I giggle, taking the wheels, to say, and push her a little too fast through the halls. She's giggling leaning backward, "It's upstairs, right? Our class?"

"Ya!"

Before we can disappear Luna pulls me back, Rebecca making a startling noise, looking back, "Luna?" 

"I just need to tell my Aan something." Luna leans in real close, her breath tickling my ears, "I know you have questions. We can talk much later, and my Aan. Stop fretting, do not fear the future. Your red hue will never disappear." She leaves to go to her own class, Hazel disappears too. Rebecca and I rush to algebra. 

Our class is close tot he stairs, which are across from the elevator we take to get up there. The classroom looks like any traditional math class. Gaudy and cute posters all over the wall with a range of math jokes and encouragement. The cabinets are full enough that they stick out slightly with multicolored papers and pencils. Across from the room, next to the whiteboard is a desk with more colorful math stuff and even a stuffed apple. It's more old school with markers and erasers rather than a flat screen the younger teachers use now. 

I wheel Rebecca over to the middle of the class, pulling out her chair and settling it to the side as Rebecca guarded the seat next to her from the other children coming in. I get back, sitting down, and placing my stuff on my desk. Other kids are also claiming their desks and saving others from friends. 

All of them... have white things attached to their backs. 

I clench my pen, taking steady deep breathes. Rebecca reaches over lightly touching my hand, "Are you alright?"

"Oh... ya, I'm fine. Just nervous is all." It's partially true, I mean math is not entirely my best subject. Last year, I barely got a B, and that's only because Hazel and the others helped me out with all my homework and studying. Sometimes, I just feel so dense and stupid. 

A kid came into the classroom and I immediately recognized him. His nickname is Rinny, though I have little idea what his real name is. He's a Chinese-mixed kid with some Mexican heritage I think. His dark skin always turns several shades darker when summer ends, so he glows like a bronze statue. His high cheekbones are larger than his small nose that hangs between two small near gold-brown eyes. His smile is a little large but in a good way. He's dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with a strange saying on it in Chinese I think. He has a large bag, twice the size of mine that dangles from his spidery limbs. he greets everyone by name and smiles  noticing me and laughing kindly, "Hey, how was summer?" 

"A mix of fun, boring, and days of sleeping. " I grin back, "How's yours?"

He laughs, "Mom decided I had to take a summer course in math. She's still determined I need a good career like a doc or lawyer or something." He shrugs, "I want something not math-related." 

I laugh, "I understand that." 

Rebecca pushes forward, "Have you gotten anywhere with Luna yet?!" 

Rinny blushes, "W...What?" He turns away unable to hide the pink rising to his cheeks, "I... I don't know what you mean." 

Rinny has had a crush on Luna since the day she said his real name right the first time. She's the only one who calls him it, especially since no one else including me can remember it right. He was a cut stalker for a few years back and has been trying very hard to get Luna to notice him. Rebecca and I have been trying to help the poor kid, but Luna is denser than boulders when it comes to things like this. 

Rebecca teases, "You have a birthday soon right? Well, invite one of us, and we will make sure she gets there. That way we give you a present for cheap. Right, Kiro." She beams, "And maybe we can put a ribbon in her hair, do you like blue or red." 

Rinny blushes heavier, "Stop teasing me." 

Rebecca smiles, "Can't help it, you look cute painted in red. Like a tree in love." She blinks, "Oooh, a good poem idea. I'll write that down. Anyway, you got to man up and tell her soon. Or some hotshot will try and take LUna right from your hands." She squeezes her hands together mimicking a theft. "You got to tell her on your birthday! We'll dress her cutely, but not so much you can't speak. Just enough to get your heart racing!" 

Rinny looks unable to breath, "Please no... I don't think I can do it... not if she looks..." He shakes his beat red face, looking away from us. "I'll invite you two... just... please... I'll like her to come..." 

Rebecca sighs, "Fine!" 

The bell rings, just as our teacher comes in. It's Mrs. Lucy. I've met her and her husband a few times, especially when they got too old to put their own groceries into their home. I helped them a few times this summer. She and her husband are very nice people. 

Mrs. Lucy is a sweet old looking woman, with greying white hair she made into a messy bun. Her dress hangs loosely around her, she must have lost a few more pounds, making her legs and arms stick thin and hang with flesh. Her face is wrinkled loosely, with bags under her eyes and mouth. Her once brilliant dark blue eyes are now a pale reminder of her past youth. Her voice is still sweet like birds singing, but raspy at the end like a bird that's got a nasty cough. 

"Children, please sit down. I'll go through roll call," She lists several names, and everyone either rose their hand or shouted here. She gets to the last kid, before settling it down and clapping her hands, "My name is Mrs. Archawhile. But please call me Mrs. Lucy. My last name is a mouthful. If you are uncomfortable with my first name, just call me Mrs. Arch. I expect a Mrs. Alright." She looks around, "Today I just want to get to know each one of you, the best way to do that is with a math test. It won't count negatively on your work, just do the best you can." She smiles while handing papers to be passed down the line. "Don't get nervous, just do your best. Afterward, I want to play a fun little game to get to know one another. Of course, it will be a math game. Everything we do will be fun and math-related." 

A few kids let out a groan. 

I take a piece handing the package behind me to the next student. As Mrs. Lucy said, it's not a bad test. The first five problems are easy enough, but it gets harder and harder as I progress. 

I suddenly shiver, eyes bearing down my neck sending shivers along my spine. Clutching my chest, I quickly glance around but see no one. I'm sure I felt something staring at me though.

Shrugging away the feeling I get back to work. After question twenty the feeling gets worse. Pin needles dig into my head poking and ravaging around. Gripping my hand tight, I lean my forehead onto the table, trying to cool it down. It doesn't work, the pain gets sharper and faster so much so that I want to throw up.  

A strong scent of fresh morning dew and cut grass fills the classroom, and the pain spreads all along my body. I taste blood and feel it on my neck drip down to my chest draining. Something mummers from a distance, growing louder and louder until I can identify a few separate voices chanting and singing in a different language. 

A wave of nausea and pain nearly knocks me out. Standing up I can't feel anything around me. It's like all my senses are being twisted and tied in a nasty knot. Eyesight fuzzy, I fumble forward, "Nurse..." I think I say, however, I can't hear my own words. "I'm... sick..." I stumble out of the room, unsure of what's being said around me. 

Splashing? Ripples, and the scent of water. Something splashing, moving... and a spider-like thread forming in the corner of my eyes. 

My feet hit something hard, and I fall forward. Tumbling, twisting, and spinning down and down. I hit my arms and legs, my side pinching something sharp. I land heavily, rolling a little bit before I stop. 

It hurts, everything is in pain. Numbing my mind to the point I'm cold... so very cold. Grabbing my chest, I curl up on myself. I want to warm up, but I can't. Why can't I? 

There's this rumbling of noise, someone shouting, a dinging of bells, and cold metal touching the tips of my toes. Someone screaming, angry voices, and a pair of strong arms lifting me up. 

It's all too much, my mind fading away into darkness.