Girl Meets Him

Girl Meets Fish

"Where's Chelsea? Why isn't she back yet?" Auggie asked.

"Honey, I'm sure Farkle took very good care of her," Mrs. Matthews assured him.

"Hey Matthews, why are you making us do the whole class mascot thing, anyway?" Maya asked.

"Don't ruin this for me, Maya. Everybody got the chance to take Chelsea home for a week and now it's my turn and I'm looking forward to it," Riley explained.

"Good, because if you bring her back safely, Chelsea will have survived the whole class," Mr. Matthews announced.

"Then it's as good as done. You know I am fantastic with pets," Riley said.

"Mr. Puffles," Auggie said simply.

"That was sad," Riley replied.

Farkle appeared in the doorway. "It's Chelsea! It is."

"Nice job, Farkle. Here's your sticker." Farkle sat down behind me.

"Chelsea!" Auggie said happily. "Are you ready to come to our house? Hey, Farkle, did you go to Phil's Fish Store?"

"Why would you ask me that, Auggie? Why would you think that? Why would you say that? Why?" Farkle questioned.

"You replaced her, didn't you?" I asked him in German.

"Didn't you?" he replied.

"No, actually," I said.

"Elementary, my dear Farkle. There's a new castle in the bowl," Auggie explained.

"Very impressive, Auggie," Lucas said.

"Yeah, he watches Owl Detective every day. He always knows whodunnit," Mrs. Matthews said.

"Hoo-dunnit!"

"Every day," Mrs. Matthews said.

"Okay, Riley, she's all yours. Now all you have to do is feed her once a day and every once in a while, you throw her a compliment," Mr. Matthews explained.

"You are talking about the fish, right?" Mrs. Matthews asked.

"No," Mr. Matthews replied.

Mrs. Matthews laughed. "All right, is she ready to go, Auggie?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"All fed and ready to go," Auggie confirmed. "Riley, here's Chelsea. She means the world to me. Don't blow this."

"This fish is in good hands. Let's get our first picture together," Riley said. She took the picture. "Um..."

"What?" Riley asked.

"Let me take another one. Chelsea's upside down," Riley said.

"Oh, boy," Mrs. Matthews and I said.

"Day one, I died!" Riley cried.

"Chelsea!" Auggie said dramatically. "No, I'll cry for you later. Right now, there's a mystery to be solved."

"What mystery, Auggie? I killed the fish," Riley said.

"No, you did not kill this fish. This fish was the victim of foul play. Somebody here is responsible. The only question is..."

"Oh, no."

"Hooooo-dunnit?"

~~~

The whole class sat on and around Riley's bay window. Riley held the new Chelsea in her hands carefully.

"Chelsea is replaced. So ends the long, glorious reign of Chelsea the First. Long live Chelsea Two."