You Can Learn in Your Sleep, You Know…
Characters copyright Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Phlegm…. Unfortunately…belongs to me…. GO AWAY!
Chapter One: How it all began…
"Moving to a new school is kind of scary, isn't it?" Chihiro's mom looked from her front seat back at the brown-haired girl.
"I think I can handle it."
It was the first day of school, and an eleven-year-old Chihiro tied her hair back in a ponytail with the sparkly one her friends in the spirit world made her.
"Hurry up! You don't want to be late!" Chihiro's mother called from down the stairs. She held a sac lunch in her hand.
"Coming!" Chihiro ran out of her room, sped down the stairs, grabbed her lunch, waved farewell to her mom, zoomed out the front door then stepped into the yellow schoolbus. She sat in one empty seat near the middle and looked out the window. If she survived the spirit world, she could most certainly handle school.
The bus driver let Chihiro and the other children off at the corner of a large, stone building. Chihiro walked and went to the office to get her locker com. Then she went to her first class: math.
"Hello, class. I am Mrs. Kamaji Sanson."
Chihiro could not contain herself. "HAHAHAHAHAAAaaaa! Boy, what FREAKY kids you and your 'husband' would make!" She clasped a hand over her mouth. That was meant to stay inside her mind.
"Excuse me!" Chihiro sunk down in her seat. Mrs. Kamaji shook it off. "I was politely introducing myself for our new student… who already got herself noticed… Why don't you come up in front of the class and tell us something about yourself."
"Yes ma'am." Chihiro said, using the same nervous tone she had used with her first meet with Lin. "Umm…my name…" She pulled out a pink and green card from her pocket, "is Chihiro." The class roared with laughter.
"Hello, Chihiro, and what did you do on your summer vacation?"
"…" Her eye twitched, "I … I…."
"Surely you can simply tell us what you have done…"
"…Um…I don't think Haku would want—"
"Who's Haku?" One kid asked sarcastically.
"My cat—dog—RABBIT! I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!" Chihiro blurted out.
"Why don't you just sit down? Your seat is next to Phlegm. Phlegm, raise your hand please."
An unbelievably dorky boy raised his hand enthusiastically. "Hi," He said between his two buck teeth that had a gap in the middle. His voice was a wheezy, hazy annoying one that you could already tell he was a nerd. Really, his name is Phlegm, how much more dorky could you get? Green bougars hung down from his nose. Huge glasses practically the size of his whole head lined his face, making his eyes look huge. Phlegm wore pants that were way too short and pulled way too high and had a pocket protector full of pens in his nerdy shirt.
Chihiro hesitantly sat by Phlegm, nose wrinkling in disgust at the smell of him.
Class started, and for a while, Chihiro was doing quite nicely. That was when she thought school wouldn't be that bad here. Of course that's when she felt warm, sickly breath by her face and heard a familiar wheezing breathing. She turned her head and saw Phlegm staring at her. "What's your case?" She whispered rudely.
Not even bothering to whisper, Phlegm said in his crusty voice, "You can learn in your sleep, you know…" Only his mouth moved; the rest of him was stone still, looking at her.
Chihiro looked toward the front, her left eye twitching again. She raised her hand. "Can I go to the councilor's office?"
"Why sure, dear." Chihiro zoomed out of her desk and through the door.
Chihiro kept running, despite the shouts behind her, until she reached a door labeled, 'Councilor.' She barely remembered to be polite and knock.
"Come in." Came the voice from inside.
"Hi…" Chihiro said nervously as she entered the councilor's office. The councilor was seated in a comfortable-looking chair. She had black hair and smiled warmly at the new girl.
"What's your name?"
"Chihiro." She was surprised at how young the councilor looked.
"Now, Chihiro, I don't see any appointment… or have you done something? Has a teacher sent you here?"
"Not really… I asked to go."
To Chihiro's surprise, the councilor threw back her head and laughed. "Hello, then. My name is Miss Lenning. I can tell you'll be coming here a lot so we should get to know one another."
"What…?"
"You're seated next to Phlegm, aren't you?"
"Well, yes…"
"Aha! So there. You'll want to leave class and visit me often to get away from him. All the others did. Those who didn't ended up with mind disorders. Phlegm's been in that class for five years straight and he's not getting smarter, that's for sure." Miss Lenning grimaced, "and he collects… his own phlegm. It's disgusting! Sometimes he even hacks one big enough to etch a smiley face on with a black marker!"
"Miss Lenning? Can I go to the bathroom?" Chihiro asked, suddenly sick.
"Why certainly, dear. Third door on your left."
"Thanks." She zoomed out the door. The actual third door was a tiny thing, no taller than her waist, and locked. The one next to it was the womans' bathroom, but curious, she tested the small door's lock. The door swung open with just a knob turn. Smiling, Chihiro entered and locked the door behind her. She found herself in a…………………………………………………..a……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………a bathroom. --'
Rolling her eyes, she sat cross-legged on the floor. Maybe she could just hide in here for the rest of the day…no—too weird. Might as well return to the councilor's office, Miss Lenning was pretty nice. Just in case anyone was outside, she flushed the toilet.
The room began to spin, going faster and faster until Chihiro felt as if there were no walls around her at all, just darkness. And she sunk while she spun, sinking further and further, and further, until FINALLY…. She found herself lying on a bridge—or that's what it appeared to be. Her mind and sight were spinning round and round still. Suddenly a boy grabbed her arm, jerking her upright.
"You shouldn't be here. Get out of here now!"
"What the heck?" Her vision cleared enough to see a boy with emerald eyes and black hair to his ears held her arm. Haku!—wait—HAKU? "WHAT THE HECK!"