• “Are you awake yet?” someone called. Dad. My mind a thick fog, I answered automatically, only wanting to slip back into the comfort of darkness again.
    “Go away! I’m up, I’m up! Leave me alone!” My dad hit my door.
    “Amanda, don’t snap at me like that!” I wanted to tell him off and say, ‘I’ll snap at you whenever I feel like it. I’ll do whatever I feel like doing. You can’t control me.’ But of course, I wasn’t stupid. Any kid saying that to their parents could only be trying to land themselves into a 3-week house arrest, with no TV, video games, or computer. In my case, it’s all of those along with books. Books were one of my few escapes from my miserable life. Geeze, there I go again. I’m so dramatic.
    I shook my head. Whatever. I’m a dramatic freak with weirdo fantasies about anything fictional. For some reason, I’m proud of it. I mean, hey, being different is a good thing. It gives you a good sense of individuality. I personally think being normal is vastly overrated. I suddenly heard my mom’s voice coming from down the hallway. Ugh. She was insanely scary in the mornings. I yelled good morning, hoping to not sound like I was about to die from lack of rest.
    I got up, slowly, and got ready for school. I couldn’t stand the uniforms. They were ugly, uncomfortable, and hot. I don’t know what went wrong, but when the school was founded, it was made to be nothing but a prison call with too-bright colors painted on the walls. There aren’t even windows to stare out of during class! I packed my lunch, got in the car, and put my phone on silent as my father started the car. You know, he’s not even my real dad, but he’s my step father. I love him like any other kid would love their real dad, though. My biological father had no heart, no feelings, and no life. He didn’t care about anyone but himself, and I gladly haven’t seen him since June.
    “So how you feelin’ Pooh bear?” My dad asked. Pooh bear was one of his nicknames for me, all of them extremely embarrassing. Like Poot. Who would want to have their parents call them Poot in public? I looked at my dad with my usual early-morning slash evil stare. He saw it and laughed. I continued to stare, and eventually he stopped laughing and directed his focus back towards the road. Yay. I saw my book under my school stuff and picked it up. Opening it, I read about Margot’s escape from King Orrin, and so on.
    My dad stepped a little too hard on the brakes. I looked up.
    “Oh yay. School,” I said blandly. I closed my book and stared at the cover. It had tears in it, was and was curling up at the sides. ‘Water Shaper’ took up the top half of the book. My dad nudged me, hard. Geeze, I was only sitting for 10 seconds.
    “Pushy, are we?” I said, and left. Walking into the doors, I saw Harmen. It was a weird name. What’s weirder is his full name, Harmenszoon van Rijn. His parents named him after some artist 100 years ago, or somewhere around that time. I once looked up the artist. His paintings suck, in my opinion. He uses these really boring colors, and there’s nothing interesting about what he paints either. Claude Monet is much better.
    Since no one could pronounce Harmen’s name, and he didn’t go by any nickname, I once tried calling him Hermy. He didn’t speak to me for 3 days after that. But that was last year, and this is now. And now he was stalking me.
    “Hey, Amanda! What’s up?” Uh oh. It saw me. Run, run, run! No no, He’s already over here. Maybe if I call him Hermy again he’ll go away.
    “Uh… Hi. I’m… fine, I guess. Hermy. I turned my face down, suddenly feeling guilty. I couldn’t help it. I’m naturally a nice person and it sucks. What sucks even more is that Harmen was my friend. Notice was. The only reason it still matters is that he still he thinks he is, even though he’s creepy. Since he’s my ‘friend’, I can’t tell him he’s not, or be mean to him like most everyone else, or I feel bad. Wait, why is he laughing? Why can’t he just be normal and be mad?
    “Amanda. You should know not to call me Hermy,” he said in a joking voice. Ugh. “But…” But what?! “if you want nicknames for us, I’ll call you…” Oh no, please no, please, just let him get run over by a bus or something now, please! “then I’ll call you my bookyworm!” My mouth dropped open in shock. How did I do that? I try to get rid of a stalker, and I end up with ‘Hermy’ calling me bookyworm. What did I ever do to deserve this?
    “Ummm… Harmen… I have to… get to… homeroom! You know how it is, you get in trouble for being late, even in homeroom. Bye!” I was in near hysterics. It’s nice to have excuses like this, no matter how lame. It’s also nice when he can’t do anything about it. Uh no. No, Harmen, don’t open your mouth, don’t say something!
    “But homeroom’s not for another 5 minutes.”
    “Yes it is.” I was scared. Really, why me? Why do you have to stalk me, Harmen. Why?
    “What? What is huh? Bookyworm, what are you talking about?” I wanted to throw up. No, not throw up, then he’d want to walk me to the nurse. I wanted to die. I would die a slow, horrible, painful death, as long he didn’t call me BOOKYWORM.
    “I mean… it’s always good to be early. You never know what could hold you up. And… sometime interesting things happen in homeroom. So bye!
    Please go please go please go, I chanted in my mind.
    “Wait, I’ll go with you! I don’t mind being late to my class if I get to be with you,” he cooed. Oh. My. God. Is this guy even human? I spotted Alicia, one of my best friends, a few feet away. I gave her a beseeching look.
    “Amanda. Hey, what are you doing at school so early?” Alicia asked. The great best friend, come to the rescue. Yay!
    “The hit man.” Alicia always went on about how she thought my dad looked like a hit man. Humorous, and she did have a point. He did sometimes, so I went along with it.
    “ Oh, ok. Umm.. Amanda, can I speak to you? In private?” Maybe I’ll pay her for this later. I think 5 dollars would be good. Well, no, it wouldn’t. A few hundred dollars would be good. But I only have 5.
    “Of course, Alicia. Bye, Harmen,” I said sternly. But, then he decided to walk us across campus. All the way across. Alicia and I were quiet the whole time, because Harmen wouldn’t stop talking about fertilizer. Cow poop. Interesting topic, huh!
    “Harmen, bye,” I said.
    “Huh? What?! You’re leaving me! No!” he hollered. I flushed. Other people were staring at us now. Uh no. Sam. Why does the guy I like have to be here? Harmen! What’s your freaking problem? I glared at him. Oh, if only looks could kill. Then I wouldn’t have any more stalkers.
    “Harmen, if you don’t leave right now,” I threatened. “I will take your head, and squeeze it to a nub, with my bare hands. Leave. Now” he looked concerned, when he should’ve been hurt and scared. I continued to stare, hoping to dear god that he would actually leave. Of course, he didn’t. His response instead:
    “Amanda, are you ok? Listen, you probably are just stressed, and has a bad morning…” I stopped listening. This guy needed help, serious, professional help, and was a complete idiot. I was being punished for it.
    “Harmen, whatever! Leave. Before I decide to eat you for breakfast.” He looked shocked.
    “Uh, ok.” And he left, finally. Before it got to the point where he really was breakfast, too. Maybe someday he’ll be pulled out of his miserable, mad little bubble and he can embrace the full power of common sense. Someday…. Alicia and I strode into homeroom, obviously in a better mood than we had been about 5 seconds before.
    “Wow. How long do you think you’re threat will last? A full 3 hours?” my best friend teased.
    “Hey! Don’t you go ruining my good mood!” I looked at her. “ And don’t even dare prompt him to do anything, either. I’m watching you.” I took my 2 fingers, pointed to my eyes, then her. She snickered.
    “Watching only helps when you can do something about it,” she retorted. “By the time you know I’m prompting anyone to do anything, I’ll have already done it.” She grinned.
    “Whatever. I’m still watching you.” She opened her mouth to reply, but the bell rang and the teacher stood up. First and second period passed without event, or any sign of Harmen. When I mentioned to Esmeralda and Kara that I thought he would probably keep away the remainder of the day, they didn’t look so sure. I had to force myself to admit they probably should look like that. I mean, it’s Harmen. My deranged stalker.
    So, because of Esmeralda purposely freaking me out, I was alert and frightened by 4th period, when I had Turkish with him. I jumped when Kara came up behind me and patted my shouldet.
    “It’ll be alright, Amanda. It won’t be too bad, He’ll only ask you to marry him,” she lilted, in mock sympathy. Alicia cam up on my other side.
    “Actually,” I jumped again, and glared at her. “he’s going to ask her to spend all eternity with him. But that’s not much worse, right Kara?” I opened my mouth to say something, but I still had more of my pigeon friends coming to flock around me.
    “Come on, guys.” It was Esmeralda this time. “What’s with the apathy for her feelings? Amanda here,” she hit my shoulder.” Is going through a hard time right now. We’re here friend. It’s our job to at least pretend we care about her pain, remember?” I started at her, then looked at the other two.
    “You guys are really sucky friends,” I complained. Alicia gave a maniacal laugh as the others split to go to their own classes. I didn’t really think Alicia would help me out much this period. She was an awesome friend, and a good person, but didn’t always have a very good sense of what was right and wrong sometimes. So, knowing her, she was going to sit back and laugh with Haedyn. The class sat down as the bell went off.
    “Sen nasilsin?” began Mrs. Duman.
    “Ben de iyiyim, tesekkur ederim, sen nasilsin?” sang the class.
    “Iyiyim, tesekkur ederim.” She continued on with the class, and near the end told everyone to pick a partner for the next week. Uh oh. I risked a glance to the far corner of the room, where Harmen sat. he was looking at me and getting up. I jerked back around quickly. Haedyn and Alicia would partner up, so they’d be no help. No other friends in the class. Sam was in here, but I’m not that bold anyways.
    “Uh, Katy! You know Harmen and I, he’s gonna ask to be with me please be my partner before he gets over here please please please have mercy Katy freaking mercy,” I begged, as fast as I could, now breathless. Katy took a quick glance at Harmen, now 2 feet away, after a second.
    “Ok.” She said loudly.” I’ll be your partner Amanda.” I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until now. I relaxed and leaned back against the wall again. Yay, Katy. You are now so high in my list of people I like the most. I will reward you greatly for this in the week to come.
    “Hi, Amanda,” Harmen went slowly. “I have this for you.” He thrust a folded paper in my face. I eyed it warily. He started waving it at me when I didn’t take it at first. Slowly raising my hand, I grasped the dreaded letter. Harmen trudged away back to his desk. Katy had been watching. I looked from her to the paper in my hands.
    “I’m scared to open it,” I admitted.
    “I would be too! What do you think he wrote in it?” Nodding her head towards my paper, she sounded like a child digging up a strange object in the backyard. I shivered. My paper, written by Harmen. Scary.
    “Whatever it is, I’m not sure I want to know. I’ll read it later. And thanks for that. I owe you anything you want now. Anything. And not the anything that people say it is, then refuse to do whatever’s requested later, but actually anything.”
    “Anything, huh?”
    “Well, now I’m scared, but yes.”
    “Oh, don’t be. I’m easy to please. Just tell me who you like.” That really shocked me. I wasn’t expecting anything like that at all. I also didn’t really wan to tell her I liked Sam, or Cody. After all, she was popular. And when popular kids talk, kids like me end up staying like me. Not popular. Well, I am up for risks, aren’t I? Might as well just get this over with, before I hurt myself for it.
    “Sam,” I muttered. Katy looked stunned.
    “Really?” she exclaimed.” But… I thought… Kara also…”
    “Yeah, she does. Now keep your voice down? Please?”
    “Does she know that you-“
    “No!”
    “Why?”
    “Because I would never hurt my friend like that,” I stated firmly. If she knew I liked the same guy she liked, and was her best friend, she would be confused as to whether or not to pursue him, and keep me happy, and hurt with whatever outcome came of her choice. I wouldn’t do that to my friend. I wouldn’t even want her in that situation. Katy became quiet for an instant at my comment.
    “Sam seems a bit quiet for you.” Typical. She lives off of stereotypes and assumptions that people are what they seem when you first see them.
    “There are a lot of sides to me.”
    “Apparently.” The bell rang for lunch. I folded up Harmen’s note smaller and put it in my pocket. I waited in the hallway for everyone to leave the lockers. I was in no hurry today; my dad was picking me up for lunch. Katy came up to me while Andrew, Scott, and Adam were fighting for dominance and a bit more space in front of their lockers in front of me.
    “How come you aren’t rushing?”
    “My dad is taking me out for lunch today. Why?” And why are you still talking to me? You’re popular. Populars tend to leave me alone. It’s weird that you’re talking to me.
    “Oh. I had just wanted to sit with you for lunch.” I stood still, and stared at her in confusion. I made a sound that resembled ‘eigh’.
    “Well, I wanted to talk to you. You seem interesting.” She was talking casually, like it was completely normal that she was still here, having this conversation. My suspicious stare remained unbroken.
    “Look, you do, Ok?” She said with and exasperated sigh. “Most people would tell their friends when they liked that friend’s boyfriend.”
    “First of all, I was under the impression they didn’t, in order to preserve that friends happiness and sanity. Second, they’re not going out.“ There was the bell, good. 2 of the guys previously fighting were gone, so I stepped forward to put away my binder. The bell stopped ringing, and amazing Katy was still going off about something I didn’t particularly care about.
    “Are you still talking?” I interrupted her. She slumped her shoulders and groaned.
    “Yes, I am. You should learn to listen more.” I rolled my eyes. “I wanna see these other sides of you. I’m curious.”
    “There’s a heck of a lot of sides. Have fun with that!” I gave a false smile, a thumbs up, and closed my locker.
    “I will. So, hang out with me?”
    “No comment.”
    “Please?”
    “No comment.”
    “You’re being stubborn.”
    “Being stubborn is a particular hobby of mine.” She groaned again, but I ignored her and walked on. I spotted my dad walking around the corner, and I waved.
    “Hey Daddy!” Yes, I was 14 years old, and still said ‘Daddy’. It’s not like I’m alone. Esmeralda and Kristi still do. After that, I’m not really sure, but whatever. “What’s up?”
    “How’s my little pumpkin doin,? And who’s your friend here?” I looked at Katy. She was a little overexcited at ‘friend’.
    “Daddy, this is Katy, and she’s just going to be my partner in Turkish.” She smiled bigger, apparently finding the word just highly amusing.
    “Hi Mr.… uh… Amanda’s dad. Nice to meet you.” He laughed.
    “It’s Stevenson. Come on, Amanda, let’s go.” We walked to the car and drove to the restaurant talking about Harmen today. I told my dad these things, because we were really close. Almost as close as my mom and I. At the restaurant, I continued on to the subject of Katy’s freakishness. He listened quietly the whole time.
    “Amanda, you’ve got to remember, sometimes people actually want to be friends. Give her a chance.” I glared at him.
    “I’d be plenty happy to give her a chance, if I trusted her,” I replied. My dad sighed.
    “Amanda-“ I cut him off.
    “Yeah, I know.” Trust her. Be her friend. Let her take my secrets and dump them out into the ferocious world. Be a good person. How fun. We talked about everything completely senseless the rest of the lunch, which went by quickly.
    “Hey, Daddy, can we go to the library real fast? We’ve got time.” The library was only a few buildings away.
    “I don’t see anything wrong with it. Let’s go.”
    I grinned and jumped up quickly, running outside to the car. My dad had already paid the bill. When we got to the library, I ran inside without waiting for my dad to tell me he’d wait outside like usual. I slowed considerably as the automatic doors slid open, not wanting to upset anyone. I went straight to the check-out desk, because I had a book on hold. I was seen, and an accountant went to the back room immediately. Everyone here kind of already knew me by name. When she came back out with my book in her hand, I gave her my card and she checked it out for me. I smiled and left for the rest of the building.
    I went straight to the fiction, completely ignoring the adult section. Anything even slightly interesting on adult level I’d already read. So, all that was left of this particular library was the new fiction and about half of the Teen Fantasy. While basically piling books into my arms, I had the sudden urge to walk to the end of the aisle. Weird, but ok. I went, and experienced a strange feeling of being pulled towards a small book in the bottom corner of the shelf. Taking the book from the shelf, I examined it.
    It was black, and made of leather, or something similar to it. The lettering on the front was worn and faded to the point where I couldn’t even tell its color, let alone read it. When I opened it, there was a letter of some sort, and a lock on the pages. The book was cool, but there was no lock. I stopped looking at it and picked up the letter. It read:
    Do not open this book. It contains a great power, and
    the lock is protected by a magic. Guard it with your life.
    You will be hunted, but you must take the book, and
    do not give this up. No one can know you have this.
    Remember, guard with your life.
    Now, I’ve always wanted to be a part of the fantasy books I read, to be a part of the adventure. So I tended to imagine myself on some quest, trying to save all Elves or something. This book, it was strange and the letter said it involved magic. Of course, I know it’s not real, but I can dream, can’t I? I continued to analyze the book. There was no stamp on the side of the pages to mark it as property of the library. No barcode stickers to check it out. Nothing to show who it belonged to, or if to anyone at all. I’d already made my decision. I’m keeping it.
    Suddenly I heard music, coming from myself, and I jumped. Guitar?
    …So this is how it goes
    Well I, I would have never known…
    Oh, my cell phone. Right. While I attempted to figure out where on me my phone was with all my stuff in my hands, the music continued to play and people stared at me.
    …and if it ends today
    Well I’ll still say that you shine brighter
    Than anyone

    Now I think were’ taking this too far…
    “Hey Daddy.”
    “You need to hurry up. 10 minutes!”
    “K, be right there.” I rushed to the counter, dumping my pile and handing over my card to this second accountant. While she scanned each of my books, the pointed to the new one and The Snow Queen I had checked out earlier.
    “What about those? Already got ‘em?”
    “Yeah.” She gave me back all my stuff, and I walked out to the car. My dad looked at my stack and laughed.
    “How many did you get this time?” Eyeing my new charges, I exclaimed;
    “I actually have to count?!” We joked the rest of the way to the school. I bade him farewell as I left for my prison again. When I walked in the doors, I was only holding the one black book, as my dad had volunteered to take the rest home with him for me. I had only just walked in the when, oh great, there went the bell. Oh yay, even better, Katy.
    “Hey Amanda! I’ve been waiting for you!” she called.
    “Well, that was real smart. Now you get to get ignored and be late to class. How fun!” I gave a false smile and directed my path towards the front office.
    “Hi Mrs. Ramirez. What’s up?” I said.
    “Hi, Amanda. Do you need a pass?” she asked in a Spanish accent, without looking up and with no explanation from me as to why I was there. I was used to that.
    “Yep. Excuse; went to lunch with my dad, bad traffic.”
    “Amanda, scoot over.” Katy elbowed me, and when I wouldn’t move she squeezed her head in the office window beside me. “Me too please. I was with her.” I am absolutely positive right now that I looked deadly at this point. I focused this purely evil glaze upon Katy, who attempted a very weak smile. I had not permitted her to use me as an excuse like that, especially when it was her own fault that she was following me now.
    “Here you go girls.” Mrs. Ramirez handed us our newly-printed passes. “Amanda, are you… ok?”
    “I’m fine,” I lied, half growling, and stalked off down the hall. I heard a quick exchange between Katy and Mrs. Ramirez, about me I guess. Whatever. I heard the footsteps coming up behind me.
    “Oh, come on, Amanda, that was just-“ she began. But only began.
    “Katy, I don’t care what that was,” I warned, sounding very dangerous. “I want to see you next break in Mr. Dean’s room. If you’re not there, I will seek you out and drag you there myself.” I turned away and once again walked towards my class.
    ••••••••••••
    Harmenszoon van Rijn stood up and walked from the shadows of the empty classroom he had just been hiding in, as Katy walked away. An empty classroom? What for? Why had they been in the hall? Why was Amanda so angry? So many questions not to be answered for another hour at the least. But next period, he’d be behind Mr. Dean’s desk waiting to find out those answers. He looked at the paper in his hands. Oh, the glory of a school hall pass.
    ••••••••••••
    As Katy walked in the English room, she wondered what Amanda was going to do to her after this period. She was certainly frightened. This was one side of Amanda she didn’t want to see again. She also didn’t know what had made her so angry. The whole thing was weird, and stupid. Katy was utterly confused. Well, whatever Amanda was mad about, Katy still didn’t know whether or not she’d survive the hour, because she wasn’t sure whether or not Amanda was capable of murder. So how to make Amanda happy?
    “Well, hello, Ms. Fawn. I see you’ve decided to join us in class today.” She looked up. It was the teacher. “ Might you have a tardy pass?” She gave it to him, then boldly saluted him and pretended to march to her seat, extracting suppressed giggles from the rest of the class. The teacher was looking at her pass, then her.
    “Ms. Fawn, are you sure you have the correct pass?”
    “Yes, sir, why?”
    “It says that you were at lunch with a friend off-campus, yet I remember you asking for a bathroom pass today in the cafeteria. Would you believe it possible to be in 2 places at once?”
    “No….”
    “Ok. Now that we are on the same page, I will see you after school.” The teacher looked away, and Sam nudged her from his seat to the right.
    “Ooooh, you’re in trouble….” He teased, whispering. Katy made a mocking funny face at him. She turned away, then started. Sam! Sam will keep Amanda from killing me, she thought. She likes him! It’d be even better if he liked her back. She turned back around to her right.
    “So, Sam, what’s up?” He seemed slightly surprised.
    “Nothing?” he responded.
    “Aw, come on. There’s gotta be something. Nothing interesting happening? Anyone or thing on your mind lately?” she flung out casually, but still quietly, aware of the danger of teachers. Sam’s eyes flickered. What’s that mean?
    “You wouldn’t be interested.” But that was the wrong thing for him to say. After all, it was Katy, and Katy intended to live beyond 14, and didn’t really get that someone wasn’t about to murder her just yet.
    “C’mon, let’s hear it,” Katy begged.
    “I don’t know…”
    “Please?” She gave her best puppy-dog face, which always worked because she did it so well. It especially worked on all guys. “I can keep a secret.” Which of course she couldn’t, and that Sam knew.
    “No.”
    “Bu-“
    “No.”
    “Sa-“
    “No….”
    “O.k.” she gave in, for the moment. However, 2 minutes later;
    “Meet me after class, O.k.? I’m not gonna ask for you to talk about whatever again, K?” she asked. Sam had nothing better to do, and his curiosity pushed him to it, even despite his being wary of her, so he agreed.
    ••••••••••••
    I spent the whole hour deciding exactly what I was going to say to Katy. She could follow me around, hang around me, talk to me, as long as she listened to me. She had to follow my rules, and respect any boundaries I set. If she didn’t anything wrong, she was out. It was simple. A good compromise. When the bell rang, I went to wait by the set room. Here comes Katy. Ooh, wave to Sam! He’s passing! He smiled back, and waved slightly in reply. Katy now had a strange look on her face. We walked in the room.
    “Katy, here’s how it goes. If you go by my rules, and my standards, you do as you please. Talk, hang around, whatever. As long as you go by a few things that are very important to me. Can you agree to that? Her eyes went wide for a moment, then she nodded and smiled. Then, for some random and strange reason, walked over to the wall and hit it. I started at her, wondering if she was truly demented, when she pointed behind me.
    I turned, right before I saw the door open and Sam step in. What the…? He looked scared, and was peering around the room. Suddenly he began to look alarmed and the door closed behind him.
    “Where’s Katy?!” he asked. Oh. He was here for her. But I was confused. I pointed behind me as I answered.
    “She’s right behind….” I faltered as I glanced back. She wasn’t there. “Katy.” I looked about suspiciously, and she didn’t answer. “Come on, Katy, that’s not funny.” I paused again, then nearly growled the next time I said her name. I listened to Sam walk to the teacher’s desk, and I turned to watch him. He looked over and…
    “The weird kid?!” Sam exclaimed.
    “Sam? What?” He beckoned to me with his hand.
    “it’s the weird dude you don’t like.” The I saw Harmen, rising up slowly, head bent, from behind the desk. I nearly lost it. I guess Sam saw it in my face, because he came over to me. Gripping my shoulders, he looked in my face and told me to calm down, then after a moment to look behind me. There was Katy.
    “Where’d you come from? What’s wrong with you, Katy? Are you mental? This idiot’s behind the desk, you disappear into thin air, and you bring Sam in here. Maybe Katy, your parents should get you a psychiatrist. You know what? While you’re there, take Harmen with you. He could use the help.” Katy appeared guilty, but I couldn’t be sure.
    “Amanda, I didn’t-“ She would have continued, save for the fact that she suddenly started screaming. The lights had gone out. Typical. I already found her incessant screaming deeply annoying after only a moment. There was no point to this. It’s just the dark.
    “Shut! Up! Katy! Why are you screaming? It’s just dark.” I walked over to where I thought the automatic light would be, and found it, but it wouldn’t turn on. The door wouldn’t open either.
    “Guys, help. They aren’t working, and we’re a locked in here.” The Katy started in again.
    “You mean to say we’re locked in total blackness for who know how long, at the mercy of god knows who, only 45 minutes before everyone else goes home?!” She sounded close to hysterics.
    “Yep!” I replied, the joy obvious and unmasked within my voice. “Oh, the dark is wonderful, Katy. And now another piece of me for you. I love the dark as well as the light.” Walking close by, I poked her shoulder and she jumped. Laughing, I told her to relax and enjoy the fact that she has a reasonable excuse for once to skip last period. At least she skipped math. I had to skip English, my favorite subject. I searched for my stuff in the dark, which held the strange book within. I was getting excited. Katy went up against the wall screaming and banging on it, consistently for a full 5 minutes.
    While she did so, I tuned her out and sat. In a kind of trance I thought about the current situation. So, I find a strange book, that’s supposedly magical, and I have to guard it with my life, supposedly. So I take it, because my imagination told me to. Now, I’m locked in a dark room with 3 others, and no apparent cause for that, and the outside world seemingly doesn’t exist anymore. When I really thought about it, I saw how stupid I was being. But reality didn’t exactly appeal to me. So I allowed myself the luxury of imaginative daydreaming.
    “Katy, where did you hide earlier?” Sam asked. Harmen answered for her.
    “Inside the bookcase, I saw her go.” I was surprised. I was the only one who ever fit in there, because I easily fit into small spaces anyways. There was a small crack between 2 sections of it, which behind it had a small hiding place, then the wall after that.
    “Really? How’d you fit?”
    “I can fit in small spaces too, Amanda,” she retorted. “You’re not the only one.” Suddenly, the ground lurched beneath our feet, moving, and next it felt as though everything but us ourselves in the room was moving. It wasn’t an earthquake, because we weren’t shaking. We were still. But everything else, the full world around us, was moving around and around, leaving us, coming back, and moving again. It was felt even by us, just simply sensed after the first jerk. We had no signs to tell us of this phenomenon though. We all fell to the ground at the first movement and were all too scared to get back up again anyways.
    It all stopped as suddenly as it began, and the locked door swung open. We looked through the open frame, eyes adjusting to the light. No one had opened the door. The outside of the room was not school. And the room was not our classroom. My mind flew into overdrive. So one-book. Two-locked in dark room. Now tree- transported to another world? Standing up, I grasped my binder and book, walked to the door and looked out. It was a dream come true.