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“But, where is the rescue? Can I get the address?” Liza asked.
“Google it,” he called back as he walked out the door.
As Miller drove away from the police station, he blared his go-to when he needed to forget his current problems—Good Charlotte.
The yelling and the angstiness of punk rock had motivated him as an academically-minded teen stuck in the immature prison called high school. The early 2000 bands he’d discovered back then continued to serve him well all these years later.
After “The Anthem” ended Miller sat back, still bothered.Out of all the people in the world doing community service, it had to be Liza Eckland. Why?
Miller hadn’t seen Liza in years, and now suddenly she had ramrodded his life twice in one day. He still couldn’t believe she had the nerve to stop in the middle of the road and stand on the back of her car like she was Miss America during the Thanksgiving Day parade. Although, was he really surprised? That seemed pretty spot-on for her personality.
Miller knew Liza from high school. He was a senior when she was a sophomore. Even though he was an upperclassman and should have been inherently cooler, Liza stole the show. She was the girl all the guys wanted. Granted, Oakville was a smaller town so the options were limited… but, if Miller was honest, he knew Liza would stand out anywhere. She was gorgeous in the mainstream way with her long legs and long blonde hair. All the football players at school wanted to date her, which was perfect because she was the quintessential cheerleader.
She wasn’t Miller’s type, though. She never had been.
But then why did he enjoy tutoring her so much?
As a high school student, Miller excelled in chemistry and physics, so when he was asked to be a tutor for struggling students, he agreed. He didn’t have a ton of extracurricular activities to put on his college applications, so he knew this was an opportunity he had to take. He still remembered the day Liza clicked her high heels into his tutoring session…
“Can I help you?” Miller asked as she paused in the doorway. The other ten students stared up at her, transfixed by a beautiful popular girl in their presence.
“I’m here for chem help. The Periodic Table makes no sense to me.” Liza flipped her long blonde hair forward so it cascaded over her shoulder. Miller pretended not to notice her form fitting shirt and short skirt. They might make other guys turn to mush, but he was more evolved than that. Her little damsel-in-distress act wouldn’t work on him. If she wanted help with chemistry, she’d have to put in the work. He wasn’t going to be her ticket to an easy A.
“Well, we started twenty minutes ago so if you have any specific questions, you’ll need to wait till the end,” he said curtly.
“Oh okay, I’ll wait.” Liza took a seat at the back table.
When the tutoring session was coming to a close, Miller noticed Liza remained seated. After gathering his books in his backpack, he cleared his throat. Liza didn’t seem to notice his subtle hint that tutoring was over, so he walked to her table.
“I’m heading out.”
“Oh, it’s done? That went fast.”
“Well yeah,” Miller said as he pointed to the sparkly gel pens, stickers, and note cards spread out on the table in front of her. “When you’re doing arts and crafts instead of chemistry, that does make time fly.”
Liza shot a side-eye smirk up at him and he felt a tightness in his chest. “It’s not arts and crafts. It’s my attempt at memorizing the Periodic Table. Why do we have to know all the elements? Just keep a poster handy or Google it, and you're good to go.”
Miller sighed. “The elements set the foundation for the principles of chemistry. The periodic table's arrangement is also important because it allows scientists to discern trends in element properties, including electronegativity, ionization energy, and atomic radius.”
Liza stared up at him like he had just sprouted an antennae. “Sure… but why does there have to be so many of them? I’m never going to remember all these letters and numbers. I made these flashcards, but I’ve only memorized like ten of the elements.”
“Flashcards are a proven way to engage in active recall by stimulating our memories and creating lasting connections to the material.”
“Okay, Bill Nye… then why aren’t they working for me?”
“Because you’re spending more time decorating them than actually studying. Whyareyou decorating them?” Miller leaned forward to examine the colorful doodles and what appeared to be girly fashion stickers.
“So I don’t stab myself with this pencil. I mean, if I’ve gotta stare at them for hours, I might as well try to make them pretty.”
Miller hesitated and then sat down in the chair next to her—for reasons he didn’t understand. “Why don’t you take your… stickers… and use them as a clue to help you memorize the chemical symbols. So, for example you could take this sticker with a gold necklace on it and put it on your AU flashcard because AU is the abbreviation for…” Miller paused, waiting for her to answer.
Liza bit her lip and then a smile switched on. “Gold! AU is gold!”
“Right. And you could put this blue shoe sticker on CO because it stands for…”
Liza squinted and then shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“CO is the symbol for cobalt.”
