Nicknames

• Sophie Zammit, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2015

Ever had a nickname?
And I’m not talking about something cool like Dragon Slayer or Dark Knight or Masked Avenger and Strider.
I mean like one of those crummy names someone just hurls at you and then you’re stuck with it. ‘Hey, kid, your head is a weird shape. I’m gonna call you booger brain from now on.’
‘Gee thanks! That soooooo much better than Gary!’ That sort of thing. The problem with most nicknames is you hardly get to choose the one that you want. Just look at what happened to Bob King last year in year 4. He’s got this really good name, right, but then one day he turns up here at good old Maldon Primary School and sits down in class same as normal and EVERTHING changes. Frist up Martin Fassbender who’s sitting right behind him, lets out a moan like his just seen his own face in the mirror, and the next thing you know everyone around Bob goes CRAZY. Some kids are choking and gulping trying to get air. Other kids are holding their breath and turning blue. Most of the girls look like they are going to pass out or throw up! And it all because there’s this killer pong coming from Bob King and that’s because Bob stepped on a giant piece of doggie-do on the way to school and it’s still plastered under one of his shoes like a squashed brown sausage, only he doesn’t know it. Anyway now he can forget all about being good old Bob King anymore, because something in Martin Fassbender’s twisted brain a nickname has all really popped up. And TAAA-DAAA just like magic, Bob King changes into… KING PONG! Now whenever there’s a whiff in the classroom we all know it was KING PONG!