Pencils are a strange thing - a short story

I wrote this story at age 10.

Pencils Are a Strange Thing

“Gulp!” We lost it. The precious family heirloom. The pencil. Yep, you heard that right. Our family heirloom is a pencil. There are MANY rumors about it, but here is the one that I think is true. It supposedly gives us great grades. I'm a straight A student. My brother is a B+ student. He isn't the sharpest knife in the cupboard. My father is a head doctor and my mom is a lawyer. We spend most of our time with our nanny, Lori Mason. The pencil is our favorite heirloom. So, you can imagine the worry when it went missing. Wait, you didn't hear that the pencil went missing?! Do you live under a rock?! Well, I suppose I'll have to tell you all about it, so let's get started. I have a story to tell.

I had a math test that day. It was the 21^st of March. We wrapped up and headed outside. As we left, Lori shouted “You won't pass this test, because you didn't study!” If only I had known she was right. At the bus stop, my friend Lucy asked to quiz each other. I said okay. But, I got nearly everything wrong! I didn't even get the square root of 25 is 5! “ Lilac, did you study?” she accused. “You know I never do,” I pointed out. For the rest of the bus ride, we studied. I was slowly getting better until I knew I would at least get a B. I did. But, I am an A student. My teacher called me up and said, “ What's wrong? You only got a B!” All that I could say was, “ Honestly, I don't know.”

2 days later, after my brother Landon bombed his science quiz, we went to check on the pencil. But, it wasn't in it's podium! Gulp! Uh, oh! Our entire family was sad. We had to find the pencil. But how?

Well, we figured out how. A detective named Lark Lupine came to our house. He seemed okay. He asked me a lot of questions and wrote a lot in his notepad. Then, after an hour he showed me the things he had written. “Do you know anyone that looks like this?” he asked. His description was a lot like Lucy. And the sketch he had made looked like her too! Of course, the parts he had filled in looked like that. I nodded. “That looks like my friend Lucy Pines.” He nodded and then asked me loads of questions about Lucy. Unfortunately, I was starting to think about Lucy. It wasn’t in a good way.

That night, I couldn't help but wonder whether the thief was my BFFL Lucy Pines. After dinner, I went to the room with the Pencil Podium. I looked around. Lark hadn't let us look around before, so I needed clues. I saw 2 strands of curly, black hair. It looked just like Lucy's. I didn't want to believe it, but I had no choice. Lucy Pines, my ex- BFFL, criminal, and my oldest friend. Former friend.

It was the next day, and at school, Lucy said unhappily, “ I don't think I trust that Lupines guy. Do you?” I gave her a look. Unfortunately, Lucy Pines cannot take a hint at all. She kept rambling on, but, after a while, I starting to believe that Lark Lupines might have stolen the pencil. I needed time to think and we were almost at the classroom. I thought fast. “ Hey, Lucy, could you tell Ms. Owler that I went to the bathroom?” I ran off before she could answer. “This is too confusing,” I thought to myself. “This is really confusing.”

In the bathroom, I hid and thought things over. How could it be the detective? He didn't have black curly hair. But, he could have planted the hair anytime that he was in the house. But, what about the drawing. Wait, hadn't he seen Lucy leave because we were studying and she had to go?! But, why would he be the detective if he stole it? Then, everything fit together. He did it to lead us off track like little red riding hood! I was fuming and the day seemed to go by like a turtle. When, I got home, Lark was there. I was so mad, but, I needed a plan. Luckily, I had one.

I grabbed my pencil and made sure it was the right length. I pulled out my phone, and set it on the table, in voice recording mode. Then, I ran up to Lark and exclaimed, “Lark,we found the pencil!” He instantly turned ghostly white. “B – b – but it can't be! The pencil wouldn't be in plain sight! I wouldn't – the criminal wouldn't hide it in plain sight! They would hide it in a warehouse or an abandoned building! I smiled and hit STOP an my phone. “ Thanks for the information.....criminal!” I snapped the pencil in ½ and ran before he knew what was happening.

I am proud to say that I got Lark Lupines, criminal mastermind, into jail. We got the pencil from the old warehouse down the street and our grades instantly went up. But even with the pencil, I always study. Lucy and I agreed to never doubt each other again and after lots of searching, we found that there was a weak spot in the wall that Lupine crawled through. Well, that was my story. Gulp! Uh, oh!