Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja (a hilarious adventure for children ages 9-12) (7 page)

11:35 AM.
Lunch.

I decided against walking through the front doors of the
school for obvious reasons. If
anyone
had stopped to ask what I was
doing, I knew I’d buckle and act super suspicious. I guess a backpack with
three thousand dollars will do that to
ya
.

Instead, I walked to the doors of the cafeteria.
Coincidentally, they were next to the gym doors so the trek wasn’t that far.

The cafeteria was bustling with activity as kids walked to
their tables with trays filled with gross food. I could see Zoe at a table with
her friends. Emily was right next to her.
Brayden
was
sitting alone at the table nearest the door. Once I snuck in, I immediately
dashed to the seat across from him.

He looked up from his tray.
“Where’s your food?”

I continued to scan the room for Wyatt. “Not so hungry.”

Brayden
took a bite of his mashed
potatoes. “What’s with the backpack?”

“
Y’know
,” I said, still keeping an
eye out. I couldn’t see Wyatt anywhere. “Sometimes I like to just carry my bag
around.”

With a mouthful of food,
Brayden
spoke, pointing his fork at the bag. “That’s not your bag, dummy. That’s
Zoe’s.”

“What?” I asked, shocked. “Did I grab the wrong bag again?
How silly of me.”

“Shut up,”
Brayden
said with a
hint of anger in his voice. “You have it on purpose. What’s your deal, Chase?”

I glanced at the werewolf hunter across the table as he took
a drink from his milk carton. His eyes were soft and doughy. Could he be
trusted? We’ll see. “This bag is filled with the money from the food drive.”

Brayden
spit out his milk, spraying it across
the table and my face. He punched at his chest as he coughed out the words,
“Are you serious?”

I wiped the milk off my cheeks. “Yes! Keep it down, will
ya
?”

“
Did you steal that money?
” he leaned over and
whispered.

“
No!
But I have it now,” I replied. “This is Zoe’s
bag, and I’m supposed to take it to the office! Wyatt wants to frame her for
stealing the money so she’ll get in trouble!”

“
’In trouble
’ is what she’ll
wish
she got in!
More than likely, she’ll get in “
dead meat
’!”

“I know!” I said. “And I don’t know what to do!”

Brayden
leaned forward and looked over
both his shoulders, I think to make sure no one was listening in on our
conversation. “You need to get that cash back into the container in the
office.”

“Of course that’s what I’d
love
to do, but I doubt
that it’s as easy as walking it in there!” I said loudly. Luckily the students
in the cafeteria were louder.

Brayden
leaned back in his chair and
pried open his milk carton. After taking a sip, he set the drink back down on
his tray, and then with a milk mustache, he spoke. “I’ll provide the
distraction. No worries there. We’ll do it after I finish my food.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” I said, genuinely
feeling a glimmer of hope for the first time since I found the money.

He nodded as he finished his meal. Yeah, it was the weirdest
thing. He just kept on nodding while eating his food, but was I going to say
anything about it?
Nope, because he was going to
help
me.
Brayden
had moved up on the ladder from a
person I hardly knew, to a true friend.

11:45 AM.
In the hallway during lunch.

I followed
Brayden
as he led the
way. He was keeping an eye out for anyone in front of us while I made sure
nobody was behind. Zoe’s red backpack was getting heavier on my shoulder, and I
couldn’t wait to get rid of the darn thing.

“It’s right around this corner,” said
Brayden
.
Good thing too because being the new kid in school, I hardly knew my way
around.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

Brayden
poked his head around the
corner and glanced through the windows of the front office. “Not sure yet.”

The front office was separated
by a large counter that was as high as my neck
. Behind the counter were
several desks with adults that stared blankly at their computer monitors. One
of the adults was the secretary. I think she stayed in the office the entire
day so I’m at sea about how Wyatt ever stole the money in the first place. Like
I said before, he must’ve been
good
.

“There are three people working at their desks,” said
Brayden
. “I think if I make enough noise and run down the
hallway, they’ll probably chase me.”

I shook my head. “That won’t work. Only
one
of them
will chase after you, if even
that
. More than likely, they’ll page the
security guard to come after you. We have to think of something else.”

And then came a familiar voice from behind us. “You could
drop the bag off as I instructed you to.”

I could tell it was Wyatt. When I turned around, he was
standing there with his arms at his sides, wearing a scowl across his face. Outside
of his ninja outfit, he looked like any other short kid in the school. Average.
Forgettable.

Behind him were several other students I didn’t recognize,
but from how they were standing, it was clear that it was the rest of the clan.

“I can’t do that,” I said as I pulled Zoe’s backpack tighter
on my shoulders.

“You don’t really have a choice, do you?” Wyatt asked with
an ugly smirk.

“Oh, but I think I do,” I replied. “You see
,
I’m
the one with the bag and the money. Not you.”

Wyatt chuckled, as did the rest of the clan behind him.
“You’re only delaying the inevitable. This can go down in two ways – you
can dump the bag in the office, telling them what I told you to say, or you can
get caught out here with a backpack full of three grand. Pretty sure they won’t
believe
any
story you tell them about me. After all, I’m just an average
Joe at this school. I barely have any friends, right?”

The ninja leader was right. If I choose one path, then
Zoe
gets busted. If I wait too long, a teacher will eventually come along, and then
I’ll
get busted. That’d be a great way to start a new school, huh? Get
caught stealing money from hungry kids. Either way,
Wyatt
wins.

I had to do something to upset his plan and flip it over on
him. I thought frantically about what to do, but couldn’t think of anything to
save my life. I looked at
Brayden
, hoping he would
have a suggestion, but he only shrugged his shoulders.

“You’re running out of time, Chase,” Wyatt sneered.

“Chase?” said a girl’s voice. When I looked over, I saw Zoe
walking with her friends.
Of course
they’d show up at this exact moment.
Isn’t that my luck?

“Hey, Zoe,” I said, staring at the floor.

“Why do you have my backpack?” she asked, growing visibly
upset. “Oh I get it, you were probably instructed to steal
my
stuff too,
weren’t you?”

Emily spoke up this time. “
Too
? Did your cousin steal
my purse?”

I could feel my face getting hotter at the embarrassment. I
was about to answer before Zoe spoke again. “Yes, as a matter of fact, he
did
.”

“Not without a special someone’s help,” Wyatt laughed.

Zoe turned around, and did what should’ve been done right
after the incident. “Emily, I’m sorry, but I helped my cousin take your purse
during gym class yesterday.”

Emily’s jaw dropped for a moment in pure shock. The hallway
was so quiet that I swear I heard a cricket somewhere,
dying
of
quietness. “But why?”

My cousin paused. “Because I was stupid. I thought helping
Chase would get him some friends. I mean,
look
at him and how
pathetic
he is!”

“Thanks,” I murmured.

Zoe sighed. “Whatever was in your purse, I promise I’ll
return to you. Honestly, I will. I’m just so sorry that it even happened.”

Emily finally closed her mouth and gulped. And then the most
awesome thing happened. She smiled. “It’s okay. No big deal. That was my
gym
class
purse. All I keep in there is a spare stick of deodorant and a couple
quarters for a soda after class.”

Zoe’s face lit up as if a dark shroud was lifted from it. “I
owe you a bunch of quarters then!”

Emily laughed. “Nah, don’t worry about it. You did it ‘cause
you care for your cousin. It was worth it, right?”

I wish I had friends as cool as that.

Wyatt clenched his fists and spoke through his clenched jaw.
“It doesn’t matter anyway since you’re stuck here with a bag
fulla
money!”

“A bag full of money?” Zoe asked. “Does my backpack have
money in it?”

I couldn’t answer, but Zoe could read me like a book. “The
money from the food drive… it’s all in there, isn’t it?”

I nodded as Wyatt laughed. His ninja minions laughed along
with him, which made the hallway echo with villainous guffawing. If this didn’t
attract any teachers, I don’t know what would.

I did the only thing I could think of. I let the backpack
fall into my hands, and whipped it at Wyatt as hard as I could to shut him up.
Distracted by his own moment of glory, he didn’t see the bag coming, and it hit
him straight in the face.

Zoe’s bag burst open as loose change and tightly wound balls
of cash fell to the floor, amidst the sound of gasping students.

Wyatt let out a loud cry as he tumbled backward into the
members of his ninja clan. The students caught him and pushed him back to his
feet, whispering quickly among themselves.

And this is the part where things went a little blurry.

Embarrassed, Wyatt threw a punch that landed solidly on my
chin. The shock of pain blasted through my body and everything went bright
white for a second. The next thing I knew I was on the floor of the hallway,
laying in the middle of a circle of shouting kids, yelling something about a
fight.

I felt a sharp pain from my lip. As I stood up, I rubbed my
fingers across my mouth. Wyatt’s punch must’ve busted my lip open. Blood was
all over my fingertips. All I wanted to do was punch him back. Everything
inside me boiled with anger and suddenly, the entire world was painted red.

I spit on the floor and saw Zoe’s backpack lying next to me.
She was also standing in the crowd of shouting students, but she was standing
perfectly still. She looked sad.

I glanced back at Wyatt as he landed another punch right
into my gut. I immediately felt like puking as I clutched at my stomach. I was
the new kid at the school.
Scrawny and dorky.
And I
was getting my butt kicked in front of everyone. Wyatt was going to win the
fight no matter how hard I fought back so I did the opposite of what I wanted
to do…