Dana Zari, 9: “[On Oct. 28] I texted my dad that the fire was really bad, even though it wasn’t even that big of a deal. I was like ‘Dad, we might die, come get us!’ and he asked what was wrong. I said ‘I’ll explain in the car. Get over here right now.’ I made him leave work to come pick up me and my friend.”

Zachary Williamson, 10: “I went to a swim meet at Olathe West, and someone took a pretty fat dump in the pool. The whole team got norovirus. [The whole team] woke up in sync, throwing up, but it didn’t hit me until I got to school, so I got to leave.”

Chanie Rankin, 11: “I was sick but showed up to school anyway. But then I went to the doors by the junior lot, and they were locked. Once I tried to open the door, I realized this is my sign to go home, so I left.”

Amalia Garcia, 10: “I lied to my dad that I had signed up for the bus transportation thing, and that the bus would take me to school, so he wouldn’t have to drop me off on the way to work. That’s how I got away with staying home for the rest of that week. My dad would text me and ask why I missed school and I’d say ‘oh the bus never showed up’ or something like that. Eventually I had to tell him the truth, and he was OK with it.”

Jaysen vonSeldenek, 11: “One day, it was going to be the first time being on time to APUSH in about two weeks, but when I tried to turn on my car, it started going crazy, and it didn’t turn on. It was flashing on and off really fast. The motor was — I don’t know, I’m not a car guy. I ended up taking my dad’s car and being late to APUSH again.”

Mary Kate Arnett, 12: “My senioritis was so bad. A month into school my brother went home sick and I got jealous because I wanted to skip school too, and for my mom to call me out I needed an excuse, so I texted her and said I had the same illness as my brother, so she called me out. My brother continued to feel sick and I had to keep pretending to be sick to play along with my lie. But my brother ended up going to the ER because his appendix burst and needed emergency surgery.”