Evadeen Brickwood - Children of the Moon

He walked a few paces forward and nearly collided with Chryséis. She turned around and fled.

Chryséis ran towards the door, thudding her big toe against the doorframe as she took the corner. It hurt an awful lot, but she bit her lip, trying not to make a noise.

Only when Chryséis had reached the top of the stairs, she checked if it was safe. Nobody followed her. Then she switched off the invisibility device at last. She bit her lip and tried to walk as normally as possible. Her toe throbbed with pain, but she managed to smile a greeting at Mr. Van Straten, who was on his way to the staff room.

Trevor and Katherine were waiting for her outside the lab. By the time she reached the Whitby Wing, Chryséis had recovered enough to tell her friends what had happened. She whispered her story in hushed tones, because other students were standing around. Not the best place to exchange secrets.

To add insult to injury, Katherine and Trevor could barely contain themselves. They kept chuckling and Chryséis threatened not to finish her story if they didn’t keep it down. But then she had to grin as well. Imagine Mr. Hunter and Miss Gould!

Holly Benson shot stern glances at them from her desk inside the laboratory. Of course it was Trevor Huxley and his two girlfriends, she thought annoyed.

“Unbelievable! Can’t you be quiet when we have to work?”

She looked around in search of support, but nobody else seemed to take any notice of them. She wondered what could possibly be so funny. Well, I’ll find out, she thought smugly, and then they’re in trouble.

But the day didn’t end pleasantly for Holly.

In the evening, she found a slippery frog in her bed. Holly screamed blue murder, when her feet touched the moist, squirming animal. The blood-curdling scream could be heard everywhere in the girls dormitory.

She threw the blankets off and the horrified frog jumped up and down trying to escape, and quickly ended up in the flowerbed below, leaping toward the safety of the pond. Holly was furious.

She suspected now this culprit, now another. Two seven-graders high-fived in their room on the second floor and grinned.

There was nothing the startled matron could do, except for shooing giggling girls back into their bedrooms.

And Holly never found out who had played that ghastly prank on her.

It was lunchtime in the dining room and as Cook had promised, they ate a special Sunday meal: crayfish – and roast chicken for those with a shellfish allergy.

“So what’s your IQ score then, Holfield?” Holly Benson smirked in the new girl’s direction.

She hadn’t been very friendly to anyone since the prank with the frog. Sally’s face turned the colour of the red crayfish on her plate. She suddenly didn’t feel hungry anymore.

“Leave her alone Benson,” Chryséis snarled a warning without looking up. They all knew what Holly had in mind.

“What is it with you, Cromwell? Can’t I ask a simple question without your approval?” Holly sulked.

It was such a bother with Chris and Katie, she thought. They always had to spoil a bit of fun with the new ones. Holly tried a smile in Sally’s direction.

“Ahem 144,” Sally breathed, fixing her gaze on a spot on the white tablecloth. She didn’t want any trouble. Perhaps Holly wasn’t as bad as Chryséis and Katherine had led her to believe. Look, she was smiling! Why couldn’t they all just be friends? But Chryséis stuck to her guns.

“Listen here, don’t try and make her feel bad, Benson. How about some small talk, before showing off your fabulous IQ score? Oh, I forgot... that’s not your style.” Chryséis’s voice took on a silly breathless quality.

“What’s wrong with talking about one’s IQ? Pah!”

Holly knew from past experience that she couldn’t possibly win this argument with Chryséis Cromwell. What a bore. Must be genetic, she thought hotly, just look at that odd mother of hers.

Others began to stare at them. Many of the kids thought that Holly was a terrible snob, but Holly knew better. Her superior intelligence went hand in hand with a little bit of arrogance, which was quite normal. Her Dad always said so.

They all continued to eat in silence until Dr. Broadbent announced an excursion to Carter Valley, planned for Saturday in two weeks time. Next weekend was reserved for the school’s annual Sports Day. All-round cheering and some grumbling ensued.

Sport’s Day, already! Katherine and Chryséis looked at each other. They had only just arrived back at school! The sporty students were, of course, delighted.

“Mens sana in corpore sano, ladies and gentlemen. Nothing like a breath of fresh air and aching muscles to tickle stale thoughts out of your grey cells,” Dr. Broadbent boomed over the noise and launched into a brief speech praising the virtues of team sports.

Trevor didn’t listen. His thoughts were far away. He was a good tennis player, but Sports Day was a nuisance right now. The time portal finder needed to be tested again. He no longer had to sweep the back veranda and the garden path, but cycle tests had been scheduled for every day of next week. And then there was Holly to consider. The project was due in less than 3 weeks.

Then he had an idea. The excursion to Carter Valley - it would be ideal!

On Saturday, it rained cats and dogs and the Sports Day had to be canceled. All competitions and fun games were postponed to a weekend in April.

Students were milling about in their sports gear, not knowing what to do with themselves. Many lounged around in little groups on the back veranda and watched the downpour. Others watched TV in the common rooms.

Chryséis, Katherine and Trevor had visited the ‘Paraguayan Coffee Shop’, corner Church and Bailey Streets. Dr. Naidoo. Their English teacher had agreed to let them wait in the coffee shop next to the movie theater. All the other students and teachers went to watch the new movie ‘The Caterpillar Club’.

The three aspiring time travellers had decided immediately to try out the virtual invisibility cape.

A bit risky perhaps, but they needed to observe the effect under different conditions. And the coffee shop wasn’t too busy.

The girls had put on the alicebands in the dark foyer of the movie theater and slipped through the door of the coffee shop right behind Trevor. They had left mysterious footprints on the floor, but it was impossible to tell them from all the other wet footprints.

Trevor settled himself at a bistro table by the window and ordered a hot chocolate and a piece of carrot cake. Two lonely daypacks sat on the other two chairs at the table.

“My two friends are on their way,” he had told the waitress.

Trevor was supposed to wait for Chryséis and Katherine, but they almost regretted their daring plan. Somebody walked into Katherine, as the two girls made their way invisibly to the restrooms at the back.

A young woman stormed through the swing door dividing the coffee shop from the passage. Her hand brushed against Katherine, giving the girl a mighty fright. Katherine clung to Chryséis, who nearly dropped the muffin she had impishly picked up on the counter.

The woman looked up for a second. “Oh!” She looked in their direction, but could she see them?

Katherine’s heart missed a beat and she was incredibly relieved when the woman just sat down at her table. They felt their way along the wall and squeezed through the open gap of the restroom door. Then they pressed themselves against the wall next to the hand dryers. They waited for two ladies to finish powdering their noses. Then the girls quickly de-activated the VICs.

“Phew, that was close!” Katherine’s eyes were as round as saucers.