Page 37 of Margo

“Candy on a cracker!”

The other girls had been apprised of Margo’s current dilemma and were now helping her to come up with a new catch phrase.

“Crap on Cauliflower!” Ellie yelled, excitedly.

Margo whipped her head to look at her friend. “Ellie! I can say cracker! It’s the other word I need to replace!” Margo laughed incredulously at her friend’s gaffe.

“Oh. Oh yeah. Right. Duh.”

“It definitely should not be candy or cake!” Tessa piped up, turning attention away from her ditzy sister.

“Cake and candy are good!” Mariah argued as Margo looked on in confusion. What the heck were they even arguing about, anyway?

“Exactly!” Tessa shouted. “Crap… is not good. So we need to replace it with something that’s also not good.”

“Oh. Yeah. That makes sense. Crap on a cracker!” Ellie exclaimed.

Jilly and Mariah clapped their hands over their mouths at the exact same time.

“You said cra-ap!” Jade sing-songed.

Tessa elbowed her. “Dummy! We’re allowed to say it. It’s just Margo who can’t.”

“Yeah,” Ellie interjected. “We can say it all day long.” She gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. “We can say it all day long,” she repeated in a hushed whisper, pointing at each of them. “We can all say it! ALL. DAY. LONG.”

“Are you…” Mariah trailed off. “If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, then I’m impressed. That’s like… some Margo- or Luna-level shenanigans right there.”

Ellie leapt to her feet. “Thank you,” she said, bending at the waist to take a series of small bows.

“What’s that phrase that means… when you do exactly as you’re told but in like a mean way?” Mariah asked.

“Militia… Melishiss… Malicious… Compliance,” Jade supplied.

“Malicious compliance,” Mariah repeated. “That’s what we’re gonna do. You can’t say it, Margo, but we all can and we’re gonna every chance we get.”

Margo grinned. The plan was so brilliant she was mad she hadn’t been the one to come up with it. “You guys are the best. But… what if he gets mad?”

“When Knox asks us to stop, we will. But until he does, we’re gonna have some fun,” Jade answered. “Crap on a cracker, sorting puzzle pieces is boring.”

“Crap on a cracker. This is gonna take us all week.” Ellie snorted when she giggled.

“Crap on a cracker!” Mariah yelled.

“Crap on a cracker!” Tessa shouted gleefully.

Even Jilly chimed in. “Crap on a cracker, you guys are troublemakers,” she grumbled.

“Crustaceans on a cracker!” Margo yelled, closing the Trouble box. “I think this one is done.”

Beside her, Jilly closed the lid on Clue and set it on top of Trouble. “This one is done too.”

Mariah walked over and stacked Candyland on top of their pile. “This one is done.”

They worked in silence for several minutes, slowly adding more games to the pile. Occasionally, someone would yell “crap on a cracker!” and they would all burst into wild giggles.

“I almost can’t wait for lunch,” Mariah confided. “I want to see the look on Knox’s face.”

“The look on my face when?” Knox boomed, entering the room behind them.