'Punish me?' Sabrina cried. 'I didn't start the fight!'
'Mr. Grumpner, I think we need a breather,' the counselor said as he rose from his chair. He crossed the room, took the grouchy teacher by the arm, and led him to the door. 'If you spot any more slug-fests, please be sure to bring them to my attention immediately.'
'You didn't tell me what you're going to do with her,' Grumpner argued, but Mr. Sheepshank just pushed him out of the room and closed the door in his face. 'Discipline is the backbone of education!' the teacher shouted through the door. 'We'll see what Principal Hamelin thinks about this!'
The guidance counselor ignored the teacher's threat and returned to his chair with a broad smile. 'Interesting first day you are having,' he said.
'I didn't start that fight but I'm not going to let someone pick on me, either,' Sabrina said.
'I'm not asking you to,' Sheepshank replied. 'I think Natalie got what she had coming to her. She's been pushing kids around since kindergarten. I bet it felt pretty good to knock her down.'
Sabrina was stunned. Adults always said you should try to talk out your problems first. 'Aren't you supposed to tell me that fighting isn't the answer?' she asked.
'Let's just pretend I did,' Mr. Sheepshank continued with a wink. 'Sabrina, I know being in the sixth grade isn't easy. There are lots of things that aren't fair, like a bully picking on you. It's a natural human emotion to get angry. So what are you supposed to do? Bottle it up? Well, we all know what happens when you shake up a bottle of soda. It explodes all over the place when you open it. I think feelings are the same way. You've got to let them out when you're having them or you're just going to explode later on.'
New-age psychobabble or not, Sabrina liked what Mr. Sheepshank was saying. She'd hadn't had an adult actually listen to her so well in a long time. In fact, he seemed almost eager to hear her thoughts.
'I think we'll forget all about this,' the counselor continued. 'You've been sitting here for several hours and have had plenty of time to think about what happened.'
Sabrina got up from her seat, then paused and asked, 'Mr. Sheepshank, does it get any better?'
He laughed. 'I wish I could say it does, but don't worry, someday this place will be nothing but an ancient memory.'
Sabrina looked up at the clock. School had been over for five minutes. Daphne would be waiting.
'I have to go meet my sister.'
'Of course,' Mr. Sheepshank said. 'But before you go, I just want to remind you that my door is always open. I'm a pretty good listener.'
Sabrina nodded. 'I'll see you tomorrow, then,' she said.
'I'm on the edge of my seat,' the guidance counselor replied.
The girl nodded and stepped into the hallway. Natalie, the bully, was waiting by some lockers. Her left eye had a black-and-purple bruise around it. When she spotted Sabrina, she turned and punched a locker door. The impact was so great it dented the door badly. Happy with her handiwork, the big goon smiled, pointed at Sabrina, and shuffled down the hallway.
Great, I've been here less than eight hours and I already have a mortal enemy, Sabrina thought.
'Don't worry, Sabrina. Tomorrow's a new day,' a voice behind her said. Sabrina spun around and found the pretty blond girl from her homeroom and gym class.
'That's what I'm worried about.'
The girl laughed. 'I'm Bella,' she said. 'And don't worry, not everyone's like Natalie.'
Just then, Daphne rushed down the hallway to meet them. She had her coat and mittens on, and a couple of books under her arm.
'I've had the greatest day of my entire life!' she screamed as she hugged Sabrina tightly. 'We spent the first part of the morning making papier- mache hats, and then when the hats were dry we put them on and learned about what kind of people might have worn them. I had George Washington's hat.'
The little girl paused to catch her breath.
'Daphne, this is Bella,' Sabrina said, introducing the two. 'She's in my homeroom.'
'You made a friend?' Daphne said, giving her sister another hug. 'Oh, I'm so proud of you!'
'Cute kid,' Bella said, giggling. 'I gotta get going. See you tomorrow.'
Sabrina nodded and watched the girl disappear down the hallway. Maybe there was a chance of having a normal friend, after all.
'Did you know that George Washington didn't really have wooden teeth? That's a myth. Ms. White said his teeth were made from ivory and bone, 'cause…' Daphne paused and looked around. Then she cupped her hand around her sister's ear and finished her sentence. '… she actually knew him. But she didn't tell the class that, she just told me.'
Then Daphne pulled away and returned to her normal, excited tone. 'Then we learned all about chimpanzees. Did you know that chimpanzees aren't actually monkeys? I didn't know that. Chimpanzees are so punk rock.'
'Punk rock?'
'You know, cool.'
'Where did you hear that?' Sabrina laughed.
'Julie Melphy. She's in my class. She's very punk rock,' her sister replied.
'That's stupid.'
'You're stupid,' Daphne shot back. 'And very un-punk rock! How was your day?'
'Horrible,' Sabrina grumbled. 'Come on, I have to go get my coat from my locker. It's upstairs.'
The girls climbed the steps to the second floor just as Toby came running down them. He nearly knocked them over.
'Out of the way, lightning-bolt head,' he shouted then laughed his annoying little laugh. He ran past and disappeared down the hall.
That kid is so un-punk rock, Sabrina thought.
The sisters reached Sabrina's locker and she went to work on the combination. If there had been anything good about the day it was that at least she had been assigned a locker near her homeroom. She wouldn't have to trudge through the halls in the morning with all her books.
'What kind of class are you in?' Daphne asked as she peered through the window into Grumpner's room.
'What are you talking about?' Sabrina said as she put on her coat and closed her locker.
'Look,' her sister said, pointing into Sabrina's homeroom.
Sabrina gazed through the window. The room looked as if a tornado had gone through it. Desks and chairs had been tossed around and there was an odd, white substance covering everything. She opened the door and the girls stepped inside. The white substance hung from the ceiling in strands like silky ribbons. It fluttered in the icy wind that blew in from a broken window. In the center of the room, a large sack of the junk was suspended from the ceiling, slowly swaying in the breeze.
'Don't touch anything,' Sabrina said, tugging at a strand that had attached itself to her coat.
'What's that thing hanging from the ceiling?' Daphne asked as her sister crossed the room to look. Sabrina grabbed a nearby chair, pulled it close to the sack, and climbed onto the seat.
'Something's inside it,' she said as she yanked at the layers of sticky stuff that formed the sack. Soon, something began to reveal itself from deep inside-something with a face. 'It's Mr. Grumpner,' she whispered. The old man was as purple as an eggplant and his once puffy face was gaunt and drained. 'He's dead.'
'Awww, man! That's so gross!' Daphne cried unhappily.
'What could have done this?' Sabrina wondered.
'Probably whoever left that,' the little girl said, pointing at the far end of the classroom.
Sabrina turned to see what her sister was referring to. On the chalkboard was another horrible but familiar sight. Someone had dipped his or her hand into a can of paint and pressed it on the wall. The handprint was bright red.
4
The school doors flew open and a dark-haired man in a purple suit strutted in with his head in the air. He swaggered down the shiny hallway with a dwarf and an obese police officer bringing up the rear. When Sabrina spotted the group, she groaned. Mayor Charming was not one of her favorite people.
To anyone else, Mayor Charming might have seemed like a run-of-the-mill politician, but Sabrina knew better. Mayor Charming was really Prince Charming, the dashing romantic hero of a dozen fairy tales. But, as Sabrina knew firsthand, Charming was only his name. The mayor could be an obnoxious, rude know-it-all, and he had a particular disdain for Sabrina's family. In a nutshell, he hated the Grimms.
Racing to keep up was Mr. Seven, the mayor's diminutive sidekick. Seven was actually one of the original seven dwarfs and acted as Charming's driver, assistant, and whipping boy. Behind him was Sheriff Hamstead, who did his best to keep up with the others while trying to hoist his pants up at the same time.
'So, let's go through this one more time,' the mayor said to his followers with an air of condescension. 'Who's doing all the talking?'
