Mena looked around nervously. Without her magical romance book, she felt naked and exposed. Everyone gaped at her, waiting for her to fall face-first into the pool of transfearguration potion.

“Quick,” she thought, “Imagine everyone in their bed clothes…”

Mena did, looking at the crowd of girls and slapped her forehead. “Why do people even suggest that anyway? Though Janus might want to start eating soon. She’s looking a bit bony lately.”

Nebula loudly blew the whistle around her neck, startling Mena out of her stupor. “Attention twiggy smalls, standing is not considered exercise unless you are standing with a five-thousand-pound bar on your shoulders. Get up there.”

“B-b-but,” Mena stammered, “I…” Ashlan had already leaped onto the rope, scaling it quickly.

“Do you want me to drop you in the drink?” Nebula shouted,

“No I…” Mena had no choice. She had to grab the climbing rope, even if her ultra-thin arms could scarcely hold a fifteen-pound tome in her hand.

She grabbed the rope and gave it a tug; there was a sudden rumble. A tremor sounded from the ceiling as it cracked, causing everyone to immediately stop what they were doing and look up. Bits of limestone and grey concrete tumbled from the ceiling and before Mena knew it, part of the ceiling caved in. A giant slab of rock fell from where the rope was hooked and crashed right down on her teacher’s head.

Everyone screamed. Panic gripped their very minds as the stone bounced off Nebula’s head and crumbled. The surface the stone impacted was even harder than a slab of concrete. Nebula stood there with a stunned expression fixed on her face. Mena began to apologize profusely. “Oh my galoshes, teacher. I’m so sorry. I don’t know my own strength. I…”

Nebula starred transfixed, starring into some parallel dimension from the severe knock to the head. Mena prayed she hadn’t inadvertently scrambled her teacher’s brains. Suddenly, the buff woman let out a loud boisterous laugh. “You don’t know your own strength, twiggy. And neither do I. That show of strength took a chunk out of my mind.”

“I hope you don’t mean in actuality,” Mena mumbled but the gym teacher placed her on Mena’s shoulders.

“Looks like we got a new alpha in this pack,” Nebula proclaimed, causing Ashlan to gaze at Mena jealously. “Display some of that strength next time we’re rescuing Groundborns and you’ll be a real superhero.”

“Uh teach?” Ashlan peeped up. “What about our fitness test?”

“Yeah,” Nebula responded, gazing up at the ceiling. “I might have to call it off for today. Gotta get those Lollypop dweebs to fix the ceiling. Class dismissed.”

There were looks of relief on all the girl’s faces, except for Ashlan and Laetitia who were looking to see Mena fail. They shuffled off with a twirl of their noses.

“Here you go,” Nebula said, handing the book back to Mena. “And be sure to tell me your regiment so I can implement it myself.”

***

As Mena left the locker room, she held her recovered book to her face and whispered, “How did you do that, Fabias? I didn’t even transfer my power to you.”

Fabias chuckled. “Seems you’ve fortified me, babygirl. I can now realize your dreams of perfection without you holding me.”

“Wowie zowie,” Mena exclaimed. “You’re blowing my mind. You really saved my neck back there.”

“Who are you talking to,” Janus asked, surveying Mena with her large, purple eyes. “Are you talking to a ghost? And if so, why can’t I see them?”

Mena quickly put the book down, and gazed back at Janus, who walked alongside her with a silent May.

“Err…nothing,” Mena said, “I’m simply amazed how well I did in Nebula’s class. Especially because she hates.”

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“That’s good at least” May said with her head pointed towards the ground. She was actually speaking to Mena, but Mena ignored her.

As the three girls made their way towards the Sun Tower for Mena’s class, Mena kept trying out her newfound shiny teeth and even glossier eyes. She flashed them at passing girls, hoping to become the most popular girl in school, but all she got was weird looks from girls who weren’t used to Mena’s sudden extraverted tendencies. “Why isn’t it working?” Mena demanded to Fabias.

“Well, babygirl,” Fabias said. “About that. Even if you’re attractive, people aren’t going to fall for you out of the blue. They’re going to need a little assistance.”

“Uh…how?” Mena asked.

Fabias’ eyebrows wiggled mischievously. “I’ll show you after class. For now, I’m going to try to work out exactly how I’m going to do this.”

“Right-o!” Mena exclaimed, causing Janus and May to raise their eyebrows (or non-existent ones in Janus’ case.)

“Uh, I’ll see you guys!” Mena said, her face blushing as red as a ripe tomato, as she headed up the stairs to the Sun Tower.

***

In the Sun Tower, Mena excitedly waited for year three of Dream Divination. Now that she had Fabias by her side, perhaps she could see into the future. Perhaps she could write herself as the Queen of Clairvoyance. Perhaps she could predict whenever she’d sneeze so that she’d have a tissue ready so snot wouldn’t explode all over her face.

Stellaris entered the classroom briskly, grumbling beneath her breath. Her mood seemed quite different from her usual sunny demeanor. Ashlan and Laetitia, immediately picked up on it.

“’Ow are you doing, hippie…I mean teacha?” Laetitia asked with her arms folded in fake politeness. “You seem like you are ‘aving a bit of an off day. My motha gets those, but she’s reaching a certain age and…”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Stellaris said, trying to smile off her angst. “I simply heard that my sister had an exemplary student in her first gym class. I haven’t had one of them in a long time.”

Mena’s eyes twinkled and beamed like stars. Her teeth formed a very toothy grin, knowing that Stellaris meant that SHE was the exemplary student.

“Oh yes,” Laetitia said, pretending a shiny halo was atop her head rather than the devil horns Mena always thought of. “We had a magnifique day with your sista. She was such a peach. Isn’t that right, Ashlan?”

Laetitia nudged Ashlan with a devilish grin, and the lioness reluctantly went along with it. “She was, Laetitia. Usually, I’m the greatest student in all the classes, but Nebula is so talented she had TWO prodigies.”

Mena wasn’t sure whether she should speak out in defense of Stellaris or remain quiet. After all, Ashlan did mention her greatness in Nebula’s class and she wouldn’t want Stellaris to hate her for being Nebula’s new pet.

Laetitia’s eyes shined with evil as she added. “Oh, and your sista is tres funny. She had Marie quacking up the whole time…I mean cracking.”

Stellaris turned so red, Mena wasn’t sure if she was beginning to combust like a star going supernova. “Oh, that’s wonderful,” Stellaris spat, stomping towards her desk. “Once again, everyone prefers Nebula over me.”

“Oh and teacha,” Laetitia said, spindling her fingers together on top of her desk. “Nebula is so tres awesome, that she let us out of class early. Oh, wat a perfect teacha. She’s the best since Professor Gaia.”

Stellaris’ nostrils flared and she screamed, “You know what??? If you think Nebula’s so great, class dismissed.”

Everyone looked nervously at Stellaris as she broke down sobbing into her hands. They all quietly got up and left. Mena stopped to look at Stella, but she howled at Mena. “Go on. Go. Go be with your perfect teacher.”

Mena didn’t know what to do, so she silently left Stellaris to herself. She felt so bad that she had upset Stellaris but there was no consoling her in such a fit of rage and misery.

As she got out of class, Mena headed down the spiral staircase of the Sun Tower. Fabias whispered to Mena, “Pssst, pretty one. I figured out how I can make you the talk of the town. Or rather the squabble of the school!”

“Excellent!” Mena said, “How?”

“Stand before a group of people and write what you’d like them to do,” Fabias said, a sly look in his eyes. “Treat them like how you’d write yourself.”

“O-oh, ok,” Mena said, looking a bit nervous. A group of girls approached her at the end of the hallway and Mena quickly opened her book to the Unwritten Chapter.

She quickly scribbled in it, “Everyone was dazzled by the looks and talent of Mena Willow, upcoming Author of Dreams.”

Mena pressed her hands to the book and watched as a shadow extended from beneath the book and stretched towards the group of girls. As soon as it reached them, there was a visible change in their demeanor. “Is that Mena?!” one of the girls exclaimed. “Mena Willow?! Aieeee! Mena!”

“Hey Mena,” Janus asked, as her and May approached their friend. “Would you like to join us for dinner?” But they were shoved out of the way by the other girls.

“Mena,” a girl with red-hair and green eyes asked. She was completely focused on the young witch. “What are you doing for dinner? Can you please eat with us? There’s nothing we’d like more than to be enlightened by the sound of you talking and chewing food.”

Mena gave a confident smirk as she held her book close to her chest as the girls swarmed around her. “I’ll catch you guys later,” Mena said with starstruck eyes, flicking her finger to Janus and May.

As the girls looked at her with almost hypnotized looks of glee, quickly hoisted her up into their arms, Mena never looked forward to a night of purple casserole and rainbow juice as much as this one.