University of Wonderland

Chapter Three

Since "Univeristy of Wonderland", will be based on fantasy . . . I made the cities similiar to fairy tale . . . I guess . . .

=^_^= . . . =^_^= . . .

Inside Principal Yoon's office, I focused on my lap, hiding my curled fists at my sides, while she popped two medicine and chugged down a cup of water. The longer she stalled, the more time my friends had to escape - and I had to come up with a get-out-of-jail-free excuse.

"I really do have to get back to the, uh, meeting." As if on cue she hiccupped, a contrast from her sleek, brown hair that was pulled back from her scalp tightly, not a single strand fell. Sometimes I wondered if she'd surgically turned her hair into a Barbie-doll plastic in order to appear collected at all times.

"I want to start an eco club." I clasped my hands on the table and widened my eyes in the fake-innocent expression I'd perfected on my parents before . . . well, before their car crash turned me into an orphan. "You were in a meeting so I thought it would be okay if I took some paper to create flyers with."

I held my breath as she studied me with her bloodshot eyes. Sweat formed on the back of my neck. Note to self: criminal activities required full-body deodorant or at leats perfume shower.

"Suzy, you're. A good. Student." Her words had awkward pauses in the wrong places. "But an eco club?" The giggle that escaped from her mouth didn't do anything to calm my nerves. Neither did the fact that she dropped her water glass that was moving to her mouth and it splattered all over her papers. She sat up staighter, peeling the papers off her desk and then acting like nothing unusual happened. She cleared her throat and spoke her next words slowly, clearly trying to make them sound normal as possible. "You never came to me about starting one, and frankly," she said, looking constipated as she tried to suppressed a hiccup that broke free anyway, "I don't know why you would after all the bad press the energy shortage has gotten in Wonderland lately."

"I know that." I decided to play her way. If I didn't see anything unusal, maybe neither did she. "That's why I was afraid to ask without permission - like the flyers," I added because while most towns embraced and even encouraged "Going Green," Wonderland, S. Korea, was more in favor of everyone "Going Black." As in, blackout. The environmental activists - including my parents - and since we were all feeling the effects of limited electricity, most citizens were very vocal against practically anything with the word green. All the more reason I had to fix.

She hiccupped again, and a lopsided smile formed on her face. "Tell you what. You never gave me problems before. You clean up the mess right now and pick up trash on school grounds the rest of the week after class, and I'll let this be a warning."

I nodded eagerly. A good-girl reputation was like the kiss of death in social circles, but with administrators? Backstage pass.

Or it would have been, if the mess had still been there to clean up. When we got back to the crime scene, all that remained was the TV cart, guts removed, TV still perched on top. Someone either had a warped idea of what would be valuable on the black market or a sick sense of humor. Instead of the paper reams on the ground, chalk outlined where they used to be like a dead body at a crime scene.

Did IU and Jiyeon carry this out for me on their own? It didn't seem like them, but the thought made my heart swell. And if they didn't, then why would someone stage the missing paper in such a showy display?

The answer came very clearly the next morning, as soon as I entered school. A large crowd was gathered around a set of lockers. Unless a cute boy was stripping for test answers, it didn't worth it to hop up and down, trying to see over people's shoudlers. The curse of being less than six feet tall. Whispers were flying in a jumble of clipped phrases, nothing standing out to give me a clue.