Brrring! The bell rung as I rushed to my English class, already late on the first day of  school. Luckily, the teacher’s back was turned as I surreptitiously rushed into the nearest seat like a ninja, furiously chomping on my favorite flavor of gum; gum always helped to alleviate my stress. It had found its home: in my mouth. The sweet, savory “watermelon twist” flavor burst in my mouth and I closed my eyes, partly to savor everything little bit of it, and partly to relax my beating heart. I looked down at my box of gum. There were only two pieces left! This was not going to be a good day. It was too late when I realized that the teacher was standing over me ominously, like the Great Wall of China. I jumped a foot, and gulped loudly when I glimpsed at the “No gum allowed” sign, which was hanging above the doorway.
“Young lady, what are you doing?” she asked in a reprimanding tone.
Still out of breath from my long run down the hallway, I managed to gasp out, “Um… preparing for class?”
Her explicit glare told me I was in deep water. She walked to the front of the class, and pointed to the sign I just saw a moment ago. “Ok, first rule everybody, NO GUM IN CLASS!” As soon as she said that she turned her head toward me and of course, all the students had to emulate her by staring at me as well.  She exclaimed, “Well what are you waiting for? Spit it out! NOW! I will not condone this reprehensible behavior! If I see you with gum ever again, you will be seeing me at lunch for detention.”
“Y-y-yes… ma’am… I mean… M-m-ms. May,” I stuttered, trembling as I shuffled up to the garbage can. She gave me the creeps just by looking at me.  Such an amiable person. Great. Just great. It was the first day, and the the teacher and I were best buds already. Would it have killed her to utilize some euphemisms in her lecture? It was embarrassing enough with everyone staring at me.
The long period dragged on for centuries, and when it finally ended,  I vowed that I would circumvent trouble, starting from today. Little did I know what was going to happen…
It all started with a simple paper. And a bunch of commas. Ms. May assigned a                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           research simulation task, and I wrote about the inception of technological  innovations.  Oh, ya, I almost forgot, I didn’t use any commas. None at all. At that time, I thought that commas were the most useless things in the world. I mean, why bother?  To me, commas were just extraneous little periods with tails.
When I got to my next class, which was math, I found out that my research paper was gone! I realized that it must have fallen out when I hurried down the hallway while trying (unsuccessfully) to preclude myself from being crushed by the giants who were blocking my way. I asked my teacher, Ms. Zrom, if I could go and look for my paper. I retraced my steps, yet I still could not find it. I mean, who in their right mind steals a research paper? Suddenly, something slid through the crack in the wall and fell down next to my feet. I peered at it closely. It was my research paper! But there was something different about it. To my horror, I discovered that my paper was embellished with tiny, comma-shaped pieces of gum, that were dispersed throughout the writing! I quickly looked around. Who was doing this? Why? How? I did not think this anomalous act meant anything significant. Boy was I wrong.
That day, I walked out of math, not remembering anything that I just learned. Not only is math a frivolous waste of time, but I was also thinking about my mysterious research paper. How did it get in the crack in the first place? More importantly, who did it? I wasn’t watching where I was going, and something whizzed past me. I swatted the front of my face, thinking it was a bug. However, suddenly, something pink landed on the floor and caught my eye. I examined it closely. It was piece of gum, the color of raw salmon. I knew from past experiences that it was fresh, meaning that it had recently been spit out. I looked around. Nobody seemed to notice anything strange.
Whatever, I thought to myself, it must be some litter-bug.
Suddenly, another raw salmon colored piece of gum flew past me, nearly landing in my blond, perfectly combed hair. Narrowing my eyes, I whipped my face toward the area where my enemy laid. There was nothing. Just an old wall that seemed to be weeping chips of paint onto the dusty, unkempt floor. A chill ran up my spine. Was someone attacking me? Did I do something wrong? At that time, I didn’t know it, but I had done something wrong: writing that research paper. That inane action of mine ruined my whole school year.
The next morning, I staggered tiredly into Ms. May’s room, speculating about the culprit behind the gum scheme. I distractedly sat in my desk, rebuffing any snide comments about my newly dyed hair. I was so zoned out that I didn’t realize Ms. May hovering over me like a hawk, giving me a you-better-pay-more-attention glare. Finally noticing her disapproving glance, I hastily muttered an apology and took my book out. To my relief, she walked back to the front of the room; sadly, my equanimity was ephemeral.
I felt an itch on my leg and I reached down to scratch it. Seeing the disapproving glance from Ms. May, I quickly brought my hand up. Quickly. That’s the key word. But that was also my mistake. As I was pulling it up, my hand banged against the bottom of the desk. I’ve gotta say, I have done this many, many, MANY times. But this time, there was a problem: gum. Some idiot stuck gum underneath the table, and when my hand banged against it, it HAD to stick onto me. Yuck! I carefully tried to peel it off, but it stretched, creating an even bigger mess. Great.
My inherent nature was to glance at Ms. May. She wasn’t looking. Thank god. Of course, I celebrated too early. She spun around, catching my eye in the process. I quickly put my hand next to my head like I was resting, while burying my face deep into the book, trying to hide my suspicious behavior. Unfortunately, I forgot that the same hand had gum on it. She turned back around, but not before she gave me a belligerent glare. However, I held my head up high (or as high as I could), for she didn’t see me. I was in the clear. All I had to do was take the gum out of my hands and chuck it into the garbage can, without Ms. May detecting me. My first idea was to quickly peel the gum off. Unfortunately, this was not a pragmatic solution. To my dismay, the gum was stuck onto my hair! I slowly lowered my hands away from my head, careful not to pull any of my hair out. This was not the alley to dance down, either. I tried many other methods, but they all didn’t work. All I managed to do was get my hair in tangles, and my hand covered in the gooey gum.
All of  the sudden, I heard a voice behind me. “Go to the bathroom and cut it.”
I jumped up in surprise, my face reddening as I realized I had been caught in the act. I stared up at the booming voice in disbelief and of course, it was Ms. May.
“You heard me. Don’t be irreverent toward me, young lady. Now hurry up and go!” She thrust a pair of safety scissors toward my stomach, as if she wanted to stab me.
I weakly took the scissors from her hands and trudged to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror; during the walk down the hallway, I managed to get my hand free, but there was still the mess in my hair and on my hands that had to be taken care of. I was about to sever my beautiful brown highlights when a wave of trepidation washed over me. I had been growing my hair out for months, there was no way I was cutting it, even if it was covered in gum.
Suddenly, I felt intrepid and decided that Ms. May was a teacher, not my parent. She couldn’t make me cut my hair. What could she do? Give me a C? She had no power over me. I was autonomous, in school at least. I didn’t have to cut it if I don’t want to. Boy was I wrong....
I confidently strutted back into the classroom, feeling like I was the queen of the world.
As soon as I reappeared in the doorway, I knew that I had incited Ms. May. She glared at me and scolded, “You just want to keep getting into trouble, don’t you? Well, here’s trouble for you. Come to my class for lunch and after school everyday this week.”
I gasped, my heart clenching in fear and dismay at those menacing words. “W-w-what?” I stammered. “ No, please. I’ll cut my hair. Just don’t give me detention!” I exclaimed in desperation.
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine. I’ll give you one more chance. Go cut your hair and get rid of the gum. Now!”
I stumbled to the bathroom and reluctantly held the scissors up to my hair, shaking as I did so. I felt tears threatening to overwhelm me as I thought about my precious hair being chopped into pieces.
Suddenly, I heard a voice shout, “Stop! What in the world are you doing?”
I spun around. There stood my best friend, Ana-toni Andenherz (Ana for short), who had been fixing her makeup before I arrived.
“I have to cut my hair… or else…detention.” Here, I lost it. The waterworks started and didn’t stop.
Somehow, Ana got the idea and she placated me, “Don’t cry. Just don’t cut it. Don’t listen to that malevolent teacher. A few detentions can’t hurt you. Besides, punishments in eighth grade don’t count against you. On the other hand, cutting your long, beautiful hair will. What did you do though? You are usually such an innocuous person.”
I tried to rectify her, “But… detention will hurt me, and...it’s a long story.” I was in a complete quandary.
After our long conversation, we finally decided that I was not going to cut my hair. Ana definitely had an eloquent way of speaking, a way with words. Her cogent argument finally won me over. I vacillated so much that I didn’t even know if disobeying Ms. May was the right choice. After Ana gave me some words of encouragement, I timidly walked back into the classroom.
Ms. May spotted me in an instant. “Well, well, well. You sure have a tenacity for getting into trouble. Here’s your reward. Why don’t you keep the detention and...” She paused for a second and scribbled something on a piece of paper, like a cop writing a ticket, “...here.”
I slowly looked down at the paper she thrust at me. My literary analysis essay. The essay that I spent a whole month on. There was a big, fat F on it. And a bunch of scribbles. Behind the scribbles was a proud, happy ninety three. But then there was the F, squashing it, deterring it from showing, making sure it was hidden behind the horrible scribbles.
My face turned red. I wanted to scream. Or cry. Or both. My fingers itched to rip the paper up. To get revenge. And I got it… but not in the way that I wanted.
I looked up in astonishment to find Ms. May smirking at me. She turned around, whipping her hair along with her. The long, black strands mocked me. Laughed at me. Haunted me. My apathy for her quickly turned into a strong hatred.
All of a sudden, a raw salmon colored piece of gum flew past me and landed in Ms. May’s hair. I turned around, ready to laud whoever was behind me, but all I saw was the wall.
Ms. May’s face turned into a red shade that I didn’t even think was humanly possible. She viciously pulled the piece of gum out of her hair and furiously asked me, “Did you do this? Ms. Lavenudy, are you not satisfied with an F? Well, here’s another week of detention to satisfy you.”
There, I just wanted to feign getting hit by a death ray and disappear into thin air. Luckily, just as I thought Ms. May was going to explode with anger, the bell rung, signaling the end of the period. My teacher was so magnanimous.
I sprinted faster than Usain Bolt out the door. As I was walking down the hallway, all I was thinking about was: who threw that gum? And more importantly, how was I going to tell my parents about detention?!
I was so distracted that I walked right into Ana.
“Why the long face?”
I sighed and explained, “Ms. May… she gave me an F on my essay and then another week of detention.”
“Wow… that teacher is very mean. Her punishments are so subjective and unfair. She should relegate her job to someone else. Someone much nicer.”
Suddenly, I remembered the flying gum. “Oh yeah, you know what was weird? A piece of gum flew past me and landed in Ms. May’s hair!”
“And you didn’t shoot it, did you?” Ana questioned.
“Of course not! I said it flew past me. Also, there was no one behind me, so.... ”
“Interesting,” Ana replied, looking deep in thought.
“I know this is going to sound weird, but I think someone is coming after me. Everywhere I go, it’s like gum is following me!”
Ana looked at me like I had three heads, “What? Someone going after you? That’s impossible! Aiden, please don’t be reticent. If you have something else on your mind, spill it.”
I sighed. “But it’s true! Even my RST was covered in gum. Comma shaped gum! And you know how I feel about commas! That paper was so gross that I threw it away.”
“I believe you, I really do. It’s just… kinda hard to digest. Plus, you don’t have any evidence to corroborate it.” I knew that even though she wasn’t showing it, Ana was cynical about my story.
“Fine, if you don’t believe me, maybe you shouldn’t be my friend anymore. Oh, and you know, my last name is L-a-v-e-n-u-d-y. Not L-a-v-u-n-d-e-y. Get it right the next time you write my name in the news for receiving the highest score in NJ on a third grade grammar test.”
Even though I’m usually pretty placid, that day Ana really made me angry. As I stomped away, I heard her shout desperately, “Wait! Aiden…” But it was too late; I was already gone.
Part Six: The Scary Situation
I was furious as I speed-walked into the lunchroom, clutching my lunchbox tightly in my hand. My lunchbox didn’t help my mood either. I tried to tell my mom that homemade lunches had become obsolete starting from middle school, ever since buying lunch became prevalent. However, my frugal mother chose to make me lunch instead of having me buy it. But then, she went to work and bought her own lunch! What a hypocrite.
I plopped down in a seat at an empty table, not wanting to interact with anyone. Who cared if I looked like a recluse! Reaching into my lunchbox, my hands touched something sticky. I pulled it out. It was a piece of paper, and there was a word on it: HA! And it was made of gum. Chewed gum.
My heart started to beat faster and faster, and a chill ran down my back. I slowly turned, afraid to see the worst, but there was nothing. Nothing except an old wall with white paint peeling off it. And a small hole with chewed-up gum inside of it. Wait… chewed-up gum? That sounded familiar. I slowly got up from my seat and cautiously walked toward the suspicious-looking area. When I arrived, I peered into the hole. I felt my hand involuntarily reach up toward the gum. Suddenly, the gum dropped down onto my feet. I yelped and jumped back in surprise. This was not usual. Something was definitely going on here. But what?
“What are you doing, Ms. Lavenudy?”
My hair whipped past me as I quickly spun around then hid in terror, seeing the person that I dreaded the most, creeping up on me: Ms. May. I quickly backed up against the wall, cornered. Even in my frightened state, I noticed the ostentatious necklace my teacher was wearing; it was full of flashy pearls and jewels. Typical. This is exactly what I expected  from this self-centered woman. If anyone reveres this lady, they are out of their mind! I thought to myself.
“I… I am so sorry ma'am,” I replied, trying to make as little eye contact as possible.
“Go sit down! And never call me ma'am again.”
“Yes ma'am… I mean… mom… No! I’ll go sit down now.” I ran as fast as my unathletic body would carry me.
As I ate my lunch, I was so focused in the matter at hand that everything tasted insipid. How did that gum just fall like that? I knew it was sticking on to the wall, nice and firm before. I could see it!
The rest of the day went past in a blur, and when the final bell rang, I trudged to Ms. May’s room for another boring day of detention. I plopped down into my seat and threw my backpack on the floor next to me. It landed with a heavy thud. I stared hard at the back of Ms. May, who was erasing her material on the chalkboard, trying to make her melt with my eyes. It didn’t work.
I looked around the too-familiar room, trying to find something to entertain myself besides the boring, eclectic posters and the elaborate designs on my bag when suddenly, something caught my eye. There was something on my backpack, and it was moving Actually, when I think back on this, the thing was more like hopping. I glanced up at Ms. May, making sure she wasn’t paying attention. Then, I looked closer. I jumped up in shock. It was the color of raw salmon.
Part Seven: Fueling the Flames
I rubbed my eyes, not believing what was in front of me. No, this isn’t possible. It can’t be. I can see that it is gum. But how is it moving? Not possible, I thought in confusion. I slowly reached down, and felt my hand lower closer and closer to the mysterious piece gum, as if I was in a trance. I felt my hand touch it. Suddenly, it hopped into the air and landed on my elbow. I screamed so loud that people from as far away as India could hear!
Suddenly, I heard a malicious voice ask, “Is there a problem, Ms. Lavenudy?” Shoot, I thought. I had forgotten that Ms. May was there with me.
“Um… no, I thought I saw a spider, that’s all,” I bluffed.
“Well, calm down and keep your mouth shut,” she snapped. “This is detention, not a party.”
I tried to ignore the sticky feeling crawling up my elbow and muttered, “Sorry.”
Cautiously, I looked down on my elbow. There it was, hopping it’s little legs off. I looked closer. It had eyes and a mouth. It was actually kinda cute, in an alien-like way. Could it talk? I grabbed it and held it up toward my face.
I whispered, “Hey little thing. What are you?” The “thing” glared and blew a raspberry at me. Offended, I tried to shake the tiny meanie-poo-poo off.
“Hey!” It yelled in a cute, squeaky voice.
I was so surprised that I almost fell off my chair. Remembering where I was, I quickly sat up and glanced at Ms. May to make sure she wasn’t looking. I was in the clear… for now.
“Hi! You know, since you’re so cute and small, I’ll forgive that raspberry you gave me.”
Suddenly, it stomped on my hand with it’s midget feet and banged its little fists against my skin.
“Hey! What gives?! I forgave you!” I whisper-shouted, hoping that my teacher wouldn’t hear me.
“Well, I don’t forgive you!”  It crossed its arms and turned its head away from me.
“And why is that?” I retaliated.
“You know.” And with that, it jumped off my hand and hopped away.
All of the sudden, I felt Ms. May’s presence invading my personal space. “Okay, Ms. Lavenudy, you are free to go,” she stated. “Report here at exactly the same time tomorrow.”
I trudged out the door in confusion. What did the little thing mean when he said “You know”? I didn’t know. At all. I had no clue.
I walked into the late bus room, and my mood lightened up immediately when I saw my boyfriend, Trebor Lodus.
“Hey babe,” he greeted as soon as he saw me.
“Hey, the craziest thing happened to me today.”
“You can tell me.  You can tell me anything,” he said, and gave me a smile that made me melt on the spot. Trebor always supported me.
I stared into his trusting, ice-blue eyes and began, “Well, so I saw this umm… thing. I know that it’s gum. But it talks and walks. So I don’t know what it is and -”
Trebor cut me off in the middle of my sentence, his forehead wrinkling like an old man’s. “Wait… hold up. A walking and talking piece of gum?”
I sighed and said impatiently, “Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but you have to believe me.”
“I do… I’m sorry babe, continue,” he amended.
“Well so, I was at Ms. May’s room for detention when I saw something on my backpack. It was the color of raw salmon, which was also the color of the gum that was on my research paper and the one that flew past me-”
Before I could finish, something whizzed past me and landed in Trebor’s perfect, dirt-blond hair.
“What was… that?! Was that you?” I had never seen Trebor so furious before.
“No! No! I swear it wasn’t me,” I desperately tried to convince him.
“Well, I don’t see anyone around, so who else would have done it? Huh?”
“No, please Trebor, I didn’t do it! You have to trust me!” I begged.
“No, I’m sorry Aiden. My mind's made up. If you’re going to make silly jokes like this, I can’t be with you. Good-bye.”
With that, he left, refusing to look at me. Slowly, I felt the room become a blur as my eyes started to tear up. Why did he have to do this to me? Trebor was usually the mediator of fights, not the one to start them.
“No! Please… Trebor…” I started sobbing. How could he! I didn’t do it! But, wait... who did do it? I looked around. There was nothing there except a spot of raw salmon. Wait…  I approached it. It was another piece of gum, like the one I saw in detention.
“Hi! Enjoyed my gum? It was free. You’re welcome,” the thing said, smirking as he did so.
“That was you?!” I exclaimed. “How? Why?”
“It was a present. For you. You deserved it, anyway.”
That was when I totally  lost it. “Tell. Me. Why. You. Are. So Mean. To. Me!”
He raised an eyebrow and questioned, “You really don’t know, huh? Is it not implicit?”
“I have no clue! What am I supposed to get from ‘you know’? Tell me!” I said impatiently.
“You know, you should really go chase your boyfriend!”
“Well you should really stay pertinent to the topic!” I retorted.
“I’m not being irrelevant,” he snapped.
Finally, he sighed and rolled his eyes. “Ok, fine. Do you remember your research paper? The one with NO COMMAS AT ALL? Well, that thing offended me… a lot. I am a huge proponent of commas, and when you didn’t add any, I got really mad at you. REALLY MAD.”
Although I liked that the piece of gum was succinct and to the point, I still had a million questions running through my head. “How do you get all that pieces of gum all over the place?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Please?”
“Uh, fine. I have many small gum minions. I control them and they do all the work.”
“So, they do all the work and you’re indolent?”
  “No! That’s not what I meant! You know what, you’re impossible! I give up. Beware. I warned you.”
With that, he turned around and hopped out of my sight.
As the day went on, I couldn’t care about anything, and I couldn’t eat anything either.
I was worrying so much that I lost my appetite for days; even my parents told me that if I didn’t start eating, I was going to become emaciated! But I couldn’t. I was just too sad. Too worried. Too stressed out. The adversities I had faced starting from Day One of school were slowly killing me. I just wanted a respite from drama, and gum, and just life in general. My favorite thing in the world had turned into my most hated thing in a matter of months!
I knew that the little thing was a threat from the very beginning. But I never knew that it would get so out of hand. Just the thought of gum or commas -or both- made my heart thump wildly. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something. Anything to get rid of the gum. But what could I do? If I did anything, the little monsters would get their revenge. And that was never good. I sat, thinking profound thoughts for hours, not knowing what to do, when the idea hit me like a brick in the face. What was the place that gum hated? That gum couldn’t stand? The place under desks. The gross, dark place, covered with dried up boogers and snot. I knew what had to be done.
The next afternoon, I made it my mission to find the little thing that was making my life miserable. It wasn’t hard. As I was bending down to tie my shoelace, I spotted the piece of gum that controlled the other gum minions, the gum boss, right in front of me.
“You ready for me to make your life miserable?” he squeaked out.
I smiled mischievously and said, “I have something to do to you first.”
“Ya…” I could tell that he was getting a bit scared.
“However, if you cooperate with me, I promise not to do anything to you.”
“Ha, no, I don’t follow anybody’s orders. Anyway, you don’t stand a chance against me,” the thing replied confidently.
“Oh really?” In a flash, I grabbed him, squeezing him so tightly that he could barely breathe. I darted into a nearby classroom and searched for the perfect desk, one full of disgusting, U.F.O.s (Unidentifiable Foul Objects). Finally finding one, I slapped the gum boss under the desk and sighed with satisfaction.
“No! Please no! Anywhere but here!” I could tell that he was really struggling to break free. Unfortunately for him, he remained stuck under the desk, unable to move. For a few seconds, I actually felt bad for him. Then, the sympathy disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
“Are you ready to cooperate then?”
After hesitating for a month, he slowly agreed, “Um… fine.”
“Ok, first, I need to know your name.”
He rolled his eyes, but then replied, “My name is A.J.”
I inquired, “And what about your minions?”
“Some of my minions, the top achievers are Sean Michels, Mann Pandya, and Sarah Baldassari.”
“No, that’s not what I’m asking. How did you get them? How do you control them? How does all of this work!?” I questioned, firing anything that came to my mind.
“I am sorry,” he said snottily, “ but that information is classified.”
“Oh, really.” I couldn’t believe my ears. After being stuck to that repulsive desk, he still wouldn’t tell me? “Fine then, I guess I’ll just have to leave you here.” I immediately turned around and stalked away.
“Wait! No! Please, come back!” If he wasn’t going to cooperate with me, I wouldn’t care about him.. That was until I heard, “You’re going to regret this!”
Oh no, not this again. I stood there for a whole year, trying to decide whether or not I should get him out of there. Suddenly, I heard a sharp whistle. I looked around frantically until I realized that it was coming from the gum boss. I didn’t even have any time to recover from my shock when what seemed like a thousand pieces of gum came marching out from a little, tiny hole in the wall, in an impossibly perfect line.
“Free me, minions!”
I stared at them, eyes wide as they jumped, climbed and crawled, zealously trying to free their leader. When A.J. was finally free and landed with a big thump on the ground, another sharp whistle rang through the school and all the minions came charging. At me. I ran with all my might and leaped out of the classroom. I slammed the door shut and leaned against it. Even though I was a thousand times their size, I could feel the door inching open, slowly but surely. I spotted the main entrance and sprinted towards it. The door of the classroom burst open, and a bunch of raw salmon colored thingamajiggies ran after me. I flung myself out the entrance and jumped behind a nearby bush that was decorated with resplendent, pink flowers. I always thought that the many bushes on the lawn were superfluous and extraneous, but they saved my life that day.
“Come on out! I know you’re there little girl. Come on out,” called A.J. teasingly.  I stayed hidden, and in a much meaner voice, he yelled, “Beware. You get no more warnings. You pulled the last straw and now you’ll pay the price! Mwahahahahaha!”
Everyone stomped back into the building. I sat there, trying to regain my breath.
“Hi!”
I jumped fifty feet in the air. There, I saw a little gum minion with cute, tiny glasses perched upon her nose
“What… what do you want?” I stammered.
“Nothing! Hi, my name is Nidhi. I really don’t think what A.J. is doing the right thing. I truly believe that you made a mistake and that you should be forgiven.”
“Really?” I stared at the little thing in disbelief. That was when I realized there was a huge disparity between A.J. and his minions. One wanted to kill me, but the others were just following his orders! I had to help them.
“Hey,” I whispered to Nidhi, “you guys shouldn’t always follow what A.J. commands you guys to do. Here is an excerpt from Dr. Seuss’ Oh, The Places You’ll Go: ‘You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go…’  Collect all your minion friends and tell them to meet me in the courtyard at 3:00 today, ok? ”
“Ok.”
The rest of the day went by in a blur, and it was three before I even knew it. I quickly ran to the courtyard. I scanned the courtyard eagerly, but I couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, I felt something tingly on my leg. I went to swat it, afraid it was a bug, but then I quickly stopped when I saw Nidhi, tapping on my leg urgently.
“Follow me,”she beckoned, and I was led to the corner of the courtyard, where I spotted about fifty small pieces of gum.
“Hi guys,” I addressed them. “Your boss has a fallacious way of thinking. Do you all want to be free?”
“Yes!” I huge cheer went through the crowd.
“Ok, then get into a big ball  and jump onto my hand,” I ushered them with my kindest voice. Luckily, they trusted me and they followed my directions exactly as I told them.
“Quick! The boss is coming,” Kevin, a tough gum minion yelled, “act normal!”
I ran as fast as I could to the bus area, and when I arrived, I found a corner and gently put the minions down.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say that you, Aiden, are a hero. Thank you very much,” Kevin commented. I could see it in his eyes that he meant it.
“Hold it right there.”
I knew even before I saw him that it was A.J.
“No, this time you are not going to stop me or your minions. They are not like you and they deserve to be free,” I claimed. I was not afraid of this little creature. Without his minions, he was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I dropped my hand down near the ground and I let the sticky little slaves go, hopping toward a happily ever after.
“You are a philanthropist. Except instead of giving money, you give freedom. Thank you so much!” one of the minions said gratefully.
“You’re welcome. Now run! Before A.J. catches you! Go!”
I stared at the little ones running and hopping off into the distance with a mixture of happiness and sadness. Finally, I faced what I knew was going to be my worst fear: A.J.
“Well, well, well. Look who decided to get in my way, stick me to the bottom of a desk and free MY minions.”
“I’m not scared of you. You are just a bully who gets people to do things by intimidation. You’ll never have any real friends.”
A.J. gave me a sideways glance. “Really? Well, are you going to be scared if I curse you?”
A chill ran down my spine, but I tried not to show my fear. “No! Not at all.”
“Fine. Try touching gum now.” With that, he left.
What did he mean? I had to find out. When I got home, I took out one of my many packs of gum. I cautiously reached out to touch it. My hand touched it and I winced, getting ready for the worst. But nothing happened. Maybe he was just bluffing I thought. I plopped the gum in my mouth and started to chomp on it, but I bit myself instead. Oww! This was weird, I thought. My teeth didn’t bite any sticky surface. I looked down at my hand. There it was. Taking a nap on my hands. The piece of gum I had just tried to chew. I put it back in my mouth. I tried and I tried, but no matter what, I could not get it in my mouth. Then, after attempting to throw the gum into the garbage can in defeat, I realized I couldn’t take it off my hands! It was stuck! Every hour for that day, I tried. But nothing worked, nothing!
A day later, the piece of gum fell off. I wasn’t doing anything thing, it just dropped off my hand and onto the floor. I tried again many times, and the results became clear. The gum would not fall until after twenty four hours. Something else became clear: if I saw gum, even if it was just a tiny glimpse, I would have nightmares about A.J. that night. Since then, my antipathy towards gum has grown and I have never misused one little, tiny comma… ever since.