Looking for Lab 4

Text 1: The Spiral Staircase, by Tariq Benholm

An original novel extract.

The timetable said Lab 4, Period 3, and Amir had no idea where Lab 4 was. The school had been built in three different decades and joined together with corridors that seemed to change direction whenever he looked away. He followed a sign that said SCIENCE, but it had been turned round by somebody, probably as a joke, and it led him to the music block, where a group of sixth formers were playing drums. When he asked one of them the way, she gave him directions involving the old gym, the bridge and the blue door, none of which he had seen before. By the time he found Lab 4, behind the kitchens and up a spiral staircase, the lesson had been going for ten minutes, and everybody turned to look at him at once.

Explain two reasons why Amir struggles to find Lab 4.