The Flip Side

From Mirror's Eye

     The next day, I had a few issues keeping my flames quenched. I felt everyone's stares burning holes in the back of my neck. As I walked through the halls, there were countless kids whispering amongst themselves, and a lot of fingers were pointed my way. As long as they weren't in the way, I just kept my flames running. Around lunchtime, I began to calm down a bit, and not near as many people were focused on me.
     I walk over to the empty table where I always sit and set down my lunchbox. It's one of those old-fashioned tin lunchboxes with some sort of lightning bolt pattern on each side. I flip open the latches and open it up. I pull out a thermos full of tea and a roast beef and cheddar sandwich (courtesy of Cass). I unscrew the thermos and take a sip of the tea. It's green tea, perfect for unwinding after a stressful morning.
     As I begin to munch on my sandwich, a girl wearing a bright smile runs up to my table. She's wearing a hoodie that looks two sizes too big with a little planet and a few stars scattered across it. I recognize her from homeroom.
     "Are you all by yourself?" She says, indicating the 7 empty chairs around the table. I nod. She pulls out the chair next to me and sits down, grinning the entire time. "I'm Stella, my friends call me Star. Aren't you in my homeroom? With Mr. Jones?" I nod, taking another sip from my thermos. I'm almost relieved she said that instead of 'Aren't you the one who burned her notebook yesterday?' or something like that.
     She pulls out her lunchbox and starts eating a PB&J sandwich. As we eat, I look up and see No Name across the cafeteria. He's sitting alone in the corner table, and he's just sitting there. He still has that odd grin on his face, which is the only thing you can see under his hood other than his eyes, which almost appear solid white.
     "You OK?" It's Star. I nod and go back to eating. Star looks at me funny, tilting her head. She then smiles and says, "I really like you're hair! It's so fun and bright!!" I laugh, fixing the strands that are hanging in front of my face. After my first incident, Jay decided we would need to change how we look. So, after a trip to the thrift shop to buy some different clothes, Jay took me to the salon and got it completely re-done. Before, it was long, blonde, straight, and parted right down the middle. I decided to shave the sides, shorten the top, and dye the top an electric blue.
     I finish my lunch and sit and talk to Star for a bit. We talk about our hobbies, I tell her about playing for the school soccer team, she tells me about being in the school's theater club, and we share a few laughs along the way. She's really nice, and really care about what I have to say. A few minutes before the bell rings, Star lowers her voice and looks directly into my eyes.
     "You're a Gifted, right?" She asks. I nod. She looks around, and leans in closer. "Check this out." As soon as she finishes her sentence, my lunchbox begins to float into the air. I quickly grab it and slam it down on onto the table. I look her straight in the eyes. She grins.
     "What the hell was that?" I ask. She starts laughing.
     "Oh, the look on your face! You should've seen it!" Another hysterical laugh. After a moment of laughter, she calms down, letting out a sigh. "My ability. I can alter the gravitational pull of a certain area, that is, as long as I'm in that area. So, if you hadn't been so enthralled by the lunchbox, you might have noticed I was slowly being lifted into the air as well."
     My jaw drops. My flames suddenly erupt again, and I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I quickly clap them out, hiding them under the table.
     "Excited?" Star says, grinning from ear to ear. We both start laughing as the bell rings, everyone suddenly standing up. I grab my lunchbox and start walking, but Star stops me. "What class do you have next?"
     "French, how about you?" I say, starting to walk out of the lunchroom, Star following.
     "I have Ceramics." I wince. That's on the complete opposite side of the school from the French room. "I'll walk with you, the Ceramics teacher doesn't really care if I'm late. Hell, he barely cares if I'm not there."
So we go. It's a long walk to the French room, but we're both fairly fast walkers. When we get to the room, I say goodbye to Star, and sit down.
     The lecture is long, but at least it's interesting. We're learning how to say stuff like 'imaginary', 'fake', and 'cursed'. There's never much of a correlation between the words we learn. We could learn how to say 'tree' on the same day we learn how to say 'teacher'. But it keeps it interesting, so I'm fine with it.
     About halfway through the lesson, I get a lurching pain in my stomach. I raise my hand and ask the teacher for a pass to use the bathroom. She gives me the pass, I walk out into the hall, and power walk to the bathroom. When I get there, I go into the first stall, and immediately lose my lunch. The cheese must've been outdated. I flush the toilet, and wash my hands thoroughly.
     After drying my hands, I take a moment to check my appearance in the mirror. My hair is a mess, and there's a bit of blood trickling from the edge of my mouth. I fix my hair and wipe the blood off, starting to walk away. But something catches my eye. I turn around and notice something I didn't see before. There's a large gash across the left side of my face. I lean in closer to the mirror to examine it. It looks fresh, and fairly deep.
     I drag my finger lightly across it to check if it's bleeding, and my face goes pale. I don't feel anything. I look closer, trying to see if maybe it's something on the mirror, and that's when I notice it. My reflection. It's not moving with me. Instead, it's glaring at me, with a grin spread across its face. I go to scream, but everything goes black.
     My vision fades in and out enough for me to see that I'm no longer in the bathroom, but in a vandalized, unwashed version of it. My "reflection" is standing over me, but then climbs through the area where there used to be a mirror. After a moment, I black out.