The Super Enrichment Programme

Emma? EMMA!

I was expecting a single person to walk through the door, most likely an orca.

I was so not ready for what actually happened.

As the smoke cleared I could make out the silhouettes of 5 people walking through the doors. As I expected the first four I saw were Nick, Kat, Isaac and Tetra.

The fifth member of the group was in fact the last person I expected to see: Emma.

‘Emma? EMMA!’ Nolan yelled, diving out of his seat and down the stairs.

‘Emma, where have you been? Why did you stop answering my texts?’ he asked as he went to hug her.

Emma stayed silent, but swiftly held up a hand in front of her. The moment her hand was 90 degrees from her body, a bright flash of light surrounded her.

‘What’s that?’ Nolan asked, looking horrified as he took a step back.

‘An electric field,’ Tetra said, ‘We don’t want scum like you and Gemma touching our leader, the leader,’ she hissed and I saw Nolan take another step backwards.

‘Excuse me?’ I called, making my way to Nolan’s side, ‘Scum? Us?’ I asked, pointing between the 2 of us, ‘Look who walked in in a cloud of smoke,’ I hissed back.

I noticed that the corners of Emma’s lips turned up in a snarl.

‘What do you mean leader?’ Nolan asked, his eyes picking out the snarl too.

‘She’s gonna help us over power you all, get to where we deserve to be,’ Kat said, stepping forward so she was next to Emma.

‘I've known Emma since we were 2, she wouldn’t do something like this,’ I cried, ‘What kind of mind trick are you playing on her?’ I screamed, stepping too close to the electric field.

I was stunned, partly by the field and partly that Emma practically growled at me.

I'm not even sure how long I was in the field, it all blurred into what felt like a few seconds before two strong hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me backwards, behind the wall of students that had formed.

Hale had me held in his arms and the rest of the students were gathered around Professor Ringwood.

If I hadn’t just been electrocuted by my old best friend, the look on Professor Ringwood's face might have scared me. If a storm could be a person, it would be Professor Ringwood.

‘Take the electric field down,’ Ringwood yelled, making the room shake.

‘Why?’ Emma said speaking for the first time, the snarl still etched onto her lips.

‘This is a school,’ Ringwood hissed, ‘Carry on and I’ll be forced to take… extreme measures…’ I was interested to see that Ringwood was snarling at Emma, but neither was looking away, both determined to come out on top.

Suddenly Emma started laughing, manically laughing, a sound that made me and the students surrounding me cringe.

‘You think you can take our powers away do you?’ Emma growled when her deathly laugh stopped, ‘You forgot I can read minds… as well as control them,’

‘Oh no I didn’t, young lady!’ Ringwood stepped towards Emma, towering above her as she snapped, ‘I let you see that,’

The shock on Emma’s face made it evident that she thought she couldn’t be fooled.

Professor Ringwood stepped back and clapped her hands three times and in the blink of an eye, Emma, Nick, Kat, Tetra and Isaac were suspended in a massive bubble in the centre of the room.

‘HEY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?’ Emma screeched, ‘why can’t I hear your thoughts anymore?’

‘Welcome to detention, where your powers no longer work. I hope you have a fun day,’ Ringwood called out in a business like voice, making most of the students laugh. ‘Everyone else, off to lessons. We’ll finish this assembly tomorrow,’ and with that she disappeared.

I felt Hale and Nolan grab one of my arms each and steer me out of the hall.

They took me to the lunch hall and sat me down in a chair.

I slumped over, tears streaming down my face as I tried to make sense of what had happened.

Emma’s gone bad. Really bad.

She let Tetra hurt me, and didn’t blink once. It almost seems like she doesn’t know who she is.

Like she's been brainwashed.

As I sat there I saw Daniel come running over and place his hand on my cheek. I suddenly felt cooler and able to think straight.

‘Gem?’ Hale asked when I sat up, blinking rapidly, determined to stop the tears.

‘Hey Hale,’ I whispered as he reached out and wiped the tears off my cheeks.

‘You okay?’ Nolan asked and I nodded.

‘How about you?’ I replied, pulling a mirror out of my bag to redo my makeup.

‘I'm good, I guess,’ Nolan muttered, but I know what he really means, what he won’t dare to say. His girlfriend thinks he’s scum, won’t let him come within a few feet of her, tried to electrocute him and her best friend. His world must be upside down.