Math was going well: Sarah had always been good with numbers. Even having missed the previous lesson, at one point she even felt like she could tune out Mrs. Stetson and daydream a bit because she already understood the concept they were going over.
Which was Sarah's first mistake of the day.
Sarah regarded the classroom: There were thirty kids, but she somehow knew that each one of them had a good opinion of her, even if she couldn't remember ever speaking to some of them in her normal reality. Some, like Karyn and Renee, liked her better than others, but there wasn't anyone that she was on bad terms with.
Sarah focused on her newest friend. Renee seemed like a nice girl. Shy in front of most people, even friends, but that was just because of her English. She always opened up when speaking to Sarah. She was smart, too. Most of the school didn't see that, because when she spoke they just heard her broken English. Her English had definitely improved in the last few months, but even now it didn't sound natural coming out of her mouth, and sometimes she'd stumble over seemingly simple words that she'd just by chance never heard before.
As that thought hit Sarah, it brought with it a sharp headache. It caught her by surprise, but she was able to hide her pain with all the practice she got yesterday, and in the next moment when it had left, she just collected herself and took stock.
Nothing seemed wrong. She felt the same. She was thinking the same. Maybe there was no change, and this was just a headache?
Sarah's thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Stetson called on Renee to answer a question. She was immediately impressed: Renee's answer was spoken so fluently, it had even taken Sarah a few moments to decipher what she'd said.
Her eyes went wide. She was having a hard time understanding the teacher now. It was only then that she realized she'd reverted to thinking in Dutch. The stupid curse from yesterday hadn't gone away! Sarah had given herself all the traits she wanted, but they were all still subject to whatever had taken them all away in the first place!
Sarah made a concerted effort to listen to Mrs. Stetson. Renee had made good progress in learning English so far, and Sarah decided that she was going to put her mind in overdrive until she regained her former fluency. This was one change that she wasn't going to fix by herself.
