Tidy Cassidy

Written by: Ellery Zulaykha

Cassidy is the neatest little girl you will ever meet. She
organizes all of her things, from her clothes to her balls of
lint. Yes, her balls of lint! Can you ever imagine? Every day,
she gets up at seven o’clock, and picks out an ironed dress
from her closet, some ironed socks (who irons their socks?)
and her black shoes with straps. She organizes her cereal
using her spoon, and only then eats it, then goes off to
school, her pink backpack thudding against her back.

One day, Cassidy’s polar opposite arrives at her school;

Jonathan. Jonathan picked his nose, and shoved his backpack
into his cubby without a care in the world. He would play
football during lunchtime, and would come back to class
smelling horrid and looking like a pig who just rolled in the
mud.

Now, you’d expect Cassidy would have to look at these horrors

from afar, correct? You’re wrong. Cassidy’s teacher, Ms. Lucy,
was tired of Cassidy’s tidy habits, as even in class Cassidy
kept up her behavior! Once, Cassidy even scolded Ms. Lucy for
one of the shapes in her symmetry worksheet for being just a
tad askew. Ms. Lucy purposefully put Jonathan in the seat next
to Cassidy’s. Every day, after lunch, Jonathan reeked, and
Cassidy would have to get her nose plugs, which she only used
for swimming, out of her school bag and put them on. Cassidy
hated doing this, because she had organized a timetable of
when to use those nose plugs, every Thursday for swimming.

When Cassidy put the nose plugs on, the smell of Jonathan was
completely cancelled out, and one day, she had an epiphany!
She realized it was all right not to be as organized as she
was, as it was a good thing. When she arrived home, she ripped
up her timetable and wrinkled up all her socks. She messed up
all of the lint on her clothes and rearranged her books on the
shelves so they wouldn’t be in alphabetical order.

The next morning, she dressed in a pink T-shirt and a pair of

jeans for school. She didn’t wear socks, and wore her pink gym
sneakers instead! Her mother and father were shocked when she
didn’t organize her cereal, and were very glad when Cassidy
told them she was changing her behavior for the better.
At school, Cassidy’s friends and Ms. Lucy were appalled at how
she had dressed. Everyone’s eyes grew as big as saucepans when
she announced that she was changing her behavior. Ms. Lucy did
a little happy dance when Cassidy said this. Cassidy smiled at
Ms. Lucy, grasping the fact that Ms. Lucy purposefully put
Jonathan next to her, but she wasn’t mad. She appreciated it.

THE END!