The never-enDing recesS

Charlotte Guevara

Chapter One

I opened my eyes after hearing a loud beeping noise. I stared at my phone in shock. I was going to be late! I ran downstairs and grabbed a crunchy piece of toast.

“Where are you going?” my mom asked.

“School,” I answered as I ran out the door.

I ran up to the bus stop.

“NOOO!” I yelled as the speedy bus drove away.

I ran to the school, which was a mile away! I finally made it to my school. I was in sixth grade now, so I tried to get all As on my tests. I walked into my classroom. I sat down. I looked at the clock ticking and my heart filled with joy. There were only three minutes until recess. While the rest of the class was doing math, I was just thinking about what to play.

Hmm, maybe tag? I asked myself.

“Lupe!” my teacher Mrs. Lee yelled out.

“What?” I asked.

“If 477 divided by X equals 53, then what is the value of X?” she asked.

“Umm, 687.”

“No, it’s nine . . . nine! You’ve failed all tests this trimester so far. If you don’t get better soon, you will have to start sixth grade all over again,” she said. I could hear all of the kids snickering and laughing. Just thinking about starting a grade all over again gave me goose bumps. She stood there for a moment and moved on to the next equation. I tried to think about what to do! Every day after school I had to get a book from the library and do homework! I usually wasn’t done until 7:00 p.m., which never gave me enough time to study. I knew I only had one choice, which I wasn’t proud of doing: studying at recess! There were still two minutes until recess, so I knew I should pay attention.

Chapter Two

After studying what 246 divided by X equals 41 equaled, it was recess time. There was Vani, the smartest of us all, and Xielo, the sporty one, and me . . . the snack bringer, aka the food truck. As you guessed, Vani got all As on every single test, Xielo was the fastest and best at soccer, and I was the person that brought things like yellow dolphins and pretzels for snacks.

“Why do you have your math book?” Xielo asked as we headed out for recess.

“Yeah, you always try to avoid studying,” Vani said.

“You heard what she said, I’m completely failing!” I said.

I sat down at a bench and looked at my watch.

“Fifteen minutes to study,” I told myself.

I set a timer on my watch for 14 minutes.

“You guys can go play tag or something,” I said, handing them yellow dolphins.

“You sure you’ll be OK?” they asked.

“I’ll be fine,” I lied.

I studied and studied and never took a break. BEEP BEEP, my watch beeped. I looked around; the yard-duties were leaving! Of course, other kids got hold of this and started to break every rule possible! I put my math book down and went to find Vani and Xielo. After I found them, they were confused too! The school speaker came on.

“First to fifth grade classes get early out. Sixth grade, you’re staying for longer.”

I saw my brother Elijah and tried to give him a hug, but I couldn’t exit.

“Help me, I can’t get out,” I said.

He looked scared and snuck into an empty classroom.

Continued on next page

Chapter Three

My heart was beating really fast. I was scared and frightened. Everyone in the whole school left. It was just us sixth graders. Kids tried escaping but, whenever they did, they bumped into something that seemed like an invisible force field. I was wondering what we could eat. I only had enough snacks for one day. I only had one hope. I would have to eat my snacks and not share them at all! I saw my little brother and his best friend Oleix (Xielo’s little brother).

“PSST,” I said.

“What?” Oleix said.

“Find out what’s going on,” Xielo said.

I opened up a bag from Lucky Donuts and popped a donut hole in my mouth.

“Mm,” Vani said. “We have a bathroom, soft grass for bedding, and a water fountain, but no food,” Vani said.

I hid my Lucky Donuts bag behind me after she said that.

Five Hours Later...

I’d almost run out of snacks already. Everyone was starving and becoming hangry.

“Everyone, I have one donut hole left that I’m donating.”

Everyone came running after me! Even Vani and Xielo. I started to run the track. An airplane passed by. It must have looked like a stampede from up there.

“AHH!” I screamed.

I threw the donut hole into the grass. Guess who got it . . . XIELO. After she ate the donut, everything went black.

Chapter Four

I heard loud screams. Thirty seconds later, food appeared. It was pizza!

“Oh yes,” Vani said, happily.

I’d never seen so much food! We all gobbled it down like wild animals. I knew life would be much better.

One Year Later...

It had been a year living at my school playground. All we ate was pizza and other fancy meals. No one had escaped. We should have been starting middle school. The school was old, messy, and dirty. I had no idea what happened to my brother and Oleix. Until this morning.

“WAKE UP!” said Vani.

“COME ON, IT’S YOUR FRIENDS!” Xielo said.

I woke up. The loudspeaker was on.

“You have all lasted for a long time,” a weird voice claimed. “Just 999 more years to go until—” the voice stopped.

“999 more years until we leave!” Xielo yelled.

Chapter Five

We did not want to be here forever.

“HELLO!!” a voice yelled from the speaker.

“Oleix?” said Xielo.

“Yup,” Oleix said.

“Is Elijah there too?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Elijah said.

“Have you found out a way to set us free?” Vani asked.

“YEAH, OF COURSE!” Oleix said.

“We’re not just here to chit-chat,” Elijah said.

Beep. We heard a button, and the force field disappeared. Everyone ran out, some crying because they were so happy. We ran out and into the office. Me and Xielo hugged our siblings and went to see who had done all of this.

“Where have you been all this time?” Vani asked.

“Oh, they have a video game station with free video games,” Oleix said. We all laughed. We saw a person tied up in a chair wearing a dark black robe and a mask. We pulled off their mask and it was...

“MRS. LEE!” we all said in shock.

She told us about everything and let us go. When we got home, I hugged my parents as tears rolled down my cheeks. I was never so happy in my life. I knew I would never go out to recess again.

Based on a true story . . . kinda