The substitute
"And so, it turns out that there is no homeopathic alternative to bunion surgery. My doctor assures me it's a simple operation, but will require me to stay off my feet for a few days." Miss Grotke said to her class, resting her foot on her desk.
"Uh, Miss Grotke, should we be taking notes?" Gretchen asked, raising her hand.
"No, no, Gretchen. I'm simply telling you all this to explain that I'll be absent from school next week."
"You mean..." TJ asked, getting excited.
"That's right, T.J., I've arranged for a substitute." With this little bit of news all the students started the talk excitedly to each other.
"B-i-n-g-o!" Spinelli spelled as she fist pumped the air.
"A substitute?" Vince said when the eight walked out of the school at the end of the day. "Oh, man, this is some kind of wonderful."
"I'm almost looking forward to Monday." Spinelli exclaimed.
"I don't get it, what's so great about a sub?" Gus asked as he followed everyone.
"Yeah, I'm confused as well." Said Paloma.
"Sheesh! What hole-in-the-ground schools did you two transfer from?" Said Spinelli looking back at Gus and Paloma.
"Yeah, everybody knows there are three things every kid waits for all year. Snow days, fire drills, and substitute teachers. It's like a little slice of summer vacation in the middle of the year." Said TJ as he started to spin around a stop sign.
"I'm gonna get her with the old chalk-and-eraser routine." Vince said as he started to cross the zebra crossing. "That kills."
"I'm going to tell her Miss Grotke lets us eat in class." Mikey said as all the others followed Vince across the road.
"I'm going to reread War and Peace. Only this time I won't have to rush." Said Gretchen.
"Me? I'm gonna dust off my old peashooter. Whoever this substitute is,
The woman is spitball bait." Spinelli said holding up said peashooter as all the kids laughed.
"Wow, it sounds like a lot of fun having a substitute teacher." Said Paloma.
"It's great, it's really just like free time in class as every substitute we've had, we're always able to get away with more than normal." Dede grins as she puts her arms around Spinelli's and Paloma's shoulders.
The next day the group of eight friends was in Miss Grotkes class, sitting on the chairs and desks at the back of the classroom. "And remember our plans,
if the sub calls on you, use a fake name. I'm going with "Hugh Belcher."" Said TJ.
"Excellent plan. She may even think she came in the wrong room." Agreed Gretchen giddily.
"I'm calling a 10:00 a.m. book drop." Dede said as she threw a paper aeroplane that had landed near her.
"Good idea. And when I give this signal," Spinelli said, waving her hands down. "Everyone get up and move one seat to the right."
"What have you got planned, Gus?" Paloma asked as she still had no clue on what to do herself.
"Me? Well, uh, I made a paper wad." Gus said, holding up a paper wad.
"You're a madman, Griswald." Said Spinelli.
"Good morning, pupils." Said Principal Prickly as he entered the classroom, getting everyone's attention and making them all go to their seats. "I'm here to introduce your substitute teacher."
"Bring her on, baby." TJ whispered as he held a paper wad behind his back.
"Our guest teacher comes to us following successful stints in Southeast Asia, the former Yugoslavia, and The Bronx, New York. Please welcome your substitute for the entire week..." Prickly walked to stand in front of the class.
"This is gonna be sweet." Spinelli said excitedly as she held her peashooter and spit ball ready.
"Mr. E." Prickly gestured to the classroom door where a tall, handsome man who wore a business type suit consisting of a black suit with a green vest underneath and a white button shirt with a black tie and sunglasses, stood.
"Hey, that's no girl." Said Mikey
"They call me Mr. E., and I'm here to instruct." Said the man, now known as Mr E as he walked to stand next to Prickly, taking his sunglasses off in the process.
"Mr. E.? That's not a name, that's a letter. What's the rest of your tag, subbie?" Phill said as he stood up and pointed at Mr E.
"That information comes at a terrible price. Are you willing to pay it?" Mr E stood over Phill making Phill shake his head and sit back down quietly.
"Well, everything seems to be in order. Have a great week, kids." Prickly laughed as he leaves the classroom.
"OK, one thing we're gonna do this week is work on your vocabulary." Mr E walked over to the chalkboard and picked up the chalk. "Today's word is "respect." R-E-S-P-E--" as Mr E was writing on the chalkboard gordie threw his paper wad at Mr E's head, it didn't reach its target though as just before it hit, Mr E turned around and caught it, making the kids gasp. "This better be your homework."
"Nice reflexes." Dede whistled, impressed.
"Whoa. Zero fear." Agreed Spinelli.
"Your teacher left a detailed lesson plan, but I'm gonna do things a little differently." Mr E said before the bell rang. As the bell rang all the kids stood up and went to walk out. "I don't recall excusing anyone." With this the kids all sat back down.
"Uh, Mr. E It's recess." TJ, the only kid to not sit back down, said after looking around.
"Your point?"
"Well, it's time for us to take a break, you know? Stretch our legs, get a little exercise."
"Get a little exercise, huh?" Mr E brought the kids out into the playground and had them doing pushups in three rows of six, having them count the number of pushups they were doing.
"Oh, I shouldn't have had that ninth flapjack." Mikey groaned.
"This can't be good for my sinuses." Said Gus as he stopped to push up his glasses before getting back to doing pushups.
"I haven't had this much physical activity
since...ever." Said Gretchen.
"OK, now let's have some drop-and-rolls." Mr E said as he stopped pacing in front of the kids, making them groan as they got up and started to jog on the spot.
"Oh, man, this whomps. The one time of the day that's supposed to be ours, and he's got us acting like marines." TJ said annoyed.
"Hey, come on, guys, maybe this is good, I mean, face it." Vince said before he dropped to the ground and rolled over one before standing back up and jogging on the spot again. "if you were in better shape, me and Dede wouldn't have to carry you all at kickball." Vince pointed at Dede next to him who was doing well with the exercises as well.
"Now, these young kids have some stamina." Mr E said standing in front of Dede and Vince. "Watch and learn. They've got what it takes. Let's show them some jumping Jacks, kids."
"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" Vince said excitedly as he started to do, said jumping jacks.
"Yes sir." Dede said far less excited, but still did the drill, as the other kids groaned in displeasure.
"Now, the rest of you, jump those Jacks. You'll be proud to know you're doing the same exercises the Army Rangers do." Mr E orders.
"Great, and I thought we were preparing
for fifth grade, not war." TJ whispers to Gretchen who was next to him.
"That's clever, kid, but not too smart." Mr E said, pointing at TJ having heard him.
"Sorry, teach. The jumping Jacks must have rattled my brain." TJ replied making the kids all giggle.
"Looks like you have quite a following. Got a name, joker boy?" Mr E walked around TJ.
"T.J. Detweiler."
"Well, I got my eye on you Detweiler,
you got "trouble" written on you like a vacancy sign on the nowhere motel. If I were you, I'd watch my step." Mr E and TJ were both glaring at each other, only stopping when the bell rang to signal the end of recess. Mr E followed all the kids back into the classroom and after having them sit down in their seats, went over to the chalkboard. "Independent study." As Mr E was writing this, the chalk was screeching before snapping in half at the end of the underline, before he turned to face the class. "It means you, working by yourself, on a project you care about, a project that stirs your soul. I don't care what you choose for your project. I just want it done well. On Friday, you'll make
a formal presentation to me and your peers. That gives you four days to get the job done. Until then, I'll be available
to help anyone with a question. Does anyone have a question?" Mr E looked over at the students and saw that Gretchen's hand had risen. "Yes?"
"May we begin now?" Gretchen asked.
"You'd better." With that everyone took out some paper and started to brainstorm on what they could do for this independent study.
"Oh, boy! A chance to pursue my muse." Gretchen exclaimed as she pulled out a science book and calculator.
As everyone was working and trying to figure out what they were going to do, Mr E was looking around at the students, watching them work, all but one that is, that one being TJ. Mr E and TJ ended up just having a staring contest with each other that looked like it'll last awhile until TJ smirked and winked at Mr E, so he got up and went to TJ's desk. "I don't get you, Detweiler, independent study is fun, it's a chance to grow. Why don't you get on the bus, boy?"
"Maybe I don't trust the driver." Retorted TJ still sitting with his arms crossed.
"Well, you better find some faith, boy, because the clock is ticking, and Friday's Judgment Day." Mr E remarked.
The next day at recess the group of eight friends were all hanging out around the swing set with the diggers and swinger girl.
"I heard he tore down the Berlin Wall
brick by brick." Spinelli said as she sat on one of the side bars of the swing set.
"I heard they tossed him from the secret service for using a steely gaze on the president." Swinger girl said, on her swing.
"Well, I heard he made a kid repeat fifth grade just for stammering during a book report." Digger Dave said, making the other kid's all go 'ohh!'.
"Oh, you guys impress too easy." Said TJ as he got up from the other swing. "The guy is just a sub, like any other, I mean, what happened to "sub week"? The old chalk-and-eraser routine, fake names, the book drop? You're going to let that get ruined by some guy without a first name? What's so great about him?"
"Look!" Digger Dave pointed behind TJ and when they all looked they saw Clyde holding Gus up by one of his ankles.
"Where are you hiding your lunch money, geek?" Clyde said shaking Gus up and down.
"That's it, buster! I've told you a dozen and a half times to leave that kid alone.
Now, put him down before I--" Miss Finster said after she turned Clyde to face her, but she was interrupted by Mr E tapping her shoulder and getting her attention.
"Stand down." Mr E said to Miss Finster.
"But... But--" Miss Finster stammered as Mr E moved her to the side.
"I'll handle this." Mr E bent down till he was face to face with Clyde. "If there's anything in this world I hate, it's a bully. Now, I'm asking you nicely. Return my pupil to his full and upright position." Clyde immediately did as he was told, setting Gus down gently onto the ground. "You need to change, boy. And there's only one way you're going to learn how."
"What are you gonna do to me, mister?" Clyde asked nervously.
"It's what you are gonna do. You're gonna write me an essay all about how it's wrong to lean on people, unless it's in the direct geopolitical interests of the United States of America. And you're going to write it in the dirt with your finger starting now." Mr E said and when Clyde just stood there Mr E gave him a stern look. "Well, Clyde, what are you waiting for?" And with that Clyde quickly ran over to the dirt patch and started to write using his fingers. As Clyde was busy doing this Mr E walked up to Gus kneeled in front of him. "Son, you can't be a victim all your life. You gotta learn to take a stand. Now, if you're willing to put in some time after school, I can show you two simple moves that'll disable any bully, any time, any place."
"I'm there." Gus immediately took Mr E up on Gus offer, happy to learn some self defence.
It was now Wednesday, two days till Friday, or judgement day, for the independent study, and while most kids had an idea on what to do for there project, some were struggling. As Mikey was writing his poem he kept getting frustrated as it wasn't seeming right to him.
"Problem, kid?" Mr E asked as he spotted Mikey's frustration while he was walking around the classroom, checking on how the kids were all doing.
"It's my poem. I just can't seem to make it work." Mikey gestured to his unfinished poem on his desk.
"Let me give it a once-over." Mr E grabbed the poem and gave it a quick read through. "Hmm. Yeah. Nice imagery. I like your pace, kid, but the rhyme scheme in the bottom half of the poem doesn't match the top." Mr E handed the poem back for Mikey to read.
"Hey, you're right." Mikey said seeing what Mr 3 was talking about.
"Also, I like your use of creeping moss to represent the passage of time, but lose that "moon in June" garbage in the second stanza. You're better than that."
"Really? You think?"
"Oh, yeah. You got some chops, kid." With that Mr E walked off to continue his rounds in the classroom.
"Wow! Did you hear that, Teej? I got chops!" Mikey said, looking over at TJ.
"I've been telling you that for years." TJ said as he watch Mr E walk over to Dede.
"You alright, kid? You've yet to do anything for your project." Mr E asked Dede as she was staring at a blank piece of paper in front of her, tapping her pencil on the desk.
"Huh?" Dede looked up to see Mr E looming over her. "Oh, yeah. I just don't know what to do, I've tried different things to draw, but nothing seems right."
"Maybe you're overthinking it. Sometimes a masterpiece can be the simplest of things. Have you tried—" as Mr E was going to give some pointers to help Dede with her project, he was interrupted by a beeping sound.
"Mr E, may I please go to the bathroom real quick?" Dede asked after she looked at her bracelet. "Mr E?" Dede looked up at Me E and saw he was looking at her bracelet himself.
"Hm. Oh, yeah. You're free to go." Mr E finally answered after Dede covered her bracelet up. "Take your time, just be back before school ends." Dede looked at Mr E confused but didn't have time to question him, so she got up and ran out of the classroom, not seeing the look of understanding on Mr E's face.
When Dede got to the bathroom she quickly answered the call, only to see Admiral DeGill getting his nails done. "Candy, we have disturbing news: Sparky and X-5 are missing. I fear the worst."
"Missing? Don't worry, Admiral DeGill. I'm on the case." Dede presses the button on her bracelet and she is transported onto her ship. She gets in Sparky's seat. "Hmm. Now how did Sparky do that again?" She presses one of the red buttons and the ship takes off at high speed." Whoa!" Soon, the ship slows down." I should check the star charts." She presses another button and the map appears." X-5 is so good with these maps. If only he was here. Hmm. Then I wouldn't be looking for him."
"Mayday! Request assistance." A voice rings out through the radio.
"That sounds like X-5. " Dede said as she looked at the radio.
"Stranded in the Ginuva Kinning Nebula. Mayday! Mayday!"
"What would they be doing out there?" Dede asked herself, confused. "I'm coming!" Dede drives the spaceship at full speed until it stops at Sparky and X-5. They are waving for help on a wrecked ship. "Hang on, guys. I'll ping you aboard." Sparky and X-5 are then teleported onto the ship. They walk next to Dede. "DeGill said you went missing. What happened?"
"The one known as Sparky insisted that I, X-5 engage in a recreational activity known as star boarding." X-5 said.
"That sounds like Sparky."
"It does?" Sparky said in a deep voice before he clears his throat. "I mean, yes, it does." X-5 then proceeded to get in Sparky's chair.
"X-5, why are you sitting in Sparky's chair?" Dede asked him.
"I am heating for Sparky's posterior. Sparky, come here. Sit down." Sparky laughs a bit and as Dede was looking at Sparky she didn't see X-5 turn his head. "We were stranded. Our impulse power was kaput!"
"Both systems?" Dede asked and Sparky nodded. "That's weird. What's your technical diagnoses?" She asked X-5.
"Toast, broken, fried, shot!"
"That's your technical diagnoses? I think we'd better return to base so you guys can be checked over. Set course for HQ!"
"I will input the ship with the proper coordinates, no problem-o."
"No problem-o?" Dede pulls the switch and the spaceship takes off for HQ. On Maximus's ship, he is watching what is happening on his map.
"This is brilliantly tedious, even by my standards." Maximus gloats and behind him, we see that Sparky and X-5 are locked in a cage.
"You're about as brilliant as the dark side of Uranus! The Chief will come to rescue us, you'll see!" Said Sparky.
Maximus walks up to the cage and starts Holding on to the bars of the cage. "That's precisely what I'm counting on. Mwahahaha!"
Back on Dede's ship, the now fake Sparky is playing with a little baseball and Dede is holding a worm burger. "Are you hungry? I have a worm burger!" The fake Sparky continues to play with the baseball. "Hmm. There's something wrong with Sparky. And, X-5, you inputted the wrong coordinates." Dede was now starting to get suspicious of her two crew members.
"I know what I'm doing! I mean, according to my calculations, the Yabadarian wormhole should be just ahead. We can scoot through that back to HQ, Chuck." The now fake X-5 said.
"Chief." Dede corrected.
"Sorry."
"And why are you saying scoot? What kind of game are you two playing?" The fake X-5 takes the baseball away from the fake Sparky.
"Game?"
"Tell me where the real Sparky and X-5 are, right now!" Dede demanded from the fake X-5 as the fake Sparky gets up from X-5's chair and gets ready to attack her. Luckily, Dede attacks him, including the fake X-5. The head falls off revealing that it is Minimus in disguise. Dede removes the Sparky head and sees a Blood Monk dressed as him. "Minimus and a Blood Monk! I knew something was up!"
The Good Minimus starts Calling Maximus on his watch. "Oh, Master, I think we're close enough."
"Close enough for what?"
"Close enough for this!" Said evil minimus as He is then teleported onto Maximus's ship along with the Blood Monk. Maximus then appears on the ship's call screen.
"Maximus!"
"Didn't you enjoy my little costume party?" Maximus tutted.
"What have you done with the real Sparky and X-5?"
"Don't worry. You'll be reunited with your precious friends soon enough. Very soon. Mwahahahaha!"
A blue comet is carrying a space UFO with Sparky and X-5 in it to a red planet. Their screaming can be heard. "They're on a collision course with that planet! Maybe I can divert the comet with a space hook." Dede gasped watching them on the screen before She pressed a red button and a space hook tried to catch the UFO with Sparky and X-5, but hit the glass instead.
"Whoa! Watch it, Chief! If I'm gonna go, I want to go in one piece!" Said Sparky.
"Actually, when we smash into the planet, you will go into 1,254 pieces." Stated X-5.
"Thanks for the cheery info." The blue comet begins to crack.
"Whoa! It's cracking! If it breaks up, Sparky and X-5 are gonners! Looks like there's no other option." She presses a button on her headset and her space helmet appears. She then flies out of her ship to Sparky and X-5 to save them. Dede uses her laser to break the thick rope.
"You can do it, Chief!" Sparky cheered.
"Statistically, we are more likely to crash into the planet." Said X-5.
"You are not helping here!"
Dede was still using her laser to break the rope when she noticed it was going out. "Oh no! My laser's beginning to overload! Come on... don't give out yet." Before the laser gives out, it goes through the red and green wires and the rope is broken. "Alright!" Dede grabs Sparky and X-5 and brings them to the spaceship. As soon as they are inside, they watch in shock as the comet hits the red planet, blowing it up. "Energy shield on full!" Dede orders.
"Yes, Captain." X-5 said as he pressed a light blue button and the energy shield appeared. It protects the ship from the remaining parts of the red planet. Dede and her crew sigh in relief.
"Sparky, X-5, let's get out of here!" They didn't get anywhere though as Maximus approached on the ship's call screen.
"Congratulations. That was quite a display of provato. But it won't do you any good. You are exactly where I want you. " Maximus said.
"What did he mean by that? Never mind, I don't want to know!" Sparky said as the ship began to shake.
"We're trapped in the gravitational field of Acollapsing Protostar." X-5 informed them.
"I said I don't want to know!"
"The whole thing's been a trap! Scientific assessment?" Dede deducts before she looks at X-5 for an answer.
"We've got two minutes to think of something, or we'll wind up flatter than potainian grapes pisture." X-5 said.
"Oh, no! Then I'll never get back to school."
"What do we do now?!" Sparky asked as Dede starts thinking of a way to get them out of this mess.
"Wait! I believe we can use the protostar's own gravitational pull to slingshot around it!" Dede suggested.
"The neujiption manoeuvre. It's only a vary. It's never been executed successfully with a protostar." Stats X-5.
"Finally, I've defeated her! Minimus, take us even closer! I'd rather like to see every detail of Candy's destruction!" Maximus said, watching what was happening from his ship's window.
"Destruction, yes." Evil Minimus cheered before his head turned and good Minimus said. "Though in some ways, I'm going to miss her." Before his head turned again. "But first, destruction." Maximus's ship flies toward the destroyed planet.
"OK, boys, initiate the neujiption manoeuvre now!" Dede said now in her seat before their ship flies away from the sun. "Sparky, boosters on maximum!"
"You got it." Sparky said.
"X-5, alter course 3 degrees to port!" The ship is seemingly going into the destroyed planet. "Whoooaa!"
"A few more moments, then Candy will be gone forever! I will control the entire galaxy!" Gloats Maximus, Suddenly, Dede's ship flies away from the sun. "They're getting away! But how? My scheme was infallible! The scale of parallel genius, a plan of acquisitioning and..." Maximus whines as hiss ship's alarm sounds out.
"Excuse me, Your Evilness, we have a problem. We seem to be trapped in the planet's gravitational pull." Warned good Minimus before his head turned. "Well, you said you wanted to get closer." Evil Minimus puts on his X-5 mask. "Oh, I know. The solution is to try the neujiption manoeuvre."
"What's that?" Maximus asked as his ship flew closer to the destroyed planet.
"I'm not sure. It's the costume talking."
"Just do it, you fool!"
Dede and her crew watch as Maximus's ship flies closer to the destroyed planet. "Nice work, guys. Set coordinates for Earth. I have a project to do." Dede said as she had an idea on what to do for her independent study project. As soon as the spaceship brings her back to the school, Dede immediately runs back to the classroom and walks in just to see the class empty. "I'm so sorry I took so long Mr E."
"It's fine, kid. I hope everything went well?" Mr E replied from the teachers desk.
"Uh.. yeah. It went well, I even figured out what to do for my project." Dede was confused on why Mr E wasn't scolded her for being back later then his given time frame.
"I'll be expecting an excellent project from you then, though you best hurry home and get started, school's been finished for over an hour now." Mr E stood and walked around his desk, grabbing Dede's bag from hers and handing it to her. "Just because you have galactic duties, doesn't mean you can slack in your studies."
"What!" Dede asked, shocked as Mr E walked around her and to the door, turning to look at him. "I don't know—"
"Cya tomorrow kid." Mr E raised his left hand to wave over his back and as he did Dede saw his sleeve roll down a bit, revealing a black galactic bracelet on his wrist.
"No way." Dede whispered to herself, still in shock at what she had just discovered, that by the time she recovered Mr E was already gone. "Woah, this is so cool, no wonder he has incredible reflexes. He still wears the bracelet, unlike Nana and Miss Finster, I wonder if he's still active? I'll have to ask him tomorrow."
The next day Dede wasn't able to get much time to talk to Mr E as she had a lot to do to catch up with her project, but on Friday morning she made sure to get to school early in hopes of catching him before classes started. And she was in luck, upon opening the classroom door slightly Dede saw Mr E there, writing 'judgement day' on the chalkboard. "Umm. Mr E, can I speak to you for a minute?" Dede asked after knocking slightly on the door, entering fully.
"Of course, king." Mr E asked, turning to face Dede. "You might want to close the door as well, don't want anyone to hear what you're gonna ask, if it's what I think it is."
"Right." Dede closed the door behind her before coming to stand in front of the teacher's desk, looking at Mr E's left wrist that was covered by his suit jacket. "Yesterday, you said...... and that bracelet on your wrist, is it..." Dede kept trailing off, not wanting to say anything in case she was wrong.
"A galactic guardians bracelet." Mr E finished, knowing Dede didn't want to say it.
"So then, you're a..." Dede was getting excited.
"A galactic guardian, like you. Though, gotta say, I didn't think DeGill would have someone so young from earth as a full time galactic guardian." Mr E again explained as Dede just smiled and shrugged nervously.
"So, are you still active? Who's your crew? Are they all humans, or mixed species? And what about-" Dedes slew of questions got put to a holt by the warning bell ringing out.
"Well, looks like class is about to start. Take a seat king, and I hope your project is ready, given that you only had a day to finish it." Dede sighed, knowing she won't get much information from Mr E about his galactic duties. "Oh, and king." Dede turned to look at Mr E as she reached her desk. "I am still an active guardian, maybe we'll work together someday." And as Dede smiled in agreement the classroom began to fill up with all the other kids coming in. One by one the kids all went up to present their projects to Mr E and the class, at the moment it was Spinelli's turn.
"So these pieces, I call them pugilists, represent a marriage of two of my greatest passions, fighting and metalcraft. Thanks for the opportunity, teach." Spinelli said using one of the metal candle sticks to salute to Mr E and he nodded in return.
""Thus, dear buttercup, be thou free to mend thy faithful symmetry."" Next was Mikey and he stood in front of the class and read his poem out loud, when he finished the class cheers for him and he bowed to them. "Thank you, Third Street!" Before returning to his desk.
Next up was Vince, his project was custom trading cards. "On the front of these trading cards I put a picture of one of my friends. On the back I put all kickball stats plus an interesting fact you might not know about the player. Take T.J., for example. Did everyone know that T.J. Detweiler Is actually a really great guy? Really, really great?" Vince looked nervously at Mr E, trying to convince him of that fact.
After Vince, it was Palomas turn and she gave a detailed history about comic books to the class. After Paloma was Gus and he did a little martial arts demonstration with Mr E. Gretchen was next and as she was explaining her project she was also writing equations on the chalkboard.
"When I realised the key was alternating magnetic fields, well, the rest was easy. I was able to invent this. It's a machine
that produces more energy than it takes in and has the potential to revolutionise the world as we know it." The classroom door opens up to show two government officials, they show their badges, take a picture of Gretchen's equations and her project as a whole and leave the classroom. "Mr. E., I hope the fact
that the government has quashed my research won't hurt my final grade."
"It happens, Grundler. Count on an A." Mr E gestured for Gretchen to take her seat before he looked over at Dede. "Alright, king, you're up." Dede stood up holding her project close to her chest and stood in front of the class.
"Well, I admittingly was stuck on what to do for my project, I knew I wanted to draw something but that alone seemed lacking, as I do it a lot, so I thought why not draw a story, my own comic book series if you will. An out of this world, crazy, sci-fi story about a normal everyday girl." Dede held the book up for the class to see the front cover. On it was a girl with red hair in a ponytail, dressed in a pink and white dress with white boots and gloves, standing next to her was a green alien and yellow robot. "I call it 'Atomic Betty'. This chapter is about how Betty's arch nemesis, Maximus I.Q, managed to capture her two friends and crew members, Sparky and X-5, and lured Atomic Betty into helping them, just so he could get their spaceship stuck in a sun's gravitational pull." As Dede explained this she looked around the classroom at the kid's reactions, only to see them all looking interested, muttering to each other excitedly.
"Woah, that sounds awesome." Spinelli cheered as she stood up and took the hand made comic out of Dede's hands. "I've gotta read it." Spinelli sat back down and stared to read as Dede looked over at Mr E, seeing him with a knowing look on his face as he nodded a good job to her, making Dede smile before she sat down at her desk as Mr E walked to the front center of the classroom.
"Well, that's everybody. Everybody who participated, that is." Mr E said, hinting at TJ. "You've all done very good work. I'm satisfied."
"Oh, yeah..." all the kids cheered, some even high fives each other.
"As for you, Detweiler, I hope you find your seat comfortable. You'll be using it for years to come."
"I don't think so." TJ said.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah, 'cause I have a project, too." TJ took out a brown envelope from his desk.
"Then stand and deliver." Mr E moved back over to the side of the classroom and gave TJ the floor.
"All this week, Mr. E. here has been bossing us around, taking away our recess, forcing us to do independent study." TJ was pacing back and forth in front of the other kids now. "And I guess he won all of you guys over, but there's something I wanna remind you about,
and her name is Miss Grotke." At this, some of the kids looked down in sadness. "She did everything for us this year. From teaching us about healing herbs, to helping us with our times tables. She's always there for us. Day after day. Now, she's out sick for a week,
and you guys forget all about her. Hey, that's your business, but I can't forget, so I made her this." TJ took out a Pink card from the envelope and it said 'get well soon Miss Grotke' and was covered in pictures of Miss Grotke and stars. "It's a "get well" card. It's from me and anyone else who wants to sign it. This is my independent study project, and I don't care who likes it." TJ looks over at Mr E as he stands up and slowly starts to clap, making all the kids cheer.
After class, mostly everyone was done signing the card for Miss Grotke, Dede and Spinelli were two of the last ones to sign, and while Spinelli was signing the card Dede walked up to Mr E. "It was nice getting to know you Mr E, hopefully this won't be the last we see of each other, I think I can learn a lot from you, not just in the classroom."
"It was good seeing you too, kid. Nice project, turning your adventures into stories for other kids to read." Mr E patted Dede on her head.
"Well, they all enjoy senior fusions I thought they'd enjoy my crazy life." Dede shrugged.
"Hey, Dede, come on, let's go, I wanna finish reading your comic." Spinelli called after she finished signing her name on the card.
"Well, it was a pleasure, Mr E." Dede salutes.
"Same here kid." Mr E saluted back as the two girls left the classroom, leaving him and TJ alone. "Detweiler?" Mr E called, getting TJs attention. "That project you did? It touched me."
"It did?" TJ asked, surprised.
"I had you all wrong, kid. Sure, you're spirited, but you are loyal. I respect that."
"Well, I gotta admit. I wouldn't have made this card if it hadn't been for you. It was one of the best things I ever did. Maybe you're not such a bad teacher
after all."
"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Hey, Mr. E.? Think you'd like to sign my card?"
Mr E took the card from TJ and started to write his own message. "Grotke, you've got a heck of a class. E." Before handing it back to TJ as the last two left the classroom.
"Say, Mr. E., there's something that's been bugging me. Could you tell me what the "E" stands for?"
"No."
"You are so cool."
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Hope you all enjoy this chapter : )
Also I know that Paloma makes her own comic, ruby red avenger, but I wanted Dede to tell her stories for fun, it'll also be something that kinda plays into future chapters as well.