It was 2:35pm and instead of going home like the rest of her classmates, Stella Werbler found herself sitting once again on that hard wooden bench outside Principal Heaving’s office. She could hear Tomino’s whiny voice coming from inside the office. She rolled her eyes. She knew she was about to get detention and Tomino would once again get a pad of multi colored neon post it notes or some other treasure. He always got off easy because he was such a good whiner and everyone felt sorry for him for being named Tomino. Everyone but Stella. She knew the truth about Tomino.

He was an ass. He tortured her. He would walk over to her smiling and acting all sweet and then grab all of her Hello Kitty erasers and wipe them on his sweaty neck. They didn’t erase right after that. They would slip out of her fingers and leave dark streaks on the page. Her whole pencil case stunk. He did this every day. This morning, for some reason, it upset her more than usual. So she waited until all the kids went out for recess and she peed in his backpack. Halfway through fourth period, Tomino started yelling that his dad’s ipad wouldn’t turn on and it smelled like pee. Stella felt a little bad because she didn’t know that the ipad had been inside the backpack.

Mrs. Frinkel made a big deal about it and yelled at the whole class. She said that the guilty party better confess or the cops would come cuff them and take them away. She said that there were ways of knowing whose pee it was. Stella started panicking and her face turned all red. She was afraid to make eye contact with anyone so she shut her eyes tight. Mrs. Frinkel asked her if she was okay and why her eyes were shut. Stella said “Shit.” A girl named Wynetta started yelling “It was her it was her- I know it was her!” Stella had been known to bite and steal a bit, so Mrs. Frinkel automatically believed Wynetta. She sent Tomino and Stella to Principal Heaving’s office to clear things up. Tomino of course got to tell his side of the story first.

Stella was plotting her next move. If she couldn’t convince Heaving of her innocence, she was going to really punish Tomino. She couldn’t get his stupid face out of her mind and every minute that went by she just got madder and madder. The door opened. Principal Heaving looked at Stella and said “Ms. Werbler you are free to go.” Stella looked up surprised. Tomino smiled at her. Together they walked back to class to pick up their things. Tomino whispered, “I know it was you, but don’t worry I won’t say anything. I don’t want to get my girlfriend in trouble.” Stella opened her mouth to object, but no words came out. She was confused and a little nervous, but after five more steps by Tomino’s side, she found that she was also kind of happy. She finally managed to say, “I’m sorry I peed on your ipad.”  Tomino shrugged, “That’s okay. Its not mine- its my dad’s.”