“You can close your eyes,” said Ms. Starr.
“How does this exercise build trust?” Elliott asked.
“You get whipped cream all over your faces,” the teacher answered. “It’s going to be hilarious! You’ll laugh with each other, not at each other, which builds community. But it’s also an exercise meant to stretch your brains. This is not the typical way to find cherries. It’ll develop your natural instincts!”
“Is there a typical way to find cherries?” Elliott asked.
“Yeah. It’s called the grocery store,” Willa said.
“My natural instinct is to not stick my face into a bowl of whipped cream,” Bax said.
Ms. Starr ignored him. She raised her chin and said, “Ready, set … go!”
Sebastian dove into the whipped cream. He emerged with a fluffy white beard, thick white eyebrows, and closed eyes. He licked the whipped cream off his mouth. “Yummy. Have I got any on my face?”
Marigold had put her face into a bowl, too. “I did it!” she cried. She had wide, round eyes within peaks of white. She moved her mouth around and spit a red cherry into her hand. “Yay, me!”
It was fun. Everyone began bobbing in and out of the bowls. Willa used the whipped cream to spike up her bangs. Pepper dipped only her nose into the whipped cream. Then she lifted her head with what looked like a glob of white snot.
“Kleenex?” she deadpanned.
Andres choked on a cherry, and Bax hit him on the back, causing a blob of cream to splatter all over Bax’s shirt. Everyone laughed. Even Bax.
Nory sat back. She soaked in the chaos and grinned. It was undeniably fun.
Then she remembered: “Fun” wouldn’t get her and Elliott out of the UDM class and into regular classes. They needed to use this time to focus on the box of normal.
Nory fished around in the bowl of cream with her hand and pulled out a cherry, which she cleaned off with her shirt. She held the cherry out to Elliott. “Light the stem on fire.”
Elliott lifted his eyebrows. “I can try, I guess.” He glanced around. “But there’s a lot going on.”
“That’s the point,” Nory said. “You know, in the book. You have to be able to ignore distraction.”
Elliott concentrated. Poof! The cherry stem burst into flame.
“Nice!” Nory said, quickly dropping the cherry back into the wet bowl of cream. She pulled out a new cherry with her hand. “This time, light just the tip. Like a candle.”
Elliott squinted and a tiny flame flared on the tippity tip of the stem.
“Elliott! Yes!” Nory cried.
“Hey,” Andres accused. “No fair.” He set down his bag of bricks and drifted up to the ceiling, and his voice boomed louder. “Nory’s using her hands to get the cherries out—and Elliott’s lighting them on fire!”
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Their whipped-cream-covered faces swiveled in Nory and Elliott’s direction.
“You’re doing your magic the right way,” Willa said in a funny voice. “How’d you learn to light things on fire instead of freezing them?”
Nory gulped. She sensed Elliott stiffening beside her.
“Nory and Elliott,” Ms. Starr said quietly, “I would appreciate if you could focus on my exercise while you’re in my classroom.”
“What does she mean?” Willa asked. “What other classroom would you be in?”
Nory couldn’t tell everyone what she and Elliott were doing. She couldn’t say to their faces that she wanted out of their class. “It was the germs!” she exclaimed. “Like Marigold said earlier!”
Marigold looked confused.
“I got grossed out,” Nory insisted. “That’s why Elliott lit the cherry on fire. Because I’m afraid of germs.”
She wasn’t a fan of germs, but after growing up in a house with twelve rabbits and a toucan, she wasn’t actually afraid of them. Not as afraid as she was about staying here, in the Upside-Down Magic class.
Pepper cleared her throat. “People have trouble following rules when they get scared. I’m afraid of snakes,” she offered.
Nory shot her a grateful look.
“I’m afraid of worms,” Willa said. “And they come out when it rains.”
“Ah, so this is turning out to be a trust exercise of a different kind,” Ms. Starr said. She clasped her hands. “In fact, this is a teachable moment.”
Everyone groaned.
“Let’s each share something we’re scared of,” Ms. Starr said, passing out individually wrapped wipes. “Nory is scared of germs, Pepper’s scared of worms—”
“Snakes,” Pepper corrected.
“I’m worms,” Willa said.
“And I’m scared of heights,” Ms. Starr finished. “It’s silly! I know! But there it is. Andres? What are you scared of?”
“Wide-open spaces,” he said.
Everyone nodded, and just like that, the others jumped in. Elliott was scared of clowns; Sebastian was afraid of thunderstorms and rock concerts. Marigold was scared of having foods touch each other on her plate. “I absolutely detest gravy,” she said with a shiver. “Gravy creeps me out because it mushes everything together.”
“Yes, I suppose it does,” Ms. Starr said. She turned to Bax, the only student who hadn’t gone. “Bax? Would you like to share?”
“No, thanks,” Bax said.
“Would you share anyway, please?”
Bax glowered at Nory as if this new trust exercise was all her fault.
No one spoke.
The silence grew uncomfortable.
Finally, Bax mumbled something that Nory couldn’t make out.
“I’m sorry, what?” Ms. Starr said.
“Sllldgmrrrs,” Bax said, staring at the carpet.
“One more time?”
Bax exhaled. “Sledgehammers. All right?”
“Sledgehammers?” Willa said. “Why?”
“I get it,” Elliott said. “Because of the rock thing.”
“Ohhh,” the others said.
“It’s a stupid thing to be afraid of,” Bax muttered.
“No, it’s not,” Elliott said. “I wouldn’t want a sledgehammer hitting me. I wouldn’t even want a very small hammer hitting me!”
He said it so earnestly that everyone laughed.
“I’m not kidding,” he insisted. “Hammers of all kinds are serious.”
Bax didn’t smile at Elliott, but he didn’t scowl, either.
Nory felt a rush of affection for Elliott, who was kind to people on purpose. She felt a rush of affection for Bax, too. It surprised her.
But I still want out, she told herself. Anyway, being moved to a regular class doesn’t mean I can’t be friends with the UDM kids.
Bax gave Elliott an awkward fist bump.
Nory looked away. When everyone went around sharing their fears, she was the only one who hadn’t told the truth.
* * *
Finally it was Friday, the day of the test. Nory and Elliott arrived early to school. A woman wearing a narrow skirt and holding a clipboard waited for them outside the gymnasium. “Elliott Cohen?” she asked.
“Yes?” Elliott squeaked.
“Go on, then,” the woman said, pushing open the door to the gym.
“Good luck! You’ll be great! Toast it to perfection!” Nory called.
Elliott looked back at Nory. His eyes were wide. The woman with the clipboard followed behind and the door swung shut.
Nory paced. She tried to crack her knuckles. She did jumping jacks to help get her anxiety out. It felt like forever.
Finally, Elliott burst through the gymnasium doors, beaming from ear to ear.
“Perfect marshmallow!” he shouted. “Principal Gonzalez even ate it—he popped it right into his mouth—and said it was the best marshmallow he’d had all day! I mean, I know it was the only marshmallow he’d had all day, but who cares?”
Nory jumped up and down. “Zamboozle! I am so proud of you!”
The woman with the clipboard cleared her throat.
“Elinor Horace?” She let Nory into the gym.
“You’re going to ace it,” Elliott called out after her. “Box of normal for the win!”
The door shut solidly behind her. She flinched. The gym didn’t have as much of an echo when she came in with the rest of her class. It was the same room with the scarred wooden floor she’d been in many times before, but it felt different now. Bigger. Scarier.
Principal Gonzalez was nowhere in sight, but Nory wasn’t surprised. Elliott had told her on the first day that the principal was invisible.
“Come in, come in,” a voice boomed. Nory turned toward the sound, and now there was a man sitting in the middle row of the rickety gym bleachers. A tall man, with a big silly mustache, tan skin, no hair, and a three-piece velvet suit.
Then he was gone.
Then he was there.
Then he settled into being halfway visible and a pale shade of blue, which Nory knew was quite a difficult Flicker trick.
“So you’re Stone Horace’s daughter,” the man said. “We went to Sage Academy together, did you know that? Went through all our Flicker studies side by side.”
“You’re friends with Father?”
“No,” he said with a sigh. “Not friends. Competitors, you might say. And we have very different educational ideals. But he’s a smart, smart man.” For a second, the principal seemed lost in thought. Then he pulled himself back. “You go by Nory?”
Nory nodded.
He stood and extended his hand. “Principal Gonzalez. Very pleased to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you, too,” Nory said, shaking his hand. It was solid, even though he looked only partly there.
“I am quite excited about this year’s Upside-Down Magic class,” the principal continued. “I’m sorry to hear you want to leave. I don’t know for sure that it’s the best way to teach students with different magics, but I sure hope this will be a good solution. You know, teachers have been arguing about Upside-Down Magic education for a long time. There are many different theories. Now, many UDM classes are starting up around the country. I have high hopes they’ll make a positive change.”
“Ms. Starr is a really good teacher,” Nory said. It was true. Saying it made Nory realize it for sure.
“But you still want to leave?”
She nodded.
“It’s a pity,” he said. “But if it really matters to you, let’s give you a chance.” The principal sat back down on the bleachers and slapped his hands on his thighs. “Let’s see your kitten, shall we? All black, if you please.”
Nory concentrated on her box of normal. She stayed within its safe walls and did her kitten.
She did it perfectly. She held still as Principal Gonzalez inspected her whiskers and teeth, tail and ear fluff. She meowed and followed instructions to jump up on a chair and roll over.
The woman in the narrow skirt opened a can of tuna fish and set it on the floor. Nory didn’t eat it.
Then the woman changed into a mouse and ran in front of Nory. Nory’s human mind stayed in control.
She didn’t chase the mouse.
Then the woman changed into a butterfly and flew around her head.
Nory didn’t chase that, either.
“Fine work, fine work indeed,” Principal Gonzalez said. “You may return to human form, now, please.”
Nory popped from cat to girl.
“All right, then,” Principal Gonzalez said. “You’ve done very well, you and Elliott both.”
“Can we switch to the normal magic classes, then?” Nory asked.
“There are other factors to think about,” the principal said. “But you should be very proud of yourselves.” He studied her, stroking his chin. “I’ll have an answer for you by the end of the day.”
* * *
Elliott waited outside the gym for Nory. The bell rang to start the day and they ran all the way to class.
“Never, never again!” Elliott practically sang. “Never again will I freeze a flower or turn a pizza into a disc of ice. My freezing days are over!”
“And no more skunkephants for me,” Nory said. To her surprise, she felt a pang of loss. She pushed it away.
Elliott stopped running. His cheeks were rosy. “Nory? We’re normal.”
Nory nodded. “As long as we stay in our boxes.”
The UDM students, Nory and Elliott among them, did math and geography and expressed their feelings through interpretive dance.
They did headstands.
Bax went to the nurse.
“My eyes, my eyes!” Sebastian cried during music class. He shielded them with his hands. “If you have to sing, can’t you at least sing on key?”
“If you have to complain, can’t you at least do it in your head?” Andres called from the ceiling.
Sebastian looked up and stuck out his tongue. Andres grinned. Nory suppressed a smile. There might be some things she’d miss once she got transferred out of the UDM class.
Later in the morning, Ms. Starr guided them through a “centering” activity. The students were supposed to balance on their right legs and lean forward, their arms outstretched like wings.
“Yes, Willa!” she said. “Now straighten your left leg and s-t-r-e-t-c-h your left foot behind you. Oh dear, Elliott? Are you all right?”
Elliott was not very centered. He toppled over time after time. At first he laughed, but as the rest of the class got better and he didn’t, Nory could see that it bothered him.
“Don’t worry about it,” she told him, hopping over on her right leg. She was about to say, “We won’t have to do centering exercises when we get to the regular class,” but Bax spoke over her. “Dude. Pinch your earlobe.”
“Huh?” Elliott said.
“When you wobble, pinch your right earlobe.”
Elliott planted his right leg. He stretched out his arms and leaned forward. He extended his left leg behind him and wobbled like crazy.
“Whoa,” he said, pinwheeling his arms.
“Grab your earlobe! Pinch it!” Bax said.
Elliott did, and he found his balance. Then he stretched his arm out again.
He was a perfect airplane. He beamed.
“How’d you know the earlobe thing?” he asked Bax.
“I’m a rock half the time. Rocks don’t wobble.”
“Rocks don’t have earlobes, either,” Elliott said. He frowned.
“Fine,” Bax said. “My mom makes me go to yoga class with her.”
“Well, thanks,” Elliott said. He came out of his airplane and bumped knuckles with Bax again. They did that almost every day now.
Nory wondered if there were things Elliott might miss about UDM, too.
She decided not to ask.
* * *
After lunch, Ms. Starr’s class joined the other kids for recess in the yard. As usual, the UDM kids hung out by the swing set. Today, Elliott brought up the rear, holding Andres on his leash. He barely stopped at the swings, however, and handed the leash to Nory. “Got to go,” he said. “The Sparkies will want to hear the good news!”
“Elliott, wait!” Nory said. She stepped apart from the others and lowered her voice. Andres was floating a safe distance away. “Principal Gonzalez hasn’t told us officially yet.”
“Yeah, but come on. We aced it.”
Nory bit her finger. “Still. Why do you want to tell the Sparkies?”
“They’ll be excited for me,” Elliott said. “You’ll see. We’ve been friends forever and they’re awesome. They just weren’t comfortable with the freezing, which is really understandable.”
He dashed down the hill toward Zinnia, Lacey, and Rune, who were clustered by the woody area near the yard boundary.
“What does he see in those guys?” Nory asked, back at the swing set.
Marigold wrinkled her nose. “I think they’re mean.”
Something twitched against Nory’s wrist. It was Andres’s leash, pulling roughly against her skin.
“Something’s going wrong w
ith Elliott and the Sparkies,” he called down. “We should go over there.”
“What’s happening?” Nory asked. She couldn’t see the woodsy area, but Andres was up high enough to see it. He frog-kicked his legs, making Nory stumble. “Nory! Let’s go. Those guys are being jerks!”
Nory and the other UDM kids took off at a sprint. Nory pulled Andres along. They found Elliott just past the tree line, where it was hard for the lunch ladies to see. He was with the Sparkies in a shadowy spot between two oaks. They had him backed up against a tree.
Lacey held a stick that was on fire.
“Come on, just one for each of us,” Zinnia was saying.
“You don’t understand,” Elliott said. “I’m normal now.”
“But we weally want Popsicles,” Lacey said in a baby voice. “If you were weally our fwiend, you’d make us some.” She waved the flaming stick at Elliott’s head.
“He can’t make Popsicles out of thin air,” Andres called from up high. “Leave him alone!”
The Sparkies swiveled their heads and peered at the sky.
“Or what?” Lacey challenged. “You’ll spit on me?”
Zinnia laughed.
“Seriously,” said Bax. “Elliott, come over here with us.” Elliott hesitated for a second but then came to stand with the UDM kids. “Don’t mess with him again,” Bax said to the Sparkies.
“Oooh, I’m scared!” said Lacey. “Big bad Bax might turn into a rock!”
Bax snarled. “If I do, I hope I land on your foot.”
“Now, Lacey, don’t be mean,” Zinnia said. “Bax can’t help it that he’s always turning into a rock. He’s just wonky.” She swept her hand in an arc. “They all are.”
“We are not wonky,” said Willa. “We’re different.”
“No one says wonky anymore,” added Marigold. “It’s so old-fashioned. You sound like my grandmother.”
“Changing the label doesn’t change the facts,” said Lacey. “Ask anyone. You guys are as wonky as, oh, as wonky as a skunk with an elephant trunk. Ooh, that rhymes!” She laughed. “Wonky as a skunk with an elephant trunk!”
“Don’t,” Nory snapped.
Lacey smirked. “Wow. Great comeback.”
“Stop it.”
“That’s all you’ve got to say?” Lacey retorted. She walked toward Nory. “It blows my mind that your father is headmaster of Sage Academy, while you’re just you. Wonky, weird, and oh so smelly.”
Upside-Down Magic Page 8