"Greetings, fellow classmates!" greeted Dexter (from "Dexter's Laboratory") as he entered Room 42. "Are you all excited as I am for another year of tests, homework assignments, and..."

As he arrived at the front desk, Dexter noticed an odd-looking kid sitting there. As the shirt implies, his name was Joe Cool.

Dexter went to another desk, sitting between Julie Wong and Solomone Fukofuka*, whispering to them. "Strange one, isn't he?"

"Hello, class and welcome to your first year inside Bowditch Middle School." the 6th grade teacher greeted in front of us. "For those of you who may have known me...or not, I'm Mrs. Edelschein, and I'll be one of the many teachers you'll be...

"Yes...Nathan?" she called upon seeing me raise my hand.

"What did you mean when you said 'one of the many teachers?'" I asked before hearing the door slam.

We all turned to see Lucy Van Pelt inside the room, saying. "She means that instead of having one teacher like you did the old school, you'll be getting more as you go from period to period."

"Thank you for answering his question, Lucy." said Mrs. Edelschein. "But I've got this covered."

"And now, I will take it from here." said Lucy. "So why don't you go back to your little desk and let me address your students."

Mrs. Edelschein frowned at her while doing as she was told.

"Now, then," began Lucy. "As you all know, I am Lucy Van Pelt, your student body president."

As she went on and on, while sitting in the back desk, I noticed Peppermint Patty move her chair towards me, whispering. "That's Lucille for ya, always getting into everyone's business."

I moved my chair away from her, but she moved her chair an inch closer, asking. "You got a name, kid?"

"Nathan Rosenberg." I said, introducing myself.

"Good to meet ya, Nate!" Peppermint Patty said, roughly shaking my head. "The name's Peppermint Patty and this is my friend, Marcie."

"How do you do, Nathan." greeted Marcie.

I didn't say "hi" back. I just looked into my binder.

"He's not that friendly, isn't he, sir?" Marcie asked Peppermint Patty, who replied. "He's probably got the first day jitters. And will you stop calling me 'sir?'"

"Am I boring you?" Lucy asked, pulling down my binder.

"As a matter of fact, yes." answered Peppermint Patty, whom Lucy glared at, then turned to see what's at the bottom of my binder.

"And what's this?" she asked, pulling it out.

"That's mine! Give it back!" I pleaded.

"What is it? A scrapbook?" Lucy asked, holding it back.

"Please!" I begged, trying to get my scrapbook from her. "I worked hard on that."

Lucy stifled a laugh. "You mean to say you spent all summer working on your little playtime project?"

"It's Project Playtime!" I corrected her. "That...was the name of the segment I saw on Playhouse Disney."

On hearing this, the rest of the class laughed until Lucy held up her hand.

Once everyone was silent, Lucy said. "Playtime is not allowed here in middle school. So is this...this picture book!"

"No!" I cried, seeing that she was going to tear up my scrapbook.

"Lucy!" called Mrs. Edelschein. "Give it back."

"Why should I?" asked Lucy. "You're not even my teacher."

"Regardless," said Mrs. Edelschein. "Give Nathan back his scrapbook now!"

Lucy frowned at her while handing my scrapbook back.

But as soon as I took it, she got into my face, saying. "Let it be known that thanks to you and your precious masterpiece, art is no longer part of this school's elective wheel."

The class gasped at what they were hearing.

"Elective wheel?" I repeated.

"Oh, yes. I was just about to bring this up." Lucy said, acting like her sweet self again. "You see, Bowditch Middle School's elective wheel consists of different 3rd period classes that rotates every 6 weeks throughout the year."

"However," she went on, her sweetness faded to reveal her true cold colors. "After what's been seen here, any form of creativity is now forbidden inside these grounds. And as for your little school clubs, no one is to attend them. You are to go straight home, stay there, and do your work."

The class turned and glared at me while Joe Cool growled.

Lucy went to the front desk...and pulled out the sunglasses, revealing that Joe Cool was none other than...Snoopy!

"And one more thing..." she added as she kicked him out of Room 42. "No dogs are allowed inside this school!"

Snoopy grumbled as he picked himself up when he noticed that Kevin was behind him.

The beagle started to growl, but Kevin just swung his hockey stick, sending him flying over the drama room and landing on one of the trees by the tennis courts, where Woodstock, his bird friend, chirped as if he was saying. "I told you this getup won't work."

Snoopy yapped as if to say. "Ah, shut up!"

Author's Note:

*Julie Wong and Solomone Fukofuka were some of the real students I had classes with when I was inside Bowditch, while the former passed away before the end of 6th Grade.