The School for Wisps

5.

Period 4 was as surprising as Period 3, and was the most informative so far. Mr. Pitone walked into the classroom late, drank a cup of water, and the presentation began. He showed his pupils how he could shoot spikes from his mouth, but only after he drank the cup of water, and for a limited amount of time.

"Every special power of yours has a downside. For example, mine is the water drinking. No water, no spikes." he explained, impaling the ceiling with a foot-long spike. The students could hear the upstairs teacher complaining. Several of them giggled, as Mr. Pitone continued his lecture.

"All of you here have a special power, whether it's burping spikes, turning big, or something else, etc." He sprayed the front row desks with small inch long spikes.

"My power is waning now. See, the spikes are becoming smaller, but still painful to touch." Mr. Pitone explained. He burped one last tiny spike into the board, and said, "Any questions?" Kirana's hand was first up.

"Yes, Kirana?" Kirana, confused he knew her name, changed her question to two.

"Um... Ok, I have two questions. Number 1 is: How do you know our names?"

"I make it a priority to know all my students' names, Kirana. And about problem number 2?"

"Uh..." she gulped. "If you swallow a spike, what happens?" Kirana blurted, flushing red.

Mr. Pitone laughed. "Honestly, Kirana, you're the first to ask me that in my five years of teaching! I haven't even tried that before." She managed a weak smile, still embarrassed. The bell rang.

"Bye!" Mr. Pitone called as she shuffled out the door.

Period five. Kirana skipped down the hall, wanting to be first again, and almost bowled over Alec for a second time. He was hanging up his posters on the wall. Kirana saw a chance and poked him in the ribs. He bent over, and Kirana flew down another narrow hallway, beaming with exhilaration. Alec straightened up with a groan just in time to see her brown hair bounce out of sight. He smiled and finished putting his posters up.

Kirana raced down the hallway toward room 204. Just as she reached it, the door opened and someone came out. Kirana couldn't stop her momentum in time. She flew through the door and smacked into the person, sending both of them careening into the desks. Holly looked up.

"Hi Kirana. You're first." she said, eyebrow arched. She glanced back down at her i-pod. Kirana untangled herself from the other person. To her fury, it was Alec, and he was laughing.

"It's YOU! How did you get here so quickly?" Kirana yelped. Alec smiled. He stood up and brushed himself off, then extended a hand to her. She ignored it and stood up herself. "Now explain." she huffed.

"First of all, my name isn't you." he said with a shrug. Kirana recognized the sentence as a variation of what she had said to Lucas earlier. This fueled her anger to exploding point, but controlled it at the last second. She simmered; face red, as Alec laughed at her. Noticing her flushing dangerously, he calmed down to explain.

"Ok, it's my special power. I can move through solid things, like walls, and I can run faster than normal when I do. Unfortunately, the downside is that I have to be prodded or poked sometimes to be able to. Usually, I poke myself." he explicated. He stopped and took a bow. "Thank you, ladies, atoms, and desks! I, the great Alec, shall now retire to my humble quarters!" And before Kirana could blink, he swept out the door with a flourish. She sighed and sat down as the other students, who had witnessed Alec's speech from the doorway, streamed in, laughing and joking.

Holly stretched, propping her feet on her desk. All the students were looking at her now, intent on instructions.

"For those who don't know, I want you to call me Holly. Turn to your neighbor and tell them your name and your favorite color. Then, it's free period. Have fun." she yawned. Kirana smiled. Some things never change, she thought. She turned to the tall thin boy sitting next to her.

"I'm Kirana and I love pink." she said cheerfully, and waited for a reply.

"Uh- I'm Caleb and I like you - I mean, I like blue. I said blue. Right?" the boy stuttered out. Kirana rolled her eyes at him, good mood evaporating.

"You said something different, cork head." she sniffed. Caleb turned a deeper shade of puce.

"You didn't – I mean, didn't hear what I said by any chance?" he yelped, now looking hopeful. "Only your name, so no, but now I want to." was the reply, accompanied by a swift glance at him. "What'd you say?"

"Nothing!" Caleb yelled- then scooted away. Kirana watched him go. Ah well, she thought. I'm getting used to surprises in this place. The bell chimed in the distance. Kirana stood, ran out into the hallway, and then realized she had no idea where PE took place. So she headed to the courtyard. There, she found, Alec was waiting, and he directed her to a tunnel she hadn't noticed before.