I turned to my best friend.

"Where are we going again?"

"Amanda, you have the worst memory! We're going on the most stupid field trip of them all...that top secret science lab that Dave Hartname's dad works at." I grinned.

"That Dave's a hottie! But this is gonna be boring, you're right. I mean, they already told us they can't tell us anything, so why are we going?" Marsha glanced over at our teacher, Miss. Hindle.

"I think Hindle has a crush on Mr. Hartname. Have you seen the way she looks at him?"

"Finally! There's the bus. Man, this is gonna be like an hour's ride." Everybody shoved onto the bus, and we got back row seats.

"Hey, Amanda!" I cringed. I knew that voice all too well; Tamara, the most popular, preppy and snotty girl in school. I turned toward her direction.

"Why don't you like, not dress like a boy for once?" She said. Her groupie laughed.

"I thought you were, like, a really ugly boy at first!" She had made fun of me before, and I usually ignored it. But this was once too often.

"Tamara! Like, shut, like, up!" I said. The laughter died down. She looked stunned.

"At least I don't try to hook up with any boy in sight, or dress like a slut like somebody we know. By the way, nice face, when are you going to give the baboon his ass back?" I continued. Her face turned red, and I realized the whole bus was listening. Usually, nobody make fun of Tamara. I was usually really shy, but this time I didn't care.

"I'll bet anything you pay these girls to hang out with you and make you look popular."

"Really?" She muttered. "Well, you're just..just...stupid." She finished lamely.

"Tamara, your IQ is in the negatives." I said dryly. The whole bus laughed. Her group gathered around her.

"And what's this, your little army?" I turned away and turned on my CD player. After a couple seconds, nervous laughter broke the stunned silence and the bus eventually resumed chatter.

"Amanda! That was amazing!" Marsha said. I rolled my eyes.

"Well you know how much she likes to pick on me. I am just so sick of her." "Well yeah, but you're usually so shy."

I looked behind me to see who was talking..Joe, the sweetest guy in the world. "Uhm, yeah, well..it just depends."

I mumbled. He smiled and slid back into his seat.

"Yeah, weather I'm talking to my crush or not." I whispered to Marsha.

"I just blew it. He gave me a compliment! But he's right. I can hardly talk to strangers." She smiled.

"You're getting better."

"All right class, we're here!" Said Miss. Hindle. I woke up with a start.

"I don't wanna go to school." I muttered. I heard Marsha's voice.

"You are at school." I lifted my baseball hat from my eyes.

"You're not very smart when you first wake up, are you?" She giggled.

"Shut up. I'm cranky too." I pulled myself up and walked off the bus, trying to avoid getting tripped from Tamara. I blinked in the bright sunlight.

"This is it?" "It" was a small, grey building with no windows..the size of two or three houses together.

"I was expecting something more...futuristic." We walked inside, and were greeted by a frazzled-looking woman.

"Welcome," She started in a bored-sounding voice. You could tell she had given this speech a million times. As she talked, we were led thorough the room. I raised my hand.

"What exactly do you do here?" She blinked.

"Well, we are currently trying out new preservatives in our foods so they are less dangerous. We have many secret recipes, which is what in that room over there." She pointed at a steel door in the corner, than continued her speech.

We were to have lunch there. At 12:30, we were led to a table, and had 30 minutes to eat.

"Hey, whose banana is this?" I held up a really big banana. Nobody claimed it. I love bananas, so I started to eat it.

"Amanda! Marsha! It's locked!" Ben and Chris ran over.

"Whut?" I asked. My mouth was stuffed full of banana.

"Whut's lockhed?" Ben gave me a funny look.

"The steel door she was talking about with all the secret stuff in it. We tried to get in but it's locked." I finally swallowed.

"Of course it's locked. Did you think they were going to leave a secret door open with a bunch of kids like us?" I said. They laughed, and sat down.

"It was worth a try. I'm surprised an alarm didn't go off or something."

"This banana tastes really funny." I commented.

"Hey, maybe one of their super-secret preservatives is in it!" We laughed. Just then, the tour guide ran up to Miss. Hindle and whispered something to her. She gasped, and turned to the class.

"All right kids, lets head on back to the bus!"

"What? We've only been eating like 10 minutes." But I was glad. My stomach was feeling really weird after that banana.

After we got on the bus, Miss. Hindle got up front

. "Class, we have a situation. Our tour guide was new working at the building. She brought us to the experiment table instead of the lunch table. If you have eaten anything that you found lying around the table that was not yours, tell me immediately. It may have been poisonous, or fatal." Everyone just looked at her. She sighed with relief and sat down. After the bus started moving, I remembered: the banana! I had found it just lying on the table.

"Nah," I muttered. I didn't want to cause a fuss. Some other kid just probably accidentally left it on the table. By the time I got home that day, I was literally doubled over with pain. My parents were at work so I was home alone. I went to my bedroom and struggled to make it to my bed, but halfway there, everything went black.

Crowded streets only had a few more seconds as a stranger stood on the roof of the tallest building, her eyes closed, arms outstretched, head back. Her jet black hair was blowing as if in the wind, but there was no breeze. She was fully clad in tight leather, and by just looking at her, you could tell she was no ordinary woman. There was a black mask coming up from her cheeks and around her forehead and eyes. Nobody saw as blazes of light radiated through her body and out through her fingertips, touching every living soul in the world, freezing time itself. Crowded streets stopped moving, children stopped playing, minds froze, hearts stopped beating. She was the only one breathing. She had no name.

"Amanda! Where are you?" I woke up.

"Mom?" I called weakly. She came in.

"Why are you lying on the ground? What happened? Are you okay?" Before I could answer, I doubled over and retched on the floor. I stood up and cleaned it, my legs shaking.

"Mom, my class went to a field trip today to this lab that is testing new preservatives in their food. I..I think I might have eaten an experiment by accident." She gasped.

"Did they say it could be fatal?" I hung my head.

"Yes."

"We're going to the hospital. Get in the car." 30 minutes later, we were in the emergency room. For over an hour, I read a People magazine and threw up in garbage cans. I literally scared away a family because I got sick so much. We finally got to see a doctor.

"Well, what seems to be the problem?" I rolled my eyes. Come on, you quack, I thought. Your secretary just watched me throw up for an hour. As mom explained, his eyes got wider and wider.

"This is a very serious situation. We're going to have to give her an X-ray immediately, and possible stomach pumping." Before I could protest, I was led into a room.

45 minutes and a couple barfs later, we were on our way home.

"I can't believe there was absolutely nothing in your stomach! Two hundred bucks for nothing?" I slumped down in my seat.

"He did say there was nothing to do but wait and not to eat anything except for fluids.." She gave me a withering look.

"Are you telling me that is worth two hundred dollars?"

"No. I'll shut up now."

For the next couple days, I took laxatives, and pretty much starved myself. I might as well have been anorexic-all I could eat was broth. I was stuck in bed with a barf bag (which had to be emptied frequently) by my side. Finally, after what seemed like a century, two full days went by without having to throw up once. Just when I was going to call in Mom to tell her I was better, I once again pitched into blackness.