It was just another day at Backwoods High, or so Matt Marinara thought as
he strolled through the hallways between classes. The usual chatter
filled the air, and Matt was lost in his thoughts when a strange, muffled
noise caught his attention. It seemed to be coming from one of the
lockers nearby.
Curious, Matt stopped and listened closely. The noise persisted, a faint
rustling sound, like someone moving inside a confined space. Matt
furrowed his brow and cautiously approached the locker. He wasn't sure
what he expected to find, but he certainly didn't expect what happened
next.
The locker door creaked open slightly, and Matt stepped back in surprise
as a skinny kid with unkempt hair squeezed himself out. The kid looked up
at Matt, blinking as if adjusting to the light.
"What the…?" Matt began, utterly baffled.
"Name's Ryan Davis," the kid said quickly, brushing off his rain jacket—a
jacket that looked absurdly out of place given the sunny weather outside.
"But some people call me 'The Locker Gnome.'"
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Locker Gnome? What the hell were you doing in
there?"
Ryan sighed, as if the answer should have been obvious. "Hiding from
algebra class. I hate it. And the kids wouldn't stop making fun of me for
wearing this jacket. It's a limited edition, you know," he added
defensively.
Matt looked at Ryan, unsure whether to laugh or just walk away. "You hid
in your locker to skip class… because of a rain jacket?"
Ryan nodded earnestly. "Yeah, but it's not just any jacket. It's
designer. People just don't get it."
The bell rang, signaling the start of the next class. Ryan began to close
the locker door behind him, but before he did, he leaned in close to Matt
and murmured, "I left a surprise in Hall C. Whatever you do, stay clear
of that hall before the next bell."
Matt gave Ryan a weird look. "Okay…?"
Ryan simply smirked, closed the locker door, and disappeared into the
crowd, leaving Matt to wonder what the strange kid was up to.
Later that day, as the next class bell rang, chaos erupted in Backwoods
High. A horrendous, gag-inducing stench began to waft through Hall C,
spreading quickly and causing students to gag and cover their noses in a
desperate attempt to escape the odor.
"What the hell is that smell?" someone shouted, their voice muffled by
their sleeve.
Kids began to throw up as they got too close to the source of the stench,
and one panicked student, in a bid for fresh air, pulled the fire alarm,
triggering an evacuation of the entire school.
Principal Smith was at a loss as he tried to make sense of the situation.
The fire department arrived, expecting a fire, but instead found
themselves dealing with what was quickly determined to be a prank—a stink
bomb, planted in someone's locker, timed to go off right after the bell.
As the students gathered outside, whispers spread like wildfire. "Who
could have done this?" "Did you see how bad Hall C was?" "Someone's got a
sick sense of humor."
Matt, standing with Jason Mustard, tried to suppress a laugh. He knew
exactly who was behind it. Ryan David, the so-called Locker Gnome, had
delivered on his "surprise." Matt couldn't help but be impressed by the
sheer audacity of the prank. The smell had been so bad, so potent, that
it had shut down the entire school.
As he and Jason watched Principal Smith try to restore order, Matt made a
decision. He wasn't going to rat out Ryan. There was something about the
weird kid's bizarre antics that amused him. Ryan had earned himself a new
title in Matt's mind: "The Stink Bomb Bandit."
With a smirk, Matt turned to Jason. "Never a dull moment at Backwoods
High, huh?"
Jason chuckled. "You got that right."
And with that, the two walked off, ready to face whatever craziness
Backwoods High would throw at them next.