"Who did the psychologist use to be?" asked Lauren Levine.
"It doesn't matter," replied Dr. Lucy Tan.
"Stop saying that! I'm outta here!" declared Lauren.
Dr. Tan tried to reach her with her right hand. "Hey, you can't just -"
"Yes, I can and I will!" Lauren slammed the door of the doctor's office behind herself. She still couldn't remember her original last name. If she had gone to the psychologist, what more could she lose? Her memories of who Lucy used to be? Saralyne? Tiffany? Where could she go instead? As far from the doctor's office as possible.
Wasn't her Mandarin class next period? How did she know that? She wondered who else was in it. Mandarin wasn't taught at Lake Point High. Who taught it here? Someone she knew?
She ran through the hallways. Her speed wasn't what it used to be. Lauren Levine wasn't as athletic as Lauren O'Brien had been. Fear was no substitute for fitness. She couldn't keep up this pace, modest as it was compared to what the athletes on campus were capable of. She stopped at a water fountain to take a drink.
"Excuse me," said an unfamiliar voice.
Lauren looked up from the fountain. "Uh ..."
A security officer stood in front of her. She was a bit taller than Lauren, who gasped at the sight of the name tag on her chest. "A. HARRIS."
The brown hair, the green eyes ... it all added up in Lauren's mind. "Anna?"
"How did you guess my name?" asked Officer Harris. "You couldn't have known me."
"B-but I did," insisted Lauren. "I used to babysit you! Barbara the techie's little sister!"
Officer Harris shook her head. "That's impossible. I was born years before you were. And I'm an only child."
"No, no, you were four when I babysat you last year, which makes you ... five now."
"I'm a lot more than five." Officer Harris looked down on Lauren. "And you're in a lot of trouble."
"W-why?"
"Running in the halls. Very dangerous to the other students. Inconsiderate. Your mother's not going to like this. She works hard so you can study here, and this is how you repay her?"
"She's not ... she's my mother." Lauren placed her hands on her head. Her own brain was betraying her!
Officer Harris sighed. For some reason lots of girls were acting weird like Lauren today. At least Lauren wasn't going berserk in a classroom like Gladys Brewer had, screaming that she had been "changed" at the top of her lungs. Who could have imagined that quiet Gladys could descend into such madness? Lauren's offense was minor by comparison. But it was still an offense, and Whitelace had zero tolerance for breaking its rules. "I'm sorry, Lauren, you're going to have to see the headmistress."
"NO!!" Lauren's shout froze everyone in the hallway.
"That does it." Officer Harris grabbed Lauren by the wrist. "I'm taking you to the psychologist. No sense in sending you directly to the headmistress without having you checked out first. Poor doctor's had a long day. One girl after another like you. But in the end they come out of the headmistress' office ... just fine."
Lauren dreaded the meaning of those last two words. Eluding little Dr. Tan had been easy, but how could she get away from a security officer?
