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"I’ry," Ash said

Despite my new abilities, I felt powerless in the face of such bullying "We’ve got to put a stop to this crap"

"How?" Ash asked, interest sparking in his eyes

"I’ll co I have to"

"I hope you’re not getting their hopes up for nothing," Elyssa said that afternoon in detention "I’ to be really mad with you if you are" The violet in her eyes seeone froave the impression that her sleep deprivation was even worse than usual

"Is so back down the hall for any sign of our warden, Ms Forehtful for athe conclusion she didn’t want to tell s as I did other girls, and the usual emotional runoff that accouarded her emotions with the Great Wall of China I could have dropped the leash keeping my beast at bay and possibly sensed more but I didn’t want to violate her I cared too ht lose control and bad things could happen If she was The One, I didn’t want to ruin anything

"I’u usually sat at had loloves I didn’t want to touch anything that had been chewed by someone else’s mouth, especially Nathan’s Elyssa didn’t seeross you out?" I asked

She shrugged "I’ve done worse"

"Your parents led "No" She threw a chunk of fossilized guh

"Ahem" Ms Foreman stood at the door to the cafeteria, just five feet away The piece of gu in her hair

It was all I could do not to burst into hysterical laughter or scream in a fit of pure panic

"Well, children, I can see this job is le "Followcauldron of acid in ave us large pairs of coveralls They stank of rancid grease and industrial detergents

"Put these on," she commanded

"What are these for?" I asked

"Now is not the ti ht smile as he pulled out someone’s toenails

Elyssa slipped into hers without a word I followed suit Heck, if a girl wasn’t couess I wouldn’t either

That didn’t last long

Five rease traps These weren’t s as kitchen sinks, and they belonged to a governanisms they cooked in this kitchen probably created hazardous waste that could kill on contact I couldn’t believe she could ainst child labor laws? The vacuurease was broken It s out by hand and put it into thick plastic bags for disposal

Ms Foreman had obviously used this as punishment before She had the janitor show us how to pop the lids off the traps while she made a quick exit

"You kids must’ve really ticked her off," said the wrinkled old man with a chuckle "I wouldn’t wish this on my ex-wife"

"It can’t be that bad," Elyssa said, holding what looked like a rease, and a flat-bladed scraper

He wheezed out a laugh "Oh it’s bad I just hope you got strong stomachs and a weak sense of smell"

I almost insta-barfed when he popped the lid off the first trap The fu carcasses slathered in dog vomit and feces It looked even worse, like black pools of liquefied bodies with bits of corn and other rando on top Elyssa wrinkled her nose, took a couple of deep breaths, then got on her knees and started scooping The janitor left us, his laughter echoing down the hallway as he went

"What in God’s name do your parents make you do at hoet used to it," she said

"They don’t make you shovel horse poo They make you shovel horse carcasses"

Ms Foreman apparently knew about the odor and never showed her totalitarian face while orked, sweated, and, in ed If you’ve heard the expression "I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole" then add another thousand feet and you’ll kno I felt just looking at the tub of putrescence Soe to vo By the time we finished, it was almost eleven Neither of us had particularly enjoyed the exercise, but I still felt closer to Elyssa, as if by sharing such a horrific task it had bonded us even tighter<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>