"Meet me by the bus pullout", Ash texted as she got to school. After each of the buses discharged their students — all changed — her friend ran up to her looking really frazzled and wearing a face that screamed sheer exasperation.
"You started this!" she yelled in her new voice, lower than it used to be. "Your shove started that big brawl and now we're here and we've turned Mount Valley into another Lake Point!" Erin Lindell tore into Ashley. A few students looked around at the mention of the word "brawl", having heard about it themselves thanks to the technological magic of social media. Much like in Lake Point, everyone was talking about it.
"I had no idea any of this would happen," Ash sighed. "Whatever happened was not because of that brawl last night. There's something deeper in Lake Point. We don't know what it is. But it's changing this place." A boy walked past them, his ears pierced and wearing sparkly studs.
"Look at these people! They're not... I don't know. Someone in Lake Point has to very well know what's going on with this," Erin growled.
"We've played Lake Point before. We usually lose, but this is the first time...anything like this happened. What makes you think they are any more aware than most of the people here? It's like a disease, and it's getting worse."
With time running out before the opening bell, Ash and Erin continued their contentious discussion into the school hallway. "We were there. We remember what changed. The people here don't. They think this is normal. Lake Point is normal to them."
"How about this...there's an outbreak of...whatever this is. And we brought it back home. But what exactly can we do about it? You want to tell a doctor about it? Or the school nurse? Based on the reaction I got when I asked someone on that bus if they had changed, they will think you're the one who's insane." Ash walked past a boy's restroom and noticed that the icon on it had changed to the one with a skirt. That's new.
"I don't care," Erin insisted. "I have to tell someone."
"Based on the two of us, the entire team will believe you, but nobody else."
"Well, do you think all of them are...infectious? Or just us?"
"So far, we know of two people who are infectious this morning. They were both on the Mount Valley basketball team and in Lake Point last night." She thought about her science classes. "In an experiment, you have to have a control group and a treatment. Did any Mount Valley students who weren't on the team make the trip? We didn't bring any cheerleaders, so... Was there a spirit bus? Someone's boyfriend?"
"What about the crowd? There weren't only locals there. I'm sure I saw some parents."
"Something isn't right. And this basketball team we're part of has the only people who can solve it."
Karyn walked the hallways on the opposite side of Mount Valley High School. She felt a bit strange. The events of last night had thoroughly confused her. There had been a lot of chaos on that court during the game. She'd found herself fighting with one of the opposing team, Sym someone. The whole team and some of the fans had been fighting. And the whole thing had been so disorienting she didn't know what had happened. Before she knew it, she was heading out of the gymnasium. She'd spent the entire ride home in some shock. Even today, she had this unsettled feeling about things she couldn't quite place.
She entered a classroom and slid into a seat. "What happened last night?" A girl next to her asked. "I heard there was some sort of brawl."
"I don't know," Karyn said. "It's all kind of a blur. One minute we were playing, Lake Point was beating Mount Valley. Next minute, everyone was fighting. It was totally insane. I'm only just now starting to cope with it."
"I heard all the benches cleared?"
"I can't remember a lot of it," Karyn admitted. "I just know I've never been part of anything like that in my life and probably never will be again—if I'm lucky. It was not just the players... Some of the spectators got involved. It was one giant mass of people. You couldn't tell anyone apart."
