Chapter Three

So, Irma thought as she walked to the front gate of Sheffield Institute, It's back to normal life. Boys, school, family. All the boring things. She sighed. She missed her friends. But after the last portal closed, they had separated.

She remembered it well. Before the portal was closed, Cornelia had already gone AWOL. After that, Hay Lin left. Then Taranee.

And finally, me. Irma stopped walking. But it wasn't because of what she was thinking about. No this was much worse than that.

Two problems came up. First, Irma saw Will. That gave her even more grief. After all, being the last to do anything was never good. The next was what Will, and everyone else, was looking at.

A limo was pulling up to the curb! It looked like it was about to pass by, when suddenly it stopped. A long, thin man came out of the front part of the limo. He opened the back door. And then, out stepped the vice principal!

"What?!" Irma shouted.

"What?" the vice principal echoed with a smile.

Even though she's going to work here, Irma thought, with a smile of her own, she looks like she would be happier if she went to school here.

"Well," the vice principal said, "A crowd. Dark won't like this."

Just then, a small object came into view. it was a small spot, at first, but then it started to grow larger and larger as it came closer. In a few seconds, Irma could see different features of the spot.

First of all, it wasn't a spot. It was a boy! He was wearing a black dress hat, black jeans, and a black dress shirt. Whoa, Irma thought as he came into focus, He looks pretty big.

In truth, he was a normal sized, lightly-built youth, with a black, leather bag on his shoulder."Hey, North!" he shouted to the vice principal. North turned around just in time to see him flick something out of his hand. It landed right in front of her. The "it" was a dime. Was he going to attempt to stop on it?

"He is racing at about 40 miles an hour!" Irma exclaimed. "There's no way he can stop on a dime!" The vice principal, however, merely smiled, as the bullet of a boy came closer.

Suddenly, Irma felt herself beginning to move towards North. In an instant, she found herself right in front of her-and the dime! "Trust me," North said slyly, "He has to stop." Irma shut her eyes. This is it. It's the end of the line for me, she thought.

He was about two inches away from breaking something in Irma's body, when...he stopped?

"What'd I miss?"

Suddenly, another person came out of the limo. It was the new girl. She was wearing blue jeans and a lime green blouse.

"Oh nothing much, East," the boy said. He hadn't noticed the crowd yet. He stepped back to pick up his dime. "Who are you?" he asked Irma.

"Dark," North said slowly, "this is Irma. She'll be showing you around." He took a step back, forgetting his dime.

"I-I-Irma?" Dark stuttered. "The sergeant's daughter, Irma? Oh no! I'll be fine. Thanks, but no thanks."

"Dark," East said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You've got to get over your fear of people. This will help you."

"Fine," Dark sighed. He walked up to Irma, who was surprised to see that he wasn't much taller than her. "Lead the way," he said, gesturing toward the school doors. Just as he did, the early bell rang.

Oh great, Irma thought as she walked up to the school doors, Now I've got bad memories, and a job I hate!