Chapter Five - The Rules

Principal Benbrook never talked about the “science fair incident” as some call it.

“Never happened,” he’ll say. “Don’t know what on earth you’re talking about.”

But that day changed everything at Edgeview.


All the grades were in the gym setting up their science fair projects. Model volcanoes and pant lights were on many tables. Other students had cages with live animals.

Mrs. Stewart had brought the art carts from her own classroom to help her students finish those final little touches on their tri-fold boards.

Charlie Lambert had done his science fair experiment on the effects of classical music on hamsters. He used his own pet hamster as a test subject. Charlie’s conclusion was this:

Classical music puts the hamster to sleep.
He’s so bored he even eats his own poop.
Conclusion: Classical music = poop.

His mother wasn’t too pleased with his conclusion, but Charlie swore that it was true.

While painting the last bit of his project, Charlie noticed that Gizmo’s water bowl was empty. He removed the lid of the cage and went to fill up the bowl at the water fountain.

At the water fountain, Joey Haggler had brought out his mealworms and three other boys were daring him to eat his science fair project. Charlie couldn’t resist. Gizmo’s water would have to wait.

At the same time, Mrs. Stewart was walking down a row of projects with her cart of paints. It looked like all of her students had done some fantastic projects and she was very proud. That’s when she saw it.

“Rat!” Mrs. Stewart screamed.

In fact, it wasn’t a rat. Gizmo had spent so much time inside his classical music cage that he couldn’t believe his good luck that Charlie would leave his cage open. Freedom. Gizmo found freedom.

“Rat!” Mrs. Steward screamed again.

Gizmo skittered right over Mrs. Stewart’s high heels and she nearly jumped out of her skin. In an effort to escape, Mrs. Stewart jumped on a table, knocking over her whole art cart and all the paint in it. The floor looked like a Technicolor mess.

The scream jolted Charlie out of the mealworm dare and back to the water bowl in his mind.

Rat, he thought.

“Oh no!”

Charlie and the other boys rushed towards Gizmo’s cage. Little did they know the floor was covered in paint. The scene that followed seemed to play like slow motion.

Charlie and the three boys slid through the paint like people on ice skates. Joey Haggler lost his balance first and ended up in a puddle of blue paint. He stood up looking like a Smurf.

Charlie wasn’t quite so lucky. He slid right by his display and saw Gizmo was gone. But there was too much paint on the floor and Charlie couldn’t stop. He grabbed the closest table and toppled another cage before losing his balance and landing in a pool of chartreuse paint.

The screams that filled the gym were only getting worse. The cage that Charlie had toppled was Tina Salih’s hissing cockroaches and they were not happy.

By the time Principal Benbrook got to the gym he was out of breath from running so fast. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Teachers and students were screaming like monkeys. A group of three boys seemed to be chasing something around.

“Is that a rat?” he wondered.

This simply wouldn’t do.

“Everyone stop!” Principal Benbrook shouted across the gym.

The chaos continued on like no one had heard him. Principal Benbrook took another step into the gym and found Charlie lying on the floor.

“What is the meaning of all this Lambert?” he demanded.

Charlie’s eyes grew big.

“Co-co-co,” he stuttered.

“Out with it Lambert!” Principal Benbrook said again.

“Cockroach!” Charlie shouted as he pointed to Principal Benbrook’s shoulder.

Two large antennae, six legs, and three inches worth of cockroach met Principal Benbrook’s face as he turned and the cockroach started to climb.

For Principal Benbrook the whole world froze momentarily. It was shattered by his own high
pitch scream.

“AHHH!”

Principal Benbrook jumped around with a cockroach on his face until he too slipped in the piles of paint. He reached for the closest thing before he went down. He grabbed Mrs. Stewart’s other art cart.

Twenty-seven different colors of glitter went flying through the air above Principal Benbrook’s body. Before he could flick the cockroach off his face, Principal Benbrook was covered in more glitter than Glinda the Good Witch.

It was then that the “The Rules” were enforced.

1. No paint

2. No glitter

3. No animals

4. And ESPECIALLY NO BUGS!