Castle High

4. Jungle Camp - I

"RING!"

Ugh!

"RING!"

That does it.

Stretching out his right arm from under the sheets, he brought it down hard on the alarm table hoping to squash it to pieces to end the incessant torture. But unfortunately, he missed.

"RING!"

Squirming, he rose from bed and retracted the alarm clock from the side table and dismantled it immediately tossing the batteries unto the floor. But as he slid back into bed to continue his much treasured sleep, the door opened.

"You are not trying to go back to sleep are you?" His mother scowled, sticking her face out from the hall-way. "You are late already as it is."

Sitting up, he grunted. "But mom, it's an excursion – going late is the order of the day for such activities."

"Yes, but not you my dear." She continued, striding into the room and halting by his bed-side. "It's the order of the day for people who didn't miss the first week of school." Frowning, she reached for his sheets and dragged it from underneath him. "Now get up! I don't have all day. I also have to get to work."

He grumbled once more as his mom strode out of the room to give him his space. He dreaded the fact that his parents were going to use an accident to taunt him for the rest of the school year.

It wasn't exactly the way he hoped to start Sophomore year.

Just like every other regular teenager – he had travelled to spend the summer with his cousins and their folks at Canada. Before his departure, his dad had enquired about the resumption date and he had told him the conventional 2nd week of September in ignorance of the fact that it was actually the first week.

Dad had been so mad.

The way he bellowed and cried the night he arrived at the house would make one think that he stole his folk's money and made a run for it. So as a punishment, his dad had made him take an oath to be early in school at all times. Now early wasn't his problem, but his dad's definition of early and his was a little different.

"You think you are a smartass, heh?" His dad roared, the instant he set foot in the living room. "Well let me tell you smarty pants, as from next week you must arrive in school before 7:A.M."

Although the punishment was ridiculous, at that point he was just grateful he was eventually let into the house. But now that he thought on it, the task was indeed fa-

"JAMIE! I don't hear no water running."

Upon hearing his mom's warning, he sprung up to his feet immediately; slipped into his flip-flops and raced into the bath-room, with a towel wrapped around his waist. As he bathed, different thoughts flashed through his mind; mostly about his friends and school.

He had indeed missed school life.

It was really hilarious the way one craved for home and the holidays during school semesters and then craved for school the instant the holiday commenced. Although, some individuals would argue to the sun and back they didn't miss school in anyway and savored every bit of the holiday, but people like him who had over-protective parents; well the holidays wasn't exactly a period he would kill for.

School gossip had of course reached him while in Canada, through the Tenth Grade group chat. The group of course couldn't accommodate all tenth grade students – due to Castle's large population, so of course there had been special division of the groups.