Chapter 2 – New Faces, New Places
English drilled on. But somehow, Lazy Linda didn't feel quite as tired as she usually did. She couldn't understand it, but today's class didn't seem to drag like she remembered it always had. Aside from one instance when she had started nodding off, but amazingly snapped back to attention after only a few seconds, Linda stayed awake. Maybe not attentive, but awake nonetheless.
Perhaps that broom had been the magic cure. Or maybe it was the knowledge that she had two gummy fuzzballs to enjoy later. Then again, it very well could have been the Chocolate Fudge Chewies that were allegedly being prepared for distribution in less than an hour. Those was certainly what were on everyone else's minds at the moment, rather than learning about the correct grammar punctuation marks. All around her, Linda could see her fellow students bouncing in their seats, drumming inpatient fingers on the desks, and sneaking glances at the clock when Miss Battle-Axe wasn't looking.
For the last 30 minutes, the class broke up into pairs and worked on the assigned worksheets together. Almost immediately, Miss Battle-Axe had to stop the argument between Moody Margaret and Sour Susan after Susan complained she was giving her partner all the answers while Margaret simply read the questions out loud. Gurinder had slid her desk to join it to Linda's and they worked on the assignment upon their expanded workspace. While Lazy Linda despised doing English assignments almost as much as Math problems, she was happy she could at least work with Gurinder.
"You seem more awake now, Linda," whispered Gorgeous Gurinder.
"Really?" she mumbled. "I didn't notice."
"I did," Gurinder replied. "I bet it's those Chocolate Fudge Chewies on your mind."
Linda smiled. "You're the one who's more excited for the Chewies. They're your favourite."
Chocolate Fudge Chewies were everyone's favourite, but Gurinder had a particular weakness for them. Despite having more than enough weekly pocket money to easily afford such treats, they were relatively scarce in her household due to both her parents being dentists and imposing a rather unfair grudge (and house rule) against junk food. Gurinder had just as hard a time obtaining these biscuits as everyone else did.
Linda had a thought. "When the lunch bell rings, Gurinder, don't wait for me. Just go get your Chewie. I'll only slow you down."
Gorgeous Gurinder looked hesitant, torn between staying with her friend and making a mad dash for the cafeteria to nab a good spot in the inevitable queue for her beloved treat. "Are you sure?" she asked. "I don't like leaving you behind, Linda."
"You're not leaving me behind, I'll catch up," Linda assured her. "You know I can't run fast, even with Chewies on the line. You gotta beat Henry before he bribes Sally to give him double helpings."
Knowing this was all too true, Gurinder finally agreed. "Well, okay. But try not to run too slowly," she pleaded. "I want you to get one too!"
"I will…I hope."
They finished the worksheets a few minutes later and Linda glanced around the room. Clare and Brian had already finished and were playing Hangman on a blank sheet. Fiona was arguing with Ralph over the answer to one of the questions. Zoe and Al were scowling at each other despite being in different pairs at opposite ends of the room. Henry was staring at his desk while Andrew wrote feverishly (Linda suspected that he was reading a comic beneath his sheet and bribing Anxious Andrew for the answers). Then she checked the clock. 11:40.
"Ten minutes left for the assignment," Miss Battle-Axe intoned. "When you have finished, hand your work into this folder on my desk."
"But we haven't finished yet!" wailed Weepy William.
"I said you have ten minutes, William."
Gurinder and Linda got up with their worksheets and joined Clare and Brian at the folder.
Ten minutes later, the folder was packed with worksheets and everyone sat quietly, not so quietly, at their desks.
"I'm getting two Chocolate Fudge Chewies," Ralph taunted.
"I'm getting three," Graham drooled.
"I'm getting ten!" Henry shouted.
"We're only allowed one," Clare reminded them.
"Shut up, Clare," Henry spat.
Click went the clock's minute hand as it struck the 12.
DING DING DING DING DING went the bell.
"CHOCOLATE FUDGE CHEWIES!" screamed the children.
Everyone went flying out the door, pushing and shoving, trying to get in front.
"No running in the corridor!" shouted Miss Battle-Axe.
But her voice was drowned by the mad dash of students who flooded out the classroom like a hole had burst in an inflatable pool and its contents were gushing out. With chants and squeals filling the hallway mixing with the CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP of many shoes running, the whole world moved fast. Too fast for Lazy Linda, who miraculously found herself swept out the classroom and into the narrow corridor by the wild rush from not just her homeroom, but all the others in the school too as dozens of bodies poured out of the doors and charged towards the cafeteria. Gurinder was no doubt far up ahead by now as Linda frantically tried to keep up with the crowd.
But the surge of screaming kids proved too much for her slow-moving feet, and suddenly, Linda tripped! She fell down on the cold tiled floor, a stampede of feet pounding all around her. Her lunch bag clattered down with her, spilling a few containers that got kicked across the floor. As Linda tried to get up, a hard shoe smashed down upon her right hand.
"Ow!" she wailed, a sharp piercing pain rocketing through her arm and to her head. As if the chaos wasn't enough, now her hand felt broken in a million pieces and she started to black out. But no one seemed to notice the little girl cowering on the floor in the middle of the hallway, being beaten senselessly by low flying lunchboxes and kicked mercilessly by unsuspecting shoes and boots of the mad scramble of children with biscuits on the brain. Too frightened and hurt to do anything, Linda curled up as best as she could on the floor to minimize herself to the onslaught of storming feet and squeezed her eyes tight.
Please, someone help me! her mind cried out desperately. Gurinder, somebody, anybody, I don't want to die here! I promise I'll never be lazy and sleepy and slow again –
"OY! BACK OFF! ONE SIDE, BUSTER! That's right, keep moving! Hit me! I DARE you to try!"
A ferocious voice suddenly broke through the noise, and all at once, she felt the beating stop, though the sounds of running feet persisted. Linda dared to open one eye and looked back.
Someone was standing over her, back turned to Linda and arms outstretched like a human shield over her body with a lunchbox held in one hand. Children were still running through the corridor, but seem to be avoiding this someone like a single traffic cone in the middle of a busy street. And effectively were no longer running over Linda.
It was a girl wearing a grey cardigan, grey trousers, black shoes…and a head of wild frizzy orange hair.
"Fiona?" Linda squeaked.
Fiery Fiona turned around as the last of the kids ran past. The fierce look in her eyes softened instantly when she faced the girl crouched on the floor. Linda had never seen that happen before, but she was shocked for a much different reason. Fiery Fiona, the girl known to possess a namesake fiery temper and one whom Linda actively tried to avoid contact with…had just saved her.
"All right there, Linda?" Fiona asked gruffly. She bent down and hooked a hand under Linda's arm, another gesture that greatly surprised the smaller girl. But then the pain blasted her arm again, causing her to collapse back down. Her hand felt dead.
Fiery Fiona looked at Linda's bruised right hand. "That doesn't look good. Hang on, Linda, I'll get you to the nurse's office."
She carefully helped Linda to her feet. "Can you walk?"
Struggling to keep her balance while fighting back tears, Linda felt herself trembling horribly from the trauma she had just faced. "I…I think so," she stammered.
The pain in her hand was too much to bear. It felt so paralyzed that she was horror-struck at the thought that her dominant hand might snap off.
Just then, the door to the girls' loos right across from where they stood opened. Another girl strolled out, bopping her head to the beat from a portable cassette player from which a pair of headphones snaked out of her pocket; her ponytail swished about with her head and her lunch bag swung from her wrist.
"Oy! Zoe!" Fiona barked loudly.
Zippy Zoe stopped and saw the pair for the first time. Her eyes widened when she saw the injured girl. "Whoa! What happened to you, Linda?" she gasped, yanking her headphones out.
"Never mind that," Fiona said briskly. "Run up ahead to the nurse's office and let them know we're coming!"
"I'm already there!" Zoe said with a swift salute. Then she turned and bolted down the hall at lightning speed. Her blond ponytail flailing behind her like a wild snake.
Fiona bent down again, this time to pick up Linda's dropped lunch. "C'mon," she said. "Let's go. Try not to move your hand."
The two girls made their way slowly down the quiet corridor, no doubt that everyone was in the cafeteria, either clambering for Sloppy Sally to hand out the biscuits or wailing with disappointment that the rumours were in fact just rumours. Either way, the corridor, once overflowing with a tidal wave of starving children, was now empty.
Linda was hutched over as she walked, gingerly holding her surely-broken hand in front of her with her only remaining good hand. She was very shaky, both from the pain in her throbbing limb and the terrible ordeal that had happened only minutes ago. Wordlessly, Fiona kept a hand on her back, steadying her. It reminded Linda a lot of how she would be half-asleep as she and Gurinder walked home from school every day and Gurinder would have to make sure she did not accidentally step off the sidewalk and onto the street as she 'sleep-walked'.
"What happened, Fiona?" Linda finally whispered, one wobbly step before the other. She looked up at her saviour, trying her hardest not to cry.
"Saw you lying on the floor on my way out," the redhead replied. "Typical for you, honestly. But you were being trampled to death. So I decided to give you a hand."
Linda smiled gratefully as the true measure of what Fiona had done for her finally began to wash through. "You saved my life, Fiona. Thank you so much. That was very nice of you."
Fiery Fiona shrugged, now looking a little uneasy herself. "Well, don't let it get around," she muttered. "I'm not supposed to be nice."
"Why not?"
Fiona huffed loudly. "It's what I'm known for. I'm not nice. Kasim and Soraya are the nice ones. I'm supposed to be mean and a short fuse."
Hearing these things made Linda think of herself for a brief moment. She was known as the lazy one of their class; had she not been trying to detach herself from this acquired reputation just this morning? Perhaps Fiona didn't have to be stuck with her reputation either.
"Well…I think you're nice," Linda offered. "I've never spoken to you in all my life and we never play together. But you're being really nice to me right now." She glanced towards Fiona's hand that was still resting on her back to guide her along. "I really like it!"
She almost didn't catch the small movement in Fiona's mouth as they curled upwards just a tiny bit.
"Did you see who stepped on you?" Fiona asked, changing the subject.
"No. Everyone just moved so fast."
"I bet it was Henry, that rat," growled Fiona. "You saw how badly he wanted those biscuits. He'd trample on everyone's hands just to get his filthy paws on one."
"I don't think it was Henry," Linda said. "He was probably already at the front of the line to get a Chewie when I fell."
"Well, whoever it is, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind!" Fiery Fiona hissed, starting to fire up.
"Oh, don't do that, Fiona. I'm sure it was just an accident. They probably didn't even know they stepped on me," Linda tried to reason. She was never the malicious type. But deep down, it did feel rather good to see Fiona wanting to 'avenge' her.
"Hmph. Maybe," Fiona huffed.
Linda suddenly gasped as it just dawned on her. "Fiona…I made you miss out on the Chewies."
A flash of disappointment appeared in Fiona's brown eyes, but she simply shrugged. "You needed help," was her only reply.
Linda didn't what to say. Despite the painful coldness of her hand, she felt warm inside.
They finally reached the nurse's office. They finally reached the nurse's office. The school's attending nurse, Nurse Nellie, was a kind woman who loved children. She was a hundred times more pleasant than her predecessor Nurse Needle, who had mysterious quit last year. Horrid Henry spared none of his pride in boasting whenever he could how it was he who had sent the world's meanest nurse packing by hurling her into a black hole in deep outer space.
Nurse Nellie greeted them warmly. "Hello you two! Zoe said you would be coming my way. Sounds like you had a nasty spill, Linda," she said in a kind voice.
Linda nodded pitifully. "I fell down and someone stepped on my hand," she replied as Fiona eased her into the chair already set out for her. "Where's Zoe?
"I believe she said she had to go to the cafeteria."
Fiona rolled her eyes. "Typical. Always zipping around, that Zoe," she muttered, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. "Probably off to get a Chewie before they're gone. Well, at least she did what I asked her."
"All right now, let's take a look at that hand of yours," Nurse Nellie said, sitting down in front of Linda and gently examining her swollen hand.
To Linda's great relief, Nurse Nellie told her that her hand was not broken (or going to fall off), but just badly bruised. With the help of a tight bandage and a small ice pack, Linda's hand was treated as best they could and she began to feel just a little better. Nurse Nellie wrote two notes, one for Linda to give to Miss Battle-Axe and the other for her mother.
"The ice pack will help reduce the swelling. In the meantime, keep that hand elevated above your heart, Linda, and rest easy, which means avoiding any big activity."
This was the best news that Linda had heard all day. "I can do that," she said confidently.
"That's right up your alley," smirked Fiona, who had stood quietly against the wall the whole time.
Then the door blasted open.
"Linda!"
Fiona leapt out of the way as someone whooshed into the room. Before Linda could register what was happening, the wind was knocked clean out of her as the Someone's arms enveloped her tightly around the neck.
And Gorgeous Gurinder broke.
"Linda, Linda are you okay?" she sobbed hysterically. "Oh, Linda, I thought you were dead."
Fiona frowned. "Dead? Who told you that?"
Taking a moment to regain her senses, Linda put her left arm with the one good hand around her friend's back. "I'm okay, Gurinder," she said softly, trying to calm her down. "But how did you know I was here?"
Gurinder sniffled, torrents of tears pouring down her cheeks. "Zoe," she hiccoughed into Linda's shoulder. "She came running into the cafeteria, told me you were in the nurse's office…and…and…" Gurinder trailed off, unable to finish.
Looking up, Linda saw Zippy Zoe herself standing at the doorway. The pony-tailed girl smiled at her, looking a little out of breath. Her headphones looped around her neck.
"Everyone knows I am the fastest girl in the whole school," she said proudly. "But the moment I told Gurinder that you were here…well, looks like I might have some competition other than Al now. She ran fast!"
"Perhaps a little too fast," said a stern voice. Linda's heart jumped as a large woman appeared behind Zoe.
"Zoe and Gurinder, you know the rules about running in the corridors. However," Mrs. Oddbod mused slowly, "as this did appear to be an emergency, I shall make an exception this time. And I will be making a very strict reminder in assembly tomorrow about our 'No Running in the Corridor' rule. Incidents like this are the very reason why it exists."
She fixed her glasses as she peered at Linda's hand. "Miss Linda, are you all right?"
Linda nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Oddbod. I wouldn't be though, if it weren't for Fiona."
Fiona blushed and looked away. It was clear that she wasn't used to compliments. "Zoe helped," she muttered.
"And Gurinder came running to make sure Linda was okay!" Zoe chimed in. She shot a hand into the air before her. "You should'a seen her!" she rambled. "I didn't think Gurinder had that kind of speed in her. She totally booked it down that hallway! Right past Mrs. Oddbod's office! Almost couldn't find her in that crazy queue, but as soon as I told her, WHAM, she turned into a torpedo, I say! I almost had trouble keeping up."
Mrs. Oddbod narrowed her eyes. "That's enough of that, Miss Zoe. Running in the corridors is not an achievement to be proud of, you know."
"Sorry," Zoe said with an innocent smile that didn't waver at all; she looked very proud and pleased indeed.
Linda's eyes suddenly widened as a terrible thought filled her head. "Gurinder," she gasped in horror, pulling away from her friend's embrace. "Were you in line for the Chocolate Fudge Chewies when Zoe told you I was here?"
Her friend was quiet for a moment, tears staining her beautiful cheeks. Then she spoke quietly. "I was."
Linda felt just awful inside. "Chocolate Fudge Chewies are your favourite."
Gurinder stared at her and wiped her eyes. It looked like more tears were threatening to spill. "I don't care," she choked. "You were here. So I had to be here too."
"But you love Chocolate Fud- "
"But I love you more!"
Everyone in the office froze as a fresh onslaught of tears streamed down Gurinder's wet face. "There's no way I could eat a single bite of a Fudge Chewie if I knew you were in the nurse's office," she said firmly, stamping her foot to the floor. "I don't care about Chewies, Linda, I care about you."
Lazy Linda was stunned. But then she smiled broadly, tears of her own now clouding her vision. "Oh, Gurinder. You really are my best friend."
Sliding carefully out of her chair, Linda fell into Gurinder's arms and wrapped her left hand around for a second hug. She regretfully wished her other hand could do the same, but luckily, Gurinder caught on quickly and hugged her tightly back.
"I'll never leave you behind again," Gurinder sobbed. "Not for Chewies, not for a mega sale at the mall, not for anything ever again."
Feeling overwhelmed with emotion, Linda snuggled her face into Gurinder's shoulder, feeling very safe now.
Zippy Zoe beamed. Even Fiery Fiona permitted a tiny smile.
"This is so precious," sighed Nurse Nellie, putting a hand to her heart. "It looks to me that you're in good hands, Linda."
"Yes, it would seem so," Mrs. Oddbod agreed. Then she cleared her throat. "Now then, you four, there's still over half an hour of lunchtime left. Am I correct to assume that you have not had a chance to eat yet, given the circumstances?"
The girls shook their heads.
"I think it would be best if Miss Linda ate somewhere away from the cafeteria and all the ruckus going on in there today. Would the rest of you like to join her?"
"Yes please," said Gurinder.
"Yeah!" said Zoe.
"Sure," said Fiona with an easy shrug.
"Very good," Mrs. Oddbod said with a smile. "Nellie, if you're finished with Linda, I'd like the girls to take their lunches and follow me."
After saying goodbye and thank you to Nurse Nellie, Linda and the others filed out of the office in an orderly fashion. Gurinder held Linda's good hand tightly, helping her down the corridor as they all followed their Head. All of them unsure of where they were going.
They soon found out when Mrs. Oddbod opened the door to a room that they had only heard of before in legends.
"This is great. Isn't this great? Tell me this isn't great!" Zippy Zoe babbled on excitedly with her mouth full of her sandwich.
The four girls were seated at the large round table in the centre of the Teachers' Lounge. An area strictly off-limits to the students, but here they were. A large, yet comfy room with squashy couches, pillows, a fridge, a microwave, an aquarium of tropical fish, and a foosball table. Through the long clean windows that spanned the length of the room, they could see the empty yard with its basketball court and grassy hills, including Linda's favourite oak tree.
Mrs. Oddbod had explained that the Lounge was empty today, as the staff were attending a presentation during lunch. So she had given Linda, Gurinder, Fiona, and Zoe special access to this area just for lunch today and would collect them later to take them back to class. And even better, a plate loaded with Chocolate Fudge Chewies sat right in front of them, enough for each of them to have at least three. Spare biscuits from the supply that had been distributed in the cafeteria two floors below them.
"Oh go on, Fiona, just let me at least style your hair," Gorgeous Gurinder begged.
"No way," scowled Fiery Fiona. "I saw what Margaret did to you girls. You looked like you were getting ready for clown school."
"That's what Henry said," Lazy Linda giggled. "I think."
She remembered a few months ago how both she and Gurinder had paid Margaret a pound for a new makeover that Margaret had promised would give them a brand-new look. Well, she hadn't been wrong, but the end result had just made Linda's glittered hair look as though it had been struck by lightning. And Gurinder had looked as if a paint pot had been poured down her cheeks.
"Glad I didn't join in with 'Margaret's Magnificent Makeovers' either," sneered Zoe. "What a scam! And I'm really glad I didn't get tricked into 'Henry's Horrible Freakovers."
Gurinder shuddered. "Poor Kate and Soraya," she sighed, fingering a vine of grapes from her lunch. "It took Kate days to get that glue out of her hair. Soraya still had red paint in her hair the next day."
"You should have been the one doing makeovers, Gurinder," Linda said earnestly. "You know way more about makeup and hair styles than Margaret."
Despite eating extra slow since she only had one hand to use, Linda had never felt happier. Normally, she sat with Gurinder, Margaret, Susan, and Soraya at lunch, and had to quietly listen to Margaret relay wild tales of beating the Purple Hand Gang. She often fell asleep just to spare herself from the boring lectures.
But now she was with a new group of girls, and she was eating, gossiping, chatting, giggling…and strangely not feeling sleepy at all. There were different things to listen to now. Things that she enjoyed hearing. Things that she wanted to have a say in to contribute.
They spent half an hour up there in their private hideaway. Fiona and Zoe even got a couple rounds of foosball going. Gurinder and Linda sat at the table as the taller girl tended to Linda's hair with her spare hairbrush. Actually, it was the hairbrush that she kept specifically for Linda since Linda never remembered to brush her own hair, thus Gurinder had taken it upon herself to reserve one for emergencies like this. Gorgeous Gurinder was always fussy over public appearance, and that included everyone else's. Admittedly, after taking a fall to the school floor during a stampede, Linda did look rather worse for wear. She was very happy, though, knowing that Gurinder's first concern had been Linda herself, not the state of her hair. Violet, she felt, would have had those priorities switched around for certain.
"That fall did such a number to your hair, Linda," Gurinder moaned, carefully stroking the tangles out of Linda's messy mop. "And your clothes are all wrinkly now too."
Linda just smiled.
"He thinks he's so cool, just 'cause he got new trainers for his birthday," Zoe was complaining as she twisted the handles of her miniature football players about. "And then he has to bang on about it till my ears wail."
"Pah! Sounds like someone I know," Fiona snorted, making a quick save.
"Who?"
Linda suddenly decided to ask Zoe the question that had crossed her mind this morning now that they were talking 1-to-1. "Zoe, have you ever thought that maybe…maybe you and Al could be friends?" she asked tentatively.
Zippy Zoe froze, which allowed Fiona to score the goal. The pony-tailed girl stared at Linda as if she had grown a second head. And then she laughed. "Friends? With Al? Fat chance!"
"How come?"
"We're too different, that's how come."
It was Gurinder's turn to laugh. "You and Al aren't that different, Zoe. I think you're quite alike!"
"No, we're not!"
"Yes, you are," Fiona argued. She sat back down at the table and picked up a Chocolate Fudge Chewie from the plate. There was still plenty left. "You're both fast, you always tie in the school races, and you drive the rest of us mad by boasting about your success day in and day out."
Zoe paused for a moment, her mouth rather twisted. "Well…maybe," she said at last. "Fine then, we're too alike to be friends. We're just competition to each other."
"But Clare and Brian are alike too," Linda said thoughtfully. "And they're best friends. They help each other out, comparing notes and stuff."
"Maybe you and Al can find something in common that you both like," suggested Gurinder, finally finished with Linda's hair.
"Something other than sizing each other up over who's the better athlete every single morning," Fiona added with a scowl. "Save our ears from falling off, please."
There was silence as Zoe sat back in her chair, looking a little lost for once.
"I'll think about it," she finally said.
Linda beamed. How lovely it would be, she thought, to see Zoe and Al get along for a change.
"Not meaning to change the subject, but why weren't you in the cafeteria when we saw you?" Fiona asked.
Zoe shrugged. "I wasn't in any hurry. There were too many people crowding up anyway."
"But you could'a missed out on the Chocolate Fudge Chewies," Linda said.
Zoe shrugged again. "I don't like Chocolate Fudge Chewies."
"You don't?!"
Gurinder looked like she had been electrocuted based on the shocked expression on her open-mouthed face.
"Nah, that stuff's got too much sugar. An athlete has gotta eat healthy foods only," Zoe said brightly. She leaned back in her chair, hands behind her blonde head. "Least that's what my mum says," she added quietly.
Gurinder and Linda looked quite bewildered, but Fiona smirked. Having caught the hesitation in Zoe's last remark, she decided to see what would happen if she pushed just a little. "Oh well, that means more for us!" she declared dramatically, sliding the plate of biscuits away from Zoe and towards herself and the other two. "Delicious baked treasure troves of melted chocolatey goodness!"
Zoe blinked in confusion at Fiona, then looked at the plate.
"Mouthfuls of luscious fudge to send you on a one-way vacation to heaven," Fiona continued, waving two Chewies in the air. "Not to mention the way that yummy taste of rich chocolate stays on the tip of your tongue afterwards.
Zoe frowned. Her eye twitched.
"BUT…you said it yourself, Zoe," the redhead sighed pitifully. "No Chewies for you. But we can't let such terrific biscuits go to waste, no way. Let's see, that's one extra for me, one extra for Linda, one extra for Gurinder, and none for –"
"Gimmie my Chewies!" shrieked Zoe. As quick as a whip, she snatched two biscuits off the plate and stuffed them both into her watering mouth. Her blue eyes rolled back in ultimate pleasure. "So good," she drooled, spitting crumbs everywhere. "Chocolate…how I've missed you…"
Fiona laughed. Gurinder laughed. And Linda laughed hardest of all. She couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun during lunchtime. She couldn't even feel the pain in her hand anymore.
And she didn't notice that she wasn't tired.