Amy kept getting distracted by her tail during classes. Algebra and world history just seemed so boring compared to the changes happening to her body. She wondered what would happen to her next. She was so immersed in thought that she didn't notice Mrs. Henderson calling her name over and over.
"AMY CAMPBELL!" This time Amy's ears rang with the forcefulness of the voice. She shot to attention at once. (As did her expressive ears.)
"Yes?" she chirped.
"I cannot teach you what happened during the French Revolution if you are not willing to pay attention when I'm talking." Amy never liked hearing Mrs. Henderson lecturing a student. She had a preacherly voice, which probably came from her religious background. Her husband was a priest and rumors had spread around school about heated exchanges she had with the science teachers. As she proceeded to sternly outline the expectations she had for Amy as her student, Amy tuned her out, hoping she would either shut up or be attacked by a barrage of spitwads. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" she finished with a roar.
"Yes, Mrs. Henderson," Amy replied automatically.
"Then repeat to me the last thing I said to you," she leered.
Amy's ears tucked against her head. She began to imagine the kinds of things a teacher would say during a lecture about paying attention, but rejected all of them. "You asked me if I understood what you were saying," she shrugged. Mrs. Henderson was far from amused.
She straightened up tall, which Amy recognized as the first sign of her ultimate finishing move. Few students had the privilege of pushing Mrs. Henderson to this point. The rest were smart enough not to. "Miss Campbell, I wish to see you back here at three-fifteen, where I sincerely hope we will have a more fruitful conversation."
Amy didn't say a word as Mrs. Henderson changed her tone and resumed the lecture as if nothing had happened. She gave Amy several scathing glances during the rest of the class, making sure she was no longer daydreaming. The period bell, while loud to her bovine ears, filled her with a joyous sense of freedom.
Out in the hall, she saw Geoffrey again, this time talking to Lina at her locker. She quickly joined them.
"We were just talking about you," Lina said. "Geoffrey thinks you're cute."
The boy blushed. "I was asking how you got that tail of yours, and those ears," he said.
"Why?" Amy asked. She wondered if the spell was starting to wear off, but considering Mrs. Henderson hadn't mentioned anything--and she was certainly the type to--Amy was still in the clear.
"Because I'd like to change myself too," he shrugged. "That's what I was there for. The man who runs the store promised to make a special potion to make me more...appealing."
"Well, I'll tell you something," Amy said, leaning closer to him. "You look very nice already. Come on, Lina, we've got to get to gym class." Lina closed her locker and the girls walked away. Amy wasn't sure why she had said that to Geoffrey. She didn't find him ugly by any means, but he just seemed...too normal. But he did sound like a nice guy, and Amy certainly had trouble meeting nice guys in a school full of cliques and popularity contests.