The school dismissal bell rang, and I hastily gathered up my books and headed for the science labs. I entered the correct room shyly and walked up to Ms. Lauries, who was looking a little preoccupied. "Hi, Ms. Lauries," I greeted. She started, surprised, then looked up. "Oh, hello...you're one of those clumsy ones, aren't you, dropping beakers all over the place - Liana, is it?" she joked. "Yes," I replied, clutching my books so that they wouldn't drop and crush something else.

"OK, well let's start you off by sending you to the storeroom. Can you get me two 50ml beakers - and not drop them this time?" Ms. Lauries's eyes danced brightly, shining. I sighed under my breath, dumped my school stuff on one of the tables, and headed for the storeroom.

I opened the storeroom door gingerly, then tiptoed in. I found the shelf with the beakers, searched for the 50ml section, and grabbed two, when I suddenly realized there was a purplish blob in one of them. Poster paint - what was that stuff doing in here? Some poor guy mixed up art with science? Impossible...even I wasn't as much a dunce as that.

Art and science were two very different things. I was good at art...if I could say so myself. But I really was lost in science. I couldn't get how to find the density, didn't understand different types of atoms, and hadn't a clue about static electricity. Then a sizzling sound started. I was shocked and focused back on the purplish blob. It was eating away the beaker I was holding in my hand! I shrieked and instinctively dropped it. Crash! The sound of tinkling glass fragments dropping and splintering on the floor echoed through the storeroom. The purplish blob began to move about the pieces slowly, gobbling them up, and growing bigger and faster. My voice stuck in my throat.

"Liana! Again?" Ms. Lauries poked her head around the door. The purplish blob slid under a shelf with lightning speed. "But...but...Ms. Lauries! There was a purple blob thing in one of the beakers and..." I faltered. It did sound ridiculous. I was expecting a science teacher to believe this? I shook my head, then said, "Sorry." Ms. Lauries narrowed her eyes suspiciously at me, pointed at the mess, then at a cloth and sweep, and walked out of the storeroom.