The secret escape
Lalo Belmar
Once there were nine talkative kids. They took Spanish, social studies, and civics with Pamela. They were a rather uncivilized class — often not paying attention, and talking much. They were the seventh- (called “the green saplings”) and eighth-graders. They were very energetic, and were always on the look out for a chance to get out of class any way they could. Without the teacher noticing, they had a secret escape beneath the chair of David N. (the brightest by far of the lot). This is how it worked: By 
flipping a secret switch that stuck out of the books next to Trevor’s seat, a green button that opened the trapdoor was activated in the back of David N.’s chair. Why do you think he always took the same chair? And with Pamela keeping them always in sight, they had two forms of escape: 1) They put holograms of themselves in their seats — very realistic, of course — so that it looked as if they were studying. 2) They used the remote control from the film Click to put Pamela on “ause” and then go outside to play. Where do you think they put the prototype of the remote control after they finished making the film? David N. was a genius and was able to work with holograms and because he’s so intelligent, they handed it over to him. Anyway, going to Spanish for the seventh- and eighth-graders is always a very diverting fiesta.
Lalo Belmar is a seventh-grader at the Monteverde Friends School.