Everything was calm throughout the campus, except in Biology I AP class on the third floor. Nine students worked on yet another exhilarating lab on comparative anatomy. The teacher of the class looked beneath her desk in order to open a cabinet. Without warning, a RAT swiftly darted out of the cabinet, appearing as if it had come out of nowhere. The rat, now affectionately called "Big Momma," ran across the floor, eluding any obstacles that might have damaged it, such as the vortex machine.

"It [the rat] ran out of the cabinet. Then it was chillin' in the corner," said Nipur Patel, a student in the class.

"She surprised us by running out of the cabinet," said the teacher.

The rat was apprixmately seven inches long with a tail as long as its grotesque body. Its sharp claws and vicious teeth struck terror in the hearts of its victims, the students in this case.

This was no ordinary rat. Yes, this rat was extremely talented. The agile rodent rapidly scaled the paint-chipped walls completely effortlessly. The students, for one brief shining moment, forgot their terror and stood in awe, not taking notice of the scratch marks made by the rat's hideous claws.

"Damn, that rat had skill," said Alexa Gale, another student.

Immediatly, the teacher called frantically for the school's custodian, Mr. Spain. Spain rushed into the scene of havoc ready to extinguish it at all costs. The weapon of choice was a long, green, backup air conditioner stick. After several strong blows to the vermin, it took its last breath.

Patel said, "We killed it! It slammed against the cabinet when it tried to escape!"

Although the class thought they had reached the culmination, they had to overcome a few more endeavours. Soon, four baby rats were found in the cabinet where the large rat had jumped out. They were all situated in a nest made out of paper towels.

"They were cute, but we couldn't keep 'em," said Erin Barnes, another member of the class. With that said, the only thing to do was throw the little ones away...the garbage can became their eternal resting place.

Finally, all of the rats in the biology class were eliminated. Through painstaking effort on part of the students, the teacher, and the custodian, the school was rid of a few vermin out of the vast array of creepy crawlers.

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A few mornings ago I and a friend arrived at school early and situated ourselves in the parking lot with the heater on "MAX." It was freezing crazy sub-zero temperatures outside, and being as few people were at school, due to my earliness, I didn't feel the need to stand in the cold.

The heat situation was going well, and the CD player was spinning a cheery holiday tune...and then I saw a teacher approaching the vehicle from the side.

"Act cool," I advised my friend.

We tried to act normal, but it was too late. He stopped at the window and asked us to roll it down. I did as he instructed, and a blast a cold air rushed in, completely ruining the toasty atmosphere. After a rather trite and unhappy morning welcome, I realized this Grinch was not one for festivities. So we turned down "Rudolph" and listened to what he had to say.

I was told by the teacher that sitting in cars when we first get to school is not permitted and we were instructed to get out and stand in the freezing temperatures all alone in the early morning air.

"Hmmm," I thought to myself, "This is not good."

I removed myself and my belongings from the vehicle, as did my companion, and then I stood alone and cold, feeling my bitterness and angst toward the world swelling.

I was well aware of why we could not go to our cars at lunch, or throughout the day, because of the possibility that our criminal population at Ben Franklin High would hop into our motor vehicles and speed off into the sunset without attending math class.

This situation was much different, though...was I posing a threat to the school? Was I posing a threat to myself? Of course not, and if I had wanted to skip, I wouldn't have bothered waking up at 5:30 AM and catching a ride to school.

There was no reason I should have been forced out into Jack Frost's nippy breath. I have no (big) problems obeying school rules, but shouldn't a rule at least make sense? Shouldn't a rule be enforced to uplift a school, and bring it to a higher plateau of perfection?

I failed a test later because of the cold's effect of reducing blood flow to my brain.

© alexa

The counter keeps breaking and pissing me off, so NO MORE COUNTER! Mwahaha!