"I couldn't believe it either," said Kate to Gina. "They just disappeared."
"I wish I was there. What did it feel like?" Gina asked excitedly, wanting to know everything.
Kate rubbed her hands. They were still red, as if burned by something. However, Kate wasn't exactly sure what. "Do you think I will get a rash from it?"
Gina grabbed an arm and looked at her hands. "Wow, this is the coolest thing! This is something that should be in the movies!"
Gina loved scary movies just as much as Kate did. But, somehow Kate didn't find as much fun in it when scary things were happening to her. "This is too weird. I feel like I am living in a scary movie right now, even though it's not exactly scary," Kate said.
"Yes, I know what you mean. It's like we don't know what will happen next. Hey, it isn't all that bad - you have Mona Lisa here next to you," said Gina. "And guess what, we have a big pep assembly this afternoon. I think we can get Scream to join in. He's loud enough!"
Gina wasn't taking this seriously at all, but Kate didn't blame her. If it weren't so strange, it would be funny to her.
"We keep getting in trouble - Scream and I. He screams and I scream back," Gina said. "Well, you know how he keeps talking about the sky. I found out why! There was this volcanic eruption and it turned the sky this reddish color. He didn't know it was a volcano. He saw this big red sky and he thought something awful was happening. One of my teachers told me about it. So, I told him. He was so relieved. He was scared when he saw it. I guess everyone was. So, I told him not to worry… it was just a volcano. No big deal."
Kate laughed. A volcano was no big deal? Gina's words sounded funny. But, if Gina managed to calm Scream down, that was good. It would make the day go by a lot smoother. "He's good at screaming even though I told him he has nothing to scream about. We have been telling each other jokes, although his are kind of old-fashioned. I didn't realize that an old painting would be so much fun."
