A/N: Thanks to those who read and reviewed for the previous chapter. I hope you like this next chapter, just as much.
Disclaimer: I only own Miranda.
It was the middle of the afternoon on a Friday in November. School would be dismissed in about an hour and forty five minutes and it was now show and tell time. Each student had brought something to show to the class. Miranda sat at her desk, talking briefly for a few moments.
"Okay, I'm going to give you each three minutes to share what you brought for show and tell. Now, we're going to go in alphabetical order. So that means…"
"I'm last again! I'm always last!" JJ whined.
"Actually, I think you'd be the tenth person. Jordan would actually be the last one." Spencer explained.
JJ feigned being astounded and said, "Well that's a first! Finally, I won't be the last one! Wooo!" She then turned to Jordan and said in a very considerate tone, "Sorry, but I guess that's just how it is."
Jordan just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Eh… no big deal."
"Okay, let's move on. Grant, you get to go first." Miranda said.
Grant walked up to the front of the room. In his hands, he held up a baseball card. He then began telling everyone all about it.
"This is a baseball card of my favorite baseball player, Vincent Conlan. My daddy got this for my fifth birthday. I really like this card because Vincent signed it for me when I went to a baseball game and got to meet him. He was really nice to me."
"Well, that sounds like a wonderful experience, Grant." Miranda said. Okay, how about we let the next person go, now? I believe that would be Haley."
Grant walked back to his seat and Haley walked to the front of the room. She held up a medium sized stuffed lamb and soon began telling everyone about it.
"This is my stuffed lamb, Pixie. I won it at last year's town carnival when I played the ring toss game. And I did it all by myself. I didn't need anyone's help."
"That is a very beautiful stuffed lamb and a beautiful name for it. You must be very proud to have won it all by yourself. Okay, how about we let the next person go? Beth, that would be you." Miranda said.
As Haley walked back to her desk, Beth walked to the front of the room. When she got to the front of the room, she held up a baby blanket. One side was pink and the other side was purple.
"This is my very first baby blanket. My mommy made it for me, before I was born. I never go to bed without it. I know it's for babies, but that doesn't matter to me because it's my favorite blanket in the whole wide world and I'm keeping it, forever." Beth said.
"I think it's wonderful that you still have your baby blanket. I still have mine too." Miranda said. "Okay, how about we let Maeve go now?"
Maeve walked to the front of the room as Beth walked back to her desk. Standing at the front of the room, Maeve held up a gold ring with a diamond in the center of it.
"This is my mommy's wedding ring. I don't know much about it. I guess she got it when she married my daddy. He has a wedding ring too, but it's not the same as this one. I think this one is more prettier than daddy's. His is just a plain gold ring." Maeve said.
"Maeve, does your mommy know you have her wedding ring?" Miranda had a stern, but questionable look on her face.
"Nope, she thinks she lost it. This morning, I woke up before her and snuck into her and daddy's room and took the ring from off her bedside table. She was really freaking out and trying to find it." Maeve explained.
"Maeve, I don't think it was very nice of you to take something valuable of your mommy's." Miranda said.
"Miss Norton, you better not tell on Agent Paper Rock Scissors." Emily warned.
"Yeah, it's not very nice to be a tattle tale!" JJ chimed in.
"Is Maeve gonna go to jail?!" A frightened Ashley, asked.
"Of course she won't go to jail. My sugar pie buttercup would never do that. Would you?" Derek asked Miranda, whose face was now completely red from embarrassment.
It took a couple of moments for Miranda's face to turn back to its original color. When it was back to its color, Miranda answered both Ashley and Derek's questions.
"No, Maeve won't go to jail. She's too young for it." Miranda said as nearly all the children heaved huge sighs of reliefs. "But, I do hope you will return your mother's wedding ring to her, when you get home today, okay?"
"Okay." Maeve agreed.
"How about we let Clyde share what he brought, today?" Miranda asked.
Maeve walked back to her desk as Clyde walked up to the front of the classroom. When he got to the front of the classroom, he held up an Iron Man action figure toy. He then began telling everyone all about it.
"This is Iron Man. He's my favorite superhero. My Grandpa bought this for me, when I visited him and Grandma, last summer. I don't know why I like Iron Man, so much. I guess I just do."
"Well, I think Iron Man is a very cool superhero." Miranda said. "Okay, now let's move on and allow Penelope to share what she brought today."
Clyde walked back to his desk and Penelope walked to the front of the room. At the front of the classroom, Penelope held up a photograph of flowers.
"This is a picture of lots of flowers. I don't know what kind of flowers they are, but I just love flowers because they're really pretty."
"I love flowers too, Penelope. And I believe those are tulips." Miranda said of the picture. "Now, how about we let Jason go now?"
Penelope walked to her desk as Jason walked to the front of the classroom. In one of his hands, he held up a small wood carving of a bird. He then began talking about it.
"This is a wood carving of a sparrow. My great, great grandfather carved it out of a tree limb, when he was young. So, it's been in my family for a very long time. And I really like it because it's a bird and bird's are my favorite thing."
"Your great, great grandfather must have been a very talented wood carver, Jason. That's a lovely sparrow." Miranda said. "Okay, now let's allow Elle to share what she brought."
As Jason walked back to his desk, Elle walked to the front of the classroom. Everyone noticed that she was wearing a crown on her head. Not taking the crown off, Elle pointed to it and began talking about it.
"As you all already know, I am a princess and this is my crown. It's not every day that I get to…"
"ALL HAIL PRINCESS PEANUT BUTTER HEAD!" Emily shouted, interrupting Elle.
Elle stamped her foot and said in a whining voice, "I told you to stop calling me that!"
"Fine, I won't call you, Princess anymore." Emily said.
"No, you can call me that. I don't want you calling me, Peanut Butter Head, anymore." Elle said.
"Alright you two. That's enough. Emily, it's not very kind to call Elle something that she doesn't like to be called. And Elle, it's not very princess like to throw temper tantrums." Miranda said.
"But I like calling her, Princess Peanut Butter Head." Emily said.
"Well, you may like it, but Elle certainly doesn't. Would you like it if someone called you a name that you didn't like?"
Emily thought for a moment and said, "I'd be fine with it. I'm a spy, so I'm always inventing weird spy names for myself and everyone. Gotta keep out identities a secret. Right, Agent Frostybite Snowgirl?" Emily gave a quick pat on Alex's back.
"Uh… right? I think." Alex answered back, confusingly.
Miranda just shook her head from side to side. "Let's just let Elle finish talking about her princess crown." She then looked at Elle and said, "Alright, Elle, you may continue."
"Now as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," Elle sent a quick glare at Emily. "I don't get to wear this crown every day, but since it's show and tell day, I decided this would be the perfect day to wear it. I wish I could wear it all the time, but my mommy and daddy said it would cause too much attention to everyone."
"It's a very beautiful crown, Elle. And your parents are right to not allow you to wear it, every day. But just remember, even without the crown, you're still a princess and that goes for every girl. You're all princesses." Miranda said to all the girls. "Now let's allow Aaron to share what he brought today."
Elle walked back to her desk and Aaron walked to the front of the classroom. Standing at the front of the classroom, Aaron held up a very small baby blue colored neck tie.
"This is my very first neck tie. Believe it or not, when I was born, I came home from the hospital, wearing a suit and tie. I even tied this, myself. Yep, I was a very talented baby."
"Uh, I'm pretty sure you didn't tie that all by yourself. No newborn baby is that talented." Spencer said.
"If you wasn't there, then how do you know if I tied it or not?" Aaron asked.
"Because like I said, no newborn baby is that talented."
"Fine, Mr. Know It All! Have it your way! My daddy tied it for me!" Aaron angrily said.
Spencer held out his hands in defense and said, "Hey, I was just saying."
"Well, you say too much, sometimes!" Aaron said.
"Alright boys, that will be enough of that." Miranda said. "Aaron, that's a very lovely tie. And I bet when you got older, you learned how to tie it all by yourself. I'm glad you shared it with us, today. Now, how about we let the next person go? JJ, I believe that would be you."
"Everyone take notice! I'm not the last one today!" JJ happily skipped to the front of the classroom, almost knocking down Aaron, who was walking back to his desk. "Sorry about that." She said as she passed him. When she got to the front of the classroom, everyone ducked down. "Oh come on! What is wrong with you people?!"
David bravely crawled out from under his desk and stood up, saying, "No offense, JJ, but none of us wants to get knocked out by your soccer ball or be forced to look at Baby Whiskers Bonbon." He then quickly crawled back under his desk.
JJ just stood there for a moment, before saying, "Okay, first of all, I didn't bring my soccer ball because mommy took it away from me, when I got mad and accidently on purpose threw in at the mirror in the hallway, two days ago. And second of all, those jokes about Baby Whiskers Bonbon are getting really old now. I know you all believe that she's the most beautiful creature, you've ever saw. You all just don't want to admit it. And sadly, I didn't bring her, either. I was going to, but she really needed a nap. So instead, I…."
Everyone interrupted JJ with huge sighs of reliefs as they all crawled out from under their desks. JJ just rolled her eyes and continued talking. "As I was saying, so instead, I brought my big sister, Roslyn's butterfly keychain. And in case you're wondering, Miss Norton, yes, yes I did take this without her permission and I probably won't ever give it back to her."
"I appreciate your honesty, Jennifer, but what if Roslyn wants to know what happened to it? " Miranda asked.
"Don't worry about that, Miss Norton. I've got a plan. I'll just tell her that the monster under the porch stole it."
"But do you think your sister will really believe that?" Miranda asked.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." JJ said. "Okay, I'm bored now. You think I can tell you all about my sister's stolen butterfly keychain, now?"
"Yes, you may now tell us about it." Miranda said.
"Good, okay. See this?" JJ held the keychain as high as she possibly could. "This is butterfly keychain. Okay, I'm done talking about it."
"Jennifer, I do hope that you'll do the right thing and return that to your sister." Miranda said.
"Miss Norton, I'll make you a deal. If you promise to stop selling baby polar bears at fruit stands, then I promise that I'll give this keychain back to Roslyn."
"Jennifer, you know that I don't…"
"You sell baby polar bears?! I want one! How much do they cost?!" Beth joyfully asked.
"I want one too!" Jordan exclaimed.
"These are the weirdest group of kids, I've ever known." Miranda thought to herself. "I don't sell baby polar bears. It's against the law. I'd be in big trouble if I sold them."
"Don't worry, Miss Norton. We won't tell on you. And if the police ever do find out, then we'll send you far far far far far far faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr away and change your name to, Agent You Think I'm Miss Norton, But I'm Really Not." Emily said.
"And just how far do you think you'd be sending her?" Derek worriedly asked.
"My next door neighbor's house. Don't worry the police will never look there." Emily said.
"Derek sighed a huge sigh of relief and said, "Good, I couldn't stand the thought of being away from my love."
"Maybe if I just agreed with them, then things could get done, a lot faster." Miranda thought to herself. "Thank you, Emily for the offer. Okay, let's not waste anymore time. We need to give everyone a chance for show and tell. William, I believe it's your turn."
JJ was already at her desk, when Will walked up to the front of the classroom. At the front of the classroom, he held up his left arm, revealing a wrist watch. On the face of the watch, was an image of a lion's face. He then began talking about it.
"This is my watch. I bought it with my very own money that I earned from helping with the chores at home. It took me a whole month to save up for this. Whenever you push a button on the side of the watch, it roars like a real lion." Will then pressed a button, causing a roaring sound from his watch. Everyone was impressed with it.
"That's a really neat watch, William. I bet you're proud to have been able to buy it with your very own money. Now, how about we let Kevin share what he brought with him?" Miranda said.
Will walked back to his desk as Kevin walked up to the front of the classroom. When he got to the front of the room, Kevin held up a video game and began talking about it.
"This is my race car video game. Whenever I don't have any home work or house chores, my mommy and daddy allows me to play it for fifteen minutes a day. I haven't got first place yet, but I'm still practicing."
"Keep practicing Kevin and you'll get first place, eventually. That's a really cool video game, by the way." Miranda encouragingly said. "Okay, now let's allow Alex to share what she brought."
As Kevin walked back to his desk, Alex walked to the front of the classroom. When she got to the front of the room, she held up a drawing of a rabbit. The rabbit was black and white.
"This is a picture of a bunny that I drew all by myself. I drew it this morning, when I got here." Alex said.
"That's a marvelous picture, Alex. I bet your mommy and daddy will want to hang it on the fridge when they see it." Miranda said. "Now how about we let…"
"Miss Norton?" Beth asked, interrupting her teacher.
"Yes, Beth? Do you need something?" Miranda asked.
"What does marbleless mean?" Beth asked as she mispronounced the word "marvelous."
"You mean, marvelous, sweetheart. Marvelous is another word for wonderful." Miranda said.
"Oh, okay."
"Now let's allow Derek to share what he brought with him today." Miranda said.
Alex walked back to her desk and Derek walked to the front of the classroom. Standing at the front of the classroom, Derek began talking about how he is an "inspiration" for thousands of people.
"Now you all may find this hard to believe, but thousands of people have told me that I'm a huge inspiration for them. Why, you ask? Well…"
"Nobody asked!" Haley said.
"Haley, let's not interrupt, okay?" Miranda said.
"Sorry, Miss Norton."
"It's alright." Miranda gave Haley a reassuring smile. She then looked at Derek and said, "Derek, you may continue."
"Thanks, my apple blossom ice cream sundae love." Derek sent a wink at Miranda, whose face turned a shade of red. "Now as I was saying, before I was interrupted by the lovely Haley, I'm an inspiration for thousands of people because of how great of shape, I'm in. Seriously, check out my awesome abs." Derek attempted to remove his shirt, but was stopped by the shouts of nearly everyone.
"Keep your shirt on!"
Derek sighed, sadly and said, "You people really gotta stop being so jealous." He then walked back to his desk and sat down.
"Aren't you going to show us, anything?" Maeve asked.
"Nope, I just wanted to talk about how I'm an inspiration to everyone and try to show off my abs." Derek grinned, obviously proud of himself.
"Okay, well we appreciate you telling us that." Miranda said. "Emily, I believe it's your turn."
Emily did a weird walk/skip to the front of the classroom, while humming the mission impossible theme. When she got to the front of the room, she held up a photograph of an elderly woman with pixie cut gray hair and blue eyes. Miranda knew immediately who the woman in the photograph was.
"Emily, how did you get a picture of my mother?" Miranda asked.
"I took it from your purse." Emily said.
"It's not very nice to go through someone else's belongings without their permission." Miranda said.
"I know. That's why I asked Kevin if I could and he said I could."
"Kevin, did you tell Emily that she could look through my purse?"
"No! I never said that!" Kevin said, defensively.
"Uh, yeah you did. Remember? A few minutes ago when I was talking to you in Russian language?" Emily said.
"Well, how was I supposed to know what you were saying?! I don't speak Russian, so I just said yes because I didn't know what to say!"
"Kevin, if you keep panicking, then you'll never learn how to tie your own shoelaces." Emily said.
"I already know how to tie my own shoelaces and what does that have to do with any of this?"
"Someday, you'll understand. Today is just not that day." Emily said. She then turned her attention back to Miranda and asked, "Can I tell everyone about your mommy, now please?"
"I'm not sure what you would know about my own mother, but sure. I'd like to know what you have to say about her." Miranda said, clearly not wanting to argue with the seven year old.
"Okay, good." Emily sighed heavily and began talking about the picture. "This is a picture of Miss Norton's mommy. It was taken over seventy five years ago. Her name is Mildred Norton. Well, that's what it used to be. Now it's Myrtle Muskrat. She had to…"
"Wait, why did she change her name?" Maeve interrupted Emily.
"I was just about to explain that, until you interrupted me."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Emily."
Emily held out one of her hands and said, "No problem, Agent Raspberry Van Shortcake." She then continued discussing the picture. "Anyway, as I was saying, Mildred Norton had to change her name to Myrtle Muskrat because one night, over seventy five years ago, when she was coming home from the grocery store, she saw two very bad men, stepping on a family of three thousand poor helpless spiders. The bad guys saw her and chased her all the way to the front door of her house. Luckily for her, she called the police, but the bad guys got away. The police were so afraid for Mildred's life, that they made her change her name to Myrtle Muskrat and she had to go into the witness protection program. It's really sad, if you think about it because she had to leave behind her husband and twenty three children. Miss Norton was only two months old when her mommy had to leave, so she never really got to know her." Emily and a few other students sniffled trying to hold back their tears.
Miranda just laughed and said, "Emily, you have a very big imagination, but my mother isn't in the witness protection program. She never has been. I go to her and my father's house, every Sunday for family dinner. Her name is actually Louise Norton, but before she married my father, she was Louise Fritchley. She and my father only have three children. And that picture wasn't taken seventy five years ago. It was actually taken just a few months ago."
Emily just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Hmm, believe what you want, but at least one of us knows the real story." She then handed the picture back to Miranda and happily skipped to her desk.
"Okay, well thank you, Emily for sharing that interesting information about my mother. Now let's move on and allow Spencer to share what he brought today." Miranda said.
Spencer walked up to the front of the classroom. Standing at the front of the room, he held up a file. He then began talking about it.
"This is a report card of a seventh grader named, Greg Doughty. He's my next door neighbor. I have to go to his house sometimes, whenever my mommy and daddy are not home. So, I got bored one day and began snooping around in the Doughty house and found this." Spencer held the report card, a little higher. He then opened it and studied it very carefully, a sad expression soon fell upon his face. "Oh, this isn't good. This isn't good at all."
"What's wrong, Spencer?" Aaron asked.
"Greg is failing math and science." Spencer studied the report card, more and then suddenly he sighed heavily and said, "Wait a minute. This was from last year. Hopefully, he's doing well in math and science, now."
"I hope he's doing well, too. And Spencer, even if that is an old report card, it still wasn't right of you to take it without Greg or his parents' permission. You will be returning that, won't you?" Miranda asked, sternly.
"Yep." Spencer said.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Now let's move on and allow David to share what he has." Miranda said.
Spencer walked back to his desk and David walked to the front of the room. At the front of the room, David held up a toy dinosaur.
"This is my triceratops dinosaur. Last weekend, my great aunt Velma came all the way from Italy, just visit us and she bought this dinosaur for me." Rossi proudly held the dinosaur up a little higher. "I named it, Vinnie."
"You're great aunt must love you very much to have gotten you that really cool dinosaur. Thank you for sharing it with us, David. " Miranda said. "Alright, we've got two more people left. Ashley, you're next."
As David walked back to his desk, Ashley walked to the front of the room. Standing at the front of the classroom, she held up a small stuffed toy penguin. The penguin was wearing a black top hat and black bow tie.
"This Oswin, my favorite stuffed toy penguin. I really like him because he can sing and dance. See, watch." Ashley instructed her teacher and classmates as she pushed a button on the penguins foot and it began to sing and dance. Everyone was quite intrigued by it.
"That seems like a very talented penguin, Ashley. I'm glad you shared it with us, today." Miranda said. "Alright, Jordan, it's finally your turn."
Ashley walked back to her desk and Jordan walked to the front of the classroom. When she got to the front of the classroom, Jordan held up a jewelry box with kittens painted on it.
"This is my musical jewelry box. When I open it, it plays music and a ballerina kitten dances. See?" Jordan opened her jewelry box to demonstrate it, revealing a dancing white kitten figurine in a pink tutu and pink hair bow, twirling to a tune. She then closed it and with a smile, said, "I listen to this, every night, before I go to bed."
"That is a very beautiful jewelry box, Jordan. Thank you for sharing it with us, today." Miranda said, as Jordan walked back to her desk.
"Hey, Miss Norton?"
"Yes Jason, do you need something?" Miranda asked.
"Did you bring something for show and tell today?" Jason asked.
"I'm afraid not." Miranda said.
"Here show us this." Emily got up from her chair and walked up to Miranda, handing her a humming bird keychain. She then walked back to her desk and sat down.
"Well that's strange. I have a keychain exactly like this." Miranda said, sounding as she studied the keychain, more.
"I know you do. I took that out of your purse when Agent Rocky Road Marshmallows was showing us his grandmother's neighbor's cousin's wife's boyfriend's credit card." Emily said.
"Wait, who?" Miranda asked, clearly confused.
"Spencer. Jeeze, Miss Norton, keep up! You should know all this by now!"
"I didn't bring my grandmother's neighbor's cousin's wife's boyfriend's credit card for show and tell. I brought my neighbor Greg Doughty's report card." Spencer said.
"Agent Rocky Road Marshmallow's when the bunny apocalypse happens, you'll know that I've been telling the truth all along." Emily said to Spencer.
"I thought it was supposed to be a zombie apocalypse." Will said.
"Who cares about that? A bunny apocalypse would be even better." Beth said as the rest of the girls agreed with her. The boys however, disagreed.
"Yeah, but wouldn't it be cool to see some zombies?" Aaron said.
"I've always wanted to see one." David admitted.
"Why would you want to see zombies? Bunnies are much more cuter and they don't bite." Elle said.
"Yeah they do. My cousin Angela's pet bunny Twinkles bit her, one time." Jason said.
"Well that's because she ate his carrot's." JJ said.
"No she didn't. Angela hates carrots. Twinkle's was just a really mean bunny." Jason explained.
"Oh, sure blame Twinkle's." Jordan sarcastically said.
"But he really did…."
"Alright children, that's enough of that." Miranda said. She then turned her attention to Emily and said, "Emily, you know how I feel about stealing. It's wrong."
"I didn't steal it. I was just getting it out of your purse, so you can tell us about it." Emily explained.
"I'm sure you wasn't stealing it, but it's still wrong to go through someone else's belongings without their permission. Don't let it happen again, okay?"
"Yep, okay. Will you tell us about the keychain now, please?" Emily asked.
"Sure." Miranda said with a smile. She then began telling the students about her humming bird keychain. "Humming birds are my favorite kind of animal. So, one day when I was twelve years old, I was yard sale shopping with my mom and I saw this little humming bird keychain and I just knew that I had to have it. Well, I was only allowed to get one thing that day and I already got a camera, so I begged my mom to let me have just one more thing. After about a minute and a half of begging, my mom finally gave me the fifty cents for this keychain and ever since then, I carry this keychain around with me, wherever I go."
"Wow, twelve years old?! That's was like ninety years ago for you! I didn't know you were really old, Miss Norton!" Clyde said in disbelief.
Miranda laughed and said, "No, sweetheart. It wasn't that long ago. I'm only twenty seven years old. So, it was actually fifteen years ago."
"That's still a really long time ago." Ashley said.
End of chapter twelve. Reviews please! Good or bad, I'll accept both. Just don't be too harsh with your reviews, please. Chapter thirteen will be up as soon as possible.