I pushed past Eliza and her gang and raced to find Ms Blit.
By the time I reached the toilet block, my right arm was completely invisible. Ms Blit leaped to her feet. She made me sit down and take five deep breaths before I said anything. As my heart stopped pounding, my arm started to reappear. Soon only my pinky finger remained invisible. I told her that I was giving up the program. It was a disaster. If anything, it was making things worse. Before, I was considered a miserable nobody, not worth paying attention to. Since I started Ms Blit’s program, people actually hated me. I was fast becoming Public Enemy Number One.
‘Why? What happens?’ I asked.
She nodded slowly, and scratched her short, fuzzy hair. ‘I’m listening, I hear you. It’s important we avoid setbacks. We mustn’t make things worse.’
I repeated my question: ‘Why? What happens if it does get worse?’ I waited for her to answer, but she didn’t.
This was not fair. I pointed my finger at her and shouted, ‘There’s something you’re not telling me. You’re hiding something. I’m right, aren’t I?’
Ms Blit just stared at me.
I knew I was onto something. ‘There’s something you are not telling me, right?’
What I said had completely wiped the fixed grin off her face. Now there was not a trace of a smile on her features, neither brave nor otherwise. She bit her bottom lip and nodded.
‘Well, don’t then,’ I said.
‘There is something,’ she said. ‘Something I can’t tell you. Something I’m not allowed to tell you. Don’t worry about it, Simon. I’m telling you all the stuff you need to know.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘And goodbye.’ I stormed out of the room and hit my head on the side of the door as I left.
I found myself in the playground, my face in its usual grim scowl.
Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw several people pointing me out to their friends and sniggering. I knew what they were saying: His name’s Poopoo and he’s the new leading contender for the title of Void of the Year.
This school, like every other school I had been to, was proving to be hell on earth.
I spent the afternoon not speaking to anyone. I didn’t smile at anyone, and I stared at the clock in the classroom, waiting for the day to end. Dad had promised to play computer games with me tonight. We had recently extended our subscription to Everworld Combat Plus Special Edition, an online game.
That would be fun. No conversation necessary. Just big, heavy weapons and lots and lots of people on the screen waiting to be blasted to pieces.
Now that was a worthwhile way to spend a bit of time. My fingers itched to get to the trigger and I noticed my whole hand was solid again.