It was the end of the school day, but not for Amy. She said goodbye to Lina, and promised she would stop by her house after detention. She entered Mrs. Henderson's classroom and found her already waiting.
"You are going to write logic proofs tonight," she explained in a dismissive voice. Her head barely even risen from the stack of papers she was grading when she spoke to Amy. "The statements are on the board. I want to see at least two different methods of proofing each of them."
Amy sat in a chair in the front row and took out a sheet of paper. She didn't like logic very much, though she supposed it was better than dividing four-digit numbers. She managed the first few problems all right, but during her quest to find a second method to prove p, q, x and y were all false, she began to develop a headache. It persisted for several minutes as she continued to struggle with the proofs. It became harder and harder to concentrate on the puzzles, and finally Amy simply couldn't take it anymore.
"Mrs. Henderson?" Amy spoke up, hoping the woman would grant her some form of mercy. "Do you have any Tylenol or something? I've got this big migraine."
"Perhaps if you devoted more time to studying and less to shopping, you wouldn't find these so diffi...cult..." She raised her head to shoot Amy an icy stare, but that stare quickly turned to outright terror. Amy was even more disturbed by this unexpected expression. She gasped for a moment, unable to even breathe a syllable. "Th...th...you... DEVIL!" she shrieked at last. "DEVIL! GET OUT OF HERE AT ONCE!"
The force of her words had Amy upright at once. She was definitely not expecting this kind of directive, although it would mean detention was finally over. Mrs. Henderson almost fell out of her chair as she lurched for the yardstick on the blackboard tray. As Amy fumbled with her bookbag, Mrs. Henderson began waving it menacingly at her, whacking her several times. "HELLSPAWN! DEMON CHILD! GET OUT, GET OUT!"
Amy finally made it out of the room and Mrs. Henderson slammed the door behind her. Flustered by the disturbed rage that had come over her teacher, Amy wondered if the crazy woman had finally snapped. Another idea came to mind, however, when her headache suddenly subsided. It hadn't occurred to her before that there was a reason for the pressure in her skull besides simply thinking too hard over a math problem. She quickly brought her hands to her head and discovered the true cause: horns!
She found the nearest bathroom and surveyed the new change. They were about five inches long, growing from the sides of her head just above her ears. They were milky white, curving upward out of her hair. Mrs. Henderson must have seen them as they were still growing in. No wonder she freaked out.
Still, the development did get her out of detention early, although there might be hell to pay in class tomorrow. That is, if she hadn't sent Mrs. Henderson into long-term shock. Amy chuckled at the idea of accidentally getting rid of one of the school's most hated teachers and left the building, heading for Lina's.