I needed a plan, but I didn’t even know where to start. Gert, Mombi, and Glamora hadn’t given me much to go on. In between pre-calc and PE I ducked into the girls’ bathroom, locked myself in a stall, and did my best to send out a couple of tendrils of magic just to see if I suddenly could. But it was no use. I was going to have to do this the hard way, and I didn’t have a clue where to start.
To make my day even worse, I had a hot date with Assistant Principal Strachan. He’d told my mom I’d have to come in and meet with him on my first day back. The last thing I wanted was to make waves, so I made sure I was at his office ten minutes early. The receptionist, Mrs. Perkins, had probably been working at the high school when my grandmother was in diapers. She was a sweet older lady who always wore matching twinsets, no matter the weather, and kept a stash of lollipops in her desk drawer. Which I knew, because I’d spent a lot of time in Assistant Principal Strachan’s office. But Mrs. Perkins never judged me no matter how many times I got in trouble. I think secretly she was on my side.
“Amy!” she exclaimed as I walked into the school office. “It’s been a while since you visited!” She winked at me and dug a lollipop out of her drawer before I even asked. “The principal will be with you in just a moment. Have a seat.”
“Cherry! You remembered,” I said, sitting in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs. I didn’t really care that much about Mrs. Perkins’s lollipops, but she always seemed so happy when I took one that I pretended to be excited. A few minutes later, I could hear Assistant Principal Strachan yelling for me from behind his door. Mrs. Perkins winked at me again as I took a deep breath and walked into his office.
If I’d changed in the last month, Assistant Principal Strachan definitely hadn’t. His wire-rimmed glasses were slipping down his big, bulbous nose. His pitch-black toupee was slightly askew, revealing a thin tuft of graying hair underneath. His suit was the same one he wore every single day—and probably had been wearing every single day since around 1995. His beady brown eyes peered at me through his glasses. And, as usual, he didn’t look happy to see me.
“Miss Gumm,” he growled, pointing to a chair in the corner like I was a kid. I guess I did still have that lollipop. “Very nice of you to rejoin us after your little sojourn.”
“I was in the hospital,” I said.
“Your mother has already shared her concerns with me,” he said, ignoring me. “She felt we should accommodate you given your circumstances, but I’m not so sure I agree. You’ve started fights repeatedly—”
“I’ve never started them!” I protested, and he scowled.
He clucked his tongue. “Already arguing with me. I see you haven’t changed much. Look here, young lady. Your mother told me your story about being in the hospital. I think all three of us know that’s a lie. I don’t know where you’ve been the last month, Miss Gumm, but one whiff of trouble from you and you’ll be expelled. Permanently. Am I making myself clear?”
I opened my mouth to protest again and then shut it. If I got kicked out of school, I’d have no possible way to search for the shoes, which meant no way to get back to Oz—for me or for anyone else. “Yes sir,” I said meekly, swallowing my pride. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be suspended,” he grumbled, but my apology seemed to mollify him. “Get back to class. Don’t let me see you in my office again.” I nodded obediently. As I left, Mrs. Perkins snuck me another lollipop.
On my way back to class, I stopped in front of the tired old glass-cased diorama by the school’s front doors. It was a display dedicated to Kansas’s most famous export, The Wizard of Oz: a dollhouse-sized farm with a backdrop of a painted tornado and, in the distance, a faint, glittering image of Oz. There were even little cows grazing in the fake grass that surrounded the farm, and a plastic Dorothy in a tiny checked dress shading her eyes as she looked toward the descending tornado. A tiny plastic Toto capered at her feet. When it was new, the diorama must have been nice, but that had been a long time ago. Over the years, dust had crept in and thickly furred the figurines, hiding their features under a layer of gray. The grass was patchy and balding, and several of the cows had fallen over.