"WHERE'S CHELSEA? Why isn't she back yet?" Auggie asked.

"Honey, I'm sure Farkle took very good care of her." Topanga said.

"Hey, Matthews, why are you making us do the whole class-mascot thing anyway?" Maya asked.

"Don't ruin this for me, Maya. Everybody got the chance to take Chelsea home for a week and now it's my turn and I'm looking forward to it." Riley said.

"Good, because if you bring her back safely, Chelsea will have survived the whole class." Mr. Matthews said.

"Then it's as good as done. You know I am fantastic with pets." Riley said.

"Mr. Puffles." Sophia said.

"That was sad."

Farkle came into the room.

"It's Chelsea! It is." He said putting the fishbowl on the desk.

"Nice job, Farkle. Here's your sticker." Mr. Matthews said and he sat down.

"Chelsea! Are you ready to come to our house?" Auggie asked, "Hey, Farkle, did you go to Phil's fish store?"

"Why would you ask me that, Auggie? Why would you think that? Why would you say that? Why?"

"Elementary, my dear Farkle.
There's a new castle in the bowl."

"Very impressive, Auggie." Lucas said.

"Yeah, he watches "Owl Detective" every day. He always knows whodunnit." Topanga said.

"Hoooo-dunnit!" Auggie said.

"Everyday."

"Okay, Riley, she's all yours. Now all you have to do is feed her once a day and every once in a while, you throw her a compliment." Mr. Matthews said.

"You are talking about the fish, right?" Topanga asked.

"No. All right, is she all ready to go, Auggie?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"All fed and ready to go." He said, "Riley, here's Chelsea. She means the world to me. Don't blow this."

"This fish is in good hands.
Let me just get our first picture together."

She pulled her phone out and took a picture.

She sighed, "Um."

"What?" Auggie asked.

"Let me take another one. Chelsea's upside-down." She said.

"Oh, boy."

""Day one, I died!"" She said to the camera.

"Chelsea! No, I'll cry for you later.
Right now there's a mystery to be solved."

"What mystery, Auggie? I killed the fish." Riley asked.

"No, you did not kill this fish. This fish was the victim of foul play.
Somebody here is responsible.
The only question is.."

"Oh, no."

"Hooooo-dunnit?!" They all said.

Phil's Fish Place

"Maya, Sophia."

"Phil."

"Oh, you three know each other?" Riley asked.

"Actually, I'm familiar with your whole class." Phil said.

"Oh, do you have a son or daughter at John Q. Adams?" Riley asked.

"Well, you might say I have a whole school of kids at John Q.
Adams."

"What a random and curious comment to make, "fish store Phil.""

"Oh, she doesn't-" Phil said.

"No no, this one's very trusting and sensitive." Sophia said.

"Ooh, I like people like that. Do you got your own debit card, young lady?" Phil asked Riley.

"Phil." Maya muttered.

"Sorry."

"It's our class goldfish, Chelsea.
She made it through the whole year, right up until it was my turn to take her home." Riley said, "And then she and then she is she dead? Because either she is dead or she is so so very tired. Can you wake her up, "fish store Phil?""

"Uh, what do I do?" He asked.

"You wake her up, Phil." Sophia said.

"Okay, I see how this is. Well, it's a bright sunshiny day. Time to wake up and have some French toast and get to the ol' fish job." He said.

"Dead."

"Well, he tried." Sophia said.

"Yes, I tried really hard."

"Well, I guess I always knew, "fish store Phil." Chelsea did not survive Riley. What will happen to her now?" Riley asked.

"Oh, she'll go in the potty." Phil said.

"The potty?!" Riley shouted.

"Uh, whoop whoop, "da party!"" Maya said.

Sophia joined in and hopped with Riley.

"Okay, we'll go that way. Young lady, how would you like to watch your goldfish loved one swim to that great fishbowl in the sky?" Phil asked.

"I would like that very much, "fish store Phil." Riley said, "How does she get there?"

"Well, the four fifteen express is leaving right now."

"Get her on it! Get her on it!" Maya said.

"Close your eyes with us, Riley.
Let's bow our heads." Sophia said.

"Of course." Riley said.

The three bowed their head, then they heard flushing.

"What was that?" Riley asked.

"That- that was the sound of Chelsea's fish soul swimming up to fish heaven." Maya said.

"But it sounded a lot like a toilet."

"Who are you to question the ways of fish heaven?" Phil asked.

"Do you think you might possibly have another one that looks like Chelsea?"

"Why don't you have yourself a little looky-see and maybe you'll locate another unique and one-of-a-kind orange one."

She started walking around until she found one.

"This one."

"It's a miracle."

Matthews Residents

Riley called everyone from our class and told them to come over.

"Chelsea is replaced. So ends the long, glorious reign of Chelsea the first, long live Chelsea the second!" Riley said.

Lucas and Sophia sat on the floor, as Thomas took her spot on the Bay Window.

Auggie walked in approaching the two teens on the floor.

"Nobody miff." Auggie said.

"Miff?" Lucas asked.

"No, don't miff."

"Don't miff?"

"Too late. You miffed." Auggie said.

Lucas and Sophia smiled.

Lucas grabbed Auggie's torso and sat him in his lap.

"The reason you have all been summoned here today is that Chelsea the first is dead, which means that one of the people in this room is.." Riley started.

"A muh-deh-her." Auggie said, "I'm going to talk to Farkle first."

"Why? 'Cause, you think I'll crack? Well, I'm not the one who's going to crack, pally boy. It's going to take a lot better than you to crack me."

Downstairs

Auggie and Ava obnoxiously ate the graham crackers in front of Farkle.

"Okay, um, I just need the sound of graham cracker crunching to stop." Farkle said, "It's just that particular sound that really bothers me. I need it to stop, please. Look, I don't even know if you know you're doing it, but I need it to stop. I really do."

They paused.

"Thank you."

Then they started again.

"I can't take it! I confess!" He said.

"What?" Riley asked.

"I killed Chelsea."

He picked up a graham cracker and ate half of it.

"These don't taste as good when you're a muh-deh-her. I'm not worthy of this sticker. I'm not worthy."

"I can't believe that you killed my fish, Farkle." Riley said.

"No, not your fish my fish. You weren't the only one who had to replace Chelsea. I replaced her too."

"What? When?!" Riley asked.

"In the middle of my week. Everything went so well on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, I decided to give her a bath." He said.

"What?!"

"On Thursday.."

"Wait wait, go back." Riley said.

"I took Chelsea to the birdbath.
She looked like she was having such a great time. I didn't think anything when the first bird sat on the telephone wire. Before you knew it, I couldn't see the sky anymore." He said, "Did you know goldfish can scream?"

"They can't." Sophia said.

"Then it was me! I scream like a goldfish. Anyway, all the birds swooped down at the same time in a fascinating migratory pattern.
It was like a national geographic special. I caught a little on my phone."

He pulled a video up on his phone.

"And surprisingly, as smart as I am, you would think I'd have learned my lesson not to put the next Chelsea in a birdbath. This one I put in my cat's water dish."

"You didn't?!"

"No, Fluffy, new Chelsea's taking a bath!" The audio said.

"Anyhoo, I replaced my new Chelsea with another Chelsea and came right to school. So as you can see, I had nothing to do with the death of your Chelsea." Farkle said.

"So the current Chelsea isn't Chelsea number two at all. She's Chelsea number four." Riley said.

"Five." Farkle muttered.

"How?" Riley asked.

"I was too ashamed to tell you about our trip to the empire state building. I took her all the way up and sat her on the ledge. And then I said, "lean back a little." And she listened to me." Farkle said.

Sophia was next.

"Sophia."

"Auggie."

"Sophia."

"Ava."

"We have something for you." Auggie said.

"And what would that be Auggie?"

Ava put a plate in front of her.

"A plate?"

"And this."

A cinnamon roll.

"Where'd you get that?" Sophia asked.

Sophia loved cinnamon rolls more than life itself.

"My mommy made them."

"Your mommy made them?" She repeated.

"His mommy made them." Ava said.

Sophia sighed, "I don't know what happened to Chelsea."

Auggie put twelve more cinnamon rolls on the plate.

"Do you know now?" He asked.

"No, I don't know."

Ava grabbed Lucas by the hand and sat him down beside her.

"What about now?" Ava asked.

"What's Lucas gonna do?" Sophia asked.

"Sophia."

"Huckleberry."

"Why are you here right now?"

"They said if I sit here and stare at you, you'll crack."

"They told you that?"

"Yep."

"Game on Friar."

"Game on Hopeman."

They stared at each other for eight minutes, not a single movement.

"They've been staring at each other for eight minutes now." Riley said, "They like looking at each other, what did you expect?"

"Okay, you know what to do Ava." Auggie said.

"Hello, Hopeman."

Sophia's eyes stayed on Lucas, "Hello Morgenstern."

"You love cinnamon rolls right."

"I live off of them Ava."

"Well, what if I take this cinnamon roll and did this." She said.

She picked it up and put it in between Lucas and Sophia.

She moved towards Lucas.

"What are you doing with that roll? Why is it closer to Lucas' face than mines? Why are you rubbing the roll on his face?"

Ava literally put the roll on his face.

"Okay, I confess, just out the roll back on the plate." Sophia said.

"You're gonna eat that roll and it's been rubbed all over my face?" Lucas asked.

"Duh."

"What happened with Chelsea?" Auggie asked.

"Okay, so it was Saturday and it was time for my ferret to eat dinner. I went to get the food and when I came back the ferret's tiny hand was slowly going into the fishbowl and she ate Chelsea. I've never seen anything eat anything that fast before."

"What?" Riley asked.

"I bought a new one, that Sunday night and brought in class the very next day. I had nothing to do with your Chelsea dying." Sophia told her.

"Chelsea number six. Thanks for telling me cinnamon roll." Riley said.

"No problem honey."

Sophia and Lucas traded spots.

"So this is the hot seat, huh?" Lucas asked.

"It is when you're in it, big boy." Ava said.

"Ava!" Auggie shouted.

"Lucas." Sophia said.

"Me?"

He looked dead at Sophia.

"You still have glaze all over your face I wouldn't be talking now, spill it." Sophia said.

"Spill what?" He asked.

"The beans." Auggie said.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"It's what Owl Detective says." Sophia told him.

"Thank you, Sophia."

"You're welcome, I'm sure. So what about those beans?"

"I don't have any beans."

"Then sing like a canary."

"I don't sing so good."

"Then let the cat out of the bag."

"I'm more of a dog person."

"Aw, me too." Sophia said.

They both smiled at each other.

"Just tell them what happened." Sophia said.

"I'm sure you have nothing to hide. Do you?" Riley asked.

"Let me take you back to the week of the fifteenth." Auggie said.

"I don't want to go."

"You took Chelsea out of the classroom." Auggie said.

"I took her straight home." Lucas said.

"No stops?"

"I wouldn't call it a stop."

"So what would you call it?"

"I'd call it a pause."

"So you paused."

"Okay, I stopped."

"We had a baseball game against Einstein academy. Tiggleman was on the mound." He said.

"Curve-ball Tiggleman?" Ava asked.

"Best in the league and no one can hit it."

"Except you." Auggie said.

"Except me."

"And he knows that, but he is proud, see? So I says I says, "Tig, please. I put Chelsea in the bleachers 'cause it's nice and shady over there, so lay off the curve because you know where it's going.""

"The bleachers." Sophia said.

"Yeah, the bleachers."

"Guess what pitch the jerk throws."

"The curve." Auggie said.

"The curve."

"So where'd you hit the ball, Lucas?" Sophia asked.

"It was impossible. Impossible, I tells ya. Chelsea caught my home-run ball In the head. The sound of her fishbowl shattering has haunted me ever since." He said.

Farkle came over, "Yeah, I was at the game. I caught it all on my phone!"

"Oh, no, run! Chelsea, run! Chelsea!" Farkle said in the video.

"Oh, you absolutely hate to see this, folks. You're swimming around, enjoying a great game, and then boom! Dead! Meanwhile, Lucas Friar crosses home plate and Quincy wins!" The announcer said.

"You ran the bases?" Sophia asked.

"I had to. Otherwise, she died for nothing." He said, "But I had nothing to do with what happened to your Chelsea, Riley. I promise."

"You mean Chelsea number seven." Riley said.

"Eight." Thomas said, "I hit right after him."

"Unbelievable." Riley said.

Maya was next.

"You'll never break me, Auggie."

"Oh, you'll blink first."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I'm an owl."

"All right, I went through seven fish." She said.

"What?!" The two girls exclaimed.

"Riley, they're goldfish We're kids.
Kids are the natural enemy of goldfish and the natural meal ticket of "fish store Phil" who makes a fortune off of us."

"How can he make a fortune, Maya? They cost a dollar each." Riley asked.

"He sells them to every kid in every school in every class in the tri-state area." Sophia said.

"You do the math, 'cause you know me and math." Maya said.

"Wow, Phil the fish guy, cleaning up on the heartbreak of the class mascot business." Thomas said.

"Riley, I hate to break it to you, but Chelsea hasn't survived any of us. Every kid in the class replaced her." Farkle said.

"I am not gonna believe this. I know my classmates and they are a loving and caring group of children, who place value on the spark of life even in the smallest of living creatures." Riley said.

"Okay."

Riley's Room

"All right, how many of you knocked off a fish?" Maya asked.

The kids from earlier were still there.

Everyone had a hand raised.

"How many fish you all knocked off?"

They were all but up different numbers.

"Et Tu, Yogi?" Sophia asked.

He held up three fingers.

"No, he had three. Go on, get out of here. I can't even look at you guys anymore. Just get out of here!" Maya said.

Downstairs

"Chelsea one hundred five, on behalf of all of my fellow human beings, I am so sorry. You and your little fish friends all deserve to be safe in your goldfish bowls. I wish there was a way you guys could all take care of each other somehow. But you're only stuck with us. I am sorry." Riley said.

"Okay, you're all free to go. Don't nobody leave town." Auggie said.

"What about my Chelsea, Auggie?" Riley asked.

"Her killer still walks among us. I just don't know hoooo!" He said.

They all stood up and headed towards the door.

"Hi, Chelsea. Are you hungry? Riley's right. We need to take good care of you." Auggie said.

"Auggie, stop." Ava said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm feeding Chelsea one hundred five."

"You can't feed a fish graham crackers." Ava said.

They all turned and gasped.

"You can't?" He asked.

"No!"

"Well, this seems like the real problem. Oh, no. I-I-I-I-I-dunnit!"

"Aw, honey, don't be sad.
You solved the case!" Topanga said.

"I fed Chelsea Graham crackers."

"Maybe that wasn't it."

"Oh, it was it!" Ava said.

"Ava!"

"She's right." Thomas said.

"Graham crackers expand in water." Farkle said.

"Farkle! Thomas!"

"So the crumbs expanded inside her."

"Lucas!"

"He's right." Maya said.

"Maya!"

"I 'sploded Chelsea one hundred four. I feel bad for what I done. Will I ever feel better?" Auggie asked.

Sophia got up and put the fishbowl beside him.

"No, you probably shouldn't put her near me."

"Why not? She's yours." Sophia said.

"She is?"

"Yeah, you take this one. I'm going to pay Phil the fish guy one more little visit." Sophia said.

"But I made a mistake."

"But I know you, Auggie. You won't do it again. It is no mystery to me that you'll take very good care of her." Sophia said.

"Sophia is some dame, ain't she? She knows just how to pick up the spirits of a heartbroken little detective like me." He said, "This wraps up the case of the fish who ate the graham cracker. Now that I heard the name of the case, I guess I should have known what happened."

Phil's Fish Store

"How ya doin', Phil?" Sophia asked.

Her classmates followed behind.

"Well, my my my. What have we here? All my favorite customers here at the same time. Ooh, excuse me a minute while I consider which chateau in France I'll be staying at this summer."

"One goldfish for our whole class, please." Sophia said.

"Looks like you finally met your match on this one, Phil." Maya said.

"Hmm! Y'all gonna keep this one alive, huh, birdbath?" He asked Farkle.

Lucas laughed.

"What you laughin' at, slugger?"

"Nothing."

"We'll take this one." Sophia said.

"Okay."

"How long are goldfish supposed to live?"

"Well, with proper care, they can go fifteen, twenty years."

"Then that's when we'll see you next."

"I hope so, kid. I'll miss you."

"You will?"

"Yeah."

"You're sincere, you're honest. You changed me today."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That'll be seventeen thousand dollars."

"Phil." Maya said.

"Okay."

"This one's on me." He said.

He placed the bowl in front of her.

She smiled, "Thank you, "fish store Phil.""

History: Mr. Matthews

"Okay, dad, so what was the purpose of this horrible lesson?"

"There was no lesson."

"Oh, come on, Matthews. There's always a lesson with you." Maya said.

"You wouldn't have put these goldfish in our hands for no reason." Sophia said.

"Sorry, guys. No lesson here, except whatever you came up with."

"This goldfish is going to live fifteen years." Sophia said.

"Why is that?"

"Because there's supposed to be that much life in her." Maya said.

"And everything alive deserves to be cared for the right way." Thomas said.

"Very good. Oh, by the way."

"I knew it!" The girls said.

"Permission slips for the class retreat. We're going to the Berkshire Mountains this year. I want you to all watch out for each other. Let's bring everybody home safe and sound. You think you can do that?" He asked.

They all stood up and hugged each other.

"Yeah, I think you can too."

Phil's Fish Store

"Hey, Phil."

"I thought it was gonna be fifteen or twenty years until I see you again."

"I was wrong about that, you remind me of my grandfather, and I wanted to thank you for being there."

"No problem."

"Is it almost time to feed the fish again?"

"Yeah, you want to help me again?"

"I actually have to get this permission slip signed. I'll see ya later Mr. Phil."

"I'll see ya later Ms. Hopeman."

Word Count:3204

Updated on: November 6th, 2018

wtf

So I would like to thank you guys for almost 25k read and almost 1k votes

And as of May 1st through the 3rd this book was number 3 in Lucas Friar so thanks again ( OF WHAT YEAR BITCH )

Comment stuff y'all don't do that anymore and I want to talk to y'all

See ya soon