Your Turn second runner-up: Stephanie Revering -- "Mentos: the Fightmaker"

By Stephanie Revering of Southwest High School

I knew where she kept her stock, so while my sister was at dance class, I snuck into her room and grabbed her very last package.

Congratulations to Stephanie, who is our second runner-up for our Your Turn contest, “What is the biggest mess you ever made?”

“I know you took them! Why can’t you just tell me you took my last package of Mentos,” screamed my sister.

Yes, thats right, the biggest mess I was ever in involved a package of Mentos.

But come on, you can’t blame me for stealing them, those minty candies that have just the right level of chewiness but don’t hurt your teeth. And because they were my sister’s, their appeal was heightened about ten times.

I was a child who would not take “No” for an answer. So when my sister told me that I wasn’t allowed in her room and I definitely could never have one of her beloved Mentos on account of how often I asked her for one, I didn’t accept this.

I knew where she kept her stock, so while my sister was at dance class, I snuck into her room and grabbed her very last package.

I felt like Harriet the Spy, except the only person I was helping was myself. I hid the stolen Mentos in my room and only ate one every hour in an effort to save them for as long as possible.

The next day, my sister accused me of the theft. I fought the battle until the end.

My sister and I fought every day for two weeks until my father couldn’t stand it anymore. He searched my room and found evidence of my crime. I was grounded for a month.

And that is how I learned that lying about something creates a mess 110 times bigger than it has to be.