Project Gremlin

In which a creepy boy stalks Emily's sister.

"Miss Foster!" Mr. Sweeney's nasal voice called. He pulled Sophie's Ipod from her ears. "Have you decided that you're too smart to pay attention to this information?"

Emily Tana Foster winced. Sophie knew how to draw too much attention. Even though Sophie and Emily were twins, they didn't look alike much, except for their peachy skin color and blonde hair. Sophie wore gray clothes too blend in as a twelve-year-old high school senior. She had wavy blonde hair and gorgeous brown eyes which had golden flecks in them. Emily estimated that more than half of the people in our school picked on her.

Emily, on the other hand, wore mostly what the people around her wore. Emily had pure black eyes, but she wore contacts which made them look green. No one could prove who put a fake spider in Daeva's, one of the popular girls who used to pick on Emily, backpack, and no one could prove that Emily got Acheron suspended for violating a school rule, but it was pretty amazing what rumors could do. Emily always took care to score highly on tests, but get a little below average on normal school days. It was the only way she could be in the same grade as her twin, but still get low enough grades to avoid newspapers and fame.

"No, Mr. Sweeney," Sophie replied, shrinking under the gazes of Emily's and Sophie's now glaring classmates.

"Then perhaps you can explain why you were listening to your Ipod instead of following along?" He countered, holding Sophie's Ipods up like they were evidence in a crime. To him, they probably were. He'd dragged Emily's and Sophie's class to the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, assuming the students would be excited about the all-day field trip. He didn't seem to realize that unless if the giant dinosaur replicas came alive and start eating people up, no one cared, except for Emily, who was trying to get enough evidence to prove that the Big Bang didn't exist.

Sophie tugged out an eyelash, which was her nervous habit, and stared at her feet. It would always be a great mystery to Emily why Sophie always seemed to be having a headache when she was around people. Sophie had been like that ever since she had a head injury when she was five. Emily had discovered that if she focused on Sophie, then she could dull her headaches.

"Since you've decided that you're above this lecture, why don't you give it?" Mr. Sweeney ordered. "Explain to the class how the Lambeosaurus differs from the other dinosaurs we've studied."

Sophie recited the facts — she had a photographic memory, and probably noticed a card explaining the Lambeosaurus earlier — and Mr. Sweeney's face twisted into a scowl. Emily's classmates looked sour — they had never been a fan of their resident child prodigy, who the called Curvebuster. Sophie finished, and Mr. Sweeney grumbled under his breath. He stalked to the next exhibit, and Emily's classmates followed.

"Nice job, superfreak. Maybe they'll write another article about you.'Child prodigy teaches class about Lame-o-saurus." Garwin Chang sneered as he pushed past Sophie to join his classmates. Garwin was still bitter that Yale had offered Sophie a scholarship, while they declined Garwin's application.

Emily paused a moment to glance at Sophie. "Are you okay?" Emily and Sophie were twins, but since Emily was technically older, she felt like she had to make sure Sophie didn't get seriously hurt or sick, especially after her accident. Also, Sophie seemed to get little sleep, because of her mysterious headaches.

Sophie nodded "I'll be fine. You can go ahead."

Emily nodded and followed her class. After three minutes, when Sophie still hadn't showed up, Emily got worried, and looked back, and then jumped. Sophie (Who was on the streets! When did she get there?) was holding up her hand, somehow making a street lamp float. An unfamiliar boy said something to Sophie, who shrieked, surprised, and then lost her hold on the lamp, which crashed. Sophie stumbled into the boy, who crashed to the ground. After exchanging a few words, Sophie pointed north — the direction of the San Diego Zoo. They took of running.