Free Shift by Em Bailey

Ami instead. She smiled at me reassuringly as I took my seat beside her. ‘She’s probably just late,’ she
whispered, but there was an edge to her voice that gave her away. Ami was as worried as I was. I fixed my eyes on the doorway, willing Miss Falippi to appear, bracelets jangling, tea sloshing,
locket dangling.
    And then there was a familiar voice, just outside the door. ‘People. Get out your books. We’re going to learn about Cerberus today – the three-headed guard dog of
Hades.’
    The talking died away instantly. People slid reluctantly into their seats. Ami nudged me. ‘See? Everything’s fine.’
    But I knew something was wrong. I could feel it, squeezing my heart.
    ‘Anyone who doesn’t have their books out when I walk in will not be going to the formal,’ continued the voice. It was so clear and strong – the opposite of how Miss
Falippi had sounded in the forest. ‘Am I making myself clear?’
    My heart was beating fast then. Why wasn’t she coming into the classroom?
    Then the moaning began. People were looking around at each other nervously now, but no-one moved.
    ‘What have you done to me?’ the voice whimpered. ‘What have you done?’
    I jumped to my feet, my chair clattering to the ground, just as someone sauntered through the doorway. Miranda. She saw me standing and smiled.
    ‘Well it’s good to see that someone was going to help poor old Trippy Falippi. I mean, if that had actually been her.’ She rolled her eyes and flailed her arms
around. ‘Help me! I’m dying!’
    It was the voice we’d all heard coming from outside the door. Miss Falippi’s voice. But now it was coming from Miranda’s mouth. The nausea rose up through me. She must have been there in the forest. But she hadn’t come to help.
    There was a moment’s silence. Then Katie began to laugh. ‘Oh my god ! That was amazing. I seriously thought that was Miss Falippi out there.’
    Cam guffawed. ‘Awesome!’
    ‘That’s not cool,’ said Lachlan, shaking his head, but he was drowned out by Paige and Justine’s giggling.
    ‘What a pathetic, sick joke,’ I said, anger making me tremble.
    Miranda’s eyes were on me straight away. ‘It’s Miss Falippi who’s the joke. How does a drug addict like her get to be in charge of a classroom anyway?’
    I glared at her. ‘What are you talking about?’
    Miranda’s teeth glittered. ‘Haven’t you heard? Miss Falippi was found wandering around the forest last night, completely wasted.’
    ‘Miss Falippi was actually on drugs?’ said someone.
    ‘God yes,’ smirked Miranda. ‘I saw her slip stuff into her herbal tea when she thought no-one was watching.’
    Katie shook her head, looking disgusted, and I heard a few other people starting to mutter too. I was suddenly aware that Miranda was watching me closely.
    ‘Don’t pretend you care,’ she said. ‘She’s a stupid old freak, always blabbing on about nothing. She kept me here for an hour last night while she slurped away,
thinking I didn’t know what she was up to.’ She smiled slyly. ‘So I put a little something extra into her cup. Detention ended pretty quickly after that.’
    There was a moment of silence, which Katie broke by laughing again. ‘You are too funny, Miranda.’
    I saw Lachlan out of the corner of my eye, sitting there stonily. Did he, like me, think that Miranda hadn’t sounded like she was joking?
    Katie patted the back of the seat beside her. ‘Come and sit here, Miranda,’ she said. ‘Justine, move over.’
    When Justine stayed where she was, Katie shook the chair impatiently. ‘Move!’
    Justine got up robotically and shuffled along to the spare seat right at the end of the row. She kept her head down but I could see that her cheeks were pink with humiliation. By the time Mrs
Deane walked in, Miranda and Katie were sitting side by side, chatting like they’d been friends for years. Their hair, I realised with an uneasy lurch, was now almost exactly the same shade
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