WHEN MR. BISE, THE CHEMISTRY TEACHER turned from the whiteboard to face his class, Tabitha met his eyes again and imagined him with a sack of jade, bargaining for her body, like a scene from one of those black and white Chinese spy movies. She was snapped out of it when a waft of mustardy air drifted under her nose. A familiar poison she managed to associate with only smelling while in Mr. Bise’s class. A ripe horse-radishy stench with an air of sweetness almost undetectable. She was confused. It smelled like a food she’d eat, but then again it didn’t. She scrunched up her face and leaned back as far as the plastic chair would allow. If it was a color, it would have been that of mauve and a wet gray like fresh cement. She looked at Denver whose top lip was curled upward, pushing up against her nostrils. By now, the rest of the class had burrowed their faces within the warmth of their own shirts. The collars stretched over the bridge of their noses. The smell was so bad that even Mr. Bise, mid-sentence, stopped and walked quietly to his desk. He didn’t even bother capping the marker. Just left it on the table to dry out. She scanned the room.
If it was a color, it would have been that of mauve and a wet gray like fresh cement. She looked at Denver whose top lip was curled upward, pushing up against her nostrils. By now, the rest of the class had burrowed their faces within the warmth of their own shirts. The collars stretched over the bridge of their noses. The smell was so bad that even Mr. Bise, mid-sentence, stopped and walked quietly to his desk. He didn’t even bother capping the marker. Just left it on the table to dry out. She scanned the room.
“Fucking Jake and Brad.” Denver hissed. Then Tabitha recalled a wink she’d witnessed the two boys share between one another just before they left the room together. Damn. They’d shared the same wink the day before that, and the day before that. It clicked. Jake and Brad had been coordinating partnered bowel movements. Side by side in adjacent stalls, light conversation could be heard drifting above the polyurethane walls that separated the two of them. And with that, a unified flush sent them out of the bathroom and back to class.