Rafa's POV:
Yes! It's my free period meaning i can do what i want, I was thinking to myself but then CJ ran up to me all excited he ran kinda fast
"Rafa! Guess what? Well no need to reply but i found a candy basket outside of our classroom!" He said as he opened a chocolate and ate it and throwed the wrapper on the floor
This jerk! Well there is a lot of trash around here, but still!
"Can i have some candy CJ? Please?" I said as he throwed me a candy and i catched it, i ate it and put the wrapper in my backpack and closed it.
Then suddenly Sam, Calix, Felix, CJ and Keagan started chasing eachother but suddenly Felix ran up to me and hid behind my chair, they all stopped for a second but then started chasing him again.
"W-what's happening?" I asked as they were running but they stop for a second
"We're looking after the candy basket we put!" Said Sam
"Oh well CJ took it, he even gave me one" I said, they all looked at CJ and ran after him.
CJ froze for half a second.
Then—he bolted.
"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Sam shouted, immediately sprinting after him.
Chairs scraped loudly against the floor as everyone took off again, Keagan nearly tripping over a desk on the way out. Calix grabbed the door and held it open just long enough for Felix to squeeze through, laughing like this was the best thing that had ever happened.
I stayed in my seat for a second, just watching the chaos.
Then I sighed.
"…I guess I'm involved now."
I got up and followed them out into the hallway.
CJ was already halfway down the corridor, clutching the basket like his life depended on it. Sam and Keagan were right behind him, yelling things that didn't even make sense anymore.
"THAT'S CLASS PROPERTY!"
"IT WAS NEVER YOURS TO TAKE!"
"SHARE LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING!"
CJ looked back for one second.
Big mistake.
He ran straight into someone.
The basket flew out of his hands.
Candy went everywhere.
It scattered across the floor—wrappers, chocolates, gummies—sliding in every direction as everyone skidded to a stop.
For a second, nobody moved.
Then—
"Ohhh you're DONE," Sam said.
CJ slowly backed away. "Okay, wait, wait—let's talk about this—"
"No," Keagan said, cracking his knuckles. "I don't think we will."
Felix was already on the floor picking up candy. "Finders keepers."
"DON'T YOU DARE," Calix snapped, diving down to grab a handful.
Within seconds, it turned into complete chaos again. Everyone was grabbing whatever they could, arguing, laughing, slipping on wrappers.
I bent down and picked up a piece of chocolate that had rolled near my shoe.
Honestly? Worth it.
"Guys," I said, trying not to laugh, "you're acting like this is the last candy on earth."
"It IS if CJ keeps stealing it!" Sam yelled back.
"I didn't steal it!" CJ said defensively. "It was just… temporarily relocated."
"You ate half of it!"
"Details!"
Before anyone could argue more, a voice cut through the hallway.
"What is going on here?"
Everyone froze.
A teacher stood at the end of the corridor, arms crossed, staring directly at us—and the absolute mess on the floor.
Candy. Wrappers. Students mid-crouch.
No one spoke.
CJ slowly straightened up, still holding three pieces of chocolate in his hand.
"…free period?" he said weakly.
That did not help.
"At once. Clean this up. Now."
Groans echoed through the hallway as everyone started picking up the mess properly this time.
I shook my head, trying not to smile.
Yeah.
Free period was going great.
The teacher watched closely as we put all the candy back in the basket
Then suddenly CJ secretly opened a piece of candy...
The wrapper crinkled
All eyes turned to CJ. Even the teacher-
Calix jumped and snatched that candy. But failed CJ quickly put it in his mouth and ate it.
"HEY! That's NOT fair!!!" Said Felix as he rolled his eyes
"Now now boys, stop fighting" The teacher said
"Hey! What about me? I'm a girl!" I said rolling my eyes
The teachers eyes widened while the boys burst out laughing
These Jerks!
Can't they tell the difference?
Are they blind?! WHATEVER!
"Alright, that's enough," the teacher said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "All of you—back inside. Now."
We all shuffled back into the classroom, way quieter than before. The candy basket was placed on the teacher's desk this time, far away from CJ.
Probably for the best.
I dropped into my seat and crossed my arms, still slightly annoyed.
CJ, of course, looked completely unbothered. He leaned back in his chair like nothing had happened, chewing the last piece of candy like he'd just won something.
"Was it worth it?" I whispered.
He grinned. "Absolutely."
Of course it was.
The teacher stood in front of the class, tapping her pen against the desk. "Since none of you seem capable of handling a simple free period without turning it into… whatever that was, we're going to do something productive."
Groans filled the room.
"No complaints," she added quickly. "You'll be working in groups."
More groans.
"Same groups as last time."
I already knew what that meant.
I turned my head slowly.
CJ.
Sam.
Felix.
Calix.
Keagan.
…great.
"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered.
Felix spun his chair around with a grin. "Best group in the class."
"More like the loudest," I said.
"The most entertaining," CJ corrected.
"The most annoying," I added.
"That too," Keagan said, shrugging.
The teacher clapped once to get everyone's attention. "Each group will come up with a short presentation. Topic: teamwork."
There was a pause.
Then everyone in our group started laughing.
Even I couldn't help it.
"Teamwork?" Sam said, wiping a tear from his eye. "We just fought over candy for ten minutes."
"Exactly," I said. "We're the worst example."
The teacher looked directly at us. "Then this will be a learning experience."
That didn't sound good.
CJ leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Or… we could just pretend we worked well together."
Calix shook his head. "With our luck, she's going to make us present first."
Right on cue—
"You five," the teacher said, pointing straight at us. "You'll be presenting first."
We all went silent.
I slowly looked at the others.
"…we're doomed."
"No, no, we're not doomed," CJ said quickly, clapping his hands together. "We just need a plan."
"You mean for once?" I said.
"Wow. Supportive," he muttered.
Sam dragged his chair closer. "Okay, teamwork presentation. Easy. We just say what teamwork is and—done."
"That's literally the most boring idea ever," Felix said, spinning his pen. "We need something interesting."
"Like what?" Keagan asked.
Felix grinned. "We act it out."
There was a pause.
"…absolutely not," I said immediately.
"Wait, wait—hear me out," Felix continued. "We do a little skit. Bad teamwork vs good teamwork."
Calix tilted his head. "That could actually work."
"No," I repeated. "It won't. Because none of you can act normal for more than five seconds."
"Hey!" CJ said. "I can be very professional."
Right as he said that, he tried to lean back in his chair again—
—and almost fell.
Keagan grabbed the back of it just in time.
"…thank you," CJ said, sitting up straight.
"Yeah. Very professional," I added.
Sam snorted. "Okay but Felix might be onto something. If we make it funny, the teacher might go easy on us."
"That's not how grades work," Calix said.
"That's exactly how grades work," CJ replied.
I sighed. "Fine. If we're doing this, we need roles."
Felix immediately pointed at CJ. "You're the bad teammate."
"WHAT? Why me?" CJ said.
"Because you literally stole the candy five minutes ago," I said.
"…that was unrelated."
"Sure."
Keagan crossed his arms. "So what, we show CJ messing everything up, then we fix it with 'teamwork'?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah. Simple."
Calix looked at me. "You should be the one trying to keep everything together."
I blinked. "Why me?"
Everyone looked at me.
"…wow," I said. "Okay."
"It just fits," Felix said, shrugging.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. But if this goes horribly, I'm blaming all of you."
"Noted," CJ said.
The teacher clapped again. "You have ten minutes. Then we begin presentations."
"Ten minutes?!" Sam whispered. "That's not enough!"
"It is if you stop panicking," Calix said.
"Okay," Felix said, standing up. "Positions everyone. Let's run through it once."
We all stood awkwardly in a small circle at the back of the classroom.
"Alright," Felix said. "Scene one: bad teamwork. CJ ruins everything."
"I do not ruin everything," CJ said.
"Just act natural," I said.
Sam laughed.
"Okay, go!" Felix said.
We started.
"Alright guys," I said, trying to sound serious. "Let's work together—"
CJ immediately grabbed an imaginary object. "Nope, I'm doing it my way."
"You don't even know what 'it' is," Keagan said.
"Doesn't matter."
Felix pretended to write something down. "This is already going badly."
"It's supposed to," Sam said.
CJ walked right through the middle of us, bumping into Calix on purpose.
"Oops."
"Stop sabotaging!" I said, trying not to laugh.
"I'm committed to the role," CJ replied.
The teacher's voice cut in.
"Time."
We all froze.
"That was ten minutes?" Felix whispered.
"That was like two!" Sam said.
"Group one," the teacher continued, looking directly at us. "You're up."
We slowly turned toward each other.
No one spoke.
CJ gave a small thumbs up.
"…we're actually doomed," I said.
We walked to the front of the class way slower than necessary.
I could already feel everyone watching us.
"This is a bad idea," I muttered under my breath.
"Too late now," Felix whispered back, trying not to laugh.
CJ stood in the middle like he was about to perform on stage.
Of course he did.
The teacher gestured for us to begin. "Whenever you're ready."
We all looked at each other.
No one moved.
"…start," Calix whispered to me.
Right. Of course.
I took a small breath. "Okay—so, um—this is an example of bad teamwork."
"Very bad," Sam added.
"Extremely bad," Felix said.
CJ gave a confident nod. "The worst, even."
I shot him a look. "You're not supposed to introduce yourself like that."
"I'm setting expectations."
I ignored him. "Alright, let's start. So, we have a project—"
"I'll do it," CJ interrupted immediately.
"No, we're supposed to work together—"
"I said I'll do it," he repeated, grabbing an imaginary paper out of my hands.
"There is no paper," Keagan said flatly.
"There is now," CJ replied.
A few people in the class laughed.
Okay… that was something.
"CJ, give it back," I said, reaching for it.
He stepped back dramatically. "No. I work alone."
"You don't even know what the project is!" Sam said.
"Details," CJ said again.
Felix pretended to write in the air. "Group is already failing."
"Because of you!" I pointed at CJ.
He gasped. "Blaming your teammate? That's not very teamwork of you."
More laughter.
I paused for a second, trying not to smile.
"Exactly," Calix stepped in smoothly. "This is what bad teamwork looks like. No communication, no cooperation—just chaos."
"Hey, I like chaos," CJ said.
"We know," Keagan replied.
I nodded. "So now—same group, but with good teamwork."
We all quickly shuffled a bit, pretending to "reset."
"Alright," I said again, this time calmer. "Let's work together. We can split the work evenly."
Sam nodded. "I can handle the research."
Felix added, "I'll organize everything."
Calix said, "I'll check that it actually makes sense."
Keagan crossed his arms. "I'll make sure we stay on track."
We all looked at CJ.
There was a pause.
"…what?" he said.
"Your turn," I said.
CJ hesitated, then shrugged. "Fine. I'll… not steal anything."
The class laughed again.
"Good start," I said.
"And I'll actually help," he added. "Maybe."
"Better," Calix said.
I looked back at the class. "So yeah—that's the difference. When everyone does their part and listens, things actually work."
"And no one loses their candy," Sam added.
"That was one time!" CJ said.
"Loudly," Felix whispered.
The teacher raised an eyebrow slightly, but I could tell she was trying not to smile.
"…and that's it," I finished.
There was a small pause.
Then a few people clapped.
Not a lot—but enough.
I let out a quiet breath.
We didn't completely fail.
"Thank you," the teacher said. "That was… surprisingly effective."
CJ grinned. "Told you we'd do great."
"We almost didn't," I said.
"Almost doesn't count."
As we walked back to our seats, Felix leaned over. "That actually worked."
"Yeah," Sam said. "I'm kinda impressed."
I sat down, shaking my head slightly.
"…don't get used to it."
CJ dropped into his chair next to me. "So… worth it?"
I glanced at him.
"…the candy?"
He smiled.
"…maybe."