Paige tripped over her apron. She frowned and took it off. It was a green apron given to her from her teacher back in 2nd grade. It was very beautiful; white frills and little patterns. It was too big for her but that wasn't the problem. It was *gags* Green. GREEN! She absolutely despised the color green but she just couldn't throw it away.
She sighed and carefully folded the cloth item. She had 20 minutes before
Perinton's opened and she just had to kill some time.
She walked down the hall until she found herself in front of the teacher's lounge. She pushed open the door to the petite room and walked to the fridge. She reached inside and pulled out a red tupperware. Her neighbor had made her some cheesy lasagna the other night. Paige was very grateful considering that she never had the time or even knew how to cook.
She took off the lid and stuck it into the microwave. She put it on for two minutes and then pressed start...nothing. That was strange. She pushed it again. Still nothing. . . !
"I see that the microwave is still refusing to meet your expectations."
Paige turned around to see Barry standing in the doorway. He was the newest employee at Perinton's Academy. His hair and eyebrows were composed of bright, thick red wires. He had black spectacles and freckles that adorned his pale skin. He wore an ecru labcoat, a black belt with a silver buckle, brown pants that were multicolored on the bottom, and brown shoes. He had several tubes and wires that came out of his pants and went into his legs. He was the tallest teacher that Paige had ever seen.
"Yeah. It's stopped two times last week. I think we should all invest in a new one," she suggested.
"Nonsense. Allow me to fix your heating module," he smiled before walking over to the microwave. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a screwdriver. In seconds, the top was off. He gazed upon the intricate wiring before sticking his finger in.
Paige gasped. "B-Bar-"
Barry stuck his finger up, as if to say 'Wait'. There were a series of clicks and beeps and then strings of electricity in the form of blue bolts whizzed up his body. His eyes turned the same color as the volts.
"Oooohhh~" he vibrated.
He pulled his finger out, shut the top, and secured it with the screwdriver. "Try it now," he instructed.
She set it for two minutes and started it. The microwave came to life and soon her tupperware began to slowly turn.
"Thanks, Barry!" She said making the teacher smile.
"It was of no problem to help you, Paige Sketch," he stated before exiting the room.
She was delighted that Barry had joined the staff. He could solve any technical problem and was just sweet overall.
'Only if Tony was more like him,' she thought to herself as she removed the hot tupperware out of the microwave. Paige has admired him for quite some time now. But the clock was so rude and standoffish sometimes! It infuriated her. She looked at the gorgeous lasagna and realized that she didn't have a fork. She grabbed one of the paintbrushes that were holding her multicolored hair up. She flipped it upside down, stabbed her lasagna, and brought it up to her lips. She took a bite and melted into the flavor.
BRIIINNGGGGGG!
The school bell. She frowned and put her meal back in the fridge. "And so it begins."
The tallest boy looked at his friends. Robin was the middle child. He had dark green hair that sometimes covered his face. He wore a white shirt, a brown coat, and gold and yellow striped leggings. He had green skin and big brown eyes. He was very smart and wasn't afraid to show it.
He looked over to the other boy.
Manny was the youngest. He had messy blue shoulder length hair. He wore an orange shirt, blue overalls, and little black and white shoes. He had yellow skin, blue eyes, and a big heart. Manny was so innocent. He didn't really understand the urgency of the situation.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Manny asked.
He snapped back to reality.
"Yes I'm fine," he said in his monotone voice. He looked at all of the students walking around the halls of Perinton's. He took a long, low sigh and looked at his brothers. "Today is exactly like yesterday. Robin, do not argue with Mr. Tony and Manny, do NOT go to the counselor's office. Understood?"
The two boys nodded their heads and departed.
Harry sighed and made his way to his first class. Art class, a constant struggle. He pushed open the door to the large classroom. Student were already inside, working on projects. The teacher, Ms. Paige smirked and waved at Harry. He winced and turned away. She was the same teacher who had tried to kill him last summer. He went to his seat and sat down.
"Ms. Paige, why can't we use green?" A girl named Georgia asked the teacher. She had a gorgeous painting to finish but there was no green paint in sight.
"Ugh. Green is everything. When people illustrate grass or trees or life, they always use green! Why not use pink? It's much more creative," she smiled.
"Alright," Georgia sighed before going to the paint station.
Harry clenched his fist. All these teachers just loved to force their opinions and beliefs on everyone. He glanced at Georgia. The girl had rosey hair, a fuchsia sweater, black pants, and designer boots. It matched her raspberry skin and pink eyes. She looked over at him and waved. He blushed and waved slowly. He was very timid.
"Harry," Ms. Paige called, making him cringe. "Do you have your art project?" She asked. The whole class was looking at him. He hated when they did that.
"N-no," he said lowly.
"Really?" She gasped. "Do you hear that, class? Harry didn't finish his project." Low, inaudible murmurs filled the classroom.
His face went a dark red.
"I just don't understand it, Harry. I told everyone just last week that it was due on June 19th!"
Harry looked to the ground in embarrassment. Everyday was June 19th. Ms. Paige always assigned projects that were due on June 19th. Everyone just seemed to know when they were due. Harry never knew.
"Well, since you were unable to complete your assignment you must read this essay in front of the whole class," Ms. Paige said, putting a paper on his desk. He gulped, reluctantly grabbed the paper, and looked to the class.
"Um, the title of th-this essay is "Are ce-cell phones d-dangerous?"" He looked at all of the bored faces. Sweat was beginning to drip down his temple and was starting to stain his clothes. He was beginning to tremble and his stomach was doing cartwheels. "Ce-Cell phones are li-like little compu-compu..." He looked at Ms. Paige. She was amused.
He looked at the floor and dropped the paper. He walked back to his seat and sat down, not looking up at all.
"Class, do your homework," Ms. Paige smiled before turning away and going to her desk.
/In the Guidance Counselor's office
"So what's wrong, Manny?" Mr. Shrignold asked.
"My family has been very sad," he sighed.
"Really?" Mr. Shrignold asked, "And why do you care?"
"Because I love them," the yellow boy said.
"No you don't, Manny. That's not real love. You don't love Robin or Harry. Your love can only belong to one person," the counselor corrected.
"But I don't want to choose!" He frowned.
"No! You don't choose. Your love doesn't belong to them. Your love can only belong to your special one," he said through a gritted smile. He was very good at not being angry but Manny always managed test his patience.
"I don't understand," Manny admitted.
"Do I need to take you to the cult again?" He asked but the the boy shook his head.
"Well, who is your special one?" Manny asked, making the counselor pause.
"Well, I-um...I suppose you could say my special one is…" He looked at the miniature statue on his desk. "Malcolm! I guess you could say that my special one is Malcolm," he stated proudly.
"Isn't Malcolm a guy?"
Shrignold's eyes widened. "We-ll I-he's a God and Gods don't h-have genders and...Get out of my office!" He yelled, spooking Manny and making him run off through the hallway.
"Time's up," Mr. Tony said, shutting his pocket watch.
The students gathered their papers for the blue instructor. Mr. Tony walked around and assembled them all. He loved his students. They were so orderly and never questioned him. All except one…
Robin was sitting at his desk, kicking his legs back and forth eagerly. He had checked out a new book from the library and was very anxious to crack it open.
Mr. Tony walked over to Robin's desk. "What is this?" He asked, looking at the novel.
"It's a book," Robin replied.
Tony glared at him. "I mean what is the book about?"
"The theories and conspiracies of Horology," the boy answered innocently.
The instructor tensed, his eye twitching a bit. "Th-Theories?"
"Yes, it's actually quite interesting," he said to the infuriated teacher.
Tony picked up the book and began to read some text from a topic called "We May Not Live in the Present". It said that your brain censors and edits information from you by 80 milliseconds. What hogwash!
"Don't read this nonsense, Robin. Time will never stop. Never. Never ever. Time will continue...Forever."
"But the book sai-"
Tony slammed the book shut. He hated when students questioned time. "Alright. Let me show you time in action," he said as he held the book firmly outward. He began to speed time up for the novel, 60 years worth. Robin and the students watched as the book went through 60 years of changes in a minute. The leather started off fresh and new but then began to fade in color. Soon the pages were gaining a light but nasty yellow tint and were wrinkling quickly. It continued to age until the mess of shredded pages and ugly discolored leather fell on the desk with a cloud of dust.
Robin looked at it with shock and fear.
"Time will forever go on and will spare no victims," Tony whispered to him coldly.
Robin looked at the floor, too afraid to look Tony in the eyes. So Harry was right. The teachers were really out to kill them.
