Having quickly put her clothes back on, Muffy returned to the classroom five minutes late and started to take the science test. She soon realized that an additional five minutes would have made little difference.

"I'm going to kill Marina," she muttered silently and bitterly. "In what year did Einstein publish...I don't care what powers she has...theory of relativity...I'm going to strangle her with my bare hands..."

Suddenly Muffy heard a familiar and unwelcome voice in her head. "The answer is 1905."

"Stop that!" Muffy blurted out angrily. "I'm gonna kill you, you hear me?"

Mr. Pryce-Jones' eyes widened. All the other kids turned and shot Muffy annoyed looks.

"Is there a problem, Muffy?" the teacher asked calmly.

Thoroughly embarrassed, Muffy gaped and stuttered. "Uh...er..."

Then Connor, the horse boy, smiled at her. "You've got Tourette's. We understand."

All as one, the kids went back to their tests. Muffy, relieved at not having to explain her outburst, quickly wrote down "1905" and moved on to the next question.

It seemed like no time at all before the bell rang. The kids quietly handed their tests to Mr. Pryce-Jones and exited the classroom...all except for Muffy, who remained at her desk and stared hopelessly at the sheet of paper in front of her.

The teacher walked to the back of the room where Muffy was seated. She slowly looked up, then lowered her head again.

"The test is over," Mr. Pryce-Jones informed her. "And, unless you can bring me a signed doctor's statement that you really have Tourette's syndrome, I'm afraid I'll have to give you detention for disrupting the class."

"Whatever." Muffy gestured at the paper. "Just take it. Get it out of my sight."

Mr. Pryce-Jones picked up the sheet of paper and looked over it with interest. "This is perfect," he noted. "I don't know what you're so depressed about."

"It's perfect because my stupid blind telepathic ex-friend Marina dictated the answers to me!" cried Muffy, her voice rising in pitch with each word. Then she calmed down. "Uh...Mr. Pryce-Jones, sir," she added meekly.

"Ah, yes." The teacher adjusted his spectacles. "I watched you on the news. You're aware that things like ESP and mental telepathy don't exist, right?"

"I'd like to see you come up with a better explanation for why I did so well on the test," said Muffy petulantly.

As Mr. Pryce-Jones walked away with the test in his hand, he quipped, "You've almost made a believer out of me, Miss Crosswire."

Pulling on her coat and shuffling sadly out of the room, Muffy encountered the concerned face of Mavis, her best friend in the class. "I'm sorry I giggled at you, Muffy," she said.

Muffy glared at her. "Why are you apologizing for one lousy giggle? If this had happened at my old school, they would have been rolling on the floor."

"I don't know why you chose to come to class in your underwear," Mavis went on, "and it's really none of my business. But I shouldn't have giggled. It wasn't funny. 'The School for Scandal' by Richard Brinsley Sheridan is funny. A kid in her underwear isn't funny."

As Muffy and Mavis strolled down the hallway together, Muffy attempted to explain her behavior. "You saw me on the news, right? I've got this friend who has telepathic powers, and she helped me find the kidnapper. Now she's angry with me because I told everybody about her powers on TV, and she wants to keep them a secret."

"So it was your friend who made you take off your clothes?" asked Mavis.

"Yeah. She has long-distance hypnotic powers. And she told me the answers to the questions on the test."

"Well, she did you a favor, then," said Mavis as she and Muffy exited the school building.

"No, she didn't," Muffy retorted. "She just wanted to show me how much smarter she is. Whatever gave her her powers also made her a super-brainiac."

In the playground before them, two sweater-clad boys sat on either end of the seesaw, enjoying a lively debate on whether the universe was ultimately knowable while going up and down. Two girls with jackets and scarves stood by the jungle gym, discussing their crushes on famous artists and intellectuals.

Muffy and Mavis sat down in two unoccupied swings. "Mr. Pryce-Jones says things like that aren't real," said Mavis. "ESP and fortune-telling and telekinesis and all that. But I can't help wondering...what would I do if I had super mind powers?"

Mavis fantasized that she was seated in front of a TV set, watching a presidential address.

"...which is why I'm asking Congress for sixty-eight gazillion dollars to clean up the mess created by the last president in Karjakistan, and for thirty-two gazillion dollars to station peacekeepers in Palookistan to avoid creating a mess there until the next president is sworn in..."

Disgusted with the proceedings, Mavis placed her fingers on her temples and emitted a telepathic beam from her forehead. The beam traversed the nation, landing in the White House and enveloping the President's head. Slightly dazed, he continued his address.

"...which is why I'm asking Congress for sixty-eight gazillion dollars to increase the budget for public television, so that we can all learn to work and play and get along with each other."

"I'll tell you what I would do if I had powers," said Muffy dreamily.

She fantasized that she was seated in the third row from the front at a Backstreet Boys concert. During a pause between songs, Nick Carter was waving his arm over the audience. "I'd like a volunteer from the audience," he announced.

All the kids in the audience (which included Muffy's friends from Lakewood Elementary) raised their arms and yelled loudly--except for Muffy, who simply rubbed her temples and concentrated.

Suddenly Nick's arm froze in mid-wave and swiveled mechanically to point at Muffy, much to his surprise. "Uh...you, there, with the braids," he said into the microphone.

As her fantasy ended, Muffy gazed ecstatically into the distance.

"Uh, Muffy?" said Mavis, trying to get her friend's attention.

Muffy didn't answer, but appeared to be in a rapturous trance.

"Muffy," asked Mavis, "who are the Backstreet Boys?"

----

About two hours after the end of school, Muffy rode in her limousine toward Marina's house, determined to castigate the blind girl for the torment and embarrassment she had suffered.

"Wait here, Bailey," she instructed the chauffeur as the limo pulled over. "If you hear any screaming from the house, don't call the police."

"Yes, Miss Muffy," droned Bailey.

Climbing out of the vehicle, Muffy hurried to the front door and rang the bell. Shortly the door opened, and Mrs. Messersmith, Marina's mother, greeted her. The woman's face was pallid, and her eyes reflected confusion and sorrow.

"Is something wrong, Mrs. Messersmith?" asked Muffy with concern.

"It's Marina," the woman replied. "Come in, Muffy."

As she entered the house and started to take off her coat, Muffy gasped to see Marina prostrate on the couch, pale and trembling. She was clad in the black overcoat that she customarily wore in cold weather. Muffy noted that several medium-length, reddish-brown hairs were visible on the surface of the coat.

"Who is it?" asked Marina in a weak, anxious voice. "Who's there?" Her eyes seemed to gaze into nothingness, and made no attempt to connect with Muffy's.

"It's me, Marina!" Muffy rushed forward and grabbed the sick-looking girl's hand. "It's Muffy!"

"Muffy who?" asked Marina.

(To be continued...)