Get Rid of Ulip

Tom has always been the best at Football and Maths. Every day he plays with his friends in the playground and he loves to get into trouble. Until one day...Ulip comes to school!

Meet Ulip. Find out why everyone likes him. Find out why Tom doesn’t. Join the “Get Rid of Ulip Group”. Enjoy Tom’s plots. Learn more about Ulip. Learn more about Tom. Love what happens in the end.

We think this story is good because it happens a lot at school.

We would like all Tom’s should get a ‘talking’ detention with all Ulips!

Download this mp3 audio story now!

Get Rid of Ulip

A Tales of Time Story.

Tom just didn’t like Ulip. Ulip was the new boy at school. He did all these really annoying things. He actually did his homework. He was good at football. He was great at maths and most of all, he was really, really NICE! How annoying.

Tom was good at football and maths, but Ulip was better. Tom was nice, sometimes, and only to his best friends, but Ulip was nice to everyone!

Tom decided he’d had enough. He would make a group. “The Get rid of Ulip Group”. They would make fun of him and get him into trouble. Ulip would be so upset, that he’d leave school and stop annoying everyone. Tom went into the main playground to tell all his friends his great idea.

He went straight to the sand pit, but no one was there. “That’s funny, we always meet here!” he thought. He looked in the bike shed and the dining hall – but nobody was anywhere.

“Come on guys!” he said “Where are you?”

Just then he heard Bob’s voice.

“Bob?” he called. Bob didn’t answer. Tom went into the small playground and found all his friends! They never played here, there’s only a couple of benches, how boring! But here they were, huddled round a bench.

“Guys! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” he yelled.

Nobody turned.

“I have a great new plan – we’re starting a group it’s called….. Guys?”
Nobody was listening to him. Bob, Jim, Martin and Lucy were all listening to someone on the bench. But Tom couldn’t see who. Maybe it was a teacher. He pushed his way through the crowd of friends and found….Ulip?

How annoying! What could Ulip say that would be more interesting than starting a cool group! Tom didn’t hang around to find out, he elbowed his way back out the crowd and stormed off to sit alone behind the bike shed.

“How annoying! Who does he think he is? Coming to MY School, playing in MY football team, learning in MY Maths and now stealing MY friends.”
Tom was still too angry to go back inside when the bell went, so he stayed where he was, kicking stones along the ground.

After fifteen minutes, Tom decided to go back to class. It was Science. He walked in without knocking and sat in his seat.

“Tom Dickens?” called Mrs Carbon.

“Would you like to explain to everyone why you’re so late?”
Everyone was looking at him. He didn’t say anything… He’d be in trouble, but he didn’t care. He liked being in trouble. It made him look cool.

Then, for a reason Tom couldn’t explain, Ulip put his hand up.
“Yes Ulip?” Said Mrs Carbon

“It’s my fault, Miss.”

“Your fault?” she asked.

“Yes” said Ulip “I kicked the ball over the wall and didn’t know how to get it, so Tom offered to get it for me. Then the bell went while he was gone.”

“Tom? Why didn’t you say so!” asked Miss Carbon “It was very kind of you to fetch the ball, I’m going to give you a star for that” she said, sticking a blue star under his name on the wall

“Noooo” he thought. Tom was fuming. How dare Ulip come to his rescue! He didn’t need rescuing!

Tom had been so proud of his line of detentions and sad face stickers! He had worked hard for them. And now he had a shining, shimmering star ruining it all!
He could hear everyone snickering behind him.
“How annoying!” he thought as he slumped on his desk.

At the end of School, Tom waited by the doors as he did every night. His friends met there to boast about all the cool things they did today and how much trouble they got in. But no one turned up.

“I bet they’re with Ulip!” he growled

Then he stormed off home.

If no one wanted to be in the Get rid of Ulip group, then Tom would be in it by himself. Tom spent the night making a plan. If Ulip wanted to ruin his reputation at school, by making him seem good. Tom would ruin Ulip’s reputation by making him seem bad!

Plot 1)

Tom double checked he had all his P.E kit before leaving the house. Nothing was going to stop him playing today. He had a plan.

He made sure that he and Ulip were on different teams.

Half-time.

They kicked off.

Tom”s team was winning 2:1. Tom had the ball; all he needed was for Ulip to tackle him. Perfect, he was coming…. Tom did some fancy footwork as Ulip tried to get the ball, but all of a sudden, Tom yelled out “AAAAAAAAAAaaagh” and fell to the floor clutching his left leg.

“AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh” he cried, loud enough for Mr Bounce to hear him. Ulip was very confused, he was sure he hadn’t even touched Tom.

“Ulip?” called Mr Bounce.” Foul!”

“But, I didn”t ..” whimpered Ulip

“You can explain everything later Ulip … in detention” said Mr Bounce

Tom had to concentrate very hard on pretending to be hurt, otherwise he would have smiled!

Plot 2)

Maths:

Tom had practised his “surprised” face all night. He was ready. Just as he was thinking he should be an actor, Mrs Multiply walked in the room.

“When I call your name, please bring me your homework?” she bellowed.

Everyone was scared of Mrs Multiply, even Tom, a bit.

“Adam Warrior…” Adam got his book and handed it to Mrs Multiply.

Lucy Barrington” Lucy also took her book to the front.

Tom Dickens”, Tom had started his performance. He was looking frantically in his bag...

“Tom Dickens?” She called again, looking up to see why he was so long.

“Mrs Multiply, I can’t find my homework book.” said Tom, in his most innocent voice.

Mrs Multiply stared at Tom through her enormous glasses. That stare. Everyone in the room felt sorry for Tom. Except Tom.

“Come to my desk” She said in a loud, firm voice.

Tom was careful not to rush. He pushed his chair back and walked towards her, making sure he passed Ulip’s desk. All of sudden, Tom tripped on Ulip’s bag and crashed to the ground. The plan worked perfectly, the bag flew into the air and all the books inside fell out.

Everyone stood up to see if he was alright. He rolled over, rubbing his arm as he picked one of the books up.
“Here’s my homework book Mrs Multiply. It was in Ulip’s bag!”

He pulled that face. The surprised face. It worked!

“Come to the front Ulip!” yelled the teacher. She was staring even harder now.
Ulip took both books to the front and Mrs Multiply looked at both homeworks.

“Ulip, you stole Tom’s book and have copied his homework! You can see me in detention later!”

Result!!! Tom had copied Ulip’s homework and then put them both books in Ulip’s school bag during break. It made Ulip look like the cheater.

Ulip now had 2 detentions. All he needed was one more and he’d have to stay in school until 6 O’clock. And a letter would be sent home to his Parents. Everything depended on Plot 3.

Plot 3)

At lunch, they all headed out to play. Tom’s friends were waiting for him by the sandpit.

“You ok Tom? That fall looked painful” asked Lucy

“My arm is fine” said Tom bravely. “It”s my leg that hurts” he said, pulling a face and rubbing his shin.

“What happened?” Lucy asked
“Didn’t you see?” said Martin “Ulip kicked him in football”

“Really? I thought Ulip was nice” she said.

“Yeah!” they all said, “so did we.”

At that moment, Ulip walked slowly out of the dining hall.

He looked sad.

Very Sad.

“He doesn’t look so happy without any friends” thought Tom

“Ulip!” he called.

Ulip looked up and came over to them. He wanted to ask Tom why he got him into trouble.

“Ulip,” said Tom “I just wanted to say I forgive you.”

“Forgive me?”said Ulip “For what?”
“For kicking him in football” said Lucy

“And for stealing his maths book” said Bob

“Ulip, I used to think you were nice.” said Martin.

Ulip looked at the group. He thought they were his friends.

Tom was smiling a very smug smile. Ulip was so upset that he ran towards Tom and pushed him with all his might.

Tom crashed down into the sandpit .

“Huh?” said Tom in his best acting.

Ulip jumped in to the pit too. He picked up handfuls of sand and threw them at Tom.

“Aaah” he cried, and as he did a large clump of sand landed in his mouth!

“Uuughggh” he said, trying to spit it out.

Ulip was about to climb out of the sand pit, so Tom threw a huge handful of sand at him. It landed on his back and the sand went down his trousers and pants.

“Aaah” cried Ulip, grabbing more sand and rubbing it into Tom”s hair.

A large crowd had gathered to watch this very strange fight.
The Headmaster, Mr Order arrived and yelled “STOP!”

Everyone froze. Tom and Ulip were in the middle of the sandpit, absolutely covered in sand. They had sand in their hair, their shoes, their trousers, their ears, their noses, their eyes and their mouths. Tom could even feel sand between his toes!

“Detention” Yelled Mr Order.

“YES!” thought Tom, I did it!

“For BOTH of you” He finished

“What?” said Tom, “but Ulip started...”

“Explain later,” shouted Mr Order, “in detention! Now everyone inside!”

This was not how it was supposed to end. Ulip was meant to get 3 detentions. He did, but now Tom also had one and would have to spend a whole hour with Ulip after school.

He was so cross about it that he couldn’t concentrate at all during Art. Or English.

The bell went and Tom slowly walked toward the detention room, dragging his bag along the floor.

Ulip was already in there. He was leaning over his desk, crying. “What a baby”, he thought.

Tom sat behind him and pulled faces at his back until Mr Order came in.

“I’m very disappointed in you both. For boys who have so much in common, it surprises me that you’re not the best of friends!”

“Uggh” they both said.

“So for your detention, I want you to talk”

“Huh?” asked Tom. – you’re meant to tell us to write lines, Sir”

“I know, Tom, but I’m asking you to talk to each other, get to know each other.”

Tom didn’t want to talk with Ulip. Ulip didn’t want to talk with Tom. Oh my goodness, a whole hour of talking! This was the worst Detention ever.

Mr Order left the room.

Silence.

“Ha!” scoffed Tom, breaking the silence. “What could you possibly have in common with me?”

“We’re both boys!” suggested Ulip.

“Very different boys!” retorted Tom.

“Well, we both like football!”said Ulip.

“And Science”, agreed Tom

“But I hate Maths.” Admitted Ulip.

“Me too, Mrs Multiply is a monster!” Tom said.

“I know!” said Ulip, glad that someone else thought so.

“I have a dog” said Tom.

“I have two cats” said Ulip.

“I hate flies” Tom said through a funny face.

“I eat them” said Ulip with a straight face.
“What?” cried Tom.

“Hahahha Just Joking!” laughed Ulip

“Hahahha You”re funny” said Tom, reluctantly.

“I love joking” said Ulip

“But I’ve never seen you laughing at school, you always seem to be working” said Tom.

“I’m not always happy. When I’m not happy, I like to work, it helps.”

Tom understood this, Tom was not always happy either.

“When I’m not happy, I get myself into trouble” he said.

“My dad moved to France” Ulip said. Now Mummy and I live here. That’s why I’ve come to this school” Ulip had tears in his eyes.

Tom felt an odd pain in his chest. He knew this feeling. He usually tried to ignore it. But then, he suddenly felt like he wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell Ulip something that he hadn’t told anyone else.

 “My dad left home last term” said Tom. He could feel a large, wet tear rolling down his cheek. It was really not cool to cry, but he didn’t mind, Ulip was crying too.

Ulip looked at Tom and Tom looked at Ulip. How silly they had been. They had spent all day fighting and now they both sat in detention crying! This made Tom smile
Ulip thought it was funny too.

 They both giggled.

Then they both laughed. Tom made a snorting noise and this made them laugh even more.

“You’re cool” said Tom.

“You too” said Ulip.

Tom and Ulip were getting on so well that they carried on talking. They talked about birthdays, they talked about turtles, and they talked about teachers, crisps and snow.

They talked right through the end of Tom’s detention and didn’t even notice. Tom and Ulip talked right up till Mr Order came in at 6 O’clock.

“Time for home, boys” he said in a kind voice.

They packed their things and grabbed their coats.

“Sorry about today,” Tom said, feeling rather bad.

“That’s ok, see you tomorrow” said Ulip.

“Yeah, meet us by the Sandpit” called Tom as Ulip caught his bus.

Tom walked home. He realised all the things he hated Ulip for were actually good things. He realised he had been jealous.

Tonight, he would officially cancel the “Get rid of Ulip Group”.

Maybe he’d invite Ulip over for tea tomorrow.

The End.

©Tales of Time 2009