MADELINE'S P.O.V.

It was pretty suspicious that Mr. Thorndike had presents for me and my sister and not for the rest of the class. I had more than a hunch that Madison was thinking the same thing. Mr. Thorndike was up to something. He probably gave us things like a dead rat and a poisonous snake in order to give us a scare. Let me tell you that if there were rats and snakes inside these boxes, Madison and I would be more than frightened. We would suffer a heart attack and die.

Madison and I braced ourselves for the worst as we placed our palms on either side of the lids and slowly slid them up, and even though that we were going slow, I somehow beat Madison. I held my breath, peered into the box, and screamed. It was neither a rat nor a snake.

Mr. Thorndike's glasses became crooked, and he covered his ears with his hands. "I was not expecting that reaction," he said loud enough for us to hear. "I thought that you would like it, Madeline."

"I do, sir. I do."

"Then why did you scream?" Madison asked me. "What is in the box?"

"Remember that time when we visited the mall and spotted those cute clothes in the window?"

"As plain as day."

I pulled two pieces of clothing out of the box. One was a blue, long-sleeved shirt that had green moons all over it, and the other was purple pants. Her bottom jaw dropped, and I hugged them and thanked the teacher for an amazing gift.

He let out a chuckle. "My pleasure, Madeline. I am pleased that you love them."

Madison yanked off her lid and pressed her hands to her cheeks. "My goodness," she said. She had two clothing pieces as well. A green, long-sleeved shirt and jeans. The shirt was decorated with blue stars. "How did you get these, Mr. Thorndike? You cannot just trade in anything for these."

"I traded a value possession for them. It is part of my reformation. I have to leave the old me behind and move on with my life. I need to be a better teacher and friend to all the students in this school." He adjusted his glasses. "I know that some of you...well, all of you...do not trust me now, but I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to make up for my awful behavior."

He was not lying when he claimed that he was throwing us a pizza party. We were in the cafeteria and having the time of our lives. Some were eating as much pizza as they could. Others were playing the games. The games included video games, board games, and darts. Like me and my sister, the rest of us were eating pizza while playing the game of our choice.

Madison and I loved the same toppings, so whenever the mistress ordered pizza just for the two of us, it was not difficult to decide which toppings we wanted the most. Our favorite toppings are the following: mushrooms, hamburger, ham, and salami. We are not fond of onions or pepperoni or peppers. Bleh!

Madison checked the digital clock that was mounted on the wall. Nobody in the school is able to read regular clocks for some reason. She tapped my shoulder as I was fetching myself another pizza slice.

I looked at her. "What is it, sis?"

"Our next class begins in ten minutes. Do you not think that Mr. Thorndike should be telling us students to head back to class?"

I shrugged. "You said that we had ten minutes left. Maybe he is waiting until we only have five minutes. After all, our classroom is not far from the cafeteria."

"I am going to bring this up to him, Madeline."

I followed her to a cafeteria table where Mr. Thorndike was sitting. He had his head in his hand and was flipping through a magazine of some sort. He must have noticed that we were coming towards him because he moved his head away from his hand and glanced up at us. A small smile spread across his face.

"Madison. Madeline." He closed the magazine and set it aside. "My favorite students."

Never in a million years did I think that he would call us his favorite students. I guess that he has come around.

"What can I do for you? Is the pizza getting cold?"

Madison shook her head and sat in a chair across from him. "Sir, do you know the time?"

"Why should I know the time?"

She pointed at the clock. "There are now eight minutes before we go to our next class, Mr. Thorndike."

He squinted at the clock and uttered a small gasp. "You are correct, Madison. All of us should clean up and head back to class this instant." He scrambled out of his seat and made the announcement to our classmates.

I realized that he left his magazine on the table. I picked it up and stared at the cover. It was about pets and wild creatures. I opened it and flipped to the page that he had been reading.

"What are you doing?" Madison asked.

I found the page and said, "Aha!"

"What did you find, Madeline?"

"Mr. Thorndike was looking at this page," I said.

"You mean the page where it teaches you how to not get your butt bitten off by an alligator?"

"No. This." I held up the magazine and pointed at it. "It talks about the best cages for hamsters and guinea pigs."

Madison examined the information and rubbed her chin. "Why would Mr. Thorndike be checking out hamster cages? Unless..." She pushed the magazine down so that I could see her. "...he is thinking about having a class pet."

I squealed and kicked my legs. "A fluffy creature in the classroom? I can hardly wait, Madison."

"Me too, Madeline."