Gifted

Chapter Eight Emily

Lunch was just great! Victoria and I talked the whole time, about our past lives and much more. We are called up table per table to go get our food. There are so many choices that I can't even decide about what I want! So, I end up getting a little bit of everything; a tiny piece of pork, some brown rice, some red beet salad, some mashed potatoes, some broccoli, a small piece of steak, a spoonful of tomato soup, and finally some Caesar salad. Victoria looks at my plate in astonishment. She only takes a tiny piece of steak and some white rice. In total, only one fourth of her plate is filled up. For me, it's the opposite. I honestly think I took way to much food for myself. We walk to our table and then sit back down. We start eating slowly, without talking at all at first.
But then, Victoria says:
"Oh well! I guess how much we talked in my room made you extremely hungry, cause you really took a lot of food! Are you sure you are going to eat all of that?"
"Ummmm, yes! No.....maybe so....." I say with a big smile on my face. "Well, you and I are kinda opposites, cause you took barely any food!
"Well, I'm a pretty small eater, I don't eat that much, even at home. How about you?"
Okay, this conversation is going into some weird eating-how-much conversation, it's kind of awkward, so I say:
"Um, it depends. How about we change the subject, this is getting a little weird, if you know what I mean..."
"Okay! Happy to hear that, because it really had no point after all! So.... What should we talk about then? How about our next classes? Elisabeth said that we would have presentations, or introductions instead of real classes."
"Really!? She said that? Oh well, I guess I really wasn't paying attention after all. What do you mean by 'presentations'?"
"Well, I think each and every one of the teachers kind of present their class; what they are going to teach us this year and all."
"Oh really? How many classes do we have in total?"
"I counted on the schedule; about 20"
"Oh wow! 20 presentation all in two hours?! That's a lot! I hope they are good, because if not, we are in a really bad situation...!"
"Yup!"
Then, I notice Cecelia; she's sitting with a big group of people; three other girls and three boys. I don't recognize those boys, and I wonder if Cecelia is with one of them. Wait, I doubt she is, that would be a really fast relationship there..... No, she's my friend, she would certainly not do that! My mind goes back to Victoria, she says:
"Who are you looking at? Those girls over there, they seem mean! But I think I recognize the girl with the platinum hair, I think I saw her at the assembly with you, is she your friend?"
"Well, I don't really know... Maybe, but I think that she's abandoned me, for her other new friends. I'm not sure I like them or not..."
"Oh"
That's all she replies, and I suddenly realize that Cecelia might be missing me too, because I do, for sure.
After we are done eating, we still have thirty minutes to kill, until the next classes. So we decide to go to my room. When we get there, we both notice a small green box stuck to the wall. It kind of looks like a mailbox, but smaller. Next to it, there's a small pile of white blank paper, cut into fours. So, Victoria has an idea:
She writes with my pen on one of the pieces of paper 'What is this'.
All of a sudden, at the bottom of my bed, appears a big sign. We walk towards it and pick it up: it says 'What is this'
Victoria comments:
"What the heck! Let's try again!"
So, we put in a piece of paper with 'pineapple-upsidown-cake'.
Then, a completely smushed cake, which seems like it's pineapple, stands on a plate at the end of my bed! We both look at each other and start laughing like crazy, we can't stop. Then, we get to more serious stuff. We figure that when you put a piece of paper with the name of something, you get it right away. But there are limits. For example, we asked for a phone, and guess what!? It gave us a picture of a phone. I don't get why, in this place, there are no electronics. At all! Not a single one in sight!
We keep on messing around with the green box, until we hear:
"Everyone please report back to your dorms so you can be taken to your classes."
So, we simply stay in my room until Elisabeth comes and picks us up. She says in her extremely boring voice,
"Okay kids... Now, as you all know, you have four classes next. During these four, each and every single teacher will present their subject, and tell you what you are going to learn this year with them. You will be separated into three groups...."
Then, she calls out the groups one by one. I end up being in the same group as Victoria. When we get into the classroom, I spot Cecelia and her new friends. They look amused by doing their nails all together. I hate nail polish as much as I hate makeup, I consider it completely useless. I don't even get why people do that, I mean, it must be horrible for you, for your skin.
Finally, class starts. Presentations go on and on, one by one, without an end. My personal favorite is the transformation teacher's.
She presents herself as Ms Reider. She's normal height, and seems pretty young, but very energetic with the students. She starts,
"In my class, as you can probably tell by its name, we will learn how to transform into animals. I'll demonstrate very quickly in a short while. By the way, you can usually only transform into one animal, but I can transform into four different animals, whenever I want. That's also why I'm your teacher. Now, let's start."
She closes her eyes and then seems to be concentrating a lot. Suddenly, we see her shrink, to about the size of a house cat, maybe even a little bigger than that. Her face grimaces into some kind of muzzle. I don't know exactly what thought... She grows ears, very pointy ones. She looks extremely weird, and we don't know wether to laugh or keep neutral faces, being surprised. Next, she grows fur. Her eyes squint and when she opens them, they are yellow with a black croissant shape in the middle. She's walking in four legs, and approaches the tables. We all gasp in astonishment. I think I recognize that animal. It might look like either a bobcat or a lynx. Probably a lynx; it has pointier ears.
Then, the cat disappears, and Ms Reider is back to normal. We all cheer for her and whistle together. Then, without any warning,she changes again. Her arms get longer and wider, and her feet shrink. She grows big claws and feathers pop out of her arms and hands. This time, it'll be a bird, for sure. It's grey, and it resembles a peregrine falcon. Those are the fastest birds in the world. I wish I could transform into one of those. But, I have a wolf.
The next one is a dolphin, that one does not interest me as much, but it's still really cool.
For fire probably, she transformed herself into a fire bellied salamander. That is awesome. She changes sizes so dramatically that at first, we don't even notice that she's actually on the floor as a teeny tiny amphibian. We all watch as she transforms back into her normal self, back to Ms Reider.
Next, there is a weapons class presentation, the teacher is called Mr Hurtado, strange name indeed! I wonder if the weapons class is really that bad, until he takes out a stick. He twists it different directions nonstop, we don't even see it completely at first. He puts that away, and takes out a sword. Somehow, a duplicate of him stands in front of him, he also had a sword. They start fighting, extremely fast. Until he gets out a bow. An apple appears on Cecelia's head. Without any pause in between the sword and the bow. Next, he pulls out five knives. Without giving us any further notice, he aims them at Victoria. We all gasp and I lean towards my friend to make sure she'll be safe. But, right away, Mr Hurtado throws them. One by one, missing Victoria's head by less than an inch. She doesn't move, hoping they won't hit her. Finally, the knives are done for. He says in a British-English accent:
"Don't get on my back side."
He leaves the room slamming the door. We all have an extremely long awkward silence, until a strange guy comes in. He's short, a little chubby, and his hair is turning slightly grey. He says,
"OMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax, totally........................calm...............silence...............quiet...........totally........."
We all burst in laughter, when he gives us a piercing look telling us to shut up. So we do the same as him. We sit on the floor and cross our legs. Then we close our eyes and start "meditating"
"NOOO, YOU ARE DOING IT ALLLLLLLLLL WRRRONG" he says, with a Spanish like accent.
"You have to clear your mind of everything, EVERYTHING, EEVVEERRYYTTHHIINNGG."
This is awkward. Like, honestly. I've never done this before and I think it's very weird.
The silence breaks when Sherman interrupts:
"Um excuse me, but it is scientifically impossible to 'clear your mind' as you say, so I guess the point of this class is useless"
Mr Maniti's frustration leads him into anger. He stands up and leaves, slamming the door behind him.
"Dinner is starting now, please make your way back to the mess hall. Thank you!"
Well, then I guess the presentations for today are done. We all get up and head to the mess hall. Finally, when we get there, Cecelia asks me if I want to eat with her new friends or not for dinner. It's very awkward, because she doesn't ask Victoria.
We end up eating dinner all together, except Victoria. One of the boys asks me how I like it here, his name is Aaron, and he seems pretty nice. I admit that I do get lost in the hallways sometimes and that's it's a bit confusing..... We all exchange room numbers and talk about our past lives, and especially talk about he presentations. Another announcement is made, telling us to return to either the common room or our personal bedrooms. I hesitate in between staying with Cecelia and her friends or going to see Victoria.
I finally decide to meet up with Victoria in her room, I knock, and she opens the door slowly. I kind of notice that she seems sad, probably because I left her for dinner. I don't know....
We barely talk to each other, and I end up going back to my own room. I write in my diary and then hear:
"All students please go back to your dorm. Your supervisors will come by to see that you are in bed at 10:30. If you are not, you will be sent to the principal's office. Thank you!"
Without waiting any more, I change into my pajamas, brush my teeth, then go to bed. I fall asleep right away.