(DECEMBER 2010)

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RICH MUTATIO

NO WAY WAS I LETTING MYSELF BE LATE on the first day back from the retreat, but since I was still so drowsy and exhausted from that sleepless outing, I managed to snooze through my blaring alarm.

I left my house five minutes before class started, passing by the empty playground and managing to make it inside the classroom out of breath.

"Good morning, Rich. You're late," Mr Darley told me.

"But I didn't hear the bell ring."

"Because... it probably rang before you arrived?"

I took my seat. "Oh, yeah. I didn't think about that."

"Zoey is still coming to class after her doctor's appointment, correct?"

"Yeah, she said she'll be back around music class."

"That's good to hear. Then I'll be explaining everything when she gets back," Mr Darley said before getting back to the science lesson.

While we were putting our instruments together in music class, Mrs Vitelli handed us a permission slip and two music sheets named The Tempest and Dramatico.

"We're going to Woodbine Mall for a concert?" Charlie read from the form as he warmed up his fingers on the piano.

"We're not only going, but we're also performing," Mrs Vitelli explained. "Those sheets I gave you are the pieces we'll be playing. Other schools will be there so it's a little like a competition. But once you guys are done with your performances you'll have the entire day to roam the mall."

"This thing is happening in the last week of January?!" Annie asked. "Excluding the winter break, that's only less than a month away. That's not enough time for us to practice."

"No? Mr Darley asked me to only give you guys a month because he believes that you guys can do it."

"That teacher..." Kayla cursed. "Why does he keep showing us off?"

"If you guys don't think you can't do it, I can always have the seventh graders join you."

"No, we just got a victory from them. We can't ask for their help."

"What do you mean by we?" Jessie stomped. "Don't group us together. Not all of us want to be embarrassed on stage."

"So do you want the seventh graders to join you?" Mrs Vitelli asked.

"No!" we answered in unison.

"This class keeps contradicting each other!"

Zoey knocked on the door and joined us with her clarinet. Mrs Vitelli gave her the papers while Annie explained everything that she missed.

After warming up, Mrs Vitelli had us practice the two pieces. Everything was off the first few times we played the songs, but as we neared recess, we began to sound in sync.

"For the first time playing those pieces, that was pretty good," Mrs Vitelli complimented as we cleaned and put our instruments away. "Your volume is what needs working on. It's like all of you are fighting for the spotlight instead of complimenting whoever's in it."

Once the bell rang, we went to the classroom to put our instruments away before taking our coats and heading outside.

"Zoey, Justice, I want to talk with you two," Mr Darley asked.

The two of them stayed behind. "Sure."

"Justice, we're taking your ball," Grant notified.

"Yeah, go ahead."

We played soccer in the snow even though it was unorthodox. The terrain was uneven, but a field was still a field.

"Why did Mr Darley talk to you?" Conan asked once Justice joined us.

"Not much. The archery team needs representatives from each class so he asked us to join. I didn't even know we had an archery team."

"I think they just added that this year, but you guys should."

"Why you and Zoey, though?" I asked. "That's a bit random."

"No, it's not," Conan said. "During the retreat, the two of them wrecked everyone in target practice."

"We did archery during the retreat? I don't remember this."

"Yeah, we did. It wasn't an official activity though. Vivi just brought out bows to burn time while waiting for the seventh graders to finish lunch. You kept falling asleep so Bond laid you on the bench."

"That's not fair."

"Your sense of time really is a mess," Bond said after recess ended.

"Good thing you didn't wait for me."

Mallory approached us. "I find it a bit odd that the first time you're late in over a month is the one day Zoey couldn't walk with you."

"She's been dropping by every morning, I kinda depend on her."

"You admitted that Zoey was the perfect wife during the retreat, so I'm not that surprised that you two act like you're married."

"I never said that! Just because I can't remember a day doesn't mean you can fabricate memories."

"You did say it," Bond confirmed. "But you weren't thinking straight and people who aren't thinking straight tend to blurt out things they don't mean to say."

"Aww..." Mallory fell to her knees, defeated. "I had so many cards I wanted to play."

"Thank you," I mouthed to Bond.

He nodded smiling, which was his way of saying, "Don't mention it."

While sitting at our desks, Mallory reached into her bag and proudly took out a lottery ticket. "I forgot, but did you guys get yours?"

"Yeah," I said. "And put that away, we might get in trouble."

"No, we won't. Did your parents win anything? My dad didn't."

"I think my dad won 200 bucks," Conan answered.

"Liar!" Charlie accused. "We all used the same numbers and none of our parents won anything."

Conan looked away and whispered to himself, "Nevermind..."

"Wait, why do you guys have lottery tickets on you?" Howard asked from his seat.

"No reason," Mallory said.

"That response just makes it more suspicious."

"Fine. We wanted to memorize some numbers. We didn't want to be suspicious so we put it on lottery tickets."

"Smart. Because there's nothing at all suspicious about sixth graders having lottery tickets."

"Well, no one is gonna think that the numbers on the lottery tickets we have are important..."

Howard quickly pretended he was working on something once Mr Darley appeared, listening to Mallory from behind her.

"M-M-Mallory..." Zoey tried to warn.

"I also think it's cool that we six have lottery tickets," Mallory continued. "It looks like we're gambling. And gambling is fun."

Hit the brakes, Mallory!

Mr Darley put a hand on Mallory's shoulder. "That's interesting."

She turned to face Mr Darley and shrieked.

"You six, come out to the hallway with me," Mr Darley ordered. "I want you to explain yourselves before I jump to conclusions."

Before we gave our explanation, Mr Darley went on to explain the repercussions of gambling. Hearing him give us a lecture like this felt like we disappointed him, which hurt.

We spent the next ten minutes explaining how the numbers on our lottery tickets were coordinates to a time capsule. It was pretty clear Mallory only wanted us to know about the capsule since she was sulking through the whole ordeal, but there was no way we could come up with a lie on such short notice.

Mr Darley inspected our lottery tickets. "You guys have way too much imagination. Why didn't you just write the numbers in a notebook?"

"Random numbers in a notebook would be too suspicious."

"This lottery ticket thing would only work if you guys are adults. This raises more suspicions, as you can see with me," Mr Darley handed our tickets back. "I apologize for distrusting you guys."

"It's okay," Bond said. "It was bound to happen and it was stupid."

"The lottery tickets? Yes. The future letters in a time capsule? Definitely not. It's a good way to communicate with your future you."

As we went back to our seats, Mr Darley took a container from the shelf and asked, "Do any of you know what Secret Santa is?"

Everyone kept their hands down.

"A clean slate. This'll be fun. Secret Santa is a tradition where everyone randomly gets assigned a person to whom they have to give a gift to. Everyone's identity has to remain a secret and we'll do the exchanges on the last day before the break." Mr Darley went around letting us pull names out of the container. "I don't want you guys going crazy with your gifts, so please have a reasonable budget."

I ended up pulling Illiana's name which was a blessing. She was known for gymnastics so I'll get her something related to that.

Zoey was sitting beside me so I leaned towards her. "Who'd you get?"

She covered her paper. "You're not supposed to know."

"Equivalent exchange. I'll tell you mine and you tell me yours."

"Are you stupid? This isn't alchemy. That'll ruin the suspense."

"Fine. I'll play fairly."