Maralyte High: The Window in The Office

CHAPTER ONE: DEXTER

Early birds, Dexter called it.

Well, for a family like the Washburns, it would always be unusual that they value time too much.

Early in the morning (4 a.m to be exact), Dexter woke up to the sound of parental quarrels from Fred Washburn, his father, and Danica Washburn, his mom. And on the last few weeks of summer, no less.

"You really have to enroll him there now!" Mrs. Washburn shouted from the kitchen directly below Dexter's room. "Only a few weeks left until summer ends and the fall comes in. Don't you have any plan of doing it?"

"There's still plenty of time, Danica, don't fret," Mr. Washburn answered. "And you don't have to nag me! It's still 4 a.m. can't you see?"

"I REALLY HAVE TO! YOU ARE SO LAZY THAT YOU EVEN BEAT SNAILS AND CATTERPILLARS WHEN YOU PLAN OUT FOR SOMETHING!"

"Fine!" Mr. Washburn exasperatedly said. "I'm taking Dexter there, if it takes the cake. Now shut up! You're waking other people."

The parental uproar died down.

"Jeez . . ." Dexter groaned as he sat upright in bed. "Mom and Dad really are early birds."

Dexter's room was a tinge of yellow. Around the walls, posters of different people hung on the wall. Beside his bed, a table stood, where a storm of clutter was going on, apparently jumbled by Dexter's indecision. Piles of paper, books, an overturned lamp, and a Luke Skywalker figure was holding his lightsaber up.

He tried to shake off his sleepiness, despite the fact that it was still four-thirty in the wee hours of the morning. As he sat, he thought about what his mom talked about enrolling in a school. What school would it be? And why now, where there were still a few weeks of summer left. No doubt. They really live up to the "Early Bird" title.

After a few minutes, he fixed his bed, restacked the books and the paper pile into a much neater form. He grabbed something from the table drawer, and went downstairs, still in his blue pajamas.