7 The Secret Swimming Pool

7 The Secret Swimming Pool We tried everything to prank Miss Banks. We put signs on both classroom doors that said Door Is Broken. Use Other Door. She just climbed in through the window. We tried to play "The Why Game." That's when you keep asking "Why?" whenever a grown-up says anything. But Miss

Banks played "The Because Game" right back at us. Every time we tried to pull a prank on Miss Banks, she would pull one on us instead. The other fourth-grade classes weren't doing much better. By lunchtime on Wednesday, the scoreboard near the front office said Teachers 12– Students 4. The teachers were clobbering us! We needed to do something... and fast. We were running out of time. During lunch period, we held an emergency meeting in the vomitorium. "We should pull a prank with balloons," suggested Andrea. "No, snakes," Michael said. "Like, we could put a snake in Miss Banks's desk drawer. That would totally freak her out." "I hate snakes," I said. "Where would we get snakes, anyway?" asked Alexia. "From Rent-A-Snake," said Ryan. "You can rent anything." "Balloons!" insisted Andrea. "Snakes!" insisted Michael.

Lunch period was over, and we couldn't agree on a prank. We went back to class. That's when the weirdest thing in the history of the world happened. Miss Banks walked into the room. Well, that's not the weird part because Miss Banks walks into the room all the time. The weird part was what she was wearing... a bathing suit! WHAT?! "Why are you wearing a bathing suit, Miss Banks?" asked Emily. "Oh," Miss Banks replied as she dried her hair with a towel. "I just got back from a swim." "Where did you go swimming?" asked Andrea. "In the teachers' lounge," she replied. WHAT?! "There's a swimming pool in the teachers' lounge?" Neil asked. "Didn't anybody tell you?" said Miss Banks. "It was installed over the summer."

I thought about that. Was there really a swimming pool in the teachers' lounge, or was Miss Banks just pranking us again?

"There's no swimming pool in the teachers' lounge," insisted Alexia. "Sure there is," said Miss Banks. "We swim laps and play water polo after you kids go home every day. That's why we want to win the hot tub. It would feel so good to come out of the swimming pool and get into a hot tub." Well, she was right about that. Hot tubs are great. It was time to go to fizz ed, so we walked a million hundred miles to the gym. When we passed the art room, our art teacher, Ms. Hannah, was wearing a bathing suit too. And she was holding a beach ball. When we passed by the music room, our music teacher, Mr. Loring, was wearing a bathing suit and flip-flops, and was holding a boogie board. And there was a clothesline outside the music room with towels and goggles hanging on it. "Hi, Mr. Loring," Miss Banks said as we passed him. "Hello, Miss Banks," he replied. "Are you coming to the staff pool party after school today?" "You bet!" said Miss Banks.

This was getting weird. "Hey," whispered Ryan, "maybe there is a swimming pool in the teachers' lounge." "How come the teachers get a swimming pool and we don't?" whispered Neil. "It's not fair!" "That's ridorkulous!" whispered Andrea. "Nobody has a swimming pool! They're just trying to prank us again." "You've never been inside the teachers' lounge," Alexia said to Andrea. "You don't know for sure. Maybe they do have a swimming pool."