PANTHEONS

Chapter Five

CHAPTER 5

    Principal Webb took a sip of his coffee and placed his beige mug—with the words “change the world with one good deed” engraved in red across it—on his table. He removed his glasses and meticulously wiped the red lenses with a white handkerchief, placing all of his attention to the task at hand.

    Jeremy, Monty, and Pipsqueak had already been given their books, as well as their class schedules, after they had handed Mrs. Petterson their birth certificates. The secretary instructed the guys to pick them up later today, right after school. It was strange, but none of them were their usual, talkative selves. They claimed that they all had major migraines since this morning. At first, I thought they had a hangover from some stolen beer, but then I remembered Monty, on account of his drunken and abusive father, hated anything alcoholic with a passion, so I tried to think of another reason for it.

    I had introduced them to Sam as a friend, and they seemed happy enough to meet her. But when they didn’t make any comments or jokes, I knew they must have had the biggest headaches of their lives to allow that moment to make me squirm to slip through their fingers like that.

    The guys took their books and went to class, thinking that I would join them soon enough in their homeroom before first period. They had no inkling that I did not have my birth certificate with me, and neither did Sam. Fifteen minutes later, after Sam had given a thoroughly bogus story—just as I had instructed her this morning as we were walking to school—about how both of us had lost our original birth certificates in house fires, we still found ourselves sitting in Principal Webb’s office.

    Sam, sitting next to me, had her eyes transfixed on a snow globe on the old man’s desk. Principal Webb placed his glasses back on after he found them to be cleaned to his satisfaction and placed the handkerchief right on his desk next to his coffee mug. “I bought that snow globe last year at a thrift shop.” He picked it up, shook it, and placed it back on the table. It was obviously clear that Sam had never seen one before, because her eyes lit up as the snow fell all around the little, blue-and-white toy house. The principal chuckled at seeing her enjoy the magic of the snow globe.

    After all of the snow had finally settled, Principal Webb’s face changed into a very serious mask as he shared his thoughts with us. “I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but neither one of you can attend Kaliber Academy High School without an original or copy of your birth certificates. I’m really sorry, I wish there was more I could do.”

    “Well, even without our birth certificates you can see with your own eyes that we’re both sitting right here in front of you,” Sam said as she peeled her eyes away from the snow globe.

    Principal Webb shook his head. “That still isn’t enough; legally, you can’t attend classes without a birth certificate.”

    “I know we’re nothing special,” Sam regurgitated exactly what I had told her to say, “and I know we’re not rich, but shouldn’t you at least give us an opportunity to prove that we can do well in all our classes just like everyone else at this school?”

    I prayed for the principal to say yes in my heart.

    “No,” the old man said in a very curt manner, and then a small smile appeared on the corner of his lips. “But… there is one other way you can both attend the school. Would you like to hear about it?”

    Sam glanced at me for my reply to the principal. Silver Eyes was a very special girl; a person would have to be blind not to see that. I still didn’t understand how she had done it, but last night she had somehow taken all of my injuries, including my swollen eye, out of my body and inexplicably placed all of it into her own. I spent the remainder of the night watching over her as she slept, tossing and turning in great pain. As morning approached, I watched in amazement as her face became completely healed. By the time she woke up, she looked as good as new; it was like… magic.