Lollipop

“Mr. Charlie Flip, please come to the Principal’s office”, A woman said over the PA, I already knew why I was getting called… the demon wanted to see me.

I HATE school just like every kid does and should, in fact, I told my parents I’m NEVER going to high school instead I’m going to run away and join the Avengers. My mom just smiled and said, “Sure honey”, I hated when adults said sure like that, like just tell me you don’t believe me instead of making me seem dumb. The first day of school is always terrible but this year it was a hundred times worst.

It started when I walked into my classroom; everyone was there except the teacher and they were all sucking on multi-colored lollipops. I sank into my seat when a woman wearing, actually, I didn’t know what she was wearing, it was like a tracksuit with a mini skirt, ruffled pants, and a vest – it was crazy. She did three cartwheels through the door and jumped on top of the teacher’s desk, “Welcome to Ms. Ainsley’s science class”, Ms. Ainsley yelled, everyone cheered but I felt like I was going to throw up rainbows.

“Okay class time for a pop quiz”, I almost fainted, what type of teacher gives a pop quiz on the first day. Ms. Ainsley handed out a bunch of pink papers even to the boys it was so gross – everyone knows pink is a girl's color. Anyways once I got over the fact that the papers were pink I realized it was blank, Arika – the most annoying girl I knew - told Ms. Ainsley but she ignored her and drew spirals on the chalkboard. “Alright everyone hop through”, Ms. Ainsley had told us, and everyone got in a line with their papers and started walking through except me, I could barely believe my eyes. Everyone was through and Ms. Ainsley eyed me intensely; I tried to make an excuse and get away but she grabbed my arm and dragged me in.

When I got through Ms. Ainsley was already there and everyone’s pink papers were filled up with math problems. “Okay who wants to read their first question?”, Ms. Ainsley asked and 3 kids raised their hands like we were in a regular classroom.

A girl named Bria got called on, “Charlie had five apples”, everyone looked at me and five apples appeared in my hands, “And he gets 12 times more, how many does he have now”, she finished, everyone looked at me and 60 apples fell from the sky.

“Help”, I called out and a few kids pulled the apples off me. This continued; kids read their story problems and it happened in real life or whatever inside the blackboard was. I was confused about why they were all math problems when Ms. Ainsley said she teaches science class. One kid had three spiders, 2 snakes, and 5 Komodo dragons, Ms. Ainsley went and petted them like the loco lady she was and they didn’t even bite her. Eventually, everyone finished their quizzes and was laughing and playing around (except me) until Ms. Ainsley said it was time to leave. When we were back in the classroom Ms. Ainsley said, “Now don’t tell any adults”

“Why?”, some kid asked

“Because adults won’t believe you they’ll think you’re crazy?”, I looked at Ms. Ainsley she was definitely crazy

“But you’re an adult”, Arika said

“Yeah but I’m a kid at heart”, Ms. Ainsley squealed, then she did some weird dance, sure right I thought you’re like 72, but for some reason, I decided not to tell anybody.

That night I had plenty of scary dreams and in each one, Ms. Ainsley was trying to kill me, I told my parents and they said it was nothing and gave some long speech about new things – like people – being frightening but they aren’t really. They were wrong; the next day Ms. Ainsley’s smile was so big I thought it would come off her face. “I’m teaching science today”, She squealed and did some ballet moves, I thought she was supposed to teach science every day. I was so confused and scared I wanted to run in fact my heart was already running, there was just something wrong with this lady.

“Alright class, pop quiz”, She yelled

Everyone lined up with their pink papers and walked through the chalkboard until it was me and Ms. Ainsley. “Why don’t you wanna go through?”, she said in a sing-songy voice and her mile smile grew bigger.

“Because I don’t”, I mumbled

“Too bad”, she yelled and grabbed my arm

I planted my feet, “NO!”, I sank my teeth into the skin of her hand and ran far I ran out of the school and all the way home.

“Charlie what are you doing at home right now”, my mother asked when I got home, I looked her in the eyes. My heart was beating fast and I could hardly breathe, I fell into her arms and started to cry, I didn’t like crying, my cousins said it was weak and if you cried you weren’t a man so I tried not to cry in front of anybody. They would say I was weak now; being afraid of a woman, believing me and my classmates were actually going through our blackboard to a magical land.

My parent’s affection lasted just until the next morning when they sent me back to this dreaded place we humans call school. I begged and begged but they said I was being silly and that I wasn’t missing school. They dragged me into the car then left me on the stairs of this terrible place and I wish I knew curse words right now because I would use them. Anyways then I got called here, so that’s basically what happened.

Principal Collins stares at me not saying a single word, “You want a lollipop?”, he finally says, he hands me a shiny brown lollipop with 12 black stripes. I look at Principal Collin, something was off about him, his clothes were regular, his eyes were normal, it was his hair, it had 8 small hairs coming out when it usually had 12. “Did you cut your hair?”, I ask

“Lick the lollipop”

“Did you cut your hair?”, I repeat the question

“You think your so smart, you think you're above me”, his voice starts to sound more girlish, “I said to lick the lollipop”

“NO!!!”, I throw the lollipop at Principal Collins and he starts to transform into Ms. Ainsley, she walks towards me till my back is to the wall.

“Why didn’t you eat the lollipop on the first day of school?”, Her multi-colored nails grow longer than her fingers and she sticks them at my neck.

“I didn’t get one”, I whisper, Ms. Ainsley’s face looks confused but there isn’t time for that because something explodes. I try to run but her nails sink into the skin on my arm, then a girl comes out of the smoke, she has coils of brown hair in a ponytail, deep green eyes, brown skin, and a weird scar under her eye. The girl pulls out a gun and shoots Ms. Ainsley in the head, Ms. Ainsley falls to the ground. The girl sticks out her hand, “Come with me if you want to live”, I hesitantly grab it and she throws me onto her back, jumps out the window, and starts running. I see Ms. Ainsley out the window but she looks different more like a monster, her eyes are bigger, her teeth are shaper, and she’s doing her signature Cheshire cat smile, she doesn’t seem mad instead she seems happy too happy.