The Loop of Dreams Sample
“No,” I refused. “NO MOM, I’m NOT getting up! It’s only 7:30!”
“Exactly!” Mom shouted back. “School starts in a half an hour, and you STILL have homework to do!”
I looked at my Batman alarm clock and then slowly and tiredly moved my neck towards the scattered papers of attempts to write an essay on my desk. When I realized it was Monday instead of Saturday, I jumped up from my bed, and with bags under my eyes, I grabbed my backpack full of school supplies and rushed downstairs to start working.
One hand had a spoon in it, the other held a pencil.
“The United States has about 15 thousand…” I started muttering to myself. “And um…uh….”
And at that moment, I dozed off. And about 15 minutes later, Mom found me with my left cheek flat against the table, snoring and drooling on it. My cereal was soggy by then, but who cares?! It was 7:44!!!
“Oh my gosh!” she yelled which woke me up.
“What time is it?” I groaned.
“It doesn’t matter, just get ready for school, we have…” she checked her watch. “5 minutes until we have to leave!”
While I scribbled down facts for my schoolwork, Mom said this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t stayed up all night playing video games.
I knew if I had replied, she would have just told me to get to work again. So my mouth remained silent but my mind was screaming with stress. It took me 3 minutes to get at least a B- quality, so that left me two minutes to get ready. I shoved snacks into my backpack and grabbed my essay.
“Ready!” I exclaimed, out of breath. “Let’s go!”
“Jackson, don’t you think that something’s missing?” Mom asked me.
“No,” I answered. I realized what she was talking about when I started to get my shoes on. I was still in my pajamas!
“Ugh!” I groaned again. I quickly slipped on some pants on over my shorts. I ended up wearing my SpongeBob pajama shirt, hoping no one would notice that was this was the shirt I slept in the night before.
Mom and I jumped in her car and took of down the street. I ended up being five minutes late, but after that morning, I was lucky to be at school at all! Well, kind of lucky.
With a tardy pass in hand, I ran to my classroom. Everyone was at their desks, so I gave Mrs. Savage my tardy pass and threw myself onto my chair next to my best friend Thomas Rexford, or as I like to call him: T-Rex.
“Jackson Petalman, your days are numbered!” Mrs. Savage shouted. The room became silent. “You’ve already had to tardys this month! One more strike, you’re out!”
“What does out mean?” I whispered to T-Rex nervously.
“Down to the principal’s office of DOOM!” he muttered back.
I couldn’t help laugh. What? It was the way he said it!
“You think this is funny Petalman? Well HA, HA!” Mrs. Savage exclaimed. “Okay, then how about you read your ESSAY to the CLASS!”
Suddenly everything around me froze. My…my, my essay? I didn’t know I had to share it!
“Um…yes, Ms. Savage,” I answered respectfully.
“It’s MRS. Savage!” she corrected savagely (and the bad kind of savage).
“S-sorry Mrs. Savage,” I apologized, frightened.
I grabbed the loose papers from my bag and shuffled them so they were in the right order.
“The United States has about 15 thousand spies roaming around state to state! They are assigned missions and wear cool suits! Their job is to spy on people and get confidential information. Sometimes they even save someone’s life! But not like a superhero, like getting special information and reporting back to headquarters,” I explained.
At that point I was just talking to my classmates and not reading straight from my essay. They were loving it!
“Um, okay, that’s enough!” Mrs. Savage rudely interrupted. “Your assignment was to write an essay on a common job in The United States and give REAL FACTS on the subject. But you failed to do that.”
I slumped in my chair, and the joy and excitement from my peers’ faces was taken away from them by Mrs. Savage’s evil spirit.
“You get an A+!” Mrs. Savage exclaimed.
“Really?” I asked hopefully.
“Nope,” she answered. Then she started cracking up. “You–HA HA–get a–HA–F! Hah ha!”
“Mrs. Savage, please! Please give me another chance!” I begged. “I’ve had a rough morning and–”
“That explains the SpongeBob pajama shirt,” Rose interrupted.
Rose driller isn’t the nicest person. She makes fun of everyone and NEVER gets in trouble! The reason why is because she’s Mrs. Savage’s niece. I mean, couldn’t she have put her in another class?
Anyway, everyone laughed except for T-Rex and me. Even Mrs. Savage laughed! Rose is such a teacher’s pet! AND a teacher’s niece. No one likes her except her best friend Candy who she’s never made fun of. I see some conflict in the future! But that’s another story.
Anyway, back to the story.
“Who cares if you’ve had a rough morning?” Mrs. Savage replied. “My mornings are always rough! Now I’ll have to call your mother about your failing grade.”
She smiled wickedly as she pulled her walki-talki out of her pocket. I knew she was going to have someone call Mom, but I honestly didn’t care.
“Eh, NBD,” I answered. “My mom knows I had a tough morning, so she’ll understand.”
“Wait, so you’re not the least bit mad, or sad?” she asked, setting down her communicator.
“Nope, I’m not worried,” I explained.
What she didn’t know was that I was tricking her. I knew if she thought I didn’t care, she would try to make me care. If I didn’t care about anything, she would do anything. Well, at least that’s what I assumed.
“Well then… I’ll send you to the principal’s office!” Mrs. Savage demanded.
“Eh, I don’t care,” I answered. “The principal wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
“Okay then, you’re suspended!” she threatened.
“Yes! I don’t have to spend time in this classroom!” I replied. It wasn’t my best reply, but she seemed to buy it.
“Okay…Well, um…YOU’RE EXPELLED!”
Suddenly I was staring at the ceiling in my room. I was looking directly at the middle of my fan. I watched the blades of it spin around recklessly–When I realized it was all just a dream.