My hair is pink and I've snagged a shot on my sister's computer to finish this chapter as my time literally hit 0:00 as I wrote that Will's mom poked her head in the door. :/
"I am very disappointed that you failed to turn in an essay Miss Cook."
"That I what?" Taranee Cook stood at the front of the empty classroom, facing the famed 'school-loon', Mr Pudington, awaiting the bad news of her Mid-term paper. The news she just received was not what she'd expected.
Mr Pudington awkwardly twiddled his thumbs and Taranee's eyes automatically drew to the large white chalk-stain left on his blazer by his even more dust ridden tie. "If you couldn't finish in time, you should have asked for a.. Ehh, um, you know, a, uhh, you know one of those things you ask for.. When you can't finish.."
"But I turned it in a day early!" Taranee was usually patient of Mr Pudington's imbecility, but a lost essay was not a funny joke. "It was on Theseus.. And the Minotaur..?"
"An extension!" The man snapped his fingers, making Taranee blink. This could not be happening. Taranee Cook did not misplace her assignments.
"I can email it to you the second I get home!" Taranee clasped her hands together as if in prayer, but the ridiculous Religion teacher only shook his balding head.
"A deadline's a deadline Miss.. Aghmm.. Anyway, you get an F on this paper." Taranee couldn't breathe. He had said it. She was sure he had said it. Yet she couldn't believe it. She felt as though she might cry, watching the man shuffle out of the room; the cuffs of his trousers not quite reaching his socks.
...
Caleb stared expressionlessly at the whirring machine before him as it emitted a greenish glow. The noise was horrendous. It cast out a constant earsplitting wail which over drew the underlying drone. He knew Blunk was behind him, if not for the sound, but the smell. Caleb glanced as another sheet of paper flew from the machine into the pile, no longer blank, but now brandishing an identical lettering and image as the original menu he had placed in the top of the 'copier'. It did exactly what it said.
"Ooh!" Caleb could only imagine the look of awe on the passling's face; the creature was probably all but drooling. Possibly also drooling. "How it do it!"
Caleb grimaced, at both the smell and the annoyance Blunk was causing him to withstand. "I don't know 'how it do it'. All I know is this machine will produce identical maps for all of my field commanders." Caleb let out a loud exhale and smiled sarcastically, "Right after I finish copying tomorrow's yummy shrimp specials!"
Caleb glanced at the passling as he straightened the pile of menus; Blunk was pushing and licking the machine. Caleb smirked, "What's the matter? Too big to steal?"
He was all to aware that he sounded more like an Earth-human than ever, thanks to the small Chinese air guardian who had deemed him her new 'brother'. Caleb did not associate people as family. He doubted the child would want him as her brother if she knew that the closest to Caleb having kin was Phobos. Julian had been a fool in trying to adopt the role of father for Caleb, and he thought that as with Julian he would save Hay Lin the trouble of disappointment by refraining himself from her assigned position.
Caleb pat the smuggler's head in mocking of it's helplessness, before retreating to find Yan Lin with the half of Menus he had completed.
Unknown to Caleb, Blunk then pulled a stool over to the machine, pressing his face against it, his hand colliding with the control panel so the machine again began to whir.
...
"If Professor Collins wasn't the beast that we know is living in Heatherfield," Will gazed out of her window onto the streets below and the afternoon sun, "Then who is?"
"The woman said that to reveal the beast, you have to touch it with the Heart of Kandrakar.." Will watched Hay Lin catch and throw one of her numerous toy frogs onto Irma's head, following the stuffed animal as it then bounced to Cornelia, who continued the circle.
"Well I can't just go round the whole city, touching people with a crystal!" Will twisted her face in consideration of the idea.
"He lost it! I can't believe he lost my essay!" Will looked into the space between her bed and her nightstand where Taranee Cook had huddled, hugging her knees, ever since she'd arrived.
"Taranee! We all grieve for your loss," Cornelia cooed as if to a young child, Will cringed in anticipation of what happened next as the blonde's voice hardened to a scold, "But the world's been invaded by monsters! Focus!"
"He's looking for one of us!" Will shoved her hands into her pocket; she felt as though she should side with Taranee, and perhaps signify Cornelia's wrong, but instead she bit her lip as Irma joined back into the conversation.
"We don't know that!" Will was all too aware of the mistake she'd made with her history teacher, and had since been constantly berating herself for her insolence; considering that the rebel leader was yet to have the chance.
"Pleease!" Irma waved away Will's words, "He comes here. He's looking for someone our age! What do you think he wants! A babysitter?" Will looked at her shoes, humbled by the bold water guardian.
"What if one of us is his secret evil granddaughter! I saw that in a movie once and the girl was like super mondo-creeped!" Hay Lin hyped herself up with her own idea.
Will raised a timid hand to point out that not only had she seen the tyrant Phobos, but he'd seemed far too young to have a granddaughter, though, she thought, Caleb had said there was a time warping thing, she dropped her hand. Taranee continued to mutter that her teacher had lost the essay, while the girls sighed.
"Hey guys!" Susan Vandom poked her head around the door of her daughter's bedroom and smiled at the girls. "Will's got extra math homework, your gonna have to say goodbye!" Will glared at her mother. She didn't recall having homework..
"Mom! Mrs Rudolph didn't give me extra homework!" Will was all too aware of the look Cornelia had sent her as she whined petulantly.
Susan Vandom however only grinned at her daughter's childishness, "No.. I did. After reading your midterm report."
Will watched helplessly as the girls all stood to leave; Hay Lin propping the frog on Will's desk so it sat by itself with it's long arms and legs hanging by it's sides. She looked at them longingly, "Help. Me."
Irma turned and smiled sympathetically, "Okay. The line between two numbers.. Means you subtract." Will made a face as Irma winked, blew a kiss and left her to her mother's wrath.