Recess Rebels
Page 1
This one is for the boys.
And the girls, too.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4197-3737-4
eISBN 978-1-68335-570-0
Text copyright © 2019 Emma Wunsch
Illustrations copyright © 2019 Jessika von Innerebner
Book design by Siobhán Gallagher
Published in 2019 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
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Book One: The Princess and the Absolutely Not a Princess
Book Two: Banana Pants!
Book Three: Recess Rebels
1
WITHOUT SWINGS, SCHOOL WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL
Not long ago, during recess at Mountain River Valley Elementary, a princess named Miranda Rose Lapointsetta and an absolutely not a princess named Maude Brandywine Mayhew Kaye were swinging.
“Swinging is the best part of school,” Maude hollered as they soared through the air. “Without swings, school would be absolutely dreadful.”
Maude was shouting so Miranda could hear her. Although they tried to swing at the exact same time, the laws of motion made that impossible. Sometimes Maude’s words flew over Miranda’s ears. Other times Miranda’s words flew under Maude’s head.
Miranda nodded, pretty sure she’d understood. Swinging with Maude was definitely the best part of the day. Of course, there were other things at school the girls liked, most especially their teacher, Miss Kinde. Miss Kinde was so amazingly wonderful that, not long ago, for two whole weeks, she’d let their class (3B) put on a play called Banana Pants instead of taking tests!
The play hadn’t been perfect. Costumes had ripped, lines were mumbled, and one dance routine was completely forgotten. But the class had come together and worked extremely hard, which Miss Kinde had said made it a successful creative endeavor and, most importantly, a wonderful experience.
Unfortunately, now that the curtain had closed on Banana Pants, 3B was back to taking a preposterous number of Mandatory National Reading and Writing and Math Exam practice exams, because Mountain River Valley Elementary School’s principal, Principal Fish, thought they were extremely important.
Neither Maude nor Miranda liked practice exams. Other things they didn’t like: music class, PE, and school lunches. Also, the girls thought that the school day was very long, there were too many rules, and they had to be quiet a lot.
Actually, Miranda didn’t mind being quiet. A lot of the time she was a quiet person.
Maude was not quiet. She was often loud with lots to say.
Right now, she was saying, “I just don’t get tag.” She pointed at the playground, where kids from their class were running around screaming, “Not It!”
Miranda, who was afraid of heights, looked down quickly. She watched Donut leap past Norbert, who sprinted past Fletcher, who jogged away from Felix. Miranda didn’t think this looked fun because she didn’t like running or screaming. But Felix and Donut were grinning. It was hard to tell how Norbert and Fletcher felt because they were moving so fast.
Miranda looked back up at Maude. “Some people find it fun, I guess. Just like we like swinging.”
“I guess.” Maude shrugged and pointed down to Hillary Greenlight-Miller, who was, as usual, walking across the balance beam. “There’s Hillary—balancing, of course.”
Miranda quickly admired Hillary’s excellent balance.
“What are they doing?” Maude pointed to a grassy spot in the middle of the playground where their classmates Agnes, Agatha, and Desdemona were lying on their backs holding soccer balls in the air.
“Probably playing one of Desdemona’s animal games,” Miranda said.
At that moment, Donut, who was still trying to avoid getting tagged, ran past the girls.
Desdemona jumped up. “Girl tag!” she shouted.
Donut turned around but kept jogging. “No,” he hollered. “No girl tag! Girl tag is forbidden!”
Maude slowed her swing. “What did Donut say?” She looked at Miranda.
Miranda gulped. Maude’s question sounded a lot like the ones on the morning practice exam: tricky and without a clear answer.
“I think Donut just forbade Desdemona from playing tag because she’s a girl!” Maude screeched. “We might be soaring thousands of feet in the air, but I have excellent hearing, and my ears are super-duper clean because I took a bath last night and a shower this morning because I forgot about my bath until I was in the shower.”
“The playground is so loud. I’m not sure I heard what Donut said,” Miranda said quietly.
“I am,” Maude said. And without bothering to come to a complete stop (and thus breaking rule fifty-two in the Official Rules of Mountain River Valley Elementary), she flew off her swing and ran over to Desdemona.
2
WE CAN’T STAND FOR THIS!
“We can’t stand for this!” Maude shrieked to Desdemona, Agatha, and Agnes, who were now all standing up.
“Stand for what?” Desdemona dribbled her ball toward Agatha very slowly. “We’re playing sloth soccer.”
“For this unjustness! Donut has forbidden you from playing tag!” Maude hollered. “Because you’re a girl!”
Desdemona leisurely lifted the ball with her foot. “He did?”
“Yes! When he ran past you. Miranda heard it too.” Maude looked at Miranda, who hesitated, then nodded slowly.
Desdemona shrugged. “Oh. That wasn’t nice, but soccer is better. And sloth soccer is the best!” In slow motion, she kicked the ball to Agnes.
“That’s not the point!” Maude said.
“What’s the point?” Agatha asked. She kicked the ball slowly to Maude.
Maude climbed up on the soccer ball and promptly fell off. “Forbidding you from tag is forbidding us all from tag. The poet Maya Angelou once said, ‘Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.’ I stand here now on behalf of all Three B girls to officially declare that we won’t tolerate not being allowed to play tag!”
What a good speech, Miranda thought. Then she had another thought. “Do you want to play tag, Maude?”
Maude looked curiously at Miranda. “Not at all,” she said. “But that’s not the point! The point is that we should be able to play tag if we want to.”
The girls nodded. They could certainly do everything the boys did.
But unfortunately, what they needed to do right now was line up, since the bell ending recess had just rung. The soccer girls kicked their balls toward the goal. The boys, still playing tag, ran over to 3B’s line. Maude ran back to the swings to grab her messenger bag, which she’d brought outside even though it broke rule seventy-four.
Once in line, Maude bent down to secure the leftover half of her delicious but super-stinky Limburger cheese sandwich,
which was in danger of falling out of her bag. Unfortunately, at that same moment, Donut, who was frantically trying to not get tagged by Fletcher, spun around and crashed into her. Maude fell forward and knocked into Hillary Greenlight-Miller, who bumped into Miranda.
“You’re It!” Fletcher sounded victorious.
“Ow!” Maude hollered.
“My leg,” Hillary cried. “My leg, my leg, my leg!”
Miranda didn’t say anything. She was fine and more concerned with the things that had fallen out of Maude’s bag. Maude was famous (in 3B) for the strange things she brought to school. Miranda peered at the pile, very worried when she saw Maude’s leftover cheese sandwich.
“I have a balance competition soon,” Hillary wailed. “That’s why I spend every recess on the balance beam! I can’t get hurt!” She glared at Maude.
“It wasn’t me,” Maude shrieked. “It was him!” She pointed at Donut. “He’s the reason we’re on the ground. Are you all right, Hillary?” Hillary Greenlight-Miller liked being best or first at everything. This used to annoy Maude, but ever since Hillary had done a great job directing Banana Pants, it had annoyed her a little less.
Hillary slowly stood up. “Maybe.”
Maude pointed to the pile next to her and scowled at Donut. “Now all my stuff is on the ground and I’m going to be late! This is all your fault!”
“Oh,” Donut said. “Sorry. I didn’t see you. And you’re not supposed to have your bag at recess anyway.”
“Humph,” Maude said. “Tag is the worst game!”
“I’ll help you, Maude,” Miranda said. She gulped a mouthful of air so she wouldn’t have to breathe near Maude’s sandwich. Quickly, the girls stuffed Maude’s things back into her bag. And then, right on time, they walked back into class.
3
DONUT’S BRILLIANT IDEA
Walking into 3B behind Maude and Miranda was Donut. Donut loved doughnuts. He also loved tag. Maude is wrong, Donut thought as he sat down. Tag was the best game! It was free and didn’t require any equipment. Why did Maude have so much weird stuff in her bag? If she’d been standing up like she was supposed to, he would’ve seen her. And Fletcher wouldn’t have tagged him. Now he’d be It until the dismissal bell rang, which felt like three hundred hours away.
Donut looked at Saeed, a new student, in the row in front of him. If Donut shifted four inches to the right, he’d just be able to reach Saeed’s shoulder. He’d have to do it quickly so Miss Kinde wouldn’t see. But that could be extra fun! Quietly, Donut tapped Saeed.
Saeed turned around.
“You’re It,” Donut whispered.
Saeed laughed, reached over, and tapped Felix.
Within twenty-seven seconds, all of the boys in 3B were happily playing secret silent inside tag.
And the girls in the class were not happy about that!
4
INSIDE TAG IS QUADRUPLE ANNOYING
Actually, just one girl noticed the inside tag.
“If it was annoying outside, then it’s quadruple annoying inside,” Maude told Miranda and Hillary as Miss Kinde handed out the afternoon practice exam. “And dangerous!”
Hillary nodded, rubbed her leg, and wrote her name on her exam.
Miranda wrote her name and read question one, which, like question one on the morning exam, was horribly confusing.
Maude didn’t write her name or read the first question. She put on a pair of glasses that she loved but didn’t need and watched Felix tag Norris, Norris tag Fletcher, Fletcher tag Norbert, Norbert tag Saeed, and Saeed tag Donut. Then she groaned loudly.
“Everyone should be working quietly.” Miss Kinde looked up from the mountain of morning practice exams she was grading. “Please work quietly, Maude.”
What? Maude’s heart fluttered, then sputtered. She had done absolutely nothing wrong. This was Donut’s fault! She wasn’t breaking the rules by playing inside tag. She was just trying to take another dumb practice exam. This isn’t fair, Maude thought. First, Donut forbade girls to play tag! Then, because of tag, she was knocked to the ground! And all of her stuff was knocked over and possibly broken or lost! And now she was being yelled at! By the best teacher in the universe! Something had to be done! Maude just didn’t know what!
5
MAUDE’S LONG AFTERNOON
Amazingly, the rest of the afternoon zipped by for Donut. Secret silent inside tag made school a lot of fun, even the really boring parts. Tag during the practice exam was surprisingly easy, but during music with cranky Mr. Mancini? Not easy at all! Getting away with tagging Felix at the exact moment Principal Fish walked down the hall looking for rule-breakers? Well, that was probably the greatest moment of Donut’s elementary school life.
The day went by at the regular Monday-afternoon speed for most everybody else in 3B but painfully slowly for Maude, who couldn’t pay attention to anything but the boys’ silly game. How come none of the teachers noticed them playing? Why did Mr. Mancini tell her to stop playing her harmonica but say nothing when Fletcher tagged Donut? And why hadn’t Desdemona been mad about Donut not wanting her to play tag because she’s a girl? What gave Donut the right to say who could play tag? It was such an injustice!
But just as Donut was about to tag Felix while walking back to 3B after music, Principal Fish walked by. Hooray, Maude thought, feeling hopeful for the first time since recess. Principal Fish would see what was happening, and Donut would finally get in trouble! Tag shouldn’t be played in school! Tag shouldn’t be played at all! She imagined rule 10,002 in the Official Rules of Mountain River Valley Elementary: tag, both inside and outside, would be totally forbidden! Or maybe, Maude thought, tag, both inside and outside, would be totally forbidden FOR THE BOYS! The girls could play if they wanted to, which of course they wouldn’t, because the girls knew that tag was dumb!
“Here, here!” Maude chanted, imagining Donut being marched down the hall by Principal Fish.
“Maude,” Miranda said quietly. “What are you doing?”
“Huh?” Maude was jolted out of her daydream and back to 3B, right next to Donut, who had somehow gotten away with playing tag right in front of Principal Fish!
Principal Fish, Maude wondered. What would he say if Maude told him about inside tag? Probably nothing, Maude thought, trudging to her desk. Principal Fish only liked following the rules, not changing them. Principal Fish’s favorite rule is most certainly “follow the rules,” Maude thought as her eyes landed on her bulging messenger bag. Her wonderful messenger bag that held some of her most precious possessions, which had been brutally flung to the ground. That was probably against the rules, wasn’t it? All of a sudden, Maude had a brilliant idea.
“Miss Kinde!” Maude screeched. “Miss Kinde! I must speak to Principal Fish!”
“Principal Fish?” Miss Kinde was shocked. Actually, everyone in 3B was shocked. Maude wanting to see Principal Fish was like a fish swimming out of the water to ride a bicycle. Or something like that.
Maude nodded.
“Is there anything I can do?” Miss Kinde asked gently.
“No,” Maude said. “And rule forty-seven in the Official Rules of Mountain River Valley Elementary says that students are allowed to speak directly to the principal if they feel one hundred percent certain that their teacher would be unable to help them.”
“Are you sure I can’t help you?”
Maude nodded. “One hundred and ten percent.”
Miss Kinde looked a little hurt and very confused, but she said okay.
Grabbing her bag, Maude limped out of the room.
Once she was out of 3B, Maude broke rule nineteen by going into the bathroom without a pass. Quickly, she dug into her bag and put on a few accessories.
The Maude who left the bathroom looked very different from the one who’d left 3B. This Maude wobbled into Principal Fish’s office.
“HOW CAN I HELP YOU?” Principal Fish boomed.
“I’m here about rule eighty-one,” Maude said, trying to sound li
ke she was in a tremendous amount of pain.
6
A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT
Not long after Maude (who was not limping or bandaged) returned to 3B, Principal Fish made the following announcement over the loudspeaker:
“ATTENTION! STUDENTS OF MOUNTAIN RIVER VALLEY ELEMENTARY!” He was so loud that even the teachers covered their ears. “AS OF RIGHT NOW, TAG AT MOUNTAIN RIVER VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IS FORBIDDEN! STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!”
“What?!” Donut shrieked.
“TAG IS PROHIBITED BECAUSE I, PRINCIPAL FISH, HAVE BEEN REMINDED THAT TAG OFFICIALLY BREAKS RULE EIGHTY-ONE, WHICH SAYS THAT ANY GAME THAT IS POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS TO INNOCENT BYSTANDERS IS NOT ALLOWED ON SCHOOL GROUNDS.”
“What innocent bystanders?” Saeed asked. “What’s hazardous about tag?”
“THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION,” Principal Fish hollered. “PLEASE CONTINUE WITH YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED LATE-AFTERNOON PRACTICE EXAM.”
“Miss Kinde!” Donut wailed. “You’re not going to make Three B follow this super-dumb new rule, are you?”
“I’m so sorry,” Miss Kinde said sympathetically. “But we must follow Principal Fish’s rules. No matter how . . .” She didn’t say anything else.
“I don’t get it,” Donut said. “We’ve been playing tag forever. Why would Principal Fish stop it now?”
No one said anything.
3B was quiet.
3B was very quiet.
Except for one faint snicker from a certain girl with a mostly hidden eye patch in her pocket.
7
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS
When the dismissal bell finally rang at Mountain River Valley that Monday, most students left as quickly as possible. Miranda and Maude were the last to go because it had taken Maude so long to pack up all of her stuff.