How Does a Daffodil Survive in Winter?

ii | Carrots on Toast... Sounds Suspicious

Standing there, with a fat goofy grin spread on his face and a look of mischief, was none other than the biggest class clown of them all, Benny Cooper. While Benny stood tall, his posture relaxed, his best friend and accomplice Theo Neal was quite the opposite.

Now if there's one thing you should know about Theo Neal is that he is quiet. If it wasn't for his excellent sporting reputation, he would undoubtedly be so invisible that even his parents won't know he exists. His quietness is rather undeniable as he has never passed public speaking. Every year the teacher would interrupt the poor guy's speech and tell him to speak louder. Most people have known Theo since the beginning but most have never or barely heard him say much apart from the odd greetings and apologies. He was always apologising.

Luckily for Theo, he is an excellent runner. He manages to outshine the football, basketball, and whatever other sports teams there are. This is because he was the only one who was capable of adorning our school's trophy case with trophies. That's what got him the attention and skyrocketed his social status. Or perhaps it wasn't just the achievements he carried that made him so popular considering how weak our school spirit was. Maybe it was the fact he was a conventionally attractive guy with a stature of 6 feet 2 and belonged to a family whose wealth is the only reason we still have tables in the cafeteria.

Looking at how these things always worked; his biggest fan was Lacie. Wow, who would have thought? She's obsessed with Theo and had been trying to get him to notice her for the past few years but always failed miserably. I don't even think she had secured one single conversation with him. But that didn't stop Lacie from having the delusion that Theo and her were an 'item'. I mean, was there something that could stop her?

Anyways, back to the bizarre sight I was witnessing. From where I was standing, I could see Theo trembling as stood on top of the table. He looked like he was on the verge of passing out as he was pushed forward by his friend.

"Behold your emperor, Benny the Carrot!" Theo squeaked nervously.

I frowned. What are they trying to do?

The crowd laughed hysterically as Benny pretended to wave poshly with his head held high. "Now peasants," Benny exclaimed in an attempt to be intimidating but failed to do so because of his shrieking child's voice. "I, Emperor Benny the Carrot, along with my friend and second in command, Theo who refuses to take the name toast despite my ongoing insistence." He looked at Theo in mock disappointment. Once again, he turned to address the crowd. "Moving on, I stand before all you carrot-less peasants on this day because I decided on a new law."

He then pointed at two guys sitting at the table, signalling them to begin drumming against the table. A dramatic pause later, Benny bellowed at the top of his lungs, "YOU MUST ONLY CONSUME CARROTS ON TOAST FOR BREAKFAST FROM THIS DAY ONWARDS!"

I tried to stifle a laugh at the scene before me. Benny had this joke where he would refer to himself as the emperor of carrots for a while now. Sometimes he would even go as far as writing it on his homework but never did anyone expect him to take it this far.

The student body had similar reactions as I. They all stared dumbstruck at the two boys on the table. Only the faintest murmurs could be heard as they tried to comprehend what was happening.

Well like any rare moments of silence, that only lasted a few seconds when Samuel, a guy from my chemistry class, blurted, "Keep it going! Man, this is gonna go viral!" He was eagerly holding his phone, probably filming it so he could post it on Youtube.

As if it was their cue to scream, everyone erupted into laughter, shouting and swarming over to the centre of action.

"Yo, that was comedy gold man!"