Stories

Chapter 2 : “Mrs.McCarthy,” I say to my math teacher, “this is confusing for me” She comes over to help me, but once she is done I still don’t understand. So I decided to try one more time, but I ended up giving up. Soon, we are on the bus and we are on our way home. I like to go on the bus, more than I like to have my mom pick me up, because I get to see my friends! I usually get off the bus before anyone else. And when I do, I see Charlie next to Mom. I ran to hug Mom and tell her about my day. First, she asks “How was your day Emma?” “Pretty good.” I replied. “But I have a question. Since tomorrow is Saturday, can we go to the dog shelter and adopt a dog? Pleassssssssee!!!” I begged her. “ Sorry Emma, but not until I know you're responsible enough.” I got really upset when she said no. Especially because she knows how much I've been wanting a dog these past few months. I run up to my room, and Charlie follows me. I feel myself tearing up. Charlie saw, and she hugged me to try to make me feel better. I didn’t cry. Instead I asked Charlie, “Do you think Mom and Dad will ever buy us a dog?” “Well, I-” *DING DONG*.  That must be dad. He usually comes home from work this time. Charlie and I rush down the stairs. “Hi dad!” Charlie and I say.

“Hi Charlie! Hi Emma!” Dad says. “TGIF!” “What does that stand for?” Charlie  asks dad. “It stands for; Thank god it’s Friday!” Dad replies. “Come on guys!” Mom says, “Dinner is  ready!” “I'M STARVING!!!” Charlie groans. “We all are.” says dad. We all head over to the table. Today the dinner is chicken, steak, with broccoli and asparagus. While we wait at the table for Mom to come, Charlie, Dad, and I start talking about what we should do on the weekend. “Maybe we should go to the park, and then get ice cream.” Charlie says. Dad and I agree. That sounded pretty fun, so I just changed the subject. Soon, Mom comes to the table and we start eating. The food is so good. Mom is such a good cook. Usually, when we all finish our food, we go to the living room to watch a movie. But this time, we played family charades, and then went straight to  sleep. I was ok with that because I was so tired that night.

When I wake up I look at my window to see if it's still the morning, or if I just woke up in the middle of the night. And when I saw it was the morning, I got out of bed, and did my everyday routine. Which is, make my bed, brush my teeth, and go downstairs to have breakfast. And then, since it’s the weekend, I'm allowed to do anything I want so I just wait until Charlie, and my parents are ready to go to the park. “Can we go now, can we go now?” whined Charlie. “Yes Charlie,” Dad said, “but first we need to make sure everyone else is ready to go.” I put on my shoes, and ran out the door. Mom follows behind me, and locks the door. We usually walk to the park because it’s so close to  the house. I walk near Charlie, while Mom and Dad walk behind us.

Chapter V

Drew woke up, but not to his alarm. Am I actually early? He checked his alarm, and waited for about a minute, but the alarm didn’t seem to move. 

Then he realized. Did he forget to start it? Yes, he did. Oh well, he could tell Max to meet up again, this time, being less forgetful. That wouldn’t be too hard.

Oh, who am I kidding. No matter what I do, I always fail. I guess that is who I am. I guess I was just born to be a complete failure.

No. I can’t give up now. He could maybe hope that Max saw that Drew wasn’t there and thought Drew meant tomorrow.

Drew just needed to spend the day doing something until 8:20. But that was the thing. He had nothing to do.

Until he got an idea. If he wanted to get the job, and stay in it, the least he could do was practice. 

Drew was sure that Max’s boss would probably give him something easy and low paying, so maybe a cashier or something because all you have to do is just make sure people pay for what they buy.

Yeah, that didn’t sound too hard. But then realized he couldn’t really do anything to practice. So he slumped onto his couch to do nothing.

So Drew went onto his couch but as he went he quickly got off. No, I can’t just lay down and do nothing. I will, um, I’ll talk to the other workers, hopefully convincing them.

So he got a paper, and wrote on paper: Meet up at 8:20 close to the shop. Pass this to every employee working here. — Anonymous

Better not tell everyone that it was him who wrote the letter, or they might not go. Hopefully they could read his handwriting. 

So now, he had to just sleep, and make sure to remember to start his alarm.

Nah. I’m starting to get hungry. I will get some Burger King, then relax maybe later in the day.

Drew waited to get his order, while thinking about what to say when he met up with all the workers.

But he didn’t have time and already got his order. He drove back to his house and started to sloppily eat his burger. He then ate his fries five at a time. Nice.

Drew then got up to throw away the bags. Nah. He went back down and put his head on a table and thought about what he would say.

So first of all. Max will probably back me up and say some random stuff, while everyone else will do whatever they can to make sure I don’t get hired. Mocking, arguing, threatening, and maybe some more stuff.

So, I can start by just saying some random stuff like “I need this job to redeem my lack of redemption.”

Hopefully Max would actually come and understand that I didn't mean to not show up to the meeting I tried to organize with him.

Drew then realized he forgot something. He took his note, crumbled it in a paper ball, and drove to the store. Now it felt like he was visiting a place with one hundred guards, only to find none.

When he drove to the store. Even Max wasn’t outside, throwing something out. The window was open, So he threw the paper.

He saw someone he recognized pick up the paper, then he unfolded it and read it, then gave it to someone else, and said something, and because the window was open.

“Look at this note I found, Jack. Read it and pass it to everyone working here.” He said.

Drew now knew he succeeded. He now had to leave quickly. He ran to his car but saw the door open.

He started to run faster. But he was too late, the door already opened. And someone came out.

It was just Max, Drew sighed with relief. Drew. “Hi Drew.” Max said. “For a second I thought you were a different worker for a second.” Drew said.

“Yeah, you are lucky. I am really the only employee here who has a job that involves going outside.” 

“Oh nice, so, um, I kind of overslept while I was waiting to meet up with you so I arranged another one.” Drew said, but while he was talking, he saw Max’s expression change to shock.

“Bad idea, Drew. Remember, they don’t let you come to the shop.” “Oh yeah.” Drew said.

“Don’t get your hopes down, what if I lead them somewhere where we will all talk.” 

“Wait a minute. if you are the only person who would go outside at this time, then I can ask you right now.”

“Okay sure, what do you want to ask me?” Max asked. “Why do the other workers vote for your boss instead of you? Wouldn’t they prefer a nice person over a strict one?”

“I think they mostly care about looking good because the other employees are kind of narcissistic, so they might think that to do that more easily, they should have a strict boss to make them perfect.”

“That makes sense, but in that case, wouldn’t they want me because if I would just keep messing up, wouldn’t that make me look bad, and next to them, that would make them look good?” Drew asked.

“Eh, I don’t know, maybe because not accepting someone who their boss doesn’t like makes them seem more loyal.”

“Okay, thank you, just can you please do me one more favor.” Drew asked.

“Okay sure, what is it?” Max asked. “Can you please make sure everyone meets up at 8:20?” Drew asked back.

“Okay sure. Just to make sure, 8:20 right?” Max asked. “Yes, thank you.” Drew said.

“No problem, but also, can you do me a favor too?” Max asked. “Sure?” Drew said, waiting for Max to tell him what he had to do for him as a favor back.

“Please don’t wait for me to get outside to meet up with me again. As much as I want you to get the job, I don’t want myself to get fired just in case someone else comes out, which has happened before” Max said.

“Okay.” Drew said. “I appreciate it.” Max thanked Drew and then went to a trash can, threw out expired turkey, and went back into the store.

Okay. Drew thought and left in his car.

Chapter VI

Drew drove back to his house, ready to waste time again, hopefully this time managing to also do something useful afterwards.

He really just wanted to live his life, and he wanted to get the job to show the world he wasn’t completely a failure and could get up and do stuff.

But for now, he was just tired, and wanted to order some food quickly and just sleep. He might not be a total loser, but he wasn’t perfect either.

He drove to his car and got some Burger King, went back to his house, ate a burger, and collapsed onto his couch. He suddenly realized that he forgot to set his alarm.

He tried to get up, but fell asleep, he never had a lot of energy.

While Drew accidentally fell asleep, he realized that he forgot the alarm clock, and regretted forgetting it, because in that small moment, he realized that every worker he wanted to meet up with might think that the notes he threw to them was just a prank.

He somehow woke himself up, and checked the time. He did some simple math, and he was asleep for five minutes.

Whatever, I didn’t miss anything. But if I want to continue like that, I can’t just procrastinate anymore.

Drew remembered when he argued with his mom once when he was nine. “Why are you so strict? Can’t you just let me have fun like a normal kid for one second?”

“This isn’t a world of having fun or being happy. Get used to it, but having fun distracts you from doing important things.”

“But even billionaires, have fun. Why can’t you just let me get at least one toy? Do you just not want to lose money for your own_” “Go to your room, NOW!” 

Long story short, Drew realized he couldn’t do anything about it, and went to his room, crying for an hour until his mom let him get out.

He then realized that he had enough, and looked for his dad, who was on the couch, looking like he had a headache, probably after smoking.

He seemed tired so Drew decided that he should put his problems aside, and not bother him. His dad wouldn’t be able to help him anyway. His mom just couldn’t be beaten in an argument, even if you still didn’t agree.

Well anyways, he still did think that his mom overreacted about not having fun, but Drew still knew that it also won’t be a good idea to only have fun.

And I now realize that was what I am doing right now. I should stop sleeping for now. I now need to focus, and not fall asleep, in case I forget something.

Drew thought for a moment what to do, then he had an idea that would hopefully help him stay more focused than doing what he used to do.

He didn’t want to just eat fast food and spend the rest of his time sleeping, and failing to sleep for a short enough time to not be late and miss meetings.

So he decided to eat at a fancy restaurant for once, which would hopefully take him the perfect time, when it is close to meeting up, but not too much time or we would miss it.

To get the job, I might even eat at a non fast food restaurant to not fall asleep waiting for the rest of the time. I mean, it can’t be that bad, having a new routine. Sure, I don’t like trying new things, but I would still do it if I had to.

Drew started to feel more confident, besides, why should anyone be sad before losing? And Drew knew that he shouldn’t give up yet, so he didn’t fail yet.

So, Drew went into his car and drove to some restaurant where the name was cursive so he couldn’t read it. He looked up where nearby fancy restaurants were, but he was still shocked to see how fancy it was.

There were candles on the table which were wrapped in napkins, and metal silverware.

Alright. I won’t be surprised if it isn’t as good as fast food, but I should try my best to enjoy it.

He went inside and got greeted by a waiter who showed him his table.

He saw a menu on his table, and had no idea what any of the foods were. So he read random stuff and told a waiter who approached him what he read, hoping he got something good.

A few minutes later, he got his food, and quickly ate it. He might want to spend a lot of time, but not a long eating time plus the half hour waiting for the food.

Not bad, I guess. Not that good either, not as good as fast food, “how surprising”, but I guess it is okay. I might still want to have one or two Mcdonald’s meals a week, but nothing more. Maybe losing some weight will make me feel more reliable to Max’s boss.

Drew paid a waiter who came by, and left.

While Drew was driving in his car, he thought about something he avoided to think for a long time.

Maybe, Max’s boss is right, maybe I am born to just be some pathetic failure. I mean, look at me, I failed to meet up with Max and I nearly fell asleep and failed to meet up with every employee. 

Drew quickly pushed away that thought. I have to stay positive. Drew checked the time on his phone, and it was 8:13.

Yes! The store is nearly closing, then I can finally meet up!

Drew drove to his house, filled with excitement. All he had to do now was wait. He didn’t need to do anything else, because he was prepared, and in about five minutes, he might get hired.

Drew waited for two minutes thinking about what he would say before going back to the shop.

As he went to the store, seeing all the workers looking at the car pull over, Drew could only have a single thought in those five seconds.

This is time to see the moment of truth. 

The Dogs of Thanksgiving  

By Annabelle Tsang

Short Story Series

“Hey, Milan! Have you heard about the FEAST of Thanksgiving?” I said. “Oh yeah! I can’t WAIT for the delicious snacks we will eat on that day!” Milan replied, drooling. We were both lounging on the couch at our parent’s house. Amelia the dog sitter wasn’t here, but I had a feeling that she was going to come in about….. now. “Hi, Milan and Myrana! So good to see you again! Your parents just went to go buy food for Thanksgiving tomorrow! But you know them… they like to go OVERBOARD! I think you’ll be getting great snacks tomorrow!” Amelia cheered as she came into the house. “Thanksgiving is TOMORROW?!” I practically screamed. “YES!!! I CAN’T WAI-” “Oh Milan, why are you barking so loud? That goes for you, too!” Amelia said, pointing to me. Amelia took care of us that night, and she left late in the night when our parents came back. But by that time, we were already dreaming of Thanksgiving tomorrow. “Wakey, wakey, my sleepyheads! Today is Thanksgiving! Do you know what that means, my little sweeties?” Mom sang, shaking us awake. Milan and I barked to show that we knew. “Well, Thanksgiving is really during dinner, so we’ll have to wait. But, who wants to take an hour. Long. WALK?” “ME! ME! ME! ME! ME!” “NO, ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME!” We both screamed. “Stop! Stop barking! I meant both of you! Come on, let’s put your harnesses on.” “Yay!” We both said in unison. After we had our harnesses and our leashes on, we went on our hour- long walk. It was the BEST WALK EVER! After the hour-long walk and the longest hours ever, it was finally time for Thanksgiving dinner. Dad put the steaming hot turkey on the dinner table.