Minerva Smirt hadn't changed since the last time the girls had seen her. The caseworker was still ugly and tired-looking. Her bones still poked out of her clothes as if they were trying to escape her body, and she still had the same angry scowl on her face that she'd had when she left them on the train platform three weeks before. She gazed over her long hooked nose and studied the family scornfully. Puck cringed when her eyes swept over him.
"My, my, my," she said disapprovingly.
"Ms. Smirt, what a pleasant surprise," Granny Relda said without much conviction. "It's so nice to see you again."
"Girls, get your things," Ms. Smirt said, staring into the old woman's eyes. "You're going back to the orphanage."
Daphne slipped her hand into her sister's and squeezed so hard it hurt.
"What in heavens for?" Granny Relda exclaimed.
"Because, Mrs. Grimm, you've been completely negligent," the caseworker barked.
"What does negligent mean?" Daphne asked.
"It means she's a failure," Ms. Smirt said, interrupting Sabrina, who usually answered Daphne's vocabulary questions. "It means she's refused to do what the state requires of her. It means she is unfit!
"You two haven't had a day of school since you arrived," the caseworker continued. "I sent your grandmother a letter reminding her about the law, but I never heard back. So I sent another, and then another, and then another. But, still I heard nothing, so because your granny can't find the time to put pen to paper and assure me that you two will be educated, I had to get on a five a.m. train and sit next to man who sniffed his own armpits over and over again, for two hours. Imagine how thrilled I am to find out that not only have you two not been in school for a month, you obviously haven't seen a bathtub or a bar of soap, either!"
"Who is this woman?" Puck asked.
"Her name's Minerva Smirt. She was our caseworker from the orphanage," Sabrina answered.
"Cranky old buzzard, isn't she?" the boy replied.
Sabrina smiled. Puck sure has his moments, she thought.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Ms. Smirt asked, turning her angry face toward the boy. "The king of snot-nosed delinquents?"
Puck smiled. "Finally, someone who has heard of me!"
"This is my nephew visiting from…uh…Akron, Ohio," Granny said as she snatched Puck's crown off his head. "Ms. Smirt, I assure you the girls were going to go to school today. We've gotten a little sidetracked with visiting and such."
The truth was that Sabrina and Daphne had made every excuse to avoid school. After the family had foiled a plot by Jack (of the beanstalk story) to release giants into the world so he could kill them and regain his fame, the girls convinced their grandmother they needed some time to recover. Then Sabrina had come down with a mysterious stomach flu that Daphne conveniently got the next week. A series of stubbed toes, allergic reactions, dizzy spells, bronchial attacks, and food poisonings had continued to keep them out of the classroom, giving them time to do what they both thought was more important-research. Granny's immense and disorganized library of books on all things magical probably held the key to finding and rescuing the girls' parents, missing now for almost two years. The sisters Grimm were in agreement for once: School could wait until Henry and Veronica Grimm were home.
"You understand, Ms. Smirt," Granny Relda continued. "After all, I haven't seen Sabrina since she was a week old."
"And now you aren't going to see her until she's eighteen," the caseworker said. She grabbed the sisters roughly and pulled them toward the door. "Girls, we've got a train to catch. We'll send for your things."
Just then, Elvis trotted into the room. He spotted Ms. Smirt and his usually happy face instantly turned ferocious. He charged the caseworker, sending her tumbling backward over a pile of books, then stood over her, bearing his teeth and growling.
"Get this thing away from me or we'll be making a stop at the pound, too," Ms. Smirt shouted, waving a book at the dog in a fruitless attempt to intimidate him. Granny Relda stepped forward to help the woman, but Sabrina and Daphne stopped her. Instead, the girls stood on either side of the dog and looked down at their caseworker.
"Call him off!" Ms. Smirt demanded.
"Not until you understand what's going to happen today," Sabrina said. "My sister and I are going to go upstairs and get cleaned up. We're going to get dressed and then you are going to take us to school. Then you are going back to New York City, alone."
"You don't get to make the rules, young lady," Ms. Smirt snapped.
"Then we'll just let you and Elvis work out your problems on your own," Daphne said, patting the big dog on his head. "I guess you could probably make a run for it, but you won't get far. Elvis can smell evil."
Elvis barked viciously.
Ms. Smirt stared at the girls for a long moment and then furrowed her brow. "Go get ready for school," she snarled.
···
Despite her delay tactics, Sabrina was actually looking forward to her first day of the sixth grade. School offered her something that Granny Relda's house didn't-normal people. She would be surrounded by dull teachers and glassy-eyed kids, watching the clock tick slowly, and she would be as happy as a pig in mud. When you lived with a flying boy and the Big Bad Wolf, a little boredom was welcome.
Sabrina had even planned how her first day would go. She would melt into the crowd and do her best not to draw any attention to herself. She wouldn't join any clubs or raise her hand, but would drift through the day like an invisible girl. She would find some kids to befriend and they would sit together at lunchtime and maybe pass notes in class. Just like normal kids. It was going to be one long, dull, happy experience.
Unfortunately, Smirt was ruining Sabrina's plan. It's hard to be just another face in the crowd when you're being dragged down the hallway by your ear. Not that it was entirely Ms. Smirt's fault that Sabrina was getting attention. Even after three vigorous washings, the girl's hair was still full of goo from Puck's booby trap. It stuck out in a thousand different directions like a hungry octopus. Daphne, on the other hand, had sculpted her hair into an old-fashioned beehive style that spiraled high on her head. Inside the sticky tower, the little girl had inserted several pencils and pens, a ruler, a protractor, two gummy erasers, and a package of peanut-butter crackers for later. By the time the girls got to the principal's office, Sabrina was sure every kid in the school thought that Ferryport Landing Elementary was now enrolling escaped mental patients.
"Excuse me, I'm Minerva Smirt from the New York City Department of Child Welfare," Ms. Smirt said, pounding impatiently on a bell that sat on the counter of the school office. Two middle-aged secretaries were busy spraying bug spray at something in the far corner of the room. The one with the thick glasses leaned down and smacked whatever it was with a magazine, while the chubby one stomped on it like an Irish folk dancer.
"I think it's dead," the chubby one said as she bent over to get a better look.
Smirt rang the bell again, and the two women looked at her as if she had just come in with a flamethrower.
"I'm in a hurry," the caseworker said. "I need to enroll these two orphans."
"We are not orphans!" Sabrina and Daphne said. Ms. Smirt pinched them each on the shoulder for arguing with her.
The bespectacled secretary crossed the room and snatched the bell away. Once she had tossed it into a drawer, she looked up at the caseworker and frowned.
"I'll see if our guidance counselor, Mr. Sheepshank, is available," she said as she eyed the children in bewilderment. Shaking her head, she stepped over to a door and knocked on it lightly.
"Sir, we have some new students…I think," the secretary said, turning back and eyeing the girls' odd hairdos.
"Yes! Yes! Please bring them in," a happy voice called. The secretary ushered the trio into the office and closed the door.
Mr. Sheepshank was a little man dressed in a green suit and a bow tie with smiley faces on it. He had a round, full, friendly face with freckled cheeks as red as his hair. When he smiled, little wrinkle lines formed in the corners of his glittering eyes.
"Good morning, ladies. I'm Casper Sheepshank, your school counselor," the man said cheerily. "Welcome to Ferryport Landing Elementary."
Mr. Sheepshank took Ms. Smirt's hand in his and shook it vigorously. The caseworker blushed; and she did something Sabrina had never seen before: She smiled.
"I'm Minerva…Minerva Smirt from the New York City Department of Child Welfare," she said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," the guidance counselor replied. "And who are these lovely ladies?"
"Introduce yourselves, girls," Ms. Smirt said, giggling.
"I'm Sabrina Grimm," Sabrina said. Sheepshank seized her hand and gave her the same joint-jarring treatment he had given to Ms. Smirt.
"I'm Daphne Grimm," Daphne chirped.
"Grimm? You wouldn't happen to be related to Henry Grimm?" the counselor asked.
"He's our dad," Sabrina said.
"He went to school here with us, too," Mr. Sheepshank said. "I remember him quite clearly. He was always getting into trouble. I assume I can expect more of the same from the two of you?"
Unsure of how to respond, the girls said nothing. After a long, uncomfortable pause Sheepshank chuckled and winked at Sabrina. "Just a joke, ladies. Your father was a model student."
"The girls were in my custody for a year and a half until we placed them here in Ferryport Landing with their grandmother, Relda," Ms. Smirt explained. "Unfortunately, Mrs. Grimm has not taken their educations seriously and they've been out of school for a month."
"Better late than never." The counselor laughed as he pulled some paperwork out of a desk drawer, and began to write.
"Casper," Ms. Smirt said, unbuttoning the top button of her shirt. "I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't warn you about these two. They are quite a handful. I tried to place them in good homes more than a dozen times, and each time it ended in chaos and grief. Nothing was ever good enough for them. They ran away from one foster home just because they were asked to help around the house."
"It wasn't a house! It was a stable," Sabrina said defensively.
"A pony got into my suitcase and ate all my underpants," Daphne added.
"They're also very argumentative," Ms. Smirt said, reaching under the desk and giving each girl a hard pinch on the leg.
"Well, Ms. Smirt," Mr. Sheepshank said, smiling warmly at the girls. "Here at Ferryport Landing Elementary we like to set our sights on the future. Our motto is 'Everyone deserves a second chance.' "
"Well, I'll tell you, Casper, as a professional who's worked with children for almost twenty years, I'd say a second chance is the last thing a child needs. What most of them need is a swift kick in the…"
"Thanks for the warning, Ms. Smirt," the counselor interrupted.
"Please, call me Minerva," the skinny woman purred. "You'll need their transcripts of course. I could bring them up Friday. It's just a two-hour trip. Maybe we could discuss their files over dinner."
There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Mr. Sheepshank blushed and then shuffled some papers on his desk.
"Bring them up? All the way from New York City? That's not necessary. Just drop them in the mail when you get a chance," he said, staring down at his paperwork. "Well, I better get these girls started. I trust you can find your way out, Ms. Smirt?"
The caseworker shifted in her chair and her face turned red with frustration. "Of course," she said. She reached into her handbag and took out a card. "Here's my card if you need any help with them. My home phone is on there, too."
Sabrina gazed down at the caseworker's handbag. When she spotted a book entitled Finding Mr. Right, the unsettling truth about what she was witnessing revealed itself. Ms. Smirt was flirting. An image of the two grown-ups kissing burned into Sabrina's permanent memory and she shuddered as if she had just witnessed a car crash.
But what was really bothering Sabrina was the odd feeling forming in her own heart. She felt pity for the cranky old woman. Sabrina might not have had much experience with boys, but it was obvious Mr. Sheepshank wasn't into Ms. Smirt, even though the caseworker kept on trying.
"Well, Susie…Debbie, I'm off," the skinny woman said as she got up from her chair.
"Sabrina," Sabrina said. Her sympathy vanished.
"Daphne," Daphne added.
Ms. Smirt stopped and turned at the door. "Maybe we'll talk again, Casper…"
Mr. Sheepshank smiled but said nothing. He only stared at her as if he were a deer caught in front of a speeding truck. After several way-too-long, painful moments of silence, Ms. Smirt stepped into the hallway.
"Be good girls," the caseworker said as she closed the door. "Or I'll be back."
"Well, I suppose we should get you two to class," said Mr. Sheepshank as he rose from his desk and led them back into the hallway. "Ladies, the first day of school can be difficult for some students. But I want you to know that if there are any bumps in the road-for example, someone you can't get along with or a teacher who's given you too much homework-then I'm the man to come to. Feel free to stop by my office anytime you want. My job is to listen and my door is always open."
Sabrina liked Sheepshank's attitude. She'd been in a dozen schools in the last two years and no one had ever spoken to her the way their new counselor did. While everyone else lectured about learning responsibility and the value of hard work, he seemed to understand how hard it was to be a kid.
"Mr. Sheepshank!" a man shouted from the other end of the hall. He had a German accent not unlike Granny Relda's. "We are due for a conversation!"
The man rushed toward them. He was a tall, dark-haired man in a gray suit. He had a long, lean, ruddy face that made his crooked nose look enormous. Because he was upset, his big bushy eyebrows bounced around on his forehead like excited caterpillars.
"Children, this is your principal, Mr. Hamelin," the guidance counselor said, ignoring the man's frustration. "Mr. Hamelin, I'd like to introduce you to our new students, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm."
"My grandmother says hello," Daphne said.
Principal Hamelin cocked an eyebrow, aware now that the girls knew who he really was. Granny Relda had told them there were two Everafters working at Ferryport Landing Elementary: Snow White, who was a teacher, and the principal, aka "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." The girls knew his story. Using his magical bagpipes, Hamelin had enchanted a thousand rats to follow him out of town and into the ocean, where they drowned. Granny had explained that Hamelin had gotten his job based on his leadership skills. If he could lead a bunch of rodents, he could handle a school full of kids.
"Of course, of course," Hamelin said, forcing a smile onto his face. "Welcome to Ferryport Landing Elementary. I needed to discuss the…uh…textbook shortage with Mr. Sheepshank, but it can wait. I hope you'll help them settle in, Casper?"
"My pleasure, Mr. Hamelin," the counselor replied, leading the girls down the hallway. Soon, they stopped in front of a classroom and Mr. Sheepshank patted Daphne on the shoulder. "This is your class."
The girls peered through the window in the door and saw a woman so stunningly beautiful Sabrina could hardly believe it. Her jet-black hair and porcelain skin were hypnotic. Her eyes were a dazzling blue and her teeth were so white they were nearly blinding.
"Daphne, your teacher's name is Ms. White," Sheepshank said.
Daphne put the palm of her hand into her mouth and bit on it. It was an odd little habit she had when she was very excited.
"I'm so happy," the little girl said giddily, "I might barf."
Ever since Granny Relda had told them that Snow White was a teacher, Daphne had prayed on hands and knees each night that she would be placed in the legendary beauty's class. It looked as if someone had been listening to the little girl's prayers.
"Don't put any crayons in your nose," Sabrina joked as Mr. Sheepshank led her sister into the room. Daphne stuck her tongue out in reply.
As the guidance counselor introduced Daphne, Sabrina studied the teacher through the open door. Snow White and Mr. Hamelin were both Everafters. Could they be trusted? Suspicion clouded Sabrina's mind and anger flowed over her. Maybe Snow White and the Piper were in on her parents' disappearance. Maybe they were working together to kidnap her and her sister next.
"Sabrina, are you feeling OK?" Mr. Sheepshank asked. The girl hadn't noticed him step back into the hall. She nodded.
"Yes, just got a headache," Sabrina replied. It wasn't a lie. Her head was pounding.
"Check with the school nurse if it doesn't go away," the counselor instructed, as he directed her down the hall and up a flight of stairs. On the second floor was another long hallway full of classrooms. They stopped at the first door and Sheepshank opened it. He turned to Sabrina and gave her a warm smile. "I think this might just be the perfect homeroom for you."
"Mr. Grumpner," he said as he stepped into the classroom. "I'd like to introduce you and the class to a new student. Her name is Sabrina Grimm. She and her sister just moved to Ferryport Landing from New York City."
"She looks like she stuck a fork into a light socket," a boy called from the middle of the room. He was short with wiry black hair and big bug eyes. A few kids snickered, but most of the class seemed to be asleep, or about to doze off.
"Toby, shut up," the teacher growled. The boy's face turned red with rage and he looked as if he might actually get out of his seat and charge at the old man. A pretty girl with platinum blond hair and big green eyes put her hand on the boy's arm and it seemed to calm him down.
Grumpner turned his attention to Sabrina. He was an old man with saggy jowls and thin, charcoal-colored hair. To the girl, he looked like a deflating birthday party balloon you find in the garage a week after the fun is over. He frowned.
"Sit," he said gruffly as he pointed to several empty desks in the last row. Then he turned back to the guidance counselor. "Sheepshank, what is wrong with these kids?" he demanded. "Half of them are asleep and the other half are between naps!"
"I'm sure you'll find a way to get them motivated, Mr. Grumpner," the counselor said, as he waved to Sabrina and left the room. "After all, you're one of our finest teachers."
The compliment did little to calm the old man down.
"Open your books to page one forty-two," Grumpner growled, as he walked down the aisle and tossed a ratty textbook onto Sabrina's desk. She opened it and looked for page 142, but it and dozens more pages had been ripped out.
"You need to read this page carefully, morons," Grumpner threatened. "Tomorrow you're going to have a quiz on it."
Sabrina slowly raised her hand.
"What is it, Grimm?"
"That page has been ripped out of my book," she stuttered.
Grumpner's face turned red. Even from the back of the room, Sabrina could spot a throbbing vein on his forehead, preparing to explode. Luckily, the old grouch was distracted by a short, pudgy boy running into the classroom. He rushed past the teacher and hurried down Sabrina's aisle, where he slipped behind a desk and opened a book.
"Wendell!" Grumpner bellowed at the top of his lungs. The chubby boy looked up from his desk, wiped his nose with a handkerchief, and looked genuinely surprised by the teacher's anger. It took all of Sabrina's willpower not to break out laughing at the boy's dumbfounded expression.
"Yes, Mr. Grumpner," Wendell replied.
"You are late, again," the teacher said.
"I'm sorry. I forgot to set my alarm clock," the boy said meekly.
"You forgot?" Grumpner exploded. "Well, that's just great! I bet you didn't forget breakfast this morning! Everyone can see that! Maybe we should cover your alarm clock with candy and French fries; then you'd never forget to set it!"
"I said I was sorry!"
The old man stomped down the aisle and roughly pulled the boy out of his seat. He dragged him to the front of the room so everyone could see his humiliation.
"Do you know why you are always late, Wendell?" Mr. Grumpner asked. "It's because you are a worthless fat-body. Isn't that right?"
This woke up the class, who roared with laughter. Toby, the bug-eyed boy, nearly fell out of his chair giggling.
"Well, I'm sure I could stand to lose a little weight, but I wouldn't go so far as to say…!" but the chubby boy never got to finish. Grumpner shoved a piece of chalk into his hand and spun him toward the chalkboard.
"And you are going to write it until the end of this class. You may think that because you're the principal's son you don't have to play by the rules, but I'm not afraid of your father. I have tenure. Get started!"
Wendell turned to the chalkboard and wrote I AM A WORTHLESS FAT-BODY. The students roared with laughter again, but Sabrina barely noticed. She was too stunned by what Mr. Grumpner had said. Wendell was the principal's son-the child of an Everafter? Sabrina had never imagined that the Everafters might have children or that they would send them to a school where all the other kids were human. She gazed around the room, watching the rest of the class laugh at the boy as he scrawled the mean sentence over and over again. Could any of them be Everafters, too?
···
As Sabrina drifted from class to class, she began to realize that Mr. Grumpner wasn't the only teacher on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In fact, the entire sixth-grade faculty was a collection of bullying, screaming nightmares. They shouted through most of their classes, dishing out detentions like scoops of ice cream. Not that Sabrina could really blame them, though. The kids in her classes were real pains in the butt. They slept through the lectures and none of them had done their homework.
Even in gym class, the kids staggered around exhausted. Unfortunately for them, gym class turned out to be the one place you really needed to be alert. Their teacher was Ms. Spangler. Spangler the Strangler, as the kids called her, was a bulky little woman with a ponytail and an evil glint in her eye, who apparently knew how to teach just one game-dodgeball. Sabrina had played dodgeball many times at school in New York City. She considered herself to be pretty good at it; she remembered being the last kid standing many times, so in Ms. Spangler's class, when the first rubber ball smacked her in the head and made her brains rattle in her skull, she knew that something about this dodgeball game was different.
Getting knocked out of the game early gave Sabrina a chance to study the other kids. It was easy to see who the dangerous ones were-the only two really playing the game. Sabrina recognized one as the giggling idiot Toby, from her homeroom class, but the other was a knuckle-dragging hulk with ratty hair. To be honest, Sabrina wasn't sure if it was a boy or a girl; all she knew was that Toby and It were vicious. Together, they whipped balls at the other kids at alarming speeds. When a kid fell down, the duo would pummel him or her mercilessly with the hard rubber balls. Even worse, Ms. Spangler encouraged the craziness. She ran around the gymnasium blowing her whistle and pointing out the weaknesses of the players to Toby and the big It, urging them to target the pudgy, small, slow, and awkward. Whenever a kid was hit and eliminated, Ms. Spangler clapped happily, like a child on Christmas morning.
There was only one other kid in the class who had the energy to defend herself. Sabrina recognized her, too. The pretty blond from Sabrina's homeroom managed to duck out of the way of several shots, dodging and jumping until she, too, was struck and tossed out of the game. She joined the battered kids waiting on the sidelines. When she spotted Sabrina, she smiled and waved. It was the first act of kindness Sabrina had experienced the whole day.
By lunchtime, Sabrina was bruised and belittled, but her main concern was Daphne. Sabrina could handle a screaming teacher or a bully, but her sister was only seven. This school would eat her alive.
Once Sabrina had her tray of food, she searched the cafeteria for her little sister, fully expecting Daphne to be huddled in a corner bawling her eyes out. She was stunned to find her sitting at a table packed with bright-eyed, happy kids, all hanging on her every word. As Sabrina approached the table, the children exploded with laughter watching her sister pull a ruler out of her big beehive hair.
"Daphne, you are the funniest person I have ever met," one of her little friends said.
"Are you OK?" Sabrina asked her sister.
Daphne smiled and nodded. "Time of my life."
Daphne was the hit of the second grade and Sabrina wasn't about to take it away from her. Instead, she trudged through the cafeteria looking for an empty table. She thought she had found one, but just as she was about to sit down, two kids quickly slipped into the seats as if she weren't there at all. She moved in the direction of another deserted table but the same thing happened again. Sabrina was starting to wonder if she could eat standing up, when she felt her feet come out from under her. Her tray flew forward, sending her lunch splattering across the cafeteria. She slammed to the ground hard, pounding her chin into the cold floor, and saw little lights explode in front of her eyes.
Standing over her was the It from gym class. The kid was apelike, with long, thick arms, a hulking body, and an under-bite. When Sabrina spotted the little pink ribbon sticking out of Its knotted hair, she finally realized It was a girl.
"Ooops," the girl grunted. Toby, the bug-eyed weirdo, was standing next to her, laughing.
As embarrassed as she was, Sabrina wasn't at all surprised. She had been bullied before. The orphanage had been like a prison at times, and the new kids always got the worst of it until they proved they could give as well as they got.
"You did that on purpose," she said as she calmly got to her feet.
"What are you going to do about it, Grimm? Cry on me?" the big girl laughed.
"If you know my name, then you should know I don't cry," Sabrina said, clenching her fist tightly and then socking the girl in the face. As the big goon fell backward, Sabrina's dreams of dull school days fell with her. For when she turned to look around the cafeteria, the sleepy-faced kids from her class were now wide awake and in awe of her.
"You shouldn't have done that," Toby hissed.
"You're exactly right," a voice shouted. A meaty hand grabbed Sabrina's arm and dragged her away. It was Mr. Grumpner and the vein on his forehead was throbbing.
"She started it," Sabrina cried.
"And I'm ending it," Grumpner shouted back.
···
Sabrina sat in Mr. Sheepshank's hot, windowless office waiting for her punishment. The mousy secretary with the thick glasses told her that the guidance counselor would be with her as soon as he was available. Three hours later, he still hadn't shown up.
Sabrina sat and reflected on her day so far. Apparently, the sixth grade was a nightmare, and no one had been courteous enough to let her know in advance. She thought it would be all books and tests-not guerilla warfare. The kids were hateful. The teachers were despicable. It was just like being back in the orphanage.
By the time Mr. Sheepshank and his smiley-face bow tie showed up, Sabrina was seething with rage. Mr. Grumpner followed him into the office, looking indignant, and the two men sat down.
"So, Sabrina," the counselor said. "Do you want to tell us why Natalie is in the school infirmary with a black eye?"
"I'll tell you why!" Mr. Grumpner growled, nearly jumping out of his seat. "This one is trouble."
Mr. Sheepshank sat back in his chair and licked his lips as if he were preparing for a big meal. "Go on, Sabrina, what happened?"
"That ugly freak tripped me on purpose," Sabrina said, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"That's what she's saying," Grumpner interrupted. "I saw the whole thing."
"If you'd seen the whole thing, then we wouldn't be sitting here!" Sabrina snapped, surprised by how quickly her anger had boiled over. Her head was starting to pound again. Maybe she was getting sick.
"Listen to that attitude," her teacher bellowed. "I don't know how school works in the big city, but in my classroom you will respect me or else!"
"Yeah, I've seen what 'or else' means in your classroom," the girl said. "I've seen how you teach children to respect you. You insult them, make fun of them, and drag them around. I dare you to try it on me! I just dare you!"
Mr. Grumpner backed away as if he had just stumbled upon a hornet's nest. "Are you going to let her talk to me like that?" he whined to the counselor.
"I believe that letting your feelings out is healthy," Mr. Sheepshank said. "Sabrina has a right to defend herself."
"Save your new-age psychobabble," the teacher grumbled. "What are you going to do to punish her?"
"Punish me?" Sabrina cried. "I didn't start the fight!"
"Mr. Grumpner, I think we need a breather," the counselor said as he rose from his chair. He crossed the room, took the grouchy teacher by the arm, and led him to the door. "If you spot any more slug-fests, please be sure to bring them to my attention immediately."
"You didn't tell me what you're going to do with her," Grumpner argued, but Mr. Sheepshank just pushed him out of the room and closed the door in his face. "Discipline is the backbone of education!" the teacher shouted through the door. "We'll see what Principal Hamelin thinks about this!"
The guidance counselor ignored the teacher's threat and returned to his chair with a broad smile. "Interesting first day you are having," he said.
"I didn't start that fight but I'm not going to let someone pick on me, either," Sabrina said.
"I'm not asking you to," Sheepshank replied. "I think Natalie got what she had coming to her. She's been pushing kids around since kindergarten. I bet it felt pretty good to knock her down."
Sabrina was stunned. Adults always said you should try to talk out your problems first. "Aren't you supposed to tell me that fighting isn't the answer?" she asked.
"Let's just pretend I did," Mr. Sheepshank continued with a wink. "Sabrina, I know being in the sixth grade isn't easy. There are lots of things that aren't fair, like a bully picking on you. It's a natural human emotion to get angry. So what are you supposed to do? Bottle it up? Well, we all know what happens when you shake up a bottle of soda. It explodes all over the place when you open it. I think feelings are the same way. You've got to let them out when you're having them or you're just going to explode later on."
New-age psychobabble or not, Sabrina liked what Mr. Sheepshank was saying. She'd hadn't had an adult actually listen to her so well in a long time. In fact, he seemed almost eager to hear her thoughts.
"I think we'll forget all about this," the counselor continued. "You've been sitting here for several hours and have had plenty of time to think about what happened."
Sabrina got up from her seat, then paused and asked, "Mr. Sheepshank, does it get any better?"
He laughed. "I wish I could say it does, but don't worry, someday this place will be nothing but an ancient memory."
Sabrina looked up at the clock. School had been over for five minutes. Daphne would be waiting.
"I have to go meet my sister."
"Of course," Mr. Sheepshank said. "But before you go, I just want to remind you that my door is always open. I'm a pretty good listener."
Sabrina nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, then," she said.
"I'm on the edge of my seat," the guidance counselor replied.
The girl nodded and stepped into the hallway. Natalie, the bully, was waiting by some lockers. Her left eye had a black-and-purple bruise around it. When she spotted Sabrina, she turned and punched a locker door. The impact was so great it dented the door badly. Happy with her handiwork, the big goon smiled, pointed at Sabrina, and shuffled down the hallway.
Great, I've been here less than eight hours and I already have a mortal enemy, Sabrina thought. I wonder what Tuesday will be like?
"Don't worry, Sabrina. Tomorrow's a new day," a voice behind her said. Sabrina spun around and found the pretty blond girl from her homeroom and gym class.
"That's what I'm worried about."
The girl laughed. "I'm Bella," she said. "And don't worry, not everyone's like Natalie."
Just then, Daphne rushed down the hallway to meet them. She had her coat and mittens on, and a couple of books under her arm.
"I've had the greatest day of my entire life!" she screamed as she hugged Sabrina tightly. "We spent the first part of the morning making papier-maché hats, and then when the hats were dry we put them on and learned about what kind of people might have worn them. I had George Washington's hat."
The little girl paused to catch her breath.
"Daphne, this is Bella," Sabrina said, introducing the two. "She's in my homeroom."
"You made a friend?" Daphne said, giving her sister another hug. "Oh, I'm so proud of you!"
"Cute kid," Bella said, giggling. "I gotta get going. See you tomorrow."
Sabrina nodded and watched the girl disappear down the hallway. Maybe there was a chance of having a normal friend, after all.
"Did you know that George Washington didn't really have wooden teeth? That's a myth. Ms. White said his teeth were made from ivory and bone, 'cause…" Daphne paused and looked around. Then she cupped her hand around her sister's ear and finished her sentence. "…she actually knew him. But she didn't tell the class that, she just told me."
Then Daphne pulled away and returned to her normal, excited tone. "Then we learned all about chimpanzees. Did you know that chimpanzees aren't actually monkeys? I didn't know that. Chimpanzees are so punk rock."
"Punk rock?"
"You know, cool."
"Where did you hear that?" Sabrina laughed.
"Julie Melphy. She's in my class. She's very punk rock," her sister replied.
"That's stupid."
"You're stupid," Daphne shot back. "And very un-punk rock! How was your day?"
"Horrible," Sabrina grumbled. "Come on, I have to go get my coat from my locker. It's upstairs."
The girls climbed the steps to the second floor just as Toby came running down them. He nearly knocked them over.
"Out of the way, lightning-bolt head," he shouted then laughed his annoying little laugh. He ran past and disappeared down the hall.
That kid is so un-punk rock, Sabrina thought.
The sisters reached Sabrina's locker and she went to work on the combination. If there had been anything good about the day it was that at least she had been assigned a locker near her homeroom. She wouldn't have to trudge through the halls in the morning with all her books.
"What kind of class are you in?" Daphne asked as she peered through the window into Grumpner's room.
"What are you talking about?" Sabrina said as she put on her coat and closed her locker.
"Look," her sister said, pointing into Sabrina's homeroom.
Sabrina gazed through the window. The room looked as if a tornado had gone through it. Desks and chairs had been tossed around and there was an odd, white substance covering everything. She opened the door and the girls stepped inside. The white substance hung from the ceiling in strands like silky ribbons. It fluttered in the icy wind that blew in from a broken window. In the center of the room, a large sack of the junk was suspended from the ceiling, slowly swaying in the breeze.
"Don't touch anything," Sabrina said, tugging at a strand that had attached itself to her coat.
"What's that thing hanging from the ceiling?" Daphne asked as her sister crossed the room to look. Sabrina grabbed a nearby chair, pulled it close to the sack, and climbed onto the seat.
"Something's inside it," she said as she yanked at the layers of sticky stuff that formed the sack. Soon, something began to reveal itself from deep inside-something with a face. "It's Mr. Grumpner," she whispered. The old man was as purple as an eggplant and his once puffy face was gaunt and drained. "He's dead."
"Awww, man! That's so gross!" Daphne cried unhappily.
"What could have done this?" Sabrina wondered.
"Probably whoever left that," the little girl said, pointing at the far end of the classroom.
Sabrina turned to see what her sister was referring to. On the chalkboard was another horrible but familiar sight. Someone had dipped his or her hand into a can of paint and pressed it on the wall. The handprint was bright red.
