Wednesday Story 6 - Cathy Cassidy

[WP Central]

The bell for the start of lessons is ringing as I sprint across the playground and up the steps into the lobby. Great. This is all I need - a late mark.
It is not easy to be on time when your mum is working early shifts and your dad hasn’t been around since 2005. He nipped out to the shops to buy biscuits and was never seen again - I mean, how hard can it be to find a packet of Jammy Dodgers?
It is not easy to be orgainised when you have two little brothers to get dressed and fed and off to school on time. I race along the corridors and skid through the door of Room 53, my tie askew. Miss Jenson looks up from her register.
‘Late again, Kevin?’
‘Sorry, Miss.’
I slope towards the back of the class, dump my rucksack onto the desktop... then blink.
There is someone sitting at my desk. Not just any kind of someone, either - it’s a girl, a pretty girl with a couldn’t-care-less expression, chewing gum and twisting a strand of long, blonde hair around one finger.
‘Um... that’s my seat,’ I mutter.
She raises an eyebrow.
‘Not any more,’ she says.

[Amir Arshad]

Aleeha Mubasher,Maira Shehzad(bloomfield Hall,Sahiwal, Pakistan)

Her respect in my heart finished at the moment.I went closer to her and said her in challenging tone,''Don't challenge me or you will repent!''
She ignored me and kept chewing her stupid gum.At that moment the twing of flash went through my mind,''GUMCHUM.''And from that I put up her name GUMCHUM !
In English lesson I was scolded by my teacher because of that GumChum.I could not concentrate on my whole lesson.When the teacher asked me a question, I was blank because I didn't know the question.
''GET OUT of my class!!" the teacher shouted. And again out of the English class.I stood out like a maniac.
Next day with whole efforts I arrived school before assembly.I gathered my friends to tell her what I am.Icatched her sigh and noticed her again chewing gum. I think that her father worked at a Chewing gum factory.I went to her and said insultingly,"Are you chewing the same gum that you were chewing yesterday?"But this time she was very polite and answered.......

[Bev Humphrey, Woolwich Poly, UK]

‘Oh I’m so sorry my dear friend I didn’t notice you there, how are you on this fine day!’ I said nothing. I was too astounded that she was being nice after she treated my like I was a ghost. “Erm I was just wondering if you were chewing the same piece of gum that you were chewing yesterday”. The answer I got was “how about you check for yourself” as she shoved it into my hair.”WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR ‘’I bellowed, in disbelief. “well you did insult me and ask if that was the same gum I was chewing yesterday, so I think you know the answer now”. Very stupidly I said no so she put another piece in her mouth and made a bubble. From her next move I realised she liked dragonball Z as she got the ball and chucked it at me shouting something….’’you will regret ever calling me gumchum.I will make every living second of you life in school a living nightmare’’ She cackled without a care in the world. Because she wasn’t paying attention where she was walking she fell on me. At that moment everyone said “THEY FANCY EACH OTHER!”……

[amy]

Oh no this wasn’t happening, not to me, I have heard it happen to other people before but I never thought that it would happen to me. I am going to get really tortured by my so called friends now. I got up as quick as I could, but it was to late there was what looked like an ocean of children, that have all witnessed the same stupid thing, her falling on me. It was her fault if she hadn’t of sat in my seat yesterday then I wouldn’t off known that she was chewing gum. Anyway when I got up I saw that she was already up and just was I was about to shout at them and tell them that we were not going out with each other, when she stood up and shouted,
“So what if we are, have you got a problem with it like?” The corridor was silent you could of heard a feather drop onto the floor. No one dared to talk back not even the hardest boy in our year. The next day when I walked into school everything was different. When I walked into class late Miss Jenson didn’t shout and boll at me instead she…..

by Imogen Varley
Unity City Academy

[Lynda Marett, CTK Preston]

Gave me a strange look that I’ve never seen on her face before. I looked back in shock and briskly strode to my desk where Gumchum was once again sat. Anger was filling up inside me but instead I moved to another dusty desk. She looked at me for a long moment that seemed to last an age. I could see it in her eyes that she wanted me to strike at her; although I felt that the look could have been something else. I stared at her and a mixture of emotions arose in me. The empathy that came over me almost choked me. “Hannah” I whispered. I was the only one that knew Gumchum’s name. Suddenly she bumped into me and we tumbled to the floor. I could feel my heart pounding over her body and she said.................
Chloe M and Aleesha. Christ the King, Preston

[Lorraine French]

“Get off me, you creep.”

Embarrassed, I drag myself to my feet. The whole class is laughing now; pointing, sneering. Even the teacher has a smirk on her face that she can’t even be bothered to hide. I can feel a red blush creeping up my neck and onto my face. She’d done it – again. Seemed all nice and pleasant one minute, and then lashed out the next. And embarrassed me in the process.

I shuffle to my desk, trying to laugh it off, but I want a black hole to open in the floor and swallow me. I wait patiently for the laughs to die off, for the scene to be over, but Gumchum persists.

“Miss!” she calls, her voice shrill and indignant. “Miss, he pushed me! And made me fall onto the floor!”

I open my mouth to protest, but I shut it, knowing that it’s useless. The teacher’s going to believe a girl who seems all nice and polite over a lousy boy who’s always late. I’m not exactly her favourite student.

“Kevin!” the teacher snaps. “How dare you! Pushing a girl who’s been at this school for barely a week onto the floor!”

I already know what she’s going to say.

“Get out!”

From the way that she glares at my back from spiteful blue eyes I know that it’s war. She’s going to lie through her teeth to get me into trouble. Well, two can play at this game, I thought.

I start to plan my revenge as I drag my feet out of the classroom into the bleak corridor.

[Lorraine French]

by Demi and Nosa

[John Iona]

As I sit there in the deserted corridor, planning my scheme against that back-stabbing GUMCHUM, a light bulb flashed above my head. My eureka moment, as my plans got more and more desparate and far fetched the ear splitting bell rang above my head.

The next day I resumed my schemes, trying to get her back. Bubble-gum in her hair? Nope. Her most evilest secret exposed? Nope. I dodged her in lessons, the dinner hall, playground, but i couldnt get away from her. Was she following me? It seemed so. Everywhere I went you could hear a pop of a bubble or a contious sound of chewing. I was going crazy!

As half term drew nearer and nearer the prospect of revenge seemed to drift away. By now the annoying chewing was part of my everyday life. Since the incident a few weeks ago we had not spoken, until now...

by izaak carter & Alex barnard, oasis academy enfield :)

[Margie Godwin]

by Katherine Nettles, Lexington Elementary, Monroe, LA, USA
We were coming in from recess when Gum Chum came by and said, "Stop hitting me." The teacher stopped, turned to me and said in a very strict voice, "I don't want to see you in class. I want to see you in detention." I made a face at Gum Chum. She looked straight back at me with a grin. The teacher saw her and said, "Take that grin off of your face, Hannah." This is so unfair, I thought. I walked slowly to the principal's office. What am I going to tell the principal? I finally got to the principal's office. "Sit down right there," he said gruffly. "Look I know how girl's are. When they are mean to you that probably means they like you." "I did not hit her," I said. "I know," said the principal. "Well you are off the hook for now but try to get along with her. She is the new girl in the school. She really just needs a friend."