Spirit Week Shenanigans

by Marcus Emerson

  Here’s a picture of me getting ‘in the zone’ during an intense part of the game. Mouth open, eyelids peeled back, legs crossed because I’m about to beat a super hard part. C’mon, we’re all guilty of that, right? Anyone?

  A lot of the other kids in the cafeteria were glaring at me, but a few smiled.

  Even the school janitor, Ms Chen-Jung, was giving me what looked like a pity smile. She was a short Korean woman who had been at Buchanan forever. I don’t know how old she was, but she was retiring at the end of the school year, so that old. How old do you have to be to retire? Like, ninety?

  ‘Let’s see,’ I heard Zoe say. ‘If the dream was about fighting other ninjas, then you had leftover pizza for breakfast. If it was about fighting a giant-sized robot version of President Buchanan, then you probably ate cold hotdogs.’

  Finally, my eyes adjusted. ‘And what if I was fighting a vampire queen?’

  Zoe hummed, placing her finger under her chin. ‘Hmmm, I’m thinking … leftover cake from family brunch yesterday?’

  ‘Wait,’ Zoe said, her eyes wide open. ‘Was the vampire queen a ninja too?’

  ‘Why’s that matter?’ I asked.

  Faith smiled as she leaned one shoulder against the wall. She snapped her finger at Zoe. ‘Oh, I got this! Leftover cake and pizza for breakfast!’

  Everyone laughed and I couldn’t help but smile along with my best friends.

  ‘Har har, guys,’ I said, rubbing life back into my cheeks. Pushing my phone into my front pocket, I said, ‘But you’re all wrong. I wasn’t asleep. I was just zoned out. And, FYI, I had leftover mac and cheese with awesome sauce for breakfast.’

  ‘What’s awesome sauce?’ Faith asked.

  ‘It’s a secret,’ I said.

  ‘It’s tomato sauce,’ Zoe said flatly. ‘He squeezes it all over his mac and cheese. It’s nasty.’

  Faith’s smile disappeared completely, as if she had just seen a train accident. ‘That’s the grossest thing I’ve ever heard,’ she whispered as her face turned white.

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ Gavin said. ‘Tomato sauce and mac and cheese go together like sandwiches and chips! It’s the food of kings!’

  ‘Not you too!’ Zoe scoffed at Gavin.

  Faith gulped. ‘Maybe I’m just against mac and cheese because I got food poisoning from some back in fourth grade.’

  ‘Food poisoning? Did it give you superpowers?’ I joked.

  Faith paused. ‘If uncontrollable barfing is a superpower … then, yes, it gave me superpowers.’

  ‘Barfing superpowers? That would be the worst thing in the world,’ Brayden said. ‘But I’d be the first in line to see it.’

  I cringed at the thought of the worst superpower ever. Can you imagine? Wait, no, don’t. Don’t imagine barfing on command as a tool against evil.

  Zoe was starting to look pale from our conversation. She grabbed Gavin’s hand and held it tightly.

  For those of you who are curious – my cousin and Gavin were officially an item. Like, girlfriend/boyfriend. I would say their relationship doesn’t really gross me out anymore, except that their relationship still totally grossed me out.

  I didn’t normally care about those kinds of things, but since Zoe was my cousin, I saw the situation a little differently.

  Brayden clutched the straps of his book bag and kicked my shoe. ‘You comin’ then? Or are you gonna try and catch a nap?’

  It wasn’t a secret to anyone that I enjoyed a nap here and there … anywhere really.

  ‘Don’t blink or you’ll fall asleep,’ Faith said.

  ‘Ninjas don’t blink,’ I replied. ‘They have their eyelids removed at a very young age and learn to deal with dry eyes.’

  ‘Yuck,’ Faith said, wrinkling her nose at me.

  Zoe’s brow raised, concerned. ‘You should really get more sleep at night.’

  ‘A ninja never stops training,’ I said, standing up, but taking an extra second to walk because I felt dizzy.

  ‘Right, ‘training’,’ Zoe replied, making air quotes with her fingers. ‘You mean video games or late-night horror-movie marathons.’

  Gavin shook his head. ‘I dunno how you can watch that stuff at night,’ he said in his Texan drawl. ‘Them movies scare the hair off my legs.’

  ‘Thank you for that lovely imagery,’ Faith groaned. ‘Thousands of little hairs jumping off your skinny legs and running for their lives.’

  ‘You mean dozens of little hairs, right?’ I joked.

  Everyone laughed.

  ‘It ain’t my fault I got smooth ladylike legs!’ Gavin said with a smile. ‘I’ll make a good swimmer someday!’

  ‘But until then,’ Zoe said, joining the pile on, ‘you’ll make a good model for capri pants.’

  Gavin checked his watch. ‘You’d better get going, Zoe,’ he said, worried. ‘You’ve only got a few minutes until assembly.’

  ‘Oh, thanks!’ Zoe said, turning her slow walk into a speed walk complete with locked elbows and everything. She shouted over her shoulder at us. ‘See you guys in the gym!’

  ‘You coming too?’ Brayden asked me again.

  I nodded. ‘Yeah, I’ll catch up. Save me a seat, okay?’

  ‘Got it,’ Brayden said, bumping his fist against mine.

  Stretching my back, I waited another second before leaving the lobby. The bell was going to ring at any moment, and I wanted to see if I could catch Melvin before he went into the Spirit Week assembly.

  I kept my eyes down, glancing up to see if Melvin was around. Most kids hated me so I was worried that if I made eye contact with the wrong kid, it would mean getting shoulder-checked into the wall.

  Luckily, I never got checked, but I got more stink-eyed looks than you could shake a stick at. That’s if you were into shaking sticks, but you’ve probably got better things to do with your time, right? Does anybody actually shake sticks at things? Like, who does that? Ugh, never mind.

  At that moment, the bell rang loudly over my head.

  Students flooded the hall, shuffling across the carpet like zombies in a parade, making their way to the gymnasium.

  I didn’t see Melvin, but it was no biggie. I would catch up with him during ninja training later on.

  I walked into the gym a little late for the assembly. I lagged behind hoping all the seats would be taken so I’d get to stand at the side of the bleachers. Too bad my homeroom teacher, Mrs Robinson, was standing by the door; she wasn’t about to let me hide in the dark.

  Principal Davis was already speaking, thanking everyone for attending the assembly that we had no option to skip.

  ‘There’s an open spot right when you walk in,’ Mrs Robinson said, pointing me through the door.

  Great, I thought. Knowing my luck, I was going to get seated next to some bruiser who punches faces for fun.

  ‘There’s a spot next to Faith,’ Mrs Robinson said as she nudged me around the corner.

  ‘There you are!’ Faith whispered.

  When I saw her, I relaxed a little. ‘Hey,’ I replied.

  Faith patted the open spot next to her. ‘You told us to save you a seat.’

  ‘Oh, right. Thanks,’ I chuckled. I sat next to Faith and leaned forward to see who else was in our row.

  Gavin and Brayden were on the other side of Faith. Next to Brayden was a girl I recognised, but I didn’t know her name. Every few seconds, Brayden would lean over to her and whisper something that made her laugh.

  Suddenly everyone in the gym started cheering loudly.

  Zoe’s voice came through the speaker system. ‘Buchanan School!’ she said loudly. ‘I’d like to start off by saying thanks once again for electing me as your new president. I plan to make my term the most epic term this school has ever seen!’

  Everyone cheered, including me. Zoe was definitely the best choice for president.

  ‘As you know, this is Spirit Week,’ Zoe continued. ‘But what does that mean? Those are just two words, right? What do they mean? Does it mean we’re gonna d
ress funny every day? Does it mean we’re gonna have assemblies during the week that’ll get us out of class? Does it mean we’re gonna have competitions? Snacks on the track? Couches during lunch? Ice cream during assemblies?’

  Zoe paused to build some tension. Everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting for something they could scream their heads off about.

  And Zoe delivered. ‘Yes!’ she said, slamming her fist into the podium. ‘Yes, to all those things!’

  I was so excited I got goosebumps.

  Zoe wore a smile so huge that I was worried the top of her head would fall off. ‘This is Spirit Week, people! It’s not a week for the faint of heart! It’s not a week for those who like peace and quiet!’ she said. And then she leaned closer to the mic and said, in a serious voice, ‘I’d like to warn teachers now … if you have a heart condition, maybe it’s best to take this week off.’

  Everyone laughed. Zoe was killing it on the microphone. ‘We’re gonna have games! We’re gonna have prizes! We’re gonna have assemblies just to get out of class! We’ve seen a lot this year,’ Zoe said. ‘You’re all good kids, and it’s time to celebrate! Who’s with me?’

  Everyone shouted and clapped. Kids stood up, pumping their fists in the air.

  ‘And we’re starting with this assembly today!’ Zoe said as she extended her arm toward the gym doors.

  The doors swung open, and five guys dressed in white peddled in on bicycles. On the front of their bikes were giant boxes with pictures of ice-cream cones.

  ‘No stinkin’ way,’ Faith whispered. ‘Zoe is easily the coolest kid in school. There’s no such thing as ‘over the top’ with her. If it’s not over the top, it’s not Zoe.’

  ‘I know, right?’ I said, remembering the T-rex sidekick from my game. ‘Bennie’s eyes would pop out of his head if he were here.’

  ‘Who’s Bennie?’ Faith asked, staring at the ice cream vendors as they circled the gym.

  ‘Uh,’ I said. ‘Never mind.’

  Faith turned back to me, still smiling. ‘You know you really helped her get this far, right?’

  ‘Nah,’ I said, blushing. ‘She would have got here even if I wasn’t involved.’

  The ice cream vendors parked their bikes behind Zoe.

  ‘Before these guys start handing out ice cream, I have one more thing to say,’ Zoe said.

  The gym fell silent, eagerly awaiting Zoe’s next announcement.

  ‘Spirit Week is a week of competition,’ Zoe said. ‘So Principal Davis and I would like to announce the Buchanan Games! Starting tomorrow, there will be a daily knock-out competition for teams of students. There will be four games in total and the last team standing on Friday will be the winners! Sign ups will take place at the table in front of the gym after this assembly. Now here’s the best part …’ Zoe said, glancing at Principal Davis.

  The principal nodded, giving her the thumbs up to go ahead.

  Zoe smiled. ‘The winners will be able to start an official school club of their choosing!’

  The applause was loud, but not as big that time.

  ‘Oh, and did I mention,’ Zoe said, ‘that the winning team will also be given a thousand dollars to spend on their new club? To make sure it gets that extra special start-up oomph.’

  The audience exploded with another set of cheers, and who could blame them? A thousand bucks is a ton of money for any club! Could you imagine what I could do if my ninja clan had a thousand dollars to spend on supplies?

  Not that I had a ninja clan to lead anymore.

  Zoe wrapped up her speech and invited everyone to grab a free ice-cream cone.

  ‘One chocolate, please,’ I said to the dude on the bike.

  ‘Not a problem,’ he said, reaching his hand into the portable freezer. ‘That’ll be two bucks.’

  I froze as I held my hand out to get the ice-cream cone. ‘Oh, I thought … uh …’

  ‘I’m kidding,’ the man laughed, handing me the cone. ‘Now get outta here, I got other customers, y’know!’

  My friends laughed from behind me. They had already got their ice cream and had taken the wrapping off.

  ‘Funny,’ I said, just a little embarrassed. Taking the top piece of paper off my cone, I tossed it into one of the rubbish bins that had been wheeled in from the cafeteria.

  ‘Zoe’s makin’ a name for herself pretty quickly,’ Gavin said. ‘This is the sorta thing that’ll be talked about for years to come.’

  ‘Right?’ Faith asked, taking a chomp out of her cone. She looked at me with a mouthful of strawberry ice cream. ‘You got your work cut out for ya.’

  I was about to take a lick of my own ice cream, but stopped. ‘Me? Why?’

  Faith shrugged her shoulder. ‘I’unno,’ she mumbled. ‘I just thought maybe you wouldn’t want to live in her shadow the whole time?’

  With a smile, I leaned closer. ‘I think we both know a little something about living in the shadows, am I right?’

  Faith looked at me confused. ‘Huh?’ she grunted, taking another huge bite of ice cream. ‘What are you talking about? And why are you leaning so close to me like a creep?’

  My eyes narrowed as I froze in place, still leaning. ‘I’m just … I mean … um …’

  Twice this year, the white ninja saved me from trouble, but both times I barely got to speak a word to the masked vigilante. Last week Faith hinted that she was the white ninja, but that made me question if I had heard her correctly.

  ‘But you said …’ I paused, hoping that Faith would interrupt me so her secret would be safe from Brayden and Gavin.

  Instead, she lifted her chin and said, ‘Go on. What did I say?’

  ‘Yeah, dude,’ Gavin said. ‘What’d Faith say?’

  I smiled tightly and stared at my ice-cream cone.

  ‘Nothing,’ I said. I was so confused. ‘She never said anything to me.’

  How frustrating! Was Faith the white ninja or not? If she was then why was she acting clueless? To protect her secret identity? I decided to drop it. I’m sure time would tell if she was or wasn’t the secret white ninja.

  ‘So are you guys gonna compete in the games this week?’ I asked.

  ‘I think you can only compete if you’re on a team,’ Brayden said. He pointed at me. ‘Hey, wanna team up? Do you guys want to be on a team?’

  Faith nodded, smiling. ‘Definitely!’

  ‘Why not?’ Gavin said, cracking a smile.

  I paused. ‘Y’know,’ I said. ‘I think I’m going to sit this one out. I feel like I’ve been on my toes since the first day of school. I’d like to just hang out this time.’

  Everyone grumbled, but agreed with me the way friends do when they’re not really agreeing with you.

  ‘Besides, I’m pretty sure everyone still hates me because of last week,’ I added.

  Brayden and Melvin were the only people who knew that it wasn’t me who put out the Chase Cooper Newsletter of Secrets – a newsletter filled with juicy gossip about all the kids in sixth grade, which the Scavengers released. I never said anything to Gavin, Zoe or Faith about it, but I kind of think they suspected there was something more going on. I was glad they didn’t push it though.

  Still staring at my ice-cream cone, I noticed that it was beginning to melt down the sides and onto my hand. I would’ve licked it up, but I was all too aware that my friends were still watching me so I didn’t do anything.

  ‘You gonna get that?’ Gavin asked.

  ‘When I’m ready,’ I said, watching more of the ice cream melt.

  ‘Like, soon? Because it’s kind of getting everywhere.’

  Here’s a little something about me – I get kind of shy when I know people are watching or waiting for me to do something. And I wasn’t about to lick my ice cream while maintaining eye contact with my friends. If that’s not the creepiest thing to do in the world, then I don’t know what is.

  ‘This is painful to watch,’ Faith said.

  ‘That’s the problem!’ I replied. ‘I’d be fine if yo
u guys weren’t watching me right now!’

  Just then, a girl walked up to us. It was the same girl that Brayden had been sitting next to during the assembly. She was sporting a bright smile until she saw the ice cream all over my hand. ‘Oh my god, why aren’t you eating that? It’s getting everywhere!’

  ‘I’m gettin’ there!’ I said. ‘Wait, who are you?’

  Brayden stepped forward. ‘Guys, this is Danielle Jenkins,’ he said, and then he leaned closer to me as he wiped his mouth, and whispered, ‘Dude, do I got any ice cream on my face?’

  ‘Ugh,’ Danielle groaned, tilting her head back. ‘Brayden, call me Dani. I hate when people call me Danielle.’

  ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Guys, this is Dani Jenkins, my friend.’

  ‘Ohhhhhhh!’ Gavin hollered. ‘Brayden’s got a girlfriend!’

  Brayden’s face turned serious. ‘Dude, really?’

  Gavin grinned.

  ‘Hey, Dani,’ I said, trying to make the awkward silence go away. ‘Whassup?’

  ‘Not much,’ she said.

  ‘Dani’s on the student council with Zoe,’ Brayden said, smiling at Dani.

  ‘It’s not that big of a deal,’ Dani said. ‘I’m the student council secretary, so I just take notes during meetings and stuff.’

  ‘Don’t play it down,’ Brayden said. ‘What you do is important!’

  ‘I guess,’ Dani said, blushing. ‘I mean, I don’t just take notes. I only say that ’cause I don’t like talking about myself.’

  ‘You’re not that important,’ another student said, almost appearing out of nowhere, standing on the other side of me. He pointed at the liquid chocolate that was pooled inside my ice-cream cone. ‘You got a little somethin’ on your hand.’

  My shoulders sunk. ‘I know,’ I said.

  Brayden came to Dani’s defence. ‘Who are you to say she’s not important?’

  ‘Easy, tiger,’ the boy said. ‘I was only joking.’

  Dani stepped forward. ‘This is Colin,’ she said, and then pointed to another boy standing nearby who was watching us, almost like he was alien studying a herd of humans. ‘And that guy creepin’ back there is Bounty.’