Niki and I… this evening over dinner….

Niki: “I am so mad at our lunch teacher”
I was a little confused where all this was coming from. She just got up after sleeping in the evening and I was quite sure she was still groggy. But I played along…

Me: “I am sure you have a good reason”
Niki: “She confiscated my phone”
Me: “She confiscated your phone?”
Niki: “Yeah Yeah, she gave it back”.
Me: “What did you do?” (meaning what got her in trouble)
Niki: (interpreting I wanted to know how she got it back) “Oh! I pretended to cry.”
Me: “You pretended to cry?”
Niki: “Yes, I kept sniffling and walking around her so she will notice me and feel bad”.
Me: “But that is being manipulative”
Niki: “No. That is being smart”.
Me: “Really?”
Niki: “You had a better way of getting my phone back?”

I just walked away before she could see me desperately trying to hold my laughter back!!
In my defense, I was a goody two-shoe nerd is school and never got in trouble with my cell phone. Good thing, those days, none of us had cell phones either 🙂