"Kids, a new student has joined us today," announced Mrs. Krantz, the moose teacher of Alan and Prunella's fifth-grade class. "Say hello to Michaela Chanel, okaaaay?"

"Hello," intoned the bored kids.

Mickie Chanel stood at the front of the classroom, wearing a white chiffon dress and looking over the other pupils with an expression of disdain.

"We just moved into the former Crosswire mansion," she recounted with perfect aplomb. "It wasn't my first choice. My parents were about to say no, but they suddenly changed their minds. So here we are. We have nothing to do with the Chanel perfume company. My father became rich by inventing a new lightweight alloy for use in aircraft and bicycles. I have many interests, including music, sports, painting, and science, and I'm very good at all of them. I hope you will all soon be my friends, and by friends, I mean admirers."

Murmurs filled the classroom as the orange-haired aardvark girl returned to her desk. "She needs to let a little air out of her ego," Prunella muttered to Alan.

Mrs. Krantz proceeded with her lesson, her grating, affected voice annoying most of the students. "In 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, which led to World War I, okaaaay?"

Mickie raised her hand. "Yes, Michaela?"

"I'll give you $100 if you go through the rest of the day without saying 'okaaaay'," the girl offered.

All eyes turned to Mickie in astonishment. Some of the kids were taken aback by the new girl's boldness, while others silently hoped that the teacher would accept the challenge.

Mrs. Krantz regarded Mickie thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Do I really say it that often?" she finally asked.

"Yes," all the kids replied in unison.

The moose woman appeared a bit embarrassed. "All right," she said with a lack of feeling, "I accept."

For the rest of the period, the kids paid no attention to the historical details Mrs. Krantz scratched on the board. They were more interested in seeing whether she would earn the money Mickie had promised her.

The bell rang, and the teacher had managed so far to excise 'okaaaay' from her speech, although she still spoke in a dull, slow tone.

"I can't believe it," Marina said to Alan as she walked alongside him in the hallway, tapping with her cane. "The new girl bribed Mrs. Krantz in front of the whole class."

"I wouldn't call it a bribe," Alan responded. "She didn't try to get the teacher to change her grades. If she's as smart as she claims to be, she shouldn't need to."

As if showing off how fast she could walk, Mickie strode past them and slowed down. "Oh, hi, Mickie," Alan greeted her. "We were just making snide comments about you."

"That's fine," said the new girl, "as long as they're about me." As the three fifth-graders made their way to the washrooms, Mickie continued, "They say you're the smartest kid in the class. Care to see who's smarter?"

Alan couldn't resist such a match. "Sure."

"The sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle..." Mickie began.

"...is equal to the square of the hypotenuse," Alan finished.

"Not bad," Mickie beamed. "For every action..."

"...there's an equal and opposite reaction," Alan answered. "Newton's third law of motion. Now here's one for you. The speed of light is the same..."

"...for all observers, regardless of their motion," Mickie completed. "Einstein's theory of relativity. Can you name three sons of Johann Sebastian Bach who were also composers?"

"Uh...no," replied Alan.

"Carl Philip Emmanuel, Johann Christian, and Wilhelm Friedemann," said Mickie proudly.

"Classical music isn't my specialty," Alan told her.

"Everything's my specialty," boasted Mickie as she disappeared into the girls' room with Marina.

As he stood in front of the washroom entrances, Alan thought about how unreasonable he had been upon first meeting Beat Simon. Now another girl had come along who could equal him intellectually. At least, he thought, his friends wouldn't be able to tolerate her well enough to ask her to help with their homework.

Music class followed, and Mickie demonstrated that she could play the clarinet as well as Binky, and the violin as skilfully as Van (although he gave the excuse that his back was troubling him). As she finished tearing through Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" arranged for clarinet solo, the other kids applauded half-heartedly.

"This is weird," Binky said to Muffy when Mickie had turned her back. "How can somebody be good at everything?"

"There must be something she's not good at," said Muffy, peering at the new girl. "I mean, something she's not good at, that I'm good at. And her fashion sense is impeccable, so I don't know."

Mickie continued to display her talents during morning recess, as she competed with Prunella to see which girl could jump-rope the longest. Many of the kids were gathered in the playground to watch, including Arthur and Francine, who held hands, as usual. The ropes flew furiously, and after about two minutes Prunella tripped and lost the struggle to the gloating Mickie.

While she followed Arthur away from the crowd, she saw Beat on a bench nearby, looking rather depressed. It had become a frequent sight over the past week. Asking Arthur to excuse her, she hurried to the bench to find out what was bothering her friend. "What's the matter, Beat?" she asked earnestly.

The rabbit-aardvark girl only sighed glumly.

"You can tell me," Francine assured her.

Beat turned to her with pain in her eyes. "Something's happened to me, Frankie," she admitted.

"What?" Francine put her arm around Beat's neck, hoping to make her feel better.

"You remember last year," Beat began, "when I told you how I felt about you?"

"Yes," replied Francine, looking about to make certain no one was listening. "And I felt the same way about you, but I wanted to be normal."

"And now you are," Beat went on. "Getting Sue Ellen's personality in your head changed you, and now you have a beautiful boyfriend."

Francine gazed lovingly at Arthur, who had joined George and Sal at the swings.

"Let me ask you something," said Beat. "Dolly's love potion made you fall in love with Alan, at least for a day. How did you feel about him after it wore off?"

Francine pursed her lips and thought. "Uh, about the same way as I did before," she answered.

"I wasn't so lucky," Beat confided. "I was a different girl after the potion. I lost my feelings for you. And there's more. I wasn't interested in boys before, but after the potion, I became fascinated with them."

Francine only stared at her, not knowing how to respond.

"I think that's why I was so angry with Dolly," Beat continued. "She used magic to change who I was, and not just for a day, but permanently."

"Join the club," said Francine. "Thanks to Mr. Putnam, I have two people in my head, and I'm in love with Arthur. I didn't ask for that to happen to me, but that doesn't mean I can't be happy."

"Happy," Beat mused. "It's funny. So many people are unhappy with what they have, and they think they need more if they want to be happy. But who decides what makes you happy? Do you decide, or has the decision been made for you?"

Unable to catch her meaning, Francine gave her a blank look.

"Look at poor Mr. Winslow," Beat went on. "He thought he would find happiness by marrying Mrs. Harris, but after Dolly changed him, that wasn't true. You could say she decided what would make him happy. Just as Mr. Putnam decided what would make you happy, and Dolly's potion decided what would make me happy."

"And what would make you happy?" Francine asked her.

Beat sighed. "I used to think little girls who wanted boyfriends were silly. But now I'm one of those little girls, and I want a boyfriend. I can't help it. It's because of what I am. It's because of what Dolly made me."

Francine looked up and down the playground, where the kids were starting to disperse toward the school building. "There are lots of boys to choose from," she remarked. "Do you have a particular boy in mind?"

Beat stared into space, not answering.

TBC