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
Then it was showtime.We walked through the Ancient Hall, and once again, more students and even the upperclassmen stared at us. I think on this particular occasion, Octavia was a full target of these excessive gawks. I walked behind while Cammie and Alyssa were explaining something about the Ancient Hall. Since they both were practically residents in this school, they knew all the detail better than I did. Our newbie went along without saying anything much, she just listened and nodded quietly."The Ultara Academy is quite different from other private schools. Languages, mathematics, histories, sciences, and cultures are in the basic curriculum, but we all are encouraged to pursue anything we want," Cammie said professionally."The school has amazing foods, but you can bring your own
When I got home that evening, Mom told me that Alyssa had called, saying her parents wanted to invite me to dinner at her house. And she would come to pick me up tomorrow night. I asked if it was okay, and Mom simply said, "Yes" without suspecting anything else. What a simple plan my best friend had! But it worked perfectly.On the next day before we went to the carnival, we actually had dinner at Alyssa's house. I guess it would make us feel less guilty about lying to our parents. After dinner, we hopped into Alyssa's black Benz and drove downtown instead of going back home or school. I sat at the back of the car whereas Cammie and Alyssa occupied the front."I thought you had a better light bulb to convince my mom," I complained."A better idea!" Cammie corrected me.