchbook surface. I could get hold of an empty cigarette pack and glue the striking surface of a matchbook onto the side. Then I could just make a substitute cigarette by finding something roughly the same size and shape as a real one, and glue phosphorous to the tip. That would be my self-lighting cigarette for the competition!

Which meant that I was going to have to steal some phosphorous from the class in order to build my prototype. I’d never stolen anything before. But it wasn’t really stealing, I reasoned, because I was planning on returning the vial when I was done. Besides, if I got busted, I could just say I did it in the name of science, and who would appreciate that more than a science teacher?

The period was almost over, and Mr. Reardon returned to his desk. I waited for Angie to start talking to Heidi sitting next to her, and then when the coast seemed clear, I casually grabbed two vials of chemicals and slipped them into my pocket. The bell rang. Mr. Reardon announced the homework assignment, and then we all poured out the door.

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