How I Became a Hunter/Amazon

Kaia

Mrs. Sandin peered through her reading glasses at the paper in her hand.

"Let's see... Kaia, dear, let's start with you."

Kaia's shoulder's tensed. She never liked being called 'dear'; hated it, in fact. Almost as much as she hated going first. Having a last name that started with an A–Alin–she always went first.

She took a deep breath and gathered her note cards on Osmosis. Walking from her desk in the back of the class to the front whiteboard seemed to take forever; the students' eyes burning holes in the little faith in herself she had. She hoped nobody noticed the cluster of pimples on her forehead, or the fact that she was much shorter than average, or that her long, dirty blond hair was falling out of its hastily-made ponytail, or that her clothes were obviously old and worn out. She especially didn't want people to notice the big, purple bruise on her cheek.

People whispered and laughed, and although she knew they most likely weren't talking about her, she felt like they were making fun of her beat-up sneakers with a hole in the toe, or that she was visibly shaking; so, incredibly nervous about talking in front of two dozen middle schoolers.

She reached the front and scanned the room with her big, light blue eyes. Her hand shook. Her mouth seemed unable to form words.

Mrs. Sandin looked at Kaia expectantly. Her dark brown hair was in a neat bun on top of her head. Her chocolate-brown eyes stared at her from behind her glasses. She wore a poke-a-dot dress that went to her knees. She was younger than most of Kaia's teachers. She looked like she was in her late twenties or early thirties.

"Go on," she urged with a kind smile.

Kaia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and hoped that people liked her presentation.

"Osmosis... um, osmosis t-takes place in the, um, membrane of the, um, of the cell. Osmosis occurs when... um, i-it o-occurs when..."

She looked down in horror. Some sort of thick, purple fog was rolling across the floor. Nobody else seemed to notice. It went up to their ankles, yet they seemed to have no idea. The fog flowed from under her feet like she was producing it. Everybody looked at her, eyes glazed over, and nodded like she was the most interesting person in the world.

Except for one.

Calista , Kaia thought her name was. Her knees were to her chest and her feet were on her chair, trying not to touch the fog. She looked from Kaia to the fog with an expression of confusion and fear.

Kaia usually was great at hiding her emotions. Nobody ever knew how she felt. That was the way she liked it. But she couldn't hide the terrified feeling building in her chest.

She wanted the fog to go away. She wanted people to return to normal. She wanted Calista to stop looking at her like she was murderer.

She just wanted it all to stop.

Then, as if responding to her thoughts, the smoke receded. People returned to normal. But Calista was still looking at her with fear in her eyes.

Kaia still looked horrified. She looked around with a terrified expression at the people who were zombies just a second ago.

"Look at her face!" one kid yelled.

"She looks like she's trapped in a cage with rabid dogs!" another laughed.