My Worst Frenemy

by Marcus Emerson

  ‘Okay?’ I said.

  ‘They wouldn’t even know what to do with them!’ Wyatt said, and then he pretended to inspect an invisible cassette in his hand. ‘They’d be like, ‘what the heck is this thing?’’

  ‘I’m sure cassette tapes will still be used,’ Brayden said.

  ‘Do you know what the very first records looked like?’ Wyatt asked.

  Slug perked up. ‘What’s a record?’

  Wyatt pointed at Slug. ‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘One, most kids don’t even know what a record is, and two, the very first records looked like tubes. Not the flat discs people are familiar with.’

  ‘But people can still play records,’ Naomi said.

  ‘Give it another fifty years,’ Wyatt said. ‘Records won’t even exist anymore, except maybe to hardcore antique collectors.’

  Slug raised his hand. ‘Wait, I’m still not entirely sure what a record is still. You can play it? Like, in a game or something?’

  Gidget lowered her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose. ‘Dude …’

  ‘In a hundred years, I bet there will be something way cooler than cassettes,’ Wyatt said. ‘They’ll probably be beaming information right into their eyeballs.’

  I nodded. Having information beamed right into my eyeballs did sound pretty awesome … maybe Tenderfoot Industries was already working on that.

  Oh man, how cool would that be?

  After our cassette-tape conversation, my team split into four groups. Zoe and Faith dealt with the moving parts of our robot. Slug and Brayden worked on the shell of the robot because, c’mon, the robot had to look awesome. Gidget and Naomi were figuring out what parts we still needed.

  And finally, Wyatt and I were in charge of refining the mechanics of the robot – like trying to make it work better with less parts and stuff.

  Dante’s voice exploded from behind his sheet. ‘Stupid machine! Just work already! I’m doing everything right, why won’t you just work?’

  ‘Whoa,’ Slug said. ‘Someone’s having problems.’

  Dante’s shadow moved back and forth. And then he raised his foot and kicked at another large shadow, knocking it over. The sound of screws and metal parts hitting the floor filled the air.

  ‘Way to go, Dante,’ he said to himself. ‘Messed things up again, didn’t you? It’s not the robot’s fault it doesn’t work, it’s yours.’

  We all watched as Dante’s shadow stood perfectly still. After a moment, he walked out from behind the sheet and left the room.

  ‘Yikes,’ Brayden said.

  Wyatt slid a chair next to mine and flipped it around again, sitting on it backwards with his arms on the backrest. Quietly, he asked, ‘So what do you think we should do about the red and green ninja clans?’

  ‘Hmm?’ I hummed. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it yet.’

  ‘Time’s runnin’ out, Chase,’ Wyatt said. ‘The longer it takes us to make a move, the larger those two ninja clans get.’

  ‘Make a move?’ I said. ‘What kind of move are you talking about?’

  ‘I’ve got a few ideas.’

  I glanced over my shoulder. The rest of my team was behind me, working on their section of the robot, and there I was, talking ninja stuff with my … frenemy.

  ‘What’re your ideas?’ I asked.

  ‘Well,’ Wyatt said, sitting up straight. ‘I have three ideas. The first one is that we find the leaders of the two ninja clans and beat the snot out of them.’

  ‘Nope,’ I said quickly. ‘Not an option. Next.’

  Wyatt clenched his jaw, but continued. ‘You and I go undercover. We’ll sneak into the red and green ninja clans and take them over from the inside.’

  ‘Because it’s that easy,’ I said sarcastically.

  ‘Fine,’ Wyatt said. ‘My last idea – we figure out who the leaders of the clans are and set a trap for them. When we catch ’em, we’ll steal their masks and humiliate ’em by covering them in syrup and feathers!’

  ‘Where would we get the feathers?’ I asked, genuinely curious.

  ‘From pillows, dummy!’ Wyatt said, lightly slapping my arm with the back of his hand.

  ‘While that does sound amazing,’ I said, ‘I’m pretty sure it’s a terrible idea. But I’m going to steal that syrup-and-feather prank for myself and get Brayden or Slug with it someday.’

  Wyatt slouched forward. ‘Alright then, what do you think we should do?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I answered honestly. ‘Maybe … we should find them and talk to them about what’s happening.’

  ‘Oh, yeah?’ Wyatt said. ‘And what’re you gonna say? Please stop messing with us?’

  I paused. ‘Yeah.’

  ‘But what if their plan isn’t to mess with us,’ Wyatt said. ‘What if they’re up to something else? Something bigger and badder?’

  It was possible. Most of the stuff I’d been caught up in this year had nothing to do with me. There was always a different goal. The hairs on my arms stood on end.

  ‘Where do they train?’ I said, watching the rest of my team.

  ‘No clue,’ Wyatt said. ‘We used to be in the overgrown greenhouse, but when I checked this morning, it was empty.’

  ‘So the first thing we have to do is figure out where they’re hiding,’ I said.

  Wyatt tapped his fingers on the back of the chair and swayed like he was dancing to music I couldn’t hear. He was excited.

  ‘They could be anywhere in the school,’ I said. ‘This building is like a flippin’ maze with all kinds of hidden hallways and tunnels. But the question is how do we find them?’

  ‘Let’s make them find us,’ Wyatt suggested.

  ‘I like that,’ I said. ‘Okay, how?’

  ‘Bait,’ Wyatt said.

  ‘Okaaaay …’ I said, suddenly uneasy.

  ‘We’ll use you as bait,’ he said with a smirk.

  ‘Ugh,’ I groaned as Wyatt stepped away to work out the plans with Olive. ‘What have I got myself into?’

  It was early. And cold. And again, I was at school before it started.

  In the lobby, I stopped to blow hot air into my hands.

  Principal Davis and my homeroom teacher, Mrs Robinson, were walking out of the front office. When they saw me, they smiled and waved. Mrs Robinson was carrying a bunch of black balloons, which were floating above her head.

  ‘Greetings,’ a girl’s voice said from the corner of the lobby.

  Spinning on my heel, I saw Olive on a bench.

  Normal kids don’t say, ‘Greetings’, but Olive wasn’t exactly normal.

  Popping to her feet, Olive said, ‘Wyatt seeks your presence.’

  See what I mean?

  ‘Uh, yeah, I know,’ I said. ‘We were supposed to meet. Where is he?’

  ‘I’ll take you to him,’ she said as she started down the hall.

  Uneasy. That’s how I felt about the whole thing. Wyatt found his way onto my team. And now he was seeking my presence. It was like he was giving me orders.

  Olive stopped at a door next to the lift. I’d never see the door before in my life even though I walked by it a million times a day.

  Pulling the door open, Olive nodded towards it, gesturing me to go in first.

  I looked around to see if anyone else was in the hallway – not to make sure we were alone, but to make sure someone was a witness to the last place Chase Cooper had been seen.

  There was nobody.

  ‘You go first,’ I said.

  ‘No,’ Olive said. ‘It’s polite to allow you to go first. I only wish to be in your favour.’

  ‘Stop talking like that!’ I said.

  Olive said nothing as she waited for me to go first.

  Holding my breath, I stepped into the mysterious room. Once inside, I found out that it wasn’t a room, but a long corridor. The walls were grey brick and the floor was smooth concrete, which made it look like an unfinished basement.

  ‘What is this?’ I asked Olive.

  She stepped
past me. ‘The veins of Buchanan. These hallways give people access to any part of the school. It’s in case of an emergency. Kids will be able to get out faster through here.’

  ‘Secret hallways,’ I said. ‘This school’s got everything.’

  Olive looked over her shoulder. ‘You haven’t even scratched the surface yet.’

  ‘You mean there’s more?’ I asked, following Olive as she turned down one of the corners.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ she said, running her fingers along the grey bricks. ‘You think you know the secrets of this school? Hardly.’

  I wasn’t sure whether to be excited or scared at that thought.

  Olive stopped at the end of the hallway, where it opened up to a large room.

  At the centre of the room was a short brick wall that formed a circle on the floor. At one point in time it must’ve been used as a well. The top of the well was boarded up though, so there wasn’t any danger of Timmy falling down it.

  Get it? Timmy? Lassie? No? Okay, moving on …

  Wyatt was sitting on the side of the well. ‘Chase, old friend! I’m glad you could make it.’

  I shuddered when he called me ‘old friend’.

  ‘What d’you mean you’re glad I could make it?’ I said. ‘We agreed to meet.’

  ‘I know, I know,’ Wyatt said, patting at the air with both hands. ‘I’m just sayin’ that I’m glad you’re here.’

  I leaned against the cold brick wall near the entrance. ‘I’m here,’ I said. ‘What’s the plan?’

  ‘The plan is to use you as bait,’ Wyatt said.

  ‘I already know that,’ I said. ‘But how?’

  Wyatt sighed with a worried look on his face. His forehead wrinkled. ‘Good question … I guess we could put you on a pedestal in the lobby. Maybe make a game of it? Throw a bunch of baseballs at a target. If you hit the target, Chase falls into a pool of water?’

  ‘Seriously?’ I said.

  ‘You’re right,’ Wyatt said. ‘Too complicated.’

  ‘Ya think?’ Olive said from the entrance.

  ‘Babe,’ Wyatt said. ‘You know my love language is words, and when you make sarcastic comments like that, it hurts my feelings.’

  Olive’s eyes softened. ‘Sorry, baby. Smooches!’ she said, blowing a kiss to Wyatt.

  Wyatt bobbed back and forth, and then he caught the invisible kiss. He smiled as he put it in his front pocket.

  Oh my god. Watching Wyatt and Olive have a moment … If it was possible for a brain to barf, mine was about ten seconds away from doing it. It was going to shoot out of my ears.

  Olive smiled. ‘Good luck,’ she said as she left Wyatt and me alone.

  ‘Is she gonna help?’ I asked.

  Wyatt shook his head. ‘No, she has something else to do.’

  ‘What?’ I said.

  ‘Talk to a teacher about homework or something? I dunno,’ Wyatt said.

  I pushed myself off the wall. ‘Let’s think simple, okay? We don’t know where they’re training, but we know they’ve got eyes all over the school.’

  ‘Probably,’ Wyatt said. He snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his head. ‘How about you run around the hallways wearing your ninja mask? Those kids are probably always looking for you, right?’

  For a second, I wanted to argue that it was an idiotic idea, but it actually wasn’t. I couldn’t think of a better, simpler way to get the red or green ninja clan to come after me.

  Finally, I nodded. ‘Fine.’

  ‘Good,’ Wyatt said, standing. ‘Let’s go catch some ninjas!’

  I was on my own in the lower level of the school, better known as the Dungeon – cold, wet, gross.

  I’m gonna be honest with you … I wasn’t not scared.

  Being alone in the dungeon was as scary as running through the woods at two in the morning. The creepy buzzing lights didn’t help either. Some of them were even burned out, which meant sometimes walking in almost complete darkness.

  ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid,’ I sang to myself, trying to keep a jolly melody.

  A locker slammed. I spun around, sure that I was going to see a monster come at me, but I was alone.

  I took my ninja mask from my hood and slipped it over my face.

  Step by step, I made my way deeper into the dungeon. Once I turned the corner, the light from the stairwell was gone, and I was at the point of no return.

  Most of the hallway lights in front of me were busted, leaving the hallway drenched in black shadows.

  I was beginning to regret everything.

  Something behind me hit the floor, barely making a sound, like someone had softly dropped a towel or something.

  I froze, leaning against the lockers. I turned to see what was behind me, doing my best to stay calm.

  Nothing was there.

  The noise came again … and again … and again and again, getting closer, but there wasn’t anything in the hallway.

  My legs forgot how to be legs. They were doing their best impression of tree trunks! My teeth were grinding as the sounds came closer. I was in a nightmare!

  My voice stopped in my throat as I stared at the empty hallway. Finally, I managed to squeeze out, ‘C’mon!’

  And then, like a video game, my legs unpaused and I was sprinting away as fast as my thin legs could take me.

  The muffled sounds behind me kept up. It only made sense that Wyatt’s plan worked, and that the monster in the dark was actually a ninja.

  With every hallway I turned down, I ran faster. The few footsteps chasing me turned into many footsteps. Player three had entered the game.

  Ahead was a door that was left wide open. It was the only door in the Dungeon that hadn’t been locked, so I did what any sixth grade ninja would do … I dove in headfirst.

  Luckily for me, the room was empty. Unluckily for me, there was only one way out of it, and that was back through the door I had just entered.

  Sliding under the teacher’s desk, I tucked myself away, hoping the ninjas would walk past me. If they did, then I’d have a chance at escaping back through the door.

  And if they didn’t? Well, I could see the headlines now… Sixth Grader Chase Cooper Disappears. Nobody Cares.

  At the front of the room, I saw the shadows of two ninjas. They always travelled in packs of two or three.

  I sat completely still under the teacher’s desk. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was trying to escape from my chest.

  There was a red ninja and a green one. They were working together.

  So much for the plan. I was supposed to lure the ninjas out of hiding so Wyatt and I could figure out where they were training. Instead, I was cowering under a desk, hoping that the bell would ring.

  ‘Where’d he go?’ the first ninja said. It was a boy.

  ‘I don’t know. Is there another way out?’ the other ninja said. A girl.

  ‘Not that I see.’

  ‘Lemme turn the light on.’

  ‘No! We work in the dark. Always in the dark.’

  ‘Actually that’s really bad for your eyes,’ the girl said with attitude.

  ‘There you go again! This is why everyone calls you ‘Actually’! You’re always correcting people.’

  ‘Wait …’ the girl said. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘What’s what?’

  ‘That… under the teacher’s desk,’ she answered.

  Oh no …

  Their footsteps got closer and closer.

  I had no choice. I rolled out from the desk and ran straight for the front door, but in my confusion, I had run to the back of the room.

  ‘There!’ the girl shouted. ‘He’s cornered himself!’

  ‘Noob!’ the other ninja shouted.

  I slammed into the back wall. My arm got caught up in long strings, which wrapped themselves around my hand. I didn’t know what was going on, but it couldn’t have been good.

  The red and green ninjas slid to a stop.

  I stared at their shadows, trying to untangle mys
elf.

  ‘He’s not alone,’ the boy said.

  The girl ninja took a step backwards. ‘Well played, Chase … You think you can trick the two of us, but we’re smarter than that. We know when we’re outnumbered.’

  Outnumbered? The two ninjas ran back to the door, sliding across desks, and doing cartwheels to show off.

  At the door, the girl ninja turned around. From the lights in the hallway, I saw that her ninja outfit was green. ‘We’ll meet again, Chase. And when we do, we’ll bring more of our friends.’

  The green ninja raised a small ball, and then she slammed it into the floor. A cloud of chalk dust burst at her feet. When the fog lifted, she was gone.

  I leaned my head back, bumping it against the wall. I was alone again.

  The strings around my arm tugged at something above my head.

  ‘Hello?’ Wyatt said from the doorway like he had teleported there.

  ‘Dude,’ I said. ‘Did you see the other ninjas out there?’

  Wyatt leaned back and scanned the halls. ‘Nope. No one else out here.’

  Was it a coincidence that Wyatt appeared so quickly after the other ninjas disappeared? Or was I just being paranoid?

  ‘Wait,’ he paused. ‘I thought we said you were gonna come down here alone.’

  ‘I am alone,’ I said, still against the back wall.

  ‘No, you’re not,’ Wyatt said, stepping through the door. ‘There’s, like, five ninjas behind you!’

  ‘What’re talking about?’ I asked, annoyed. ‘There’s nobody else in here except you and me!’

  ‘And the ninjas behind you,’ Wyatt said, flipping on the light.

  I squeezed my eyes shut because the lights hurt them.

  ‘Oh, my bad,’ Wyatt said. ‘You are alone.’

  Forcing my eyelids open, I looked at the strings that were wrapped around my arm. They led to five black balloons that floated right next to my head.

  On the whiteboard at the front of the room was a message that read, ‘Happy 40th Birthday, Mr Lopez!’ A cake covered in black frosting sat on top of his desk.