Alexx and Eva and I stepped off the bus and made a dash for the school just as it started pouring.
"Oh, man… what's that smell?" I asked, waving a hand in front of my nose as we walked down the hallway to our lockers. A thick, almost sweet odor filled the air.
"Yuck," Alex said, "It's probably just a stink bomb or something. All I know is that I don't want to have to deal with Mr. Davis Complaining that we're late on the first day of school."
Mr. Davis, our science teacher in eighth grade, had never really liked us very much. As a result, whenever we're late to class, he gives us twice as much grief about it than he does anyone else.
"I heard there's a new chemistry teacher this year," I said as I slammed my locker shut.
"It's probably a weird old lady or someone fresh out of college, " Eva added. "Either way, it'll be nice to get away from Davis. He was annoying."
"Hey guys," Alexx said under her breath, "Look who it is."
It was getting close to class time, so the halls were nearly empty. The only people we saw were Gianni and his moronic friend, Elliot. It's amazing how much we… how should I put this nicely?... dislike him. He's always going around making fun of people. Even the teachers are sick of it. He was all talk, though, and it's been proven. He once challenged me to a fight because he claimed that I was staring at him. I accepted and he never even showed up.
Gianni took one look at us and started mumbling something to Elliot. I acted as though I hadn't seen him.
"What are you looking at?" He said, and then he started to walk away.
"Yeah, go ahead. Just walk away," I say to him as he stalks away.
"You'd better watch it," He sneered, turning back.
"Wow. That hurt. I think I'll go cry now. Oh, and by the way, loose the drone," I nodded towards Elliot. "He's an embarrassment. Even to you."
Gianni took a challenging step towards us.
"If you want a fight," Alexx said, advancing, "Just ask."
He glared at us and then walked away, Elliot trailing along.
"What a loser," Eva said as we went to class. "He knows he would've lost."
A few seconds later, my friends and I walked into the Chemistry room right as a woman in her late forties was about to write her name on the chalkboard.
"Hello, everybody," she said in a fake cheery voice. "I hope nobody minds that I have to windows open. It was a tad stuffy in here earlier."
There were about six other students in that class. There was Gianni, who attempted to trip me as I walked past his desk, two other guys that I knew from junior high and one girl that I've never seen before. And then there were Danielle and Julita. They consider themselves "popular" and would never speak to "the likes of us".
"My name is Mrs. Karlow. It looks as though we have a small class this year. No matter. Let's begin shall we? Oh! But first you students are going to need your books, aren't you?"
After about fifteen minutes of digging through closets and drawers for the text books, they're finally distributed.
"Now, I thought that we would begin our lesson today by talking about the harmful effects that drugs and other potentially dangerous chemicals have on the human body."
For the last half hour of class, I tried to pay attention to Mrs. Karlow and her talk of nitrous oxide, but I was distracted by headache. I was thankful that the teacher had opened the window to let some of the small out, but it did little good.
I was ready to fall asleep when I was jerked awake by a loud pinging the sounded over the intercom, signaling the end of the period.
I stood up, still groggy, and left the room with my friends.
"Thank God it's over! That woman was so boring!" Alexx slammed her locker shut.
"I know! I spaced out during the whole thing!" Eva added.
"Let's go. Not that I care if we're late for literature, I just don't want to deal with any complaining right now," I said, rubbing my forehead.
"Raven, are you okay?" Starfire asked me half way to class.
"Yeah. It's just a headache. It's nothing, though."
"If you say so. Hey, isn't there supposed to be a teacher in here?" We had just strolled into room 404, to find the teacher's desk empty.
"You guys, something's not right here," I looked around the room. Nearly half the class was missing, not counting the teacher, and the remaining students were looking seriously drowsy. I could relate.
"What is going on here?" Eva asked no body in particular.
"We've got to get out of here," Alexx said.
"Wait," I stopped in the doorway and turn around to face the room. "There's that smell again. It's stronger in here."
"Geez! That stinks!" Eva waved one hand in front of her face.
"I think it's been in the building since school started," Alexx said.
"I don't like this at all. Let's go tell the office what's going on," I suggested.
"Good idea. C'mon," Eva led the way as we raced down the hall to the principal's office.
I glanced into some of the classrooms only to see that the entire class, teacher included, was unconscious. The strange odor was growing stronger by the minute. When we were only half way to our destination, everything began to spin around me. My friends became a blur of colors as my headache worsened and my body went numb. I tried to grab onto the wall as I struggled to maintain my balance, but was overwhelmed and collapsed onto the cold tile. I saw Eva and Alexx ran over to me and started speaking, but I couldn't understand them. I blacked out.
Eva
"Oh my God! Raven! Raven!" She didn't respond. I looked to Eva who was just as frantic as I was.
"We've got to get her to the infirmary," Alexx said, "C'mon, help me with this."
We each put one arm around our shoulders and took off. In one of the side hallways, we found a wheel chair, which we propped our friend up in. It was then that I heard the humming.
"You take Raven to the Infirmary. I have to check something out. I'll meet you there as soon as I can," I said.
I sprinted down the deserted corridor, looking into each of the rooms. I tried to find the source of the noise; I was sure that if I found that, I'd find what was causing all this trouble.
It was at the end of the hallway—room 503: the boiler room. I saw some kind of thin smoke leaking out from beneath the closed door. I tried to open it, but it was locked tight. After making sure that no one else was around, I cupped my right hand, a small ball of fire forming. After it was about the size of a softball, I launched it at the doorknob, hitting it head on. The door swung open revealing a small room about the size of a small classroom. In the middle was a machine resembling a water heater with about four plastic tubes extending from the sides and trailing into the air vents in the wall.
"So," came a voice from behind me, "What do you think of my little hide-out?"
I whipped around, spotting someone standing in the shadows. Once he revealed himself, I almost burst from trying to contain my laughter.
It was Gianni standing there in a surgeon's mask and rubber gloves!
"What do you think you're doing?" I took a step towards him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he taunted me.
"Oh, will you quit it with the cheesy-movie-villain act?" I snapped.
"I would be a little more polite if I were you. Hmm. Isn't laughing gas a wonderful thing? It sure pays to have a dad who's a dentist. I just borrowed a bit from his office rigged it to this water heater so I can give the whole school a taste of a little nitrous oxide. Now, I am the only one here who knows how to control that thing," He said, jerking his thumb at the machine, "And unless you think that the idea of everybody in this school being six feet underground is a good one, you'd better start showing some respect. But I see that my little plan is already working. Just look at Raven."
"Okay, A: I'm pretty sure that you got you're whole 'little plan' from some 80's action movie and B: you really are a psychopath."
"Right now, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Albright. I'll go along with your little game. Why are you doing all this?"
"Because this school has mocked me for too long!" He shouted.
"What the heck are you talking about? You're the one who always mocks everyone else!" I shouted back.
"You don't get it, do you? When I was in elementary school, everyone would call me four-eyes and other things I don't revisit and the teachers wouldn't do anything about it! Then, in 7th grade, when they still wouldn't stop, I started making fun of people. The teasing stopped a bit then, but you and your friends were leading what was left of the torture! I couldn't take it anymore, so I decided to get rid of you all for good. Starting with you and your friends."
"Leave my friends alone, you nutcase!" I scream, launching an enormous ball of water at Gianni, sending him flying across the room. He quickly picked himself up and backed against the wall.
"You're the psychopath!" he shouted.
"Right now," I said, smiling, "I'll take that as a compliment."
From out of nowhere, he made a break for the open door.
"Not so fast!" I hit him again, in the back this time and he was knocked to the ground. I walked over and saw that he was unconscious. I ran over to the machine and began blasting the whole thing with fire to make sure that he wouldn't be able to finish his little science project. Before running out of the room, I tied Gianni up to make sure that the cockroach wouldn't be able to try and repair his little science project.
I ran through the building opening all of the doors and window I could find, trying to air it out. About 10 minutes later, I finally reached the infirmary. I found Raven and several other students unconscious on hospital-like beds. That was the first time I actually took a look at my surroundings. To my horror, the nurse was staggering around trying to attend to all of her patients, all with the same symptoms as Raven. All of a sudden, my head began to throb really badly. I looked up at the air vent only to see large puffs of smoke filtering though the grate.
I hadn't stopped the machine.
The pain was so terrible that I staggered back into the wall, clutching my head. I scrambled through the nurse's station, the room spinning, and found a medical mask. Once I had put it on, my headache barely cleared up. A sick feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. Raven had the same symptoms not even 2 hours before, and now look at her. I prayed that I wouldn't end up like my classmates.
I walked carefully over to Raven, all the while wondering where Eva had gone to. I had an idea, but I hoped I was wrong.
Raven's condition hadn't changed, so I went to see is anyone in the office was still conscious. I didn't even get out the infirmary door before I saw Eva, passed out, in a chair on the other side of Raven's bed.
I felt like I was in some kind of epidemic movie. I hoped it wouldn't end like one, though; usually, the survivor gets infected with the disease and dies. Either that or gets eaten alive by zombies. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be the latter.
I dashed out to the hall and ran as fast as my legs could carry me.
The problem: I had no idea where I was going.
I decided to call the Poison Control Center from the payphone near the gym. The only reason I remembered the number was because the company had made up an annoying little jingle to along with it.
After I called them and talked to a woman with a nasal voice, I dashed back to the Infirmary to wake my friends up.
I placed one hand on Raven's forehead and concentrated, letting out a single noted melody as a natural reflex.
Once they were both awake, I explained everything.
Eva
"Let's get him," Raven snarled. She clenched her hands into fists, and then spread her finger out, her nails growing nearly half a foot and taking on a metal-like quality.
"First, let's see if he's still out cold," Alexx said, leading the way to the boiler room.
I scanned the room, but no Gianni. "Oh, man. Where is he?"
"Looking for me, ladies?"
We spun around to see him standing in the doorway. I raised my hand and sent a table flying in his direction, missing Gianni and crashing into the wall next the door.
Gianni stared at us with bulging eyes. All of a sudden, he took off running, locking the door behind him.
"No you don't!" Raven lunged at the door, impaling it with all ten razors. Before I knew it, she had ripped it off its hinges.
"C'mon!" She said, running out the empty doorframe. Apparently, after he had escaped, Gianni went around to all of the windows and shut them. I tried to re-open one, but it was locked.
"Don't even try to open them, Eva. They're shut tight."
He had been behind us the whole time.
A smirk on my lips, I swung my arms, hands open, up in the air. Every window in the hallway exploded. Gianni didn't say anything out of shock.
"You evil psychos are all alike," I said, amused.
Before we knew what was happening, the hall was flooded with white, plastic suits. Raven and Alexx and I were escorted out of the school by paramedics and had to go to the hospital for examination. They let us go home that day, along with everyone else that was affected by the fumes. No serious damage done.
The school was closed for the week, seeing that it was only Monday when all this had happened, while the Haz-Mat team vented out the building and confiscated Gianni's "laughing gas machine".
Gianni on the other hand, kept babbling about being attacked by three girls. We aren't worried, though. For the next ten years, he'll be locked up in a nice soft room... all the while terrified about being attacked by three girls with "magic powers"...