Chapter Two~

Referall room. I'd heard it talked about around school. Its where the worst-behaved children spent most of their days. The place where laughing is against the law; where smiling is punishable by an eternity of detentions; where you are forever respected by your peers for having survived at least an hour.

I wasn't a bad person. Or was I? I did injure Mina, and for quite a petty reason. Maybe I really am a bad person. Maybe I deserve this.

"Sierra Kuhioli," I voice droned, "Please come in."

I exhaled steadily, concentrating on my breathing patterns. Then I stepped in, overcome by fright. My fingers were becoming frustratingly itchy.

"Why have you been sent here?" I tried not to laugh for my life's sake. I was faced by a blob monster. Her glasses were much too large; her nose much too bulbous. Her shirt collar was hidden under at least five chins, but I wasn't going to risk counting. She looked like she least friendly person I'd ever met.

"I... erm... shut Mina's arm in a doorframe." I stuttered, loosing any spells of confidence I had had, like a candle flame being blown out by a forceful puff of breath.

The woman didn't even look up from her computer, "And, you did this... why?"

I scratched my index fingers. So itchy...

"I was angry with her..." I stated, sure that I had said the wrong thing. I nervously itched my thumbs.

"Ah, so you were provoked..?" She shut down her computer and stared me down. Her eyes seemed to sneer at me. No wonder all the popular kids hated referalls.

"Y... Yes..." A pungent scent filled my nose. I couldn't figure out what it was, but it made me feel slightly woozy. The woman's bad taste in perfume, perhaps?

"how were you provoked, Miss Kuhioli?" She insisted, getting angry with my short answers.

Tucking one of my dark blonde plaits behind my left shoulder, I furiously itched my pinkies. I didn't give a stuff about this woman or her questions!

The sneering lady began to wrinkle her swollen nose. I imagined an gorilla curled around it like it was a baobab tree.

My imagination really was getting out of hand.

"Miss Kuhioli, I-" She had an immense coughing fit before composing herself, "I... I'm afraid we require an answer."

I looked down at my hands uncooperatively. The air down there seemed tinted green, or was it just my vision? My fingers were so sore. Raising my hand to rest it on the table, a light bulb went off in my head. My hands were creating, or emanating, this weird green spore.

"Sierra, if you do not speak," She rasped, "I'm afraid you will sit here until you provide me with an answer."

I myself produced a series of rattling coughs now. I put my hand close to my mouth to stop the coughs, but my lungs felt blocked. Initiatively, I removed my limp hand.

A strange green spore that is most likely harmful... Great!

For some reason, I didn't find this too weird. Maybe it was just my intense imagination filling in the gaps. Either that or I'm just dense and insensitive. The spores didn't affect me as badly as it affected her.

"Urm..." she slurred, "I feel a little woozy..."

I could see the once-clear air in the room taking on a greenish tint. For some reason, the spores were multiplying, and there is nothing I could do to prevent that.

"eugh." The woman let out a disgusted groan, followed by more, "eughh!"

She doubled over, coughing and spluttering. She managed to get up, and move out of her seat.

"GAS LEAK," she spluttered, "CHEMICAL SPILLAGE, G-GET OUT!"

I got out of my chair, my throat screaming for clean air, before she could stop me. I looked back over my shoulder, to watch her swatting out invisible flies. Hallucinations?

My bag was on my back in a few seconds, and I was sprinting through the corridors. An alarm went off around the time I was at B level. My heart did multiple flips. I'd never been so scared in my life. I needed to get out of here. Nobody needed to know. Nobody needed to know...

Of course there was the issue of the harmful gas streaming from my fingertips. But, you know, that's no oddity.

Children were being evacuated from their classrooms, teachers with their hands over their mouths.

The air wasn't too contaminated here. Somehow I just knew. The worst damage has been done to C11. Maybe the rooms around there... maybe the whole school...

My fingers were sore, but the air was no longer green down there. Maybe they had stopped. Oh, please say they had.

My school tie fell off as I ran, but I couldn't care less. I didn't stop to pick it up. You make rash decisions in a rush.

Finally, I've reached the front gates! I couldn't help smiling in relief. Pausing to glare at the cheesy 'you are now leaving Hawthorne Academy!' sign, I slowly walked down the steps, and didn't stop once until I reached my house, and unlocked the front door with the spare key.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head.

What will I say if mum's home early?

For the second time that day, I decided upon lying. Oops.

Oh well, I better be a good liar...