SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM STERLING SCHOOL

Charley

Charley had straight blond hair with little curls at the ends. She loved her blue headband, which was no surprise, because she wore it every day. Charley had perfect attendance and straight A grades. She came to school in the morning at 8:00 and left in the afternoon at 3:30. Charley greeted the lunch lady and the teachers that walked by her in the marble hallway. But, Charley had a big problem. She always brought a cat with her to school! Charley just couldn't help it. Cats are so furry and warm. “This isn't a big problem” Charley always said. But Charley was right. It is a HUGE problem! The cats had already taken off the zipper and cute panda keychain from Charley’s backpack!

Charley’s backpack was muti-colored and sparkly. The inside was turquoise and hot pink tye-dyed. Charley’s backpack had ten pockets in it for her ten subjects in school. It still had an adorable puppy keychain, but Charley knew it would not be long before the cats ate that too!

Charley always brought a new cat to school. She never brought the same cat twice! First, the cats were a good thing. They cuddled with everyone and purred softly. They made sad kids feel like they just came out of a carnival. The kids took turns bringing the soft white and amber cats home with them in their car for the weekend.

The children’s favorite cat was a cat named Burbanks. He was brown with a little bit of black. He was very cuddly and kind. Burbanks came out at recess with the kids and walked home with them after school.

But, then the cats started to purr loudly during tests and assignments. The kids couldn’t concentrate! Charley’s teacher, Mr. Ham Sandwich, kept checking the student’s backpacks for cats. The principal, Mrs. Salmon Sandwich, even called parents to tell their kids to stop bringing cats. But, that only increased the problem.

Kids started making cat beds in their lockers and putting cats in the cat beds they had made. They ran out of room for their books and had to start putting their books in their lunchboxes. The playground was barely a playground anymore. Cats had over run the playground and the recess teacher, Mr. Picnic Sandwich, couldn’t even do his job anymore because of all of the cats. One kid was allergic to cats and had to wear a mask to school.

On Tuesday, when Charley’s dad pulled up to the huge brick school, she got out with a black and white cat named Truman. Charley put Truman into her backpack and walked down through the marble columns that held up the birch wood walkway to the school. The floor of the walkway was made of concrete that was hard under Charley’s neon pink shoes. The sky was bright blue and had white fluffy clouds in shapes of turtles and whales.

Charley was wearing bright neon pink shoes, a smiley face shirt, a jean jacket and of course her blue headband. Charley’s pants were long black leggings with tiny hearts on them.

Charley waved to her friends that were sitting on a birch wood bench that the school had saved up for with a fundraiser. Then, she walked into the school through the clear glass doors and onto the marble terracotta floor. Charley stopped by the school store inside the lobby of the school. She rummaged inside her backpack and pulled out a quarter. Charley smiled at Truman, who was sleeping inside her backpack. Charley laid the quarter onto the small wooden counter in front of the teenager that was the store owner.

“One panda eraser please.”

Charley said, pointing at a cute panda eraser that was sitting in one of the bins. The store owner smiled at her and gave Charley the panda eraser. Charley put the panda eraser in the front pocket of her jean jacket.

Later that day, Charley twisted the panda eraser on to the top of her pencil. She was thinking about how to answer question thirty-three on the science test that Charley and her class were taking on spiders. She tapped her feet on the hard marble floor of the classroom. Charley finally got the answer in her head. But, Charley needed to hurry to finish because Mr. Ham Sandwich had already called halfway mark. She quickly zoomed through the remaining twenty-two questions. Charley had just finished the last question when Mr. Ham Sandwich called for the class to turn in their work. Charley walked to the yellow turn-in basket and put her paper in. After that Charley returned to her desk and slipped a piece of salmon to Truman, who was still in her backpack. Truman hungrily gobbled the salmon up in one big bite. Charley smiled and listened to Mr. Ham Sandwich read a chapter of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

The next day, when Charley’s mom pulled up at the school, it wasn’t there! All that was left was a huge mount of fur. Well, the school was there, but it was buried deep under all of the cat fur.

Charley looked at the fur invaded school and then asked her mom to drive her to the hardware store to buy a shovel. Charley’s mom said yes and drove Charley to Lowes. Charley bought an iron shovel and got back into the car. Her mom drove Charley back to the school.

Charley got out of the car and dug her way into the school. Once she got in, Charley looked around at all of the kittens. Charley sighed and said out loud ,“This is my mess. I have to fix it.”

Charley walked into the empty storage room and made a huge bed for all of the kittens. She called in all of the kittens and they all came. Charley shut the door on the kittens and called her friends. They all agreed to help clean out the school.

At five pm, Charley’s friends came to the school with iron shovels and dug out the school. All of the teachers helped too! By six o’clock the school was fully de-fured.

All of the kids cheered! But, the kids didn’t cheer because the school was fur free, the kids cheered because Burbanks was the new school pet!

Burbanks will get his own room with an automatic food machine and a big cozy bed made from freshly cut lamb fur. At the end of every day, the best student will get to take Burbanks home if he/she wants too!

On Thursday, after school, Charley sat down on a wooden bench at the playground near her house. Charley thought for a moment and then had another “great” idea. She would bring puppies to school the next day!

The End 2.12.2021

Charlotte

Charlotte is a little girl that goes to a school called Sterling School but this school is not like any other school. It is virtual. Charlotte loves her pajamas and her socks. In fact she wears them once a week (shhhh dont tell the teacher.) Someone in her class is named Jackson. This girl is Charlotte’s friend. They are partners for a long project.

One day Charlotte was wearing her pajamas to school and she was in a break out room with Jackson. Charlotte said “Hey Jackson, I'm wearing my pajamas to school.”

Jackson was surprised that she had not noticed that Charlotte was wearing her pajamas. Charlotte told Jackson to not tell the teacher about this Jackson agreed and they went back to the main room. When the teacher got kicked off the meeting Charlotte told the class about wearing her pajamas to school she told them not to tell the teacher. Everyone agreed not to tell everyone except blabbermouth Sue.

When the teacher got back Sue blabbered out “Charlotte is wearing pajamas to school”.

The teacher said “Charlotte I am disappointed in you I will have to talk to your mom about this”.

Charlotte and Sue were enemies. When the teacher was going to the bathroom Sue stuck her tongue out at Charlotte and said”na na na boo boo stick your head in doo doo”. Charlotte was furious. In fact she was so furious she told the teacher about everything bad Sue had done. The teacher did not believe Charlotte because she had never seen Sue do anything.

So the teacher said “I guess I will have to talk to the principal too”.

Sue stuck her tongue out at Charlotte. Charlotte was so mad she almost cried but she did not because Sue would have just called Charlotte a cry baby and everyone would make fun of her so she held it together. Charlotte went in to a break out room with . The way Charlotte calms down is by telling people about her socks so she said to Jackson “ my socks are pink with rainbows and unicorns” but that did not work. So she started freaking out. But she knew another way to calm down. When Charlotte got back to the main room she started yelling at Sue. After that she knew that Sue would never ever ever tattle on her again. Charlotte was as calm as can be. She knew that she would be as calm as a cucumber for the rest of the time that Sue was not tattling and bullying her.

2.12.2021

Bobby

Bobby was a very blond haired boy. He loved to make funny poems that everyone in Ms. Emmel’s class liked, but often ignored. Bobby wanted some attention on his poems, and today is the story sharing day!

Was Bobby lucky or not? He read his poem “The Doomed Pickle”. Everyone liked the poem.. Since everyone liked the poem, his teacher told him to read another one.

Bobby said: “Hold on, I will go get one”. When Bobby read The Doomed pickle, Jacob snuck all of Bobby’s poems. When Bobby went over to his desk to get a new poem, he said: “someone stole my poems!”

Bobby heard Jacob sneer, so Bobby furiously went over to Jacob and yelled at Jacob where he had put Bobby’s poems. First, Jacob said the poems were on Bobby’s desk, but he saw that Bobby was clearly not going to fall for it. Then, Jacob said he saw Callie take them, so Bobby asked Callie.

She told him she saw Jaskon Wescott take it, this went on until every classmate was blamed, then the teacher was. As Bobby walked over to the teacher, he thought what if it was a trick or something.

Bobby got curious about the mystery of the missing poems, and thought “I wonder if Jacob or somebody else, put my poems somewhere.”. Bobby really wanted to know where his poems were a lot now, because no one has really known yet. He got a little frustrated about it.

Bobby asked Ms. Emmel for his poems, but she said Jacob only hid them under your desk! All of this time, it was a trick! First, Ms. Emmel told Jacob to write his name under disiplin on the blackboard. Then, Bobby asked Jacob why he hid Bobby’s poems.

Jacob only said that he was annoyed by the poems since they always take up the whole time for the sharing time for the poems or stories. And just like that, the bell rang like Jacob had some magical words that made time speed up a lot. What a coincidence!

Everyone always wanted to listen to Bobby’s poems after what was from now on called “The Trick”.Everyone wanted to listen to the poems, everyone that is, but Ms. Emmel…

-Bobby 2.12.2021

Raymond

Raymond had short black hair. He also had an oval shape bumpy scar on his knee. He wore shirts and pants with holes in them. His left arm was a mechanical arm.

One day when he was walking to school he saw a snake. He loved snakes. Also, today was a Show And Tell day. Because of that he picked up the snake with his mechanical hand. The snake tried to bite, but it couldn't bite through the metal. He unzipped his backpack and put the snake inside. Afterwards, Raymond zipped up his backpack, but he left a little hole in the zipper. He did that because he wanted the snake to breathe. Then, he hurried to school.

Raymond sat down at his desk in Ms.Emmel’s classroom. Other kids were sharing what they had with their friends but not him. He wanted to keep his show and tell a secret.

“What did you bring?” asked Kyson.

“That was what I was going to say.” said Jacob.

“I'm not going to tell you,” said Raymond.

After he said that, Kyson and Jacob sat down at their desks which were next to his desk. They started sharing their items with the other people in Ms. Emmel’s classroom. Just then Ms. Emmel came into the room from printing out worksheets. She said for each student to come up to the front of the room to show the class their items when she called on them.

After a while she called Raymond. He grabbed his backpack and set it next to him when he walked to the front of the room. He opened his backpack and out jumped the snake!

“A snake!” yelled Ms. Emmel.

She jumped up to try to land on the snake’s head, but the snake bit her foot first and made her lose her aim!

“It bit me!” yelled Ms.Emmel.

She ran down the hall to the nurse's office screaming at the top of her lungs. Raymond heard the whole class laughing, but also noticed some students looking anxious. He smiled to himself as the snake slithered under the desk. Then, he returned to his seat.

2.12.2021

Callie

Callie was a student in Ms. Emmel’s class. Callie had long blond hair and usually wore pigtails in it. She hated pink. And she loved yellow and white things. She loved flowers that were yellow and white. She loved shirts that were yellow and white. And she loved dogs that were yellow and white.

One foggy day, the wind blew and the computer shoke while Callie was outside on her google meet. Suddenly, the computer flew into the air and the wind pushed it away.

“No!” Callie shouted as she chased after it.

The computer was pushed all through Callie’s backyard then it flew over the fence and into the cul de sac of the neighborhood.

“Callie, why do I see your whole neighborhood?!” Ms. Emmel shouted.

Callie couldn’t unmute herself; the computer was floating too far away from her. “I can’t unmute. My computer is floating away.” Callie was trying to say.

“Callie I’m going to call your mom.” Ms. Emmel said to Callie that her mom was chasing after her computer too.

Soon the computer had gone all around the neighborhood about 130 times. Callie and her mom were so tired they fell to the ground. Then Callie’s neighbor saw the computer and told the other neighbors in the neighborhood. They all chased after the computer too. Soon almost every neighbor in the neighborhood chased after the computer. The computer had gone 1,130 times around the neighborhood. All the neighbors fell to the ground too. But the computer just kept going.

“I can’t run anymore,” Callie exclaimed. “Or I’ll not be able to run for the rest of my life.

“Me too.” Said Callie’s friend Sadie.

“Me three.” Said Callie’s other friend Maya.

The computer flew all the way to the school where nobody was there because the coronavirus was still around. But the computer didn’t care. It didn’t have a mind.

Luckily, a person with green skin walked by. The green person saw the computer and decided it would be fun to chase it. But the green person found that the computer was unchaseable.

Then another person walked by. This person was polka dotted. This person saw the computer too. She decided to chase the computer also. She found that the computer was unchaseable.

Callie was very sad that her computer was gone. Ms. Emmel was mad and all her neighbors were very tired as well as her. Finally, Callie had an idea. “What if the computer goes just in circles. If it does, then we can track it.”

Callie told all her neighbors about her idea. All her neighbors agreed. They thought that if everyone helped they all could catch the computer and talk to Ms. Emmel so Callie would not get in trouble.

In the google meet that Callie’s computer was still on it was almost time for the Valentines Day party. Everyone was getting their valentines.

Once Callie and her neighbors were all in position, Callie watched for the computer while waiting very patiently. Soon, she saw the computer come around the corner. “One...two...three...Go!” Callie and her neighbors started trying to catch the computer. The computer went all around the neighborhood but nobody caught it except when the computer came to Callie. She stepped to one side then tricked the computer and caught it.

All the neighbors plus Callie’s mom stouted and cheered. They even lifted Callie in the air.

After all the mess Callie was going through she finally got to join the valentines party and loved her cinnamon cake in a mug.

However, another girl in the neighborhood next to Callie’s neighborhood, had the same problem and Callie’s whole neighborhood had to help.

Then, that problem kept happening and the computer makers had to destroy all the computers in the world. And nobody ever saw a computer again.

Finally, everybody was happy and nobody had to deal with a computer loading, having problems, and especially, flying away. And now everybody went back to school when the coronavirus was gone. And all the dogs in the world were happy because they found the computers and learned how to work on them. But, most of them played video games on the computers.

2.12.2021

Jackson

Jackson had brown eyes and a little past shoulder length hair, which was also fairly brown as well. She had never gone to her new school for more than half an hour. She had to do school from home, which had its advantages and its disadvantages.

Her sisters were always too noisy and annoying. They would always come crashing down the stairs causing a racket, while Jackson’s classmates said they were cute.

“Well, they’re right about Levi.” Thought Jackson. Her sister's behavior carried on like this through the first semester. They would come to her workspace and eat all her snacks. After school when Jackson left her desk her sisters would push her books off the table. And it seemed whenever it was Jackson’s turn to read part of the novel her class was reading, at least one of her sisters would be crying. Even her dog joined in on the noise making.

She didn’t know what she was going to do! Every day she was interrupted in some kind of way. She half wished she went to the brick and mortar school. But then again, virtual school had its advantages.

The only time she got any quiet time was when her sisters were either at school or asleep, and even that didn't last long!

One day though, her sisters didn’t make a racket! They didn’t run down the stairs, scream at the top of their lungs, fuss, or anything whatsoever! She looked over at the living room. They were watching a movie.

“Finally,” thought Jackson. “I might actually get a peaceful day.” And it lasted for a while, but at the beginning of art class she heard a loud yell coming from upstairs. Thankfully she was not unmuted on the meet.

“If thats the average quiet I'm going to get all day ,” she thought, “Then I better get used to it.” She bent down and finished her work. She could hear her sisters crying in the distance. She smiled.

Liza

Liza was an active girl, who had brown hair and grey-green eyes. She liked Teddy, her dog. She loved her dog. Liza also loved Ms. Peanut Butter. Ms. Peanut Butter was her teacher. Ms. Peanut Butter said that she was really smart. But, Liza was so smart that she had to skip a grade, and she didn't want to leave her friends, especially Paige. Paige Sunshine was her best friend, and they were in third grade.

Liza asked Paige what she should do to stay in their class. ¨Well,¨ Said Paige, “You could ask Ms. Galea.¨ ¨Great idea,¨ Said Liza. So, Liza spent the whole afternoon begging to her mom to let her stay in third grade. Yet all her mom said was,¨I´m sorry, fruitcake, but I'm not in charge.¨ Teddy started to whine. “Ooohhkaaaaayyyy,” Groaned Liza.

The next day at school, Liza said, ¨The first idea didn't work. Do you have another idea?¨ ¨Hmmmmm,¨ Paige said, ¨Maybe you could contact the district!¨ ¨Great idea!¨ Exclaimed Liza, ¨I will try that!¨ So she spent the next afternoon begging to the district. But all they said was, ¨We're not in charge.¨ Teddy started to whine, and Liza groaned, “Ooohhkaaaaayyyy.” Who was in charge?

So the day before she had to leave class, Liza asked Paige, ¨Do you have another idea?¨ ¨Hmmmm,¨ Said Paige, ¨I have one more idea. Why don´t you ask Ms. Peanut Butter?¨ ¨Great idea! I hope it works!¨ After school, Liza asked Ms. Peanut Butter to let her stay. “Thank you for asking. Yes, I like you in my class. Also, your dog is very cute, and I love it when he visits. I would miss him. You can stay.” “Yay! Thank you!” Exclaimed Liza. “Woof, woof!” Barked Teddy. So, Liza would stay in Ms. Peanut Butter’s class after all!

2.12.2021