"Dyl-" The brunette quickly whipped around.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Stop calling me that!" She yelled at him.
"You know what? No! I'm not going to stop calling you that!"
"You don't get to make that decision."
"I already made that dec...
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"Ancient Greece--" Mr. Matthews began his lesson, only to be interrupted by his daughter. "What that? What that that?" She pointed to the neatly wrapped present in his hands. "What thi-this?" He mimicked Riley, "This is a present." "Is it for me?" Riley hoped. "What's your game, Matthews?" Maya asked. "Game? I mean no game. I just want to know who here wants this present." All students raise their hands except for Maya and I. "Oh, Harts, what? You two assume by playing hard to get, I'm gonna give it to you guys? "Well, yes. That's one of the many arrows in our quiver," I said. I heard a shudder from behind me. "Medieval talk-- What are you doing to me, woman?" Farkle said. "Riley," Cory said as he handed the box to his daughter. "Yay!" Riley opened the box to reveal a board with the words, "The Trojan horse?" "Surprise," Cory said. "This isn't a present. This is one of your life lessons wrapped up in a class lesson wrapped up in a box of nothing," Riley ranted. "How you doing, honey?" Maya asked. "I'ma worked up." "We know," I said. "You assumed because it was all neat and pretty that something good was inside. Ancient Troy was protected by walls. The Greeks couldn't get in, so they built a big wooden horse and left it behind. What do you think the Trojans did?" Cory taught. "They left it there because they were afraid that somebody was trying to teach them something," Riley said annoyed. "They captured it as a trophy and brought it inside. That night, the Greek soldiers crawled out of the horse and defeated Troy. What have we learned here?" Lucas raised his hand. "Mr. Friar." "Don't make assumptions based on what you see?" Lucas said. "Riley, listen, I'm sorry I made an example of you. So here's a gift for you," Mr. Matthew handed a small box to Riley. "Ooh-- No! I want to-- No! Pretty ribbon-- No!" Riley contemplated. "I'll take my chances with that, sir," Lucas said. "No, Lucas. You have to assume it was no good because the first one was no good. Aren't you all proud of me, dad?" Riley asked. "No!" Lucas opened the box to reveal two cards. He read off the card. "Get out of detention free." "Ooh, we could use one of those," Maya told me. "Give that to us and we won't call you "Ranger Rick" all week." "Here you go," Lucas said handing us each a card. "Thanks, Ranger Roy," I said. "Lemme guess. Ranger Roy is filling in for Ranger Rick?"
"All week," Maya turns to Mr. Matthews,"And now... you." "Oh, is something gonna happen to me?" He asked. "Yes, it is," We said as we stood up and approached his desk.
"A d-d-d-d, a d-d-d-d, d-d-d-detention," I sang as Maya and I got up on Matthews's desk.
"But not today," Maya said. We crouched down to his level.
"Boom!" We yelled in his face. "Read the card," He told us. "Huh?" We said in unison. "Card." ""Say 'get out of detention free' then give worthless cards to Maya and Dylan then watch them dance on my desk.'," We read. We got up from his desk and sat back down. "Never assume. Look more deeply. Just because something is wrapped up all pretty, doesn't always mean it is," Mr. Matthews went with his lesson. Maya and I turned to Lucas. "You were in on this!" We yelled. "I'm Ranger Roy and I'll be here all week," Lucas said as he tipped his imaginary hat. "Oh-ho-ho," We shuddered as we turned away. The bell rang. We walked out of the classroom and headed for our lockers. Missy was waving me over.
