The Missing Teacher and the Would You Rather Kids

Heaven Melnykowycz, Age 12

Heaven, age 12, lives in Michigan. In addition to writing, she enjoys singing (a little too loud), biking, and is reading (and loving) Keeper of the Lost Cities. She would like to live in a world where no one lives in a war zone and everybody can go to a great school.

The Missing Teacher and the Would You Rather Kids

Chapter 1: The Kids It was an especially foggy day in a small neighborhood where seven kids swatted away mosquitoes, grumbling to themselves about why Coco had dragged them out here. She sat on a fallen willow. She had below shoulder black hair and hazel eyes with warm light brown skin. There were seven kids, ages eleven to fourteen, with mixed expressions: some obviously glaring, some smiling, and some looking antsy to go inside to the two level houses. She watched them. Then, starting, she pulled out a crumpled piece of lined paper and started to read in the loudest voice possible, “YOU ARE ALL GATHERED HERE BECAUSE,” then she lowered her voice, not wanting the parents to know what she had heard, “Our parents are in the middle of a very mysterious mystery, and I’m in the middle of trying to figure it out.” “BUT I KNOW HOW YOU’RE ALL GOING CRAZY BORED IN YOUR HOUSE. WE STILL HAVE TWO MONTHS ‘TILL SCHOOL. THE CHALLENGES WILL BE SHORT, BUT BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY—” “Coco, please stop yelling. I can hear my pug from three blocks away whining because you’re talking too loud!” Alea shouted. For a second it seemed like Coco didn’t hear her as she said, “AND YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS SUMMER ‘TILL YOU OLD AND HAVE A CHEAP CANE.” Then Coco paused, wrinkled her nose, and looked over to Alea, “You KNOW you did not need to bring Via (the pug) into this, but I hear you. I just want to project. All day people have ignored me,” she said, crossing her arms. “But while our parents are doing their very ‘special project’ . . .” Clementine, a sassy twelve year old, popped her hand on hip, raised an eyebrow and said, “You’ve already failed at the not bored part.” Coco side-eyed her and popped her one hand on her hip, but did not retaliate. Turning back to the small crowd of kids, she asked, “Raise your fingers from one-ten showing how brave you are.” All the kids fidgeted as they raised their hand, glancing around, not wanting to not seem brave, but nervous at where this was going. They’d been part of Coco’s crazy plans and it happened to end without a toilet lid, water splashed on the floor, and parents screaming a very selective vocabulary of swear words. Still, all the kids raised their hands, ten fingers showing. “Good, you’re going to need to be for the trials.” “What trials?” Clementine asked. A tinge of interest crept into her sassy tone. Coco grinned. “A dare: would you rather.” As Coco explained the rules, she listed them. She added some as the group of kids peeked over her shoulder: The dares must be anonymous, only picked from a jar without looking. If needed, Coco will blindfold you. The dares must be safe (A.K.A. nobody gets sick or hurt). If a problem happens, the game will shut down. THE PARENTS CANNOT KNOW. More rules coming soo—Coco and the amazing group

Chapter 2: The Adults A plastic spatula was flung into the living room of Zola’s two story house. A chorus of adult voices rose as Zola’s voice, normally calm, cut through the house. “If you ruined my wall with your nasty scrambled eggs, I’ll make you clean my house for a month.” A murmured apology filtered through the kitchen. “I know you’re sorry. It’s just this . . . darn internet. I know mine is the best but it’s still bad.” “Can I go run to my house to go get the yearbooks from preschool to college?”

“Maybe we spelled his name wrong—” Crest intervened, saying, “How do you know it’s the same guy?” “I’ve studied his face. I think he has been following us.” Zola frowned. “Even that old lady who always had awesome pantsuits?” “Yes. I studied her face and saw a slight resemblance in Mister Winner’s face and the cool pantsuit lady.” Their faces scrunched up as they tried to recall a mental picture. “I know, surprisingly. I’m going to drive for five minutes and go home and get some tea.” Five minutes later, Crest came back with the year books, splaying them on the table. He flipped rapidly to the beginning of the first kindergartener page, a smiling old lady with a V-neck and almond brown hair. “Ok, go to the next book,” Pat said, groaning when she saw the next one. “That woman was so mean. She—” “—made you work?” Zola interrupted. “Nooo,” Pat said, drawing the ‘O’ out, making it clear that she didn’t like the comment. She always gave us the nastiest candy for math learning, as if math isn’t bad enough.” “Right, right. Totally not because of that time she made you stand up in front of the class and recite all your times tables, but instead you took a photo of yourself captioning it ‘#torturer in an average middle school classroom. dolores umbridge is back.H.E.L.P.’ Unlucky for you, she asked you to give her your phone so she could read it out loud.” At this, Crest snickers, “Still remember the blood draining from your face. You started rambling about your privacy as a twelve year old. We thought you were a goner.” “Well, lucky for you, I’m still here. And all right, right? So let’s focus on the pressing matter.” Jake laughed, the remnant of his infectious smile still on his face fading and going to an uncanny frown as he glanced at the next year’s book: a man frowning with a dramatic chin and very bushy eyebrows. “Man, I did not like him. Pretty sure no one did. But look at the resemblance.” All the teachers had set jaws and green eyes. In every picture, they saw the same resemblance. “How did we miss that?” Viv asked, an edge in her voice. “I guess we were too busy in our own world,” she said, answering her own question. “Yhaa, we should look him up in the directory.”

Chapter 3: The Kids Coco reached her hand in the slips of paper. Asking for drum roll, the children obliged, stomping their feet on the slushy ground. She pulled out, “Would you rather eat a worm or an earwig?” The dread in the air was almost as thick as the fog surrounding the grass field and willow stump. As she pulled out two names, Adin and Willow Blanched. “Awww, siblings challenge!” Coco said, a grin spreading across her face. “OK, let’s look for an unlucky worm or earwig.” Willow muttered to Adin, “If anyone is unlucky, it’s us.” Adin laughed. “This IS what we signed up for, right?” Five minutes later, two earwigs and two worms writhed around in a glass jar. Adin didn’t look so confident as he peered into the glass jar containing two earwigs, jerking back when he did. He did at least two laps around the glass jar. Willow looked unnerved as she pulled her above-shoulder hair back with a purple rubber band. “One: where are their eyes? I’m not eating an animal when I don’t even know where its eyes are. Two: can I just declare to be vegetarian and not eat either one?” “No,” Coco said, the same smile stretched across her face. “Hey, you’re enjoying this friend torture,” Willow said. Her eyes widened as she popped one hand on her hip, her face shifting to a scowl. “Well, don’t look so smug. You’re going to have to do this,” Coco laughed. “And believe me, I expect you to collapse on the floor. Now choose a yucky animal.” Adin and Willow Blanched, shoving each other to go first, then Willow said, “Fine . . . I’ll go first. She looked around, her eyes lingering on Jack, then picked up the worm. “I am the bravest Marie child.” Adin lifted his hands in surrender. “I kind of thought it was obvious,” Jack laughed. “It totally was,” he said, then walked over to Adin. “Which one

are you going to eat?” “Of course, the worm,” Willow said. Jack moaned and pretended to barf. Willow walked up and opened her mouth wide. Just as she was about to drop it in, her nerves squirmed. Laughter echoed in the clearing. She squeezed her eyes shut and dropped it in her mouth, swallowing it whole, then grabbed her water and swallowed. Then, she slowly opened her eyes, grinned, and said to her brother, ”Adin, your turn.” He sighed, grabbed the earwig, then just like his sister closed his eyes and ate it whole. “Ick! I CANNOT believe I just ate that. First and last time!” “Always a flair for the dramatics, aren’t you?” “Jack, you eat an earwig and swear never to eat one again. I honestly can’t see why.” Adin rolled his eyes, and then he fake scowled at Coco, “When people ask I’ll say it’s your fault.” “Believe me, I’ll be taking all the credit. You all can go!”

Chapter 4: The Adults “We found the mysterious human!” Curt shouted. “Lives downtown from us in this really boring apartment . . .” Curt trailed off when he noticed. “Wait, what happens when he sees us? All the kids who were in the same class for twelve years. What do we say?” Zola fidgeted with her pencil. “Curt’s right. What DO we say after ten years? Hey, what was this about? Who are you? Have you done this with other students? And this isn’t even all the students. We don’t even know their address.” “It’s OK, Zola,” Jack said. “We’ll figure it out when we get there, but for now, can we get in the van?” The drive wasn’t far, but it was definitely long. It was an afternoon and Friday. All around the battered Jeep, people laughed and talked, or were just driving home. Zola shouted out when she saw his apartment, and it took another five minutes to find a spot. The six friends stood on the doorstep, then Vivi stepped up and rang the door, Anticipatory quiet followed. And then a voice came from behind the metal door, a familiar tone to his voice. The adults waited, and when the man finally opened the door, they saw a stranger.

Chapter 5: The Kids ` “I told you this contest would be short.” The second to last ‘would you rather’ had both groups of kids squirming on the now hard, dry ground. “Would you rather have to finish a whole box of pizza or eat seven tacos?” On a plastic table, a cardboard box sat with twelve pieces of pizza, and right next to it was a cardboard box full of tacos. Clementine and Sarah, who had just joined, looked between the two pizza boxes and the two taco bins. “I’ll go for the pizza,” Clementine said. “OK. Remember that’s twelve pieces. If you can’t finish, you are disqualified, but you can still come and watch the last would you rather.” “Yup, I do,” she said and then picked up the first one and ate it, then ate the next one, and the next, somehow going through four. When she picked up her fifth one, she ate it, then, groaning, laid down. “The sixth one, I can’t eat it.” “Are you sure?” Coco checked. “Yes, I am.” Sara, who was smiling triumphantly, wasn’t when she had to lower a hand in defeat, but she made it to five. “One more challenge,” Coco said. “Between . . . drumroll . . . Alea and Jake. You can go!” Grinning, she waved them away, thinking, BEST IDEA EVER!

Chapter 6: The Adults The adults sat in a comfy living room, staring at a person they thought they knew. “Sooooo . . .” “Look, I know why you’re here, and I have most of the answers. The first one I can guess: Why did I keep this from you? It was mostly because I could. I had the opportunity to have the same kids for many years. I had aced