The teacher was gone so everyone knew what that meant. Papers were being thrown around like the ammunition of the third world war. Our second grade selves were high off of fruit roll ups and juice boxes.

“How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?!” Carlie yelled.

“How many?” I asked laughing as she squeals.

“Ten-tickles!” she yells and starts laughing. Nobody laughs at her joke.

“That was lame,” Liam said from the back of the classroom.

“That joke is as old and overused as your grandma,” Anthony says and everyone falls silent. Nobody knows if they should start yelling or laughing.

“That’s not funny,” Carlie says and crosses her arms over her chest. She slumps down in her seat and begins to pout.

“Stop looking like a basset hound and come have fun,” Amanda says.

"I am having fun,” she says and starts to get flustered.

“Carlie come on.” she pleads and drags her over to where we all sat in a circle.

“ I want to go home,” I whine.

“Your dumb self won’t go out past the water fountain,” Timmy said to me.

This little diaper wearing, thumb sucking, teddy bear cuddling kid won’t tell me what I won’t do.

“Uh-huh, I bet I can make it to the teacher's lounge,” I say smirking. “Oh yeah? how much do you wanna bet on it?” he asks and I smirk. “All the blue fruit snacks for a week,” I say and people gasp. When you bet your blue fruit snacks, you better win. I slowly walked into the silent hallway.

I see the water fountain and then the teachers lounge which seemed like bazillion miles away. I look behind me and see everyone watching me closely. I step onto the tile and see if it would crack under my feet like in an elevator.

“Come on Kevin stop being a little blankie sleeping wimp,” I mutter to myself. I take a step forward and see a door open in front of me.

“Ah!” I yell and take off down the hallway. I run past the teachers lounge and out the doors of the school. Whoops and cheers behind me echoed off the hallway walls.

“Kevin get back here!” I hear an administrator yell.

“Heck to the no I’m getting out of here!” I yell and turn around to see if anyone was following me. When I looked back I ran straight into our vice principal, Mrs. Waters. She was like a mean dog that we always blamed ate our homework. Once you went into her office once then you can kiss recess goodbye. If she ever caught you skipping, the timeout chair was yours for hours. Timeout changes a man and I wanted to change only when I could master multiplication. But I never did learn my multiplication tables, because I kept running and never turned back. Peer pressure, man, I tell ya. You’re always just one good dare away from homelessness.

This story was written by Sarah P, is a freshman at Harrison School for the Arts. She enjoys writing fiction short stories and poetry. Her works have been previously published in Teen Ink and in Creative Communications.