24

NOT FANFICTION

RULES

By Sophia

PROLOGUE

Michelle

5th grade is tough. Reading is tough. Math is tough. Just school in general is tough. Being in the same class as Greg Mitchell is tough. Having Mr Rockie as a teacher is tough. Life is tough especially when you have 12 boys in your class and only eight girls. This is the story of Mr Rockie's 5th grade class in the year of **** at Rocky Mountain Elementary. I totally rocked that prologue didn't I?

1

Jennevieve

"Jennivieve, WAKE UP!" I woke up startled. Mr Rockie was standing right next to me glaring at me. I shove my glasses up the bridge of my nose and give him my best 'I'm sorry' look and go back to my math page. What is the 3rd prime number? I sigh and stare at the window counting the factors of each number. 

...2...1 and 2...3...1 and 3 ... .4...1,4,2 and 2.... 5...1 and 5 Prime number 1 is 2, Prime number 2 is 3. Prime number 3 is 5. I write down five. I have no idea if it's right but it's what I'm going with. 

Math is hard for me. I look over at Jameson who is already on Prodigy! Jameson is the smartest kid in our class. He wears glasses and has ruffled blonde hair. Val (Your local bookworm) said he looked like a "Keefe with glasses" but I don't even know what that means. I just know he looks pretty cute but I roll my eyes at myself.

"Jennivieve, can you run these boxes down to Mrs Mcarthy's classroom? I think you need the walk," Mr Rockie asks me.

"Yes Mr Rockie," I say, jumping out of my seat, tucking a piece of my long blondez hair behind my ear. I run over and pick up the three boxes that are leftover from our science project. As I walk over to the door Greg Mitchell sticks out his foot right where I'm about to walk. I quickly swerve around it. Only Greg Mitchell would try to do something like that. I walk down the hallway to the very last classroom. I hand Mrs Mcarthy the boxes and then wave to Marissa, my best friend and scurry out the door. I just wanted to get out of math. When I get back to the classroom we aren't doing math anymore. Goal achieved!

"It's time for lunch! Line up and grab your lunch if you have a cold lunch!" I hurry back out to the lockers to grab my cold lunch. I always have a cold lunch because I think the hot lunch food is disgusting. Marissa said that Kaylee's younger sister's friend's twin sister once had a worm in her burger! I don't know if that's true, but I think it is. 

Mom says I'm gullible. When I Googled the meaning of gullible it said a person that believes everything a person says is true. I don't think I am. Anyway, lunch is my favorite part of the day. I even like it more than recess and that's saying a lot. I sit down with Marrisa, who is also brings a cold lunch after the "worm incident". 

 We only get twenty minutes to eat so Marrisa and I made a rule, chat when you are finished eating. I opened up my lunch to see what Jordyn, my sister, had packed. When I opened up my lavender (my favorite color) lunchbox to find a tuna sandwich with celery and ranch Doritos. Why does Jordyn hate me! Marissa has a Nutella sandwich with a cheese stick and Oreos. She has her mom pack her lunch. My mom can't pack my lunch because she works the night shift as a nurse so we never get to see her. Ms. Ashlyn, the lunch lady announces the 5 minute warning.

"WHEN CAN WE GO TO RECESS?!" I look down the lunch table to see who is yelling. Of course, it's Greg Mitchell. 5 minutes later Ms Ashlyn comes over to Marissa and I and says that us two can go out to recess. Marissa and I always play soccer together during recess. We play with the boys because the girls are too preppy and literally cry if they chip their nails. Who cares about nails? 

Half the boys in our grade play soccer and 10 minutes later come running out. I guess they got in trouble for talking. Our grade has two hard soccer balls and one soft soccer ball. We used our two hard balls and got the other grade's hard balls. It's more of Heads Up than soccer. It all started when someone kicked a ball up in the air and it landed on someone's head. People were singing Wrecking Ball. Now we say heads up but no one ever listens so it's kind of pointless. I ran to the goalie box to reserve my spot for goalie. Unfortunately Jameson was already there. I put on a straight face and get ready to bargain.

"Jameson, can I please be goalie?"

"Sure!" Jameson said blushing and he eagerly ran to the other side to try and score a goal. Apparently, I don't need to bargain with Jameson. I get ready in goalie position. Marissa stands by the side of the goal.

"Look at my new shoes!" Marissa exclaims admiring her new sneakers. I turn to glance at them but then I hear 2 words. Heads Up. I think of 2 other words. Uh Oh. I turn to face back towards the field just in time to see the hard red soccer ball hurling towards my face.

2

Jameson

Parker and I carry the unconscious Jennivieve in our arms. When we get to the nurse's office Nurse Carly says "Oh my goodness gracious! What happened to her!"

"She got hit in the face with a hard soccer ball and it knocked her out," I say.

"Okay, let's get her on a bed, bring her over here and lay her on the bed." We drag her over and lay her on the bed. I put her glasses on.

"Will she be okay?" I ask.

"Oh, she'll be fine," she says. You boys go back to recess and I'll tell you when she wakes up."

"Okay," we both grumble. As we walk back out to recess wondering what will happen when she wakes up? When we get back out to recess the whistle blows. Parker and I hurry to get in line at Mr Rockie's designated line spot. When we walk inside the building we walk past the nurse's office. I'm at the back of the line as usual. Jennivieve is in the doorway of the nurse's office holding an ice pack up to her forehead. I hear the whole line gasp

"What happened?"

"Did she get in a fist fight?"

"Ooh, she got into a fist fight. Did she win?"

"Of course she won!"

"Oh Jennivieve! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, I promise," Jennivieve said. She joined the back of the line, behind me.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. By the way, thanks for carrying me to the nurse's office, you too Parker."

I blush and mumble "No problem."

"No problem," Parker mumbles in front of me.

"When you get back in the classroom, go to the carpet for writing!"

"Jameson!" I hear someone call.

"Hey Jazzy," I say to my seven-year old sister, Jasmine. Her name is Jasmine but we call her Jazzy.

"Jameson!" I hear another person call.

"Hey Julian," I say to my seven-year old brother Julian.

"Jameson!" I hear another voice call.

"Hey June," I say to my seven-year old sister. They are triplets.

"It's a Jameson fan club!" Jennivive jokes. I laugh. We get back to our classroom and get started on writing.

"I will be giving you partners and you will be given a notebook and you must come up with a story," Mr Rockie says. Great. I hate partners. Well, if it's one of my friends I'm fine but if it's a girl, not so much.

"I will be pairing you, girls and boys," Mr Rockie said, smiling at the groans.

"Parker and Michelle, Michelle come and grab the notebooks and you can work at Parker's desk." This kept going until it was just Kaylee, Jennivieve, Conner, and I. 4 lucky boys got partnered with each other. I was praying that I got Kaylee. I kind of, maybe, sort of, have a tiny crush on Jennivieve so it is hard for me to talk to her.

"Kaylee and... hmm.... Let's put you with.... Conner. Kaylee, come grab the notebooks and you can work at Conner's desk." My heart stops. Well not literally, but you know what I mean.

"That leaves Jennivieve and Jameson. Jennivieve, come grab the notebooks and you two can work at Jameson's desk." I hurried to my desk and pulled over a chair. Jennivieve came with the notebooks and we got started on our story.

"How about something magical like Harry Potter?" Jennivieve asked me.

"S-S-sure," I muttered. Jennivieve gave me a look that said "Quit being awkward." If only I could.

3

Kaydence

I doodle pictures in my notebook. I told Kyle that he could write the story and I can draw the pictures. He agreed. I'm not even sure we are supposed to draw a photo to go with our writing but I am. I look around to see everyone else's progress. I see none. Kyle already has two and a half pages written. 

When Mr Rockie puts boys with girls everyone gets all awkward. AKA all of the boys get awkward. Like there is literally no reason. Mr Rockie always tells everyone "You don't have to marry your partner!" which makes everything so much worse. It also makes half the room blush which is pretty amusing to watch. 

Out of the corner of my eye I see Jameson and Jennivieve. Jameson is stuttering his words and his face is as red as a tomato. Jennivieve is literally the most oblivious person on earth. "Other than Sophie Foster," Val (Your local bookworm) always says. I check my watch and sigh. We still have two hours left of school. I check Kyle's progress and he now has 6 and a half pages done. This kid writes 20 sentences a minute. I check my watch again. Only two minutes have passed but it felt like it's been 3 hours. I raise my hand. Mr Rockie comes over.

"Yes Kaydence?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Sure." I scoot my chair back causing it to screech across the hard floor. People put their hands over their ears and mutter things like "My poor ears!" and "Ear Murder!" I roll my eyes and skip out of the classroom barely dodging Greg Mitchell's outstretched foot. I walk into one of the stalls in the girl's bathroom and put the toilet seat down and sit. I wait for about 3 minutes before standing up and unlocking the stall door. I learned this trick in second grade and now use it all the time to get out of stuff like this. 

I let the sink water run over my hands and then dry them off and walk, dragging my feet, back to class. I yank open the door nearly causing it to bang into the already dented wall and walk into the room. I plop down in my chair barely even glancing at Kyle's 5 gazillion pages. Instead, my eyes find my entertainment as they bounce around the classroom filled with awkwardness. 

Jennivieve has resulted in just writing the story herself while Jameson just stares at her, face firetruck red. I check my watch and see we have 1 hour and 36 minutes left of school. I just want to go home and go to my room to binge watch a TV show and eat cheese but no. We have to go to stupid school for 8 and a half hours.