Today was Friday. The day Sofia was supposed to come up with a topic for her science project. Yet she still had no idea what she was going to do. Despite this, she seemed to be having a good day so far. She got an a plus on her sorcery test, she got to make a collage in art, and her mother packed her favorite lunch (a cream cheese and jelly sandwich, a peach, carrots from the garden, and a cupcake). But then recess came. Sofia was playing freeze tag with her friends and she was it. She dashed toward James and reached her hand out to tag him, but missed. Suddenly, she lost her balance and began to fall and she cried out! Her foot rolled to the side and she dropped to the ground. "Missed me!" James called. Then he realized that his sister wasn't chasing him. He looked behind him and noticed her sitting on the ground. "Sofia! Are you alright?" "Ow! My ankle! I twisted it." " I'll go get Miss Flora" said Zandar "She'll know what to do" "No! Then she'll send me to the nurse and I'll be faced with that skeleton!" "Then we'll just have to hide it" James said. So he took off one of his socks and wrapped it around her ankle. The bell rang, telling the students that recess was over.
Then it was time for dance class. "Hello, students" Professor Popov said cheerfully "Today we will learn how to dance the Irish Jig. It developed in England and- James, why are you carrying Sofia?" "I'm practicing chivalry. You know, boys helping girls, that sort of thing" "Well Sofia can walk on her own so please put her down." Once James put Sofia down, the professor noticed that Sofia was limping. "Sofia, is something wrong?" "Wrong? What makes you think anything is wrong?" "Well, you don't usually limp like that" "I wasn't limping" "You can't fool me, princess. Sit down and let me take a look at you" "That won't be necessary, I'm fine" "If you're really fine, then you'll let me take a look." Sofia finally gave up and sat down in a chair. Then she rolled her pant leg up to the top of her ankle. "Sofia, why do you have a sock tied around your ankle?" "Because my ankle's cold". He then removed the sock and the swollen, red and purple ankle was revealed. "Oh dear, your ankle looks sprained. You'd better go to the nurse, Sofia." Knowing that she couldn't argue with her teacher, she reluctantly headed toward the nurse's office.
The halls seemed like an endless walk and they appeared to grow in length with every step. As she walked, Sofia's mind raced with terrible thoughts. Could those rumors be true? Could that skeleton be that of one of the nurse's previous victims? Could my nightmare be true? Finally, she reached the office. She slowly reached her hand toward the knob, when she realized that her amulet was glowing. She looked behind her. Standing right there was a copper-skinned, black-haired woman wearing a Native American dress. "Pocahontas?" "Yes, it is me, Sofia. Your amulet summoned me" "Oh, Pocahontas, I'm in trouble! I twisted my ankle at recess and now I have to see the nurse. I've heard that she's poisoned two of my classmates and that is keeping the hostage. The closet might even be lined with nails and broken glass! And there's a skeleton in her office!" "You know, I went through almost the same thing with John Smith" "Oh yeah, I remember that" "Yes, my people thought that he was greedy and cruel like the others. But when I took the time to get to know him, I realized that he was truly a kind soul" "That's true. But there's a skeleton in there and all it does is stare!" "Fear not, for I will be right outside the door should you need anything" "Ok, I'll go in. Thank you, Pocahontas." So Sofia grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door.
When she opened the door, a young woman with short hair and thick glasses was waiting for her. "Hello there" she greeted "You can take a seat on the bed and I'll be right with you. Trust me, it's very comfortable." So she sat down on the bed and the nurse approached her. "What's your name?" "I'm Sofia. It's nice to meet you, Nurse…?" "Just call me 'Missy', I'm very informal" "Well, Nurse Missy, I…um… have a problem" "Yes, I'm listening" "Well, I was playing freeze tag at recess and then I tripped and twisted my ankle" "I see. Let me take a look." So she bent down to examine Sofia's ankle. "Well, it's definitely sprained but it doesn't appear broken" "What exactly is a sprain?" "Ah! I'm glad you asked. Mr. Bonehead here can answer that question. I know he may look scary, but you've got to give him a break because we've been through a lot together. Anyway, there're these things called ligaments which attach bones to other bones. A sprain happens when the ligaments tear due to being stretched too far. They're kind of like rubber bands" "Cool! But how can I fix this?" "Just sit tight while I look for some bandages" "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Vivian and Desmond?" "Ah, I assume you've heard the rumors. Well, I'm telling you that they are false. Your friends were both sent home with influenza, otherwise known as the flu." After a little while, Missy found a bandage and began wrapping it around the injured ankle. "Is the bandage too tight?" "No, it's fine" "That's good. Now I want you to follow the RICE procedure. This pamphlet will explain more. I want you to stay off that foot as much as possible and keep an ice pack on your ankle. I'll get you a wheelchair you can use." So Missy went back to the closet and rolled out a wheelchair. "So, what class do you have next?" "Science" "Why, that's where I'm supposed to be! How about I give you a ride?" "Great!" So Missy wheeled Sofia down the hall to the science classroom.
"Hello there, Sofia! I see you've already met our guest speaker. Alright, class, let's all give our guest speaker our full attention." Missy went up to the front of the room to speak. "Hi! My name is Missy and I'm a student like you. I'm studying to become a nurse and being here is just part of that learning process. I hear you all have a science project coming up so I'll being talking to you about the body. But first, I'd like to introduce you to someone." She pulled her skeleton model to where she was standing. "This is Mr. Bonehead. Don't let his looks fool you, he can be quite humorous! Get it? Like the big bone in your upper arm? Anyway, he knows all kind of good jokes" "Hey, can anyone tell me what a skeleton likes with his mashed potatoes?" she asked as she manipulated the model. "It's grave-y! What does a skeleton take for a cold? Coffin drops!" Pretty soon, the entire classroom was filled with laughter!