Hiding the Phone Prank

Advanced eighth grade English. So, I figured "the good kids" and no problems, right? Ah, not so fast...

Third period. They had just finished their warm up (defining the root word of the day: mort/mor, and fixing the grammatical errors in a given sentence). I was passing out their assignment for the day while another student was stamping their homework.

There was a commotion on the other side of the room.

A boy was chasing a girl.

Girl: "I didn't take it. Here, check my backpack."

Boy: "Give me back my phone!"

Oh crap. And, of course, these are eighth graders, so the whole class was now into this. Several students were looking for the phone while others were enjoying the scene. One girl in the back far corner couldn't stop laughing.

Somehow, I got the two of them seated. I reminded them that their teacher, Ms. R, was not going to be happy when she heard about this. That seemed to quell most of the merriment. Although, the boy still wanted his phone.

Well, the girl in the back far corner who enjoyed the show way too much? Yeah, she had it. She hadn't taken it, however. No. That was the girl who protested her innocence.

I've seen this show before. One student steals item. Then she deposits it somewhere else. Student two plays dumb, because she didn't take it. She's just hiding it.

Whatever. All I want is peace for the period. Ms. R can sort the rest of it out upon her return. Because, you know I did tell her all about it.