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Third grade...
"Okay, um... My banana for your um... For your apple." Eric stood by the front school gate with Sydney, trying desperately to trade his lunch for hers, because he didn't like bananas. Bananas were yellow, and yellow foods were girlie, because yellow was a girl's colour, which would in turn make him girlie if he ate it. He sighed. When would his mum ever learn? Bananas were just out of the question. Like, hello? Yellow? Girl's colour? Apples however... Apples were red, and RED was a manly colour, because... Well just because. And you just don't argue against the rules with girl colours and boy colours. It was just the rules, okay?
Sydney grinned at his proposition, shaking her head in a stubborn manner. She crossed her arms across her chest, smiling gleefully. "Nuh uh. Not worth it, Eric."
"But..." Eric began to protest, because he didn't want to be seen eating a yellow girl's fruit at recess. It just wasn't right. "But Sydney..." He whined. "Look at how nice this banana is... All nice and... And... And yellow."
Syd only giggled at the look of desperation on her friend's face. "Mmm..." She pretended to ponder for a bit, just to get his hopes up for a bit and string him along. "Nah."
"Awww, Syd!" He held up the banana as if he were showcasing it. "Look at how yummy it looks... How yellow it is."
"Eric, I don't want your banana. And besides, I kinda like apples." She smiled showing her dimples, as he threw his hands up in defeat.
"Oh, I give up!"
Michael watched the two from a few metres away, approaching them as he walked into the school gates. "Hey Sydney, hey Eric," he greeted them with a sweet smile.
"Hey Mike."
"Hey Mikey."
"So watcha got for lunch, eh buddy?" Eric piped up, invoking an exasperated sigh from Sydney, who was growing tired of the never-ending talk of food from Eric.
"Uhhh... A peanut butter sandwich and an apple, I think. Why, what do you got?"
"A banana! Can you believe my mum packed a banana?" Eric groaned, and continued to whine about his food. "I wish my mum was like yours, Mike... You're lucky she understands why boys don't eat yellow foods. Especially bananas."
Michael looked questioningly at Sydney, who only shrugged, before he turned back to a grumpy Eric who held his banana at an arm's distance away, with only his forefinger and thumb, treating it as if it were a dirty sock.
"Uhhh... Yeah. I guess I am..." He spoke slowly, just as the bell signalling the beginning of school rang loudly through the playground. Around them, children scurried to their classes, eager to begin the day at school.
"C'mon, we better get to class," Sydney turned, and headed towards the direction of their classroom, with both Eric and Michael at her heels, Eric still holding his banana from two fingers.
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"… and now it's time for show and tell, everyone!" The class of third graders sat up more alertly in their seats when their teacher make the announcement, eagerly awaiting the show and tell presentations for today.
"Hmm… Eric Weiss? You're first on the list for today Eric, and I hope you've brought something more… appropriate than last week's show and tell."
Eric eagerly hopped out of his seat and walked… No, bounced, was more like it, to the front of the classroom, his lunchbox tucked safely beneath his right arm.
"Oh it is, Miss. It is," he spoke, as he rummaged through his lunchbox in search of his object for show and tell. After a few moments, he finally pulled out an object, and placed his lunchbox on the floor beside his feet.
It was yellow. Can you guess what it is?
"This is a banana, everyone," Eric stated obviously, showing it to the class. And once again, he launched into his endless rambling of why boys shouldn't eat bananas that he had started earlier with Sydney, oblivious to the blank expressions of everyone else in the class, except maybe Sydney, who smiled to herself and shook her head.
After about ten minutes or so, with half the class's eyes drooping, and Eric still continuing what had turned into an argument with himself over bananas, the teacher finally politely stopped him.
"Eric, dear, I think we've spent enough time with your show and tell for today…" she spoke softly, with a gentle smile.
"Hmm… Okay. But one more thing before I go?"
"Yes?"
"If anyone's willing to swap my banana for something else… Something not yellow and–"
"Eric, I think that's enough…"
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"Michael Vaughn?" The teacher called out, as she looked up from her list of names. "Do you have something for show and tell today?"
"Yes, Miss," Michael answered politely, rummaging through his backpack and pulling out a shoebox.
Walking up to the front, he placed the brown shoebox on the teacher's table at the front, and slowly pulled off the lid only a tiny fraction. His small hand disappeared into the box, and pulled something out, and turning around to show the class.
"His name is Tobey, my pet froggie," he stated, holding the frog up for everyone to see.
Tobey the frog was a dirty browny colour, with bits of green here in there, and on his backside, he sported several darker freckle-like spots. He stared at the third grade class with bulging, beady eyes, and every few seconds would let out a small 'croak,' his throat protruding out. His webbed feet twitched slightly in the palm of the young boy's hands, perhaps slightly nervous and the thirty or so pair of curious gazes all set upon him.
"I've had Tobey for a while now, and he was a birthday present from my Aunt Trish…" Michael spoke nervously, gaze remaining fixated on the amphibian in his hands. "I'm not sure what breed he is… But he likes to jump around a lot. Sometimes, I let him out in the backyard to explore for a bit, but my mum says that one day Tobey will jump away when I let him out to explore, so I have to keep an eye on him when he's outside at all times…"
And right on queue, as if he heard what Michael were saying, Tobey the froggie leapt right out of the hands of little Mike, and onto the floor, beady eyes darting around the place in search of a possible way to escape.
Two seconds past, before it finally hit everyone in the room, including the teacher, that there was a frog leaping about in the classroom. Frantically jumping out of their seats, all thirty or so students ran to the back of the classroom, intending to get as far away as possible to the frog, which began to leap across the room. Shrieks and screams were heard, as everyone dashed madly about, leaving a lonesome Michael to catch Tobey on his own.
Michael made a dash for the frog, as it leapt up onto someone's desk in the front row. 'Oh no, no, no, no, no,' he thought to himself, as he lunged forward onto the desk, sending everything on it scattering onto the floor. This isn't how it was meant to be, Tobey wasn't meant to jump away! He hadn't planned for this to happen. Tobey was meant to be a good froggie for the few minutes that he was to spend talking about him for show and tell, and then afterwards, the whole class would applaud, and Sydney would be really impressed with him and Tobey, and everyone would say that his show and tell was better than Eric's banana talk and…
"ARRRRRRRRRRGH!"
A deafening, high-pitched scream drew the attention of everyone in the room, including Michael, to the back of the classroom. It was Sydney. And Tobey was perched on her head. 'Uh oh,' Michael whispered hoarsely.
Running like a knight in shining armour, he fled to her rescue, tackling her to the ground, like er… Like any prince charming would, of course.
"Syd, I'm so sorry," he apologised, getting up off of her. "I… I was just trying to get Tobey."
She smiled weakly, as she got up from the floor and rubbed at her sore neck. "It's okay, Mikey… Really. Thanks… I think."
Michael smiled in return, before turning around just in time to see Tobey the misbehaved frog leaping out the window, to freedom.
Tears in his eyes, he turned around to face a sympathetic Eric, who patted him on the back. "It's okay Mikey… At least you still got that red apple."
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