How to Save Someone: 101

Bella: History

My fingers gripped the brown paper bag in my hand as I approached my homeroom class, History with Mr. Bienville. I had eaten breakfast with the whole class, like we did every morning. Except for one person this morning. Hailey. All through the night, I could hear her sit up in bed or walk to and from the bathroom. But when my alarm went off, she was gone. 

I rounded the corner and lightly smiled when I saw long auburn curls splayed out on a desk. I tried to quietly approach, but her head slowly lifted as I got closer. "Good morning! We missed you in the cafeteria this morning."

"Morning," Hailey rubbed her face with her hands. "Sorry, I couldn't sleep last night."

I placed the paper bag on her desk in front of her. "I brought you a blueberry muffin."

She perked up and grabbed the bag. "Thank you. Did I keep you up last night?" She took the muffin out of the bag, flattened the bag, then placed the muffin on top of the now-flat bag. 

"Not really," I shook my head. 

She took a bite out of the top of the muffin. "Where is everyone?"

"They shouldn't be too much longer. They were cleaning up when I left." Just as I said that, loud laughs and yelling started in the hall, signaling that our class was walking out of the stairwell. "Well," I chuckled, "there they are."

I watched our classmates enter the classroom as I sat in my desk next to Hailey. She sat hunched over her desk, eating her muffin, while I took out my notebook and pens. She kept her eyes on her muffin. 

Did she have nightmares again last night?

"Didn't sleep well, again?" Danny approached Hailey's desk.

She slowly raised her head, chewing her muffin even slower. "Oh, yeah."

He patted the top of her head. "We need to come up with a potion that will help you sleep at night."

Hailey hummed. "I tried one last night, but it wasn't potent enough."

"Well, maybe this will be potent enough," Danny placed a to-go coffee cup on her desk. "It's a blonde roast. Four sugars, two creams."

Hailey smiled up at Danny. His black hair hung in his eyes as he smiled at Hailey. When they looked at each other, it was almost like they were the only two people in the world.

Danny took his seat in front of Hailey as Mr. Bienville entered the room sluggishly. The rows of desks were split in the middle of the room and faced each other. Mr. Bienville would pace up and down the middle part when lecturing or answering questions. "Why are freshmen so eager this early in morning?" Mr. Bienville groaned. He placed his notebook and mug down on his desk then faced the class. "Happy Friday, class. You've survived the first week. How was it?"

A bunch of us shrugged or yawned, but I blurted out "Nerve-wracking." 

Mr. Bienville nodded. "I can see that. Moving to a new place, for some of you it's the first time you're away from your parents, new school, new faces. Surely can be an overwhelming time. You guys have health class with Ms. Graham this afternoon, right?"

We nodded in unison.

"Good. You all need some de-stressing time. Well," he clapped his hands together, "Fridays are for current events! Every Friday we will discuss popular events that occurred during the week. Does anyone have one they'd like to discuss first?"

The class was quiet for a minute before Kai raised his hand. "Jedi saved a bus of school students yesterday."

Mr. Bienville nodded. "That's right. He saved sixty-eight lives."

I raised my hand. "Valen led a village safely away from an erupting volcano."

Mr. Bienville smiled slightly. "That as well. Saving a couple thousand lives. Does everyone know how the number one hero in the country is selected?"

A couple heads nodded and others shook. 

"I thought as much. The number one hero is selected based on the amount of lives saved in a single year. At the end of December each year, the number one hero is announced. That hero is in charge of approving new heroes and deciding penalties for villains. But other than that is the fame factor you get. You are the poster hero for the United States. The fame and money is more than enough to entice up and coming heroes.

"Valen has been number one for, I think, ten years in a row. But, Jedi is quickly gaining on him this year." Mr. Bienville pulled down on a projector blind that was to the right of the main erase board until it was able to spring itself back up. Underneath the blind was a board with the top ten heroes in the countries. Next to their names was a number, labeled "Lives Saved". "I will be keeping track of the heroes up here for you all. We'll be able to track who's ahead. In December, before Christmas break, your final assignment will be to write a paper on the events that lead to who will be number one."

The group groaned. 

"Hey, now. You have three months. That's more than enough time." Mr. Bienville took a sip from his mug. "What else happened this week?"

"Three more children were kidnapped after their parents or guardians were murdered," Hailey spoke up. She kept her eyes on her desk.

Mr. Bienville closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes. A strange serial killer and kidnapper. The police are calling him the 'Kid-Napper'. It's always children with powerful powers. There's been twenty so far in the last year." He looked over the wide-eyed class. "That is why you stay in dorms. A few years ago, a student was kidnapped off of school grounds because of her ability. Since then, all of our students stay in dorms to protect them and their families."

I looked to Hailey and Danny. They kept their eyes on their desks, thinking about something else.