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Wait… What? – 3rd Place Tie Teens Writing Contest

By Maggie Peters from Brussels, Age 13

May 2, 2022

Janice was just chillin’ it on the patio when suddenly the whole thing started to shake and, before she could do anything, the patio opened up and swallowed her whole. She swirled around in complete darkness for a few seconds and then… PLOP!… she landed in a jungle!

“Whoa!” Janice exclaimed in sheer astonishment. “How did I get here?”

Janice stood up and looked at her surroundings. Then she started walking, but the longer she walked, the more terrified she became. She started running when… WHUMP!… she tripped on a tree root and fell flat on her face.

“Are you alright?” asked a mysterious voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine… wait… who said that?!” she asked, standing up and looking around.

“I did,” said the mysterious voice, stepping out from behind a tree.

At a glance, he looked like a regular guy, but when Janice took a closer look, she realized that he had green skin, a giant purple flower for hair, and roots for legs and feet!

“EEEEK!” Janice shrieked and fell over backwards, but instead of blacking out, she just laid there.

“Uh… are you alright… sorry for scaring you… usually the girls just stare or openly flirt… but this… this was unexpected,” he said, clearly offended.

“Well SORRY for screaming at a guy with roots for FEET!” she yelled. “FIRST, I get swallowed by a patio that brings me to the jungle. THEN a creepy green guy comes around and scared the wits out of me! What’s NEXT?!”

She stood up and was about to continue yelling when she noticed that Flower Guy had disappeared.

“Flower Guy?” called Janice.

Janice was about to go look for him when she heard a rustle in the bushes.

“Flower Guy?” she said, eyeing the bushes cautiously.

The bushes had stopped rustling, but Janice just stood there and stared at the bushes for another five minutes.

When Janice finally turned around, to her utter astonishment and horror, a giant tomato red cheetah stood in front of her, looking as if it was about to pounce on her.

“Ahhhh!!!” screamed Janice. She was frozen stiff with horror when, suddenly and without warning, the strange-looking cheetah started chanting her name. “Janice… Janice… JANICE!”

Janice woke up in a daze. She was surrounded by a bunch of people.

“JANICE! Are you alright?” asked Miss Highity.

“Uuuugh… what happened?” she moaned. “My head hurts.”

“Uhh… well… we were playing baseball when you got hit in the head with the baseball. We thought you were ready for it because everyone knows that when Ronald hits it, it comes in this general direction,” explained Miss Highity.

Janice looked at Ronald and had to blink twice to be sure she wasn’t looking at the tomato red cheetah she had apparently dreamed of.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. And then as if an afterthought, “I could take you to the nurse’s office, if you want.”

And so Janice learned to ALWAYS pay attention in baseball, ESPECIALLY when Ronald was batting.

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