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Chapter 4
That question remained on her mind and Amani’s second class flew by. It was time for lunch. That only meant one thing. She had to make up with Phoebe for what she had said yesterday. What did she say again? Oh yes, Amani refused to go to X’s autograph signings. She didn’t even like him anyway.
Amani walked over to the table where she and Phoebe sat every lunch. Phoebe wasn’t there yet since she had already gone in line for food. Amani preferred not to eat the school lunch. The main reason was that it shouldn’t even be considered food. She just brought a bagged lunch that was always packed with her favorites. The only problem today was that she was in such a rush that she had forgotten to grab her lunch on the way out of the house. Everyone makes mistakes.
But how was she going to survive without lunch? Food was one of Amani’s top priorities! Never allow her into a buffet. All of your food will be gone by the time she leaves. And yet she’s only ninety-nine pounds. The witch’s weight. Is that what she is? A witch?
No, that’s out of the question. Amani wasn’t using a cauldron when she did any of that stuff. So what could she be?
She sat down at her and Phoebe’s usual table in the back of the cafeteria. They weren’t exactly the most popular girls at school. If anything, they were the most unusual students. Phoebe set her tray down on the table, looking rather gloomy.
“Hey.” Amani tried to start a conversation.
“Hey.” Phoebe said and picked at her food.
Amani wanted to know what was wrong with her best friend. “Why so gloomy?” She pried.
Phoebe grimaced and pushed her tray away. “X cancelled the signings.”
Amani tried her best not to roll her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Phoebe finally looked at Amani. “Don’t be,” she frowned, “If anyone should be sorry it would be me.” Amani smiled at her friend’s kindness. Phoebe offered Amani food and she gladly accepted.
Next class, Spanish, wasn’t as strange as first hour. They had a test and Amani struggled since learning different languages wasn’t her cup of tea. Then an idea popped into her head. I wish I aced this test! She felt as if her hand was on auto-pilot. It was cheating but that was one of her flaws. She was no Mary Sue.
After Spanish, she went on the physical science. This wasn’t her best subject either and she often found herself dozing half the time. She was falling asleep now too, that is, until the teacher called her to her desk.
“Yes?” Amani said nervously, she didn’t like having attention on her.
The teacher looked at her through tiny glasses. “Miss Heart, I’m afraid that you haven’t been doing so well in my class and that you need extra credit.” Amani only nodded her head and looked down at the floor. “After school or this weekend, I would like you to go to the zoo and do some research on your favorite animal.” She said with a smile. “Give me an essay Monday morning and you will bring up your grade by a lot!”
She went back to her desk and thought about which animal she would choose. Hmmm…what animal? I love cats so I suppose I’ll pick the white tiger.
After class was over, Amani told Phoebe that she’d see her on Monday. She would usually go to the skate park on Friday afternoons but she wanted to finish this essay tonight. She ran to the locker room to retrieve her white and gold skateboard and then she was off to the zoo.
She swerved around the cars on the road. She knew it was dangerous and that she should stay on the sidewalk but she wanted to get this trip over with. Once she arrived at the zoo, she skillfully got off her skateboard and placed it into her bag.
She marched up to the ticket booth with a bored expression. “Yes?” The ticket person had as much enthusiasm as Amani. She had the blankest of blank look on her face.
“One ticket please?” Amani handed the woman the correct amount of money. The first thing Amani noticed after walking through the entrance was two zoo keepers talking urgently with each other. As she walked past them, she caught their conversation.
“They have to put it to sleep.” The first said.
“Why?” The second asked.
“It’s acting up.” The first answered and continued, “It growls at people, even bites ‘em.”
“Can foxes give people rabies?”
He laughed, “Do your research.”
Amani felt somewhat guilty after hearing that. She felt that it was partially her fault for Nalin getting caught. She should have told him to keep it in his room and giving it food later. But she didn’t, so he foolishly brought him to the dinner table.
She didn’t like the fox but she didn’t want them to put it to sleep. She had to find a way to get it out of here. After checking the map to see where they kept the foxes, she broke into a run, dodging a person here or there.
She ran past the lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my!
As she got to the exhibit where they kept the arctic foxes, she gave the fox in the corner a look of pity. He was moving the empty bowl with his paw away from him with a small paw while looking glumly at the floor. He slowly moved his head up to meet her eyes.
Amani felt her eyes start to water at the sight. She placed her hand on the glass and gave it a look of sympathy. He turned his head sharply away as if he didn’t want her sympathetic look. As if he didn’t want her sympathy.
She turned her head away, her eyes searching for an entrance in. She noticed a fence that said ‘Employees Only’ and she knew what she had to do.
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