"Polly!" Mrs. Pollner called from the staircase to upstairs. "Time for school."

Five minutes later, Polly Pollner came down into the living room where her mother and father were sitting on the white sofas. "I've finished my birthday list."

"That's great," smiled her mother as she took the list and read it. Then her face turned down. "Honey, don't you think you've got enough crystals already?"
"Are you kidding?" snapped Polly. "I just love crystals so much; I don't think I'll ever have enough."

"Do you know how much all these crystals cost?" asked Mrs. Pollner. "If only you had other interests, like friends, books, games."
"Why can't you accept the fact that I'm crazy about crystals?" snapped Polly.

"Do you realise how selfish you're being?" yelled Mr. Pollner. "If all you care about is crystals, then not only are you not thinking of us and our money, you're not taking care of yourself!"

"Well, hurrah!" snapped Polly. "I'm really looking to my birthday!" And, with that, she grabbed her school bag with her lunch her mother had made for her without thanking her for it. Then she walked out of her large three-floored house and out of the big black gate around it.

Polly hadn't walked far when she came across a couple of girls her age and wearing the same school uniform.

"Hey, Polly," said one of them called Michelle. "Want a ticket for Les Miserables this weekend?"

"No thanks, Michelle," said Polly. "I'm very busy this weekend."

"Like always," muttered Michelle's friend.

"Hey, cut her a break, Jane," said Michelle. "Whatever she misses out of life, it's her choice. And her loss."

The girls laughed, but Polly didn't give a feather about them. She just carried on walking slowly.

"Hey, Polly, got something bright and shiny for you!" cried a male voice. She turned behind her and saw a boy in the same school uniform holding a tub of cottage cheese over her head. He and his gang of mates laughed as they walked away.

"Ha, ha, very funny, Kevin Hart!" yelled Polly. But the pouring cottage cheese on Polly's hair didn't bother her. She just continued walking.

Soon Polly arrived outside her school. Judging by the big clock, she had about fifteen minutes before school started so she decided to chill out at her favourite place in the whole world – the crystal shop called Uncle Jock's Crystals.

This was Polly's escape from the real world and all the bullying and the teasing and the responsibilities in life. A shop that was the size of a coffee shop and it had crystals ornaments that could rival Swarovski. In Polly's mind, anyway.

Uncle Jock's had crystal animals from ladybugs to dragons, crystal tea pots and cups, crystal cars, boats, trains, planes, dwarves, goblins and even shoes. But today Polly saw something new on display – it was a crystal painted-gold hand. The sign underneath the hand said 'King Midas's Hand'. And it wasn't protected in a glass case. So you can guess what Polly couldn't resist to do.

Then an old short bald man came through. This was Uncle Jock. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" he shouted at Polly.

Polly gasped without noticing her elbow had nudged the Midas hand ornament. Only the sound of a big crash made her notice what she did.

"That will be £250," said Jock.

Polly got out her wallet and she got out… a five pound note.

"You think I'm not immune to your attractiveness and humour, Miss Pollner?" snapped Jock. "I'm calling your parents!" He walked to his desk and picked up the receiver of his black phone. He dialled the numbers and waited. Then suddenly he couldn't hear anything, not even a single beep.

Jock looked at his crystal receiver. Crystal? He followed the wires down to the crystal base with Polly's hands on it. She looked as confused as him.

"That's it!" yelled Jock. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but get out!"

"Please, sir," said Polly. "I don't know either – "

"Get out!" repeated Jock.

Polly quickly ran out of the shop and she put her hands on the nearby waste bin. She caught her breath for a few seconds then she gasped and jumped back. The bin was now all crystal from top to bottom!

She was about to scratch her head, then she stopped. She looked at a street light and touched it. She looked at the bottom. It was crystal! And it was going right up to the light bulb!

Polly looked at the nearest fruit stall. She touched a nice red apple and it wasn't red anymore. It was like one the apples from Uncle Jock's, only twice as big. She touched a bunch of bananas. A bunch of crystal bananas. She touched an orange, a melon and a bunch of grapes. The whole stall was full of crystal fruits. She smiled.

"Hi, I'm Henry Kenny," said a BBC news reporter holding a microphone. "The town of Tadington has had a huge makeover here today. Within two hours, about ninety-five percent of it has been crystallized. Just take a look at the cars behind me."

Henry was behind crystal cars the size of a normal Prius, a Ford or a Vauxhall. All the lights and the ticket machine were crystallized, too.

Then Henry moved to a young woman holding a baby and carrying loads of shopping bags. "Excuse me, ma'am," he said, "but are you surprised by these giant crystals around here?"

"Not only surprised," said the woman, "but my baby's pram was ruined by being crystallized! I had to do all my shopping and carry my baby! And now I can't even put them down in my car, because it's all crystallized!"

"Same goes for my bike!" protested a teenage boy.

"Just look at my expensive dress!" snapped a young girl. She struggled to lift up a heavy crystallized dress.

More citizens came and protested.

"As you can see," said Henry, "this situation has not caused the town only fear and worries, but stress and frustrations as well. I bet everyone is wondering who caused this."

"And I know the very person!" cried an old voice.

Everyone went quiet as they looked at Uncle Jock.

"Who is it, then?" asked Henry, as he put the microphone in front of Uncle Jock's mouth.

Soon Tadington Park was all covered up in crystal from the highest trees to the lowest soil under the crystal grass. Even the poor animals couldn't escape the crystal wrath of Polly Pollner. As for the queen of the crystals herself, she was skating on the huge duck pond that was completely crystallized. She sighed happily as she was finally in her crystal heaven.

After two hours of ice-skating, Polly felt exhausted and thirsty. Then she realised she covered the whole duck pond in crystal. She ran around her crystal park. She checked the bins, but they, along with all their waste and recycling, were all turned to crystal.

But there was one bin that was not crystal. Polly ran to it and was about to use her right hand to pick it up, but then she stopped herself. Everything she had touched to turn crystal was with her right hand. So she tried picking up with her left hand. She picked up a green bottle. It didn't turn crystal, but it didn't have any liquid in it either. So Polly started to pick up other bottles but it didn't have any liquid in either of them.

Then Polly noticed a brown leave next to her and it had water on it. With her left hand, she lifted it up and Polly put her dried-up tongue on the water. She saw the water turned crystal and so did the leave. Luckily, her tongue wasn't stuck on the crystal.

"Hey!" shouted a voice.

Polly looked ahead to see the whole town shouting at her.

"That's her!" shouted Uncle Jock.

"Polly Pollner, you are under arrest for damage to Tadington!" shouted the Police Chief.

Polly ran for her life against the entire mob that was the town she was born and ever lived in. She was so focused on crystals in her life that she never realised that this would cause any trouble. Only then did she realise that she had missed out on her life. She couldn't make any friends or eat or drink anymore. She soon realised that she was sick to death of crystals.

Polly stood by another big duck pond that was full of plain water. She looked at it and then back at the mob that was gaining at her.

Polly sighed, took a deep breath, and jumped into the water that was quickly covered by crystal. Under the crystal, she saw that her idea of tricking the townsfolk to pass her had worked. Then she tried to break the crystal with her left hand but it was too strong. Then Polly looked down at the bed to look for any objects that could break the crystal. She found a hammer. She swan down to pick it up with her left hand and she started to try to break the crystal up. But it shattered… into crystal pieces! And it was held in her non crystal-touching hand. Was it?

Polly was gasping for air and out of her mouth came bubbles. Crystal bubbles! Then she went conscious as she fell down on the crystal pond bed.

"Polly?" cried the voice of Polly's mother. "Polly…Polly…"

"Polly!"

That cry woke Polly up. In her very own bedroom. With the exception of her bed with its blue sheets and wooden head and her wooden wardrobes and cupboards, it was a crystal bedroom. Even her walls were painted crystal white with no pictures or posters at all.

"Polly!" cried Polly's mother. "Time for school."

"Okay, Mum!" she cried. She felt so relieved that her adventures with the crystal touch were all just a terrible dream. Then, looking around the room, she began to think.

Polly ran down the stairs to the living room where her mother and father were sitting on the sofas just like in her dream.

"Mum! Dad!" cried Polly happily. "I've finished my birthday list."

That's great," smiled her mother as she took the list and read it. "A new dress, new jeans, a new bikini, some stuff from Lush and a Mean Girls DVD. Hmm, cheaper than crystal jewellery you usually like. But why do you want these different things? Are you feeling all right?"

"Let's just say I learnt a lot about life from a nightmare I had last night," Polly smiled. Then she gave her parents a hug before she grabbed her bag and walked out of her house.

Polly's parents were very surprised. She had never spoken that nicely to them before ever in her life and she had never given them a kiss before.

"It must have been quite a powerful and spiritual dream," said her father.

Polly was on her way to school on the same street in her dream. She bumped into the same girls, Michelle and Jane.

"Hey, Polly," said Michelle. "Want a ticket for Les Miserables this weekend?"

"How much?" asked Polly.

This surprised Michelle and Jane a lot, because Polly had turned down every single one of their offers.

"Free of charge, mate," smiled Jane.

Michelle gave Polly the tickets and she and Jane happily left.

"Hey, Polly, got something bright and shiny for you!" cried the same male voice from her dream.

Then, remembering from her dream, she quickly turned around and caught Kevin Hart by his arm.

"Whoo!" exclaimed the boys.

"Well!" exclaimed Kevin. "How did a dumb blonde like you get so smart?"

"Take me on a date this weekend and you'll see just how dumb this blonde really is," said Polly, squeezing his arm. "Capisce?"

Kevin was now scared of her. "Well, I'll take you out this Sunday, I promise you that."

"Good," said Polly, letting go of him. "Sunday, no later than seven. Now, beat it, you and your buddies!"

The bullies obeyed.

That horrible nightmare had taught Polly a lot. She learnt that avoiding responsibilities in life and problems like bullying will get her nowhere in life. She was confronting them and learning as she progressed. And she didn't feel like she needed crystals or her fantasy crystal world to escape reality anymore.

Polly welcomed the weekend with such happiness. She went to Les Miserables with her new friends on Saturday and she partied out with them afterwards at a Hard Rock Café which she picked up an interest for rock n roll music.

Sunday arrived and so did all her families and her new friends at her house to wish her a happy fifteenth birthday. What a surprise Polly got when she saw all the wonderful non-crystal presents for the first time in her life.

That night, Kevin Hart was as good as his word. He arrived at seven sharp and Polly asked him to take her to the park under the beautiful sunset.

"I have to say, Polly," said Kevin. "I never ever imagined you were this awesome, let alone being more awesome than me."

"Yeah? Well, what are you gonna do now?" chuckled Polly.

"Well, stop my mates and my mates being bullies for one thing," replied Kevin.

"Good," said Polly. She never felt like she did something so good in her life.

"And this." Kevin pushed his lips against hers.

"Wow!" exclaimed Polly. "What have I missed all my life?"

THE END