"Are you sure you don't need this?" Octavia asked me, shaking the milk carton lightly in my sight as we sat around the couch in the room.
"I can wait." I shrugged. "I'm still surprised that I don't feel as crazy as I was earlier. Thanks to Cammie."
"Yep, I snapped you out of that big ass craving," Cammie smiled proudly as she took a seat opposite us.
"Cammie, don't say ass," I scowled at her.
"Oh, come on, Viv, you won't grow horns with just a few bad words," she said. I shot her a look.
"Anyway," I said and turned to Octavia. "I thought you were busy."
"I was, but your mom called me that you had
In Biology this afternoon, Ms. Grace was walking back and forth, explaining another theory."A pearl is formed in an oyster when a foreign object, like a grain of sand, is stuck in its shell," she said. "The oyster is in great pain, but if the object doesn't kill her, nature covers the object with the oozing that forms into a pearl."Then she went on about the jellyfish, "If the environment provides the jellyfish no food, they would grow food inside themselves to feed on. They stay in the sunlight all day to photosynthesize. At night they go into deep water where there is a lot of nitrogen to fertilize. It is called'adaptation'everyone. We all have to adapt to any harsh conditions that life throws at us because it's our natural gift."I listened, thinking the
When I got home the next day, Mom was already there, reading on the kitchen table. I went to open the fridge and took out a carton of milk to drink."Did you have a good day, honey?" she asked, putting a bookmark on the page she had read and placed the book on the table. I could hardly make myself look at her. I hoped I didn't have this I'm-going-to-sneak-out-tonight written all over my face. Somehow I managed to act normal and said, "Yes I did. Can we have our dinner early today?""Oh, you're hungry?" Mom asked with concern. "Of course, we might just do that."At the dining table, I couldn't stop peeking at my mom. I already felt guilty about my plan tonight, but I had to finish what I had started."What is it, honey?" Mom asked when
I found my way back to the hotel. But as I rushed toward the entrance of masquerade hall, I almost knocked someone over. My feet skipped to a stop."Whoa...!" Cammie yelped."Cammie!" I cried out."Viv!" She said, "Oh my gosh, it's you. I saw nothing but a shadow flying toward me, but where have you been?""No time to tell," I said. "We have to go.""What's wrong? Did you see Octavia?" Cammie asked."I will tell you everything," I said. "Now we gotta go."And when she saw the look on my face, she finally nodded. We hurried down the quiet hallway, but then I felt a strange chill cre
Even my two best friends in the world just saved my life; I still didn't think I would fully recover from the flying car experience. We stopped at a gas station later. I borrowed Alyssa's cell phone to call Octavia. And thank kindness, she picked up on the first ring. At the same time, we both just exhaled in relief."Are you okay?" She beat me to it."I'm fine," I said. "Everyone's fine.""I was so worried about you," she said again."You too, but I'm okay," I reassured her. "Anyway, there's something I want to tell you.""What is it?""We ran into the undead vampires earlier," I told her and then there was a very long pause.
I walked towards the highly equipped gate of my school. The weighty steels and laser security system no longer intimidated me despite being the only one who had to get scanned every day.Like everyone else, I had a normal school life, except my school wasn't for anyone to attend. In fact, it was the school of geniuses - the Ultara Academy of Gifted Young Women. It was founded by a bunch of female scientists and inventors over two centuries ago.After the light on the steel door flashed green, the enormous iron gate flung open, revealing the view of a great wilderness that surrounded the medieval buildings from a distance. White summits of towering mountains stood as their backdrop. It made everything seem like you were staring at a life-size postcard.I attended the Ultara Academy with
At eight exactly, we were on our way to the first class. Masses of students in the Ultara uniforms stood in front of the entrance hall. They clustered around the foyer and up the main staircase. All of them seemed to float in and out. I almost got dizzy with these crowds."Have you seen her?" Cammie asked me."No.""Me neither.""She must be around somewhere," I said."Oh, you can smell her?" Cammie asked, raising an eyebrow at me with a mocking smile. I shot her a look. But then just out of thin air, we got a glimpse of a familiar figure emerged from the crowd."Alyssa!" Cammie shouted. "Over here!"
We drifted out to the Lunch Hall after a few of our new classes, but when we opened the grand double doors, the entire place was in a state of organized chaos.The sound of porcelain plates colliding with spoons and forks could be heard all over the place. All the Ultara geniuses were moving around, laughing and talking amongst themselves. I could recognize a few faces of my former classmates, Serena from Science, Yasuko, and Rajani from Arts, also Vida and Rosa from Chemistry. And I was sure a few of them had a mega crush on either Cammie or Alyssa or even both. I was just glad that I stayed out of their gaydar.Throughout seventh and eighth grade, all the Ultara students have to bundle together, learning from general curricula until they discover their passion and go off to blossom in the different fields.
My school day rolled to an end. I got a fancy ride in a private limo of our school (because we have no school buses) and then headed homeward. On workdays, Mom usually works late, and because I was raised in a single-parent family, the one who arrives first will make dinner. But now I felt completely washed-out and hungry. My shoulders slumped as I dragged myself through the hall. My hands and legs almost dropped off onto the floor limb by limb.As I reached the kitchen, my whole body started trembling. I walked straight to the fridge and opened it. My eyes quickly scanned for a blank carton on the shelf. The delicious smell rushed to my nose. Grabbing the container out of the fridge, I couldn't even wait to find a glass and just gulped it down impulsively.Then the trembling subsided. Mom has always reminded me about drinking milk when