Chapter 7 

   It was time for options. The option I picked was first aid, while Amy took fashion and so did Denaé. (She also chose baking, but she does that every other day.)

   As I was walking down the school halls to Miss. Wild’s class, an animal darted around the corner and we collided.

   “Oh!” She yelped. “I am so sorry, dear!” I fell backwards, my papers flying everywhere. “I am so sorry!” She began sweeping my papers up and putting them in a pile.

   I groaned and sat up to see Mrs. Harris. She noticed me watching and smiled. “There.” She handed me a stack of notes.

   “Hello Mrs. Harris.” I said, smiling back. “I'm so glad to see you. I wanted to talk to you about something.” This caused her face to fall and her forehead to crease. “Oh no.” She began. “I hope it wasn’t you! You are a very good student.” It took me a second to process what she said, and realize that she thought I was going to confess.

   “Oh, no, no.” I hurried. “I wanted to tell you that I saw the figure who stole the uniforms.” The teacher’s eyes widened. “They looked like a fairly big animal, and slightly hunched over.” I told her. She narrowed her eyes as she thought. I continued.

   “It might have been Casella.” I had just recently come up with this theory. “When her brother accused her of doing it, she totally blew up. She seemed very angry that he would accuse her which means she might be hiding something.” I shrugged. “That is the best I’ve got right now.” Mrs. Harris was nodding thoughtfully now.

   “That is very useful information, Isis. Thank you.” She smiled at me. “I am very sorry to cut this short, honey. But I have to be off. Thank you so much!” The teacher gently patted me on the head and walked off.

   I rushed to the First Aid class, hoping I wouldn’t be late. I raced the rest of the way, fully aware that running was not allowed, but it wasn’t like they were going to expel me or anything.

   I made it to the classroom and quickly slipped inside. Everyone was staring at me.

   “Miss. Isis,” The teacher said icily. “You are late.” She looked at me over her glasses. I bowed my head and quickly sat down at the rows of tables with everyone else.

   “I am sorry, I had to speak with the Secondary Headmistress.” This appeared to cause a disturbance. They thought I was the criminal.

   “I see.” Miss. Wild replied. “Well, let us wait no longer.” She turned around and switched the projector on.

   “Today we will be learning about Adult and Child CPR for the beginning part of our lesson, then about AEDs and how to use those later.”

   She clicked her remote and the projector changed to a slide saying ‘Do CPR if…’ on it.

   “CPR is a very useful thing to learn.” She began, her voice serious. “Before we get into how to perform CPR, let us learn what needs to happen before we do CPR.” The teacher pointed to the board. “There are four symptoms that indicate the need for CPR. The first is if the victim is not breathing.” She turned back to us, pointing at the notebook of the student in front of her. “Start writing this down.”

   I unzipped my backpack and slid the purple notebook I got from Writer’s Nook out of it. I opened it to the first page and set it on my desk, holding a pen in my other paw. Miss. Wild paused to let us write our notes down. She sat on her desk and reviewed her pages, occasionally looking up at the projector, which now included the word ‘breathing’ on it. Once we were finished writing, she continued.

   “You are also to do CPR if the person you are assessing has no pulse or circulation.” Miss. Wild informed us. She slipped off her desk and held out a paw, using her other paw to press gently on her wrist. “You can feel the heart beating and the blood circulating if you press the right spot on your paw, or on your neck.” The whole class began to copy her, feeling their pulse.

   “Now, the last symptom that shows CPR is necessary, is if there is no response from the animal you think might be in danger.” She let go of her wrist. “You can check for response by hitting the ground around the animal, by yelling, or by poking the animal.” She made this appear on the board. “Take your notes and we will move on.”

   I stared at my book, quickly jotting the information down. I already knew some first aid, but that was only the super basic stuff like choking. You need to know that to babysit, which happened to be my first paying job.

   “Alright, now if the animal you are evaluating has these symptoms, instantly have someone call 9-1-1 for emergency help.” She turned to the next slide which had a video.

   “Now, we will learn how to do CPR. I will quickly give you a brief explanation of how to do it, then we will watch an example video.” Our teacher sat in her chair and faced us, a lifeless, stone look on her face. “To begin, you do 30 chest compressions. You do this by laying the victim on the ground, standing over them and pressing hard and fast on their chest.” She really emphasised the “hard and fast” part.

   One of the girls raised her hand. Our teacher nodded at her, indicating she was permitted to speak. “How do you press on them? With just one hand?” She asked, shifting in her seat. Miss. Wild stood up and walked to the front of the class. “Put one paw on top of the other paw,” she instructed, doing that very thing and looking at the students. “Lock your arms so they are firm. Then you stand over the injured animal and press on their chest.” The students nodded, writing this down. “Press right in the middle of the chest a little under the collarbone.” She reminded us, putting up a finger.

   “Alright.” Wild began again, spinning around in her chair to face the whiteboard. “Once you complete the 30 chest compressions, you need to lift-”

   She was interrupted by the piercing shriek of the fire drill. Everyone jumped. Sudden panic fizzed through the air as every person looked wildly around.

   Miss. Wild rapped her pointer firmly on the desk. “Students! STUDENTS!” She scowled. “Stop acting like infants! You know what to do, line up by the door!” She took swift strides to the exit, ushering her class to follow. “Up, up! Hurry, come along!”

   We obeyed, getting up, and quickly walking after her. Our group rushed through the door and began down the hall, when Headmistress Marie burst from the office. “Wild!” She called. Our teacher rushed over to her. “Yes, Marie?” She replied. “Get the students outside and by the gate. I will stay here and make sure everyone is out. Be snappy!” As she was saying this, another animal exited the office: Mrs. Harris.

   “Harris!” Marie said, startled. “I didn’t know you were in there.” Mrs. Harris looked from Marie to Wild and back. “I was getting the attendance papers.” She held up a clipboard, her eyes worried. “You forgot them.”

   Marie dipped her head thankfully and gently placed a paw on Miss. Wild’s back. “Go.” She commanded. “We will follow shortly.” Our teacher nodded steadfastly and continued down the stairs, hissing at us to follow closely. We sprinted hastily out the door and into the bright, sunny yard. We headed down the cobblestone road and arrived at the metal gate.

   Everyone was jumbled together, talking excitedly and whispering about the mysterious fire. “I didn’t see any smoke,” one student would say, “that was so scary!” another burst out.

   The obnoxious sound of fire trucks was soon heard echoing through the school yard, as two large, red fire trucks raced into school property.

   Firefighters leapt out and ran into the faculty, ready to look for a fire. Just as they sped in, Headmistress Marie stumbled out, Harris at her heels. They dashed over to us, telling us to keep calm and that everything would be alright.

   They quickly began attendance, double checking that no one had been left in the building.

   “ISIS!” I heard someone cry. “ISIS!” Amy and Denaé both rushed over to me, gripping me compactly in a tight hug. “Oh we were so worried! We couldn’t find you!” Amy gasped, snuggling into my thick, winter fur.

   All of us waited there in the yard for about half an hour before the firefighters returned. Some of them walked back to the truck and drove one away, while the remaining animals started toward us.

   “There doesn’t appear to be any sign of a fire, Ma’am.” A penguin reported to Headmistress Marie. “Someone turned the alarm on.” The white fox’s eyes widened. “But everyone was in their class!” She retorted. The firefighter shrugged. “I'm just doing my job, and that’s what we found.” The other animals with him nodded.

   Marie blinked a few times, looking down. Violet, the black and purple Arabian horse, spoke up again. “I hate school so much!” She stomped a hoof and shook her mane. “It is making EVERYTHING WORSE.” She sniffed. One of her friends commented, saying that it wasn’t school making everything worse, but whatever idiot was ruining their school year. She ignored this and continued plaguing school.

   “Mira Academy is sooo much better!” Creamy orange Anastasia sang. “No trouble like this whatsoever and everyone is safe!” She insisted. Mrs. Harris spoke up again, her voice solemn and defeated. “Yes. I believe my cousin is right.” She sighed. I furrowed my brow. Cousin? Amy appeared to be thinking the same thing and looked up quizzically at me.

   “The school should be shut down!” The tiger declared. Instantly, Marie leapt forward. “No!” She shouted. She realized how forceful she had been and lowered back down. “No…”

   I stepped forward looking our Headmistress in the eyes. “Let me figure out who did it.” I voiced. Something shifted in her gaze, and her twin orbs flinched. I heard some of the students behind me gasp and start to whisper.

   Mrs. Harris stepped in. “Alright, but you must figure out who did everything before the next accident, or Silver Moon Academy will be shut down, for good.” Her eyes were ferm. I nodded with enthusiasm.

   “Oh I will.” I told them, my bright eyes sparkling with determination. “Just you wait and see. I will catch that criminal if it’s the last thing I do…”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another accident! The whole “curse” thing is getting a little out of control… Do you think Isis will be able to solve the mystery before it’s too late? Also, FYI guys all the stuff they learn in school is accurate information, so you get to learn in a fun way! LOL I hope you are enjoying the story! 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*This story is written by Nop. Cutey just uploads it to the site for her. Thanks! Jam On!