Chapter 3
“You know, as much as I hope they’ll get it, I’m
starting to wonder if they really will.” Choco suddenly admitted.
I looked at him, “What makes you think that?”
Choco placed his cap back on his head, “Well, Billy
Snooze is one to fall asleep, like that,”
he snapped his fingers, “Will is one to get cowardly and freak out, like that,” he snapped his fingers again,
“And Eric is one to take things too seriously, and start demanding for a lawyer
or something if Tom protests, like that,”
he snapped his fingers for the final time.
This thought of Choco’s crept into my own head, and I
too started worrying if we’d actually succeed. It was one thing to plan out
your mission, and another to sit in detention hoping your friends did it right.
The bell rang, signalling the end of break. We dashed
out of the classroom. No one was outside yet, but I had a feeling they’d come.
And minutes later, they arrived.
Choco and I whooped with joy, and jumped up and down
and punched the air. Our cheers died down as we saw that Eric was stomping
towards us. Will Freckles trailed behind with Billy Snooze.
“What’s wrong?” I asked slowly, as they neared.
“The plan failed, if you must know,” Eric snapped.
I turned to the others, “Billy?” I felt my face fall
even more, “What happened?”
Billy’s shoulders drooped. He shuffled awkwardly, “I
don’t know. Not too sure. All I know is we failed. Sorry.”
“Billy fell asleep,” Eric looked sour, “The moment we
reached Tom Sandy’s table he fell asleep and wouldn’t wake. Will started
freaking out, saying we were mysteriously being taken out one by one.”
Will blushed, his freckles brightening.
“Ran away like a chicken,” Eric Redmane continued, “I
decided to still go ahead with everything. But then Tom Sandy kept saying he
can’t give us the sweets, and didn’t answer me when I ask him why. I guess I
raised my voice too high for Mrs. Freckles’ liking, because she told me to
leave, and I demanded for a lawyer.”
“Quite dumb actually, if you think about it,” Billy pointed
out.
Eric growled in frustration, “MY POINT IS WE FAILED.
WE’VE BEEN FAILING ALL DAY, SO WE MIGHT AS WELL GIVE UP!”
Mr. Croaky popped his head from outside the teachers’
office, which was at the end of the hall. He put a finger to his lips, and then
disappeared back into the room.
“But if we give up, we’re losers,” Will Freckles
looked upset.
“LOSERS, I tell you. We wouldn’t be able to walk into
school without feeling like losers for months.”
Choco couldn’t resist the urge to snicker, “You sure?
You’ve always seemed like a loser to me.”
“Yup.” I agreed, smiling as Will looked angrily at us,
“You have that loser face…” I dashed away as Will chased after me playfully.
“Eggster Bold! Come back here!”
He knocked into Eric, who ran after him, until Choco Stix
and Billy Snooze couldn’t help but chase after us all. Soon all our worries had
washed away and we flopped down in a pile.
Students were returning from the cafeteria to their
classrooms, and the stream of people had to part in two as they neared us. We
lay there feeling relaxed, until Mr. Principle scolded us and we scrambled to
our feet and quickly headed for class.
___________
Our worries came back to us in Art class, the last
lesson of the day. The Art room was the biggest classroom in the school, with a
long white table running along the length. The room was decorated with
paintings done by students, and had two sinks at the front of the class. Behind
the art table, and were we all sat, were the art supplies and some of our previous
work.
Five easels stood on wobbly legs behind us, four with
canvases on them, one with a sheet of paper nailed into it, displaying just how
terrible everyone’s art skills were. There weren’t enough easels for us all, as
usual, and so the other half of the class had to have cardboard boxes as
easels, and paper nailed into them as substitutes for canvases. Eric Redmane
had gotten the box with the tiny scrap of paper – there wasn’t anything else
you see – and he wasn’t particularly happy about that. So instead of drawing,
he had scribbled: UNFAIR!
Mrs. Hazycurls, who was also our Art teacher, sat at her desk near the door.
Tom Sandy sat right at the end, with Laura Sunset (who
was busy retrieving her lump of clay that she had dropped onto the floor) and
Cinnamon Stix next to him. Poppy Petal sat opposite Cinnamon, reading her book.
We were all supposed to be making figures out of the clay we were given. Mrs.
Hazycurls was busy tapping away at her computer, her back towards us.
Eric Redmane was poking at his lump of clay, convinced
it was alive. Will Freckles was peering at the clay too, worried it might
suddenly move on its own. Billy Snooze had parted his grey lump into three
chunks, shaping them into Zs. This made him feel sleepy, and his face went smack on the table, the Zs looking as
though they were floating out of his face, like smoke from a chimney.
Choco Stix and I were trying to form dinosaur shapes
with our clay, but the silly thing ended up looking like a weird rock. Choco’s
piece of clay looked more dino-like than mine, but he couldn’t get the claws
right.
“We only have one chance to get Tom,” I said, “And
that’s after school. Let’s not bother him this lesson. If he thinks we’ve given
up, maybe he won’t rush out so quickly.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Emily Rose glanced at all of
us disgracefully, “Why can’t you leave poor Tom alone. He clearly doesn’t want
to share, and you have no right to force him to. If you wanted to win the
sweets you should have dressed better.” And with that Emily collected up her
clay that had been transformed into delicate flower petals and leaves, and
walked off in disgrace, sitting down on the other side of Poppy, away from us.
“Snob,” Eric muttered, “She’d be doing the same thing
as us if she hadn’t won.”
“We better get out of class early. Tom always heads
round the back of the school to get his bike,” Billy suddenly said, waking up.
We all nodded, took a
glance at Tom Sandy making a clay-bike, and then saw each other’s smiles spread
across our faces.
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