Chapter Two: A Chicken a New Girl

3 DAYS EARLIER

It's almost been a month since Cindy began to be bizarrely joyous and pleasant, yet for the past two weeks the pranks on Jimmy have been worse than ever. Despite her claiming innocence, Jimmy blames her for each days humiliation.

Before the school bell rings, Jimmy cautiously takes his seat. He attempts to move his seat forward, but realizes he is glued to his seat and his seat is glued to the ground! He accusingly looks at Cindy. She, on the other hand, appeared to be clueless while flipping through her homework.

"Cindy!" he shouts in exasperation. She glances over wondering what she had supposedly done this time. She just shrugs her shoulders and objects, "I didn't do it, I swear on Harriet's grave."

Jimmy just stares at her with confusion. Who's Harriet? Cindy looks up and sees that, not only Jimmy, but everyone else, besides Libby and Ms. Fowl, are staring at her wondering.

"Like I've said before, you don't know her. Once again, never mind I said it," Cindy sighed. She's used the "Harriet's grave" thing before, but it seemed only she and Libby knew who this "Harriet" character was.

"Okay children, time to take out your science books. Like I told you yesterday, we'll be studying the average chicken," Ms. Fowl crowed. She went to arranging the board, preparing for their lesson.

Everyone opened their desks to get their books, but when Jimmy opened his, something triggered and shot out a glue-like substance the class had made for papier-mache the day before. He was going to shut his desk and yell at Cindy scolding, "How do you propose I wash this off?" But, once he closed his desk, the ceiling tile above his desk opened, (it was mysteriously on hinges) and feathers came falling onto him.

Nick pipes up, "Why make a diagram, Ms. Fowl, when we can study Neutron?" Everyone laughed (as lame as that was, it was Nick, to them, it's sort of a law to laugh at his. . . 'jokes'), except Ms. Fowl. Cindy giggled a little, but ceased when she saw Jimmy hold up a piece of confetti that had written in cursive "Sincerely, Cindy," and at the end a pathetic excuse of a chicken was drawn. She stared blankly at the shred of paper. 'How'd this get here? That came from my pool party last week,' Cindy thought, collecting memories.

At lunch, Cindy and Libby are sitting at their usual table. Sheen walks up determined over something, and it appeared he was approaching (of course) Libby. He pulled up a seat and sat down in between Cindy and Libby, almost pushing Cindy out of her chair.

"So, Libby babe," Sheen started, but his eyes were distracted by a new student. She was gorgeous, and, in reaction, Sheen stood up and greeted her. "Hel-loo. My name is Sheen, and yours must be...uh, a very pretty name," Sheen began, but the new girl just stared waiting for it to end. He continued, "There's this UltraLord fair in Retroville tomorrow night and I was wondering if you want to go with me?" Her answer was a hysterical laugh with a pinch of pity. "Oh, you're serious? Sorry, but no."

In the background, Libby was clenching her fists in anger and envy. She was about to walk up and yell at Sheen, but the bell rang. When Sheen finally looked in Libby's direction, he saw her exiting the cafeteria. She was slumped over, dragging her feet with Cindy comforting her, or, trying to. Sheen stood there for a few seconds and asked himself, "Was it something I said?"

Through the rest of class, the group of five were uneasy (actually, not Carl): Jimmy was fidgety, looking around for traps, maybe squeezing in a glare or two at Cindy, while pulling out hidden feathers he didn't find when he was in the bathroom trying to make himself look presentable; Cindy, upset that she was gaining infamy; Sheen, still confused (what DID he do wrong?); and Libby, awaiting the end of school so she can talk to Sheen and beat up that girl. Anger, envy, self-pity and sorrow whirled like a tornado in her. She kept wondering if she wasn't good enough.