Jack Faces A Bet

• Ryan Gormley, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2017

Ring! Ring!
The start-of-school bell was going off.
"Wait!" yelled Jack.
He quickly ran to the bag racks, threw his bag down so hard that it felt like his arm was about to fall off, and ran into his classroom.
Screech!
His teacher, Mr. Mad, was scraping his nails on a chalkboard.
Fwadoo!
"Ow!"
Jack looked down under his desk.
"A rubber band?" he whispered.
"I heard that!" yelled Mr. Mad.
"Detention, Jack Foster."
After school, Jack was in the detention hall.
"What I want you to do is sweep the whole hall, alright. If you don't finish before walking home, I'll call your parents."
He got to work.
As his teacher left him alone, another person came through.
"Hey Fostey-Wostey, come out and talk, he he," the boy laughed in a sing-song voice.
"After all, it was me who flicked that rubber band."
It was Peter Banks, the school's most feared bully.
Jack was hiding under one of the filing cabinets in the hall.
He had to stand up to him.
He felt like punching him.
Jack's mind clicked. Peter had flicked the band to get Jack in detention, so they could be alone.
Without thinking, he swiftly got out from under the cabinet, and stood before Peter.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"I want to make a bet. You know, to test your bravery. Both of us have to walk into the teacher's lounge and mess it up. The loser has to eat ten ants."
"How do we lose?"
“Whoever gets into the most trouble or gets seen first."
The next Saturday, Jack was thinking about what his parents would say.
Jack also hated insects.
He had to put his game phase on.
This was a matter of be embarrassed, get humiliated and punished by his parents and teachers, or, possibly even cleaning up the horrible mess he would have made.
Well, that was if he lost, right?
He was just hoping Peter wouldn't cheat his way out and blame everything on him.
Crack! "I cant believe it, I cant believe it!"
Jack was cracking eggs on the teacher's fridge.
Smash!
Peter was hammering the window.
Ten minutes later, he was putting powder on the fan.
"Peter Banks!"
Jack ducked for cover under the desk.
Peter had been discovered.
His heart leaped and he felt like laughing, even though he couldn't.
Mr. Mad had spotted Jack's challenger.
The next week, as Peter had been suspended, he saw Peter choking on a dead grasshopper.
Well, it wasn't an ant, but it still would've tasted foul.
Jack gave a smirk and walked away