Rising Shards

“All I’m saying is there really is a severe lack of drinking fountains in this building,” Kalei said as we headed to Mrs. Poppi’s class.

“There’s a ton though?” Oka asked.

“Those don’t count,” Kalei said. “I mean good fountains. You get the porcelain ones, but the water’s always warm. You want the big metal ones because the water is so nice and cold in them. But even the cold ones here have either not enough pressure leading to a little like tiny stream of cold water or they’re too cold and they hurt my teeth. Like, too cold hits right in the fangs.”

“You have a lot of thoughts on drinking fountains.” I said.

“I do!” Kalei said. “At my last school I was actually on a drinking fountain committee, and we had a blog and everything! I wonder if the password is still the same…”

There was always a sad feeling when we got into Poppi’s class. With her stupid ‘perfect seating formula’, I was stuck too far away from Oka and Kalei. I had to sit between a girl who sucked on her nails and another who smelled heavily of a fancy perfume that I think Stella used once.

“Greetings class!” Mrs. Poppi said. “Today’s class will be a special one, it’s movie day!”

Perfume girl got very pumped about that, slamming her fists on the table and saying “Yes!” over and over with increasing volume. It got my anxiousness brewing which was fun.

Poppi turned the lights off, and the projector on the ceiling lit up. I couldn’t see the movie she put into the player on her desk.

“While this isn’t a super math filled movie, they do mention Tygron’s Theorum so I’m counting it,” Poppi said.

Huh. That sounded familiar. I didn’t remember the exact theory, but I remembered hearing it being in a movie.

“This is also an important movie in Cani history,” Poppi said. “In my opinion. It was the first Cani directed film to feature a twenty-minute song!”

A twenty-minute song also sounded familiar. The girl slamming her desk made me uncomfortable enough (she was less amped about a twenty-minute song, but still somewhat amped), but I gulped as a sudden dread started to wash over me. The movie’s main menu loaded, and the piano keys felt like someone tackled my soul.

“You don’t have to take any notes or anything, just enjoy!” Poppi said. “Grove of the Unrequited Harmony is my favorite!”

“It’s only the greatest movie of all time!”

My heart lurched at the memory. Her voice rushed through, so clearly. I tried to stare at my notebook to try and not think about it, but I couldn’t focus on the blank pages. I kept it together for the first few minutes, but I was shaking already. Then the main character walked on screen.

I felt flushed, a dizzy feeling hit me, and I thought I could see like fainting vision. I had to hold on, class barely started. I had seen the movie so many times I could probably guess the exact amount of time it had left, and it was a lot. I couldn’t hold on. 

I got up immediately, eyes glued on the door. I didn’t care about Poppi’s stupid bathroom pass thing, I had to escape. I didn’t know where I was going, but I couldn’t pass out in class. Part of me thought I was dying. A lot of me felt like I was really for real about to die. I stumbled into a nearby bathroom, but that just felt more like the walls were closing in on me, and my breathing felt even worse.

I apparently also couldn’t pass out/throw up/literally die in the school building, so I had to find some way out fast. I wondered if I was dying. I was probably dying. My heartrate spiked, it couldn’t beat this fast for long, right? I somehow made it to the ground floor. My head was throbbing. I didn’t have much time before I fainted or I threw up or my head exploded or whatever was happening to me.

Nobody was reacting to me, which was good because I still had to escape. I found a doorway out into one of the little garden areas between the buildings. At least I could breathe fresh air for a second. I didn’t think I’d make it to my room, which I guess felt the safest to me. My legs were shaking, and I felt clammy. Something was definitely wrong as I cautiously power walked towards a bench. I gave a moment’s thought to getting my phone out and looking this up on 3WMB, but my hands were shaking too much and I was feeling too sensitive to light to try.

“I’m sorry. I’m an idiot. It’s destroyed now. But it wouldn’t have happened if you remembered—”

“Zeta?”

Oka was there. Oka couldn’t be there; she couldn’t see me like this. Before I could even heave out any attempt at a word, the world around me went dark.

Even though I was sitting down when I blacked out, I felt myself “land” just like before. I was in the void, somehow. I was still shaking, my heart was still pounding, and I still felt like I was building up to fainting or my heart stopping. And it turns out that suddenly jumping dimensions does not do good for freak out feelings, so they all spiked again. I heard sloshing sounds near me, and I realized that the new bench I was sitting down was in shallow water. Oka was walking through it to get back to me.

“Zeta!” Oka said.

I was still in meltdown mode and didn’t respond.

“Are you alright? Can you hear me? Do you need anything?” Oka asked. “Or wait, do you need space? I’m way too close? Maybe I should—”

“I don’t know!” I said. “Just…don’t go.”

I shut my eyes, hoping the dizziness would pass, or I’d pass out or throw up or whatever already. But I didn’t do any of those. Eventually, my head stopped buzzing, and my heart stopped pounding so hard.