One day me and my friends were eating lunch until my spoon fell on a girl’s hair and the girl threw tomato sauce on a girl. And a boy said, “Food fight!”

We had a mess and the principal made an announcement that she was coming to the lunch area. We all grabbed latex gloves and picked food from the floor and it was clean.

A girl said, “The principal is coming!” so we raced to our seats and we acted like nothing happened. The principal said, “How quiet you are.”

This story was written during 826LA’s After School Tutoring program, as part of the newly published chapbook, Grandmother Cotton Candy. Interested in helping students write stories like these? Become a volunteer.