When Peter pushed Leo towards the closet, Leo shoved him back. The black sack slipped from Leo's grasp and plopped upon the wooden floor.
"You think I'm just going to play along." Leo snarled. "I'm not letting you take all the blame, imbecile."
Suddenly, the door flew open without warning. Peter and Leo's hearts dropped when Charlotte stepped past the threshold.
Charlotte sniggered, lifting her hand to mouth in an attempt to hide a sinister grin. "What are you two doing in here?" She reeled her malicious eyes to Peter. "Why aren't you helping with the downstairs floorboards?"
She turned to Leo, "And you, why are you even here? From what I hear, you should be in the punishment room." She folded her arms, scoffing. "You two are so getting it."
Leo and Peter remained silent, unsure of what to say. There was no excuse that could save them. They might be able to trick her, but there was no clever idea coming to mind at the moment.
"What is that?"
Leo met Charlotte's suspicious gaze, as she focused her greedy eyes on the pouch on the ground a foot from Leo and Peter. Leo and Peter didn't stand a chance when she dove for it. She snatched it up in her claws like a crow plucking carrion.
Charlotte held up the little black bag with satisfaction. As she dug her other hand into the bag, a smug smirk spread across her face.
"That's Leo's, Lotti! Give it back!" Peter shouted, gritting his teeth.
Lotti just gave him a cold stare, and turned back to Leo, who gazed blankly into her pink eyes. "I'm the good one here. You guys deserve sweets at all. I never run away. I never talk back to Ms. Penstemon. I would never do such a thing."
Leo and Peter just glared at her, even as she shook the bag upside down and small pebbles of many colors collected in her open palm. "Candies?"
Candy? Leo stared at the bag, confused. The present is candy?
Charlotte did not bother eating them one at a time, but instead let all the candies tumble into her large mouth.
"Delicious. It's melting on my tongue. See!" She stuck out her pink tongue, showing it off, as she moved her hips from side to side. For sure, Leo and Peter could see about six or so small dots of color slowly dissolving into her tongue.
Peter made a disgusted look, but Leo just watched her with deadpan eyes, sighing. There goes my present…no matter how trivial…
"Enjoy." Leo stated, nonchalantly walking toward the door; a scowling Peter following close behind.
All of a sudden, there came an alarming popping sound, accompanied by a shrill scream.
They turned around to see Charlotte covering her mouth. More popping sounds followed, but they were strangely high-pitched, almost like gunshots. Charlotte's face was overcome with fear, as she struggled to keep her mouth closed. She was in pain, judging from the tips of tears forming on the sides of her wide eyes.
"What's that noise?" A small voice hollered. More voices came after, and Leo heard the sound of a dozen feet pounding up the stairs.
Her lips pressed together, her cheeks bubbled like hot soup, and grew like balloons in a short amount of time. It seemed like Charlotte couldn't open her mouth at all. The popping explosions continued.
Leo and Peter grew shocked and backed away from her. It seemed that there was nothing to do but watch.
Someone gasped from behind them. Leo and Peter turned to the door, where they met the horrified gazes of two girls.
Although speechless, they were certainly panicked. More children came up behind them. One girl tried to get close to Lotti to help her, but Lotti just swatted her away in hysterics.
Leo did notice one of the girls disappear down the stairs. So she's going to alert Ms. Penstemon... Things are no doubt going to get worse.
"There's steam coming from her mouth." One of the boys noted. Leo turned back to see for himself and sure enough there was smoke, trailing up into the air from the sides of her mouth.
"Is her mouth on fire?" One of the boys frantically questioned.
"Quick someone get some water!" One of the girls demanded.
A few of the children ran off, leaving the rest to watch her predicament grow more terrible.
Leo didn't budge either. He just watched the girl with callous blue eyes, as she grew more desperate, trying to understand what was happening to her.
Ten minutes passed. Ms. Penstemon never came. The children still watched, amazed. The popping died then Charlotte, weakly collapsed onto her knees. The orphans crowded around her, pushing past each other to get in front of the other to see her. Charlotte, of course, did not appreciate the attention (for the first time) and shrieked at them.
It was then that she realized something, no, everyone realized something the moment Charlotte screamed when she did. A few children laughed with spite. The rest had their mouths dropped wide open in pure shock.
Charlotte's teeth were gone. Well, actually most of them were gone. There were still some left, but they were badly chipped. When she yelled, she actually swallowed pieces of her teeth. She choked and gagged to spit out the rest then she screamed again. There was so much screaming that many of the children left her. They did not know what to say.
Still, Leo stayed, watching, listening to her vent her frustrations— her loud enraged screaming. A few minutes passed, and Charlotte became quiet, sobbing to herself.
"Guess you shouldn't take other peoples' candy." Leo murmured coldly, as he knelt down in front of her. He took the pouch from her shaking hands. "Look at the bright side. You still have your baby teeth, right?"