Flash Fiction Friday

My inspiration for this week’s story comes from my family. Literally. I asked my wife and three of my kids for words, and they gave me:

Royal, Bifurcated, Elbow-grease (technically two words, but I’ll allow it), and Rhombus.

For a fifth word, I picked the first word from a random page in the book I’m currently reading. That word was “Favorite.”

Here’s what I managed with those five words and a 100-word limit:

Mr. Stemple stalked the room, his eyes scanning for insurrection.

“A rhombus is an equilateral parallelogram,” he said, watching as his students wrote. The noise of pen scratching paper filled the silence between his words. “A bifurcated rhombus produces two triangles.”

Scratch scratch scratch.

“The term ‘elbow-grease’ refers to effort applied—”

Scratch scratch scratch.

“The favorite pastime of the British royal family—”

Scratch scratch scratch.

“Pens down!” he shouted.

Scratch scratch scratch.

“Stop! Stop! All of you!”

Scratch scratch scratch.

“I said STOP! NOW!”

Peter Stemple’s alarm went off.

First day back after Christmas vacation was always the worst.

If those five words inspire you, feel free to share your 100-word story in the comments!