Substitute Teacher

Arden, Hunter, and their friend Alana were in their English class. Alana was gazing at a cute boy mouse, Arden was looking through her English book, and Hunter was day dreaming while chewing bubble gum. The teacher, Mr. Bickely, was teaching them about conjunctions. Mr. Bickely was a gray furred mouse with khaki pants, a blue shirt and red tie.

"So my dear children, if there's anything you would like to go review, right now is the perfect time to ask questions," he explained. He looked around and saw Hunter chewing gum and not paying attention.

"Mr. Hunter Chunn?" he asked. Hunter looked at him.

"Can you tell us what a conjunction is?" asked Mr. Bickely. Hunter rolled his eyes and tried to think.

"Uhh…" he said.

"No, "Uhh" is a city in the country of "Duh" which you seem to be the governor of," replied Mr. Bickely. Mr. Bickely looked at Arden.

"Miss Arden Flaversham?" he asked. "Miss Flaversham? Miss Flaversham?"

Hunter was getting angry. He turned to Arden.

"ANSWER HIM!" he yelled. Arden looked at Hunter.

"Don't make him say your name again," said Hunter. Arden's gaze went to Mr. Bickely's. The class room door opened and Mr. Flaversham came in with a paper bag.

"Arden, you forgot your lunch," whispered Hiram. Arden walked up to him.

"Oh thank you father, but now I really need you to leave; Bah-bye," replied Arden trying to push him out the door. Hiram looked around, smiled, and gasped.

"Oh is this English class? You know, I used to teach English before I went to toy making," informed Hiram. Mr. Bickely smiled.

"You were once an English teacher?" he asked.

"Oh why yes," replied Hiram.

"Mr. Flaversham, I'll be gone for awhile and I've just the greatest idea," returned Mr. Bickely. Arden went wide eyed and gasped.

"NNNNOOOO!" yelled Arden.

After school, Arden came in, threw her backpack on the ground and sat on a stool sighing deeply. Olivia walked up to her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Father is my substitute teacher for the rest of the week," replied Arden.

"What about your teacher?" asked Olivia.

"He's going on a vacation to Aberdeen to visit a sick cousin," replied Arden.

"Really?" asked Olivia.

"Uh-huh," replied Arden. Olivia thought for a moment.

"How do you know father will be substituting?" asked Olivia.

"I forgot my lunch and he came by to give it to me. He saw I was in English and then everything went down hill after that," replied Arden. Olivia rubbed her shoulder.

At school the next day, Mr. Flaversham came in to the English class.

"Hello students; I'm your substitute, Mr. Flaversham," he said. Everyone started whispering and looking at Arden.

"What?" asked Arden.

"No one said anything about your father substituting," replied a tan furred female mouse in front of Arden. The mouse looked at her. Arden glared. The mouse in front of her just turned her head away from her.

"Now children, Mr. Bickely won't be here for a week because he is visiting a sick cousin in Aberdeen, so I'll be teaching the class," explained Hiram. Everyone looked at Arden. Arden sank in her chair.

"Children?" asked Hiram. The students looked at him.

"The front of the class is where I'm standing," he said.

"We know," replied the tan furred mouse.

"Well…let us get going with our lessons. It says here on this letter that Mr. Bickely left for us is that you have been studying conjunctions. Can anyone tell me what a conjunction is?" asked Hiram.

"Arden can," replied the tan furred mouse. Arden looked around.

"Arden can you?" asked Hiram.

"Um…a conjunction is the part of speech that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences," replied Arden reluctantly.

"That's right, Arden," replied Hiram. The tan furred mouse giggled meanly.

After class, things started off bad and just got worse. People taunted Arden and made fun of her. Arden and Alana went off to Alana's locker and started to talk.

"Today has been one of the worst days of my life," said Arden.

"What were the other bad days?" asked Alana. Arden tipped her head.

"Sigh the other worst days were when I lost Julian and Emily, losing Kanaka and almost losing my life to mostly Ratigan, and now I'm living with my dear friend Olivia and so well, here we are!" replied Arden. Alana looked at her strangely.

"You were there when the boarding school burned down and when Kanaka, and when I battled Ratigan. That counts for where you were," explained Arden.

"I don't blame you……oh that boy is cute!" replied Alana. Alana saw a cute mouse go by and started to follow him.

"Hey!" yelled Arden. "For once, let's think about me, people!"

Arden walked away.

Arden went to Baker Street now knowing Hiram was following her. She knocked on the door and it was answered by Mrs. Judson.

"Hello dear; come inside," greeted Mrs. Judson. Arden stepped in and saw Basil and Dr. Dawson sitting talking.

"Hello Basil and Dr. Dawson," greeted Arden.

"Oh hello Arden; so nice of you to come," replied Basil. Arden's smile faded.

"Is something troubling you?" asked Dr. Dawson. Arden nodded.

"What happened?" asked Basil.

"My English teacher is on a trip to Aberdeen to visit his sick cousin and you're never going to believe who's teaching for the rest of the week," replied Arden.

"Who?" asked Dr. Dawson.

"My father," replied Arden. Basil went wide eyed.

"Julian is teaching the class?" asked Basil.

"Yes, Julian came back from the dead and is substituting my class. Of course not, Mr. Basil," replied Arden tipping Basil's head.

"I would have thought you knew that I was talking about Hiram Flaversham," she said. Basil stood up. Dawson stopped.

"Everyone please, we don't have time to argue," he said.

"Yes well, insulting me will not change the situation," replied Basil. "Besides, I'm not stupid."

"Well then don't act like it," replied Arden. Basil folded his arms.

"Please everyone, how about just sitting down and let us talk about this," returned Dawson.

"Well fine," replied Arden. "So as I said, Flaversham is teaching the class. It turns out that he was once an English teacher and now he's substituting and now I'm the laughing stock of the whole 7th grade," she explained.

"Why don't you just deal with it?" asked Basil.

"Because everyone is laughing at me and they won't stop until Hiram goes away. So in conclusion, at home, I'm Arden Diane Morgan Takamashi Pattison Flaversham, but at school, I'm now Mr. Flaversham's oldest daughter. I wish he could leave," replied Arden. Dawson thought for a moment.

"Do you need your help?" asked Dawson. Basil looked at him.

"Dawson?" asked Basil with a mean look on his face.

"Alright, here is the plan: there's this student in my class who goes out of control when he sees a roll of paper towels. All you have to do is get a roll of paper towels so I can place it on his desk. When he comes in tomorrow, he will see them and do all sorts of strange things and then I'll get the class all perked up so when Hiram comes in, he will do anything to get out of my class and never substitute there again!" explained Arden. Basil and Dawson looked at each other. Dawson smiled.

"I have a roll of paper towels somewhere around here," he replied. Basil looked at him.

"Dawson!" asked Basil.

"Calm down Mr. Basil," replied Arden. Hiram was spying on them. He sighed.

The next day, Arden came into the class room and placed the paper towels on one of the student's desks. The bell rung and the students started coming in. Arden was smiling through out. Her smile faded when she saw Alana coming in with a cute guy. The cute guy was the student who flips out for paper towels. Alana and the cute guy came up to Arden.

"Hey Arden, this is m new boyfriend, Chad," said Alana. Chad had white fur, a brown shirt, blue jeans, and had brown eyes. When he saw the paper towels on his desk, he jumped up and down.

"Uh-oh, paper towels," said Alana. Alana let go of his arm and she let him run to the paper towels and he started spreading the paper towels all around. Arden crept to the crowd of surprised students. Hiram came in with the students all over the place.

"CHILDREN!" he yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Hiram walked over to Arden.

"This plan almost worked," he said.

"You knew?" asked Arden.

"Yes," replied Hiram. Hiram took her hand.

"Arden, I love this job and if you ask me, I'll do whatever makes you happy," he said.

"Really?" asked Arden. Hiram nodded.

"I…I think you should keep doing what you're doing," confessed Arden.

"If that's what you want," replied Hiram.

"Yes," returned Arden. Hiram and Arden hugged. Alana and Chad were in tears and hugged each other. Soon everyone was hugging each other. Hunter came in to the classroom and saw everyone hugging each other.

"I must be in the wrong classroom 'cause English ain't that sappy!" he said. Basil and Dawson came in behind him.

"Speak for yourself, lad," replied Dawson.