I strode into the classroom and noticed immediately that the room was dark again, and the nap mats had been set out on the ground. That must mean that…

Mr. Pony's voice cut through my thoughts like a beat saber, as if they were reading my mind. "That's right! Now that recess is over, it is now officially naptime. Everyone who wishes to nap, please select a mat. Otherwise, like yesterday, you can participate in quiet coloring."

I took out the Lucky Penny and flipped it. It landed on heads, so I decided that meant I was going to take a nap today. Aside from Jacques, who must've wanted to draw up a map of the larger campus while it was still fresh in him memory, and Rachel, who presumably wanted to observe us, it seemed that everyone else wanted to nap as well. Other students began choosing mats of their own as I continued flipping my coin. Finally, it decide that I should sleep on one of the mats close to the rug where we met for centers, which happened to be near Kathleen's mat.

"I'm pretty tired," she said, stretching and yawning as I settled down.

"Well yeah," I said. "You were awesome out there during kickball."

"Thanks," she said, putting both of her fists to her chin and closing her eyes. "It's a bit like baseball, but mixed with football, which is my favorite sport." No wonder she was able to kick the ball so far.

"You were also really running around out there."

"Yeah, but now it's time for a nap," she said. "Play hard, sleep hard. That's my motto. Aight, good night, Maddie." I was a little surprised that she had remembered my name from being picked during kickball, but then I realized that I had done the same thing for her. All of a sudden, the soothing music started – this time it was "So This is Love" from Disney's Cinderella – and a wave of exhaustion washed over me. Before I knew it… I was asleep. I didn't know how long I slept, but I felt like it was for a very long time.

Unsurprisingly, I had another strange dream about school. In this dream, I was sitting in my assigned seat with Jacques, Julia, and Owen, but their faces were blurred out in obscurity. The rest of the class, excluding Kyle, was also in their assigned seat, and Mr. Pony was standing next to the easel pad. It was as if we were in class again.

"Have you ever wanted to be a superhero?" asked Mr. Pony. My mama says questions like that are called rhetorical questions, and that you're not post to answer them. "That was always a childhood dream of mine. So much so that, one day, I got a blanket, tied it around my neck like a cape, and called myself Superpony!" Mr. Pony put a comical amount of emphasis on the 'u' in 'Superpony'. "First step on my hero's journey to gain superpowers was to learn how to fly. Well, the best way to do that was to practice jumping off things! You have to start small of course, with something like your bed, or a park bench, in the middle of the pouring rain. But eventually, I worked my way up to bigger and better things, like trees, balconies, and even transformers! As my jumping point grew higher and higher and higher, I was able to fly for longer and longer amounts of time." Mr. Pony looked down somewhat embarrassedly. "Some people tried telling me that I wasn't really flying, that I was..." they spit out the following words. "falling with style." Mr. Pony suddenly seemed angry, but my mama says that people that look angry are just determined, so determined, and raised one of their hands vengefully. "But forget what the haters say! Believe in yourself, and you'll even be able to jump off the Empire State building, just like Will in the adverb song! Do you want me to sing it for you?" Mr. Pony closed one of their eyes in bliss, tilted their head to their right slightly, put both of their hands on their stomach, and began singing to the tune of the Indiana Jones theme song: "Be am is, are was were, been being, do does did, have has had, can could may, might shall should, Will would must! JUMP OFF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING AND LIIIIIIVE! NO! AND DIEEEEEE!" After finishing their, uh, cancion, Mr. Pony's expression returned to normal. "In completely unrelated news, my career as a superhero had to be cut short and come to an aburpt end. That's how I ended up as a teacher for you lot!" Mr. Pony put their hands on their stomach. "Anyways, thank you for coming to my TED talk!" I faded back into unconsciousness, enjoying an undefined number of minutes of peaceful, uninterrupted slumber.

Suddenly, the lights flicked on and the sound of the iPhone alarm went off, I jolted awake, looking around in a panic as I had forgotten where I was for a second, until I took in my surroundings. That's right, I had take a nap during naptime. I rose to my feet and saw my fellow students doing the same.

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" said Mr. Pony near the easel pad, clearly freshly caffeinated. I remembered the weird dream I had and wondered if Mr. Pony had actually been telling us about superheroes.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Pony," said Randy obediently, before addressing the rest of the class in Mr. Pony's stead. "Alright everyone, before returning to your assigned seats, make sure to put the nap mats in the closet. Form a single file line, now."

"Who made you the boss of us?" snapped Owen. "Also, who even put these mats out in the first place? They weren't here when we left for lunch."

"Maybe it was a ghost!" suggested Kristy. "Who knows, this classroom might be haunted."

"Don't talk about ghosts," replied Kiki. "You're kinda spooking me..."

"Don't be stupid," retorted Randy, though when he said it, it sounded a bit more like 'schewpid'. "There's no such thing as ghosts."

"That's a lie!" said Kristy, pointing a finger at Randy angrily and shifting all of her weight onto one foot.

"She's right," agreed Kiki, holding up a finger as if she were lecturing Randy. "I saw a ghost once when I was helping my mom do laundry."

"Well then, Randy," interrupted Owen, smiling and putting his hands behind his head. "Answer the question. If it wasn't a ghost, who put the nap mats out on the ground?

"Why is this even such a big deal?" asked Jeremy, scratching his nearly-shaved head. "They're just nap mats."

"I think it was Mr. Pony," offered Skylar. "This is, like, their classroom, right? Why wouldn't' they be the one that put out all the nap mats?"

Mr. Pony rung the handbell, calling everyone's attention. "Everyone, let

's stay on task, please. We're already a little behind schedule, and we want to make sure we have enough time for our game later."

"A game?" asked Owen, balling up his fists in front of himself, his eyes sparkling. "Why didn't' you say so in the first place? Come on everyone, we gotta put the nap mats away in the closet!"

Excited by Mr. Pony's revelation, the rest of the class rushed to fill up the nap mats and put them back in storage closet before returning to their seats.

"That's much better!" exclaimed Mr. Pony, putting their hands on their stomach. "Now listen closely, class. It's time for a Spanish lesson!"

"Aww," said Owen, putting on a dismayed face. "I thought you said we were gonna play a game! Did you lie to us?"

With an irate expression on their face, Mr. Pony put both their hands in the air. "Are you callin' me a liar? Just be patient for a second, I'll explain." They lowered their right arm and turned to the side slightly. "This is a Spanish lesson… and a game! In that sense, I guess you could call it a Spanish game!"

"Huh," inputted William. "I think I might have played one of those once."

"Anyways, this game is called… ¿Tienes el gato? Which is Spanish for 'do you have the cat?'" Mr. Pony revealed three small plastic figurines – a cat that was orange like Blossoms, a yellow dog, and a blue harlequin duck. "So, the rules are simple. Each and every one of you will close your eyes and put your heads down. I will pick three of you at random to get one of these animals – el gato, el perro, y el pato." Mr. Pony gestured towards each of the figurines as they named them. "Keep the animal hidden. When I clap my hands twice, you can open your eyes and look up. Then, I'll pick someone to start. That person can ask one other person if they have any of the animals. For example if I wanted to ask Jenny if she had the dog, I would go, 'Jenny, ¿tienes el perro?'"

Jenny wasn't quite sure how to respond to that question.

Mr. Pony continued. "if you did in fact have the dog the other person asked for, you say, 'si, yo tengo el perro.' and if you don't, you say, 'no, no tengo el perro.' After answering the question, you have to ask another student if they have any of the animals. You win by finding out who has each animal. Now, are there any questions?"

I wasn't sure I understood everything the first time through, but I think I could probably get the heck of it pretty quickly if we started playing, so I didn't say anything. Everyone else was silent as well.

"Well then, in that case, everyone, close your eyes, and put your heads down. The very first game of 'Tienes el gato' is about to begin!" Hesitantly, I complied. A few minutes passed… and nothing. Suddenly, I felt something small and plastic drop into my outstretched palm, and felt my fingers close around it. Since I knew I had earned one of the animals, I stole a quick glance at it, and was able to see that it was the duck, or el pato. He was a blue harlequin duck, and he was a handsome boy. I quickly put el pato into my pocket, along with the Lucky Penny, Shovel, Quarter, and the two chips.

Mr. Pony's hands clapped twice, and everyone snapped to hut-tention. Everyone's suspicious eyes shifted around, as they tried to size each other up and make guesses about who had what animals.

"Hmm..." Mr. Pony tilted their head to the side and put a hand to their cheek, the one on their face, thoughtfully. "Whomst should I pick first… how about Eli?"

Eli looked a bit nervous. He looked around before finally settling on the person right across from him, Jeremy. "J-j-jeremy, do you, uh, ¿tienes el perro?"

"No tengo el perro," responded Jeremy with tired eyes. He scanned the room, hoping to ask someone not at his table. "Kristy, ¿tienes el gato?"

"No," admitted Kristy, before adding "uh, no tienes el gato."

Mr. Pony suddenly appeared next to her, like a ghost. "Bu the way, when you say you don't have something, you say 'tengo'. When you ask someone else if they have something, you use 'tienes'. It's like saying that you has something instead of you have something. Make sure you remember that, otherwise you would be telling someone else they don't have el gato."

"Okay," replied Kristy, but to me, it sounded more like 'It's time to cross the streams!'. "Jenny, ¿tienes el gato?"

Jenny thought for a second. "Si, yo… tengo el gato," she confirmed, presenting the plastic cat. A few people cheered.

"Good jorb!" said Mr. Pony, putting their hands on their stomach. "Now, you just have to find el perro y el pato, and then you win!"

"All right," began Julia, adjusting her glasses as if they were a bucket hat. "I think that we should focus on finding one animal at a time. It will be faster to narrow down our choices that way."

"That sounds like a good idea," agreed Kathleen.

"Let's focus on el perro first," added Randy. "Jenny, why don't you go ahead and - "