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Silence seemed to swallow the room whole as the class waited, their anticipation growing as well as their impatience. The clock's ticking could be hear and with each tick it produced, it seemed almost too clear that time was moving slower. 'Only ten more seconds' Luci thought as she stared up at the clock, the pressure she applied to her pencil growing and causing her knuckles to turn white. 5...4....3.....2......1.....DING!! the school bell chimed, causing the class to let out a sigh of relief. Luci jumped up from her chair and darted out of the room, hoping to reach her destination before anyone else.
The faster she got, the more her skirt flared but she ignored it as she ran. She couldn't let anything or anyone distract her. As she neared the end of the hall, she made a sharp left turn down the stairs, one floor, then two, then three until she reached ground level. The shoe lockers came up quickly and she darted to hers faster than anyone else. Trying to save time, she kicked her shoes off violently, stuffed them into her locker, forced her outdoor shoes on forcibly, then darted out of the building.
'Almost there!!' she thought as she ran down the sidewalk, ignoring the many glares she received. The clubhouse entrance was easy to spot as she ran up the hill, her pace slowing because of the wretched gravity that held her down. 'I'll have to remember to put that on my list' she thought as she darted into the brush, approaching the hidden entrance at a quick pace. She lifted the door that lay on the ground in front of her and, instead of using the ladder, jumped straight down into the darkness. She landed with a thud on the hard ground and looked around the clubhouse.
"Ha!! I made it before anyone else!!!" she yelled with excitement and did her own little dance of joy. As she turned, though, to her own disappointment stood Gaven, studying his latest specimen: a plush cat. Her flared arms drooped to her sides and she let out a sigh of sadness as she made her way to her usual bean bag. Gaven didn't even seem to notice she was there, being that he was so busy waiting to see if the stuffed toy would move or not. As Luci plopped her small body into the chair, though, he seemed to snap out of his daze and glance over at her through his thin, circular glasses.
"Hey Luci." he said and looked back at his clipboard to see where he had left off. She looked over at him, gave him a half wave, then looked over at Pengy, her stuffed penguin. It was all because of him this club had started and would always be the little toy's fault. She heard the trap door open and looked over at the ladder to see Keith and Samantha, the siblings who loved each other dearly, descend into the club house.
"Hello!!!" Keith said with sheer excitement as he ran around their spacious clubroom. Samantha watched her little brother with a small smile as she sat in her own chair that stood across from Luci.
"I take it Gaven beat you again?" she asked, noticing Luci's depression. Luci nodded as the trap door opened once again to reveal Cassandra. She glanced around at the few that were there and made her way over to Gaven. Luci felt sorry for her, being that Cassandra liked Gaven and all. It wasn't that Gaven was a bad person, it was just that he couldn't realize the simple fact that someone in the club had a crush on him. Everyone else knew about it but whenever they tried to explain it, he would always be too caught up in trying to prove his theory.
As these thoughts raced through her mind, the trap door opened once again to reveal Steph. He barely glanced around at everyone before turning to his own seperate corner to read yet another one of his animal magazines. Luci felt sorry for him as well, being that he had joined their little club by accident thinking that they were discovering the many mysteries of animals. Truth was, they were just a little club that was founded because of her love for Pengy.
Luci looked around at the many people who made up the Pengy Society and couldn't help but smile. This was the only place she could relax and be herself without a car in the world. Keith and her were the youngest but, being that she had founded the club, she was just as important as anyone else. She looked over at Pengy once again and her smile grew as Keith plopped down beside her.
"So what are we going to do today??" he asked her with sheer excitement showing on his face and in his voice. She looked over at him, gave a slight shrug, and stared up at the ceiling. His shoulders drooped and he let out a small sigh as he looked at the other members of the club.
"You know, I think we should do something more than just hang around and wait for stuffed animals to move or...the next issue of Animal Planet magazine." he said, making gestures to Gaven and Steph who paid him no mind. Luci thought about what Keith had said and slowly nodded in agreement.
"You 're right. I say that the next weekend we have, we all go to the park!" Luci replied, smiling to herself at her plan. Keith looked at her with a look that told her he wasn't fooled at all.
"Today's Monday, Luci..." he mumbled. Luci looked at him and nodded with a smile as she leaned back on her bean bag, trying to relax after a long school day. She glanced over at Gaven who was now testing the stuffed cat's reflexes with a little hammer. Cassandra watched him intently, waiting to see if he even noticed that she was standing over him and watching his every move. Luci looked over at Steph who was studying the same magazine over and over. He was trying to become some major zoologist, get a good education, open a national park, then die peacefully. Every time he described his lifelong plan, people would always stare at him and think he was crazy. Luci looked at Samantha across from her who was now on the floor putting together a jigsaw puzzle with Keith.
"Aha!" Gaven yelled, causing everyone in the club to turn to him. "The cat's tail! It just flicked!!" he said so happily it was as if he had won the lottery. Luci let out a soft sigh and continued to stare up at the ceiling.
"Face it...Gaven's gone insane..." she mumbled.
"Stop criticizing him!!" Cassandra, who was now looming over her, yelled. "So what if he thinks inanimate objects will take over the world some day? It just shows that his scientific mind has gone farther than anyone else's!!" she protested. Hoping to be noticed, she looked over her shoulder at Gaven to see him examining the cat all over and obviously not listening. She let out a sigh of disappointment and plopped down into the bean bag beside Luci.
"Face it, Cassa. He just doesn't like people." Luci said and gave her a small pat on the shoulder. Cassandra looked at Luci and slowly nodded, accepting the fact that she didn't have a chance.