Twenty Lives, Twenty Deaths

Mrs. Perumal

I may not be Sherlock Jr., but I'm pretty sure even a corpse would've found Miss Spratt's sub weird. When I walked into the English classroom, the first thing to catch my eye was the lack of our quiet, unassuming teacher. In her place was a Middle-Eastern woman wearing a flashy red business suit. My friend, Ell, didn't seem to mind much. We sat next to each other in the back, ignoring our assigned spots on the seating chart. Subs never seemed to notice. I leaned toward Well, eyeing the strange replacement. "Hey, Ell?" She flipped her honey-blonde hair away from her face. "Yeah?" She whispered back, pulling out her phone at glancing at it. "Am I the only one getting strange vibes off the sub?" Ell and I simultaneously glanced over at the sub. She was smiling almost malevolently, looking our way. Ell shivered a little. "Yeah, something is definitely off about her."

The bell rang, obnoxiously shrill. They were still trying to fix that. The sub pulled out a small bell, tapping it sharply with her forefinger. "Quiet down! I'm going to call role, so please be in your assigned seats." Nobody was, of course, but it wasn't like we were going to admit it. The sub lifted a paper, and started reading off the list, starting from Scarlett Anderson. I was a Rochester, and wouldn't be called for a while. As she read, she would give each student that said "Here!" a rather sharp look so that made everyone in the immediate vicinity uncomfortable. "Arabella Rochester?" I snapped out of my trance. "Here!" She gave me the same sharp stare as everyone else, but she seemed almost to smirk as she moved on. Once everyone, (except Chester Garfield), had been accounted for, she set the paper back down and grabbed a magenta whiteboard marker. In fancy, looping handwriting, she wrote 'Mrs. Perumal' on the board. She turned back, and I'm not even going to bother writing down what she said. It was standard substitute fare. You know, follow the rules, don't be dumb, and don't try to trick me, blah blah accountability book, blah blah office. Even _I_ don't listen to that anymore, and I'm a first class nerd. When she was done, the Indian woman smiled a tight-lipped smile. "And today, we talk about wishes. Wishes are a sort of desire to have something, or to have a certain event take place. Is that understood? Now, I want you all to tell me your deepest wish. It can be anything, and you can't pass.

What followed was a long line of people wishing from everything from the newest shooting game, to a dog, to healing for a relative. When it was my turn, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "My wish is that I would be able to visit my favorite books and TV shows just once."

It was basically silent in the room, except for the few people who were so deeply engrossed in whispering to each other to pay attention. But you could almost hear the word on everyone's mind. Nerd. I held my head high. I was ridiculously proud of that title. Mrs. Perumal cocked her head. "And if you had to choose a Top Twenty Titles, both show, book and video game, what twenty would you choose? Write them down and turn it in after class." The last few people said their wishes, including a notable guy named Felix Ferguson who said that his wish was to go to Hogwarts with a significant look at me. I simply glanced up at him from my list, which I was half done with. Class passed quickly after that, and when the bell rang I half-wished that Mrs. Perumal would always teach. Even if she did rub me the wrong way. I handed her my list, and then hurried to the door. "Miss Reynolds?" Slow as my grandpa at a steering wheel, I turned to face her. "Yes?" Mrs. Perumal smiled mischievously. "I thought you deserved a warning. You only get until you die in each world. Good luck." She handed back the list, and as soon as it touched my hand I collapsed, blackness taking over my vision.

OOOOH CLIFFHANGERS
WOOOO
LOOK AT ME BEING AN AUTHOR
*strange awkward noises*
But anyway! Please vote, and leave a comment!

Here's the list, since I couldn't find a way to work it into the story.

Arabella's Top Twenty Titles

Hunger Games
Harry Potter
Camp Half-Blood
Stormlight Archives
The Selection
Lord of the Rings
Shakespeare
Lunar Chronicles
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Uglies
Minecraft
Outsiders
Voltron
Doctor Who
Miraculous
Fairy Tail
Pokemon
My Little Pony
Star Wars
Warriors

But anyway. Thanks for reading!Hope you're excited for part two!