Chapter 28: Cheater!
Sarah walked back into her cabin after helping with the homework. She had also visited the food storage and picked up a fish for dinner. She put it on the stove and took out her book to study. Cathy was studying from her worksheet in her own cabin, and decided to have Sarah quiz her on the material. She walked over to the cabin. Sarah was sitting by the fire, rereading chapter four.
"Hey, Sarah! How's the studying going?" asked Cathy.
"Good. I would ace this test in my sleep," replied Sarah.
"Want to quiz each other?"
"Sure." Just then, Sarah noticed that a corner of the blanket on her bed was hanging down onto the floor. Since Sarah liked things to be neat, she walked over to the bed.
She screamed as she saw a body in her bed. This scream woke the girl. She began to scream, too.
"Don't hurt me! I didn't do it!" the girl shouted, ducking under the blankets.
"What are you doing in my bed?" yelled Sarah.
"Your bed?" The girl looked down and saw that this bed was not her own. She jumped up.
"I think I'll be going now," said Cathy.
"Oh, no you don't," said Sarah, tugging on her arm. Cathy scowled.
"I'm getting out of here," the girl said quietly. There was a barricade of dogs at the door. They growled. "Yikes," the girl said.
"Why are you here?" asked Sarah.
"I don't know. One minute I go to sleep in my own bed, and the next, I wake up in some kind of cave."
Turtle walked by. "Oh, you're awake," he said.
"Yes-wait, how did you know I was asleep?" the girl asked.
"We are the ones who brought you in and untied you," he explained.
"We?" Sarah asked. "Is Tim involved?"
"Yep," answered Turtle.
Sarah glared. "Get him," she said through clenched teeth.
"Tim!" Turtle shouted at the top of his lungs.
"I could have done that!" said Sarah.
"If that was Sarah, I'd know I was be in trouble," said Tim. He got out of the pond and went over to where Turtle was standing. Sarah was glaring at him. "What'd I do?" he asked.
"That's what I'd like to know," said Sarah.
"Huh?" He saw the girl. "Oh! She was tied up in a boat and the boat fell and crashed on my head! So we took her out and put her in your bed."
"Thanks for telling us!" shouted Sarah.
"Sorry," said Tim.
"Why were you on a boat anyway?" asked Cathy.
"I don't know. Wait-was it a green boat?"
"Yes," Turtle and Tim both answered.
"Oh, no," she said. She went out to the door again, but saw the dogs. She wondered how the boys could have gotten by without them growling.
Turtle saw her looking hesitantly at the dogs. "They may look mean, but they won't hurt you."
The girl walked by the dogs. They growled and Mocha came up and jumped on her. Instead of biting or scratching, the dog started licking her to death. Suddenly, the dog lifted off mysteriously and floated a few feet away. The other dogs backed away.
"There, that should do it," said the girl.
"Don't tell me you're one of those Jedi!" said Sarah.
"No, especially since I don't know what one is," answered the girl.
"Ben will tell you," said Cathy.
Ben could hear them "summoning" him, so he came over. He and the new girl, whose name happened to be Hannah, talked, but they discovered that she wasn't a Jedi, although she did have some magic in her. She couldn't jump high, read minds, or talk into other people's heads, but she could move things by just thinking about it.
After that long, confusing, talk, Cathy asked if Hannah wanted to ride around in the woods so that she could fill Hannah in on the forest. Hannah said she would go.
"So…" Cathy began, "where are you from?"
"Gifek."
"Oh, so you're a local."
"Yeah, I guess."
"When Tim mentioned you were in a boat, you seemed to recognize it. Do you know how you got here?"
"Well, I have an idea. See, we were putting up decorations for the school dance, but I was really tired. I made sure no one was looking, then I used a bit of magic. Only problem was, a teacher was looking."
"So why would they tie you up?"
"I'm not done yet. Then everyone started calling me an outcast. My parents had a reputation to maintain; they couldn't have an outcast around. I heard them talking about it that night before I fell asleep. I guess they must had decided that their reputation was more important than I was."
"That's terrible!"
"Yeah…well, all I know is, I'm never going back there!"
The conversation continued with Cathy doing most of the talking. She told Hannah all the secrets and rules of the forest; she had a pretty good idea that Hannah was going to be staying a while. Cathy also told her about the people in the forest: who they were, how they got there, and anything else to look out for (such as Damien's bad temper) . Then they rode back to the forest.
When it came time to eat, Hannah ate with Sarah, Tim, and Ryan, but they didn't have extra room for her to sleep. Hannah said, "That's okay, I'll find someplace else." She went outside. She lay down on the "deer rocks" and closed her eyes.
"I strongly suggest you don't sleep outside," said Ben. "I made that same mistake once…"
"Then where should I sleep?"
Lee came out of his cabin then, and said, "There's only one person in my cabin. Uh, maybe you could stay there for a little."
"Thanks," said Hannah. "Wait…you look familiar."
"I do?"
"I know! You're…no wait, you couldn't be him. He's been dead for…"
"Couldn't be who?"
"Prince Lee. He was a prince about 70 years ago. He committed suicide when he was 12."
"Committed suicide? Where'd you hear that?"
"So you are him?"
"Of course I am! And I didn't commit suicide!"
"Then how did you die?"
"Look at me! Am I dead? My idiot brother pushed me off the platform when we were in a parade right before his coronation!"
"That explains it. Your brother was a greedy king."
"Anyway, want to come in now?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Hannah and Lee went into the cabin. Hannah ended up sleeping on the floor, but at least it wasn't rock.
The next day, when it was time to go to school, Snowy went to wake everyone up. Hannah was going to school, too. When Snowy went to wake up Anakin, Jaina, and Jacen, Anakin refused to wake up because he was too tired. No one argued with him, and they left without him.
Sarah, Cathy, and Hannah went to their classroom. Of course, they were the last ones in. Ms. Torres said, "Alright, it's time to have our tests. The blue group will work on their worksheet from yesterday while the rest of you take your test."
Hannah walked up to the teacher and said, "I'm new here."
"What is your name?"
"Hannah."
"Hannah, what reading group are you in?"
"I don't know."
"What grades did you get on your report card in English?"
"'A's'."
"You can start in the lowest group, the blue group, and move up if appropriate. You will read chapters one through four, do this worksheet, and take your test tomorrow," said Ms. Torres, handing Hannah her book and worksheet.
Hannah went and sat behind Brock, because that's where her group was. Brock stared at her dreamily and she moved over to behind Ash.
Everyone else in the room was taking their tests. Gary looked at the first question: "Name one of the main characters' goals." He couldn't remember. Oh, well, he could come back to it. He went on to the next question: "What was a symbol of good in the novel?" What? Symbols? The book never said anything about symbols. Next question: "What was the significance of the grail?" Gary had no idea about the grail. He had finished the book a week ago. He didn't have that good a memory. What am I going to do? He thought. He thought of a plan. I can look at Sarah's paper. She won't mind. She'll have all the right answers. No one will notice. He glanced at Sarah's paper little by little, until he had all the answers copied down.
"Is everyone done with the test?" Ms. Torres asked. Everyone nodded, so she collected the papers. She took the papers up to her desk and looked at them. Hmm…these two look very similar. She thought. Oh, and they belong to Sarah and Gary, who sit right next to each other. Sarah must have cheated.
"Sarah and Gary, come up to my desk," Ms. Torres called. Gary looked a little nervous, but thought that if he did, someone might notice and think he cheated. He put on a false innocent look and walked up to her desk.
"Your two papers are very similar. Can either of you explain it?" Both of the kids looked puzzled; Sarah's look was real, Gary's fake.
"I didn't do it!" said Gary quickly.
"Sarah, why did you copy?" Ms. Torres asked.
"I…I…" Sarah began.
"You will have an after school detention for a week. And you will get a zero on the test, bringing your grade in this class down to an E. Go sit down," Ms. Torres said.
Sarah looked at her in amazement. Then she went to sit down. Gary followed.
"Gary, why did you copy me?" Sarah whispered.
"I didn't copy you; you copied me!" he whispered back.
"What? You know so well that that's not true! You copied me and framed me!"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't need to copy."
Sarah was about to explode when Ms. Torres said, "Oh, Sarah, you have to catch a train after school, so you can't stay after. Wait! I know! You can have in-school suspension! Every day this week you will sit in the office. Starting now."
Sarah glared angrily at Gary, who glared back. She picked up her books and went down to the office.