The Great Disguise
by: Emily O'Leary
The bell rang. All at once, the students scrambled out of the door in a hurry for recess.
The big lizards pushed their way out of the doors first, leaving Charlie Chameleon last in line.
Charlie was the smallest in the class and seemed to always be the one that was left behind.
Outside, the children were running around, playing all sorts of games.
Some kids were playing basketball; some were on the swings; others were having fun just standing around talking with one another.
Charlie really wanted to make friends and play with the other kids, so he walked over to some lizards playing basketball. "Hey guys! Can I play?" asked Charlie. "Haha," laughed Larry Lizard. "You want to play basketball? You're not strong enough to make a basket! Plus, we already have teams made; maybe next time." Charlie was disappointed, but did not give up.
Charlie walked over to the swings where Gus the Gecko was playing.
"Can I swing with you?" asked Charlie.
"All the swings are taken," replied Gus. "Maybe next time."
Charlie was starting to think that he was not going to find anything to do at recess.
Then Charlie thought to himself, "I know what I am good at!"
Charlie walked over to the kids that were just standing around talking to see if they wanted to join him in a game.
"Hi, my name is Charlie! Do you want to play a game of hide and seek with me?" Charlie asked.
"Sure that sounds like a lot of fun!" replied the other kids.
As Charlie ran off to go hide, he yelled, "I bet nobody will be able to find me!"
It took what seemed like forever to find Charlie! The other students could not believe how well Charlie had blended into the green leaves.
Since it took so long, Sally the Snake suggested, "Next time Charlie has to hide, it should be a rule that he cannot hide in green leaves so it does not take so long to find him."
"Ok," Charlie agreed while grinning.
Since it was October, Charlie had a secret plan.
After ten minutes of looking for Charlie, the other students called out, "Charlie where are you? Can you give us a hint?"
Charlie called back to them, "I'm not in green leaves, but I am still hiding in leaves!"
This confused the the other students. After a few more minutes, Charlie came out of his hiding spot and reveiled himself as a red chameleon.
When the children saw that Charlie had changed the color of his skin to blend in, they all decided that Charle was the best hide and seek player ever!
Charlie was so happy that he found a game that he was good at!
The bell rang again, signaling the students that recess was over. All the students gathered together and looked forward to playing more hide and seek during their next recess.
The lizards and gecko saw how much fun the students playing hide and seek that they wanted to join in and play too.