The other night I'd read all about Columbus and his many expiditions around the globe. I was elated that I finally got a question I knew for a change.
"The Santa Maria." I recall from memory. "It was the largest of three ships and the slowest." Now it was my turn to supress a fleshy grin.
However, my pride deflated when the headmistress read more sentences from the card and was replaced with panic.
"Very good. Now answer the two point question: Because of its origins what nickname was the Santa Maria sometimes refered to?" she challenges me, crossing and uncrossing her arms. Bulk over-sized jewel encrusted bracelets shifting.
Regrettably I never finished that chapter. Instead I'd slept through the night until a quarter to seven.
I opened my mouth thinking about What Ifs, pursed my lips in a tight line because I was so angry with myself for not finishing the assignment, about to say something else but nothing would come out. Huh.
Cheeks flushed, I ran my togue against the roof of my gums, at a loss for words.
Tongue tied I cleared my throught, desperate to rid the oncoming tickle. I tug at the collor of my sweatshirt, embarassed that I suddenly stopped talking. It was like I would have imagined only worse.
All those confused faces looking at me, cocked brows raised when I dont say anything. My worst nightmare come true.
For whatever reason Wesley comes to my aid. Since Darcy was in the way all I could see was a long skinny arm outstreched.
I leaned forward in my generic plastic chair, put my arms on the folding mahogony desk and saw only a nice patch of combed blonde hair. I didnt care about ulterior motives so long as he conducted the discussion away from me so that I could salvage what little self-accountability I had left.
I sat back, unraveling. I'd made a fool of myself in front of the headmistress.
Was she rethinking having me here? An appealing thought, realistically speaking this was my last chance to walk. And maybe I was doing this for my parents, too, because I knew how badly they wanted this for me. We argued but I didn't hate them.
The professor reluctantly allows him to lend a helping hand. However, she wasn't passing on the torch just yet. A finger raised in the air, she sneered at Wesley and looked at me. "You've had your turn. However, considering Ms. Striker still hasn't come up with the answer I will let you assist, just this once." she cautions.
"La Gallega", which in translation means 'The Gallacian'." Wesley answers for me in my stead.
I tried not to blush. Of course he would know what to say.
She looks at him, eyes narrowed. An icy expression on her face. "From now on dont help; that goes for all of you. When I update assignments on my teacher web page I allow plenty of time to fully grasp the chapter."
The headmistress deliberately returns her attention to me. A tight lipped expression on her otherwise charming face.
"Ms. Striker, since you were uncapable of showing your understanding on the topic I'm afraid I can only give you half the credit, against my better judgment. Tsk-tsk. Really. How do you expect to pass if you don't study?" she draws another card and just like that the circle goes back around again.
If you asked me the assessment was more like on-the-spot interogation to gauge which of us understood the material best.
The headmistress was on fire with her set of stationary note cards.
By far each question was dissimilar from the rest. Now and again someone would get double points from a multiple challenge card which meant that 1), They understood the unit far better than others and 2), They had a better grade than I did which came of no surprise to me.
Since technically they enrolled me in the middle of second quarter I fell behind and needed to catch up to Starkhouse protocol. Against common opinion I wasnt stressing because of it. Studying kept me busy which meant I didnt have to think things over.
And wouldnt you know it, soon enough Wesley's name was called out. Lots of people, especially teachers, loved him. I couldnt define Wesleys temperament and disposition but there was something likeable in his character that was warm and welcoming.
Before long I would be the one in a sticky wicket reliving a moment that I was none too fond of. Whatever the outcome I didnt hold out for the hopes that the bell would save me from another lecture about how students were supposed to behave and what was expected of them. Yada, Yada, Yada,
Since class wasn't over I was either going to fail miserably or somehow be able to connect whatever was on one of those cards to the little I have read; a self-righteous holy Mary was appropriate right about now. Since I needed all the support I could get I put my hands together and sent up a little prayer.
"In total how many men did Ponce de Leon take in his exploration to the coast of Florida? And what was he in pursuit of?" she asks Wesley.
"Undertaking this exploration were two hundred men and three ships in search of the Fountain of Youth. " Wesley asnwers correctly.
Who wanted to channel spirit when they could live forever. I snickered. Yeah, right. I may have dressed up as Superwoman every Halloween since I was old enough to read comic books but that didn't mean I believed in immortality.
Instead of me going next the professor completely changed the order and contrary to the usual, picks on the unwitng person in my row who sat in the back. Better for me.
I paid no attention to what kind of questions the headmistress gave one person after the next as she went up the row I was in when a small fissure of electric shock tingled my body.
Oh, Dr. Cambridge warned me about this, all right. The smothering sensation that came with chest pain, the racing heart, the distrubed hearing. All psychological changes of my anxious minds ability to prepare to deal with oncoming threats.
That was what the medication was for. Too bad.
I had the willpower to get off it, and you know what, it was the best decision I made. honest.
I was sleepy at the end of the day, hungry at mealtimes, and generally normal. A regular teenage girl. I refused to let my gift prevent me from living my life. Being able to channel other portals was like me having grey eyes. It was something I had but it didn't define who I was.
Cold tiny balls of sweat formed across my hairline. I grimaced as wet patches dripped down the crevice of my lower back. That ear-splitting pressure on the flat spot of my head that came back with a nasty vengeance had me shaking, hoping it would go away soon.
I vaguely heard the headmistress call out a name against the ringing in my ears.
Not caring about how I should sit properly I hollow my spine to a slumping posture and hunch forward putting an elbow on the retractable wooden desk, resting it very near close to the dark rim of it, and, after pinching that little spot of skin between my bushy eyebrows decided it was time I plucked them back into a conforming shape.
I focus on breathing slower, relaxed, efficiently, effectively quieting the familiar voices that warped in the background. I couldn't tell the voices apart, much less understand what was being said in all the pandemonium.
I breath deep from my abdmonimun not holding back as I fill my lungs so that they feel stretched to make the volume as large as possible but still in ease and balance. That saved oxygen-cost-of-breathing would help with my thinking power and stable healthy emotions so that I dont have a melt down.
Agh! God, stop just please stop.
I felt it burning under my ribcage but I swallowed the scream right back down.
I could feel tiny tears glide down my cheek. Blood rushed to my head. And then....a feeling that was eerily familiar and disturbing all the same.
My neck tingled. I looked up, frowning. Who would be starring at me? Obviously somebody in this room entered my high-powered antennae. But who?
I was confused and as the room began to spin, my body got lighter until I was floating above the ceiling. I could swear it felt like I was traveling into another dimension. Since I had the ability to channel I could see ghosts but I usually had to wait until I slept in order to travel into a different dimension.
I could feel the effects strongly. And it was freaking weird. My entire body reacted even though I wasn't sure what for. It was all so confusing that I didn't realize what I was doing until later.
I happened to glance over impulsively and observed a body lurking from the corner of my eye as something breezed past the open door weaseling its way by and crossing over the earth globe that perched on top of the professors desk.
When no one roots or yells at the guy for interrupting the professor I realized it was because they couldn't see him. Like promising cords that fit into an Ethernet jack, the impossibly frigid air speared my skin in a layer of goose bumps, raising awareness that we were in the presence of something not human.
I flutter my eyes wide and turn my head but see nothing out of the ordinary besides the four corner tapestry posters of different timelines and around-the-world-maps that were purposefully taped on angle to look crooked up on those rather barren-looking white walls that made the floor space seem bigger than it was.
That worried me.
I take a second look but whatever it was had retreated soon as it came. There was no weird guy lurking around in a black coat. In fact, the only person upright was the headmistress.
It was gone and I didn't feel good about it.
Eventually the pain lessens. I sit with my back against the plastic chair and sigh in relief only to find the headmistress standing stationary in front of me.
ouch
I grimaced.
I was so totally fried.
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