Young penguins from all around the village of Rycombe, deep within the continent of Antarctica, shuffled across the icy floors, all heading in the same direction, as a nippy wind tugged at their feathers. They all were heading for a large ice cave in the distance, beside the large clear expanse of water that separated it from Leopard niêm phong, con dấu territory. Inside the cave was the village school, Icy Meadows. It wasn't much, not really like the schools that humans were taught in, but it would do for them. A few months ago, a colossal human ship crashed, not too far from the village, and was full of objects, such as furniture, books, bags, electronic equipment, make up, food, stationary, wood, metal and tools. In the past months, the village had take advantage of these supplies and their hàng đầu, đầu trang scientist had recently discovered the key to electricity and technology. Because of this, the village school had been able to make proper classrooms and lockers, cook food, and tech the penguins thêm than the history of the village. As seven girl penguins approached the cave, one of them, the shortest squealed excitedly.
"I wonder what the inside looks like now?" She wondered, pushing the black hair feathers out of her light brown eyes, her feet tapping with excitement.
"Calm down Scarlette, it's probably not changed that much." A slightly taller one replied, rolling her eyes. She had light brown spiky hair feathers (though they was slightly darker at the bottom.) and dark brown eyes.
"You'll see Erin, you'll see." Scarlette said, smirking as she strolled up to the newly added wall, just inside the cave. Erin shook her head and grinned as she opened up the door just ahead of them. The seven girls stopped in surprise and stared around them in awe. Their former cold Ice school had been transformed into the ones they had seen in he sách they had about school. There was a long corridor straight ahead, and two separate ones to the sides. The left corridor đã đưa ý kiến 'Toilets' and the Right hand one đã đưa ý kiến ' bữa tối, bữa ăn tối and Assembly Hall.' The one straight ahead was full of doors on the sides, and lockers. Each door had a little class name at the top. Because there were not many young penguins (roughly about 100 in the village) the school itself was small, and there was only about 10 classes going on at a time. There were 5 years in this school, năm 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. (The younger penguins went to the smaller school, nearer the center of Rycombe.) Scarlette, Erin and their sisters were all in năm 8. (As they were sept-tuplets) The other sister were Becky, Lily, Cassie, Heather and Lexi. Becky had short, light blonde hair feathers tied back into a ponytail, and light brown eyes. Lily has long black hair feathers, which tumbled down her back and ice blue eyes. Cassie had short, wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Heather had long, spiky black hair and dark green eyes, and Lexi had curly black hair and light green eyes.
"Woah.." Becky managed, walking down the middle corridor, her eyes darting from place to place.
"Woah indeed." Lily agreed, a smile tugging the corners of her face.
"Hey, all of these lockers have peoples names on!" Lexi exclaimed, pointing towards the lockers which surrounded the corridor. They were in alphabetical order according to last name. They came across theirs and piled around them. Lexi, Cassie and Scarlette were giggling excitedly, earning weird looks from the others. Heather hadn't even noticed but that was normal. Heather didn't notice much of anything, she was always Daydreaming hoặc listening to music. She talked very little and stayed in her own little world. She didn't really have any friends, but she preferred it that way, not having to deal with the stress that other penguins her age did with their friends. She glanced over at the lockers and walked silently to hers, dumping a few sách in, closing it, then walking on to her first lesson. Cassie watched and shook her head sadly.
"I worry about her." She admitted.
"I don't, she may be different, but she gets good grades, and she's nice so I'm sure she'll be fine." Lily replied calmly.
"But she doesn't even hang around with anyone at break time, not even any of us." Cassie protested.
"Cass, it's her decision, and she seems to enjoy it, so leave her be." Lily said, an inch of sternness to her voice. Cassie (and Lexi) was one of the được ưa chuộng girls, and honestly, Lily was thêm worried about her turning into a mean person, than Heather's situation. Lily herself, didn't really consider herself too popular, she preferred to be around close Những người bạn than a large group of people she didn't know so well. She hung around with Becky, whilst Cassie and Lexi were always together, and Scarlette and Erin were in the same friend group.
"So, how's your project about the Ice huy hiệu coming along?" Becky asked Lily. Lily was an environmentalist, and a vegetarian, and recently, she had been trying to spread the word about the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica and the melting ice caps. She so far she had had thêm success in talking to the adults about it, rather than the kids, leading her to believe that most teenagers were ignorant, arrogant people who only cared about messing around and being idiots.
"Its going pretty well, so far I've got over half of the village to stop dumping litter wherever they please, and shown the adults how to use the new found materials wisely so they don't cause thêm pollution." Lily told her brightly, dumping her leaf patterned rucksack into her locker and following Heather. The others did the same and followed, talking and giggling as they piled into their first lesson.
As the penguins sat in their new seats, the teacher, Mr Kaz began to write complex sums on the blackboard, raising his eyes brows at the giggling penguins. In this class there was 10 students (as there were in their other classes), 7 of them being the sisters. The other three were a boy called Joshua, who was Cassie and Lexi's friend, a girl called Megan, who was Becky and Lily's friend, and a girl called Violet, who was Scarlette and Erin's friend.
"Ok, settle down and lets get some work done." Mr Kaz instructed, his voice booming over the noise of the talking children, who then instantly became quiet. "Good." He remarked, as he began to explain what they would be doing today. Becky's mind wandered, and she stared at the ceiling. She was never good at Maths, to her it was just a jumble of numbers, and her brain turned to mush if letters were involved. Her mind came back to reality just in time to hear Mr Kaz say, "You now have 5 phút to do the sums on the board, go!" Becky's eyes widened and she turned to her friend Megan. Megan was quite the whizz at Maths and had already finished the first two out of the five.
"Hey Megs, a little help here?" Becky asked in a whisper. Megs nodded silently, and wrote down the answers, and how to work them out on a piece of scrap paper. Becky smiled in thanks and copied them down quickly, glancing at the method. She looked over at Heather who had already finished and was staring into không gian with headphones in her earholes, her foot tapping merrily. What went on inside Heather's head was a mystery to Becky but she seemed happy, so she wasn't going to câu hỏi her sister. When the time was up, Mr Kaz walked around, checking the answers. He smiled when he saw Becky's work.
"I see you're improving." He praised, walking on. Becky managed a small smile back, then grinned at Megan when he passed. Meanwhile, Cassie was giggling with Joshua and trying not to blush. She had a little crush on him, but it was nothing too big, yet. She had told Lexi, but kept her secret from the others. Little did she know, Heather knew too, but that was because even though she barely talked and seemed spaced out all of the time, she was very good at đọc body language, and good at đọc people. She smiled a little at the two penguins and turned away.
"I can't wait for break time." Lexi remarked.
"Me neither." Joshua and Cassie replied at the same time, catching eachother's eyes and smiling. Joshua was just a little taller than Cassie, and had dark brown hair, light blue eyes,and a light trái cam, màu da cam beak. He was Cassie's best friend and always stuck bởi her, if she has an argument with her other friends. Which had actually been happening a lot lately, making Cassie a little quieter than usual. She stared at the new clock wistfully, wishing time would go faster. Luck seemed to be on her side, as the tiếp theo time she glanced at the clock, the chuông, bell was about to go. The ngày went surprisingly quickly, and it was lunch time before the penguins knew it. Scarlette and Erin tumbled out of their trước đó lesson with their friend Violet, eager to meet their friends, two boys called Kai and Joel. They were the best kids at Art in the school, but usually got bored and started drawing on the ice walls, before the school was remodeled. They were quite hyper, and often mistaken for brothers, not because of looks, but because of their similar personalities. As Scarlette, Erin and màu tím walked down the corridor, they caught sight of the mischievous bunch a little ahead of them. Kai climbed up the lockers and started jumping from one side of the corridor to the other, only to fall and crash into Joel, who was in fits of laughter. The girls shook their heads and tried not to giggle as their cheery Những người bạn bounded over to them.
"Heyo girlies!" Joel greeted smiling brightly and hopping from foot to foot. Scarlette eyes widened and exchanged a uncertain look with Erin.
"Urm, xin chào bạn two, have bạn had a lot of coffee today?" màu tím asked, pushing her blue and purple hair out of her eyes. The two boys nodded in unison and continued hopping on the spot.
"Great, they're gonna be insane today." Scarlette whispered to Erin, making her giggle.
"Wait where did bạn two get coffee, bạn were fine at break time?" Erin asked, a little smile tugging at her face.
"We pinched the teacher's coffee." Kai told her, a mischievous grin on his face.
"She hadn't touched it on over 30 phút anyway." Joel added, practically dancing down the corridor as they walked along.
"You know, I'm tempted to slap them out of this in a minute." Erin whispered to Violet.
"Meh, I think they're funny like this." màu tím replied, smiling at the two boys.
"Yes, but they go a bit over the hàng đầu, đầu trang sometimes." Erin remarked.
"You've laughed at them before when they're like this, so leave them alone." Scarlette chimed in, her voice surprisingly cheery. They were standing bởi the entrance of the school, when they heard a large thud from outside.
"Woah, what was that?" Joel asked, peeping out of the little window in the door. He froze with terror, as he saw a whiskery face staring at him on the other side.
"What is it?" Scarlette asked trying to see over Joel's shoulder.
"It.... it's a.. a." He stuttered, beginning to back away from the door. Suddenly, the door crashed to the floor and the hungry leopard niêm phong, con dấu on the other side grabbed Joel's feet and started to drag him out of the building. Joel let out a cry of surprise and held onto the tường for dear life.
"Erin, Kai, Violet, go find a teacher!" Scarlette yelled, running up the the leopard niêm phong, con dấu and jumping on it. Erin watched her sister in horror but ran off quickly into the school. The niêm phong, con dấu growled at Scarlette and tried to hit out at the young penguin, missing bởi an inch. She bit the leopard seal, who reacted bởi tossing her into the air, far away from himself, and Joel, who was having no luck getting away from the monstrous predator. Scarlette got back up and ran over to her struggling friend and went to grab him, when the niêm phong, con dấu grabbed the both of them in his mouth, and began shaking his head, making the penguins very dizzy. Scarlette tried to focus as the world spun in a blur around her and she felt sharp pains in her sides where the teeth were digging into her skin. She looked over at Joel who had squeezed his eyes shut, clearly not wanting to see what might happen next. Suddenly, the seals body went limp, and fell to the floor. The two penguins tumbled out of it's mouth and Scarlette groaned in pain. She glanced upwards and saw the headmaster standing tiếp theo to Erin, màu tím and Kai, holding a bow and arrow. They began rushing over to them, and Scarlette felt herself being lifted off the floor. She closed her eyes and fell unconscious.
Meanwhile, Becky and Lily were chatting with their two friends, Megan and Stephan when Heather walked up to them uncertainly.
"Oh xin chào sis, what are bạn doing here?" Lily asked a hint of surprise in her voice. Heather just pointed towards the headmaster who was rushing down the corridor, and unconscious and slightly bloody Scarlette in his flippers. Becky and Lily's eyes widened and they rushed after the headmaster, who was closely followed bởi the deputy, who was holding Joel, and running just as fast.
"Sir, what happened?" Lily asked urgently, trying to keep up with the speedy teachers.
"Leopard seal." He replied, not turning back, and rushing into the medical room. At the same time, Cassie and Lexi ran up to them, followed bởi their 5 friends.
"Erin just told us what happened, gosh do bạn think they'll be alright? Lexi asked, exchanging a worried look with her sisters.
"I hope so." Becky replied, her eyes fixated on the medical room door. Cassie felt a comforting pat on her shoulder and she turned to see Joshua smiling weakly.
"They'll be ok." He reassured her, moving his flipper away. Cassie blushed a little and managed a small smile in response. Her other friends, Kyle, Alex (short for Alexander) Masie and giống cúc, daisy (there were twins) peeked their heads in curiously but could only see the headmaster and the nurse standing in front of what looked like a large table.
I hope they'll be ok... Erin thought, catching a glimpse of her sister and her friend.
2 Hours later.
Scarlette and Joel had been transferred to the nearby hospital, and in the waiting room was Joel's parents, Scarlette's parent, the other sisters, Kai and Violet. Joshua had also tagged along, though only to comfort Cassie and Lexi.
"Why is the school so close to leopard niêm phong, con dấu territory?" Erin sighed, staring sadly at the operation room. Doctors rushed in and put of the place occasionally, none of them stopping to tell the penguins of Joel and Scarlette condition. Kai stared at the floor, for once on his life not smiling. He didn't want to lose his friends, especially Joel, who was like a brother to him. After another gruelling 30 minutes, a doctor walked up to them, and they all stared up at him expectantly.
"Scarlette and Joel are both going to be alright." The Doctor told them reassuringly. "Joel's injuries are a little thêm severe, but they'll both be back to normal in a few days." He added. The group of penguins let out a sigh of relief and broke into chatter with each other. Heather just smiled and looked towards the door where her sister was. She got up silently, and poked her head around the corner. Scarlette was lying on a little bed, her eyes opening slowly. Heather walked up to her and managed a small smile.
"Hey sis." Scarlette greeted, sitting up in her bed.
"Are bạn ok?" Heather asked in a quiet, timid voice. Scarlette, took aback bởi her sisters sudden decision to talk, nodded in response. The others trailed in after Heater, and crowded around the two beds, bursting with questions. They became so loud that the doctor had to tell them to go and leave the kids to rest. That night, Cassie's mind was active with buzzing thoughts. Her mind battled with thinking about her sister, and Joshua, who seemed to be getting sweeter everyday. She thought about his light trái cam, màu da cam beak, and his dark brown hair and she blushed a little. She needed to tell him how she felt, but she was too shy to do so.
Maybe one ngày i'll tell him.. She thought as she drifted off to sleep.
The tiếp theo day, the sisters awoke slowly, as a soft vàng light shone into their room. Lexi groaned and pulled her blanket over her head, trying to get back sleep. She wasn't really a morning person. Unlike Erin how had shot out of giường and was already getting ready for school.
"Erin, we've still got an giờ till we have to get up.." Lily mumbled, closing her eyes and snuggling down in her bed.
"Yes, but I want to check on Scarlette." Erin explained, brushing her hair, then zooming out of the little room. She popped her head back in and looked questioningly at her sisters. "Are any of bạn coming?" She asked. They all exchanged agonised looks, then got up reluctantly.
"Why didn't bạn wait till we were supposed to get up?" Becky asked, following her eager sister out.
"Because I wanna go for a swim if Scarlette is allowed out." Erin replied, belly sliding out of their ice cave trang chủ and towards the small hospital. The ngày was cold, but clear. The air was still, and there was not a single đám mây to be seen. It was only just past sunrise, so a few lonesome stars still hung high in the slowly brightening sky. They entered the nearby hospital, and Heather had to stop Erin from rushing into Scarlette's room. She pointed into the room, and saw the doctor giving her a check up.
"You should be able to go trang chủ now." He told Scarlette, who's face lit up in an instant. Her eyes fell on her friend who was asleep in his bed.
"What about Joel?" She asked curiously.
"He has to stay in for one thêm day, but he will be fine." He replied. Scarlette smiled, then waddled over to the door, nearly jumping out of her feathers when she saw her sisters on the other side.
"I'm guessing this was your idea." Scarlette đã đưa ý kiến to Erin, who grinned and nodded.
"So, we were going to go for a swim, are bạn coming?" Lexi asked.
"Sure." Scarlette agreed brightly, following her sisters outside and towards the lake.
"Won't there be leopard seals in there?" Lily asked worriedly.
"Not at this time, they all usually come out around noon." Erin replied, as they reached the lake. She dived in and swam deep underwater. The other followed, splashing each other as they did.
"Wanna play underwater tag?" Becky asked. They all nodded, and Lexi decided that she would be on. The penguins swam around, giggling and messing around as they did so, not noting a dark shape approaching them quickly from the east. Erin turned her head and her jaw dropped.
"Oh crud, I forgot about Orcas." She realised, as she began to swim as fast as she could in the opposite direction. The others screamed an did the same thing, as the dark shape behind them got nearer.
"Quick, hide in that ship!" Cassie yelled, pointing towards a sunken ship at the bottom of the lake. Her sisters nodded and they swam towards it, and hid in what looked like a storage room. The Orca poked it's nose in, and growled,clearly being too fat to fit through the gap and eat them. It saw away angrily, and they waited until it was far off into the distance.
"Well that was a close- wait what's this stuff?" Scarlette asked, pointing towards a thick, pinkish brown liquid that floated around the room.
"I- I don't know it looks like oil, but oil is browny black..." Lily replied, touching a bit of it. It stung her flipper and she drew away quickly She looked down at the tip of her flipper, and her eyes widened in shock. A tiny tuft of feathers was now bright green. She was about to tell the others, when thêm of the oil like substance filled the room, and started covering the frightened penguins. It went in their eyes, temporarily blinding them.
"We need to get out of her now!" Cassie said, swimming desperately towards the what she hoped was the surface, trying to shake the substance off her feathers. The penguins climbed about and flopped to the floor, rubbing their eyes and holding their sides in pain.
"Woah, that was strange!" Becky exclaimed, her eyes still closed. What they didn't know was that it was about to get even stranger.
Scarlette rubbed her eyes and opened them slowly, meeting a strange blur of colour as she did. As he vision returned, her eyes nearly popped out of her head and she gasped in surprise.
"G.. guys, you're all colourful.." She managed, glancing down at herself, and screaming in shock. Her once black and white feathers were now dark and light red. She stared at her reflection in the pool, and saw her hair was now a reddish orange, and her eyes were bright red. Her right eye had a nasty mark all around it and looked swollen.
"How did this happen?" Erin asked, peering at her reflection and barely recognising herself. She was now completely orange, though in different tones and shades.
"I'm guessing that weird oil like thing changed the colour of our feathers, hair eyes, etc." Becky guessed. She didn't look much different, all that had changed were her body feathers, which were now dark, and light yellow, and her hair was a little darker. Lily stared at her reflection in wonderment. She was the only one who's beak had changed colour, as it was now a deep blue, along with her feet. Her eyes matched, though her body feathers were green and a lighter green.
"I hope I haven't changed too much." Cassie hoped wistfully, walking over to the lake. Her sisters exchanged worried glances, knowing what her reaction would be. Cassie shrieked so loud that a light went on in the hospital. Her blonde, wavy hair was now replaced with a light blue, flecked with green, and her feathers were a dark, and light blue. Heather looked into the water and nodded in approval. Her black hair was now a purplish pink, like her eyes, and her feathers were a dark and light purple.
Looks pretty good actually. She thought, smiling a little. Lexi seemed to agree, as a little grin was tugging at her face. Her eyes were still light green, but her hair was now a reddish pink, and her feathers, a light and dark pink.
"I like it!" She exclaimed smiling wider.
"Me too actually." Erin agreed. Becky and Lily nodded their heads in agreement. Cassie raised her eyebrows at them.
"You've got to be kidding, it looks like we fell in a big bucket of paint!" She pointed out angrily. "And my hairs a stupid colour!" She added, crossing her flippers.
"Hey but at least we're different to all the kids at school." Becky replied, calmly.
"It's quite fascinating really, I'd like to see how this substance did it." Erin thought aloud. "And I'd tình yêu to know why it had a different effect on all of us."
"Why does that matter? What matters is that people at school are gonna laugh at us, and bully us!" Cassie protested.
"Well if they do, then we ignore them, this isn't our fault, so we don't have to listen to them." Lily pointed out. Cassie sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I'm still not looking phía trước, chuyển tiếp to school." She muttered. Scarlette quickly re-did her hair so that it covered her right eye and the penguins set off cautiously.
"I know bạn guys seem fine with this, but I'll point out that this will make us an easier spot for predators." She pointed out. Silence fell upon the group, as they approached the school door and opened it nervously. As they walked inside, the kids dotted around the hall stopped and stared in shock. They continued on bravely, only to be stopped bởi a teacher.
"What on earth happened to you?" The teacher asked, barely able to contain her disbelief.
"Urm..." Cassie began.
"A Orca was chasing us, and we hid in an underwater ship, and this oily stuff stuck to us, we got out of the water, and we were like this." Scarlette blurted out, fiddling with her hair. She wasn't used to having it in her eyes. The teachers eyebrows had disappeared into her fringe, and she looked at loss for words.
"Urm, ok, I better tell the village mayor about this, and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else." She decided, rushing off. The other kids were still staring blankly at them.
"What are all bạn lot staring at?" Scarlette snapped, growling and walking on. The kids averted their eyes and tried to keep their minds off the unusual coloured penguins. They spilt up to find their Những người bạn and Scarlette and Erin strolled over to Kai, who's head was so deep in his locker, he didn't even seem to notice their presence.
"Urm, xin chào Kai." Erin greeted.
"Oh xin chào Erin, I- WOAH!" He exclaimed as he popped his head out of the locker. The two sister's smiled awkwardly, and looked towards the floor. "What happened?" He asked, after calming down a bit. They explained quickly, and Kai nodded in understanding. "You guys look pretty cool actually." He admitted, smiling at them. They smiled back and before they got to say anything else, the chuông, bell for first lesson went and they rushed to their class.
"I wonder what the inside looks like now?" She wondered, pushing the black hair feathers out of her light brown eyes, her feet tapping with excitement.
"Calm down Scarlette, it's probably not changed that much." A slightly taller one replied, rolling her eyes. She had light brown spiky hair feathers (though they was slightly darker at the bottom.) and dark brown eyes.
"You'll see Erin, you'll see." Scarlette said, smirking as she strolled up to the newly added wall, just inside the cave. Erin shook her head and grinned as she opened up the door just ahead of them. The seven girls stopped in surprise and stared around them in awe. Their former cold Ice school had been transformed into the ones they had seen in he sách they had about school. There was a long corridor straight ahead, and two separate ones to the sides. The left corridor đã đưa ý kiến 'Toilets' and the Right hand one đã đưa ý kiến ' bữa tối, bữa ăn tối and Assembly Hall.' The one straight ahead was full of doors on the sides, and lockers. Each door had a little class name at the top. Because there were not many young penguins (roughly about 100 in the village) the school itself was small, and there was only about 10 classes going on at a time. There were 5 years in this school, năm 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. (The younger penguins went to the smaller school, nearer the center of Rycombe.) Scarlette, Erin and their sisters were all in năm 8. (As they were sept-tuplets) The other sister were Becky, Lily, Cassie, Heather and Lexi. Becky had short, light blonde hair feathers tied back into a ponytail, and light brown eyes. Lily has long black hair feathers, which tumbled down her back and ice blue eyes. Cassie had short, wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Heather had long, spiky black hair and dark green eyes, and Lexi had curly black hair and light green eyes.
"Woah.." Becky managed, walking down the middle corridor, her eyes darting from place to place.
"Woah indeed." Lily agreed, a smile tugging the corners of her face.
"Hey, all of these lockers have peoples names on!" Lexi exclaimed, pointing towards the lockers which surrounded the corridor. They were in alphabetical order according to last name. They came across theirs and piled around them. Lexi, Cassie and Scarlette were giggling excitedly, earning weird looks from the others. Heather hadn't even noticed but that was normal. Heather didn't notice much of anything, she was always Daydreaming hoặc listening to music. She talked very little and stayed in her own little world. She didn't really have any friends, but she preferred it that way, not having to deal with the stress that other penguins her age did with their friends. She glanced over at the lockers and walked silently to hers, dumping a few sách in, closing it, then walking on to her first lesson. Cassie watched and shook her head sadly.
"I worry about her." She admitted.
"I don't, she may be different, but she gets good grades, and she's nice so I'm sure she'll be fine." Lily replied calmly.
"But she doesn't even hang around with anyone at break time, not even any of us." Cassie protested.
"Cass, it's her decision, and she seems to enjoy it, so leave her be." Lily said, an inch of sternness to her voice. Cassie (and Lexi) was one of the được ưa chuộng girls, and honestly, Lily was thêm worried about her turning into a mean person, than Heather's situation. Lily herself, didn't really consider herself too popular, she preferred to be around close Những người bạn than a large group of people she didn't know so well. She hung around with Becky, whilst Cassie and Lexi were always together, and Scarlette and Erin were in the same friend group.
"So, how's your project about the Ice huy hiệu coming along?" Becky asked Lily. Lily was an environmentalist, and a vegetarian, and recently, she had been trying to spread the word about the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica and the melting ice caps. She so far she had had thêm success in talking to the adults about it, rather than the kids, leading her to believe that most teenagers were ignorant, arrogant people who only cared about messing around and being idiots.
"Its going pretty well, so far I've got over half of the village to stop dumping litter wherever they please, and shown the adults how to use the new found materials wisely so they don't cause thêm pollution." Lily told her brightly, dumping her leaf patterned rucksack into her locker and following Heather. The others did the same and followed, talking and giggling as they piled into their first lesson.
As the penguins sat in their new seats, the teacher, Mr Kaz began to write complex sums on the blackboard, raising his eyes brows at the giggling penguins. In this class there was 10 students (as there were in their other classes), 7 of them being the sisters. The other three were a boy called Joshua, who was Cassie and Lexi's friend, a girl called Megan, who was Becky and Lily's friend, and a girl called Violet, who was Scarlette and Erin's friend.
"Ok, settle down and lets get some work done." Mr Kaz instructed, his voice booming over the noise of the talking children, who then instantly became quiet. "Good." He remarked, as he began to explain what they would be doing today. Becky's mind wandered, and she stared at the ceiling. She was never good at Maths, to her it was just a jumble of numbers, and her brain turned to mush if letters were involved. Her mind came back to reality just in time to hear Mr Kaz say, "You now have 5 phút to do the sums on the board, go!" Becky's eyes widened and she turned to her friend Megan. Megan was quite the whizz at Maths and had already finished the first two out of the five.
"Hey Megs, a little help here?" Becky asked in a whisper. Megs nodded silently, and wrote down the answers, and how to work them out on a piece of scrap paper. Becky smiled in thanks and copied them down quickly, glancing at the method. She looked over at Heather who had already finished and was staring into không gian with headphones in her earholes, her foot tapping merrily. What went on inside Heather's head was a mystery to Becky but she seemed happy, so she wasn't going to câu hỏi her sister. When the time was up, Mr Kaz walked around, checking the answers. He smiled when he saw Becky's work.
"I see you're improving." He praised, walking on. Becky managed a small smile back, then grinned at Megan when he passed. Meanwhile, Cassie was giggling with Joshua and trying not to blush. She had a little crush on him, but it was nothing too big, yet. She had told Lexi, but kept her secret from the others. Little did she know, Heather knew too, but that was because even though she barely talked and seemed spaced out all of the time, she was very good at đọc body language, and good at đọc people. She smiled a little at the two penguins and turned away.
"I can't wait for break time." Lexi remarked.
"Me neither." Joshua and Cassie replied at the same time, catching eachother's eyes and smiling. Joshua was just a little taller than Cassie, and had dark brown hair, light blue eyes,and a light trái cam, màu da cam beak. He was Cassie's best friend and always stuck bởi her, if she has an argument with her other friends. Which had actually been happening a lot lately, making Cassie a little quieter than usual. She stared at the new clock wistfully, wishing time would go faster. Luck seemed to be on her side, as the tiếp theo time she glanced at the clock, the chuông, bell was about to go. The ngày went surprisingly quickly, and it was lunch time before the penguins knew it. Scarlette and Erin tumbled out of their trước đó lesson with their friend Violet, eager to meet their friends, two boys called Kai and Joel. They were the best kids at Art in the school, but usually got bored and started drawing on the ice walls, before the school was remodeled. They were quite hyper, and often mistaken for brothers, not because of looks, but because of their similar personalities. As Scarlette, Erin and màu tím walked down the corridor, they caught sight of the mischievous bunch a little ahead of them. Kai climbed up the lockers and started jumping from one side of the corridor to the other, only to fall and crash into Joel, who was in fits of laughter. The girls shook their heads and tried not to giggle as their cheery Những người bạn bounded over to them.
"Heyo girlies!" Joel greeted smiling brightly and hopping from foot to foot. Scarlette eyes widened and exchanged a uncertain look with Erin.
"Urm, xin chào bạn two, have bạn had a lot of coffee today?" màu tím asked, pushing her blue and purple hair out of her eyes. The two boys nodded in unison and continued hopping on the spot.
"Great, they're gonna be insane today." Scarlette whispered to Erin, making her giggle.
"Wait where did bạn two get coffee, bạn were fine at break time?" Erin asked, a little smile tugging at her face.
"We pinched the teacher's coffee." Kai told her, a mischievous grin on his face.
"She hadn't touched it on over 30 phút anyway." Joel added, practically dancing down the corridor as they walked along.
"You know, I'm tempted to slap them out of this in a minute." Erin whispered to Violet.
"Meh, I think they're funny like this." màu tím replied, smiling at the two boys.
"Yes, but they go a bit over the hàng đầu, đầu trang sometimes." Erin remarked.
"You've laughed at them before when they're like this, so leave them alone." Scarlette chimed in, her voice surprisingly cheery. They were standing bởi the entrance of the school, when they heard a large thud from outside.
"Woah, what was that?" Joel asked, peeping out of the little window in the door. He froze with terror, as he saw a whiskery face staring at him on the other side.
"What is it?" Scarlette asked trying to see over Joel's shoulder.
"It.... it's a.. a." He stuttered, beginning to back away from the door. Suddenly, the door crashed to the floor and the hungry leopard niêm phong, con dấu on the other side grabbed Joel's feet and started to drag him out of the building. Joel let out a cry of surprise and held onto the tường for dear life.
"Erin, Kai, Violet, go find a teacher!" Scarlette yelled, running up the the leopard niêm phong, con dấu and jumping on it. Erin watched her sister in horror but ran off quickly into the school. The niêm phong, con dấu growled at Scarlette and tried to hit out at the young penguin, missing bởi an inch. She bit the leopard seal, who reacted bởi tossing her into the air, far away from himself, and Joel, who was having no luck getting away from the monstrous predator. Scarlette got back up and ran over to her struggling friend and went to grab him, when the niêm phong, con dấu grabbed the both of them in his mouth, and began shaking his head, making the penguins very dizzy. Scarlette tried to focus as the world spun in a blur around her and she felt sharp pains in her sides where the teeth were digging into her skin. She looked over at Joel who had squeezed his eyes shut, clearly not wanting to see what might happen next. Suddenly, the seals body went limp, and fell to the floor. The two penguins tumbled out of it's mouth and Scarlette groaned in pain. She glanced upwards and saw the headmaster standing tiếp theo to Erin, màu tím and Kai, holding a bow and arrow. They began rushing over to them, and Scarlette felt herself being lifted off the floor. She closed her eyes and fell unconscious.
Meanwhile, Becky and Lily were chatting with their two friends, Megan and Stephan when Heather walked up to them uncertainly.
"Oh xin chào sis, what are bạn doing here?" Lily asked a hint of surprise in her voice. Heather just pointed towards the headmaster who was rushing down the corridor, and unconscious and slightly bloody Scarlette in his flippers. Becky and Lily's eyes widened and they rushed after the headmaster, who was closely followed bởi the deputy, who was holding Joel, and running just as fast.
"Sir, what happened?" Lily asked urgently, trying to keep up with the speedy teachers.
"Leopard seal." He replied, not turning back, and rushing into the medical room. At the same time, Cassie and Lexi ran up to them, followed bởi their 5 friends.
"Erin just told us what happened, gosh do bạn think they'll be alright? Lexi asked, exchanging a worried look with her sisters.
"I hope so." Becky replied, her eyes fixated on the medical room door. Cassie felt a comforting pat on her shoulder and she turned to see Joshua smiling weakly.
"They'll be ok." He reassured her, moving his flipper away. Cassie blushed a little and managed a small smile in response. Her other friends, Kyle, Alex (short for Alexander) Masie and giống cúc, daisy (there were twins) peeked their heads in curiously but could only see the headmaster and the nurse standing in front of what looked like a large table.
I hope they'll be ok... Erin thought, catching a glimpse of her sister and her friend.
2 Hours later.
Scarlette and Joel had been transferred to the nearby hospital, and in the waiting room was Joel's parents, Scarlette's parent, the other sisters, Kai and Violet. Joshua had also tagged along, though only to comfort Cassie and Lexi.
"Why is the school so close to leopard niêm phong, con dấu territory?" Erin sighed, staring sadly at the operation room. Doctors rushed in and put of the place occasionally, none of them stopping to tell the penguins of Joel and Scarlette condition. Kai stared at the floor, for once on his life not smiling. He didn't want to lose his friends, especially Joel, who was like a brother to him. After another gruelling 30 minutes, a doctor walked up to them, and they all stared up at him expectantly.
"Scarlette and Joel are both going to be alright." The Doctor told them reassuringly. "Joel's injuries are a little thêm severe, but they'll both be back to normal in a few days." He added. The group of penguins let out a sigh of relief and broke into chatter with each other. Heather just smiled and looked towards the door where her sister was. She got up silently, and poked her head around the corner. Scarlette was lying on a little bed, her eyes opening slowly. Heather walked up to her and managed a small smile.
"Hey sis." Scarlette greeted, sitting up in her bed.
"Are bạn ok?" Heather asked in a quiet, timid voice. Scarlette, took aback bởi her sisters sudden decision to talk, nodded in response. The others trailed in after Heater, and crowded around the two beds, bursting with questions. They became so loud that the doctor had to tell them to go and leave the kids to rest. That night, Cassie's mind was active with buzzing thoughts. Her mind battled with thinking about her sister, and Joshua, who seemed to be getting sweeter everyday. She thought about his light trái cam, màu da cam beak, and his dark brown hair and she blushed a little. She needed to tell him how she felt, but she was too shy to do so.
Maybe one ngày i'll tell him.. She thought as she drifted off to sleep.
The tiếp theo day, the sisters awoke slowly, as a soft vàng light shone into their room. Lexi groaned and pulled her blanket over her head, trying to get back sleep. She wasn't really a morning person. Unlike Erin how had shot out of giường and was already getting ready for school.
"Erin, we've still got an giờ till we have to get up.." Lily mumbled, closing her eyes and snuggling down in her bed.
"Yes, but I want to check on Scarlette." Erin explained, brushing her hair, then zooming out of the little room. She popped her head back in and looked questioningly at her sisters. "Are any of bạn coming?" She asked. They all exchanged agonised looks, then got up reluctantly.
"Why didn't bạn wait till we were supposed to get up?" Becky asked, following her eager sister out.
"Because I wanna go for a swim if Scarlette is allowed out." Erin replied, belly sliding out of their ice cave trang chủ and towards the small hospital. The ngày was cold, but clear. The air was still, and there was not a single đám mây to be seen. It was only just past sunrise, so a few lonesome stars still hung high in the slowly brightening sky. They entered the nearby hospital, and Heather had to stop Erin from rushing into Scarlette's room. She pointed into the room, and saw the doctor giving her a check up.
"You should be able to go trang chủ now." He told Scarlette, who's face lit up in an instant. Her eyes fell on her friend who was asleep in his bed.
"What about Joel?" She asked curiously.
"He has to stay in for one thêm day, but he will be fine." He replied. Scarlette smiled, then waddled over to the door, nearly jumping out of her feathers when she saw her sisters on the other side.
"I'm guessing this was your idea." Scarlette đã đưa ý kiến to Erin, who grinned and nodded.
"So, we were going to go for a swim, are bạn coming?" Lexi asked.
"Sure." Scarlette agreed brightly, following her sisters outside and towards the lake.
"Won't there be leopard seals in there?" Lily asked worriedly.
"Not at this time, they all usually come out around noon." Erin replied, as they reached the lake. She dived in and swam deep underwater. The other followed, splashing each other as they did.
"Wanna play underwater tag?" Becky asked. They all nodded, and Lexi decided that she would be on. The penguins swam around, giggling and messing around as they did so, not noting a dark shape approaching them quickly from the east. Erin turned her head and her jaw dropped.
"Oh crud, I forgot about Orcas." She realised, as she began to swim as fast as she could in the opposite direction. The others screamed an did the same thing, as the dark shape behind them got nearer.
"Quick, hide in that ship!" Cassie yelled, pointing towards a sunken ship at the bottom of the lake. Her sisters nodded and they swam towards it, and hid in what looked like a storage room. The Orca poked it's nose in, and growled,clearly being too fat to fit through the gap and eat them. It saw away angrily, and they waited until it was far off into the distance.
"Well that was a close- wait what's this stuff?" Scarlette asked, pointing towards a thick, pinkish brown liquid that floated around the room.
"I- I don't know it looks like oil, but oil is browny black..." Lily replied, touching a bit of it. It stung her flipper and she drew away quickly She looked down at the tip of her flipper, and her eyes widened in shock. A tiny tuft of feathers was now bright green. She was about to tell the others, when thêm of the oil like substance filled the room, and started covering the frightened penguins. It went in their eyes, temporarily blinding them.
"We need to get out of her now!" Cassie said, swimming desperately towards the what she hoped was the surface, trying to shake the substance off her feathers. The penguins climbed about and flopped to the floor, rubbing their eyes and holding their sides in pain.
"Woah, that was strange!" Becky exclaimed, her eyes still closed. What they didn't know was that it was about to get even stranger.
Scarlette rubbed her eyes and opened them slowly, meeting a strange blur of colour as she did. As he vision returned, her eyes nearly popped out of her head and she gasped in surprise.
"G.. guys, you're all colourful.." She managed, glancing down at herself, and screaming in shock. Her once black and white feathers were now dark and light red. She stared at her reflection in the pool, and saw her hair was now a reddish orange, and her eyes were bright red. Her right eye had a nasty mark all around it and looked swollen.
"How did this happen?" Erin asked, peering at her reflection and barely recognising herself. She was now completely orange, though in different tones and shades.
"I'm guessing that weird oil like thing changed the colour of our feathers, hair eyes, etc." Becky guessed. She didn't look much different, all that had changed were her body feathers, which were now dark, and light yellow, and her hair was a little darker. Lily stared at her reflection in wonderment. She was the only one who's beak had changed colour, as it was now a deep blue, along with her feet. Her eyes matched, though her body feathers were green and a lighter green.
"I hope I haven't changed too much." Cassie hoped wistfully, walking over to the lake. Her sisters exchanged worried glances, knowing what her reaction would be. Cassie shrieked so loud that a light went on in the hospital. Her blonde, wavy hair was now replaced with a light blue, flecked with green, and her feathers were a dark, and light blue. Heather looked into the water and nodded in approval. Her black hair was now a purplish pink, like her eyes, and her feathers were a dark and light purple.
Looks pretty good actually. She thought, smiling a little. Lexi seemed to agree, as a little grin was tugging at her face. Her eyes were still light green, but her hair was now a reddish pink, and her feathers, a light and dark pink.
"I like it!" She exclaimed smiling wider.
"Me too actually." Erin agreed. Becky and Lily nodded their heads in agreement. Cassie raised her eyebrows at them.
"You've got to be kidding, it looks like we fell in a big bucket of paint!" She pointed out angrily. "And my hairs a stupid colour!" She added, crossing her flippers.
"Hey but at least we're different to all the kids at school." Becky replied, calmly.
"It's quite fascinating really, I'd like to see how this substance did it." Erin thought aloud. "And I'd tình yêu to know why it had a different effect on all of us."
"Why does that matter? What matters is that people at school are gonna laugh at us, and bully us!" Cassie protested.
"Well if they do, then we ignore them, this isn't our fault, so we don't have to listen to them." Lily pointed out. Cassie sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I'm still not looking phía trước, chuyển tiếp to school." She muttered. Scarlette quickly re-did her hair so that it covered her right eye and the penguins set off cautiously.
"I know bạn guys seem fine with this, but I'll point out that this will make us an easier spot for predators." She pointed out. Silence fell upon the group, as they approached the school door and opened it nervously. As they walked inside, the kids dotted around the hall stopped and stared in shock. They continued on bravely, only to be stopped bởi a teacher.
"What on earth happened to you?" The teacher asked, barely able to contain her disbelief.
"Urm..." Cassie began.
"A Orca was chasing us, and we hid in an underwater ship, and this oily stuff stuck to us, we got out of the water, and we were like this." Scarlette blurted out, fiddling with her hair. She wasn't used to having it in her eyes. The teachers eyebrows had disappeared into her fringe, and she looked at loss for words.
"Urm, ok, I better tell the village mayor about this, and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else." She decided, rushing off. The other kids were still staring blankly at them.
"What are all bạn lot staring at?" Scarlette snapped, growling and walking on. The kids averted their eyes and tried to keep their minds off the unusual coloured penguins. They spilt up to find their Những người bạn and Scarlette and Erin strolled over to Kai, who's head was so deep in his locker, he didn't even seem to notice their presence.
"Urm, xin chào Kai." Erin greeted.
"Oh xin chào Erin, I- WOAH!" He exclaimed as he popped his head out of the locker. The two sister's smiled awkwardly, and looked towards the floor. "What happened?" He asked, after calming down a bit. They explained quickly, and Kai nodded in understanding. "You guys look pretty cool actually." He admitted, smiling at them. They smiled back and before they got to say anything else, the chuông, bell for first lesson went and they rushed to their class.
