2/13/01, early morning
The day started out as routine as all the rest. GC woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and got ready for school without trouble, save for her stubborn Beagle who would not go outside. The trip to school was routine, if a bit windy and rainy. GC said goodbye to her mom and carefully walked towards the C-Building and her wonderful locker.
After GC deposited her burdensome load she walked to the B-Building and hopefully to her friend Gail. For once, she was there, and alone. GC grinned, and walked to where her friend was sitting. “Hey, Gail, I thought I’d bug you.”
“Hey, GC. Go ahead,” Gail said jovially.
GC sat down and the two began to talk about Gail’s hopeful book. Minutes into the conversation the building suddenly went dark. GC stopped in mid-sentence, curious as to what happened. She looked at Gail, her mouth still open, forming words that wouldn’t come. GC closed her mouth, and tried again. “What the hell just happened?”
Gail gave her friend a blank stare. “I have no idea.”
Small cries of mock fear echoed throughout the wing. GC and Gail shared a glance of annoyance and promptly tuned them out. “Guess it’s a power outage . . .” GC observed. “Hey, do you know if DWP or So-Cal Edison is responsible for this place?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“Maybe the teachers know.” Just then Mrs. See, GC’s Careers with Children teacher, walked up. She greeted the two, and before she left GC asked her, “You don’t happen to know if DWP or So-Cal Edison is responsible for this campus, do you?”
“I really don’t know. I think So-Cal Edison is responsible, but I don’t know.”
“Oh. Well, thanks anyway, Mrs. See.” GC turned to her friend. “If Edison really is responsible for this place, I can tell you right now it’ll be a good few hours before we get some light again . . .” She paused, then began again. “You want me to ask Mrs. E if she’s in?”
“Sure, go ahead,” Gail complied.
Just then, two of Gail’s friend came up from the lower wings. They had news from the lower wings; they were pitch black, and students with phones were using the screen to open their lockers.
“How cool!” GC said as Gail’s friends walked away. “Maybe we can explore after we ask about who has responsibility over this school.”
“Fine with me. My first period is down there anyway.”
GC nodded, and continued walking to her first period, English. Mrs. E, for once, was in her room; and, for once, the door was unlocked. GC opened the door. “Sorry to disturb you, Mrs. E, but you wouldn’t happen to know if DWP or So-Cal Edison is responsible for this school, would you?”
Mrs. E looked up from her book. “Um, I think DWP is responsible. It would be logical, since this is the Valley. But I’m not sure.”
“I’m gonna go exploring for a little bit. See ya in a few, Mrs. E!”
GC and Gail walked down the steps to the Lower-C wing. As Gail’s friends testified, it was fairly dark. GC looked at her watch; if the bell could ring, it would. She said goodbye to Gail and walked back up to her first period class.
School began with as little fuss as possible. Rumors ran rampant throughout the room as well as the campus no doubt. The popular one was if things didn’t clear up by the ‘end’ of the period students could leave. That posed a problem for GC; she didn’t have a car, much less drive, so could do one of the following. a) Stay at school until her dad picked her up, at 3:30, b) walk home, in the wind and rain, which would have taken up an hour, but luckily one of her friends, Eileen, offered her c) a ride home with somebody.
Mrs. E was not going to let the period slip by. “Get out your books and lets go over what you read two nights ago for homework.”
Twice within the first fifteen minutes of the period power surged; lights came on then abruptly went out again. The door was open to allow light into the room and throughout the hall GC heard the collective sighs of students who wanted to go home.
Unfortunately, halfway into the period emergency power cut in. The day was to continue as usual. The collective sighs were heard a third time. “Oh well,” GC thought. “At least I won’t need a ride home now.”
2/13/01, later that morning
GC walked out of the main hall and into the wind and rain. She caught sight of a fellow creator, known as ZC in Unreality, and walked towards him. “So, how did you fare in the power outage?” she asked conversationally.
“I almost got stuck in the elevator,” ZC answered.
GC’s eyes widened and she laughed nervously. “And how did that happen?”
“Well, you know that I need to use the elevator. So I stepped in, and just as the doors were about to close, the power went out. I was very close to being stuck in the elevator.”
“Well, at least you didn’t.”
Power had been restored by the end of second period, so the rest of the day was routine, save for the heavy rain. GC still never found out whether DWP or So-Cal Edison was responsible for the campus that day, but she was okay with that. Besides, it was common sense; like Mrs. E said: “It would be logical, since this is the Valley.”
