That Boy, James McCarthy…

• Baxter Aurisch, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

That boy, James McCarthy…

“Thanks mum!” I say looking at my new remote-control snake. I just opened my Christmas present from my mum. She knows me too well. I can’t wait to try it out.
“I know you want to have a play with it, but you have to go to school!”
“Can I take it with me?” I ask with puppy eyes, because I really want to try it out.
“Keep dreaming,” she replies “Now come on, you’re going to be late!”

This is the most embarrassing moment of my life. I am standing in the girls’ change rooms with nothing but shorts and suspenders. I will get that boy back, that rotten boy named James McCarthy. He just loves to pick on me. I better get out of the change room and get him back. I will pull a prank… THE BEST PRANK OF ALL TIME. Better than the one where I created the exploding cake (it was HARMLESS), and the time I did graffiti on the teacher’s desk, and the time I... I could go on forever, but this time it was going to be big, because this time he has taken it too far… I, Connor McMaster, will make embarrass him.

I started to research. I don’t know a lot about James but I know enough to know what prank will work. Right now I am hiding in the bushes listening to James and his friends having a laugh about something I have not quite figured out yet.

“That boy embarrassed himself so bad!” said Chuck, his best friend, I really hate… Hold on, WOAH… I feel like I have to sneeze, it’s coming, it’s coming!

“AAACHOOOOOO!!!” There it goes, I just signed my death warrant. Wish me luck that I don’t end up with six broken bones….

This is the happiest moment of my life. Instead of me ending up stuck in a pile of garbage or my head being stuck in a toilet, I see James McCarthy running away with what seems to be a remote control snake following after him. There is only one thing to say…“Thanks mum,” I whisper to myself.


Baxter Aurisch- The McDonald College, Year 6