A Game of Chase

by Marcus Emerson

  Once I was inside, I let the door slam shut behind me. I heard Wyatt’s body slam into it and then heard him groan in pain. I’m not gonna lie … it made me smile. He was pulling on the handle of the door, but it must’ve been jammed shut because he couldn’t open it. I turned around, thankful that Wyatt was still outside.

  The inside of the room was lit by a single yellow light bulb on the wall. It reminded me of a castle from a movie except the walls weren’t wet and gross.

  I rose to my feet and studied my surroundings, something ninjas do when heading into an unfamiliar area. There were racks of costumes lining the walls along with boxes of hats and feathers and other junk the drama club used for plays – some rope and balls of yarn. The air even smelled musty, as if it had been trapped in this tiny dark room for centuries.

  ‘You’re too late,’ Olive’s voice echoed.

  I turned and saw her standing against the far wall. Her hand was resting on a massive switch that looked like something from one of my dad’s old horror movies. Another identical switch was on the other side of her.

  ‘Don’t do it,’ I said with my serious voice, but who was I kidding. If she flipped the switch, then it was over. The sprinklers would go off and that would be the end of it. Everyone’s project would be ruined, and she would get her way.

  The smile she had was unsettling. ‘Give me one reason not to, but think carefully on it … you only have one chance.’

  I inched toward her slowly, racking my brain to come up with something other than ‘because I said so’, but I really couldn’t. Finally, I said, ‘Because you don’t want to be remembered as that kid who killed the sixth grade science fair, do you?’

  Olive shrugged her small shoulders and let them slump back down. ‘Eh,’ she mumbled. ‘I’ve been called worse.’

  Using both of her hands, she pulled down on the ancient switch until it clicked. I reached out my hands, but knew I was too far away to stop her.

  The metal switch made a wrenching sound of clack clack clack!

  At that moment, the yellow light bulb switched off in the room, which must have affected the cafeteria too because I heard someone shout, ‘Who turned off the lights?’

  ‘What?’ I heard Olive’s voice screech through the darkness. ‘That’s fine because there’s only one other switch in the room!’

  In the completely dark room, I felt at home. Ninjas lived in the dark. It’s where we’re most comfortable and where we have the advantage.

  I rolled across the floor, remembering where the costumes and boxes were sitting. Good thing I memorised my surroundings before doing anything else. I grabbed the item I was looking for and slid across the dark floor to where Olive was standing.

  ‘Hey!’ her voice shouted. ‘What’re you doing? Let go of my hands!’

  I flipped the switch upward, and the yellow light flickered on.

  Olivia was sitting on the floor, her hands roped around one of the costume racks. When the lights were out, I managed to grab one of the balls of yarn and spin in around Olive’s hands before she could find the sprinkler system switch. And I did it all in a pitch black room.

  I’m not one to brag … but that was pretty ninja of me.

  I expected to see Olive cry, but she just giggled. ‘You’ve beaten me,’ she said. ‘You’ve won this round, Chase … best two out of three?’

  The door to the room suddenly broke opening, slamming into the wall. Mr Cooper and Principal Davis jumped through the opening with Wyatt following them like a dog. I saw the faces of other students standing in the cafeteria doing their best to see inside.

  Principal Davis rubbed his temples and sighed. ‘Honestly, Olive, this again? The whole Jovial Noise thing?’

  I was shocked. ‘How’d you know about Jovial Noise?’ I asked.

  ‘It’s the name she uses when she acts out,’ the principal answered. ‘This isn’t the first time she’s tried something like this, but it is the first time she’s got this far.’

  I frowned. Zoe was right. If I had just gone to the principal to begin with then this whole mess wouldn’t even have happened! When I looked through the door, I saw Zoe staring at me with folded arms and a satisfied smile. Then she mouthed, ‘I told you so.’

  I looked back at Olive, but she wasn’t on the floor anymore. Mr Cooper was already walking her out the door. She stopped just outside the entrance and made eye contact with me.

  ‘Best two out of three,’ she said with an evil smile as she was escorted away.

  ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done?’ Principal Davis sighed, resting his hand on my shoulder.

  I looked at him, confused. Was he angry with me?

  ‘The new sign came in for the school today,’ he continued. ‘A big ol’ moose on the front of it.’

  Oh, he was talking about that.

  ‘No matter,’ he said as he walked toward the exit. ‘Since you kept Olivia from switching on the sprinklers, I’ll let it slide, but maybe we can revisit the idea of a moose for a mascot, eh?’

  I laughed, thankful I wasn’t in any trouble.

  I hesitated before stepping out into the cafeteria. I wasn’t sure what any of the other kids were going to say when I did. I really didn’t feel like ending the day with any more hatred thrown in my direction.

  But when I walked out, everyone cheered. It was crazy. They were so loud that my ears hurt! Shouts of hooray and clapping hands bounced off the walls.

  Brayden was the first one to get to me. ‘So about that whole being mad at you thing,’ he said, staring past me. ‘Sorry about that.’

  I smiled at him. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t save your project.’

  Raising his hands, Brayden patted at the air. ‘It’s not a big deal. I think Mrs Olsen is going to give Faith and me an extra couple of weeks to redo ours. We won’t get first place or anything, but at least we’ll get a passing grade.’

  I paused. ‘I really miss hanging out with you,’ I said honestly.

  Brayden shuffled his feet. ‘Yeah, about that too. Sorry I’ve been like that. I shouldn’t have, I know.’ Then he smirked at me. ‘But I think we’re even now that you spent the day in detention yesterday.’

  ‘Dude,’ I said, seriously. ‘Most boring day ever.’

  ‘I know, right?’ Brayden asked. ‘Like staring into the eye of a black hole for eternity!’

  ‘Yes!’ I said, pointing at him. ‘It’s exactly that!’

  ‘Nerd alert!’ shouted Zoe over the crowd of loud students.

  Faith was next to her. ‘I’d say sorry too, but I think it’s a little sappy so instead…’ she trailed off as she punched me in the shoulder. ‘Good game,’ she said with a nod.

  I rubbed my arm. I knew it was her own way of apologising. She’s cool like that. ‘No biggie,’ I said, doing my best to sound like I wasn’t in pain.

  The crowd of students returned to their projects as I stood on the stage with my friends. I saw boys and girls walking up and down the aisles getting back to their stuff and wondered if they actually knew how close they were to losing all of it.

  Wyatt had moved to the back of the room and was keeping watch over each kid that entered or exited. His hall monitor goons were standing guard outside the doors as well.

  ‘We still have them to worry about,’ Gavin said, stepping onto the stage. ‘Pretty sure Wyatt’s not too thrilled that you saved the day again.’

  ‘At least it wasn’t him I was up against this time,’ I replied.

  ‘No,’ Gavin said, shaking his head. ‘But I bet he makes his move soon.’

  Brayden stepped forward. ‘If he does, we’ll be ready.’

  ‘What about Olive?’ I asked. ‘Did you hear Wyatt say she was Sebastian’s niece?’

  ‘So what?’ Gavin said. ‘Who cares?’

  I nodded, staring at Wyatt as he waved kids in and out of the cafeteria. His eyes weren’t on me, but I knew he was watching me. With a roomful of students, he couldn’t say what he wanted to say to me, not like that’s stopped h
im before, but as the captain of the hall monitors, he probably needed to watch his step.

  ‘So what’s the plan?’ Gavin asked.

  Zoe, Faith, and Brayden looked at me, waiting for my answer.

  ‘The science fair!’ I laughed. ‘It hasn’t even started yet, and we’re just hanging around onstage!’

  I watched as my friends stepped back onto the cafeteria floor. Zoe and Faith joked with each other as they marched back to their projects. Gavin filtered in with another group of students. Brayden stayed by my side.

  ‘Seriously, man,’ I said. ‘I’m really sorry I couldn’t save your stuff.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Brayden said. ‘It was a terrible project anyway.’

  ‘Come on, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?’ I asked.

  Brayden paused. ‘Horror movies at my place tonight? You bring popcorn, and I’ll get the movies?’

  I laughed. ‘Dude, yes! I’ll be there!’

  We bumped fists, and he jumped off the stage.

  I waited another second before returning to my project. I wanted to watch the busy cafeteria just a bit longer. If I had only been seconds slower, this room would be a disaster. Kids and their projects would be soaked in water and tears, but luckily it didn’t turn out like that. Maybe the school and President Buchanan weren’t out to get me after all.

  Saved the school from an evil villain named Jovial Noise? Meh, just another typical day in sixth grade.

  This whole week had been another nightmare adventure in the weirdest school in the world, but I was calm as I thought about it. I finally felt like I belonged at Buchanan. I was home here, and with friends as cool as mine, I wasn’t afraid of anything it might try to throw my way…

  …unless it threw bees. I’m afraid of bees being thrown at me, but … y’know what? Never mind.

  Marcus Emerson is the author of several highly imaginative children’s books, including the 6th Grade Ninja series, the Secret Agent 6th Grader series, Lunchroom Wars and the Adventure Club series. His goal is to create children’s books that are engaging, funny, and inspirational for kids of all ages – even the adults who secretly never grew up.

  Marcus Emerson is currently having the time of his life with his beautiful wife and their amazing children. He still dreams of becoming an astronaut someday and walking on Mars.