I bolted upright in my seat. My cheek was wet and sticky, and my head throbbed from lying on the cold, hard desk. Did anyone notice? I glanced around the classroom, but no one was looking my way. They were all staring at the teacher, who was talking on the phone.
I rested my head back on my arms again, ready to take another nap. Just as I started to doze off, someone nudged me sharply. Without looking, I reached out to nudge them back, but they grabbed my hand and pressed something into it. I curled my fingers around it, testing the shape. Could it really be what I think it was?
I raised my head again and looked at them curiously, but they only tilted their head towards the teacher, who had finally gotten off the phone and was saying something. I listened, excitement welling up in my chest.
"…only be gone a few minutes," She was saying, "And I don’t want any talking while I’m gone." She met the eyes of the biggest troublemakers, including me. I had to bite my tongue to keep from sticking it out at her. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mrs. Weaver." We droned collectively.
She nodded. “Good. Matt is in charge. He’ll tell me if anyone makes a peep, so don’t even bother!”
Almost immediately, someone closer to the back of the class started peeping, and the people around him giggled.
Mrs. Weaver sighed and walked out of the room, her heels clicking on the hard floor of the hallway. We all listened, waiting until her footsteps faded. As custom for whomever was chosen as the ‘one in charge’, Matt stood up and waited by the door. When he was sure that she was gone, he nodded to us, and everyone jumped out of their seats. They were searching for tools and weapons. Rubber bands, pencils, books, erasers, blank paper, anything that would be useful in the coming war.
I scoured the room  for rocks and marbles, stuffing whatever I could find into my pockets. I already had a slingshot made from two pencils, rubber bands, and a truckload of duct tape. Now all I needed was ammunition. And, of course, a textbook or two as a shield. I couldn’t carry it around with me, but I could have it at our base.
Matt knocked on the wall three times, signaling the first warning. After a certain amount of time, he would knock twice, meaning that we had to go to our respective side of the room, then finally, he would knock once, meaning the game would start.
I gave up looking for rocks and started to help with the base. It wasn’t much, just desks piled up as a barrier against enemy advances. See, the point of this war was to capture an enemy base. To do that, you had to drive all of the other team out of it. You could ‘kill’ people by shooting rubber bands, spitballs, and rocks. If you hit the chest, back or head, then they were ‘dead’. If you hit a leg or an arm, that meant they couldn’t use it anymore. The only thing you have to watch out for is the eyes. Not because it’s against the rules, but because they bruise so easily, and bruises give our game away. We were divided up by seating: The people in the front of the room versus the people in the back. The people at the front are better at tactics, but we’re usually superior physically. So, it could be anyone’s game.
Matt banged twice. We gathered up everything we needed and went behind the base. The two teams stared at each other, trying to analyze the competition. We leered and waved our weapons, but the smartasses on the other side weren’t fazed. They just stared at us coldly. I’m sure if they could talk, they would be bleating some nerdy insults that didn’t make sense unless you were some kind of periodic table expert.
I took a deep breath as I looked over at their smug expressions. They seemed more crowded than usual. I couldn’t figure out why, until I noticed our best sharpshooter, Ashley, was missing from her spot. I couldn’t believe it! She was a traitor! After everything she had done for the team. I was so shocked that I missed Matt banging on the wall. Something whizzed over my head, and I looked up Ashley staring hard at me from the other side. I loaded my slingshot and took aim, but she shook her head. Winking, she took her pencil and fired at one of her new teammates, who was already outside of their base. It hit him square in the back, and he collapsed on cue. Thankfully, no one else noticed where the shot came from.
I fought the urge to cheer. She wasn’t a traitor after all! Emboldened, I jumped up and shot a pebble across the room. It pinged off of a desk.
It was like a starting pistol had gone off. Suddenly, everyone was up and fighting. A spitball flew past my ear and hit someone's open mouth. They spat furiously and hurled a book in my direction. I ducked and loaded a pebble, but someone tackled me as a fired it, and the shot went wild. It was a tiny girl, about a foot shorter than me, but she still took me down. I lay on the floor, gasping for breath. She grabbed a nearby eraser, but a paper airplane full of sand flew past, and a barrage of minute rocks rained down on us. She got the worst of it, sand all on her head and shoulders. Some of it hit my arm, so I grabbed the slingshot with my other hand and rolled away.
One of my teammates saw me and pulled me aside. She gestured at a group of smarties sneaking towards our base, mimed pulling back a slingshot, then pointed at me. I shrugged and pointed at my arm. At first she looked dejected, but then her eyes brightened. She picked up her pencil with one hand, grabbed the rubber band with her teeth, and pulled back. She looked at me to see if I understood, and I nodded that I did. She grinned and tried to let go, but the rubber band got caught on her braces, so I covered her while she untangled herself. I pulled back on my slingshot so hard my teeth started to hurt, and fired at the smarties. The shot missed completely.
Ashley saw me and tried to help, taking out two of them before they could retaliate. The third managed to shoot before he was taken down as well. The shot went straight into my eye. The sudden pain took me by surprise, and I dropped my slingshot.
Through my good eye, I could see someone barreling towards us. Forgetting my slingshot and my teammate, I went the other way, avoiding airborne books and erasers. All around me I could see friend and foe alike fighting and falling. An eraser glanced off my shoulder. I stumbled backward, tripping over someone who was crawling along, only using his hands.
I rubbed my eye, trying to see. I noticed I was right outside a base, so I ducked inside, taking shelter under an expertly placed desk. It was so well placed that I was completely protected from most sides, but it didn’t fall over and crush me. It was great…and it wasn’t my base. We didn't have anything like this. Nervously, I looked around, and saw that I wasn’t alone. Two boys were there too, both as shocked to see me as I was to see them. I leapt to my feet, forgetting that I was under a desk. The metal crossbeam struck me in the head, and my vision faded to black.
When I woke up, the battle had ceased. Kids were quickly trying to put the desks back the way they were, cleaning up scraps and straightening papers. Someone had dragged me away and put me next to my seat. Matt was still by the door, checking the window and making frantic Hurry up! motions with his hands. The teacher was coming.
I searched for my slingshot, and found it in my desk with all of the rocks. Not just my preferred rocks, but every stray pebble and speck of dust in the room.  Awesome.
I hefted myself up and collapsed into my seat. My head was sore, and when I reached up I could feel a huge lump in my hair. At least my eye didn't feel swollen.
Everything had just been tidied up and everyone had just gotten back to their desks when Mrs. Weaver walked in the room. She looked thoroughly tired. Everyone fidgeted nervously in their seats, hoping she wouldn’t notice the various bruises distributed around the room. The guy who had peeped earlier had a bloody nose, and he was pretending to sleep so she wouldn’t see his face.
"Well?" She asked Matt. "Did anyone talk?"
"No, Miss." He smiled, his white, perfect teeth gleaming. "No talking at all."