Book One: CHAPTER 4

THE GYM BECAME A FIERY SWIMMING POOL; THE ATRIUM A WIND TUNNEL

"Ugh, man I hate math class…" Rachel sighed, as her teacher went on and on about…about…

"What IS he talking about?" It wasn't that Rachel hated math, after all, Zak was in her class, so there wasn't much to complain about. It was simply too early in the morning to focus on such a boring subject. On top of that, it was Friday, and every minute of the day seemed to drag as she desperately waited for the final bell. Unfortunately, that sweet sound of freedom wouldn't be heard for another six hours, and so, she resorted to twirling her hair, tapping the eraser end of her pencil on the desk, and looking out the window.
The bad weather hadn't lifted since the day before. Rachel had been kept up by the loud thunderclaps and the flashes of lightning. She stared, watching as each flash lit up the gloomy sky. Rachel then noticed something. She waited for the next strike, and sure enough the shadow of a man, poised to throw something was illuminated by the light.

"Hey Rachel, can I borrow your calculator?"

"Huh? What?" she said, shaking out of her stupor.

Zak chuckled, "Good point, I don't really care about this math shit, why would I need a...hey…is something wrong? You seem a little spaced."

"Hmm? No…I'm fine…just seeing things, is all…"

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"Ariana, are you okay?"

"Oh, yes Miss…I'm just… um… trying to envision the position of my subjects in order to completely balance the composition before I start painting!" Ariana said with a smile.

"Ah, that's nice. You know, this reminds me of something I did in teacher's college…"

*Oh wonderful, she's talking* Ariana thought as she rolled her eyes. She tried to ignore her teacher as she stared at the huge blank canvas in front of her. She sighed; as much as she loved art class – it was the only non- advanced placement subject she was taking this semester – but she always wound up with the more complicated projects. Of course, she was always able to pull through and make something spectacular, but today she simply wasn't too interested. Somehow her mind wandered to her math class the period prior, the lesson on quadratic functions still freshly imprinted on her mind. She then realized how lame it was for her to be thinking about math, and began to refocus on whatever the teacher was saying, but the room had become so noisy. Everyone was talking at once, and she cringed as she strained to listen to her instructions.

"Hey could you guys keep it down?!" Ariana yelled. The voices stopped and the class stared at her in confusion.  

"Are you feeling alright?" her teacher asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine…it was just a little loud in here…"

"What are you talking about? The room has been silent for the past few minutes." The voices started acting up again, but before Ariana had a chance to say anything, she noticed that no one's lips were moving. Her teacher patted her on the back and Ariana's eyes widened. In an instant, she watched her teacher's entire life flash by; everything she had ever said, learnt, or did was now playing in her mind.

*Oh like I really wanted to know these boring stories in the first place!*
All of a sudden, she felt hungry and began thinking about what she was going to cook that night for her three kids.
*wait…I don't have three kids! And I just ate. ..Mrs. Carmen is always hungry…oh man…*
She tried to shake the thoughts out of her head while walking over to get some supplies. On her way, she accidentally walked into one of the more rickety tables, and the table top slid, sending markers, pastels, brushes, paint jars, and a whole lot of other materials to the ground. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable explosion, but when she opened them, the supplies were suspended in the air. Ariana's eyes darted around the room, checking to see if anyone was watching, as she tried to put them down. As much as she shook her hands, the supplies continued to float around her.

"Oh come on!" she mumbled. She gave her hands a give shake and everything became invisible. "Gosh darn it!"

"Gosh darn what?" one of her classmates said, startling her. She whirled around, sending the supplies flying. The poor boy was confused when paint jars came out of nowhere and splattered a series of colors all over his uniform. He took off his now dirty glasses and gawked in shock.

"I am SO sorry…let me help you…" she said as she helped him clean up. As soon as she touched him, more thoughts flew through her head and she stepped away. Suddenly all she could think about was hockey, English (she hated English) and the Montreal-Canadians.
Ariana really didn't need this right now. She quickly grabbed her paints and looked at her canvas. She put her brush the surface, and quickly started her work. The paint seemed to easily flow from her brush, and her mood lightened. She relaxed and started to sing while she worked; a usual habit of hers, and she was in an old-ish music kind of groove.

"Baby, baby, I'm aware of where you go
Each time you leave my door
I watch you walk down the street
Knowing your other love you'll meet

But this time before you run to her
Leaving me alone and hurt
(Think it over)
After I've been good to you?
(Think it over)
After I've been sweet to you?"

"Stop in the name of…." Ariana sang and Rachel joined in. Ariana accidentally dropped her brush. She retrieved it; it was then that she noticed that all her classmates were frozen in time, except for Rachel who was trying to get a friend's attention. Ariana waved her hands in front of their faces, tapped them on the shoulders, snapped her fingers; she had no response. The bell rang, but no one moved.  Ariana quickly picked up her things and ran out of the room.  Rachel, somewhat unfazed, also gathered her stuff and quickly cleaned up.

Ariana bolted down the hallway; the last thing she wanted was to be caught in there. She bumped into a lot of people in the hallway: cheerleaders, nerds, jocks, seeing their memories flash by in her head. Ariana was feeling dizzy. From across the hall, a boy threw a football to his friend. She bolted down the hall, weaving through the crowd and caught it before it hit an unsuspecting niner in the back of the head. She then chucked it right back to the tosser, hitting him in the gut. Ariana looked down at herself. She was probably one of the most un-athletic kids ever, and suddenly she was fast, agile and strong? She wasn't the only one who had taken notice to this, as Zak spotted her as he left the adjacent art studio, and looked at her in pure amazement.

"Since when can you…?"

"I have no idea what's going on…I just bumped into this guy and…" Ariana blushed. "…I'm…I'm just gonna go to AP French now…" She ran again, this time avoiding any physical contact with anyone. Zak noticed that her art class was frozen, much to his surprise, and he continued staring at her as she left.

"Hey Rachel, do you know what's wrong with Ariana?" Zak asked as Rachel joined him outside her art class

"Something's wrong with her?" Rachel asked as they headed towards the gym

"No, it's just that…she seems different. She caught a football in mid-air and sent the quarterback to the ground."

"Wait, you're talking about OUR Ariana, right?"

"Look I know what I saw, but haven't you noticed how strange…"

"OYE! VHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? BOY'S GYM CLASS DOESN'T START FOR ANOTHZER TWVENTY MINUTES!" Rachel's gym teacher scolded, shooing Zak out of the room.

The teacher was dragging a mesh bag full of Frisbees with her. She handed them out to the girls as they got into partners.

"It is very stormy out-a-side, I a-have to move our class indoors."  The girls spread out in the gym and began tossing the Frisbees to each other. Rachel and her friend were laughing at each other as they threw the Frisbee back and forth. Rachel made a jump catch and threw it back again to her friend. Her friend threw it as hard as she could and the Frisbee went soaring across the gym. Rachel ran after it.

Zak was peeking through the gym door window, and from where he was looking, he could see Rachel growing a tail, and begin to run on all fours. Right before his eyes she transformed into a greyhound, with long slender legs and a thin body, and a brownish-orange coat with dark brown stripes. She leapt up and caught the Frisbee in her mouth, and ran back to her friend dropping the Frisbee in front of her. She was panting, and she sat her haunches, looking around.

Her friend stared at her blankly. "Who let the dog in here?" When Rachel looked down, she noticed the dog paws and body, and she zipped through the gym doors into an empty hallway behind the gym and tried to transform back. It was a slow process. Zak ran after Rachel and scared her, causing her to let out a yelp. She still had a dog snout and tail, but they started to fade and disappear.

"Are you okay Rachel?"
"Yeah I'm fine. I think…I'm not a dog anymore, am I?" she inspected her body trying to see if there were any dog parts left. They heard the bell ring.

"Well I got to go get ready for gym now, see you in a minute" Zak smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Rachel ran back into the gym.

"Where did you go? I saw you run after the Frisbee, but a dog brought it back!"

"Yeah? That's odd; I was just getting a drink of water…." Rachel said with a tinge of relief, seeing that no one had noticed her transformation. "Let's just keep playing."

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"Alright boys, today we are doing the ever-popular 12 minute run around the outside of this gym. Now, choose a partner and get some paper and a pencil to record your each other's results." All the boys groaned, except for Zak, who seemed to look forward to the challenge.

"Dibs on going first, man."

"No argument there." His friend said who was more than happy not to run.

Zak lined up at the start with the other boys and the teacher blew the whistle. They took off in a big group at a jogging speed. Zak easily grew bored of this speed and started to go a little faster, making his way to the he was at the front of the pack. He continued to gain speed. One of the boys tried to catch up to him.
            
"YO ZAK! WAIT UP!"

Zak didn't hear him and zoomed around the gym, running a lap per minute, then every 45 seconds, gradually racing faster. Rachel tried to find him in the group of boys running but didn't see him.

"How'd I do?" he asked his partner

"I lost count after 50-something; I couldn't see you"

"Yo man really?"

The teacher walked up to Zak "Where on earth did you go? All I saw was a blur and your face making goo-goo eyes on your little girlfriend over there every now and then" Zak simply gave a relaxed shrug, and though his coach kept an intensely close eye on him for the next few minutes, he let Zak slide.

After the second group of runners, the girls left the gym, and the boys stared playing soccer. Zak was tearing down the gym with soccer ball. Unlike Rachel's gym teacher, the boy's coach was nicer and allowed people to watch the games.  Rachel sat on the sidelines cheering him on. He was scoring goal after goal, kicking with so much force he barely had to run down the floor. Rachel looked back at Zak after his eighth goal and noticed a small trail of fire had started to appear behind him. The flames were blackening the gym floor, and the fire began to rise.  She swore that Zak's chocolate brown hair had started to glow orange. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, and Zak's hair was completely consumed by...
"FIRE!" one of the girls shrieked on the sidelines. There was a flurry of panic, and within a matter of seconds, the fire alarm was pulled. It was complete mayhem in the school as teens screaming ran out of the gym as the alarms blared. Rachel pushed through the crowd of frightened teens, calling Zak's name. She caught a glimpse of him, fully engulfed in flames, standing stunned as the fire spread to the sidelines. The black smoke filled the gym and the sprinklers activated, although they were really weak and hardly any effect on the growing flames. Rachel looked up at the sprinklers.

"WHY WON'T THESE STUPID THINGS DROWN THIS FIRE ALREADY?!" As soon as she had said this, the metal heads of the sprinklers popped off, and water gushed through the ceiling and swirled around the gym. Rachel looked around in bewilderment as the water twisted around the room. Eventually there was nothing but water around her as the stands, the walls, everything was underwater; the only piece of dry land in the gym was wherever she stepped.

Rachel then realized that she couldn't see Zak anymore and she frantically ran around the room, trying to find him. She reached into the walls of water around her, and pulled Zak out, coughing and gasping for air. He was back to normal, his hair brown again, but he was completely drenched. They looked at each other as the water funnelled down the drain in the change rooms. They weren't the only ones looking though, as students, teachers, and a couple of firemen stood at the door, trying to make some sense of what had just occurred.

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Nick was relieved to finally be in music class. Music was the only class he really looked forward to in a regular school day, and after an English test (easy enough but irritating), a history presentation (that did not bode well), and a fire drill (definitely the wrong day to wear short sleeves), along with the flock of giggling girls suddenly following him, music was a comfort. He gave a happy sigh as he sat on his stool behind the familiar drum set and music stand, drumsticks in hand, ready to play. After warm up and some instruction from his bald teacher, he shuffled through the sheet music to find their newest piece. He glanced at the paper and nodded both in understanding and major approval of the piece. He stretched his finger; this piece relied on the drums and he would be playing for a while.

He gave gave four counts, and after a kid yelled 'wipe-out!' Nick immediately started beating the snare with as much energy as he could, switching to the toms, adding in cymbals and the bass drums. His arms seemed to become a blur as he played, some of his classmates cheering him on. Anyone within ten metres of the room could feel the vibrations as he played the lead-up to the chorus. The room seemed to shake as music stands, tables, chairs, speakers, and the floor trembled as he continued playing. About two-thirds of the way into the song, Nick was pounding on the snare when the speakers violently wailed and burst in the middle of his playing. The class yelped at the boom.

"What the fu-" Nick said as he inspected the speakers, seeing as how he was one of the closest to them.

"What'd you do, Nick?"

"What do you mean what did I do? I'm not even hooked up to the speakers!" Nick placed a hand on one of the woofers, and the lights around the school flickered as blue sparks of electricity flew out from the speaker. The lights began to spark too, and it looked like everything in the room that ran on electricity was fit to burst. Nick stepped away from the speaker in shock, miraculously unaffected and unaware by the volts of electricity that had flowed through his veins. His class sat in the dark, bewildered by the events that took place.

"Are you alright Nicolas?"

"Uh…yeah I'm fine sir, just kind of...well... shocked is all"

"Do you need to see the nurse? There was a lot of electricity touching your arm…"

"No…uh…I'm fine" Nick insisted.

His teacher flicked the switches. "Well, looks like a fuse blew… let's move to the atrium so we can have some natural light."

The school's atrium was very spacious and large. There was a huge skylight above them, and two walls with glass hallways bringing in sunlight. After the class had moved their things and settled down, they began to play a different song. Mr. H had stopped the class to give them some pointers, and Nick sat back in his chair, daydreaming as usual. He allowed his mind to wander until he had a tickle in his nose. At first, the feeling stopped and Nick was able to daydream again, but then the urge became so strong, he had no time to delay the...

"ACHOO!"  A gust of wind caused all the doors on the first floor to blow wide open; sheet music whirled around the open atrium; music stands were knocked over; his classmates had toppled out of their seats and when the wind died down, and the papers started to float back to the third floor, Mr. H's shiny head peeked out from behind his stand. His glasses were dishevelled, but he was quick to straighten them. Once he had composed himself, be clear his throat, and in the calmest voice he could make, he said

"Bless…you…"

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The day had crawled by for Nick, Zak, Rachel, and Ariana, and it was finally the last period of the day. Upon entering the room, Ariana, Rachel and Nick were greeted with faces of suspicion, questions and distrust; no doubt people were questioning the event of that day. They quietly went and sat in front of the lab tables, avoiding eye-contact with their peers. They silently hoped that the lesson would soon begin. Just as it did, Zak burst through the door and ripped it off its hinges.

"YO YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FU-"
                  
"Glad you could make it Zak" Mr. Strong said sarcastically. Zak awkwardly looked at the door in his hands and tried to put the door back up. The hinges had been torn off the wall, however, and there was not much hope in fixing it. After trying to push the door into place several times, he became fed up with the class' snickers, and eventually sighed and put it against a wall. The handle was badly bent, but Zak ignored it and plopped beside Nick at one of the benches.

"As I was saying before our little interruption, today we are doing a lab on Physical and Chemical Changes, so turn to page 180. All materials and apparatus can be found on the trolleys over there," Mr. Strong explained. He turned his blue, stone-cold eyes to his laptop screen, and the students all got to work.

"Let's see what we need..." Rachel said, reading off the list in the textbook. "eye protection..." a set of glasses slid onto the two girls faces, Rachel adjusted them "check...2 test tubes, a test tube rack, a Bunsen burner, a utility stand with a clamp, a spark lighter, a test tube stopper, a scoop, a  piece of Magnesium ribbon, a wooden splint, some copper (II) sulphate, steel wool and a prepared test tube of Lauric acid" Rachel continued, she looked at the lab table and all the stuff she had read off was in front of them. She also noticed that the whole class was looking at her and Ariana.
"What are you guys looking at?" Rachel asked. The class turned their heads and went about their own business. Perhaps they were just seeing things after all. Rachel looked at her friend, who could only reply with a nervous shrug.

"We also need diluted hydrochloric acid, distilled water, and a diluted solution of sodium hydroxide, in dropper bottles" Ariana continued, trying to turn the attention away. The dropper bottles appeared and the liquids flowed into them. They slowly sloshed around in side of the bottles. Rachel and Ariana looked at each other and then worriedly at Mr. Strong. He was organizing whatever materials he kept in his suspicious metal briefcase, and didn't seem to notice.

Although Ariana and Rachel had gotten off to an easy start, the boys weren't as good at science as the girls were, and were having some difficulty gathering there materials.

"Zak we need 2 test tubes can you grab them?" Nick asked as he grabbed some other equipment and headed back to their lab table.

Zak stared at the various glass containers on the trolley. "Uh...which one is the..."

"The long skinny one..."

"Okay, so the one that looks like you?"

Nick glowered and set his stuff down on the lab bench, as some girls came up to him and began to flirt. Zak rolled his eyes, somewhat irritated by karma, and turned his eyes to the trolley again. He grabbed a test tube and examined it, ensuring it wasn't dirty. As he inspected it, the glass cracked in his hands.

"Ugh shit." He threw the now useless pieces of glass into the garbage and grabbed another test tube. It quickly cracked in his hands as well.
                  
"What?" Zak said grabbing another one with two fingers, being as gentle as possible. Once again, the test tube broke.

"Zak seriously, would you hurry up and grab those test tubes already?" Nick sighed. He leaned on the lab bench, and fell right through it. He shook his head in confusion, and saw that he wasn't imagining things; he had fallen through the lab bench and his body was sticking out from it. He tried to get up, bumping his head on the trolley's edge, sending another three test tubes to the ground in the process.
                  
"What's going on over here?" Mr. Strong asked. He looked at the destroyed test tubes in the trash can and the floor, and he heaved a long sigh. "I know you boys are new to AP science but I would have hoped you would know how to take care of a test tube" He grabbed two test tubes and set it on the test tube rack.
                  
"ZAK PUT YOUR GOGGLES ON!" Rachel scolded
                  
"But I look like such a nerd…"
                  
"Um… Zak you do realize you're in AP science… were all nerds" Ariana said turning around on her stool."

"Exactly, why would I want to look like you freaks?" Everyone in the class turned and glowered. If anyone's looks could kill, it would have been their faces. Even Rachel was giving him a disappointed look, hands on her hips. Zak sighed in defeat.
                  
"Fine…" Zak said placing the goggles back over his eyes.
                  
"Okay what's next Ariana?" Rachel asked trying to get back on topic
                  
"we need to add 0.5 grams of copper (II) sulfate to the test tube" a small chunk of the copper (II) sulfate dropped itself into the test tube and a stopper closed it off the test tube then floated shaking itself to mix the contents.

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Zak and Nick were still stuck on their first part. Zak was fiddling with the Bunsen burner turning the gas on and off and Nick had picked up the spark plug. He accidentally brought it too close to the gas; a sudden whoosh of fire was heard and when Rachel and Ariana looked back at them to find their boyfriends faces covered in black soot, with their hair standing up. Zak and Nick noticed tiny flames in each other's hair, and they quickly started to pat each other out. Rachel and Ariana tried to control their laughter.

"Yep, I'd call that a chemical reaction, alright…" Ariana laughed.
                  
"See I told you that you need to wear your goggles" Rachel giggled
                  
"Boys, boys, boys…" Mr. Strong said shaking his head "Here's some paper towels. Go wash your faces" He sighed, the boys stood up and walked out of the class toward the bathroom, as soon as they left the whole class burst out laughing.

The boys had returned from the bathroom and had begun arguing, Zak lit the flame on the Bunsen burner and Nick angrily held the test tube above it.
                 
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT IT EXPLODED, YOU WERE THE ONE WITH THE SPARK THING" Zak yelled
                  
"WELL YOU WERE THE ONE PLAYING WITH THE BUNSEN BURNER" Nick retorted.
Rachel and Ariana noticed that the flames were growing on the Bunsen burner and small sparks were flying out of the Spark Lighter.
                 
"Umm… guys…" Ariana said trying to get their attention, the concoction Nick was holding over the flame was now bubbling in the test tube but the boys took no notice continuing their argument.
                 
"THE ONLY THING THE BUNSEN BURNER GIVES OFF IT GAS, YOU HAD TO LIGHT IT AND YOU OBVIOUSLY USED TOO BIG OF A SPARK" Zak argued.
                 
"ALL THE SPARK DOES IS LIGHT THE GAS IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH OF THE GAS WAS RELEASED, AND YOU WERE THE ONE FIDDELING WITH IT GENIUS" Nick shouted
                  
"Yeesh, they sound like an old married couple" Rachel whispered to Ariana
                  
"WERE NOT AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE" both boys yelled at the girls, who had burst out laughing. Suddenly, the stopper in the boys test tube flew off hitting Mr. Strong in the back, the liquid inside bubbled out, Nick dropped the test tube, the Hydrochloric acid began to melt the plastic covering the table, Rachel quickly waved her hand causing water to engulf the acid and brought it up into a bubble of water disposing it in one of the sinks.
               
  "I believe this is yours…" Mr. Strong said giving the boys back their stopper.