Tic tock. Tic tock. Tic tock.

    That’s all I’m hearing in my brain right now, Tic tock, tic tock. I glance at the clock in my classroom, three minutes until the lunch bell rings. Well, the time I just mentioned isn’t a hundred percent correct though. To be specific, there’s 3 minutes and 35 seconds right now until lunch time. Why can’t I get the noise of the clock’s ticking sound out of my head?

    “Brodie!” Mrs. Waters yells. “You are in sixth grade! Surely you understand that we do not gaze at the clock the whole entire class. Start acting like a sixth grader instead of a third grader!”

    Mrs. Waters eyes burn into mine, as if she could see and hear everything I am thinking about in my brain right now.

    The whole class begins roaring with laughter. My face turns as red as a cherry.

    “Dingdong, dingdong” there it goes. The sound of glory, the sound that every sixth grader longs to hear! The buzzing sound of the lunch bell.

    Our whole class rushes down the stairs bumping into each other, just to be the first in the lunch line.

    Brodie ends up first in the lunch line. After Brodie gets his lunch, he goes to the end of the table and sits down with his friends.

    Brodie is minding his own business when a carrot comes flying through the air and hits him in the head.

    “Did somebody just hit me in the head with a carrot?” Brodie yells, swaying his arms up and down as if he’s getting ready to fight. “Was that a challenge?” Brodie yells, about to explode like a volcano.

    “Maybe it was just some classmate of mine who accidentally threw their carrot in the air and it just somehow hit me. “Brodie thought to himself. Brodie turns his head back to enjoy his food when suddenly someone hits him in the head with a piece of celery. Brodie turns his head quickly, and sees Mavis holding a piece of celery, and chuckling with some of the other boys.

    “This is war!” Brodie yells pounding his chest like a gorilla.

    “Then bring it on Brodie!” Mavis and his friends shout in unison.

    Not even 30 seconds later, carrots, tomatoes, celery, and even strawberries begin flying through the air.

    Chuckling, Brodie looks at his hands and thinks: “Maybe if I throw this bowl of mashed potatoes at Mavis, then he’ll stop bugging me and let me finish my lunch.” Then, Brodie suddenly puts on a devilish smile and uses all his strength to throw the bowl of mashed potatoes through the air. But he is not being careful or paying attention to the fact that Mrs. Brice is right there talking to Mavis while pointing her finger at his food, and talking with Mavis in a serious tone. When the mashed potatoes hit Mrs. Brice in the face, the mashed potatoes smear all over her face including her glasses and neck.

    Mrs. Brice starts to clench her fists. What looks like smoke has started to float out of her ears, and she stares deeply into Brodie’s eyes with sadness and rage.