A lesson to be learned

Chapter 2 - a lesson to be learned 1 part 2

Just under two hours later the lecture hall was once again bustling with the sound of Summer-spent stories as they packed their belongings away ready to leave, many were talking one-on-one with Sunny, catching up, laughing and asking about the course content. With shark like silence Kimberly hid in plain sight, mingling among the group but not actually engaging before subtly breaking away and walking towards Sunny's desk while her attention was elsewhere. With her sights set on her target Kim made a slow beeline for the desktop with Sunny's hairbrush in sight, and with an accidentally-on-purpose stumble she knocked several of Sunny's personal affects to the floor and the quickly scrabbled to replace them. Gazing around Kimberly smiled at the realisation that no one had noticed her fake fumble, but still exercised caution and stealth as the secreted the unaware lecturer's brush into her pocket, and as she rose to her feet and made her way once again through the bumbling mass of students she took her belongings and left without saying a word.

With unspoken intent Kim made her way to one of the many science labs on campus, specifically the one in which she had earlier stowed away the various affects she required to put her plan in motion, and as she neared the door she had to exercise great restraint to maintain her innocuous behaviour. Upon entering the lab she removed her jacket, placed her bag onto one of the many work surfaces and removed her pink and lime green bobble hat. Doing so caused a cascade of loose, chocolate brown curls to fall around her shoulders, scratching her scalp with finely manicured nails she smiled as she eyes the brush with which she had absconded, firmly entwined within the brush's tongs were a number of long, auburn strands of hair, they and the brush itself were essential elements to her plan and she could hardly wait to get it under way.

After donning a clean, white lab coat and tying her long, silky hair back she began arranging her apparatus, placing the Bunsen burner on the work surface, various flasks and a mixture of herbs and powders she gave a sly smile. Looking at the brush she felt a wave of pride, the pristine preparation for this event had been all Summer in the making, and one particularly important aspect was the securing of her own hair, should any of it be included with that of Sunny's, or heaven forbid, instead of Sunny's this next year would certainly be the end of her. Stepping back from the impeccably clean workspace she gave a deep sigh of relief, everything was set and she was ready to begin. With a wide flask of water on the boil the popped the cork on numerous small jars and bottles and emptied their contents into the bubbling liquid, its colour changing along the spectrum within seconds and hissing away she gleefully clapped her hands. She needed no instructions to follow in order to complete the process, she had read an re-read the spell so many times of her Summer break she knew it word for word by heart, 'God bless you Granma and your naïveté, if only you knew the true power of the dusty old book you left me in your will. I'll never be able to repay you for this', wiping a few tears from her soft cheek at the thought of her dearly departed grandmother Kimberly pressed on.

With a hushed voice Kimberly began reciting the incantation she had learned by heart, masterfully wielding her foreign language skills for the devious deed she untangled the strands of hair from the brush and dropped them into the flask eliciting a puff of smoke and shift in colour before the final ingredient, the brush, for the spell to have any proper effect both essence of the subject AND a personal effect were required, and a hairbrush guaranteed two birds with one stone. Dropping the brush into the murky concoction it vanished and dissolved before the level of liquid began to rapidly drop as if draining out the bottom of the flask through some invisible crack or whole, but as the solution began to congeal it started to take shape. It moulded itself into a small, hilly mass with a small protrusion at its summit, it swelled and rounded out slowly and gently over the course of a minute. Gazing at it with a raised eyebrow Kimberly thought it resembled a round, perky breast, it was smooth and soft looking, but when slight protrusions rapidly formed and then vanished on its surface as if something was contained within the mass a look of realisation dawned on her pale, pretty face and she smiled like the cat that got the canary. After another minute of the mass' display it seized and petrified before crumbling to dust and dissolving away to nothing, it was complete and there was no going back now.

Kimberly could stop herself from smiling the entire time she cleaned away the evidence, and when all was done she left the lab with the left over ingredients hidden in her bag and proceeded to one of the science building's many exits. Along the way she was surprised to come across Miss Andrews who was looking a little more pale than usual, but upon recognising Kimberly she smiled sweetly and greeted her pleasantly.

"Oh hey, Kim, how's it going?", Sunny said with genuine pleasure.

"I'm good, just heading to lunch, I needed to take care of something here before I ate, y'know", Kim responded with a strained smile.

"Oh, are you taking a science credit this year?", Sunny enquired politely.

"I don't know yet, I guess after last year I'm looking to do some serious growing, really plump up - I mean PUMP up my grades, hehe", Kimberly answered turning slightly red.

"Good for you, I know last year wasn't easy on anyone, and I'm really sorry for how you did on my class, but I have every confidence you'll do better this year. Please don't hesitate to ask for my help if you need it, I mean it", Sunny said with a smile.

With another fake smile Kimberly tilted her head, "Aaw, thanks, I appreciate that. Are you heading to lunch too?"

Sunny's smile faded a little, "Um, no, I think I'm gonna give it miss today, I suddenly came on all cold and queasy a few minutes ago, so I'd rather not risk it."

"Ah, gotcha, hope it's nothing serious."

"I'm sure I'll be ok, thanks for the concern. See you tomorrow in class and have a good day", Sunny said in a brighter tone.

"You too, hope you feel better. Bye." Turning and heading out the door Kimberly almost skipped to the lunch hall, hearing about Sunny suddenly feeling off around the same time as the spell ended was a definite good sign. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's gonna be growing this year", Kim said quietly to herself with a knowing grin as she entered the bustling cafeteria.