A School Of Weirdos

CHAPTER THREE

After a 10-minute bus ride, we arrived home. First, I took a bath. Then, my mom gave me some noodles to prepare for myself - I was already capable of preparing simple dishes at that age. I was just twelve years old at the time.

After I finished cooking, I started eating in the living room. Just to provide some context, we lived in a two-bedroom apartment with a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom attached with a toilet. After I finished eating, I decided to relax on a long chair on the left side of the living room.

While I was relaxing, my mom started asking me questions about my first day at school. My mom asked, "How was your first day at John Felix Academy?" I was expecting that question, so I had already thought about what I would say. "It was great," I replied with a neutral expression.

There was a reason for my measured response. I had considered how my mom would react if I told her about the weird things that happened on my first day at John Felix Academy. I thought she might laugh, doubt my story, feel worried, or try to brush it off in an optimistic way.

I figured she would take the latter approach. Ultimately, I decided that there was no point in giving my mom a bad impression of the school on the very first day. After all, it's possible that my first day was not representative of my overall experience at the school. It would be premature to judge the school based on just one day. A more accurate assessment would require a longer period of observation.

There's a chance that the first day was an anomaly, and that the rest of my experience at the school will be different. I don't want to form a negative opinion based on one isolated experience. Rather, I want to give the school a fair chance and see how things go over time. That was all what I thought.

Well, if you think my mom went along with my response, then you will be shocked by what happened next. My mom could tell that I wasn't telling the whole truth, so she probed further.

"Just great? Nothing else to add?' she asked. But I was a skilled liar. I invented things that never happened and mixed them with some of the things that did happen. In other words, I mixed lies with truth and told my mom in a convincing way. I have to say, my acting skills were top-notch.

After our conversation about my first day at John Felix Academy, my mom fell asleep. I think work had been hectic for her that day, and she was tired. While she was asleep, I began drawing in my sketchbook to pass the time. I've gotten into the habit of drawing when there's no light, as a way to fight boredom.

An hour passed, and my mom woke up to find me doing my homework. Of course, I hadn't forgotten that I had homework to do.

I'm the type of person who does my homework whenever I feel like it, as long as I meet the deadline. I don't like rushing through my assignments, because I think I'm more likely to make mistakes if I do. I've never tested that theory for myself, though, because I've never rushed through my homework.

Anyway, when my mom saw me working on my homework, she said, "Oh, I'm glad to see you doing your homework, Paul. Why didn't you do it sooner? Were you busy drawing or something? Because if you had started right after I fell asleep, you would have been done by now."

She sat up straight and looked at me. I scratched my head nervously and gave her a shy smile. It had only been a few minutes since I started working on my homework before she woke up. I was doing my math assignment, and the problems were pretty easy.

After two hours, I finished my homework. My mom was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, using a rechargeable touch light she had hung up nearby. I was still waiting for the electricity to come back on. After a few minutes, the lights flickered on. I was quick to turn on the TV, excited to watch my favorite show.