Mitch and I slipped past the hall monitors in one of the corridors. It was stealth; extreme stealth. While turning one specific corner, we were nearly caught as a hall monitor was coming the way we were going. Mitch explained that we weren't allowed to go to this section of the school- Corridor D- during the weekends. Apparently, a ton of meetings and such were to be held.
Lucky for us, the principal was out of his office; we saw him head to what seemed to be the teachers lounge. While peering around the corner, the office door was completely in view. All we had to do was plant the grenade in his drawer, and we would be good.
"Alright. You ready?" Mitch turned to me. His face was full of anticipation and courage. As for myself, I could feel the nervousness welling up. Being only 11 years old and have never done anything this extreme, I was bound to screw up at some point.
"Yup," I mumble. despite my worrisome attitude, I decided the best thing to do was just to DO it. I knew I could. I definitely could, right?
Letting out that mischievous grin latch onto his face once again, he began to slowly, and quietly make his way to the bright blue door that was the principals office. I could feel my heart began to pound harder and faster than I thought it ever could. I then started to follow his lead, repeating the same exact motions as his. Low to the ground. Quiet. Stealthy.
The moment we were both against the wall next to the door, Mitch quickly budged the door. It was then that we both realized that, of course, how had we not seen this coming, it was locked. I felt my stomach drop.
"Well... shoot." He kicked the door hard at the bottom with his foot out of rage. I shushed him almost instantly. Taking frustration out on an object did nothing but create issues. Then, out of nowhere, Mitch ended up saying the inevitable.
"I have an idea," he began to pace, "Let's create a distraction out here; something that will catch the principals attention. I'll hide behind that bookcase right there, and will have him come out and say you're lost while I grab the key from his back pocket." Mitch was speaking at the speed of light; I assumed by now he expected the 'what do I do again' and 'what do you mean' questions; however, I understood exactly what had to be done. And I believed I could pull it off as well!
Without a moment to lose, we went over our rules once more. Mitch was to retrieve the radio from the music room. Where he would play obnoxious and angsty music. The principal would be forced to investigate the matter. I would end up coming from the corner, asking for directions (considering this was my first day, it was sure to be easy and well fitting.) While in the process of stalling, Mitch would unlock the office, and we would get it. Simple!
At least, only this part of the plan was.
As Mitch motioned me to turn the corner after grabbing the small, hand sized blue radio from the music room, I did as he was told. I could feel the nervousness yet excitement welling up inside of me. I really thought it was going to work; Mitch was a genius, I thought. A real genius!
As I finally hit the corner, Mitch set down the radio carefully and quietly. Being the sort of person I am, I was anxious of things that could've gone wrong. Another teacher coming out rather than the correct target. Mitch being seen. Me being too nervous to act correctly in this situation. That was biggest fear, I'd say; me being the cause of this plan to fail.
Yet, somehow, none of those things happened. It actually went quite well, I'd say.
As Mitch motioned for me to tap the 'power' button on the small radio, where I didn't telling twice. Due to my small stature, I managed to not make a sound as I quickly pressed the button; thing is, the second I had done so, the blasting noise felt as though I was about to go deaf. I nearly screamed at the insanely loud noise. Mitch covered his ears as he motioned me to hide by the corner. I did so immediately. My blood was rushing and my heart was pounding.
Lucky for us, probably the largest man I had ever seen in every way shape and form, showed up yapping in some odd form of mannerisms. He was, again, a large man, with a pale blonde stubble. His hair was thinning, although he must've been in his mid to late 40's. He was pale in the face as well as every other aspect of him.
As the principal began to attempt to get down to his knees to turn the radio off, I knew that my que had come to face my presence. I took a mental note of what I could say; I had lost my way, and I needed guidance. Perfect.
I slowly made my way to the troubled man. I perfected my confused and innocent voice instantaneously. The blasting music, however, was still in fact blasting. I said 'excuse me' a couple of times, but the principal hadn't taken notice. I was beginning to become frustrated until I realized Mitch was already making his way over to the principal. He was going too early!
I mouthed the word 'no' as quickly as I could, but I wasn't fast enough. The principal managed to turn the radio off and almost instantly turned around at that same moment. I felt my heart drop as the principal had caught Mitch red handed, where he had key in hand. Heck, even Mitch himself was flustered at the fact that we had been caught. I didn't know what to do just then. Not a word was spoken. Come to think of it, I realize that the principal hasn't even acknowledged me just yet.
"Rockel! Mitchy Rockel," the principal began to sprout as I silently made me way back to the corner, "I haven't seen you attempt this trick in a good 2 weeks! This is, by far, the furthest you've ever gotten." I felt an ounce of confusion and an ounce of amusement. Haven't seen you attempt this in a while? Mitch has tried this trick before?
"Hey, Principal Dirtbag." Mitch laughed. My eyes widened as I realized that We were 100% going to get in trouble. The principal was still fake laughing in that moment; until something happened.
"Alright you trouble maker. Go head to lunch." Mitch stopped laughing and instead look as though someone had told him he was actually a girl (or anything as surprising as that, for the matter). The principal didn't waste a second to leave and head back into his office on his own. I was stunned as well; he still hadn't seen me.
"What was that for?" I asked subtly. Mitch didn't respond for a moments notice.
"Not sure," he began to crack a smile, "but something good must've happened today for him not to get me into trouble. Cool, right?" We both laughed as we made our way down to the cafeteria. I was, and I didn't mention it, but I somehow felt a bit relieved that we didn't get to the prank. I didn't feel like getting kicked out of a reform school after doing something wrong myself.
By the time Mitch and I reached the cafeteria, I noticed that not a ton of students were there; I would guess there were about 15-20. Mitch led me to a small table near the right hand wall, same wall as the door we had come in from. As we sat, I pulled out my lunch almost instantly. I was hungrier than I had ever been. As I began to eat, Mitch began to speak. I noticed that he in fact didn't bring lunch with him, nor had he headed to the lunch line. I didn't any mind to it, however.
"So, since you're new and everything," Mitch began to speak, "I wanted to introduce some of the students here. You know, explaining what they're into, their favorite things, their names, etc." Without a chance for me to say 'thanks or 'awesome, Mitch began looking around the cafeteria as though he was hunting for the perfect student to describe.
"Oh, ha, that one over there is named Louis." Mitch pointed to a boy around his age; said to be named Louis, he was bustling with laughter and talking to a large group of students. "He's pretty popular, mainly for his humor. Don' become too close, though. He'll eventually start to speak and sometimes sing how much he cares about you. It's sweet, though." Louis looked like a younger version of Jaden Smith. Still looking at Louis, I nodded my head slowly.
"Anyways, that dried out looking zombie? Yeah. That's Violet." Mitch then pointed across the room to a girl with pale, short blonde hair and a worn out face. She was pretty pale and was sitting with Tenn and a few other girls. Again, around Mitch's age.
"She's pretty boring, if I'm honest with myself. She's not a people person and pretty much always keeps to herself. She's not someone I'd talk to very much." Mitch turned back to me as though he was waiting to see what I was going to do next. I looked from Violet to him and raised my eyebrows, indicating that I was indeed paying attention.
A few minutes went by of random chatting between us. Then, Mitch finally moved onto to the next student. "Okay, the golden rule here is to never, ever mess with Ruby Plante. She's as feisty as a cat getting into the bath." Mitch laughed as I eyed a plump, red haired girl who was sitting with 2 boys. She looked as though she was yelling at them, rather than simply talking.
Mitch named a few more students that I didn't pay a ton of attention to. He pointed out a boy who was writing something (probably a journal) named Aasim. He then pointed to 3 girls who were sitting with Tenn; one girl who was named Brody, and the other two were obviously twins.
"That's Sophie and Minerva. They're Tenn's half sisters," he explained. I get why he said half sisters; Tenn was African American, and his sisters have vibrant red hair and freckles. It's obvious they're not fully related.
A few more names were mentioned; none caught my attention; Marlon, Omar, Erin, and a few others. I took a mental note of Marlon's long, shoulder length hair, but that was it.
Lunch ended and students were making ways to go do their own things. Mitch told me he had a ton oh homework to get done, so I didn't stop him. Considering I didn't really have any one else to talk to, I made my own way back to my dorm. I was glad I didn't have to share. I could actually be alone for once.
From the moment I closed the door behind be and began to pull out some pictures of my friends and family back in Vancouver, I began to wonder what life would be like here; Mitch was pretty cool to talk to. Tenn was annoying in some weird way. Every other student seemed like it would be hard to begin a productive and kind friendship with. Then again, that's by Mitch's standards. I haven't really tried to talk to these kids.
About 2-3 hours later, my room was (almost) fully decked out and furnished. I threw on my pyjamas and headed to bed, looking over my schedule once more. I wondered what my math class would be like. I love math, and I'm not afraid to state that I'm pretty good at it. In the end, we can only wait and see.
