Art Class
It was 1:30 in the afternoon at Gallagher Elementary, and the operatives of Sector V were in the middle of art class.
Today's project, the last one of the year, was a shadow landscaping project. Each student got a piece of black construction paper and cut out a scene using exacto knives, then presented their scene to the class.
As the last students filed into the classroom, the teacher stood in front of the room, explaining the project to the class.
"Alright. THIS," the teacher Mr. Dolf said, holding up a knife, "is an art tool. Yes, it's also a knife. And it can switch from art tool to knife in a split second. It's extremely sharp, and can cut you very easily if you aren't careful. See this?" He held up his right thumb, revealing a long scar. "THIS is what happens when you use the knife the WRONG way. Got this a couple years ago, cut right to the bone."
At this, most the girls in the class gagged, while the boys and the other girls just rolled their eyes at them.
"So if I see ANY of you using this in a way that's NOT cutting into a piece of paper, you're getting suspended for the rest of the year. Got it?" Though this was a warning to the whole class, he was glaring at one specific person sitting at the table nearest the door: Wallabee Beatles, more commonly known as just Wally, or Numbuh 4 to his friends.
"Okay then, get to work!" Mr. Dolf finished, sitting back down at his desk.
Numbuh 4 laid his head down on the table, which he shared with the other members in Sector V – Nigel, Hoagie, Kuki, and Abby, also known as Numbuhs 1, 2, 3, and 5 – and groaned. "Why does Mr. Dolphin always give me that look?" he asked to no one in particular in a strong Australian accent.
"You're kidding me, dude," Numbuh 2 smirked from across the table. "You plus any kind of weapon always equals someone in the nurse's office. Even you can figure that math out."
Numbuh 4 just groaned again, and heard Numbuh 3 giggle on his right. "And why do you call him Mr. Dolphin? It's Dolf!"
"Yeah, well…he…looks like a dolphin…"
Numbuh 5, who was sitting next to Numbuh 2, snickered. "On what planet?" The others started laughing.
"Ugh, whatever. Where do we get the cruddy knives anyways?"
"I think he said over on his desk," Numbuh 1 said, at the head of the table as usual. "Just be careful with it, Numbuh 4. The last thing you need is to get in trouble again."
"Yeah yeah…" Numbuh 4 waved him off with his hand. Everyone knew his reputation for getting into trouble and picking fights just for the fun of it. And he didn't really care.
Walking lazily over to Mr. Dolf's desk, he asked, "Do ah get the knives here from you?"
The teacher pulled out a small container, pulling the lid off and revealing about 30 exacto knives. As Numbuh 4 reached out to grab them, he quickly slammed the lid back on the box.
"I'm warning you now, Beatles, don't mess around with the knives, or you're gonna be staring at a white wall for the rest of the school year," he warned him angrily.
Numbuh 4 rolled his eyes. "Ah know, ah know, ah'll behave."
"Then go ahead. And get enough for everyone else at your table, while you're at it." Mr. Dolf uncovered the box.
Numbuh 4 grabbed 5 knives and walked back to his seat, simply throwing them on the table, which caused them to scatter. Thankfully, they didn't go far, and none of them hit his friends. That didn't stop them from complaining, though.
"Geeze, Numbuh 4! Did ya have to throw them?" Numbuh 2 said, hands in front of his face. "You coulda taken off my head with that thing!"
"You gotta be more careful, Wally! You don't wanna hurt anyone, do ya?" Numbuh 3 told him. Then as an afterthought, "Scratch that, I know you always wanna hurt someone, but not us!"
"Just quit your whining!" he told his teammates, sighing. "Ya didn't get hurt, so what's the big deal?"
"'The big deal' is that you COULD HAVE hurt us! You can't just gamble that way with weapons, Numbuh 4! It's dangerous!" Numbuh 1 told him angrily.
Tuning his friends out, Numbuh 4 picked up a knife and started cutting randomly into his piece of paper. He really didn't care for art class that much, and would have preferred gym class. But ever since the gym been completely abandoned, gym classes were permanently canceled for all grades. And he positively hated cooking class and health class, not to mention all his other classes, so art was the only interesting thing in the day.
If ah'm supposed to be cuttin' a landscape thing he thought ah'll just cut out a tree or somethin'. And that's exactly what he set to work doing.
After about 10 minutes of cutting over and over in pretty much the same places, Numbuh 4 laid down his knife for a moment and took a look at his project. Well, it kinda looks like a tree… In Numbuh 4's head, it looked pretty accurate. But in reality, it looked more like a straw with a large cloud stuck on the top.
He looked around at his friends, all hard at work. Though he couldn't clearly see their own pictures, he could see there was much more work put into theirs than his. Ah guess ah could add a cloud or somethin'.
Numbuh 4 was about to grab his knife off the table to start working on his cloud when he heard a small shriek.
"Whoa, wha?" he said, startled. He looked around wildly for the source of the noise, and his eyes eventually landed at his own table, to his right at Numbuh 3. She was holding her left hand close to her, a pained look on her face. He could just barely see a small rip in her oversized sleeve.
Mr. Dolf came over to their table. "What's going on over here?" he asked, immediately looking at Numbuh 4. He shook his head and pointed to Numbuh 3.
He gaze went to Numbuh 3, noticing the look on her face and the way she held her hand. "Got a cut?" he asked her, and she nodded. "Well, let's see how bad it is."
Tears in the corners of her eyes, Numbuh 3 held out her hand, which everyone at the table crowded over to see. Out of the corner of his own eye, Numbuh 4 could see some other kids getting up to come see as well.
On her left index finger, close to her fingernail, was a small slice where the knife cut her skin. Though her hand had been covered with her sleeve, the knife had cut right through and into her finger. Mr. Dolf grabbed her hand and held it up closer to his face to get a better look.
After a moment of examining it, he said, "It's not too deep, I can't see any bone." Gagging from earlier started up again, which he ignored. "You might need a small stitch or two though, so it doesn't keep bleeding."
"B-bleeding?" Numbuhs 3 and 4 said at the same time. Numbuh 4 gulped; he wasn't the biggest fan of blood, and ever since the fight with the Safety Bot involving his little brother Joey, he was instantly able to tell the difference between ketchup and blood.
"Yep. See?" Mr. Dolf slightly squeezed Numbuh 3's finger, and a couple of drops of blood appeared on her finger. "Just get a few stitches and you won't have that problem." He let go of her hand, and she brought it to her own face, looking down on it.
Crud, why does she have to bleed BLOOD? Why can't it be soda or somethin'? At least ah like soda!
Numbuh 4 suddenly felt slightly dizzy. Don't look at it…don't look at it… But he couldn't control his gaze, which kept landing on her finger. Alright, don't THINK about it….don't look at it, don't think about it…stop being a wimp, it's just a little blo…blo-…
Numbuh 4 suddenly saw black. No light, no color, no nothing.
It lasted about a second, and just as suddenly as the black had come, it was gone.
Except now, things looked a little different. He realized he wasn't in his seat anymore; he was lying on the floor. And a bunch of people were all crowded around him, staring down at him with looks of worry and confusion on their faces. One he picked out was Numbuh 3.
"Wally? Wally, are you okay?" She held out her hand for him to take, which made his head spin a little bit.
"What? What's-" Numbuh 3 looked down at her hand, wondering what was wrong, when she suddenly remembered. "Oh, don't worry, it stopped bleeding." She held her hand out again for him to see, and like she said, her finger wasn't bloody anymore. A little red from some swelling, but blood free. He gratefully took it, and she helped him to his feet.
"Well, looks like someone's a little hemophobic, huh?" Mr. Dolf snickered.
Numbuh 4 blushed a little. "Ugh…whatever…" He sat back down at his seat, arms crossed.
Seeing the show was over, everyone else also returned to their seats, and Mr. Dolf went back to his desk.
"Huh, this is kinda ironic," Numbuh 5 though aloud. Everyone at the table looked at her, confused.
"What do ya mean by that?" Numbuh 2 asked her.
"Numbuh 5 means, Mr. Dolf was warning Wally this whole time to be careful with the knives, and so were we, Kuki included. But Wally didn't end up hurting himself or anyone, Kuki did."
The blush receding from his face, Numbuh 4 smirked. "Looks like someone owes me an apology!" Numbuh 4 was about to go to Mr. Dolf's desk to demand one when Numbuh 3 grabbed his sleeve, pulling him back to his seat.
"Hey, you stayed out of trouble up until now, don't ruin your good streak!" She told him, wide smile on her face.
"…oh alright…" He sighed, settling back into his chair. Numbuh 2 whispered something to Numbuhs 1 and 5, and they all snickered. "What?"
"Oh nothing…" Numbuh 2 said, giving the others a look.
"Seriously, what is it?" Numbuh 4 demanded angrily.
Numbuhs 1, 2, and 5 exchanged another look. Numbuh 1 nodded to Numbuh 2, who shrugged.
"Alright, I was just thinking…if I woulda told you to stay, you wouldn't have."
Numbuh 4 looked at him confused. "Probably not…why?"
He ignored his question. "And If Numbuh 5 told you to stay, you wouldn't have."
"No, but what's that got to do with-"
"AND if Numbuh 1 told you to stay, you wouldn't have."
"But what does any of that have to do with anythin'?" Numbuh 4 asked exasperatedly.
"But when Numbuh 3 told you to stay, you stayed!"
"You're point?"
"Yeah, I don't get it!" Numbuh 3 said, also confused.
Another look exchange between the others.
"Ya know what, forget it. We shouldn't play mind games with the lovebirds, it would just make them more confused than they already are!" Numbuh 5 said, laughing. Numbuhs 1 and 2 joined in.
Numbuh 4's blush returned. Ugh, those little… He stole a glance at Numbuh 3, who looked even more confused as ever. At least she doesn't get it…
And that's pretty much how the rest of art class went for them: Numbuhs 1, 2, and 5 whispering things to each other and laughing, Numbuh 4 ignoring them and cutting out clouds, and Numbuh 3 watching him, staying as far away from her knife as possible.