Into the Shadows (6 page)

“Yeah, yeah, no you’re right. I just thought, I
don’t know…,” she muttered, not really knowing what to say.

The cookies still looked like they spelled her name,
even if Michaela couldn’t see it. Michaela took the ginger snap
that dotted the last ‘i’ in Paivi’s name and grabbed a napkin.

“Come on, let’s get some punch!”

Paivi grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and followed
her over to the next table. An older lady in a Tartans sweatshirt,
wearing a Scottish beret on her head ladled punch from a large bowl
into red paper cups.

Paivi glanced into the bowl and felt sick. The fruit
in the punch began to arrange itself into two words.

I KNOW

Paivi could hardly believe her eyes, but after the
cookies she wasn’t so surprised. She was scared. What did they know
about her? And who knew it?

The woman stopped pouring and looked at Paivi.

“Are you feeling okay, sweetheart?” Her hand with
the ladle was hanging just above the fruity words in the punch
bowl. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” she mumbled. Maybe the ladle
would mess up the fruit. She stood there staring at the bowl,
waiting. It broke the surface, breaking up the fruit letters. But
after the lady served the next portion of punch, the fruit seemed
to gravitate back together, like they were full of magnets. The
words had reformed.

I KNOW

Michaela grabbed two cups of punch, said a quick
thank you to the woman and led Paivi over to a table.

“Are you all right?” She sounded concerned. “You
look like you’re going to puke! Please don’t puke on me, I really
like this dress! But seriously, do you think you are sick from
dinner or something? You know you are allergic to cheese.” She
looked around and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Or maybe this is
because Jason is here with his girlfriend?”

Paivi’s mind was racing. She couldn’t tell Michaela.
Paivi felt crazy herself, and she was sure Michaela would agree.
She hadn’t seen the words in the cookies or the punch.

“Here, maybe if you get some punch, you’ll feel
better.” She pushed it towards Paivi.

She was afraid to look into the glass, for fear
there would be some kind of message.

“Look, I’m sorry,” she said, trying to sound normal.
“I just don’t feel well. You’re right; it was probably all that
cheese on the pizza. But it’s cool, I’ll be fine.”

“Seriously? What was Miranda Swenson thinking,
wearing that hideous yellow dress? She looks like Big Bird!”
Michaela giggled as she nodded discreetly in Miranda’s direction
before shoving a cookie in her mouth. The table she chose had a
perfect view of the people waiting in line for refreshments.

Paivi turned to look and snorted, hurriedly covering
her mouth. The punch almost made a quick exit.

They didn’t notice two girls walking up to the
table. The first was short and plump and was dressed in orange,
resembling a pumpkin. The other was somewhat skinny and wore a
green dress.

“Hey,” said Pumpkin, looking at Paivi.

“Um, hi?” Paivi tried to figure out if she should
know the girl from somewhere.

“We’re supposed to tell you that Christian Nelson
wants to talk to you,” Green Bean explained.

“Who’s Christian Nelson?” Paivi asked, although she
was worried she might already know.

Pumpkin and Green Bean exchanged a look that clearly
read ‘what an idiot.’

“Everyone knows Christian. He seemed to think you’d
know him too. Anyways, he’s sitting over there.” Green Bean
gestured to the other end of the cafeteria, where a bunch of
students were sitting at a table, talking and laughing. He was
there, in the middle of the group. He wore sunglasses, so Paivi
couldn’t see his eyes, but she could see his blond hair, which
looked white in the light, very clearly.

Her hands shook as she grabbed her used cup and
napkin from the table.

“Come on Michaela, I wanna dance,” she said,
standing up abruptly.

“Whatever,” said Pumpkin.

The girls, looking a bit annoyed, turned and headed
back to Christian Nelson’s camp.

“Don’t you want to go over and talk to that guy?
That’s the one that was checking you out on the first day of
school. He’s pretty cute. And he looks pretty popular,” Michaela
said, pulling on her arm.

“I’m not interested. And I don’t think he’s cute at
all,” she added firmly. “I just want to go back to the dance floor.
Let’s go find the girls.”

Paivi dragged Michaela back into the gym and
disappeared into the throng. She had a hard time enjoying herself
after the cookies and punch incident, and tried to make sure she
was in the middle of the group as much as possible. She didn’t want
to have to deal with Pumpkin or Green Bean or any more of Christian
Nelson’s entourage.

She couldn’t wait to go home. Who was making food
talk to her? Could it have been Christian Nelson? She still thought
she might be seeing things. And she didn’t know who to talk to
about it. Hopefully, it would be over now. She had made it quite
clear that she didn’t want to talk to him. Unfortunately, there was
one small problem. Paivi would still be forced to see Christian
every day at lunch and there was no getting around it. She shivered
at the thought and tried to push it from her mind.

“Now can anyone tell us the positive aspects of
globalization? Why is it a good thing?” Dr. Hasenpfeffer stood
before the class. She was oblivious to the fact that most of the
students in the class were not paying any attention to her. Some
had snuck their headphones up through their sweatshirts and were
listening to music. Some were passing notes. And some had even
succumbed to a sweet mid-class slumber, brought upon by the
consumption of too many Tartan burgers at lunch and the overly warm
conditions in the classroom. Paivi turned to look at the clock and
couldn’t help noticing that Michael Giannotti was in such a deep
sleep that he was emitting a snore every so often and a large
puddle of drool was spreading slowly across his notebook, causing
the few notes he had taken to run. She was astounded by Dr.
Hasenpfeffer’s lack of attention to this fact. She felt it was
quite possible that the good doctor had just stopped caring whether
they listened or not.

Paivi genuinely liked Dr. Hasenpfeffer, even if she
had the worst case of scatterbrain Paivi had ever seen. She really
felt her teacher was a nice lady. And when she wasn’t captivating
them with astounding tales of Clarence the cat and his habit of
pishing all over her carpets, she did have interesting things to
say.

Unlike the rest of her classmates, Paivi was not in
a food coma, in fact, her stomach was twisted in knots of hunger
because she still hadn’t been to lunch yet. And even though she
could see the future, she couldn’t make it arrive any faster, so
she figured she might as well say something. Besides, she was
slightly bored and a little annoyed that she was surrounded by such
lazy idiots. And she felt kind of sorry for Dr. Hasenpfeffer.

She raised her hand.

“Dr. H., globalization could be considered positive
because it gives jobs to people in other parts of the world. That
might give them more opportunities and maybe they would earn more
money than before,” she said.

Dr. Hasenpfeffer seemed surprised that someone had
actually answered.

“That is correct Paivi. One could say it is also a
positive for the consumer. Companies generally take their
production offshore in order to reduce costs. This gives them more
of a profit, but it also passes some savings along to the
consumer.”

Jason, paying attention to their discussion with
interest, raised his hand.

“Dr. H., what about all of those toys that we get
from China? I mean, I know they are cheaper than if they were made
here, but lately they have all been found to contain lead paint. My
aunt had to throw out all of my little cousin’s Super-Bots last
week. You should have seen him cry — I thought someone had
died!”

“Yes, Jason, that is one of the negative aspects of
globalization. If the toys are made in China, we have to trust that
the Chinese companies will abide by U.S. laws. Unfortunately, they
don’t always check the toys coming over, and that is why you have
seen toys from China being recalled every day. I’ve heard a rumor
that Chinese-made toys are going to be banned and will all be sent
back. Think of how that could affect what Santa Claus puts under
the Christmas tree!” she said, tapping her head with piece of
chalk.

The idea of no toys or gadgets for Christmas rousted
a few of the sleeping and comatose students, and the remainder of
class was spent arguing about where else they could get them and
how people would deal with the prospect of Santa delivering gifts
filled with socks and underwear.

As the bell rang and they left the classroom, Dr.
Hasenpfeffer shouted their homework at them through the din.

“Please don’t forget to watch the presidential
debate on Sunday night! Who would you vote for and why! We will
discuss on Monday!”

“I can just see it now,” said Jason as they filed
through the door, “parents buying Chinese-made Chuckling Charlies
like druggies score drugs! Instead of drug dealers, there will be
toy pushers hanging out at the playgrounds and on street
corners!”

“Yeah, they will open their trench coats and instead
of watches, they will be lined with dolls and action figures!”
Paivi pretended to be opening a coat, laughing. “Got your Soldier
Steve toys, step right up!”

“So, any big plans for the weekend?” Paivi asked as
she walked down to lunch with Jason.

“We’re going to some Halloween party tomorrow.”

“Oh, is it Amanda Montoya’s party?” Her heart
fluttered.

“I’m not sure. Probably. Melissa just told me we
were going as Hansel and Gretel.” He sounded a bit angry.

Paivi laughed.

“We’re going, too! You sound less than enthused. I
don’t understand why! Lederhosen are one of the more attractive
costumes a guy could wear!” She poked him in the side and
snickered. “I haven’t quite picked out what I’m wearing just
yet.”

“I just don’t like being told what to wear and what
to do,” he snapped.

Paivi smiled inside. Maybe there was trouble in
paradise. Her mind flitted to the thought of dancing with Jason at
the Winter Dance.

“Oh, on Sunday, I guess I’ll be watching the debate.
Maybe we should have a Debate Party. I’ll call Crystal and a couple
of the others. We could order a pizza or something,” she
suggested.

“That sounds cool. Just let me know what’s up. Dude,
I’m starving.” He patted his stomach with both hands. They were
entering the cafeteria, their nostrils bombarded by the smell of
burgers, fries and cookies. “I’ll see you later!”

Paivi headed over to her table and dropped her bag
onto her seat. She felt good today. It was Friday, which meant two
days to sleep in. As an added bonus, she would get to see Jason two
extra days. She was also excited because basketball tryouts were on
Monday. Not that the practices were all that exciting, but the
games would be great. She felt the good day warranted a nice big
chocolate chip cookie. They served them hot in the lunch line, the
chocolate still gooey.

“Are you going to get anything Mick?” she asked and
grabbed a dollar from her wallet.

Michaela dug through her backpack and pulled out a
small purse.

“Let’s go. You’re in a rather good mood today,”
Michaela said suspiciously.

“Yeah, I know! How could you not be! It’s Friday,
we’re going to a Halloween party and basketball starts Monday.” She
tried to pull the doofy smile off her face before it gave her
away.

“By any chance is Jason going to be at the party
tomorrow?” Michaela asked casually, one eyebrow raised.

“Yes, but so is his girlfriend, so it’s not like
he’s coming because of me,” Paivi said with a pout. “But he seemed
less than happy about the costumes Melissa wanted them to
wear.”

They shuffled a few feet forward in line. Paivi took
a quick look around to make sure neither Jason nor his friends were
around.

“She wants them to go as Hansel and Gretel!” she
whispered loudly.

Michaela snorted. “Well, I don’t even know them very
well, but I’m beginning to think they’re not going to last very
long!”

Paivi smiled. If only she could tell Michaela what
she knew.

“And I invited him over for Sunday because we are
supposed to watch the presidential debate for class. I’m going to
invite Crystal and some others from class too,” she added.

“Nice move! Ah, finally.” They had made it to the
front of the line.

Paivi followed Michaela through the lunch line,
noticing the tater tots had arranged themselves into her name.

PAIVI

The green beans were apparently trying to get her
attention as well.

I KNOW

She didn’t even flinch at the sight of them this
time. She continued with Michaela down the line, paid for her
cookie and they headed back to their table.

In the weeks since Homecoming, Paivi had seen
numerous messages and her feelings about them had moved from fear
to mild annoyance. She saw the words spelled out in her colored
pencils in her locker and in chalk dust on the chalkboards in her
classes. On her way to and from school on the bus, she witnessed
signs rearrange themselves as they passed. It had even appeared in
her morning Cheerios from time to time. The words were always the
same.

PAIVI

I KNOW

In fact, not only was she annoyed; she was getting
more and more angry. She still kept receiving the icy stares from
Christian Nelson day after day. She was convinced that he was
somehow behind her strange messages, yet she wasn’t quite sure she
was ready to march over to his lunch table and punch him in the
nose. Maybe she could just yell at him. A lot. But until that
moment, she was content with returning his stare. She made sure
when she did that it was equally icy and unfriendly. She might not
be able to send him messages in his food, but she was NOT going to
lose a staring contest.