Tina's Gimmick Read online

  I stared hard at her. Then slowly I looked at my paper and gasped. I saw a huge C written on the top left corner. I couldn't believe my eyes! I checked the name on the paper to see if the paper was indeed mine. The name seemed to blur before my eyes. I rubbed my eyes. Yes! It was mine! I got a C! Yay!

  The rest of the day seemed like a dream. Not that I got extremely good grades, but I did better than I had expected. To make it short, all my grades were averaged to a solid C! Not bad. Not bad at all!

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  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The next week was quite relaxing. I didn't think much about the watch, but I had my eyes peeled for trouble. Every time I thought I had heard a scream, I rushed to check it out. But it was only the choir practicing. Twice it was the fifth graders practicing on violins. Now really, if that's the kind of band we have representing our school, I must say that this school would never make it to the finals for anything. Come on, I could do better than that!

  Nevertheless, I still kept my eyes peeled and my ears cocked for any more screams other than the violins and the choir. Granny had said that Aunt Laina was the best heir to the watch yet and I wanted to be just like her. I dreamed of saving people, and they rewarding me with cash, presents, and a Maltese dog that I always wanted. But so far, I hadn't seen any opportunity to help anyone. It was rather exasperating but I took it well. It gave me a chance to study. My parents weren't that happy with my grades; after all, I was a grade 'A' student in my previous school. But strangely, I felt better because I had expected a lot worse.

  However, I pretty much forgot everything when I saw a notice on the bulletin board.

  Tryouts for the annual concert would be held soon!

  The title of the play was undecided, but whatever it was, I wanted a lead part in it; it was a good chance as any to become popular. I quickly wrote my name on the sign-up sheet. Just then I heard someone came up behind me.

  "Well, well, well!" Sonia said behind me. All her friends started to snicker even before she started to joke. How lame was that? "Looks like the Dweeb is going to take part in the play. But you don't really have to try out for handling the spot lights or pulling up curtains."

  I tried to walk away but all her friends formed a circle around me.

  "Oh but maybe YOU might have to because girls like you are just not good enough for anything." Everyone laughed and I looked at them strangely. I prided myself on having a good sense of humor, and whatever Sonia was saying was not even funny, yet everyone laughed as if she had cracked the funniest joke of the millennium.

  "Can I please leave?" I said quietly, but my voice wavered. I told myself again and again to ignore Sonia, that whatever she thought about me didn't matter, but I still didn't want anyone to laugh at me. Tears pricked my eyes and my cheeks felt warm. I couldn't take this anymore! Sonia looked at me and smirked.

  "Awww! The wittle baby is going to cry!" Sonia said in her best baby voice. I started to feel tears brimming in my eyes, but I just didn't want to cry in front of her- she would tease me forever!

  "Hey guys! Move it!" someone said from behind. It was Nina. "Take your stupid game elsewhere. I need to sign up."

  Sonia sneered at her. "Whatever!" she said but didn't budge. But it was then that I noticed something. Nina may not have a fan following, but she was…respected. Sonia could have pushed her into the circle and ragged her as well but Sonia did no such thing and neither did any of her friends.

  "Get lost Sonia!" Nina said. Sonia looked at both of us and pulled a disgusted face.

  "Whatever! Come on guys!" she said and walked away primly, with her friends following her obediently.

  "Thanks." I said meekly. Nina looked at me and nodded. She took out her pen and wrote her name neatly on the sheet. "I…I am so sorry." I said. Nina looked at me but didn't say anything. "I wish I could…"

  "Forget it Tina!" she said sternly and walked away without another word.

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  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  As weeks passed by, I realized that I finally felt that I belonged here. Classes no longer seemed tedious and although I didn't have any friends yet, I still didn't feel like an outsider anymore. I also noticed one more thing. Not everyone was like Sonia, and there were students who hated her guts. Sonia still tried to give me a hard time though. She passed notes in classes about me. I know this because, after Sonia had passed the note around the whole class she walked right up to me and handed me the note. It read:

  Tina the Dweeb, always Weeps.

  Underneath that, there was a drawing of a fat girl wearing overalls who had a fountain coming out of each eye. I thought it was pretty lame, but all her friends were grinning at me as if Sonia had cracked the joke of the century. It was then that I realized that I seriously didn't care what Sonia thought about me anymore. Usually I'm pretty obsessive about wondering what people thought about me. But at this very moment I didn't care. Nor did I feel like crying. Instead, I gave her a phony smile and calmly took the note from her and drew a girl under one of the fountains who was getting drenched. Underneath the girl I wrote: Sonia, the Wet Poodle. Sonia looked at it and tore it angrily, but not before her friends saw it. Some of them didn't say anything but a few of them actually giggled. But one angry look from Sonia wiped off their smiles.

  "I'll make your life so miserable, you'll cry every day!" she said and walked away. But I knew I had gotten to her. I had won this round.

  It took me quite a while to figure out some things about the watch. Yeah, I am that dumb! For instance, the four dashes under every digit stood for 10, 20, 30 and 40 minutes. There was no 50 minutes, which surprised me. But when I asked granny she laughed.

  "Why go back 50 minutes when you can go back a whole hour instead? It's just a difference of 10 minutes."

  I had laughed too. It did make some sense. But I still hadn't been able to get a chance to use it. I never guessed that I was going to use the watch pretty soon.

  On Fridays, we have Art in the last period. A whole hour of it! But I felt pretty nervous and couldn't concentrate at all, because we had tryouts for the concert right after it. I knew for sure there were butterflies in my stomach, and they sure were creating a ruckus because I couldn't sit still. Twice I had dropped my pencil and once I had almost fallen off the stool. Mrs. Parker was 20 minutes late for the class. She was in the production committee and not at all in the mood to conduct an art class. So as soon as she entered, she sat down and said, "Draw anything you want to or anything you feel. Just leave me alone today. I have a lot of work today, so not a peep from anyone of you, okay?"

  We all nodded and started drawing. I looked at the clock and saw that there were only 30 minutes left to the tryouts. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the picture that I wanted to draw. I saw lush green hills and babbling brooks. Meadowsville! I smiled to myself. No matter where I was, I would always be a Meadowsvillian at heart. I started to draw hills and a brook near it. I was so involved in my rough drawing that when a hand dropped on my shoulder, I gasped!

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  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  "AWWW! What a pretty drawing!" Sonia said. I looked to where Mrs. Parker was sitting, and saw that Mrs. Parker was now talking to some girl I didn't know. Suddenly, Mrs. Parker shook her head and got up.

  "Everyone, I have to go out for some work. As soon as you finish, cover up your canvases and move into the auditorium for the tryouts." Mrs. Parker picked up her handbag and a few papers and left the class. I groaned as I realized that Sonia was still standing behind me. Sonia probably had some kind of humiliation planned for me today. But I decided that today I was going to completely ignore her.

  "You really draw well." Sonia said. I nodded and started to draw a tiny goat eating grass near the brook. "So this is Meadowsville, right?" I looked at her in bewilderment but didn't say anything. How did she know? "I suppose you'll need a lot of green paint for these hills, right?" Again I ignored at her and wondered why she was being so nice. I should
have seen it coming.

  "I'll get it for you." She said, even more sweetly. After a few seconds she was back at my side. "Here you go." I turned to thank her, but instead I was in for a surprise. She had a big red bucket in her hand that was filled to the brim with green paint mixed with water. SPLASH!

  I was completely soaked with green paint! I looked at my hands and my pretty blue skirt and all I could see was green! I felt tears trailing down my cheeks. But this time they weren't tears of shame. They were tears of anger. I roughly pushed Sonia aside, who was in splits with laughter, and made my way to the auditorium. Enough was enough! I entered through the back stage and stood up on stage in front of everyone. At first no one noticed me. All the teachers seemed to be discussing something important.

  "Excuse me!" I said out loud. Everyone turned to look at me. "I…I…" but somehow I couldn't contemplate what I wanted to say. I felt everyone staring at me and probably wondering what the hell I was doing with green paint all over me. Mrs. Parker came forward and asked me, "Tina, did someone do this to you?"

  I looked at her and blinked. I felt the green paint dripping off me and making a puddle on the stage, but somehow I couldn't care less. I nodded. "Sonia!" I whimpered and started to cry.

  "She's lying!" Sonia said from behind me. "She's trying to get me in trouble. She hates me! I have proof!" I could see everyone looking at Sonia in disbelief. Everyone knew I was telling the truth. Sonia pushed me aside and walked to the front of the stage.

  "She…" but before Sonia could say another word, she slipped on the paint puddle and fell headfirst down the stage!

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  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Blood! There was blood everywhere! It happened so fast no one could do anything. The stage wasn't high or anything, but it had been the way Sonia had fallen. I peered down at Sonia from where I was standing and let out a cry. She was lying unconscious with her leg folded under her, and there was a big puddle of blood forming under her head. All the teachers were crowded around her and I could distinctly hear someone calling for an ambulance.

  I felt as if someone had just punched me. I closed my eyes to block it all out, but I could still see the pool of blood.

  "Tina!" someone called. It was the vice principal. "Get help! Call the nurse! Quick!" For a moment I stood dumbstruck, but I shook myself firmly and started to run towards the nurse's office. That's when a thought struck me. I stopped so fast that I almost fell over. I knew exactly what to do! The time had come. I pulled the blue pin on my watch, and instantly, time froze. I pushed the big hand one whole hour back and closed my eyes as I felt the world spinning around me!

  I opened my eyes slowly and found myself sitting in the art class. I quickly pushed the blue pin back. Mrs. Parker was already there, reading some papers. Behind me I heard someone laughing. I turned around and stared at Sonia. She was sitting with her friends and seemed to be whispering about something. Probably planning my humiliation, I thought. But now I felt no anger towards her. I was so happy to see her unscathed that I could almost hug her.

  But that's when I realized something. I had no plan! How was I going to stop Sonia from getting hurt again? I was running out of time. I saw a girl enter the class, the very same one who was talking to Mrs. Parker before. Any minute now Sonia was going to put her plan in action. I quickly took a tube of purple paint and walked towards Sonia. I stood right behind her.

  "Nice drawing." I commented sarcastically. But to tell the truth it really was very pretty. Sonia had a rotten attitude but she could draw pretty well.

  "What does a Dweeb like you know about art?" she said and turned away from me. I looked at my watch and knew that any minute Mrs. Parker was going to leave the class. I had to act pretty soon. Sonia was still chattering to her friends about something.

  "Pretty much!" I said out loud. Sonia turned to look at me. I quickly removed the cap from the tube paint and squeezed purple paint all over her canvas. Sonia got up fast.

  "How dare you?" she said and snatched orange tube paint from her friend and squeezed it all over my clothes and me. I pushed her back roughly but carefully and Sonia staggered. But she regained her balance and pushed me back. I fell hard on the floor but quickly kicked her on the ankle. Big mistake! She fell over me and I felt my breath being pushed out of me. Then, we really started to fight. We pulled each other's hair and slapped each other on the arms. I tried to do everything carefully so that Sonia wouldn't get badly beaten. I could still see the pool of blood when I closed my eyes.

  "Stop it!" Mrs. Parker yelled. She walked towards us and pulled us apart. I felt a little disoriented. I didn't know Mrs. Parker was that strong. "How dare you fight in MY class?" she said, but Sonia and I just glared at each other. Her silky auburn hair was all messed up and her clothes were smeared with paint as was mine, but at least she wasn't hurt that bad.

  "Detention! Both of you!" she said. "And I'll make sure you both don't take part in the play! Well, on second thoughts…both of you will be in the clean-up committee and you both are in charge of placing the props."

  Both Sonia and I groaned.

  "But Tina started it! It's not my fault!" Sonia wailed.

  "Enough is enough. I don't want any more discussion on this. You both are NOT going to take part in the play. That's FINAL!!" Mrs. Parker said.

  I couldn't believe I had to miss out on the concert. If only I had put in a little thought, I could have found a way to help Sonia and take part in the play too. But alas this was not to be, because as per Rita's advice I was allowed to go back in time only once. Part of me felt unhappy, but another bigger part of me, felt a lot happier because I had finally helped someone.

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  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  "Granny!" I yelled as I entered the house. Granny came running with her hands held near shoulder level. She was wearing an apron and had doughy goo on her hands.

  "Tina! I had a hunch you were going to visit today! It's so nice to see you," she said excitedly. She glanced at Dad and frowned. "And you. You're here too." my Dad sighed and went to sit on a couch in the corner.

  "I thought you had work today." Granny said looking at Dad.

  "Management meeting." My dad said, ignoring Granny's eyes. He opened a newspaper and started reading it to avoid any more questions.

  "Ah yes!" Granny smirked. "You mean the meeting for the important people in the organization." Dad brought his newspaper closer and pretended to be interested in some article. "Well, Tina lets go into the garden now. We have a lot of work to do you know. We can't waste our time reading newspapers."

  "Oh Granny!" I giggled. "Come on, show me how to…er…take out weeds."

  No matter how Granny kept the house, the garden was beautiful. Granny loves flowers and she had made sure she had every single variety of them. There were rose bushes, daffodils, lilacs and tulips- all grown with tender loving care. Granny was an expert in botany and she could give a lecture on flowers for hours. Personally, I love flowers too but I prefer to appreciate beauty rather than dissecting them to know what's inside them. As soon as we were well hidden from any onlookers-mainly Dad, Granny looked at me and grinned.

  "Well?" she said. "From the way you looked at me when you came in, it seems you have some exciting news. So tell already." I laughed.

  "Well…sort of! I finally got a chance to help someone." I said and told her the whole story.

  "That's my girl!" Granny said and hugged me. "I am so proud of you!"

  "Yeah well, it was fun. But unfortunately, I don't get to take part in the play. I mean if only I could go back…for my own benefit, I could…"

  "Oh please…" Granny said. "It was really nice of you to think only of Sonia at that time. Not many would have done it you know, especially considering what she did to you. It was an unselfish act."

  "Yeah…but still…"

  "And anyway, who said you can't go back in time for your benefit? As far as I remember, Rita had said that you can't go back sole
ly for your benefit." She suddenly grinned. "That doesn't mean you can never go back for your own benefit too."

  "Oh yeah! That means I can go back for my own benefit, but in a devious way." I said and smiled.

  "You got it! Well now let’s really get back to work. I do need some weeding done."

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  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  On the day of the concert, Sonia and I were pretty busy. We had to come early in the morning to set the stage. That was pretty inconvenient but the best part was that we got to miss all our classes. Sonia's friends had tried to help, but Mrs. Parker had sent them away. So poor Sonia had to do all the work herself. By midafternoon, we were pretty beat.

  "Oh no! I broke a nail!" Sonia said. I looked at her and tried hard not to grin. Serves her right, I thought. "I can't take this anymore!" she said again, but I continued to ignore her. She made a lot of groaning noises to get some attention, but I just went on doing my work. By now I had pretty much figured out Sonia. She was horribly mean and the only reason she was making a big deal out of this was just so that I would tell her to rest and start doing her work. Did she really thing I was that gullible?

  Just then Nina walked into the auditorium. "Sonia, Mrs. Parker wants you to bring that box of crepe paper to her Art class." She said. I smiled a greeting to Nina and she returned the smile. Nina and I had sort of become smiling friends. Nina was a really sweet girl, unlike nasty Sonia, and I guess she had forgiven me for what I had done to her.

  "Why can't she do it herself?" Sonia grumbled. She got up and walked angrily to the box and picked it up. The very next instant she let out a cry. I turned to look at her and gasped. There was blood oozing from where the cutter (which had been under the box) had wedged into her hand. I quickly took out my clean handkerchief and ran to her.

  "Here!" I said and took her hand. I quickly tied the handkerchief around her hand tightly. She winced and let out a yelp, but I paid no attention to that. "Come on, I'll take you to the nurse." I pressed her wounded hand tightly in order to add pressure to the wound and stop the bleeding. Nina came with us and soon we reached the nurse's office.