Helloooo all you wonderful readers!
Wow, it's been months since my last update! I've been so busy, it took way longer than I thought to finish the chapter. Thanks for being so patient, everyone! And, guys... so I got a review saying someone's been following this fic for years, and I've gotten a review like this before too, and I just... It just hits me that some of you might actually be following this story for years. I started it nearly seven years ago, now that I think about it, and... wow. Thank you all so much for sticking around for so long. Whether you just discovered this story now, or have been following it for the past seven years, I'm so glad I got to be a tiny part of your life!
Anyways, enough me being emotional! On with the chapter, and happy reading!
Peanut2196 suggested chapters from other perspectives, and honestly, I'm kind of surprised I haven't had more chapters from other characters' points of view. Let this be one of them!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!
Absence Notes
Grade Four
May (9), Gary, (9), Drew (9), Leaf (9), Paul (9), Dawn (9), Ash (9), Misty (9)
Mr. Robertson was a tired, tired man.
Teaching had been his lifelong passion... sort of. Growing up, he'd thought he wanted to be an astrophysicist. He'd studied it relentlessly in college, but when the time came to pursue a professional field, he realized what he really wanted to do was teach.
Thus, he'd ended up as the homeroom teacher of a grade four class. He'd taught a little before coming to this school, so he had some experience, at least, but this class was... a bit too rambunctious. He'd been warned before classes started, when he and his colleagues had been given their student lists at the start of the school year.
"Oh, you got those kids," Ms. Beatrix had said sympathetically.
"Why? What's wrong with them?" he'd asked, suddenly anxious about the year ahead.
"Nothing. It's just..."
"Who did he get?" Ms. Kelly looked at his list. "Oh..."
"What? What is it?"
Ms. Kelly cleared her throat. "I've had some of them before in my kindergarten class. But the ones you have to watch out for are..." She pointed to several names on the list: Drew Hayden, May Maple, Gary Oak, and Paul Shinji. "Separately, there is no problem. Together... Let's just say they've caused more than a few headaches."
"Aren't there two others in their group as well?" said Ms. Beatrix, frowning at the list. "Ah, there they are. Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower."
"Oh, you're talking about that group," said Mrs. Primm, who'd been organizing some papers a desk away. "Don't forget about Dawn Berlitz. She was new last year in my grade three class. She was absorbed into their group before I knew it."
Mr. Robertson swallowed. "Are they really that bad?"
"No, no, they can be really sweet," Ms. Kelly said quickly. "It's just usually them who get up to shenanigans and whatnot."
"It's not impossible to keep them in line," said Mrs. Primm. "All you need is a little sternness and there shouldn't be a problem."
That didn't ease Mr. Robertson's worries - he wasn't particularly the stern type. He'd been even more nervous when classes started, and the new girl, Leaf Green, joined the group too (from the looks of it, they'd all already been friends outside of school).
As it turned out, however, he didn't have to worry about the supposedly troublemaking eight.
Because the entire class was borderline impossible to manage.
And now, three weeks in, Mr. Robertson was frazzled and sitting in his desk, daydreaming about dramatically quitting it all, when, moments before the bell rang, one of his students walked up to him.
Gary Oak, Mr. Robertson thought. One of the kids the other teachers had warned him about. He couldn't figure out anything that stood out about him in particular, other than his grandpa being the famous Professor Oak, because, frankly, he seemed just like everyone else in the class: loud, boisterous, a glint of mischief in his eyes.
Except right now, Gary had an expression of utmost solemnness.
"What is it, Gary?" Mr. Robertson asked.
Gary placed a sheet of paper on the desk. "My absence note," he said seriously. "I'm going to be absent all of tomorrow."
"All right. Thanks for letting me know."
Mr. Robertson didn't think much of it, but as Gary walked back to his desk, his lips quirked in a smirk and he sent Paul a discreet thumbs-up, which Paul responded to with a doubtful glance at the teacher. Mr. Robertson turned suspiciously to the note and picked it up to read. He stared at it in bemusement.
And managed to stop himself from bursting out in laughter.
-;-
Dear Mr. Robertson,
Please exuse Gary from school tomorow. He can't come. We are very busy.
Sincerely,
Proffesor Oak
-;-
Besides the spelling mistakes, it was very obviously in Gary's handwriting. Mr. Robertson was absolutely certain Gary's grandpa had not written this.
Glancing at Gary, though, it was clear he'd thought he'd successfully fooled him. Mr. Robertson considered calling him back... but he didn't. He had to admit, he was curious. Curious as to why Gary had given him the absence note, about whether he would be made to come tomorrow anyways.
He would play along, he decided. Just for a little while.
Throughout the rest of the day, Mr. Robertson found more absence letters appearing on his desk.
-;-
Hi Mr. Robertson,
Ash can't come tomorrow so he won't come.
Thank you,
Delia
-;-
Dear Mr. Robertson,
Leaf Green will be unable to make it to school tomorrow. Please excuse her absence.
Thank you,
Mr. and Mrs. Green
-;-
Dear Mr. Robertson,
Drew will be absent tomorrow. I will appreshate if you let him not come.
Sincerely,
Mr. Hayden
-;-
Dear Mr. Robertson,
May is very very sorry because she can't come tomorrow. You'll have to let her not come, and please don't give her homework too because she can't do it tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Maple
-;-
Mr. Robertson could tell they were all written by the students themselves. Even Leaf's, which was free from spelling mistakes and written quite neatly, had to be hers - she had a very particular way of writing "Leaf", and she'd written it her usual way in the letter.
What are you all up to? he wondered. He hadn't failed to notice the five were all part of the group he'd been warned about. How much longer until the other three handed in their own letters? It was starting to bother him: If five of them were planning to not come tomorrow, they must have something planned. What if they actually ditched without their parents knowing? Maybe it was time he put a stop to it, before something happened.
At the end of the day, as everyone was getting ready for home time, Mr. Robertson noticed the group of eight standing together at the back of the room as they packed up. They seemed to be in the depths of an intense conversation, and once or twice, he caught them glancing at him. He pretended not to notice at first, but soon, most of the class had already left, and Mr. Robertson finally began to make his way over to them. He could start to hear threads of their conversation:
"I'm telling you, it won't work," said Dawn in an urgent whisper. "He probably already knows those letters are fake."
"You think so?" May said anxiously. "Maybe I said sorry too much and he can tell..."
"Well I don't think so," said Gary, crossing his arms. "I gave it to him in the morning, so he must have read it by now. And he didn't say anything, so at least he must've believed mine."
"Yeah, mine too," said Ash.
"Come on, Ash, why're you even doing this?" said Misty. "I mean, Gary and Leaf, I can get. But you? And you too, May? Really?"
"But what if it does work?" said May. "And why aren't you saying anything to Drew? He did it too!"
"Because, April, I won't get caught," said Drew, flipping his hair. "My letter was pretty professional, I think."
"My name is May!"
Misty rolled her eyes. "No, Drew, I'm not saying anything to you because I'm actually not that surprised you'd be doing this. You're the one who brought it up. Gary's just the one who figured out how to do it. And he didn't even think up a good plan. You're just doing it because Leaf is."
Drew raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm doing it because of Leaf?"
"Leaf can think her way out of everything. If she can figure out how to get out of trouble for this, you think there might be a way out for you too."
"Aw, thanks Misty!" Leaf gushed.
"I'm not doing it because of Leaf," said Drew. "I can take care of myself, you know."
"Come on, guys, it's a bad idea," said Dawn.
"It's okay, Dawn," said Ash, giving her a thumbs-up. "Like you always say, no need to worry!"
"For this, I think there's big need to worry!"
"Guys," Paul said, sharply. He jerked his head a little to the side, and eight pairs of eyes all turned to Mr. Robertson, who'd stopped a few steps away, trying not to feel guilty for eavesdropping. He managed to fabricate a smile.
"Hi, kids," he said trying to bring cheerfulness into his voice.
"Hello Mr. Robertson," Leaf said so sweetly he almost forgot she was a part of whatever these eight were scheming.
"You kids look like you're in some serious conversation. What were you talking about?"
"We were talking about school stuff."
"Oh?" Mr. Robertson cleared his throat. "What kind of school stuff?"
"Lots of school stuff," said Ash. "You know, what we learn in school and... stuff. School stuff."
"I see, I see..."
"Do you need anything?" Drew asked politely.
"Well, I was going to tell you it's time to leave. I have to lock the classroom."
"We'll be out right away," said Leaf, turning to her friends. "You guys done getting your stuff?"
They quickly gathered the remainder of their things, a few of them casting the teacher wary or nervous glances as they did. Leaf didn't look back at him once, chatting nonchalantly about something they did at recess time; in stark contrast, Paul's eyes were locked on him the entire time, sharp and calculating - he wasn't even discreet about it either. Clearly something was up. And, before they wrapped up, Mr. Robertson finally spoke.
"So, quite a few of you handed in absence notes today," he said casually.
The eyes of the remaining seven snapped to him instantly. It was unnerving - Mr. Robertson had to remind himself they were only fourth-graders, and whatever they had schemed couldn't possibly be as ominous as what his mind was conjuring up. He cleared his throat.
"Is there anything going on tomorrow?" he asked.
"Of course there is," said Leaf. "That's what it said on my note: I can't come tomorrow."
"Yeah, me too," said Gary.
"I have something too," said Ash sheepishly.
"And me," said May.
"Same here," said Drew.
"Yes, I read your notes," said Mr. Robertson. "It's just that... your parents' writing seems to be awfully like your guys'."
Most of the group seemed to tense up, but Leaf beamed. "Really? That's great! I learned how to write from my parents, you know. It's great I can write just like them, even you think our writings' the same!"
"Yeah, I learned from my Gramps," said Gary. "That's why our writing looks alike."
"And I'm guessing the same's for you guys," said Mr. Robertson, giving the rest of the group a skeptical look. He had to admit, it was a pretty clever attempt to reason their way out of it. If he wasn't so sure they themselves had written the notes, he might have not known how to argue right away. He sighed. "All right. But you know, you have to bring signed absence notes. Your parents' printed names aren't enough. It shouldn't be a problem, though, right? I can call home and confirm."
"Gramps is super busy all the time," said Gary. "He won't pick up if you call."
"Yeah, my mom's at work all day," said Ash. "I don't think you'll be able to talk to her."
"Same here," said Drew. "All my parents do is work. They're almost never at home."
"My dad runs a whole gym," said May. "And my mom has to run errands since morning."
Mr. Robertson turned to Leaf. "I suppose your parents are busy all day too, Leaf?"
Leaf, her smile never faltering, simply shrugged. "You can call my house if you like. They might answer."
Mr. Robertson closed his eyes for a moment. "Okay," he said when he opened them. "So your parents are busy. If I won't be able to reach them by phone, I'll still need their signatures. Make sure you bring them."
"But we can't bring them tomorrow if we're not going to be here tomorrow," said Ash, frowning.
"Then bring them the day after," said Mr. Robertson. He paused, remembering the whole reason for this conversation was not to get the signatures, but to stop these kids from skipping class tomorrow. He sighed. "Look, are you sure your parents wrote those letters? I have a feeling it was you guys."
Mr. Robertson caught Paul sending Gary a discreet smirk. Gary scowled. May and Ash looked at each other. Drew remained calm, but there was a tenseness around his eyes. Misty and Dawn looked exasperated. But Leaf, as always, was unwavering.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Mr. Robertson," she said. "We gave you absence notes like we were supposed to, right? We just forgot to get our parents to sign it. When you were telling us about absence notes at the beginning of the year, you just said we needed notes from our parents. You never said anything about getting them signed."
"I'm sure I did!"
"Really? Because if all five of us don't remember, doesn't that mean it's you who forgot to tell us?"
Couldn't argue with that. Leaf was too clever for her own good.
Mr. Robertson sighed in frustration. "All right, maybe I forgot. But I'm informing you now: you need a proper signature from your parents. Especially since I am certain you five were the ones who wrote the notes to begin with!"
Maybe I sounded a little too harsh just now, Mr. Robertson thought when the expressions of his students went glum. Even Leaf's smile flickered to a frown.
"You're wrong about it being us," said Leaf. "But I guess you're the teacher. We'll bring those signatures."
Huh. No more arguments. Mrs. Primm must have been right about the strictness thing after all.
Mr. Robertson let out a slow breath. "All right, tomorrow. And if there is no signature or phone call, you five better be in class."
"But Mr. Robertson," said Leaf, and he inwardly groaned: clearly there was an incoming argument. "How can we bring the signatures tomorrow? We're supposed to be absent tomorrow. We can bring them the day after."
"No," Mr. Robertson said, trying to keep his frustration in control. "I need to get the signatures of approval from your parents, or a phone call, or even an email. Otherwise, be in class!"
He made sure they all heard the finality in his voice.
As the eight headed out and Mr. Robertson locked the classroom door, he couldn't help but wonder what those kids had wanted to miss class for in the first place. His curiosity was starting to pick at his mind. Maybe he could convince them to tell him... but they wouldn't. Not when they were trying to convince him they were guiltless. He shook his head.
"Let it go," he muttered to himself. "It doesn't matter as long as all of them are safe and accounted for tomorrow."
Tomorrow came.
Mr. Robertson arrived in class as he did every morning, tired from a long night of marking homework and a tad reluctant to start the day, when Dawn walked in with a cheery, "Hi Mr. Robertson!" and just like that, he remembered the whole thing with the absence notes.
Will they come today? he wondered, now a little more awake as he watched students trickle in through the door. He hadn't received any phone calls from their parents.
Dawn seemed to be in a good mood, he noted, glancing at her as she took out her books and a pencil case as she did every morning. She was always one of the first ones there, and Mr. Robertson was well acquainted with her routine. Maybe it was his imagination, but she seemed extra cheerful today. Was it because she was happy her friends had succeeded in their class-ditching scheme...?
No, it couldn't be. Yesterday, she'd seemed against the whole thing. If anything concerning the potential absences had her spirits up, it was that the others had failed.
When Dawn started humming, Mr. Robertson couldn't hold his curiosity in any longer. "You look more cheerful than usual, Dawn," he said casually.
Dawn looked up. "I do?"
"Did something good happen?"
She looked at her pencil case thoughtfully. "Good sleep, maybe," she said.
"That's good."
Dawn went back to humming to herself.
The next one from the group of eight to arrive was Paul. He didn't seem any different from usual, but as he passed Dawn's desk on his way to his own, she stopped him.
"Paul, guess what!"
"Don't care."
"Guess anyway!"
"Don't feel like it."
"Come on!"
Paul rolled his eyes, but Mr. Robertson never found out if he was going to guess because Misty walked in. "Hey guys!"
"Misty!" Dawn's eyes latched onto her other friend. "Guess what!"
"May called and said she's giving up on today?"
Dawn's expression fell. "No..."
Darn it, thought Mr. Robertson. Looked like the other five were planning to ditch today like they'd planned!
Misty looked around the class. "Guess they're really gonna do it. I thought they were going to end up having to come to school."
"Oh, they are," said Paul, a smirk at his lips. "Trust me."
"If they were, wouldn't they be here by now?"
"Not right away. It'll take them some time to figure it out."
"Figure what out?"
"Guys!" Dawn interrupted. "Come on, I wanna tell you all something!"
"What is it?" asked Misty.
Dawn grinned widely. "My mom said she's okay with taking us - just the three of us - this weekend!"
"Wait," said Misty. "Your mom's gonna take us three to—"
"Yes!"
"What about the others?"
Dawn scowled. "Oh, they're going today, remember?"
"They're not gonna get there," Paul drawled.
"Even if they don't, they don't deserve to come with us for trying in the first place!"
"Wow, harsh," said Misty, though she was smirking.
"I don't really care about going," said Paul, smirking as well. "But if it's to see the look on the others' faces when they realize they didn't get to go but we did, I'm all in."
Misty looked at the clock. "They might go yet. The bus should have just arrived."
Bus? Mr. Robertson was starting to panic. Where were these kids going, without supervision? He was starting to think he should go to the office and report it, when Paul spoke.
"Excellent," he said. "That means they'll be rushing back any minute now."
"What makes you so sure?" said Misty.
"You think I can't outsmart Leaf?"
"Nope."
"True. But I can outsmart Drew."
"Well, whatever you did," said Dawn, looking at the clock. "They better hurry up if they don't wanna be late. Bell's about to ring."
As all the students settled into their desks, Mr. Robertson anxiously watched the door. Was it true? Were the others on their way back? If they weren't back within ten minutes, he decided, he would report them.
Half a minute before the bell rang, just as Mr. Robertson was losing hope, the door barged open, Gary huffing and puffing in the doorway. "Did the bell ring?" he gasped.
"About to," said Mr. Robertson, his chest filling with relief.
Gary looked back over his shoulder. "Guys, hurry!"
One by one, the other four arrived, and the bell rang as the last one, Drew, stepped inside. All five were sweating and gasping and bent over, hands on knees as they caught their breaths.
Then, Gary straightened up and locked his eyes on Paul. "Paul, you jerk!" he yelled. "I'm gonna get you for this!"
Paul just gave him an amused smirk.
"That's enough," said Mr. Robertson quickly. "All five of you were nearly late. Weren't you going to be absent today?"
"Change of plans," said Leaf, smoothing down her hair. "It was very last minute. That's why we were nearly late."
"And do you have signatures for those absence notes?"
"But Mr. Robertson, we're here. We don't need absence notes for today," Leaf reasoned.
Mr. Robertson exhaled through his nose. "All right, then. To your desks, you five. Get ready for class."
As they settled down, Mr. Robertson couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. It doesn't look like I'll find out what they were up to, he thought. Oh well, at least they're not getting into trouble.
Except when recess came, Gary was back at his desk, note in hand.
"What's this?" Mr. Robertson said, taking the letter.
"An absence note," said Gary. "From my grandpa. I can't come tomorrow."
Mr. Robertson rubbed his eyes. This note was just as unconvincing as the last, and he was sure Gary had written it five minutes ago while class was going on. "Gary...," he started.
"It even has a signature," said Gary. Sure enough, there was a strangely scribbled name that Mr. Robertson could just make out to say "Professor Oak". But there was no way it was authentic.
"Gary, you can't possibly think I'll believe this is from your grandpa."
Gary faltered, but then Leaf appeared at his side with a note of her own. "Here's mine!" she said. It had a fake signature too.
Mr. Robertson sighed. "Leaf, you said you guys didn't have signatures for me today."
"Oh no Mr. Robertson. I said we didn't have absence notes for you for today, 'cause we came today. But we have them for tomorrow."
"Yeah, what Leaf said," said Ash, popping up behind her with his note.
"I forgot I brought mine," said May, appearing at his side.
"Besides," said Drew, placing a note on the desk. "Leaf was talking about herself. She wasn't talking about all of us."
"Yeah, that too," said May.
Mr. Robertson ran his hand over his face. "Give me the notes," he said tiredly. He would have to call their parents later to verify, he decided. For now, he just wanted them out of his hair.
But he was still curious. After they left him at his desk, the group joined their other three friends in the corner of the classroom, talking in low tones. It was unethical to eavesdrop, but Mr. Robertson told himself it was for his students' safety - he had to listen in to make sure they weren't planning anything dangerous. So, as casually as he could, he went to the calendar on the wall near where they stood, pretending to check the dates for something as he listened in.
"—think he bought it," May was saying a little nervously. "He seemed really suspicious, though."
"Well, yeah," said Gary crossly. "The more times you do something like this, the weirder it looks! It's all your fault, Paul."
"You guys are the ones doing this when you're not supposed to," said Dawn. "If you guys weren't, you wouldn't be getting in trouble in the first place!"
"We're not getting in trouble," said Leaf. "He's not gonna know."
"But he might figure it out if Paul keeps messing with us," said Gary. He turned to Drew. "Lesson learned, don't trust Paul. Buses only take exact change."
"I never said they didn't," said Paul, shrugging. "Anyways, Drew was the one who came to me."
"Because you were supposed to tell me how they work!" said Drew. "I thought since you take the bus all the time, you would know how much I needed for everyone. You just said to take a fifty - you could have told me you meant in coins!"
"He meant for you to think a fifty dollar bill," said Gary hotly. "We probably didn't even need that much!"
"Well, maybe next time you guys should search it up yourselves," said Paul. "Or at least put someone who actually knows how buses work in charge of paying."
"Or," said Dawn, "how 'bout you guys forget about this whole thing? It's gonna get you all in so much trouble!"
"No way, we won't give up!" said Ash optimistically. "We'll get it right this time, right guys?"
"You bet!" said Leaf.
"Yeah, let's do this!" said May. "I've been waiting so long - it's so exciting!"
"If you'd just waited a little longer, you could've come with us this weekend," said Misty gesturing to herself, Dawn and Paul. "Dawn's mom is gonna take us."
"Really?" said Ash. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I wanna come too," said May excitedly.
"Nuh-uh," said Dawn. "I only told Mom to take me and Misty and Paul."
"Aw, why not us?" May whined.
"It's because we're gonna go tomorrow," said Gary. "We'll be the first ones to watch it. And then we'll spoil it for you."
"What? Why?" said Misty irritatedly.
"Because we'll have watched it first!" The tone of Gary's voice made Mr. Robertson sure this was his way of getting back at them for making plans without the rest of them.
And, from the sound of it, Mr. Robertson was sure he'd figured it out: There must be a movie that released in theatres, and these kids wanted to watch it as soon as possible... even if it meant going during school hours. Why they didn't just wait to go on the weekend or even after school was beyond him, but whatever the case, he couldn't let them sneak off to theatres without parental permission.
He was sure they would find a way around him if he tried to talk to them again, but he had another solution: Calling the parents and warning them ahead of time.
And that was exactly what he did when he had time after school. He sat in the staff room with a list of his students' home numbers and, one by one, called their parents.
First, he called Gary's house - it was a good idea to topple the plot starting from who appeared to be the leader.
Except it was Gary who picked up the phone.
"Hello? Who is this?" said Gary.
"Gary, it's Mr. Robertson. Can you please give the phone to a parent?"
A pause. "I can't. Remember I said he's really busy all the time? Gramps is really busy right now."
"Fine. I'll call back."
Gary must have realized he couldn't pick up the phone every time because he said, "Actually, you can talk to him right now."
"Okay, perfect."
There was a long moment of silence on the other side, then someone spoke. It was very obviously not Professor Oak - it was Gary, making his voice unconvincingly deep.
"Hello," he said. "I am Professor Oak. What do you want to talk about?"
"Gary, I know it's you," said Mr. Robertson, irritation bubbling in his skin.
"No, it's me, Gary's grandpa."
"Give the phone to Professor Oak, Gary."
"I am Professor Oak."
Then another voice came from Gary's side: "Gary, what are you doing?"
"Um..."
"Who are you talking to? Give me that."
A pause, and then a female voice sounded from the phone: "Hello?"
"This is Mr. Robertson, Gary's teacher," said Mr. Robertson. "Is this a parent?"
"No, I'm Daisy, his sister. Gramps is busy right now, but I can take a message."
Mr. Robertson wasn't sure how much his sister would help, but he explained the situation. By the end, she sounded just as exasperated as he was, and she assured him they would deal with it.
Mr. Robertson then called everyone else's parents (though only Drew's butler was available in his case), and finally, when he was done, he leaned back with a sigh.
Well, he thought. Crisis averted.
It had been way more trouble than he would have liked. Now, at least, he wouldn't have to worry about it any longer.
The next day, Mr. Robertson thought he wouldn't have to deal with the group of eight skipping class, but when he saw them gathered together at recess, talking in suspiciously low voices, he couldn't help but worry. Like before, he pretended to do something near them to listen in, in case they were plotting something again.
"—can't believe he told on us," Gary was grumbling.
"Of course he would tell on you," said Misty. "What else would he do? Let you guys ditch school?"
"Aw, I really wanted to watch it," said Ash. "We'll miss it in theatres! They won't play it anymore starting next week."
"You could've gone during the weekend," said Dawn.
"Yeah, but now no one's gonna let me go!"
"Your fault," said Misty, crossing her arms. "If you guys hadn't planned to skip school, none of this would've happened."
"I wouldn't have been able to go during the weekend anyways," Gary grumbled. "Gramps is too busy this week."
"Me neither," said May miserably. "My family's gonna do something this weekend. We wouldn't have had time."
"We're having some guests over at home," said Drew. "I'm supposed to be around being a good host." He looked a little irritated. "Even though they're all older and usually don't even care if I'm there or not," he added in a mutter.
"Guess we'll have to watch it out of theatres," said Ash. "Why is there always school when good stuff is happening?"
Well, that explains why they all wanted to go during school hours, Mr. Robertson thought. It was too bad they couldn't go, but what could he do about it?
"Guys, guys," said Leaf. "You're giving up too soon. We can go during lunch break."
Mr. Robertson froze.
"Leaf, we can't go there and be back before lunch's over," Drew pointed out.
"Who said we need to be back before lunch is over?" She smirked. "Sure, we'll get in trouble after we come back, but we would've watched the movie. What's the teacher gonna do about it?"
"He could call the police," said Paul casually. "Report you guys missing..." He looked thoughtful. "Actually, you guys should go ahead, then. The police would make today a little exciting."
"Don't encourage this," Misty snapped.
"But that's a good point," Leaf muttered. "I guess if they hire detectives and police to find us..."
"Maybe they won't find us until after the movie ends?" May said hopefully.
"Or they could find you right before the ending," said Paul. "Right when the main event is about to happen. And you don't get to watch it."
"That sounds horrible!"
"So I guess you guys shouldn't go at all," said Dawn.
They seemed disappointed. But his students being a little disappointment was better than them ditching class. Mr. Robertson turned to go back to his desk, relieved to be over and done with all of this.
Then Drew said...
"You know, another movie's coming out next week. Anyone up to watch it?"
And done! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought in your reviews.
Bye bye for now! Have a great day, and be sure to smile all the way! :)