Ellie, Carrie and Tina rushed into the classroom mostly out of breath a full 10 minutes late. Ellie and Tina each held a shopping bag of snacks, as promised the previous day during class. They stopped in surprise to see that only about half the class was there, and most of them were milling about.
"I see everyone else took this just as seriously." Carrie sarcastically remarked to the dozen people present. A friendly middle-aged student responded, "Sounds about right. Ms Perkins isn't even here yet. At this point it's more of a snooze group than a study group."
Tina moaned at the bad wordplay and led Ellie over to a table where they laid out the snacks. Several 2-liters of soda and a bunch of disposable paper plates and plastic silverware were already laid out. Ellie grabbed her bag of Hydra pretzels before Tina could open them along with the rest of the snacks, then sat down nearby. Tina announced to the room, "Well, food's here at least. How long do we need to stay here, anyway?"
Another student responded, "Until attendance is taken. Anyone else think a study group with no purpose or topic is stupid?"
A chorus of "Yes" "Yeah" and "Hells yeah" resounded across the room and a few people got up. "Hey, if we're stuck here, gonna at least eat."
Ellie pulled out her phone and surfed social media while various people made chit-chat and casually ate. Over the next 10 minutes, 6 more students arrived. Eventually, the post-doc teaching the class for credit arrived. "Ack! Everyone's here already? What, did I put the wrong time on the schedule?"
The teacher avoided being tripped by a couple of students with vengeful legs as she walked to the center of the classroom. "Okay everyone, let's turn your chairs in. Yes, that's good. So I hope everyone has learned something about punctuality."
Carrie called back, "Yeah, you suck at it."
Ms Perkins turned to Carrie and nodded, "Sure, when I'm doing it to make a point. You see, the whole reason we're doing a study group is so everyone can get a chance to see the do's and the don'ts of the group. You all just saw one of the biggest don'ts - arriving late. Anyone care to explain why arriving late is bad not just for you, but for the entire group?"
Ellie started to zone out. She liked Ms Perkins as a teacher and a person, but it was well after 8 PM, and she didn't want to be at school any more. The lecture continued for another 10 minutes, Ms Perkins and other students talking back and forth throughout the group. Ellie did notice the format was a lot more casual than normal class, but still was hardly interested in participating.
Feeling peckish, Ellie didn't even think before pulling open the bag of pretzels on her lap and eating a couple. She watched Ms Perkins trying to get some of the other students to get up and take over, constantly insisting that a study group is a group effort and not just another class.
Tina nudged Ellie and whispered, "Hey, can I try one? Looks exotic." Ellie turned to look at Tina, confused. She saw Tina was pointing at the bag of pretzels on her lap, and looked down at them. She recognized the Hydra on the front, and the genuine interest in Tina's eyes.
"Uh... sure." Ellie whispered back. She pulled a pretzel out of the bag and handed it to Tina. "But uh, just one. Sorry they're uh... they're really expensive."
"Thanks. Imported?" Tina popped the pretzel into her mouth and gave a thumb's up.
"Uh, yeah." Ellie recalled the pretzels having an unusual taste, like smoked meat. Something about the memory nudged at Ellie's mind. In an attempt to ignore it, Ellie held the edge of the bag closed and flipped it over in her lap, hoping to see if anything on the back would jog her memory more. While she inspected the bag in her lap, she looked up at Ms Perkins and two other students who were having a discussion on how to best handle inappropriate conduct during study group.
Ellie finished reading the bag, but nothing particularly stood out. She rolled it back up and put it in one of the leftover shopping bags, then rolled the shopping bag over onto itself. There was no way she was going to let someone accidentally eat magic pretzels. Satisfied that they were sufficiently obscured, she pulled out her phone again and scanned her activity feeds. The debate in the center of the room concluded, and she watched Ms Perkins and the students take a seat.
There it was again. The sensation of something being off. Ellie ignored it as she scrolled through her activity feed. Ms Perkins continued to talk from where she was sitting. This time she was talking about using cell phones, laptops, and other handheld devices. She locked eyes with Ellie, clearly aware that Ellie had been surfing the web this whole time.
Ellie resisted the urge to put her phone away, and instead moved from her social media apps to her student e-mail. Without breaking her gaze upon Ellie, Ms Perkins explained that handheld devices are a different matter in study group compared to class. That they're often beneficial, and they can actually help some people to absorb knowledge better, but temptation and disruption are both constant risks.
Ms Perkins finished her explanation and broke eye contact with Ellie. She stood back up and started to talk about how to handle homework in a study group situation - ways to help each other without outright cheating.
Ellie was relieved that she hadn't gotten in trouble for using her phone. Technically this "study group" was part of the class, and she could have gotten into real trouble. She hadn't considered it when starting to surf the web, but after hearing Ms Perkins explicitly address it, had actually unintentionally learned a bit. In an effort to avoid being singled out again, she made a point to pay attention to the current topic.
Ms Perkins was explaining some of the places to find study groups. "... or discussion boards. But really the best place is to just stay after class and suggest a study group. It only takes 1 person to make the suggestion, but once it's out there, it'll rapidly gather people."
Ellie's e-mail was a mess, she could barely make sense of the e-mails in her inbox. A bit confused by how hard it was to read her e-mail, she looked away from Ms Perkins down to her phone. The e-mail suddenly became easy to read as she tuned out Ms Perkins. Then that sensation hit her again, but much harder this time.
It all came to her in an instant. She was seeing her phone twice. Along with her hand, lap, and everything else she could see. Alarmed but trying to play it cool, she looked up from her lap and around the class. Her view went up and then split into 2 separate views and she looked both left and right.
Realization hit her moments later, I ate the hydra pretzels. I must be part hydra now. Uhhh.... Don't make a scene... No-one seems to have noticed. Staying as calm as she could, she reached down to her purse and took out her blush and mirror combo. She quietly popped it open and looked in the mirror. With her double vision she saw 2 heads in the mirror, both identical.
She looked completely normal otherwise - her tube top revealed the same amount of cleavage, and her shoulders didn't seem any wider. Her heads were clearly offset sideways from where her head would normally be, to make room for both of them, but other than that they looked completely normal. Not wanting anyone to notice she was looking at herself, Ellie put her makeup away and looked back up to Ms Perkins and up to the clock. It showed 8:40, meaning only 20 minutes left until attendance was taken and she could leave.
Okay so yes... I'm a hydra. Should have been more careful what I ate. But still, this is actually not bad. Seems like no-one has noticed, and it's not like I'm having a hard time controlling 2 heads. I can last another 20 minutes. Ellie smiled twin smiles as she leaned back into her chair.
"... or even a bunch of baked teens. Happened more than once when I was an undergrad. So next up, we're going to do something that making coming to such a late class worthwhile - we're going to spend the last 20 minutes working on the assignment that's going to be given out at the end of tomorrow's class. Everyone who hands it in tomorrow at the start of class will get an extra credit bonus. I did promise this would be worth your time!" Ms Perkins grinned and pulled a stack of papers out of her backpack.
The stack was passed around the room, diminishing as each student took the top paper. As Ellie did, she felt a sudden and sharp searing pain. Looking down at her right hand with both heads, she saw a surprisingly long paper cut the whole way across her palm, with blood seeping out through the sliced skin. "Ouch!" "Ouch!" Twin cries echoed out of Ellie's mouths.
"El, what the hell?!? How did you even do that?" Carrie reached over and held Ellie's bleeding hand.
"Are you okay Ellie?" Ms Perkins walked over and saw the blood on Ellie's hand. "Oh! I have some antibiotic ointment and some bandaids if you want them." Ellie nodded and she quickly retrieved the medical supplies.
"Thank you, I'll be right back." "Thanks, gonna hit the bathroom." She responded with both heads, mixing her responses into a barely understandable mess. Blushing a deep red, she grabbed the ointment and box of bandaids in her left hand and left the classroom to go to the bathroom.
The bathroom was just down the hall, and didn't take long to get to. Ellie pushed the door open with her left hand and walked in past the privacy divider and turned to see her changed self in the huge wall-sized mirror. Seeing her reflection in the small makeup mirror hadn't been nearly as impactful as seeing it on such a large surface.
For a moment she admired her twin faces in the mirror. Then, curious what kind of control she had, she turned her left head to look left without shifting her right head's focus. It was simple, almost automatic. Looking back at the mirror with her left head, she tried grinning madly with the left head and frowning with the right. She held the expressions for only a moment before bursting into laughter at exactly how silly she looked.
Oh that's actually really funny. I look like I came out of a drama club flier! Happy me and sad me!
Giggling out of both mouths, Ellie turned her attention to the reason why she was in the bathroom - her cut. She put down the ointment and band aids and looked at her right hand. No cut. Confused, she carefully examined both her right hands. Neither had a cut.
The weird tingle in the back of her mind returned.
Oh holy shit. I have 2 right arms now?!?
With her left head she looked down at her left arm to confirm that she still only had one left. Yep, still one left. Looking down with the other head at her right arms confirmed she clearly had 2 of them now. Is this cause I'm a hydra? Huh, that... actually makes sense..
She clenched both right hands into fists, then released them one by one. Both arms moved exactly how she willed them to, even both at once. Returning her gaze to watch herself in the mirror, she noticed just how silly she looked waving 2 right arms around while her left arm hung limply to her side. The medical supplies on the counter quickly grabbed her attention.
Oh! Right, I got injured... Uhm... I guess I should fake it so they don't think things are weird?
Ellie quickly applied some of the ointment and a few bandaids to the palm of one of her right hands. A few clenched fists confirmed the bandaids weren't in danger of falling off immediately.
Happy with her disguise, she returned to class. Before she could even sit down, Carrie grabbed at her right arms, "Hey, let me see it. I don't want you getting a scar."
Ellie let her girlfriend examine her faux bandaging while she sat down. She reached to pick up the pen on her desk to start on the assignment, but was quickly stopped by Carrie's grip, "Hey, I need that arm to wri- nevermind." Remembering that she now had 2 right arms, Ellie picked up the pen with her other arm.
Carrie giggled when she saw what Ellie was doing. "Now that's useful. But you look fine. I couldn't even see where you were hurt." She released the hostage hand and leaned back. "Should heal up nice and fine."
"Yeah... Hey, uh... do you think it's weird I have 2 right arms?" Ellie looked at Carrie with her right head while her left head fixated on the paper in front of her. The assignment was indeed easy, and she was having no trouble filling it out while talking to Carrie.
"Naw. I mean, not really. It's just you. Ms Perkins already took attendance, and counted you here, so I'm gonna go start the truck. Tina's packing up the leftover snacks." Carrie stood up and slowly sauntered out the door.