Fish Without A School - Chapter 1

Written by Carolyn Cole Illustrated by Austin Wohlgemuth Inspired by The Students, Staff and Fish of Jack Stuart School





“Yawn!” Zeke stretched his fins to shake off the last cobwebs of sleep. “Hey! Wake up, everybody! Do you see what I see? Here comes breakfast!”

As the flakes of fish food rained down on the surface of the water, each of the Danio family gobbled up mouthfuls of the tasty meal. There was Zeke, who was always the first one up, his brothers Zaiden and Zachary, and his sisters Zola, Zalora and Zizi. The Tiger Barb couple, Mr. and Mrs. Green, were slower to get out of bed. They appreciated their sleep in the midst of such a busy aquarium. The Cory fish, Copper, Jules and Pud, waited patiently at the bottom and hoped there would be some food left to float down to the rocks.

While the fish were busy eating, they kept an eye out for the kids that always came to watch them. The Danios loved to put on a show, flitting around quickly to show off their shiny scales. The Cory fish didn’t like the attention and did their best to eat while remaining in the shadows.

It was Jules who noticed it first.



“Where is everybody? The Learning Commons is empty! Even Mrs. Hycha isn’t at the table serving breakfast like she always is!” Everyone stopped eating and swam over to the front of the aquarium to take a closer look. Jules was right. There were only the grownups wandering around and talking quietly to each other. “Maybe it’s a holiday,” said Zachary. Zola nodded. “It’s probably PD day.”



All the fish agreed and continued on with their day. The Danios challenged each other to swim sprints. Mr. and Mrs. Green argued about whose turn it was to clean up after breakfast. The Corys hid in the castle coming out only to catch a piece of food that was stirred up by the Danios’ shenanigans.



The only one who was completely undisturbed by the excitement of the day was Araminta, the Apple snail. She kept on cleaning the sludge off of the aquarium walls like she always did. “Certainly no one else bothers to keep the tank clean!” she muttered to herself.