“Ellie, the bell just rang! We have to go to first recess, come on!”
“You go on ahead, I want to get my tooth from Mrs. Apple.”
Ellie ran into the classroom and went right to Mrs. Apple who was grading papers at her desk.
“Are you feeling better Ellie?”
“Yes Mrs. Apple. Do you have my tooth?”
Mrs. Apple placed Ellie’s tooth in a little pink plastic treasure chest and Ellie cupped it in her hands very gently as if it was her most prized possession.
“It is right here, now you go and put this securely in your desk so that you don’t lose it. Tonight, I bet the Tooth Fairy will leave you something under your pillow.”
Ellie put the tooth saver in the pencil tray in her desk next to her favorite eraser, the one shaped like an ice cream cone. She opened the lid to her desk three times before leaving for recess just to make sure her tooth was nice and secure.
“Ellie, your tooth will be fine” Mrs. Apple said with a smile and a chuckle. “Now you go out to recess before you run out of time to play.”
Chapter 2
The Playground Encounter
“Finally, Ellie!” Maddie was a little annoyed with her sister. “Where have you been?”
“I wanted to make sure my tooth was safe. I do have to give it to the Tooth Fairy tonight you know!”
Maddie and Ellie along with their best friends Mikelle and Ava were playing on the monkey bars. Their goal was to see who can skip the most bars while crossing. Maddie was the strongest so she always seemed to be able to skip three bars while Ava and Ellie could only skip two. Mikelle is the smallest of their group and so she still sticks to crossing one bar at a time.
“Oh no! Here comes Aiden McHenry with his two little followers” Mikelle quietly said to the other girls as she rolled her eyes.
Aiden was in third grade with the girls, but he was practically the size of a sixth grader. He even had braces on his teeth already. Aiden is not known to be the friendliest guy in third grade. In fact, he is not happy unless he makes somebody cry by the end of recess. He even has his own little gang. Tommy Neely and Janie “I have my resources” He growled as he flipped his carrot orange bangs across his forehead.
“Why do you even c-care that I l-lost my tooth?” Ellie was starting to form a tear in her eye.
She was terrified of Aiden and just wanted him to go away. She still remembers how he forced Jimmy Anderson out of his lunch money by stuffing him into the garbage can causing him to pee his pants in front of everyone. And Jimmy is a fifth grader. How was she ever going to defend herself against Aiden if a fifth grader couldn’t even stand up to him?
“I care because a lost tooth means money and I need some money right now.” Aiden was getting annoyed with her questions. “You are going to have to give me your tooth NOW so that I can collect the cash tonight from the Tooth Fairy. You get me?” Aiden’s little groupies took a step forward towards Ellie.
Maddie jumped off the monkey bars and ran towards her sister followed by Ava and Mikelle. “Get lost Aiden and leave my sister alone or you are going to have to deal with me!”
Though they are twins, Ellie and Maddie are not identical. Maddie stood a whole four inches taller than Ellie giving the appearance of being much older. In fact, Maddie was the tallest kid in the third grade besides Aiden. Not much intimidated Maddie. This is something that Ellie always admired in her sister.
“I mean it Aiden, you are about to get the biggest dose of girl germs that you could imagine! Now, GET LOST!” Maddie had her fists raised in a boxer’s pose and Ava and Mikelle were right behind her to back her up.
“I don’t have time for this right now” Aiden waved his hand in the air as though he was swatting a fly. “Come on gang, let’s shake Jimmy down for some lunch money. I hope he brought extra pants this time!”
As Aiden and his gang walked away he glanced back at Ellie and shouted, “This isn’t over Ellie. I will get that tooth from you, just you wait!”
Chapter 3
Aiden is on a Mission
Aiden snuck back into the school three dollars richer thanks to Jimmy who is now standing in a pair of wet pants on the playground.
“There’s 15 minutes left of recess, we have to find that tooth before the bell rings” Aiden whispered as he directed his gang with hand signals down the hallway towards Mrs. Apple’s room.
“Tommy, you search Ellie’s cubby. Janie, look on Mrs. Apple’s desk. I am going to try and figure out which one of these desks is Ellie’s.”
Aiden went up and down the rows, opening desk tops, searching for Ellie’s tooth.
“Boss, there’s nothing in her cubby except a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” Tommy announced. “Can I have the sandwich?”
“I don’t care. I can’t have it on account of I’m allergic to peanuts” Aiden replied as he continued to search through desks.
“There’s nothing here either, boss” Janie piped in. “You want me to help you go through the desks?”
“Yeah, start over there” Aiden pointed to the row of desk near the window.
“Hey boss?”
“What Janie?’
“I want some of that peanut butter sandwich too.”
“You two are like a bunch of kids! Tommy, give her half the sandwich and leave me alone already!”
“Yes! Here it is, a little pink tooth saver with Ellie’s tooth in it! Jackpot!” Just as Aiden spoke, the lights flashed on in the classroom.
“Aiden McHenry just what do you think you are doing?” He was caught red-handed by Mrs. Apple.
“Um, um…” Aiden had to come up with a story fast. “Ellie dropped this on the playground so I was just putting it back in her desk for her. Yeah, that’s what happened.”
“Yeah Mrs. Apple. We was just helping out Ellie” Tommy said while chunks of peanut butter sandwich flew out of his mouth hitting Janie in her cheek.
“I am gonna BARF!” Janie swatted the sandwich chunks off of her face.
“Why don’t you give me the tooth now Aiden. The three of you need to march yourselves down to Principal Mack’s office. She wants to talk you all about why Jimmy Anderson is crying in her office right now. I hope that I don’t have to add another complaint to record today as it sounds like you already have quite a list started?”
As the three gangsters headed down to Principle Mack’s office, Mrs. Apple slipped Ellie’s tooth into her sweater pocket for safe keeping. Just then her desk phone rang.
“Hello? Oh, my goodness, I will be right there!”
one shaped like an ice cream cone. She opened the lid to her desk three times before leaving for recess just to make sure her tooth was nice and secure.
“Ellie, your tooth will be fine” Mrs. Apple said with a smile and a chuckle. “Now you go out to recess before you run out of time to play.”
ELLIE & MADDIE AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING TOOTH