When he got into class, Brendan found Mr. Benson, the Biology teacher, already inside, arranging his textbooks for the lesson.Mr. Benson was short and chubby and had a friendly face which essentially seemed to relieve Brendan of some of his stress issues. He was wearing a red tie, a light green long-sleeved shirt, brown trousers and a pair of white sneakers. ‘Okay, class, today we will be bisecting the frog and examining its internal functions.’At this, the whole class made one word: “Yuk!” The only ones who did not say this were Thomas and Angus.‘I’m going to slowly cut mine and let it feel the excruciating pain,’ Thomas said with evil anticipation on his face and Angus laughed in approval.‘That’s gross,’ Samantha responded to these devious and cruel words, a look of disbelief on her face.‘How cruel,’ Susan joined in.Mr. Benson went into the class storeroom which was right after the classroom door and he came back carrying a large glass cubic jar with differ

The door was a bit stubborn when he tried to open it but finally, it swung open in an ancient wooden creak of relief. He picked up his candle from beside him and began walking down the stairs into the secret room. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he was shocked by what he saw:Barrels and barrels of gold coins and chains! There were at least ten or more barrels placed against the walls and others on the floor with their gold contents spilled on the floor.‘Oh my..! What the..!’ He could not begin to think of what was before his very eyes. He walked towards some barrels which were closed. Diamonds and rubies, filled the barrels to the brim!Questions were starting to travel inside his head. Where did all this treasure come from? Did Howard make some sort of deal with this so-called “Finch”? Brendan had only been expecting a few gem bills. He had not even the slightest idea of what he should feel; happiness or just shock? This was all too much of a surprise for hi

‘What!’ He choked on the muffin. It was as if these words were thorns in his throat.‘It’s the least you can do after I gave you all my food.’ They were now whispering loudly.‘That’s no excuse. This is Thomas Bradley we’re talking about; he’ll snap both our necks like pencils.’‘Come on, Simon, are you a man or a girl? We’re best friends and best friends watch each other’s backs.’He was now silent, still holding a third of the muffin between his center and forefinger in one hand, waving it like a calm ocean tide on a windy day as if he was pondering over it. ‘I don’t know,’ he finally spoke, doubt clearly in his voice.‘Don’t worry,’ he assured him, ‘the plan doesn’t involve us jumping on him from behind and beating him up.’‘That makes a…’ he massaged his throat, ‘a neck relieving kind of sense.’‘Besides, it’s a simple plan, that’s why we’re putting it into action tomorrow.’‘What do I have to do?’ He threw the last of the muffin into his mouth.‘Come

Brendan immediately came to a stop. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming. He moved to a distance of about five feet from the tree the deer had vanished into. He stretched his hand towards it, jerking his gaze suspiciously in every direction hoping that the Finch would not jump out from nowhere and curse him with some kind of spell. He put his forefinger on the tree and just as he thought it would, it sunk in. He was beginning to feel terrified for the first time in his life. He kept submerging his hand until it sunk whole. His arm followed but it did not appear through the back of the tree as if the inside of the tree was bigger than it was on the outside. He pulled his hand out in panic and ran back in the direction he had come from.As soon as he got out of the forest, he began heading home but returned after having run a few hundred yards to put a small brown stone on the same spot he had used as an entrance and then he headed home, running as fast as hi

He saw Simon sitting at their table, the same table where they had hatched this wild plan. ‘That was brilliant,’ Brendan said whispering and putting on a smile that ripped across his whole face like a slit on a puppet’s face.‘Did it bite him?’ Simon was eager to know the outcome.He sat in front of him. ‘You bet it did! Didn’t you hear him scream?’‘Of course I did. The whole school must have heard it. I was just thinking that maybe he just saw it and managed to get away.’‘No way, Simon, it bit him. I just didn’t stick around for the chaos.’‘What type of snake was it?’‘I don’t know but I’m pretty sure it was poisonous.’ Brendan was still smiling with satisfaction now beginning to eat. ‘How did you think of a plan like that anyway?’ he asked Simon.‘Well, when I left you yesterday…’‘You mean ran away?’ he corrected him, fixing his eyebrows and mouth into a friendly frown.‘Okay, okay ran away..,’ he admitted.Brendan noticed that Simon was chewi