“Wake up, breakfast is ready! Mum shouted from the staircase, “You will be late for your flight! I excitedly but reluctantly went to the bathroom to freshen up. “Morning mum, hey Dad! I said as I took a piece of sandwich and sat next to my little brother Mike. I and my best friend Kamdy were going on a two weeks trip to visit my grandparents in South Africa. My parents thought it was a good idea to send me to my grandparents as a surprise for the great performance I had in school last spring.
So I was deep in thoughts imagining what South Africa looks like, their food and culture when I was suddenly brought back to reality by my parent’s argument. “Isabel, you should learn to be less negative about Africa. It is really a nice place , Dad said. “Sweetie, I am only talking from experience. Though the place is nice, your parents never welcomed me into their home , Mum said. Although Mum is my role model, I knew that interacting with her in-laws was something she was not good at. She is kind of an introvert who would like to stay out of trouble and undergo any kind of difficulty to protect her kids.
She made sure she brought us up without a silver spoon. On the other hand, Dad would buy the world for us and provide us with money to make sure we were satisfied. “Melisa, are you ready for your speech? Mr. Andrew asked. He loved Literature and therefore he thought it for living. Mr. Andrew is a tall, skinny, good-looking man from the Upper East Side of Manhattan who loved and like being around kids. He always had his geek glasses on, smiling and showing off those teeth of his that were as white as snow. He is kind, a good listener and was also ready to learn from his students.
But there was a problem; he was going to clock forty and have not found himself a bride. I knew deep down inside me that it was his greatest challenge. “But why has he not got married yet? I asked myself. Poor him! He was always eating from the vending machine. “Maybe I and Kamdy should surprise him with a well-balanced meal one of these days , I thought to myself. “Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphan, Oliver, and his attempts to stay good in a society that refuses to help , I read out to the class. [Copyright (c) 1999-2013 Grade Saver LLC].
The class was such a brief one. I guess Mr. Andrew understood literature was boring so he let us leave earlier than expected. We all headed up to the cafeteria where you will come across different students with their mode of dressing and their eating habits. The dining hall was divided into three different categories; the geeks and nerds, the jerks and the popular kids. The geeks and nerds were the book worms. They always ate in a wired way. Trying to figure out the chemistry of the food; how the food was prepared, the ingredients and so on. You would see them at times eating, reading and whispering to themselves. You can never hear a word of what they are saying.
On the other hand, the jerks were opposite of the nerds. They would dance and scream to the top of their voices while eating. As it is said, “Empty vessels make most noise , that was their definition. The jerks always threw food items to students while passing their table so students were careful of annoying them in order to avoid the embarrassment. Last, were the popular kids, my category, were students ate like the food was poisoned. They are the picky eaters that ate some and wasted the remainder. I never really liked this group; it had the bitches that looked down on other students.
Though I hated this group for their snobby altitude towards others, I could not resist being their mist because of my golf game. The group consisted of students that participated in different sports like the football, soccer, the cheers, the basketball team, and the golf team in which I took part in. Disgusting! Ty just puked! Ty was the school’s bully; he was as big as a cow. He could eat a pot of food and ask for more. He always sat alone and never had any friend because of his size. I took my food to the extreme end of the room where there was less drama. Hey guys , I said as I sat close to my best friend Kamdy. “We all are going to bring back the trophy this season , Michael said courageously, “we will not allow the Lagoons get away with it.
Michael was one of the golf player was ready to sacrifice his money for the game. He was an only spoilt child of his parents. As being one of the students that always brought back the trophy and gold medals every season, I knew we had to put in our best in other to get this year’s golf trophy. “Pasta was not that bad for lunch , I thought to myself as I made my way through the hall way for the next period.
Lucius! Lucius!!! Wait up. “Hope you are ready to lead us this season? You will remain the captain as long as the team is standing , I said as we made our way to the math class. Lucius was the calm and hilarious team captain, a Christian who worshipped in non-denim nous churches. We made him the team captain because of these great personalities of his. “Hello class, most of your performances was not as good as the previous test , Mr. Thompson said. Though math was my favorite, Mr. Thompson was my worst teacher. He teaches well but he had some personal character he needed to amend.
He was more of a troublemaker who eats while teaching and other his students not to eat. As he always says, “I am in charge of this class; you can eat when you leave . Students said that he was funny when you get close to him but getting close was the least thing I would ever imagine. He passed the script out to the class. I could see the negative remarks on the students face as they got hold of their papers. I screamed on seeing my paper, “I made a D . How am I going to face Mum? Dad will definitely understand, he is a golf person but I had no good reason for dropping drastically in class.
B was not an option in my family, you have to get an A in your courses or you never talk about your extra curriculum. “Melisa, you got detention after school , said Mr. Thompson. I saw that coming because I could not answer the arithmetic he told me to solve. “Freak I said regrettably as I walked pass the professor. I felt really pissed off and had to figure out a way to make up for my grades. Detention was the worst place to spend for the rest of the day. It was like hell on earth. The detention room was found at the end of the building close to the dirtiest restroom in school.
Everything was wrong with this room; the filthy smell that was oozing out of the room, the way students in the room mopped at anyone who came into room, the way they interacted with one another, that is, some were shouting to the top of their voices and others whispering. “What was wrong with me? Why was everything around me getting so messed up? I kept on asking myself. It was the second time in three days I found myself in this same place, the detention room. I spent an hour and some minutes in the room. The end of the semester alongside with the game was fast coming to an end and I felt like I had not achieved anything.
So I sacrificed my part time job as a sales girl at Wal-Mart in other to help my professors in cleaning up their offices and arranging student’s files for extra credit. I knew that the game had got into my head that I became less concerned about studying. It was award giving day and I was nervous on seeing my parents because I was scared that I was not going to be given any award for the section. I was between the devil’s basket and the deep blue sea to an extent that I wished to kick the bucket at the moment or the ground opening up to swallow me.
The long awaited time came for the award of courses to be given out and to my greatest surprise; I made the top ten in Science, English and Math. Being among the top ten was what I least expected because I had never gone below third in the school. Then I realized that it pays to try hard to get whatever you seek for. “Last but not the least, we made it through the game , Lucius said to the rejoicing crowd. It was such an amazing day that my parents let me pick out the restaurant I wanted to have my lunch.
The Doves (my team mates and I), had an after party at the captain’s house to celebrate our unbeatable success. That spring section thought me never to play with my studies (Summer break) “Ding Dong , the house bell rang. “Melisa , in mum’s normal calm tone, called out to me, “Kamdy is here . “Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Fields as light- skinned colored Kamdy greeted my parents and made her way to Menorah, my baby sister. I reached out for my luggage and beaded my family goodbye. “South Africa here we come , I said to Kamdy as we boarded the flight
