The Prank

"Reset your password” the computer screen flashed. I was about to begin class, and I ignored the prompt. I’m Jerry Lugar, a sixth grade science teacher at Pearl Middle School. This period I was teaching the ‘troubled’ students. I assumed they had done something to the computer to activate the prompt, so I’d deal with it after class. Every day they’d play another prank.

“Hey everyone and good…” I started to say.

“Reset your password… reset your password…” the computer said.

“Very funny, kids. Who’s responsible for this?” I asked. The class broke out into laughter.

“Mikey, was this you?” I asked.

“Noooo…” he said and smiled.

“Could you make it stop talking, please?” I asked.

“But Mr. Lugar, it wasn’t me,” Mikey said.

“Fine, I’ll try and shut it off myself,” I said. I’d give the class detention, if I didn’t think they’d enjoy making the detention teacher just as miserable as me.

I grabbed the mouse and my hand got stuck.

“Oh, come on guys. You put glue on the mouse? How am I supposed to get this off?” I asked. They started laughing again.

“Reset password… reset password…” the computer kept repeating. I smashed the keyboard with my other hand to try and get the computer to shut up. They put glue on the keyboard, too.

“SERIOUSLY,” I shouted. They burst into laughter for a solid minute.

“Can someone at least get glue solvent out of the top drawer for me?” I asked. They ignored my request. I exhaled, rolled my eyes then tried to get the drawer with the glue solvent open with my mouth but couldn’t reach. I could hear more snickering coming from the kids. I finally ripped the mouse out of the computer and smashed it, then opened the drawer and used the solvent on the keyboard.

“You kids owe me a new computer mouse,” I said.

“As I was saying, good morning,” I said.

“Good morning, Mr. Lugar,” the class said and snickered. I sensed another prank coming.

“Todays lesson is…” I started to look for a dry erase marker.

“Who took the marker?” I asked. Mikey raised his hand.

“Wow, Mikey. I’m impressed by your honesty. Can I have the marker back?” I asked.

“Sorry, Mr. Lugar. I ate the marker. You can have it back in a couple hours… after I go to the bathroom,” he said. The class snickered.

“No thanks. Keep the marker,” I said. “I’ll read out of the book today.”

I opened the desk and grabbed the beginner’s chemistry book. I tried to open the book but the pages were glued shut.

“You guys got to the book, too, I see,” I said. They snickered. They also glued shut the math, Earth science and geology books as well.

“Alright, well, I don’t need a book to teach chemistry. I’ll show you guys how to make something explode,” I said and went to get the chemistry set out of the closet. The closet was glued shut as well.

“Oh well, no explosions today. Somebody glued the door shut. Maybe next week,” I said.

“Thanks, Mikey. That sounded cool,” Someone said. Mikey shrugged. I went to my seat.

“Well, nothing to do today except run out the clock. Mikey, want to tell me about your weekend. What inspired you to glue everything?” I said.

“Class is boring…” He said and the class snickered.

“Did you glue anything over the weekend?” I asked.

“No. I just went skateboarding with some friends and told my mom she talks to loud,” Mikey said.

“And how did your mom respond to that,” I asked.

“She grounded me for a week,” Mikey said.

“Oh, cool. Well, good for her,” I said and smiled.

“Yah, so good,” Mikey said sarcastically.

“Jim, what did you do this weekend?” I asked.

“I went skateboarding with Mikey. And gave him my glue,” Jim said.

“Of course you did,” I said.

“How about you, Cindy. What did you do?” I asked.

“I hung out with Mikey and the boys. I encouraged them to glue you to your seat, too, but we ran out of glue. I thought we had more glue,” she said.

“Oh darn. That must have been disappointing. How come you guys didn’t put a tact in my seat?” I asked.

“Darn, that’s genius. Why didn’t I think of that? Next time,” Mikey said.

I sat in silence for the next forty minutes and the bell finally rang. The kids tried to get up, but couldn’t.

“Oh, by the way, Mikey, I saw you guys coming into class and gluing my computer on the cameras. I knew what you did, but played along anyway so you wouldn’t suspect I glued you all to your seats,” I said and smiled.

“Ok, you made your point. We won’t glue anything else. Can you use the solvent so we can leave?” Mikey asked.

“No. No, I don’t think I will,” I said and smiled.

“What are you going to do? Leave us here over night?” Mikey asked.

“No, but that’s a good idea. And who knows, if nobody can get into the class, maybe you will be here over night,” I said and locked the classroom door.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mikey asked.

“I want to teach you kids a lesson and show you what happens when you mess with somebody and ruin their lives. I want to show you why bullying is wrong, and I know detention isn’t enough,” I said.

“What are you going to do, Mr. Lugar?” Mikey asked.

“You’ll see,” I said and grabbed a rope out of my drawer. I tied the rope to the ceiling.

“Mr. Lugar, if you’re going to do what I think you’re going to do, this is a bit dramatic. We’re kids, we play pranks. Come on, man. Don’t do this,” Mikey said.

“It’s too late,” I said, climbed atop my desk and wrapped the rope around my neck. I then jumped off and smiled as the kids screamed. I made a real show out of it. I waived my body back and forth, made choking sounds and then closed my eyes. The kids screamed. I hung there for an hour before principle Victoria unlocked the door and came in.

“Why haven’t you kids left…? Oh my god, Mr. Lugar. You kids, get out of here,” The principle shouted.

“We can’t. Mr. Lugar glued us to our seats and made us watch,” Mikey said through sobs.

“You kids were horrible to Mr. Lugar. This is why bullying is wrong,” Principle Victoria said and the kids started sobbing. She went to my desk and got the solvent, and one by one unglued the kids from their seats and sent them home. Mikey was last.

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Victoria. I’ll never prank anyone again,” Mikey said before walking out of the class.

“Good,” Principle Victoria said. She then came to me and cut the rope down.

“You can open your eyes now, Jerry. The kids are gone,” Principle Victoria said.

“Thanks Vicky. Thanks for helping me set all this up,” I said.

“You did most of the work. All I did was authorize the prank. It’s a good thing you know how to use a magic rope,” Vicky said.

“Yah, a good thing. I’m a wannabe magician, I know all sorts of tricks,” I said and smiled.

“Make sure you record the kids reactions when they come to class tomorrow and see you. I want to see their horrified faces,” Principle Victoria said.

“Will do. It should be great. I don’t think they’ll ever mess with us teachers again,” I said and smiled.

“I would think not,” Principle Victoria said and smiled back.

Copyright © 1/8/2023 by A.H. Mittelman. All rights reserved.