by Ian Schrauth
“Now, when I said tomasa, you will daydream and we will see it,” Mr. Sauda said and closed his eyes for like five seconds, “Now!”
I daydreamed of my book signing, and Nuxsums was casting a spell on me. A painful spell.
“Mr. Sauda! Save her!” one kid screamed.
“She needs to overcome her fear!” Mr. Sauda yelled.
What he didn’t know was that I being strangled by Nuxsums! And when I was about to fade away, I heard a voice like Huxvey!
“Selena! Hang in there!” She yelled.
When I thought all hope was lost and Nuxsums was ‘gonna win, I faded away from Nuxsums’ strong grip and back into my body, lying on the ground with my mouth filled with my own blood, spit, and vomit. It tasted worse than the potion I had. Maybe it was the potion that I had puked up…
I looked around, and the room was empty. People were traveling to their next class, but luckily this class didn’t have a class for sixth block, or I would have died of embarrassment,
“Mr. Sauda, what do you have to say for yourself?” Huxvey asked Mr. Sauda.
“She needed to overcome the fear of being scared by Nuxsums to go to sleep or daydream!” Mr. Sauda smarted back.
“Well, she doesn’t have the power to help herself, nor does she have her wand. Which she can’t virtualize to defend herself,”
“Well, in this class, you’re not scared to do anything. And if you are, you will overcome it!”
“Whatever, I’ll talk to you later. Selena, let’s get you cleaned up,” Huxvey said as she helped me up and helped me to the ladies’ room.
She turned on the sink for me, and I washed out my mouth with the water there. The water not only makes us sick, but it cures us of cuts and cleans them too[I36]. Why can’t Earth’s water do that?
“You seem cleaned now,” She said and turned off the water. “Now, I will get your things, and you get back to class.”
“Thanks,” I thanked, walked out, and headed to class.
14
“Students, please get up now! It is time to wake up!” I heard Huxvey say over the intercom. Geez, I was in a bad stage in the REM, and I was super tired. I couldn’t stand that being that tired meant bad news because Nuxsums [I37]might still be in the school, and that gives him the chance to attack me. Not good!
After I finished in the shower and with my clothes, I walked down to my English class to put my stuff and get the hell out of there as fast as I could!
“Good morning, are you Selena?” Someone asked.
I looked around from my back, and I saw a sub. Yeah! We have a SUB!
“Yes. Why?” I asked.
“Well, Mr. Xjungtha told me to give you this packet for you to complete for the class,” She said and gave me a stack of papers. Holy cow! That looked like fifty papers!
“Oh my! Do I have to complete it all?”
“It says here that if you don’t complete it, assign an ISS for her.”
I couldn’t believe what I had heard! If I wouldn’t have completed that work, he would give me another ISS! What was he trying to do, give me so many ISSes that I would be expelled?
“I don’t think he is allowed to do that,” I said.
“That’s what I thought, and I’m an old teacher from Pluto, so I don’t know the rules here on Saturn,” She said and handed me the paper. “Take this and go ask your headmaster.”
I took the paper, walked out of the classroom, and up to Huxvey, who was stapling something on the school bulletin. “Hello, Selena. What can I do for you?” She asked.
“The sub for Mr. Xjungtha told me to take this to you,” I said and handed her the paper.
She looked over the paper, and her eyes opened wide. “Why would he say this?”
“Because he is a mean teacher.”
“I will have to see where he is to ask him why this is,” Huxvey said. “Come with me.”
We headed into her office, and I think she looked something up on her records. “He is out of the planet, so we cannot contact him. Unless this number…” she said and called a number on speakerphone.
The phone rang and rang, until a voice message said, “Peace is with Lord Nuxsums. We are unable to take your call right now. Please leave a message after the beep. BEEP.”
“Hello, this is Huxvey Buvejumuzvuj from Tumspuv Genimis SQ6. If you are in contact with Tyr Xjungtha, please call 46-261-98712-87. Bye,” Huxvey said and pressed a button.
“Hold on. Did they say at the beginning ‘Peace be with lord Nuxsums.’?!” I asked.
“I think so,” She said. Right as she was going to pick up the phone, it rang.
“This is an unknown number; might be him,” Huxvey said and pressed a button to answer. “Tumspuv Genimis, school of witches and wizards. Madam Huxvey speaking.”
“So this is you, Huxvey Buvejumuzvuj!” a dark, devilish voice said.[I38]
“May I ask who this is?”
“This is the Lord.”
“OK, first you have come inside this school because of some outside bug, now what do you want?” she asked. So Megan DIDN’T get in trouble! Good!
“I want Selena Dixon down with me by tomorrow,” He demanded.
“For what?” she asked, I was going to speak, but Huxvey stopped me.
“I want her because she owes me a favor.”
“What favor?” I asked.
“Ah! Selena! You’re here! I need you to come down to the mall of Jughana so we can talk.”
I looked at Huxvey, and she was writing down something. She lipped “keep talking.” to me and pressed a red button that said RECORD.
“Can’t you just come here and talk to me?” I asked. Huxvey looked at me like I was some psychopath and waved her arms in a NO formation.
“I was already here, but I was chased out by some people. They’re not there, so I think I will come down.”
“If you come down, we will just bring them back up here,” Huxvey said.
“OK, then. Selena, come down to the mall or else you will feel the pain,” He said and hung up.
“What did you write down?” I asked.
“The call was not placed on Saturn. It was placed on an unknown planet and I had written down the address of the mall. I am going to send this to the I.O.N.S and they will try and capture him.”
“Good.”
“Now, I need you to NOT leave Tumspuv Genimis and get back to class. Stay in this school! And have fun at the concert tonight. You going?”
Darn! I forgot the concert was tonight. But I had tickets! “Yeah. I have the tickets.”
“Good. See you there!” she said and walked me to class. “Don’t forget PTS meetings are tomorrow. Where teachers meet your parents.”
“You never said that!”
“Every parent is required to come, and I will say it over the announcements today before the end of the day,” She said as we walked up to the classroom.
I entered the classroom, and it was filled with students writing things on the board. “Selena, there you are.”
“She was with me,” Huxvey said and walked away.
I walked over to the sub and handed her the paper. “What are we doing?”
“We are writing words on the board that mean ‘cute.” She said and looked at the paper. “Would you like to be my assistant for the day?
I couldn’t believe what I had heard! I was going to be an assistant for the day in the class I hate. I hope this sub takes the place of Mr. Xjungtha for the whole year!
“Sure, I’ll be your sub,” I replied.
She gave me the paper that Mr. Xjungtha gave her, and she said, “I will tell Mr. Xjungtha that you did your papers, but you have them. You must do them ALL tonight.”
That was going to be hard. “Sure, I can do that.”
“Good. Now, can you grade these papers for me? He told me to grade them, and I never had the chance.”
“Sure,” I replied, walked over to the desk, and started to grade the papers.[I39]
15
Well, the
dance was on, and I was ready. I grabbed my ticket, put on my new Sathinish dress with some makeup, and carefully walked down to the party in the first gym with my high heels. It’s harder than you think.
“Ticket please,” One student guarding the door said. I handed him the ticket, and he let me in.
Inside, it was loud. There was a drink bar, a DJ, and mainly, a dance floor where you show off your moves. Great…
I walked up to the food bar, ordered myself a Diet Pepsi (I found out it’s called Vehli) and worked my way to a table where I saw Megan with some other girls.
“Selena! Glad you could make it!” Megan said, “Selena, meet Alice; Alice, meet Selena.”
“Hello Selena,” Alice introduced, “So I heard you’re a book author.”
“Yup.”
“Interesting, I’ve written and published a series myself when I was ten,” That Alice girl said in a proud tone, “I started when I was six.”
“This girl is kind of cool,” I thought.
“I started when I was six also!”
“What day? I did mine on December fifteenth.” She asked.
I was starting to not like this girl.
“I queried an agent on the fourth of July of 2009, got accepted on the eighth, and it came out on July 23rd, 2010,” I bragged.
“Darn it! Your book carrier is older than mine! How many have you published?”
I looked at my fingernails, and said, “Oh, I have some out. How about you?”
“Ten. I used to do one for each session, but I quit that on the eighth book, and I am on the second book of a ten-book series called The Lost series.”
Can you believe that? That girl has published more than me, and I have been a published author longer than her! This girl is just showing off!
I decided to just go with the flow, and talk to her even though I was boiling mad inside. While we were talking, she was always talking about herself, ‘Oh, I’m this!’ or ‘Oh! I’m that!’ This girl is being selfish!
Gosh, every time she would mention herself, it was like a fire that burns inside of me that can’t be settled. That’s how angry I was.
Soon, after an hour, the party was over! I missed the whole thing being angry and sitting there, letting the fires of anger boil my blood.
“Are you OK?” Megan asked as we entered our dorm.
“Yeah,” I lied. “Just tired.”
“Well, then got to bed.”
And that I did.
* * *
When I woke up in the morning, I was excited about the PTS meetings! I slipped on some nice clothes and hopped on my computer.
I had also gotten to a surprise. From mom.
Selena,
How have you been? I’m good and everyone is fine. I will come to the PTS Meetings tomorrow. Just to let you know.
Mom
Tears filled my eye when I read that letter, and noticed it was sent yesterday! Today is the day of the PTS Meetings!
When I noticed this, there was an announcement over the intercom.
“All Students get dressed and come outside for the parents,” Huxvey’s secretary announced.
When I did all my stuff, I got some warm clothes on and headed outside with some of the other students and found many small dots in the sky.
The parents!
Soon enough, they all landed on Saturn’s hard, rocky atmosphere. Some people had brooms, and some people had flying clouds that they sat on! Both of our moms sat on a flying cloud together.[I40] They got off the flying cloud; Mom sucked the cloud into a jar and gave me a big hug.
“Selena, it feels good to see you!” Mom praised.
I gave her a hug back.
She was the most beautiful I’ve seen her in my entire life! She had a Sathinish dress like mine (All moms had Sathinish dresses different than mine, but my mom’s was similar to mine) hoop earrings with the colors of Saturn’s rings, and most of all, she dyed her hair from an ugly blond to a beautiful brownish-red! It was like she was a princess!
“Welcome to Tumspuv Genimis! We are so glad you have come to the PTS meetings, the students have their own dorms, so you guys have no choice but to stay in the dorms you grew up in. Don’t worry, they’re still usable,” Huxvey introduced. She had an all-golden dress on with pure-titanium earrings! That woman is rich! “Now, let’s feast!”
We all headed into the big, breathtaking dining room, and Huxvey sat down in her throne-table with the four assistant principal-teachers, Mr. Sauda, Doctor Fruno (Eww!), Mr. Davis, and Mrs. Crestle. Principal-teachers are teachers that have half the power of Huxvey over the school.
“Let the diner begin!” Huxvey announced and the food was spread amongst us.
We helped ourselves, and ate a delicious dinner of Sathinish food.
When the dinner was over, Mom took her stuff, and I followed her to the dorm she would be staying in. We entered, and it was basically six rooms and three teams. Yeah, they had three teams called Fenterest, Oxfordnar, and Mizop. Nothing compared to the three we have now, Siofit, Salvon, and Riznotdi.
The dorms were old-fashion-looking dorms with old stuff (lamps, television, etc.) inside. Some things still worked when I tested them.
“Too bad they had to build new dorms this year if you had Fenterest; the whole Brighty family has the same dorm for their years at Tumspuv Genimis.” She said. Brighty was my Mother’s maiden name.
“Yea, but a new era has come and maybe my kids and beyond will be in Siofit,” I replied.
“Siofit?”
“Yeah. Siofit…the name of my dorm?”
“Oh! Sorry, wasn’t thinking,” She apologized, “Anyway, who do we have to see first?”
“Huxvey said the parent copies of the report cards are down in her office, be right back!” I announced and ran down to the office. I grabbed my report card and sprinted back up to show her.
“An A+ in English, an B- in Pre-Algebra, a C+ in Physics, an A+ in Potions, a B- in Sathinish, and an A- in Dreaming…Selena! You’re doing well!” She praised. “Let’s go see your teachers.”
Mom took my hand and dragged me to the first class she felt like going to.
Pre-Algebra!
When we arrived in the classroom, Mr. Crestle walked up to us.
“Mrs. Crestle, it’s nice to meet you,” Mom said, and they shook hands. When they did, my mom turned from her Sathinish dress to a dress of the color of fire and darkness. It kinda reminded me of the Devil.
“What’s wrong with me, ma’am?” Mrs. Crestle asked, and let go of her hand.
“I put a spell on myself before I arrived at Saturn to indicate this stuff. My senses indicate that you’re a horrible person.” Mom turned back to normal and said.
“Excuse me?! I will not be insulted in my class!” Mrs. Crestle yelled.
“I have come to the understanding that you have given my daughter detention for misunderstanding directions! Teachers like you make me sick!” Mom yelled. She can sure put up a fight!
“Not only that, she made a student run out of the room. Crying,” I added on.
“Stay out of this, you lower life form!” Mrs. Crestle insulted.
When she said this, I got a horrible flashback of a kid at school who picked on me literally every day of the year until he got arrested. Eh would not stop! And I could go home crying every day because of him.
The flashback was so powerful that tears filled my eyes. Gosh, I hate crying in front of people. It makes me feel weak.
“You are not the one to make my daughter cry!” Mom yelled, took out her wand, and pointed it at her, “You are the one who should be with Nuxsums!”
“I don’t have time for you people! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to a meeting,” Mrs. Crestle said and walked out of the room. I could tell she was lying because she had that look in her eyes. I wasn’t going to let her get away, so I looked at her with my tear-filled eyes and made her trip on her own feet. Man, that felt good.
“Trying to trip your own teacher?” She ask
ed. “Well, that’s another ISS.”
“It was me. Didn’t have a nice fall?” Mom asked. Thanks for defending me!
Mrs. Crestle got up from where she landed on the ground, and said, “Don’t you worry. Selena will get in trouble for this. Even if you are telling the truth,” She said and walked out.
“Selena, don’t worry about it. I will talk to Huxvey about it and it will be all settled,” She said and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go to your next class.”
“Good idea,” I said as we walked out.
16
I swear that was the best half week of my life! From games to TV, to just hanging out. Until Mom had to go home. I followed her outside like fans following a rock band, and we hugged.
“Mom, can I go home with you?” I asked.
“Selena, you have to stay here and learn magic. If you don’t, Nuxsums will come and get you and take you to his castle on the far end of space,” Mom said, “There are many kids in history that have being taken by Nuxsums and never returned to their parents.”
“That’s horrible!”
“That’s why you must stay here because if he tries to get you, you’ll have the power to beat him!”
“Mom, I just ‘wanna go home! I ‘wanna visit my friend! I ‘wanna live like a normal human being,” I complained.
“Sugar, we’re not normal. We’re witches and we’ll never change.”
Tears fill my eyes.
“C’mon Stephenie!” Yelled Mrs. Adelie, “We’re ‘gonna be late.”
“I’m sorry Selena,” Mom said and gave me a bear hug, “I have to go.”
Both of our moms hopped on the flying cloud, and they flew off.
I was just a wreck. I wanted to just go home with my mother and be a normal person she wouldn’t let me!
As I walked back inside the dorm, Huxvey made an announcement over the intercom. “All students please report to their Study hall classes to choose your schedules for next year.”
Now, why were we choosing our schedules for next semester? Why couldn’t we do them after the finals?