I watched from the sidelines as Fang raced out of school excitedly. It was nearly the weekend, and he was looking forward to splashing in the Scream Street swimming pool with Luna and Zura. “Isn’t it exciting? A whole Summer weekend with a pool trip to look forward to!” cried Fang. “Yeah, you bet!” I said, “I hope there’s room for all of us.” “It’ll be easy enough to get there.” As we walked home, we bragged about who could do the best underwater somersaults, or who could jump in first, or who could show off pool muscle first - Fang or Luna. I joked that Luna would be probably too weak to show some muscle, but Fang would be.
When we got home, Fang emptied out his schoolbag. Something white and floaty fell out. It wasn’t a ghost, it was Fang’s homework. I picked it up and read what Mr Bonehead wrote. “Dear Fang, your homework must be due by Monday morning. NO EXCUSES!” The ‘NO EXCUSES’ thing was written in big capital letters using a red marker, which almost bled through the page like baked bean stains. “Aaawwww, how I hate homework,” growled Fang through gritted teeth. “Me too. I never get any homework, I’m only six,” I said. “Tell you what: I’ll do all the homework for you!” “Thank you, I could do with a break.” And Fang gave me a little kiss on the cheek. I giggled cheekily.
During the afternoon I worked on the first five maths questions. They were all very easy. But when it was time for us four to go to bed, I put down my pencil and squeezed into bed with him and Luna. Snuggling up next to him, I whispered into his ear: “You’re going to be so surprised when you see what I’ve done.” Morning came, and Fang slumped over to his desk. He got quite a surprise! The first five answers of his maths homework have been filled in for him! “Who…who did this?!” cried Fang excitedly. “Sophie! You did this! I can tell by your handwriting!” “Leave everything to me. Someday I’ll open a homework avoiding service, so that I can do all the homework for you. But the next few answers need another one while we go to the pool.” I thought for a moment, and then an idea flew into my head almost instantly. “I’ll phone the Study Bunny and see if he can do all the homework for you.”
So I telephoned the Study Bunny. “Helloooo, Study Bunny speaking,” said the voice on the phone. It was the Study Bunny alright. “Hi, I was wondering if you could do Fang’s homework while we go to the pool.” I said. “Sure, you know how much I love doing homework! I used to copy off other people at school! I got into so much trouble.” “But won’t you get us both into trouble?” I asked, a little puzzled. “No way! Leave it all to Study Bunny!” I put down the phone and waited for a long time with Fang in our room. Occasionally the silence of his room was broken by the occasional crow squawking. Suddenly, we heard a clown car horn make a rude noise, and outside, Study Bunny drove up to our front gate in his red and white clown car.
Fang and I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Then finally, Study Bunny burst in. “Study Bunny!” we both shouted. “You came! At last!” I cried. “Yep, it’s me, Study Bunny, here to do your homework! Where is your homework, by the way?” “It’s on our desk,” I said, pointing to the five pages of homework laid out on the table. “My hands really ache when I do my homework. Werewolves get terrible arthritis when it comes to doing homework.” “Nah, you’re just a little hubbub who ain’t old.” cracked Study Bunny, “By the way, you kids have fun at the pool while I get the homework done!” “Yay!” we both cried, and we grabbed our swim stuff and raced outside. This left Study Bunny thinking and alone in Luke’s room. “5 x 9…hmmm, 5 x 9…Bananas! That’s it, bananas!” he said, and proceeded to write down the word ‘Bananas’ in place of the answer.
Meanwhile, Fang and I were racing like hell to get to the pool, but the moment we got there, it was shut! “Oh no!” I cried, “Why would those poor people shut the pool on the weekend?” “Because it’s the time when everyone gets a day off,” said Fang. He sighed. “It must be one of those days.” “One of those days when people couldn’t bother to make a crowded swimming pool. We prefer the days when we have water all to ourselves.” I shrugged. “Like when there was a drought?” “We weren’t selfish!” I yelled.
At our house, Study Bunny was nearly finished doing all the homework in double quick time. He only got one answer wrong, and that was the banana answer, but all the other questions, he did correctly. When Fang and I returned, I checked on what Study Bunny did. Everything was correct, except for the first question he did. “Silly Study Bunny,” I giggled, “It’s 45!” “Oooooh,” realised Study Bunny, and proceeded to cross out ‘banana’ and write 45. “There you go, Fang, nothing to worry about. It all takes a little help, and viola, your homework is done.” “Don’t mention it, it’s my job to help others.” And Study Bunny opened the window and leapt out back into his car, driving off. “Bye Study Bunny!” Fang and I called. At that moment, Joan came in. She seemed surprisingly happy. “Mr Bonehead says not to worry about your homework at all,” she said. “Great!” cried Fang. “You can do it after the holidays.” Joan said. Fang and I hugged each other, jumping up and down. “We were doing homework for nothing!” I cried. “And to think, we were both simply getting help!” laughed Fang.
The Monday following, we were hanging out at the pool with our siblings Luna and Zura. “No way,” said Zura, “You got a bunny to do your homework? How come?” “Sophie phoned him up. He got one answer wrong, but he still managed to be a kind old bunny.” Fang told Zura. “But then his mum told him that he can do his homework after the holidays!” I said. Luna and Zura chattered happily in belief. “All that homework for nothing!” laughed Luna, “And to think we were all given homework during the Summer holidays.” “Not if I have something to say about it!” cried Fang, and he splashed Luna. Luna splashed him back, then Zura splashed him. I splashed both of them. Soon we were all splashing each other, happy that homework was forgotten about at last.
THE END.
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