flummox … ed

Soclairs favorite thing to do is solve puzzles. Of course, like any other puzzle lover, he wants to get into the famous Puzzlearian Competition. He faced some challenges getting into it but in the end, it was all worth it. Why does anyone want to get into a life-or-death type competition? It was all because of the prize. The unknown prize. Will Soclair get the prize that all his life has been waiting for?

chapter 1.

By the time he reached home, he was soaking wet. Unbelievably wet. That dumb rain! Soclair was furious. Maddie from school ripped and threw the paper away. The one form to win the competition. The famous, the most daring competition. The Puzzlearion. Only one person from each school in the whole US can get into it. And he was one of them. But, not anymore. Maddie threw his only signing-up form away. He swore he would rip his neck off the following day. When he got home, it would be a normal day. No Puzzlearions in his life. He’d just tell his parents he didn’t make it. So is Maddie the Maddy when I rip his head off. Soclair’s mom gasped when he walked in. He tried to look nonchalant. Soclair smiled at his mom. “Well, I should’ve brought an umbrella!” Soclair exclaimed.

“Definitely!” His mother ushered him upstairs to wipe off all the water, “So! Did you make the Puzzlearion?” Blood rushed up his face, he let out a gasp of air, and said,

“No.” But his mother must have seen the look on his face and hugged him.

“Come on. What happened?” So he explained the story about the dumb Maddie the Maddy and what had happened, “You can just ask the principal for another form!”

“No! Mrs. Yearling specifically said we can’t ask for another form! ”

“Well then, tell Mrs. Yearling that Maddie did this to you.”

“NO! Then Maddie will be madder at me, so he will do more mean stuff!” His voice was harsh. His mother understood that he didn't want any more questions. She dried him off and left the room. Soclair looked around his room. Pictures of the Puzzlearions. Puzzles on the walls. Everything he had hoped for was gone. His dream was to get into the Puzzlearion team. But he wasn’t going to let a little kid named Maddie stop him. So he set up a plan.

***

“I’m going to play outside!” Soclair told his dad after dinner.

“Sure, but don’t be out too long,” his dad replied. Soclair hurried outside and made sure he closed the door. Then, he ran as fast as he could to the school. The plan wasn’t much of a plan. All it was was just to run to the school, grab the paper from the trash can, go home, and sign up. Easier said than done. But, he still will try it. With stealth. Soclair doesn’t know what he has to do to be on the Puzzlearion team. Though he did know it will go through a lot of puzzles. As he reached the school, he walked up to the automatic door. As he hoped, it opened. That means the janitor must be inside. Reason one why he should be in stealth mode. He crept up to the same trash can where Maddie ripped the sign-up sheet. When he peered into it, there was nothing there. Not a single piece of trash. Dang, it! The janitor must have thrown it away already! He moved back towards the automatic door. Then he saw the janitor put the dirty trash bag near the door and left to clean up another trash can. Soclair swiftly opened the bag up, and he found a piece of paper. This must be it! As he was about to grab one of the big pieces, he heard the janitor come nearer. Soclair quickly grabbed the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. Then he ran out the door before the janitor could’ve seen him.

***

When he got home, he was out of breath. He ran upstairs and logged in to his computer. Then he got the paper out to see if he was lucky enough to get the website. And he was. Only a little bit. The paper only said:

pPuzzlearion.com/elementary/soclair/puzzleariontournaments

After you go to that link, your parents will help you with the info and Gmail. You, Soclair, may just sit back and relax. After your parents get the information and sign up, you w

ee how the tournament works. Please sign and return to Mrs. Yearling tommo

Cut off here :

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Parent/Guardian Signature: ________________________

Child Signature: _____________________________

Phone number: _______________________

RETURN TO MRS. YEARLING

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

will be it for now.

latinos!

Mrs. Opletiona

Soclair saw many mistakes, but he didn’t care. At least he got most of the website and he got the RETURN TO MRS. YEARLING part. Then he tried out the website. Of course, it said no such thing. But then there was a p before Puzzlearion. So maybe it was sign up. Soclair also tried that. Again, it said no such thing. Maybe there was a hyphen? Soclair wrote: sign-upPuzzlearion.com/elementary/soclair/puzzleariontournaments

And it worked. He jumped for joy but forgot he was on his chair, so he fell off.

“Are you OK?” He heard his mom scream.

“COME HERE!” Soclair screamed back. His mom and dad must have thought it was an emergency(well it technically is), so they came running up.

“Wha-what is the matter?” Dad asked, out of breath.

“I got into the Puzzlearion website! I can make it!” He told his parents about the story of going back to school and taking the paper.

“I am happy for you but, WHY DID YOU GO TO THE SCHOOL WITHOUT PERMISSION?!” After an hour later of scolding and a bunch of random rebukes that he didn’t listen to and another hour of standing by his bed as a punishment and doing nothing, his parents finally, finally, signed up for the Puzzlearion competition. What was on the screen was shocking.

Hello Solair! Congratulations for getting into the Puzzlearion competition! You will have 5 other teammates in the competition. O, nd by the way, the permssion slip is useless. You can thow that away now. You don’t even need to give it to your principal. Anyway, you will be going to in . reliable. energy. laugh. apple. next. dance. Tomorrow! Your airport flight is already booked for you. Tomorrow, at 4:30, go to school and see the principal. She will be in her office. Knock Knock. 1-second wait. Knock. 2-second wait. Knock Slap. REMEMBER THAT! She will be giving you the airport slip and all the things you will need. YOUR PARENTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COME. 2 BODYGUARDS WILL BE WITH SOCLAIR AT ALL TIMES. THEY WILL BE DRIVING, PROTECTING, AND GUIDING YOU UNTIL YOU GET TO THERE. BE ON TIME TOMORROW!

~THE PUZZLEARION FOUNDERS

He didn’t understand the random words part, but he guessed it was a puzzle. “No. I am not letting you go on an airplane with some random bodyguard I don’t even know.” Mom said. Of course, Mom has to say that. A classic Mom. It took a long time to convince both parents to let Soclair go on the airplane with some random people.

“You better get a good sleep. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us.” Dad smiled.

Soclair smirked, “Yeah.” After they left, Soclair stared at the letter again. First of all, there were 5 words spelled wrong. He knew it was a puzzle. The words missed the letters: c,h,a,i,r. Chair. But Chair what? There were also random words after ‘will be going to’. Soclair looked at those words, thinking and thinking, but came up with nothing. He then wrote it differently:

in

reliable

energy

laugh

apple

next

dance

Soclair thought some more. Then, all of a sudden, it came to him!

I

R

E

L

A

N

D

Take away the rest of the words and leave just the first letter! It will leave you the word Ireland! He must be going to Ireland tomorrow. He went to his bed, and slept, with a huge smile on his face.