At recess, the teacher let the class run and play on the playground. There were big yellow slides, blue swings, a pretty tree in the corner, and lots of toys to play with. It was like our old school, only there weren't as many balls.

  So everybody had to share. This meant the big bully boy hogging the ball right now had to share too.

  "The teacher said we're supposed to share," Ryder said to the boy hogging the ball. 

  I looked back and forth between him and the brown-eyed bully. Recess was almost over, and the ball hogger hadn't given us a turn yet. "Yeah, it's our turn," I said.

  Sharing was the rule. The only thing we didn't share was food, and that's because a bunch of kids were allergic to stuff.

  The boy stuck his tongue out at me and put the ball behind his back. "You can't play with the balls. You're a girl."

  "Yes, I can." My foot stomped on the black pavement. "Teacher said I can." I even had a ball back at our old house with pretty flowers on it.

  Ball Hogger grunted like a pig and put the ball back in front again. "Fine."

  A little "well thanks" stuck on my tongue, but before I could say it, the big meanie threw the ball across the playground. It bounced and rolled until it stopped near the slides.

  I pointed at him and made fists with my hands. "You're a big meanie."

  Ball Hogger laughed and stuck out his tongue again like the big meanie he was. "If you want it, then go get it, stupid."

  Stupid is a bad word, I thought. The word made water go into my eyes anyway, even though I knew I wasn't stupid.

  Without saying a word, Ryder stomped over to him and pushed the meanie away from us. His hands pulled back, and I thought I heard a little zap.

  Ryder's bottom lip quivered. "You're a big bully," he said. "A big, big, mean, bully!" His voice got louder and louder until he started shouting. "You big meanie." He kept shouting and made a little lump stick in my throat. 

  Ryder didn't push people or yell at them when they were mean. He told the teacher or helped me get them back.

  "That hurt. And stop yelling at me," the ball hogger said. "I'm telling on you." Then ball hogger ran to the teacher while pointing and shouting at us.

  "You're the meanie," I shouted. 

    Ryder's feet stayed in one spot like they couldn't move, and his head was down.

    The big angry ball in my tummy turned into a teeny one in my throat when I saw him not moving. As the little lump got softer, I reached out and poked his shoulder. "Ryder? You okay?"

  He shook his head. A bunch of water went down his cheeks in little drips.

  Teacher walked over with the smiling meanie behind her. Her face was surprised when she turned Ryder back around to look at her. "Ryder?"

  "I'm sorry for pushing." Ryder sniffled and bit his lips together. 

  Teacher patted his head. "Ryder, that wasn't like you. What happened?"

  Big Ball Hogger butted in and made up mean stories about us before Ryder could say anything. He even said that Ryder was the ball hogger instead of him and that Ryder was being mean by shocking him. 

  Ryder would never hurt someone on purpose.

  The teacher gave him a look, the one Chael gave me when he didn't believe me. "Saorise, what happened?"

  I told her the right thing--about how he was the ball hogger, how he threw the ball across the playground, and how he called me stupid. Then I added a teeny bit about how Ryder pushed him and the zap. "That's what happened," I said.

  Ball Hogger gave me a face. I ignored him and looked away like Chael said to do. He said bullies didn't like that.

  "Well, I think I see what's going on here now. Nico, it's not nice to hog the ball." Teacher turned to Ball-hogger and knelt down in front of him. "And even worse to lie. You are not allowed to lie, and you have to share on the playground. Yes, ma'am?"

  "Yes, ma'am," the boy muttered.

  With a turn of her head, Teacher looked at Ryder. "And Ryder. You cannot push anyone. Ever. It's not nice, and people can get hurt. Do you understand?"

  With a sniffle, Ryder nodded then rubbed his eyes.

  Teacher stood up with this nice smile on her face. "Good. Both of you are on time-out for the rest of recess." 

  I followed behind Teacher when she brought the boys to the time-out table, then I sat down next to Ryder.

  "Saorise, you're not on timeout. Go play," Teacher said.

  "But I want to stay with Ryder." I gave her the biggest eyes I could make. "Please?"

  Teacher sighed and let me stay. She was very nice. On our first day at the new school, she gave me and Ryder a little candy and introduced us to the rest of the class. 

  I leaned over to Ryder, who had put his head down on his knees. "Ryder, did you use your lightning stuff?" I whispered.

  He nodded slowly and kept his head buried.

 "Chael said not to do that," I said. Chael said it was bad to use our lightning powers on people without them. They were the people without our blue eyes like the boy who hogged the ball.

  "I know," Ryder said. His voice was all covered from his knees. "I don't know what happened. I just got so angry after he called you stupid."

  "I'm okay," I said. I didn't like being called stupid though.

  We spent the rest of recess on the time out bench. Ryder's face stayed on his legs, but Ball Hogger kept making mean faces at us. 

  Big meanie.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

  After lunch, we had our nap time. This was when Teacher laid out all the blue beds, and we got our blankets and put them on. Mine was next to Ryder's near the door. Teacher played the lullaby music on the computer and waited for us to fall asleep.

  As my eyes closed, the pretty music floated into my ears and made pretty sounds. No one talked since it would get them a time out from recess, so it was quiet.

  As I felt the fuzzy sleep cloud on my head, a picture of a scary person in black clothes came into my head. I shook it away. Those were the pictures Ms. Raxyn made me see, and I couldn't sleep when they were in my brain.

  The fuzzy scary person opened a door I couldn't hear or see. A loud boom bounced around in my brain. I shook it away again. 

  The booming wasn't stopping, and the scary person wouldn't stop coming into my brain when I closed my eyes. The dark classroom lied on top of me like a heavy person and forced me to stay still.

  I didn't like it. I didn't like all the pictures Ms. Razyn made me see, and I didn't even remember a lot of them. 

  Next to me, Ryder started breathing weird. "Saorise, you feel scared too?" he whispered. 

  "Yeah," I whispered back. A little sniffle went up my nose. "You felt that?"

  Ryder flipped over to look at me and nodded. "I can't sleep. It's too dark."

  "You see the scary person too?" I asked.

  Teacher walked over to our beds and kneeled down. "Saorise. Ryder. It's nap time, not talking time."

  "Sorry," I mumbled and squeezed my eyes shut. The dark scariness lied on top of me more and made another sniffle go up my nose. 

  It was scarier with my eyes closed, so I opened them and stared at the door. Maybe if I looked long enough, the scary feeling would go away. It was dark. The air was cold from the air conditioner the Teacher turned on. Shivering, I pulled the blanket farther up my body to get warm.

  A little, tingly feeling went up my back.

  I yawned and felt my eyeball lids falling down, but before I fell asleep, I felt someone appear at the door. My throat got another lump again, but this time it was huge and hurting.

  The person walked in wearing a black suit. His shirt was dark like the bad guys in my dream, and he wore a fancy, black coat on top of it.

  Black clothes were scary clothes.

  I sat up on my coat and stared at the man. He looked over at me then took a step. As he walked closer and closer, maybe to take me away from Ryder and Chael, the lump in my throat got bigger.

  A scream went through my mouth and broke the lump into big lumpy pieces. 

  Behind me, Ryder cried softly. 

 Crying and screaming, I kicked away the man so he wouldn't take us. No one would take us again during the dark and scary and cold night. They wouldn't wake us up somewhere new and make Chael go away.

  My arms hit the man's arms, and I pushed him off me. "Let go! Let go!" My voice sounded all watery from all the running nose stuff in my throat.

  Tears went down my cheeks and made my shirt all wet. When the man reached out again, I screamed.

  "Saorise," the teacher said and pulled me into a hug. "What's the matter?"

  Then Ryder shouted at the man and cried too, just like me. 

  I pushed against Teacher's arms and felt another tingly feeling run up my arms again. My arms shivered. Didn't she know we needed to run away?

   After a big zap, Teacher hugged me tighter and whispered in my ear. "Shhh. It's okay, it's okay."

  Then she pulled Ryder into the hug and whispered the same thing to him. 

  "There's a bad man there." I pointed at the man dressed in black. The bad man took a step back the left the room like the bad man he was. Chael would get him later. 

  "I want Chael," Ryder said. 

  Teacher rubbed our backs, but I couldn't stop crying. I wanted Chael too. He could make the bad man from my dreams go away like he did when I got nightmares and stuff.

  "Get the parents here," Teacher said to the teacher-helper. 

  I looked into Teacher's big blue eyes--the same ones as ours--and asked her a question. "Is the bad man gone?"

"Yes. That was the principal, Saorise."

"But I feel him outside." I  bit my lip and hugged Teacher harder when I felt another tingly feeling go down my arms.

"Me too," Ryder said. 

  Teacher winced but she held us tighter. "It's alright. He won't hurt you. Calm down, okay?"

  My head nodded. My hands reached up to dry my eyeballs when I noticed the blue twisty things on my fingers. They disappeared really fast. After more crying and telling Teacher where the bad man came from, my dreams, she put me and Ryder in the back. Then she left us all alone to help the other kids sleep.

  Ryder's and my hands held each other as we waited for Chael or Mr. Steven or Mrs. Lindley to take us out of the scary place.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

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