HEATHER AND MICHELLE'S BIG NOSE DAY

by xoquim

PART 1

Heather entered her high school history class and proceeded to sit down at her
desk and talk with her friends.  Her teacher, Miss Frowley, stared sternly at
her from behind her desk.  Heather wasn't exactly sure why her teacher was
staring at her in that way, but she knew in the back of her mind that what she
had done the day before was wrong.  About a minute before the bell was
scheduled to ring, Miss Frowley called Heather up to the front of the room,
grabbed her arm, and escorted her out the door.  The two of them were alone in
the hallway.

"Rumor has is that you and your friend Michelle skipped school yesterday.  Is
that true?", asked the teacher.

Heather fidgeted a bit.  She wasn't exactly sure how the word got out, but she
had indeed skipped school and spent most of the day at the mall with her
friend.  But how did Miss Frowley find out about it?  She hadn't told anyone.
She wondered if someone had spied on them.

"I was sick with the 24-hour flu.", said Heather.  "I gave a note to the
principal.  Just check for yourself."  Heather had actually forged a note from
her father.  She had done this before, so she had no reason to believe it
wouldn't work this time.

She and Michelle were the two most beautiful girls at the school.  Every boy
at Valley View High School had a crush on both of them, and every girl at the
high school was jealous of them.  They didn't mind, though.  They were having
too much fun with the guys to care about what the girls thought.

"I know that you skipped out yesterday, young lady, and you're not going to
get away with it.  Not if I have anything to say about it!", Miss Frowley
scolded.

"Oh my God.  I hope she doesn't do the Pinocchio thing to me", thought Heather.

The Pinocchio thing was a spell.  You see, Miss Frowley was more than just the
average history teacher.  She was also a broom flying, cauldron stirring,
spell casting witch.  Everyone knew about it and Miss Frowley was very open
about it.  There were no secrets at Valley View.  It was no secret that
witchcraft was a very real thing and that Miss Frowley could perform it.  And
she did perform it a lot.  One of her favorite spells was the Pinocchio spell,
which she would cast whenever someone told a lie .  It caused a person's nose
to grow in length or change in some way whenever they told a lie.

Miss Frowley proceeded to point her finger at Heather's nose and utter a few
indiscernible words.  She then pointed her finger down the hall to Michelle's
classroom and uttered the same words.  "I hope you learn your lesson, young
lady.  The spell will be broken as soon as you tell the truth about what you
did or at the end of the school day, whichever comes first.  Now go back in
the room so we can start class," she said.

Heather's hand immediately went up to feel her nose as she walked into the
classroom.  The class started to giggle because they could figure out what
spell had been put on her.  Heather just sat down and stayed silent.  She knew
that the first lie that came out of her mouth would cause her nose to change.

Heather managed to get through her entire class without saying a word.  She
was determined not to tell a lie.  She knew it would be difficult, though,
since she knew that she could get in a lot of trouble with her parents if they
ever found out.  She could even be suspended from school!  When the bell rang,
a crowd of girls gathered around Heather, trying to make her lie, but she
didn't say a word.  Miss Frowley then proceeded to walk up to the group.  "So,
Heather.  Tell us what you did yesterday."  Heather was silent.  "If you don't
tell me, I'll be forced to call your parents."

How could she tell the truth?  Her parents would scold her.  She could get
kicked off of the cheer leading team.  Maybe she could pass this off as a cruel
joke being played at her expense.  "Yes, that's what I'll do.", she thought.
"I'll just say that someone spread a terrible lie and that Miss Frowley heard
about it and cast a spell on her in error.  I could even make Miss Frowley
apologize to me.  My nose may grow or something, but I can get through this."

"I was sick at home with the flu like I told you.  That's the honest truth!",
Heather heard herself say.

Just then she felt a tingle in her nose.  She looked down cross-eyed at it and
saw the tip of it begin to grow in length.  It was only about a half of an
inch longer than her normal perfect nose, but it was obvious that there was a
change in it.  The crowd of girls began to laugh hysterically at Heather's
expense.  "Was it the stomach flu or more like a head cold?", one girl asked.

"Stomach flu.", Heather said hesitantly.

She felt a tingle in her nose again and looked down again cross-eyed at it.
The tip of her nose had grown another half an inch.  Her nose was now an inch
longer than its normal length.  The girls burst out laughing at the sight of
poor beautiful Heather.  It was clear that they were going to milk this one
all day long.

Heather escaped from the crowd and began to walk down the hallway.  Every
person that passed her greeted her with a look of shock.  This was usually
followed by a hint of a smile from the girls.  The boys usually just looked
away.  Sometimes there would be a giggle or a laugh.  Heather just walked on
to her next class and tried not to notice her two-inch-long nose.  Along the
way, she could hear the word "nose" being uttered all around her.

Just then, she felt a tapping on her shoulder.  She turned around to see her
friend, Michelle.

"Michelle, why are you flaring your nostrils?"

"I'm not flaring them.  They just kind of started to do this.  Did Miss
Frowley do this?  And why is your nose so long?", Michelle said.

"Yes, it was Miss Frowley.  She did the Pinocchio spell on both of us.  For me
is makes my nose get longer.  For you, it must make your nostrils flare or get
larger or something."

"Well, I can't just go on all day like this, Heather!  We have to tell the
truth.  I'm going to the principal."

"Don't you dare do that!", Heather shouted as classmates passed them in the
hall, staring and laughing.  "Are you crazy?  My parents would kill me!  We
just have to get through the day.  At the end of the school day, the spell
goes away."

After much persuading by Heather, Michelle finally gave in.  The two of them
hugged and went to their girls' gym class together.
 

PART 2

When the two girls entered the locker room hiding their noses, it was obvious
from the laughter that the word had spread about the spell.  They kept silent
as they dressed, though, and their noses stayed as they were.  As they entered
the gymnasium, they both spotted Miss Frowley talking to their gym teacher.
They glanced at each other with a look of dread on their faces.  After Miss
Frowley left, the gym teacher blew her whistle.  Trying to hold back a smile,
she told everyone to sit down on the floor in front of her.

"Heather.  Michelle.  Could you two come up here and stand by me, please?",
she said.

Reluctantly, the girls obliged.

"Now turn around and face the class."

Turning around, they could see a sea of smiles on the faces of their
classmates.

"Miss Frowley says that you two were both sick with the flu yesterday.  Is
that true?", the teacher asked.

"Yes", said Heather quietly.  Immediately, Heather's formerly pert little nose
tingled again and the tip of it began to grow longer.  She could see as it
grew and lengthened about a half an inch.  It took only about five seconds for
her nose to grow that extra half inch, so Heather and the whole class was able
to watch the whole process.  She brought her hand up to her nose and began to
feel it.  She felt up and down the bridge.  Then her fingers went over the now
almost rod-shaped tip which extended about two inches past the nostrils.  Her
nostrils were slightly longer but were still pretty much the same size that
they normally were.  Her nose was starting to look kind of like a pixie's
nose.  The class broke out in spontaneous laughter.

"Michelle?  Were you sick too?", asked the teacher.

"Yes", responded Michelle.  Michelle's nose began to tingle also.  She and the
class could see as her once normal sized nostrils began to grow even larger.
Each hole was now large enough to fit a quarter in horizontally.

"Heather.  What did your temperature get up to?", queried the teacher.

"About 101 degrees."  For the next few seconds, the class watched as Heather's
nose grew another half an inch.  The class burst out laughing again.  The nose
was now three inches long.  The tip had a definite rod shape now that narrowed
a bit toward the end.  Heather again brought her hand up to her nose and felt
its shape, her fingers running up and down the "shaft".  Her face was now red
with embarrassment, but she knew that if she could just get through the day,
she wouldn't have to be face the principal and get suspended.  She was sure
that she could find some way to turn this around as a cruel hoax being played
on her and Michelle.

"Michelle.  What was your temperature?"

"100 degrees."  The class watched and laughed as Michelle's nostrils grew
again.  They became more round in shape, and each was almost two inches in
diameter.  She brought her fingers up to her nose and felt it all over.  She
could now stick three fingers up each nostril up to the second knuckle without
touching the side.

The questions came one after another, but Heather and Michelle would not give
in.  The girls were adamant in their desire desire to win.  The teacher
finally stopped her inquisition after several more questions.  She let the two
girls sit on the side of the gymnasium to watch the rest of the class play
volleyball.

In their condition, neither of them could possibly have played volleyball or
any sport.  Michelle's nostrils were now the size of softballs.  In fact, one
of the girls jokingly threatened to stick one up Michelle's left nostril but
was met with a threatening look and a clenched fist.

Heather's nose was now almost two feet long.  It looked something like a thin
dowel rod that narrowed toward the tip.  She ran her hand up and down the
length of her enormously long nose as she spoke with her friend.

"Michelle.  Look at my nose!  I look like a female Pinocchio, for crying out
loud!  My nose is almost as long as my arm!"

"What about me?  They're going to start calling me the big nostril girl.  Do
you realize that?  Do you think I want to be called the big nostril girl?
Hmmmm?"

"They're going to call me broomstick beak or something.  At least you can
drink a glass of water.  I'm going to have to use a straw or something for the
rest of the day.", retorted Heather.

"I'd probably end up snorting the whole glass up my nose."

"How am I going to kiss my boyfriend?  I'll probably poke his eye out," said
Heather.

Heather looked out at the volleyball game for a minute.  She then turned her
head back to Michelle quickly and smacked her friend across the face with her
two-foot nose.  "Sorry, Michelle."

The girls sat for about ten minutes in silence.  In that time, both of them
thought through their predicament and came to the same conclusion and looked
at each other.

"I can't go on with this," they said at the same time.  Michelle whispered
something into Heather's ear and the two of them stood up and shouted to the
class.

"We confess!  We played hookie!  We weren't sick yesterday!  You win, Miss
Frowley!  Did you hear that!  You win!"

>From the other end of the school, Miss Frowley heard them and smiled.