Chapter 5 

   Denaé, Amy and I sat together in the cafeteria, surrounded by the bubbling noise of all the students talking and laughing. It was dinnertime. We had finished the rest of our classes for the day without any more disturbances.

   “That was really strange.” Amy finally said, twirling her fork in her spaghetti. I looked up, a noodle hanging from my mouth. I sucked it in. “Yeah it was.” I replied, looking down at my meatball.

   Denaé looked up, she blinked, her deep amber eyes were lined with worry. “I hope nothing else goes wrong.” Amy turned to her. “You heard Mrs. Harris during announcements, it was just an accident!” The violet fox insisted. Denaé scrunched up her face, obviously not so sure, but almost ready to believe her. I nodded, not very convinced.

   Denaé noticed my concern and gently put a paw on my back “It is okay, Isis.” She smiled. “If anything goes wrong, we don’t need to worry. We’ve got the best detective in all of Jamaa with us!” I had to smile. “Thanks, Denaé.” I laughed. “Although I am far from best.”

   We finished our food and everyone was dismissed to their dorms for a good night’s sleep.

   The three of us quickly grabbed some earl grey tea from the coffee table and began back to our dorms, first dropping by the lockers where we left our backpacks full of textbooks and notes.

   I kicked my metal locker door closed. “Good bye and good riddance!” I yelled. Denaé giggled.

   The three of us walked slowly back to our dorms. It was almost 5 and we had some time to kill before bed. That was when we heard the hushed growls of an argument.

   “No!” It was Miss. Belinda the music teacher. “Music should not be grouped with options, it is unique and special!” The next voice was all too familiar: Mrs. Harris.

   “Music is not very studious.” She replied calmly. “It should be put into options because it is more for fun. It is of lesser value than something like math or… or history!” The argument kept going as we continued on our way.

   We made it back to our dorms, setting our teas down on the table by the window. I pulled out my fluffy pink housecoat from the closet and tossed it onto my bed. We all got into our pajamas and snuggled up in our woolly slippers.

   I sat on my bed, snuggled up in my housecoat and blanket from home. I blew on my tea to cool it off before taking a sip.

   “Want to watch a show?” Amy asked us. She had her sleeping mask on her forehead as if she was just about ready to fall asleep.

   I glanced at Denaé who nodded. “Okay.” She replied. Amy bowed and hopped onto her bed, setting her tea on her bedside table.

   She picked up the remote and turned the TV on. “A movie or just a show?” She asked again. “Movie.” I replied. “We still have a while before we need to be asleep.” Denaé and Amy nodded in agreement.

   “One bedtime movie, coming up!” She began flipping through the channels while Denaé and I sipped daintily at our teas.

   That was when I heard my phone buzz. I pulled it out of my pocket. Astron was calling. “Hello?” I spoke into it. Denaé looked up at me.

   “Hey, Isis!” Astron said, the hint of a smile in his voice. “How was your first day of school?” Astron was supposed to be in class with us, but he had to take care of some family business and would be arriving at the school next month. “Great! Everyone is so nice…” I paused to put the phone on speaker and set it on the bed. That was when I realized what I said was actually not true. “Well, almost everyone.” This seemed to cause him distress. “What? Are you guys okay?” I smiled at his concern. “We are just fine.” Denaé looked over. “Evica?” She asked, assuming what our conversation was about. I nodded.

   “Ugh!” I heard Amy declare. “That girl is SOMETHING ELSE!” There was a laugh from the phone. “Hi Amy, Denaé.” They both replied with cheerful “Hellos.”

   “Well, I'm glad you guys are doing well.” Astron said. “I just wanted to check in and see how you were all doing. I have to go pretty soon.” I nodded, even though he wouldn’t be able to see. “Alright.” I replied. All “Something really weird happened today.” Denaé told Astron. “Oh?” He asked, curious. Denae sat up. “While we were in science class, the lights suddenly shut off.” She said. There was a pause. “That is really strange. Did they figure out why?” Astron asked. Amy shook her head. “Nope.”

   That was when we heard a muffled yell from the phone. “Oop.” My arctic wolf friend said. “I have to go. Mom needs more help.” Astron told us. I smiled. “Alright.” I replied. “Thanks for checking in, and phone again soon!” He made a noise that indicated he understood. “Bye!” I called. “Bye!” Amy and Denaé said in unison.

   “See ya!” Astron said. I hung up and leaned back against my pillow, closing my eyes.

   “Astron is so nice.” Denaé said, copying me. “Yeah.” I agreed. We lay on our beds in the fading light, listening to the noise of Amy switching through the channels which consisted of snippets of movie conversations, and her irritated sighs as she had trouble finding something to watch.

   “AHA!” Amy finally exclaimed. “I found something that is just about to start. Plus it looks decent enough.” She hopped backwards, landing on her back. “Ahhhh…” She snuggled up into her blankets with her tea.

   She took her very first sip, eyes closed. Suddenly they flew open and she leapt up with rage. “MY TEA IS COLD!” She bellowed. Denaé burst into giggles, covering her head with her pillow.

   “Here, let me heat it up for you.” I said, taking it from her and walking to our little kitchenette. It was quite small, simply containing a microwave, fridge and freezer, as well as a little coffee table like the one in the cafeteria.

   I poured the tea into one of my ceramic cups before sticking it into the microwave. I hummed quietly to myself as I waited for it to warm. That was when I heard the movie start.

   The microwave beeped so I pulled the cup out and walked quickly back to the beds. “Here ya go!” I handed Amy her steaming cup of tea. “Thank you so much, dear.” She purred, taking a sip. I smiled. She had such dramatic reactions for problems with such simple solutions. The three of us sat in the darkness of our dorm as we watched the movie.

   It was an interesting show, actually, more scary than enjoyable. It was an apocalyptic themed movie with zombie phantoms. 

   After a few hours, the film finished. Denaé had fallen asleep, but Amy and I were wide awake and scared to the bone.

   “That was amazing but also very horrifying.” Amy whispered at the end, her eyes still glued to the screen. “It was, wasn’t it?” I replied, standing up with a stretch. I put Amy’s cup on the counter and threw Denaé and my disposable cups out.

Returning, I gently drew a blanket over Denaé’s sleeping body before running to the washrooms to brush my teeth.

   I returned to the room shortly and snuggled up into my blankets while Amy finished up applying her deluxe face mask (this time instead of peppermint it was apple cinnamon) and quickly returned to bed.

   “Tomorrow is full dress…” Amy groaned, already half asleep. I sighed as well. I was not looking forward to wearing a tie.

   Exhausted from the excitement of the day, we quickly drifted into slumber. At my very last second of being awake, when I was just on the edge of sleep, I thought to myself, I'm so glad zombie phantoms don’t exist.

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Zombie phantoms… yikes! Do you think they would be immune to boomseeds? What would you need to destroy them? Tell me in the comments below!

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