It was a normal day for the 5th graders at Waterway Elementary. Same classes, same peers, same teacher. The only thing new was one individual, Timmy today was his first day at Waterway Elementary. Ricky, the most popular boy in school was walking in the hall when he met Timmy.“Hello,” said Ricky, “I am the class president here at Waterway!”Timmy said, “Hello, Ricky. My name is Timmy, I just moved here from my old school where I was president.”Ricky thought this was interesting, as he had never met another president before. The bell rang, and they made their way back to class.

Each day, they would stop to talk in the hall, and soon it was time to re-elect the class president. On the day the candidates were to be decided, Timmy announced that he, too, would be running for class president, by giving a speech written in his notebook labeled, “Presidency Plan”. Ricky didn’t know how to take this news, and was suddenly worried about keeping his spot. So Ricky set up a meeting with some of the biggest bullies from the school during recess to discuss a strategy on how to win the re-election.

“We must steal his ‘Presidency Plan’ notebook,” Ricky declared.“But, what if we are caught?” asked one of the bullies.“We won’t be caught. If I am re-elected,” explained Ricky, “I will pay you each 5 dollars and you will no longer have to wait in line at lunch.”The bullies liked the thought of this, and decided to accept the challenge of taking the notebook.

The next day, during lunch, the bullies sat near Timmy, and when he took his trash to the trash can, the bullies took the notebook.However, someone saw it happen. That someone was the principal, Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones called the bullies and Timmy into his office later that same day. “Timmy,” asked Mr. Jones, “do you know where your notebook is?”“No,” said Timmy, “I took my trash to the can and when I came back it was gone.”The bullies looked at their feet.Mr. Jones explained that the bullies had taken the notebook, and demanded they give it back. Timmy was happy to have it back, but realized there were pages missing. The bullies claimed they had no idea what happened to the missing pages.“We haven’t done anything wrong,” they said

Mr. Jones knew otherwise, and sentenced them each detention for a week, but not before asking why they did it.“Someone told us to,” said one of the bullies.One of the others elbowed him in the side to signal him to be quiet.“Who told you to?” inquired Mr. Jones.“Ri-OOF!” said the bully, cut short by another elbow to the side.Mr. Jones dismissed them after assigning the detention, and called Ricky into his office.Timmy sat in waiting and watched as Ricky walked in

“Ricky, do you know anything about the notebook Timmy is holding?” asked Mr. Jones.“No,” claimed Ricky, “I have never seen it before.”Mr. Jones demanded Ricky empty his pockets, and as he did so, bits of paper fell out.Timmy exclaimed, “There’s the pieces of the pages I’m missing!”Ricky protested the claim, but it was too late. Mr. Jones wasn’t convinced.“Ricky, you must return the pages,” he said.“But, I don’t have them,” said Ricky.

Mr. Jones still did not believe him, and, in an act of swift justice, declared if he did not return the pages, he would assign Ricky a week’s suspension.Ricky stared at the floor, and then did something neither Timmy nor Mr. Jones expected.“I want to give the presidency to Timmy,” said Ricky.Timmy was astonished, and Mr. Jones smiled.Mr. Jones made the announcement over the intercom that Timmy was to be the new president, and Timmy smiled and shook Mr. Jones’ hand.The next day, Ricky passed Timmy in the hall with his head hung low. Timmy stopped him and said, “Ricky, I understand what you did. We can still be friends, and I want you to come play with me at recess.”Ricky happily obliged, and they became good friends, never telling the other

students what had happened the day before, and Waterway Elementary had a new leader.