Chapter 6 Back to Basics

"Leah, how 'bout if we type our math answers on the computer, each doing half of the book and print out 2 copies, one for each of us. It's not like we both don't know how to do these problems, so it wouldn't be cheating."

"Actually, technically it would be. But, let's. What they don't know can't hurt them."

"Your logic is as bad as mine! How are we going to do the workbooks quickly?"

"I'll do the english workbook and you do the reading workbook. And I'll do the social studies workbook and you can do the science one. Okay?"

"Sounds good to me."

Two nights before they were scheduled to go back to their real homes, Leah woked up with a start. She ran into Peter's bedroom.

"Peter, wake up!"

"What?" said Peter groggily.

"We have to move the money tonight! My parents could get back sooner and then we'd be stuck until school let's out."

Peter yawned, "You're right. I'll get dressed quickly."

Peter and Leah grabbed their bikes and rode to AJ's at top speed. Leah unlocked the gate and they entered. Peter unlocked the garage. They quickly stored their bikes took off in the RV. Seemingly in the next minute, they were already parked on the street, closest to the door in the East wing's fence. They ran up the stairs and loaded the bags with money. Peter carried the bags outside while Leah grabbed more bags from the pantry. It took them several hours, but they finally did get all the money in the RV. They drove as quickly as they could, back to AJ's. They grabbed their bikes and locked the door. They sped back to the house, narrowly escaping being seen by Mr. Lehman as he drove off to work. They entered thru the door in the fence, put their bikes away and ran inside and back to bed. They fell instantly to sleep and didn't wake up til much later.

"Well, good afternoon sleepy heads!" joked Mrs. Lehman."I see you finally decided to join the real world."

"We just stayed up a little too late studying." Lied Leah.

"I thought you were done?"

"Leah had the bright idea of seeing if we could finish the entire workbook in all of our subjects. And I agreed, quite foolishly, if I might add. I am beat!"

"Yes, I do believe your idea was a bit nutty. At any rate, I am off to join the Ladies in a cup of tea. I won't be home for supper, so you are on your own. Just inform the cook of your plans. Thank you! Have a good day!"

"We will." Leah and Peter chimed together.

"Now what should we do for an encore?" Peter inquired.

"I think we eat lunch and then go back to bed."

"I second that."

Leah and Peter dropped their homework, finished workbooks, and math problems on Mrs. Coleman's desk. It was Monday, and their first day back to school. Mrs. Coleman stared at them in disgust and asked,"What's this?"

"Our homework." said Leah calmly.

Mrs. Coleman picked up the math problems and thumbed through it."You've finished the entire book?"

"Yes." They chorused in unison.

"Don't you realize that you could have done it all wrong?"

"Why don't you correct it and find out." Peter snipped back.

"I will. And if I find so much as ONE error, you will have to do all of this all over again. Do I make myself clear?"

Leah and Peter mosied on over to their desks. "Peter, I want you to move your desk over by Mary. I don't want anymore trouble from you two."

Peter grabbed Leah by the arm and pulled her to the Principal's office.

"May I help you two?" asked the secretary.

Peter responded,"We need to see Mr. Olson, the principal."

Mr Olson stepped out of his office. "Come on in Peter and Leah. How are you two doing? How was the vacation?"

"The vacation was great." Commented Leah.

"Mrs. Coleman is not so great." Peter added.

"So, what seems to be the problem?"

"Well, for starters," said Peter."She insists that we were causing trouble by finishing all of our school work and plopping it on her desk."

"What do you mean by all?"

"Well, we finished the entire math book, reading book..."

"And the other workbooks as well I presume?" Mr. Olson interupted.

"Yes." said Peter. "And she wants to move my desk by Mary's so that we don't cause any more trouble. We need to switch to Mr. Andrew's class."

"And she threatened to make us redo all of the work if she find's so much as ONE error." Leah added.

"Well, yes, we..uh..I will see what I can do. Uh... let's go see Mr. Andrew shall we?"

They followed Mr. Olson to Mr. Andrew's classroom. Mr. Olson had a hushed chat with Mr. Andrew. Mr. Andrew answered in a clear voice, "Just make sure you get ALL of the work they did. I want to correct it myself."

Mr. Olson walked into Mrs. Coleman's class."Mrs.Coleman, Peter and Leah are to take their desks' into Mr. Andrews class. He will be saddled with the laborious task of correcting their ...uhm, work."

Peter and Leah dutifully moved their desks across the hall.

Mr. Andrew said, "Peter and Leah, move your desk to the very back of the room please. I will teach you two separately. Now class, move all of your desks' against the wall. I have a surprise for you. Your class won the contest for the free office cubicles and shelves. Today we will have a pizza party and decorate all day. Tomorrow we can finish if need be, especially since we are 3 days ahead of schedule. Let's take the two days. You all deserve it. Peter and Leah, you also can partake of the winnings. There is plenty to go around. Now there is acrylic paint and fabric paint over here. Everybody will have enough walls to go around their entire desks. The low walls belong in front of your desk so that you can see the board. Peter and Leah, you are exempt from this requirement. I understand that you finished the entire 4th grade over the past two weeks." Everybody looked at Peter and Leah in awe. "No problem. I can work with that. Hop to it everyone."

"Do we have to go out for recess?" asked a student.

"Only if you want to. It is not required."

"What happens to the wall's at the end of the school year?" asked another student.

"You get to take them home with you."

"Some of us take the bus!" said one student.

"I'll help deliver the walls as needed, if your parents can't come and get them. Are there any other questions? No? Then off you go."

Peter and Leah gladly grabbed wall sections for their new office. They grabbed 6 shelves a piece.

"So Leah, now what are we going to do. This teacher just might challenge us after all, and then where will we be?"

"I don't know. Let's just hurry up and set-up our walls. I want to see what it will look like." Peter grabbed one wall while Leah grabbed the other. They hooked the walls together so that it formed an "L". Peter grabbed another wall and attached it to one of the ends. When they were done attaching walls, they had walls on all sides of them with a 4 foot opening in back so they could get in and out. They put up 3 shelves on the side walls, and 3 shelves each, in front of their desks. Leah ran and grabbed paints for them. By the end of the school day, they had successfully painted all of the planets and some auroras on their walls. Tomorrow was going to be a day of planning with no interuptions with school. Pleased with their accomplishments, they biked home feeling quite chipper. In Leah's bedroom, they celebrated by playing Metallica's "One". This was to represent that they were the one to succeed.