TTWORBYTES PRESENTS
This Is My Brilliant Plan
“I had a brilliant plan. The problem with my brilliant plans is what happens next.”
My name is Jake Morrow. I'm twelve years old.
THE STORY
One Broken Trophy. One Wrestling Suspension. One Brilliant Plan.
A funny and emotional school story about plans, consequences, loyalty and what happens when Jake decides he can fix everything himself.
Jake's plan to hide what happened to Jack's broken trophy is already becoming harder to control. What begins as an attempt to put one problem right leaves him with a truth he cannot keep avoiding.
Then Ruby Mason is suspended after Nathan Cross accuses her of hurting him during wrestling. Jake is convinced there is more to the incident than the first version everyone hears.
With Jack beside him, Jake now has two problems demanding the truth: one involving his own brilliant plan, and another involving somebody he cares about. Fixing either of them may require him to stop planning and start being honest.
AT THE HEART OF THIS STORY
Ruby Needs the Truth
Ruby has been suspended after Nathan Cross's complaint about their wrestling training. Jake wants to know what really happened.
“Ruby says it was an accident. Nathan says it wasn't. Somebody has to be wrong.”
Nathan's complaint that Ruby used too much force during training has serious consequences: Ruby is suspended while what happened is investigated.
Jake does not want to accept the first version of events simply because it has already caused trouble. Jack takes a more methodical approach as they try to understand what happened and what other people may know.
For Jake, helping Ruby is about loyalty—but loyalty cannot mean deciding the answer before he knows the facts. If he wants the truth for Ruby, he has to be willing to face the truth about his own actions as well.
Meet the PeopleWHY THIS STORY MATTERS
A Plan Is Not the Same as a Solution
Jake likes plans because plans make problems feel controllable. If something has gone wrong, his instinct is to find a clever way to put it right before anybody has to know.
But hiding what happened to Jack's trophy does not remove the problem. It only makes honesty harder the longer Jake waits.
Ruby's suspension gives him the same lesson from another direction. Jake wants the truth to protect his friend, but finding the truth means listening carefully rather than simply believing the answer he wants.
Both strands ask Jake the same question: is a brilliant plan really brilliant if it depends on avoiding the truth?