Lake and Bug
By Madelyn Sweet And Cadence Sturgeon
Assistant Khloe Rhoades
A perfect summer after a perfect year, school started,
I needed to start all over again, making friends and learning new things at another school, I needed to make new friends because my friend, Aki, moved to Africa because that’s where the rest of her family is and she said she just lived too far so she is moving closer to them, I tried to fit in but the T.A.M. the club got in the way a lot and so did my name, I met other people who had a name they got made fun of too, so together we will destroy the T.A.M club once and for all!
Bug
“My first day of fifth grade at my new school I am so excited!” Bug squealed to herself. Bug ran down the stairs to see what her mom was packing for lunch.
“Hi darling, I packed you macaroni and cheese with bits of hotdogs in your brand new thermos”. Mom said as she squeezed lemons for lemonade. “Mom I don’t have a thermos.” “Oh I did not tell you? I ordered one for you online last week”. “THANK YOU! THANK YOU, MOM! THANK YOU SO MUCH!” Bug shouted and hugged her mom. Bug has always wanted a thermos. Bug now felt a little more confident about her new year at her new school. She moved to the town of Sherman and is going to Sherman elementary school and is going to start a new life in this new town before she goes to middle school next year. “I also packed you oreos and an apple”. Her mom exclaimed. “Thank you mom.” Bug’s mom did not get her things out of the blue like this, so she was so very happy. “Sweety, you are my big fifth grader, anything for you”. Her mom said, sighing. “So mom can I have a phone then?” Bug asked convincingly. “No.” Her parents have never allowed electronics. Bug had always wanted a phone but six more painful years before she could have a phone. Honk! honk! The bus had come and was waiting for Bug. . “Bye mom.” Bug said grabbing her lunch and running to the bus. I got on the bus and sat in the middle where there was no one. There were not a lot of kids on the bus. Maybe 10. Sitting all the way in the back, staring.
Lake
“Lake!” mom called, “Go get in the moving truck please”.
“Bye, bye walls, bye rats in the fridge”. I said walking around my old house with nothing in it. I am moving to West Danville in Vermont.
I went to Seal Cove School in Wells, Maine. I am going to someplace called Sherman Elementary School 120 miles from here, my mom was saying. I’m going to start all over and it’s going to be hard for me because no one will have a name like mine.
Bug
I think I am having second thoughts about this brand new school thing, I mean, I have no friends, I am going into 5th grade and most of the kids have friends and they have been there since first grade.
How could I only have one friend last year? The plan was that her and Aki were going to transfer together but Aki moved to Africa. Bug thought. of all the fun they had together. The bus pulled to a stop ‘oh no, I’m at school!’ She got off the bus and slumped down the hall with a lump in her throat and a tear in her eye.
Not from the onions in the cafeteria, ( but that was half of the problem) it was because she would not have any friends she would have to start all over with the friend making process.
Aki was the only girl that thought Bug was a cool name. Some of the girls said over the summer that the girls at that school will slice your heart in half and make you cry like the doofus are! Well in my defense that was the sassy girls. ( which were way too young to be sassy)
I don’t care! I don’t care! I don’t care! I don’t care about them.
I was thinking.
I straightened my back and lifted my head and strode down the hall with power.
Lake
I packed up my things and we hit the road. Later we got to Sherman town, we pulled up to a weird house on a weird road. I got out, grabbed my single bag and walked inside. Wow this place is weird.
This week I am not going to school, my parents say I need to unpack my things and get used to the new house.
Next week is Labor Day weekend so it makes time to unpack my things.
“So here is your room,” said my mom. “It’s plain!” whined Lake. “Tomorrow we will go to the supply store and buy some paint. Then go to the furniture store and get whatever you need… to make your room more roomie.” said mom As she pivoted and left the room. I sat in my sleeping bag on the floor thinking about school and friends and all of my old friends. (Tess, Jake, Sophi, Josh and me,) But now things are going to be harder, no one will have a name like mine. They were the only people who thought Lake was cool, because they like studying water and creatures of the deep.(so did I) so that’s how I fit right in. But here we are far from the sea and really the only water we have here is dirty puddles after it rains, and it won’t be good for people to think I’m a little dirty puddle.
Bug
I was slouching on the bench organizing my binder when the mean girls came by, Tiffany, Anya and Mallory. (Those are their names, but they go by the T.A.M club. When I heard the ‘T.A.M club’ I thought it was terrible, awful and mean!) I closed my binder and I jumped off the bench to run away, but I dropped my binder and I forgot to close the rings on the paper and the pages scattered! I quickly dropped on my hands and knees quickly grabbing the pages when Mallory said “ Hey girls! Look! Bugs crawling around!!” she said as if she were a bird about to gobble me up.“looks like she’s already growing anteni out of her little tiny skull! HA HA snort!” I stopped picking up my papers when they stepped closer and closer, I started backing up then my back hit the bench when I whimpered desperately, “please, don’t hurt me.” “Ha! We arent that mean!” said Anya (She is the nice one of the group) “yeah, and you’re not really worth hurting anyway.” whispered Tiffany to Mallory, she snickered and scrunched her nose into an evil grin. “Hey! I heard that you got an A+ on your math test!” said Tiffiny “That’s right.” I said not really sure what to do. “Well… Nice job nerd!” she hissed back with a snarl and Tiffiny and Mallory laughed as they kicked the pages and ran off. “See you in class.” said Anya, picking up some muddy pages and putting them in my hands and running off to join the others.
Lake
My name is a name that my parents gave me when I was born(obviously) because they thought it would be unique.
I have no idea why they named me Lake, they said that it would be different. They had met at our lake that we have a camp on. They met when they were kids and I guess fell in love. I wish that they had named me Grace, I would have loved to be named a pretty name like Grace or something like that, at least something that I won’t get bullied for.
On the bus to school I sat in the very middle were another girl was, she was alone and was not talking to anyone, I did not know that I was staring when she met my eyes. “Umm… hi” she said shyly. (I guess that does not really make sense).
When I go to school. Almost everyone was really nice to me. Except these girls that call themselves the T.A.M club. I think they call themselves that because they are terrible, awful and mean. There is this nice girl in my class, her name is Bug. She has blond hair and she sits in the back of the class. And I figured out that she was that girl on the bus! She was very pretty.
A week had passed.
Bug is so smart she offered to start tutoring me last week. I went to her house and we had a blast. Saturday night I even got my parents to let me spend the night. Bug and I now hang out all the time. She is my best friend.
Bug
Lake? Lake is the nicest friend and person in the whole world. I know we have only known each other for a couple weeks but once we started hanging out we hang out all the time. I am thinking that together we could accomplish anything. I have an idea we could take down the T.A.M. club. Okay I have to go get Lake and tell her about this.
I first met Lake last week. Can I trust her?
Of course I can, What am I thinking? Anyway, I need to call her. I picked up the phone and unfolded the paper in my jacket pocket and looked at the number written in her small neat handwriting.
The phone beeped and then I heard her voice. “Hello?” said Lake,
“Hi Lake, this is Bug,” I said, sliding my butt up onto my bed.
“What is it?” She said. I stuttered not knowing what to do to the T.A.M club. Then it hit me. The most terrible thing.
“Okay, here’s the plan.”
Lake
When Bug first called me I did not know who it was. We had made a draft of how to take down Tiffany, Anya and mallory. I was going to have a sleepover at a bug house this weekend. Somehow Anya found out. She asked us if she could join us, we asked her why. She siad that she had been forced into there stupid club and truly wanted to be our friend. She also said that she heard about us taking them down and she wanted to join. She did not even want to be in their group anymore. I could not believe my ears. We made a promise that she would never go back to Mallory or Tiffany. She did not even Hesitate to make the promise that is how I knew she was on our side.
Anya
Mallory and Tiffany have been mean to me for like, ever. I tried to be mean to others with them to make them think I was actually mean. I had no friends and was desperate so I even turned bad to be with friends I did not like. In second grade they liked me but then they told me that if I was not their friend they would do something unforgivable, I had no idea what that meant but I did what they said because I was scared. I wanted to be Bug’s friend because she is a really nice person. One day one the playground I heard them talking about taking down all three of us. I realized I am not that type of person who follows everybody. I want to be my own leader. I wanted to be a nicer person even if it means making a sacrifice. I knew that as soon as I unfriended them they would come after me like a pack of wolves after their prey. Searching for me for a bad reason, a very bad reason.
Bug
I did not believe at first that Anya wanted to be friends with us. Anya has always been a good egg. That’s why I trusted her. She was not like the others, she was herself and that was a good thing. She could help us find the weak side of the new and improved T.M. club. We had planned to get them after school one day. They planned to corner the other two and talk bad to their faces. It just so turned out that we had planned it in less than a week. We really want to get back at them for all those years of bullying people. And get us some respect.
Lake
We plan to corner them after school on Tuesday. We wanted to do it early in the week because we go back to school the next, unlike a Friday. I am so happy to finally get back at them for all the things they have done to students this year and in the past. When we get them we will earn respect and be heroes.
The weekend passed and the day finally came. The sweet smell of revenge filled the air and none of us were nervous about what the day would bring.
Anya
I’m only a little nervous about doing this only because the T.A.M club was always my gang but I did not feel right doing what they told me. So this revenge would make me a hero to our school.
I walked into the cafeteria and saw Lake and Bug sitting at a table.
My eyes met with Bugs and she waved for me to come over.
I sat at the table, next to them and stared at the T.M. club. “Guy’s I shouldn’t be here. If the T.M. club see’s me sitting here they might think something is up!” I whispered.
“Well then sit with them and keep your mouth shut about this.” whispered Bug as I slid out of my seat.
“Wait!” Said lake as she reached for my hand and grabbed it. I looked at her.
“If they ask for you to play with them at recess then say no, and if they ask what you were doing over here just say you are partners with me in math.” and she let go of my hand and nodded at me and I walked to them thinking you’re going down!
Bug
As we watched Anya eat her lunch we kept an eye on her because we wanted to make sure she would not spill the beans, she did not. Recess came, as we waited for Anya to get outside we were wondering if she squealed or if they did something to her. Finally she came out and she said; “Sorry guys I had to tell.” “WHAT!” I yelled. “Just kidding.” Said Anya. “That was not funny at all.” I told her. “It was not funny even a little bit.” I said as I moshined to take cover under the monkeybars to spy on the T.M. club “It was a little bit funny.” Anya said and I nudged her with my elbow playfully and she snickered.
Lake
Our recess is always an hour long. About five minutes left on my watch intill recess is over. Bug, Anya and I are doing a cartwheel contest when I realize that Tiffany and Mallory are walking over to us. I try to warn the other two. “ Guys there coming!”
“Who?” said Anya
“ Tiffany and Mallory.” I said They stopped what they were doing and watched as they walked over to where we were standing in the grass.
Anya
“ So Anya care to explain WHY THE HECK YOU ARE WITH THESE FREAKS?” Mallory asked. “ I wanted to get some new friends for a change.” I told them good. I think we will just have to take them down right here right now. I thought. “ Um guys we can’t do this now we have two minutes.”Lake Told us. “ Do what?” Tiffany almost sounded worried when she asked us. “Nothing.” I said.
“We have to try at motor break.” Lake whispered just as the bell rang.
Bug
“No,” I said, taking my stand. “This is happening right here, right now!”
While everyone was lining up we stayed in our place.
“You can’t take Anya away from us!” said Mallory, grabbing Anya’s hand.
“She belongs to us.” said Lake as she grabbed the other hand, playing tug o war with Mallory.
“I DON’T WANT TO BE WITH YOU ANYMORE!” said Anya as she shook her hand out of Mallory’s grip. As soon as Anya broke free, she ran to me and stood behind me using me as a shield. “You did well,” I said.
“You can’t force her out of our friendship just because you want her!” said Mallory as she took a step towards us.
“We aren’t taking her away,” I said “she wants to be with us.”
“Maybe you don’t know what real friendship looks like.” said Lake as Anya put a smile on her face. Anya grabbed my hand and I grabbed Lakes. The unbreakable Friendship chain.
“If you want her you would have to take her out of our hands!” I said.
“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” said Mrs. Turner, our homeroom teacher.
“OH! Anya hurt us!” Mallory said dramatically.
“They all hurt us!”
“Where did they hurt you?” said Mrs. Turner. Oh Mallory, she’s such a teacher’s pet, thinking she can say anything and not get in trouble. And the teacher thinks she can’t take care of herself and always has to be their to put a bandaid on her boo boo’s.
“Right Here!” said Tiffany, pointing to her heart.
“Oh poor things!” said Mrs. Turner as she helped them off the ground when they were pretending to cry.
They started to walk inside and the teacher turned to us and yelled “PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE! NOW!”
Lake
We walked behind the teacher down the hall to the principal’s office like dogs on a leash. Right on her heels and Mallory looked back and put on an evil grin and looked at Anya.
“You monster!” she whispered as if she were a dog on a chain for a reason. It looked as if she was ready to pounce on Mallory. I really don’t know how teachers do it. They know when a student is faking it, so when we got outside the office here is what happened. Anya, Bug and I walked into the office. We quickly turned around when we heard the teacher saying; “Principal’s office now you two.” I had heard them arguing for a few more seconds when I saw that Mallory and Tiffany had gotten pushed into the office by the teacher and were now right behind me.
Anya
I really don’t like being in trouble, I’m normally a good student and don’t even know what the principal’s office looks like.
That was some intense fight that just happened all so fast. First we were fighting on the playground and about half an hour later Mallory and Tiffany got expelled. Oh, sorry I kind of jumped ahead in the story and want to hear the part about the other two getting expelled? Well, here it goes. We walked into the office and Mr. Robert asked us to explain why we were here. We ended up telling him that all the years Mallory and Tiffany have been at this school they have bullied people. We told him about when I was in second grade and how they threatened me and we told him that all these years they have been bullying others. We gave him the names of kids that got picked on and bullied way too much this year and also told him about kids that we have watched them bully. (And I wish I had stopped them)
He asked us honestly if we were okay with talking to Mallory and Tiffany about this and possibly suspending them for a little while. We asked him if we could have a minute alone and he said yes. We talked it over and told him when he came in, we said we were fine with him talking to them about it.
Bug
After that day I told my mom all about it. I talked a lot about the T.M. club with my mom so she knows all about them.
That night I could not sleep, I was so excited to see what the principal did to them the next day. And after that we will be the hero’s a.k.a the people who got rid of the T.M. club.
Lake
“Honey!” yelled my mom as she hung up the phone.
“What is it ma?!” I yelled from my room as I slapped on another soggy paper on my paper mache art project. “Come down I need to tell you something I heard on the phone!”
I put on my last piece before sleeping down the stairs.
I looked at my mom, like I was telling her with my eyes to start talking.
“It’s something to do with a group of people at your school.”
“What is it ma?” I asked already knowing who those people were.
As soon as she opened her mouth my younger brother dashed in through the door, he was home from sunday school, I used to go, I used to be in the pageant every year,! I used to be Marry, But then I started to do other theater camps instead.
My brother closed the door and hopped onto my mother’s lap,
“I smell something good!” he yelled and went into the kitchen
“Lets talk on the porch, It’s more quiet” said mom as she led me onto the porch
We finished the talk and I dashed to my room and got out my pencil and paper and started to write to bug,
Dear bug,
You’re not going to believe this!
Bug
“Bug!” yelled my mom at the bottom of the stairs. I was doing my homework for school tomorrow. “Your friend, Lake, Wrote a letter to you! Come down and get it!”
I rushed down the stairs and grabbed the letter “Thanks mom!” I shouted and ripped open the letter it said;
Dear Lake,
You’re not going to believe this! The T.M. the club got expelled! I can’t wait for tomorrow! I can’t wait to see their faces as they figure out that it’s their last day of school here.
Anya is going to be a little sad to see them go and we have to accept that.
See you tomorrow!
Your best friend,
bug.
I could not believe my eyes! Expelled?! This is even better than I ever imagined it! We… We are going to be heros! With them leaving, we are going to be the best people in this school!
That night I stayed up but not too late. I needed to see their faces when they left with their moms. And then they will be at the bottom of the pyramid holding up me, Lake and Anya, and then we will get respect! My mom and bugs mom and Anya’s mom are all friends now. They said that it would be nice to go say our goodbyes to Tiffany and Mallory. When we got there our parents talked and Mallor and Tiffany were just sneering at us the whole time. They wanted us five girls to be alone in a room to say our goodbyes. ( I have no idea why) Tiffany and Mallory started spitting out mean things about us. I just did not care at this point. I wanted them to have their last moment here however they wanted it to be and I was not going to interfere with that. They were saying mean things about us and then the parents walked in and Mallory shouted at Bug as loud as she could: ( even in front of her parents) “IF YOU WERE NOT HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED! I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS!”
I really don’t care. And neither do Anya and Bug. Mallory’s mom started yelling at her I think in spanish. This story was the story of how last year at elementary school went. It was a pretty good year.
We will see you guys next year!
And this is how this story ends. Watch out for Lake, Bug and Anya # two taking down middle school, coming out soon!
We would like to dedicate the series to Josie Adolf for being such a great role model. And we would like to thank Anya Bachor for Being one of our insparations to put her in our book. And thanks to the Theater project because without it I would not have done a skit of lake and bug there and this would not have been here.
THANK YOU FOR READING!