The Tricks of the Hidden Hound.

Mysteries evolve and need solving. The lads enjoyed their trip to Eastville Shopping Complex. After Simon bought some late lunch for Oliver and Henry, they all went to the sports store to buy Oliver's state of the art joggers. They were all growing boys, their feet did keep growing too, quite fast. They finally wandered off to where Oliver's parents picked them up. No one let on about Simon meeting Poppy, that was a real secret, kept private between the boys.

Sunday passed quietly, quite normally, so Oliver tried to put the Hidden Hound from his brain. Maybe Simon was playing tricks on Oliver, to get him into trouble. In the evening, he did ask Simon what he could expect from this Hidden Hound. Was it a boy dog or a girl dog?

Simon smiled mysteriously, saying, "You'll soon find out. All the teachers will think you have your naughty boy pants on. You will get the blame for everything the Hidden Hound does. Don't say I didn't warn you. Stay away from mischief. Sit up straight. Keep your mouth zipped. Do your schoolwork, see if you survive the tricks of the Hidden Hound."

Oliver wondered if Simon was taking any funny stuff, he sounded a bit weird. Golden days were rolling in, the tennis matches would be ramping up soon enough. Monday morning was a bit foggy, the tang of mystery in the air. Oliver met Henry at the school gates, and they wandered in before the school bell rang for morning assembly.

The principal spoke to the gathered students before classes in Eastville Catholic Primary School. She looked very cross. Oliver looked for his usual teacher, Mrs. Henderson. But she was absent. Their substitute teacher for the day ahead in Grade Six was Mr. Zeke. He did not like Grade Six, and they all hated him. But that was not all. Over the weekend, some kids had broken into the sports shed. The old style school mascot was wrecked, trashed. Every student's eyes swivelled, trying not to look guilty. Who was to blame? Oliver gulped, he just knew this was the Hidden Hound, up to no good. He decided to look for clues, in case there was another muddy paw print. He and Henry would be on paw patrol.

Grade Six students were glad to leave the assembly, and march to their classroom. Even if Mr. Zeke was already looking totally grumpy. But when he opened the door to their usual classroom, there was another bad news surprise waiting for them. All their art work on display had been covered with graffiti. The whiteboard had large red writing. "Let's murder English now!" The girls all gasped in horror, the boys all looked more than suspicious to Mr. Zeke. Their teacher for the day looked as fierce as a dragon. Was this the secret work of the Hidden Hound? Oliver sat up straight, and opened his books, not his mouth. According to Simon, no adult could ever see the Hidden Hound, let alone believe it.

While Mr. Zeke was complaining about the graffiti, Oliver was trying not to look at Henry, sitting next to him. Henry had his nervous giggle again, looking at some of the very rude messages someone had scrawled over the room.

"Don't laugh!" Mr. Zeke was yelling at the entire grade. Henry's smile was quite catching. Mr. Zeke headed straight off to the Principal's office, after giving the students many pages of Maths to solve.

Oliver settled into his pages of Maths problems, trying not to be a suspect. Maybe the teachers had

problems. He did not wish to be their number onenaughty boy student with giant naughty boy pants. Simon had left his year in Grade Six with a bad image. Mrs. Henderson had taught him too, and always looked sternly at Oliver. He tried to polish his halo, but soon all the boys were yelling and laughing. They were making up more funny ideas about, "Let's make Maths books die!"

Some of the good girls, the teacher's pets, went to the whiteboard and erased the rude messages. The other girls took down their beautiful art work and projects, which had all been damaged. Henry and Rhys were swapping jokes and giggling. Even Oliver could not resist, some of the milder graffiti was funny, hilarious. Their whole class did not like Mr. Zeke, so they were not exactly focused on aiming at finishing their Maths.

"Let's have a holiday today!" Tyson called to all the boys. Just then, Mr. Zeke came back into the classroom with the Principal. They both looked very cross, having negative emotions. Oliver had a feeling of dread, so he applied himself to resuming with his page of Maths.

The boys in Grade Six were soon zipping their lips. Mr. Zeke held in his hands, a large pile of worksheets. He had a mean smile. Mrs. Smithson, the plump Principal, stood and glared, until all the boys and girls were back in their seats, heads bent over their Maths. They were all trying not to look too happy.

"I'll wipe the smiles off your naughty boy faces." She told them. "You are all going to do this 100 page Maths test, and behave yourselves. If you do not finish this for Mr. Zeke, there is no lunchtime for any of you."

"That's not fair," Oliver muttered to Henry, but Mrs. Smithson ignored him, and only glared at the entire grade. All the boys looked very grumpy, so much for their planned holiday at school. As if Mr. Zeke wasn't bad enough. Henry bravely put up his hand, right in front of Mrs. Smithson. She said, "Yes. What is it?"

Henry spoke up for once. "Mrs. Smithson, none of us did this. It might have been anyone who broke into our school. Maybe older boys."

Mr. Zeke only said, "That is only a bad excuse. Nothing funny about this. Wipe that grin off your face."

Mrs. Smithson peered her beady eyes through her glasses to say,

"Right, your giant Maths test starts in ten minutes. I shall return to check your progress. Anyone who fails is coming to my Maths club, after school. You can all forget about Basketball training until I say so. Carry on, Mr. Zeke."

Everyone sighed, as Mr. Zeke began handing out many pages of the worst Maths test ever seen.

" You boys are too gross to mention, nothing will save you from instant detention!"

Oliver muttered to Henry, " I should've known. These are all tricks of the Hidden Hound."