Mr Willany was generally the level-headed, mellow type of teacher; for the safety of his students, he didn't continuously drown them in homework until they chocked on it. Granted, the work wasn't easy, but far from 'challenging' - that's why he would always crack down on students who didn't get it done. Students like Opel Hall never missed a deadline, but the same couldn't be said for Alex Green and Kayley Fisher, both of which have concocted ingenious excuses for why they couldn't hand in their homework, much to the amusement of the other students. He considered Kayley to be the worst…

"Is there a reason why you didn't hand in your homework, Miss Fisher?" Mr Willany, standing at the front, stared fastidiously at Kayley. She sat up straight and gazed outside.

"Well, you see, Sir…" Kayley answered timidly, turning her head to face him. "It's raining outside."

Mr Willany sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And just why does the fact that it is raining keep you from doing your homework?"

Kayley shrugged. "Well, I had volleyball practice yesterday."

Mr Willany sighed again, sweeping a hand to her. "And...? What does that have to do with the fact that it's raining, and why you didn't do your homework?"

"Well," Kayley continued simply, as if talking to a kindergartener, "I tripped over when running to return a serve and spend the rest of the day at the hospital with an injured ankle. I therefore could not set my alarm, and thus, I overslept. So with that happening, I missed breakfast."

There was giggling around the classroom until Mr Willany cleared his throat. When the class was silent, he gestured for her to continue.

Kayley did so, sheepishly, "As I overslept, the nurse was forced to wake me up. I was starving, so I went over to the fast food restaurant with whatever cash I had left in my jacket pocket when I suddenly remembered I'd misplaced my backpack."

More giggling filled the classroom, this time a little louder. Mr Willany cleared his throat again, also louder, until it stopped. He looked expectedly at Kayley, who continued by saying, "So I had to go back to the hospital to reclaim my backpack, when I realized that I didn't leave it at the hospital, because I never brought it with me in the first place. Therefore, I went to the recreation centre to talk to the coach. Sadly, she wasn't there. So, I went on a quest!"

Alex cracked first, laughing so hard it was hilarious in its own right. The class was in hysterics by now. Tears streamed down Alex's cheeks; she turned round behind her to find Opel, not usually one to join in or show that she finds humour in these 'class pranks', was covering her mouth to contain her laughter, cheeks bright red. Mr Willany tried to clear his throat loud enough to stop them all, but it didn't work. He was never one to shout, but desperate times called for desperate measures…

"QUIET!" He yelled, snapping the class silent as if he was closing the lid on a music box.

Kayley fearlessly strived onwards. "So, as I went around the recreation centre, I slowly began to realize that I was traveling in circles. I redirected my path, but that also turned out to lead me in circles. Desperate, I went to reception and asked them where the coach was, and they told me they didn't know. Then, one of them asked me why I needed to see her, and I told her I was looking for my backpack. She then pointed out that my backpack was somehow on my back the entire time, much to my embarrassment."

Mr Willany forced himself not to smile when the class erupted with laughter. He covered his mouth quickly to prevent it showing. "This has got to be the best one yet…" he thought to himself, ashamed to find amusement in this, before hollering aloud, "Alright, that's enough now. Settle down now. Continue on, Kayley."

"Well, as I had already long missed breakfast and lunch, I decided to head to school. It struck me that, not only missed breakfast and lunch, but the entire morning of classes as well. As I was on my way to school, I saw an old lady needing help crossing the street. Trying to be a 'Good Samaritan', I stopped and helped her across the road. In thanks for my good will, she gave me a five-dollar bill, which I was grateful for because I only had sixty-three pence in my pocket. Now, with this bit of money I thought I could stop by one of those vending machines in the park near school. I headed there quickly, as my stomach was really growling by now."

There was total silence in the classroom. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as no one wanted to miss a word of this!

"When I got to the vending machine, I had… a bit of trouble working with it." Kayley blushed at the statement. The class was still silent, save for Opel and Alex, unable to contain their laughter. They knew perfectly well what had transpired. Kayley had probably gotten into an argument with the vending machine, maybe because it wouldn't give her what she wanted or it stole her money. From her experience in the past, they assumed it was the latter, since Kayley always labelled them the 'pickpockets' of the fast food world. The class turned their attention to the two, confused as to what was so funny within that last sentence.

"So," Kayley said, interrupting sharply, "since it wouldn't give me the crisps I'd asked for, and there was only five minutes before history class started, I ran as fast as I could to get to school, much to the suffering of my empty stomach." Kayley shrugged. "And that is why I didn't do my history homework."

Mr Willany placed his hands on his hips and gave a heavy sigh. "Alright, Kayley. I'll admit that was a very amusing story, but you still haven't explained how the fact that it is raining outside could keep you from doing your homework yesterday, before volleyball." He looked up at the clock and blinked in surprise. Kayley's ridiculous story had taken up half of the period - it was now two minutes until fifth period. "Well?" Mr Willany asked her again, "How does the fact that it's raining today prevent you from doing your homework?"

Kayley stared at him, a look of innocence on her face. "I don't know, Mr Willany," she admitted, shrugging again. "How does the fact that it's raining today prevent me from doing my homework?"

"Wait! B-but you said," Mr Willany stuttered, completely thrown off, "you said that the reason for why you didn't do your homework was because it was raining today!"

Kayley smiled sweetly, yet with a hint of devilishness, back at him and replied, "But, Mr Willany, how could today's weather effect my homework completion yesterday? That's ridiculous!"

Mr Willany opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth and then tried again, still to failure. He closed his mouth and shook his head shamefully. Kayley looked around at her classmates and muttered, "I think I broke him."

The bell rang loudly before Mr Willany could respond, and Kayley exited the classroom victoriously, followed closely by her classmates. Mr Willany could hear clapping echoing from down the hallway. Once the muffled cheering noises quietened down, he considered what the appropriate punishment for not only forgetting homework, but wasting time in class would be. Soon, however, he concluded that one should not be punished for such a remarkably witty and original tale - the best he'd heard yet. It must have taken her quite some time to conceive it. Thus, he let it slide… after all, he couldn't bear to deal with anything like phoning the head teacher or parents today - Kayley's story had left him with a cracking headache!