It's getting worse. Not now. Why now? It's been dormant for weeks! Naomi thought, squeezing her hand repeatedly into a fist to try to suppress the faint tingling in the tips of her fingers. It was in vain, just as she knew it would be. Once the tingling started it wouldn't stop until the Shift was complete. Please stop, she thought helplessly. Not now, not today!
It had been nearly two months since the last one, and Naomi had just started to hope that maybe the Shifting was done for good-- that she could finally be normal. But she wasn't normal. Naomi knew that. Normal fourteen-year-old girls worried about how their hair looked, or if the boy who sat two rows over liked them or not. What normal fourteen-year-old girls did not do was turn down every invitation to hang out from their best friend because they were scared the night would end with needles poked into their arm while they laid in a hospital bed surrounded by scientists try to figure out how such a freak of nature came to be.
"... Wouldn't you agree, Miss Walker?"
Mr. Yi's voice jarred Naomi out of her terrified thoughts and reminded her she should be paying attention. Freak of nature or not, she still had grades to keep up, and she inwardly kicked herself for allowing her attention to stray.
"I-I don't know," Naomi said, trying to bluff her way out of trouble. "I don't really think my opinion matters."
"It does when I ask you for it," Mr. Yi insisted, giving her a hard look.
Naomi was struggling to come up with a response when the bell rang, indicating the end of the period. Saved by the bell, Naomi thought with relief. Her moment of peace was tarnished, though, when she felt the tingling slowly start to spread down her finger tips to her first knuckle. Determined to ignore it, she started to gather her things. She was halfway to the door when Mr. Yi said,
"Miss Walker. I'd like you to stay behind just a moment."
Naomi held back a dejected sigh and waited until the last student had left the classroom before turning around to face her teacher, trying to push the increased intensity of the feeling in her fingers from her mind. "Yes, sir?"
"I'm disappointed in you, Naomi," Mr. Yi said softly. He was a tall, Vietnamese man with small, dark eyes and neatly trimmed hair of the same color and he seemed to loom over Naomi like a skyscraper. "You've had troubles in the past with paying attention, but you've been doing much better recently. I hope you're not falling back into old habits."
"No, of course not, sir," Naomi said quickly. Secretly, she thought it was because the Shift hadn't happened recently, but she couldn't tell him that. "I'm just not... feeling myself today."
Mr. Yi raised an eyebrow. "The midterm for this course is on Friday. That's in just two days. I hope you are well prepared."
"I think I will be," Naomi lied. No way was she prepared for the midterm. She found biology boring, aggravating, tedious, and just about every other negative adjective she could think of. The only thing she could remember from the study guide was that Photosystem II came before Photosystem I. At least, that's how she thought it went.
"Good, but I think you can do better than 'I think I will be.' Luckily, you'll have plenty of time to study in detention this afternoon."
"What?!" Naomi nearly shouted, her heart racing. She couldn't stay after school. Not when the Shift was happening! If she Shifted completely before she got home, before she got to the privacy of her bedroom... Naomi banished the thought from her mind. It was too unnerving to process.
"Is there... is there anyway I could do it tomorrow?" she asked. Was it just her imagination, or was the tingling already to her second knuckle? It's moving so fast, she thought. It's never spread this quickly before. "It's just that my dad doesn't like me walking about by myself that late and he can't pick me up because he has to work. But he gets off work early tomorrow." She knew she was grasping at straws, but she hoped against hope that Mr. Yi would allow her to delay her sentence.
Mr. Yi shook his head. "I'm afraid not. If I made an exception for you, I'd have to accept every students' excuses. You'll just have to figure something out. It's not too long. Don't you have a friend who'd be willing to walk you home?"
The warning bell rang before she could answer, signaling that there were two more minutes until fifth period started.
"You'd best be getting to your next class," Mr. Yi said. "I'll be checking in with Mrs. Peindre tomorrow morning concerning your attendance in detention."
Naomi mumbled something about figuring it out and quickly left, located her locker, and slipped into her next classroom just before the tardy bell rang. By the time she took her seat, she was beginning to panic. The feeling had spread again, and now it covered all her fingers along with the top part of her palms. It was definitely spreading faster than usual. Why, though? Was it making up for all the weeks it had stayed dormant? Had she eaten something that was making it hyperactive? Naomi put those questions aside. She didn't have any answers for them, and all they did was make her worry more. She could investigate the possible causes for the Shifting's increased speed tomorrow, after it was complete. For now, she had bigger problems to worry about. Like would she be released from detention in time to make it home before the Shift was finished? If not, could she hide in the bathroom until everyone was gone after detention?
Of course not, she thought. The janitor works during that time. And even if I were to risk sneaking around, I'd still be seen on the security cameras. And I can't just stay in the bathroom until it's over-- the Shift will take all night! I'll just have to--
"Hello, earth to Naomi. You okay?"
Naomi jumped at the sudden voice, knocking her textbook to the ground with a loud thump! with her elbow.
"I've been talking to you since you walked in," the voice said as Naomi bent over to pick up her book, "but you haven't acted like you've heard a word I said."
Naomi glanced up. The voice belonged to Darcy Jogah, Naomi's best and only friend. Darcy was easy to pick out of a crowd, what with her sharp, pretty Native American features and flawless copper skin. Not to mention her bright teal bangs, which she was constantly flicking away from her face.
"Sorry," Naomi mumbled, setting her book back in its proper place. "I've just got a lot on my mind."
"I'll say. I feel like I've been talking to a wall for the last minute and half!"
"Sorry," Naomi repeated. Her heart was still racing from the shock. She gently rubbed her tingling thumb on the plain, bronze ring on her middle finger. Rubbing it made Naomi feel calmer.
"So, what's on your mind?" Darcy asked in a whisper as Dr. Qui started to take roll.
"Mr. Yi gave me detention for not paying attention to his lesson," Naomi whispered back.
"I know how he feels," she teased. "What were you daydreaming about this time?"
"I don't daydream, Darce," Naomi said defensively. "I just get lost in thought easily."
"Right, and politicians are honest," she said sarcastically as she picked a piece of lint off the maroon bomber jacket she always wore. She paused a moment to shout "Present" when Dr. Qui called her name for roll before continuing. "So, what were you 'lost in thought' about?"
Naomi shrugged nonchalantly. "Can't remember."
Darcy laughed. "You were so wrapped up in it earlier you got detention from it, but now you can't remember?"
Naomi shrugged and smiled sheepishly as she responded to her name in the roll call. "Present."
Darcy shook her head. "Girl, you've got problems. You should set up a session with your dad. He could probably figure out why you keep losing focus."
Naomi rolled her eyes while Darcy laughed at her own joke. Naomi shushed her and signaled that class was starting. She tried to look studious and attentive, but on the inside she felt the contents of her stomach slosh around at what Darcy had said. The last thing she needed was for Papa to be scrutinizing her.
Naomi tried to pay attention to Dr. Qui's lesson. She really did. They were reviewing for the midterm they were taking next day, and Naomi knew it was important to focus. But every time she tried, the feeling in her hand seemed to grow more intense or spread further down her palm. It tickled, too. It gave her a pins-and-needles feeling, like she had laid on her arms too long and cut off circulation to her hands. Naomi tried to discreetly scratch her palms on the rough materiel of her jeans, but it did nothing in the way of relief. One time, Darcy caught her rubbing her pant legs vigorously while attempting to calm a particularly powerful wave of tickling. Naomi froze and pretended to brush invisible dust off her leg in an attempt to appear normal. After that, Naomi was forced to grit her teeth and bear it for the rest of the period, lest Darcy get suspicious and start asking uncomfortable questions she didn't have answers to. By the end of class, the feeling had spread across her hands entirely and was slowly traversing up her forearms, and all she had to show for it was a mouth full of sore teeth from clenching too hard and fingernail imprints across her palms from making fists.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Darcy asked as they walked together to the cafeteria. "You've been acting strangely all morning. Are you sick?"
"I feel a little strange," Naomi admitted. "I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow, though."
"Do you need to go home?" Darcy pressed. "I can swing by after school and bring your homework if you'd like."
"I can't. I've got detention, remember?"
"I'm sure you could serve your detention tomorrow."
Naomi shook her head. "Mr. Yi said he'd check in with Mrs. Peindre to make sure I went. If I skip out, I could find myself in even more trouble."
"You could always come back," Darcy suggested.
"It won't be safe for me to be out and about that late."
"What does that mean?" Darcy asked. "We've gone to the park far after sunset before. Walking home from school with plenty of light is nothing. Your dad can't possibly be that protective of you."
Of course, Naomi had carelessly been referring to the Shifting, but she quickly thought up an excuse. "It's probably the pollen that's making be feel sick," she explained. "It's probably not a good idea to be outdoors too much." She smiled, trying to sell the story.
Darcy apparently bought it. "Yeah, you're right. Wouldn't want to be sick for midterms."
They sat down at their usual table, and while Darcy tried to keep up conversation in between bites of her BLT, Naomi found it hard to concentrate on anything her friend was saying. She picked aimlessly at her food, determined not to panic that the feeling had now reached nearly two inches passed her wrists. It was definitely spreading faster that usual. She tried to get some of her nervous energy out by bouncing her leg, but it didn't do anything but make her feel more jittery.
"Nomi, you're daydreaming again," Darcy said.
Naomi shook herself from her thoughts. "Sorry," she said. "I'm just... worried about my biology midterm. What were you saying?"
Darcy rolled her eyes in an annoyed way. "I hate repeating myself," she muttered. "I was saying that after midterms, when we're on break, you should come with my family to our lodge for a few days."
"Oh, um." Naomi blinked. "I don't know..." There was something strange going on with Naomi's Shifting-- well, stranger than usual, at least. If Naomi were to Shift unexpectedly out in the mountains in front of Darcy and her family...
"Don't give me your answer now," Darcy said. "Just think about it. Talk about it with your dad tonight."
"He's working late tonight," Naomi told her.
"When is he not working?" Darcy asked, shaking her head. "Just talk to him when you can, okay?" When Naomi nodded she said, "Good. I'm done eating. Are you? I want to walk around a bit before next period. My butt is gonna go numb if I have to sit through one more boring lecture without any exercise."
Naomi followed Darcy to the tray return, feeling like a horrible friend. She'd been ignoring Darcy all day, and she was probably going to make up some excuse as to why she couldn't go with her to the lodge, turning her friend down. Again.
She hated lying, especially to Darcy. Before Darcy's family had moved in, Naomi had had no friends whatsoever. If she kept treating her this way, if she kept lying and deceiving her friend, they probably wouldn't end up staying friends much longer.
The thought made her angry. Why? Why was she cursed with the Shifting? Why should she let the fear of it being discovered keep her from enjoying time with her friend? Why had she let it? Why had she allowed her fear of discovery keep her from living her life?
Not this time, she thought determinedly.
"You know what, Darce," she said. "Count me in for the lodge. I'm sure I can talk Papa into letting me go."
"Wait, are you serious?" Darcy asked. Naomi could see in her eyes that she was holding back her hope, preparing herself for disappointment.
Naomi felt her resolve strengthen. "Absolutely." She was still terrified at being discovered, but she was even more terrified of losing her friend. Whatever came, she decided, she would figure it out. She owed it to Darcy to take a chance, even if Darcy didn't realize how much of a chance she was taking.
"Sweet!" Darcy was practically glowing with happiness. It didn't take much to imagine that her light burgundy eyes were sparkling. "I'll tell my parents tonight. I can't wait! It's going to be so much more fun with you there. We can swim in the lake, watch that new movie I've been dying to show you, go jet-skiing, go mountain biking..."
Darcy went on and on about several different activities they could do and Naomi smiled to see her friend so happy. Her excitement would have been contagious if it weren't for the tingling feeling just a few centimeters away from her elbows.
"Welcome to detention, ladies and gents," Mrs. Peindre said happily, as if she were more than happy to be taking time after school to be overseeing a rowdy group of teenagers.
"Now, for those of you new to detention, the rules are simple. No leaving the classroom, no talking, no texting, and no note-passing. If you have a question, you may raise your hand. Otherwise, you're expected to either study or do homework. You'll be released in an hour."
An hour? Naomi glanced at the clock. Detention would get out at 4:30. She hoped that wasn't long enough for the tingling to spread from her midcalf to her feet. The feet were always the worst part of the buzzing feeling before a Shift. The tickling was so intense it sometimes brought tears to Naomi's eyes, and it would be very difficult to explain why she was laughing at her textbooks. Unless she wanted to make up some excuse as to why she found cytoplasm in cells funny, she'd better get out of here before the Shift.
"I'm surprised to see you here, Naomi."
Naomi turned. Mrs. Peindre had taken the empty seat next to her and was speaking quietly. "You're such a well-behaved girl-- creative, too. How did you wind up in here? This isn't a place for someone like you."
Had the room not currently been hosting detention, Naomi might have disagreed. Mrs. Peindre's classroom was the art room, and the brightly colored paintings and murals on the walls never ceased to cheer up Naomi-- even on a Shifting day. But at that moment, Naomi agreed full-heartedly; this wasn't a place for her. The room was filled with students who didn't care enough to do their homework and disobeyed the rules for fun. There were big, mean-looking kids glowering in the corners, as if they had a vendetta against everyone in the room. Large, letterman-jacket wearing boys tossed a football back and forth, sometimes targeting the smaller kids sitting between them. Rude, rowdy, uncaring. These kids were the opposite of Naomi.
"I had a hard time paying attention in biology today," Naomi explained. "Mr. Yi thought detention would give me a good opportunity to study."
Mrs. Peindre clicked her tongue and shook her head. "That man. He's more worried about giving information than teaching students to be passionate about learning. But I never said that," she added with a wink. "I never speak ill of a colleague."
Naomi smiled as Mrs. Peindre returned to her desk. Whelp, she thought. Might as well get to it. She heaved her heavy biology book out of her bag, lifted it onto the desk, and flipped open the the chapter the midterm would be on. She began to read, but she quickly lost focus. Many times her thoughts wandered while she was reading and she had to re-read what she'd read because she hadn't comprehended any of it. After reading the same page four times, Naomi finally shut the book in frustration and stowed it away in her bag. She glanced up at the clock. 3:57. Had it really only been half an hour? It felt like much longer. Naomi became keenly aware of the tingling feeling halfway across her ankle. Still a half-hour of detention to go.
Sighing, she pulled out her history textbook instead. She didn't really need to study; Naomi felt more prepared for her history exam than any other. But history and ancient cultures fascinated her, and right now she needed something to distract her, something that could keep her attention from straying to the feeling in her legs.
As she read, she glanced periodically at the clock. 4:04. 4:12. 4:20. The closer it got to 4:30, and the more the tops of her feet tingled, the more Naomi grew anxious. She began to bounce her leg again while simultaneously touching each buzzing fingertip to the pad of her thumb with one hand and tapping the desk nervously with the other. 4:28. Time seemed to move like a turtle swimming through peanut butter. So close...
Finally, Mrs. Peindre stood and announced, "Detention is over. You can all go now."
The words were barely out of her mouth before Naomi was out the door, shrugging her bag onto her shoulder. She burst through the school doors and wasted no time in taking off down the sidewalk like she had a pack of hungry wolves on her heels. The pounding of her shoes on the ground helped dull the tickling sensation, which was fortunate because it had now spread to the bottoms of her feet.
Naomi ran faster than she knew she could. She rounded one corner and the next at desperate speeds. The feeling had nearly covered her entire body. It wouldn't be long before the Shift now.
She rounded the last corner and saw her house at the end of the street. The driveway was empty, which meant Naomi's father was still at work, as she knew he would be. The lawn was in desperate need of trimming, and Naomi nearly tripped over one of the garden gnomes decorating the yard that the long grass obscured from her view. The bronze numbers on the front blue door were fading and needed a polish, but Naomi paid them no mind. She dug her key out of her pocket, inserted it into the knob, and slammed the door safely shut behind her, panting like a dog. She barely had time to celebrate that she had made it home in time before the last bits of her feet were swallowed in the tingling feeling and the Shift began.