‘I’m not even wearing my ninja mask,’ I said.
Wyatt raised an eyebrow. ‘Just because you’re not wearing your ninja mask doesn’t mean you’re not a ninja.’
He made a good point.
‘Now get in there, tiger,’ Wyatt smirked.
I looked back into the bottom of the grey bin and saw all kinds of nasty half-eaten food and felt sorry for the janitors at the school. People could at least empty their soft drink cans before tossing them out!
I imagined, for a moment, the rise of the rubbish bins in the future. One day, they’ll come to life and seek vengeance for all the gunk that people stuffed into them. Just remember, on the day it happens and bins begin devouring the human race because they’re fed up, that I, Chase Cooper, totally called it.
I shut my eyes and mustered up some courage I had been saving for such an occasion.
‘So gross,’ I whispered as I set my feet into the bottom of the rubbish bin. I gripped the sides so I wouldn’t slip on whatever mushy nastiness awaited me in the pit of the barrel.
Finally, I was completely crouched and tucked away like a ninja … hiding in a rubbish bin. Wyatt gently set the lid on top, but not without laughing at me first.
Naomi and Wyatt wheeled me across the hall to where our trap had been set by the water fountains.
Now all I had to do was wait.
Pushing up on the lid, I could see my pack of gum without giving away my position. Kids kept passing the bait, not even noticing it was there. A couple of kids even took sips from the fountains, but left the cinnamon gum alone!
At that point, I was starting to feel claustrophobic. The inside of the rubber barrel was getting hotter, and the stink of bananas and fish was overwhelming. At least if I needed to barf, I was in a good spot to do it.
And then it happened. I saw a hand reach out towards the pack of gum. I had to wait until the student had the gum in his hands before jumping out because they had to be caught red handed – with the pack of my gum in their possession.
The large hand touched the gum, and then the student pinched it with his fingers, lifting it into the air. Got him!
I exploded out of the bin and grabbed the student’s arm.
‘Ah-ha!’ I shouted, pointing my finger at the bandit’s guilty face. ‘Caught youuuuuuuuuuuu…’ I trailed off the second I realised it was Principal Davis’s arm in my hand.
The principal stared at my finger. ‘What’s the meaning of this?’
‘Heh,’ I laughed nervously, unable to release the principal’s hand from my death grip. ‘I um, that’s uh, it’s just some…ummm…’
‘First of all,’ the principal said, pulling his hand away from me, ‘you’re not allowed to have gum, so I’m taking this. Secondly, hiding at the bottom of a rubbish bin is probably never a good idea. And lastly, it looks like you’ve set a trap here.’
I wasn’t sure what to say, so my brain automatically made me smile, totally making me look like completely guilty.
‘You’re not setting traps in school, are you, Chase?’ Principal Davis asked with a groan.
Suddenly, Wyatt burst out of a door across the hall. ‘Of course he’s not setting a trap! He’s helping me with a social experiment!’
The principal raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh really?’ he asked, suspicious.
To be fair, what we were doing could be considered a social experiment. I mean, we’re baiting a thief to come out of hiding, hoping that the temptation was enough to trigger their evil desire.
Wyatt responded quickly. ‘Yes! We wanted to see if the person who took this gum would take it to the lost and found.’
The principal’s expression didn’t change. He looked at Wyatt and then glanced at the pack of gum. ‘Well, this experiment is over. You can’t have gum anyway, so it wouldn’t matter if they took it to the lost and found. They’d have just thrown it away.’
‘Ah,’ Wyatt said, smiling. ‘Good to know. Thank you, sir. Have a great day.’
The principal squeezed the pack of gum in his hands and disappeared around the corner.
‘Quick thinking,’ Naomi said, joining us. She looked up at the clock on the wall. ‘Whoops, gonna be late. We better get going.’
Wyatt helped me out of the bin. ‘It’s alright,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to catch the bandit later today.’
I nodded, picking tiny pieces of rubbish off my clothing. ‘Right,’ I said. ‘As long as you’re in the bin next time.’
I was a little late to homeroom, so I had to sneak in. It took me a couple extra minutes to wipe my shoes off on the edge of the garbage can. All that trouble, and for nothing!
At the desk in front of me, Zoe sniffed at the air. ‘Nasty! What is that?’
I didn’t say anything, hoping that maybe she was smelling something other than me.
My cousin turned around, disgusted. ‘Ew, dude! Is that you? What’s all over your clothes?’
‘I was hiding in a rubbish bin—’ I started to say.
‘Because that’s how normal kids start their day,’ Zoe interrupted. ‘I’m not sure that hanging out with Wyatt is working out for you.’
I was shocked. ‘How… how did you know?’
‘How’d we know you and Wyatt are buddy-buddy now?’ Brayden asked, leaning closer. ‘C’mon, man. We’re not dumb. It’s obvious. Plus Naomi said something to me yesterday about it.’
I closed my fist. ‘Naomi!’
‘Um, no,’ Zoe said. ‘You’re not allowed to be upset with her. She was just telling us because she’s worried about you.’
‘There’s nothing to be worried about though!’ I said, leaning back in my seat. Zoe was right; the stink of rubbish was lingering on me.
‘There’s not?’ Zoe asked. ‘Let’s see, you’re late to class and you reek like a dead skunk that came back to life and then died again. This is about all that gum that was stolen, isn’t it?’
I didn’t intentionally repeat Wyatt’s words, but they came out anyway. ‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘Maybe not.’
‘Do I need to remind you that Wyatt and Sebastian are working together?’ Zoe snipped. ‘So while you’re out saving the school from a gum bandit, those two are still up to something. And whatever it is probably ain’t good!’
I thought about it for a moment. ‘What if this is my chance to do something good without having to deal with costumed ninjas? And maybe my good influence can rub off on Wyatt. If that’s the case, isn’t it worth a shot?’
Zoe sighed, and looked me right in the eye. ‘I get it,’ she said. ‘You’re about honour and all that. I just don’t want you to get in any kind of trouble. It’s easier to get dragged down by someone than it is to pull them up.’
Zoe turned back to the front of the room. She was right, and I knew she was, but she didn’t seem to understand that all I wanted to do was to find the gum bandit. At this point, it almost felt like an obsession.
I could overhear some conversations in class about how more gum had been stolen, so I knew the bandit was still out there. He just didn’t happen to steal the gum we had tried to lure him with.
No matter though. It was still early, and there was plenty of time left in the day.
I stood outside the cafeteria, rolling the packet of gum in the palms of my hand. As students passed me to get in line for lunch, I watched their eyes to see if they looked at the bait in my hand. Too bad every single kid looked – kinda makes it hard to single anyone out as the bandit.
‘I guess we’re trying this again?’ Naomi asked as she approached. She was a good ninja. A devoted ninja. I knew I could count on her.
I nodded. ‘If Wyatt ever shows up.’
‘Why wait for him?’ Naomi asked. ‘If he’s late, it’s his fault. You don’t need him for any of this.’
She was right.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Let’s do this.’
‘Where do we start?’ Naomi asked, putting her hands on her hips and watching the students in line.
I pulled a piece of thread
from my book bag. ‘During art class, I managed to get a piece of string. I say we tie one end to the gum and the other end to my bag, and just wait. No garbage cans and no stinky mess. We don’t even have to pay attention to the pack of gum! When the bandit takes it, the string will catch our attention!’
‘Bandit fishing,’ Naomi said.
‘Bandit fishing,’ I repeated, smiling.
Naomi helped me tie the string around the cinnamon gum pack while I secured the other end to one of the zippers on my bag. After the trap was set, we entered the cafeteria, but made sure to stay near the opening. If the bandit were to take the bait, the first thing he’d do would be run out of the cafeteria, so we wanted to make sure it would be easy to follow him out the doors.
I stuck the gum in the small pocket on the side of my book bag, just enough so that the end was visible. It was practically screaming to get stolen. I took a seat on the bench by the door. Naomi took the spot next to me.
‘The other ninjas love the new hideout,’ Naomi said, making conversation. ‘But you’ve only been there once this week.’
Naomi was talking about the unused wrestling room I had stumbled upon a week ago. I was chasing Hotcakes, the penguin, through the school and ended up in that room. Part of me thinks Hotcakes wanted to show it to me. Since the room was unused, Coach Cooper said I was allowed to use it for a martial arts club. My ninja clan would have a legit place to train that would still be hidden from the rest of the school. It was perfect.
‘I know I should be training with them,’ I replied, ‘but this situation has taken more attention from me than I wanted.’
Naomi nodded. ‘You should still try to make time for them. I mean, they’re not only part of your ninja clan, they’re your friends too.’
‘I know, I know,’ I whispered, feeling guilty. The truth was that I wanted to train with them. A sixth grade ninja who doesn’t train is just a sixth grade kid.
At that moment, the zipper on my book bag flipped. I spun around, trying to get a look at the pack of gum, but it wasn’t there anymore.
‘Did you see who took it?’ I asked, frantically jumping from the bench. ‘It happened so quast that I didn’t see anything!’
‘No!’ Naomi said. ‘I was watching the cafeteria! Wait … what? What’s quast mean?’
I felt like a dimwit. ‘I meant to say ‘quick’, but at the last second tried to say ‘fast’. So it came out as ‘quast’.’
‘Nice,’ Naomi smiled.
My bag jerked to the left, pulling me along with it. The string was still attached to the gum! I plucked at the tight piece of thread, making the same sound as a guitar string. It was being pulled towards the staff entrance to the kitchen.
‘Come on!’ I said, racing along the wall, dodging students who were trying to find a seat with their food.
Naomi dashed past me like a bullet. She pulled the kitchen door open and we stepped through.
The kitchen was a hot mess of steam and food. The cooks were too busy moving tubs of spaghetti sauce back and forth to notice the two kids that had just walked through the door.
‘This is why the bandit chose this exit,’ I said. ‘Everyone’s distracted!’
‘And the noise level is through the roof!’ Naomi added, nearly shouting.
She was right. It was hard to hear anything over the voices of the cooks and the clanging pots and pans.
Naomi stepped forward and touched her finger to the string on my bag. It was still pulled tight, but not as tight as before. There was a little slack, which meant that the bandit had stopped running.
I followed Naomi as she jogged through the kitchen. The smell of pasta and mashed potatoes was thick in the air as we turned the corner.
We were in the back of the kitchen now, where all the dry food was stored. Massive containers of mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard were stacked on shelves. Huge pallets of buns were set at the centre, and at the back of the room was another exit.
The white thread led from the zipper on my book bag to the floor, where it weaved around the pallet of buns and disappeared under the door at the back of the room. The string was completely loose at that point. The bandit had either stopped moving completely or had cut it. I was beginning to doubt we’d find him.
‘Great,’ I said, defeated. ‘He’s long gone by now.’
Naomi stepped forward. ‘Maybe not,’ she said, pointing at the string sticking out from under the door.
It was moving, but only slightly.
My heart started racing. ‘He’s still messing with the gum!’ I said. ‘The bandit is right on the other side of this door!’
Naomi grabbed the door handle and smiled at me. ‘Are you ready for this?’
I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. ‘Do it.’
Pushing the handle down, Naomi pulled the door open with all her strength.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see. In my head, I had always thought the bandit would look like a small mouse dressed in blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a leather jacket, with greased black hair and a stupid grin. I think I saw a movie like that once.
Instead, I saw the end of the piece of string lying on the ground. The bandit had cut the string.
All the hope and excitement that had built up inside me suddenly vanished, and I was left feeling empty.
‘We weren’t fast enough,’ I said. ‘We had him, but we just weren’t fast enough!’
Naomi was by my side, but she didn’t say anything.
‘If we could’ve only been—’
Naomi nudged me with her elbow. ‘Chase? You might wanna turn around now.’
Great. That was never a good thing to hear.
I looked over my shoulder to see what was spooking Naomi. Across the room, were three red ninjas – they always travel in packs of three.
‘Lookie what we got here,’ the ninja at the front sneered. ‘A couple of kiddos who have lost their way.’
I narrowed my eyes. ‘Jake?’
The ninja grabbed the bottom of his mask and ripped it off. His black hair flopped all over the place before it fell on his forehead.
It was Jake, and the two red ninjas behind him were probably members of his wolf pack.
Jake held his fist out at me. ‘You hurt my leg this morning, and for that, you will pay.’
‘That’s a little extreme, isn’t it?’ Naomi asked.
‘Not for a star football player!’ one of the red ninjas behind Jake said. ‘The team needs this guy, and you injured him!’
‘It was an accident, and I said I was sorry!’ I shouted.
‘That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences!’ Jake said. He punched a fist into the palm of his hand. ‘Get them!’
Part of a ninja’s training involves learning how to use their surroundings to their advantage. A ninja has to be aware of everything around them at all times, so they can be prepared for anything, even if the only thing around them was a pallet of bread buns.
‘Bun attack!’ I shouted, grabbing handfuls of buns and chucking them across the room. I managed to get both of the red ninjas who were coming toward me. They flinched, stepping back towards Jake.
‘He’s throwing bread at you!’ Jake shouted angrily.
Naomi grabbed the handle of the door behind us and pulled as hard as she could, but the door didn’t budge. ‘It’s jammed! The only way out is through them!’
‘Of course it is!’ I replied. ‘That’s my luck, isn’t it? James Buchanan is trying to ruin my life by trapping me in a kitchen with red ninjas!’
‘You need serious help!’ Naomi screamed, frustrated. Grabbing a handful of buns, she joined me, swinging her arm around like she was pitching a softball. The two red ninjas stuck their chests out and started marching towards Naomi and me. They knew the door behind us was stuck so they weren’t in any hurry to beat the living tar out of us.
‘It’s been an honour to serve with you, sir,’ Naomi said, way more serious than I think she meant to.
‘We’re not
out of the game yet!’ I said, balling one of the rolls into a tight wad of bread. ‘Check this out!’
I threw it at one of the red ninjas as hard as I could. The ball of bread zoomed through the air so fast that it made a fsssshhhh sound. Time seemed to stand still as the bun drew closer and closer to the red ninja’s face. I could see the fear in his eyes. He wanted to panic, but his brain wasn’t fast enough to make his body respond.
Closer and closer until … it sailed over his head.
Naomi slapped her forehead. ‘This is how I die.’
The two red ninjas approached with their fists in the air. Naomi took a step back, planting her feet firmly on the ground. I did the same, waiting for the attack.
Suddenly, the door behind us burst open, flooding the room with sunlight. The two ninjas stumbled around, blinded. They covered their faces, shielding their eyes from the light.
A figure stood tall in the doorway as sunlight washed over it. It was impossible to see their face.
‘The white ninja?’ Naomi whispered, squinting her eyes.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. It was still difficult to see, but it was obvious that the figure was wearing some sort of one-piece costume. The outline looked almost the same as a clown’s outfit. Was Miko standing in the doorway?
‘Leave them alone!’ the shadowed figured commanded.
‘Miko, is that you?’ I asked, squinting. ‘Are you wearing your clown outfit?’
‘Clowns!’ Jake said quickly. ‘No! No clowns! No clowns!’
The two red ninjas looked at each other confused.
‘I hate clowns!’ Jake shouted as he tripped over his feet. ‘They’re unnatural! Why would anyone ever want to paint their face like that? Why?’
The two red ninjas ran to him and helped him to his feet.
‘Ninjas!’ Jake shouted. ‘Vanish!’
One of the ninjas pulled out a sack filled with chalk dust and slammed it on the ground. When the dust had cleared, all three red ninjas were gone.
I spun around, ready to confront whoever was standing in the door. ‘Miko?’ I asked again cautiously.
The figure stepped into the kitchen and shut the door behind him. Naomi’s jaw hit the floor when she saw his face.
Buchanan Bandits Page 6