Ruby's Broken Bone

Ruby's Broken Bone Part 3

The next morning, Ruby stood in the upstairs hallway, waiting outside the bathroom, knocking on the door.

"Max, I have to go too!" Ruby said as she knocked. "And I have to brush my teeth!"

"I'll be in a second!" Max said through the door. Unbeknownst to his sister or anyone else in the house, he stuffed a role of toilet paper in his backpack and zipped it up. He came out of the bathroom with his backpack on his shoulders.

"Why'd you bring your backpack into the bathroom?" Ruby asked with a look of skepticism.

"Oh, um... it's show and tell day," Max lied. "So I decided to bring one of my bath toys."

"Which bath toy?" Ruby asked.

"Uh, submarine!" Max blurted. Knowing her brother, Ruby could tell he was lying, but decided not push it any further as it did not seem like a big deal.

At school, Max ran into the boys' bathroom, took the toilet paper roll out of his backpack, and wrapped some around his arm, with the intention to fool everyone.

"I want special treatment too," Max thought to himself as he wrapped all the way around his paw, using excess toilet paper.

He threw the toilet paper back in his backpack and zipped it up. Running back to the classroom before the bell rang, he hung his unzipped backpack on his hanger and turned around to call attention to everyone around him.

"Hi, everyone," Max said while innocently waving his toilet paper-wrapped paw. Lily was the first to notice.

"What happened, Max?" she said, which really drew attention from his other classmates. Soon, everyone crowded around him staring at the 'cast' and expecting a story out of Max.

"I broke my arm," lied Max. "I uh... I fell down the steps this morning. The doctor said I have to wear it for a long time."

"Now you and your sister have broken bones?" said Priya, feeling the toilet paper.

"I know, right?" remarked Max. "What are the odds?"

"Do you want me to sign your cast?" Priya said, holding up a Sharpie.

"Sure," Max said enthusiastically, happy he was finally getting attention. Priya signed her name on the toilet paper, then Morris, then Winston, then Lily. Lily, however, took a closer look.

"Your cast feels weird Max," she said as she felt it.

"Um... it's a special cast..." fibbed Max. "They... ran out of the regular cast stuff."

The bell rang and Ms. Bunty came into the room, humming to herself and then saying 'hi' to the class when she gasped at the sight of Max.

"Oh my goodness, what happened, Max?" she asked with a worried expression.

"I broke my arm falling down the stairs," said Max in a humble tone. "You can sign my cast if you want."

"Oh, I would be glad to," Ms. Bunty said as she got up from her desk with a Sharpie. However, when she began signing her name, she realized what the cast was made of. "Max... this is toilet paper," she said. Everyone started laughing as Max blushed in embarrassment. "Why would you lie to us like that?"

"Because I wanna get signatures too!" said Max. "My sister's gotten a ton of signatures on her cast!"

"That's because she has an actual injury," said Ms. Bunty. "You know her friends and classmates are only trying to cheer her up." Max sighed.

"Yeah, I know," he said with a guilty expression.

"Good," said Ms. Bunty. "Now throw away your little 'cast'..." which she raised in airquotes with her fingers, "...so we can get started with today's class." Max said nothing, but walked over to the trash can and unraveled his 'cast.' As he threw it away, he glanced out the window and saw his sister in Mr. Estevez's room on the other side of the school, being helped into her seat by Louise and Roger. He growled at the sight of this in anger and frustration.