Jack stared across the room where his sister was sitting up straight, hands folded in her lap, attentively watching the teacher. Showoff he thought to himself, and scowled.
"Jack?" Ms. Shi, his math teacher, said, and he realized she had asked a question.
"Yes?" He asked, trying to figure out what he had missed.
"I asked you a question. Can you tell me what it was?" She said, smirking slightly. Jack quickly scanned the blackboard, trying to see where the previous person had left off with the math problem but it was completed.
"Uh, was I supposed to do the next problem?" He guessed randomly. The other students giggled, and his sister grinned.
"Jack, I asked you if you were paying attention, which you obviously weren't. What were you doing, instead?" the teacher sighed dramatically.
"I was thinking that I had to finish my English homework by tomorrow if I want to bring my grade up." Jack invented.
"Yeah right, that's totally what you were thinking about." She said sarcastically. "You can do it during lunch detention with me, then." Ms. Shi announced, and he groaned.
"Meanwhile, since you so graciously offered, you maydo the next problem." The teacher added, and the class tittered. His sister didn't, but tried to hide a grin. He admired her restraint. Glowering, he stalked up to the blackboard and quickly scribbled down the problem as the teacher dictated it. Zipping through the problem, he quickly finished it and stalked back to his seat. Flopping down, he cast a warning look at his sister, who was now struggling to contain laughter.
"Well Lilac, I can see you think this is funny. Can you explain to Jack why you think so?" Ms. Shi asked his sister. His sister hesitated, spotting the nasty glare Jack gave her, but obviously this kind of offer was irresistible, because she announced,
"You did it wrong." The class finally lost it and burst out laughing.
"Quiet!" Ms. Shi ordered, and quickly regained order.
"Lily, you are correct. Perhaps you can show Jack what he did wrong." She suggested. Lily calmly went up to the board and started to write out the proper answer. Jack tuned out her explanation and went back to his daydream of designing a city. First I'd put a large mall next to the… He was jarred out of his thoughts when the teacher glared at him and he sat up, trying to look alert. The teacher scowled at him. Finally, the bell rang for lunch. He started to get up, but groaned when the teacher handed him a lunch pass. He went to his locker and spun the combination, speedily opening it. Ignoring the architectural pictures pasted all over his locker he snatched up his lunchbox. Stomping back to the math classroom, he stalked inside. The teacher nodded and handed him a worksheet, covered with math problems. He started scribbling down answers looking up every once in a while.
"Keep working." Ms. Shi would say without fail. He went back to work, grumpily picturing his friends laughing together. Detention dragged on…and on…and on…and on until finally it ended. He tossed his paper to the teacher and vanished into the mob of students walking to their next class. Soon he reached his science class, where Mr. Yale was waiting.
"Today we will be dissecting frogs. At your table is a plate of frogs, knives, and other materials. Please take a seat and wait for farther instructions." Mr. Yale said to him as he walked by. Jack sat down at his seat and stared queasily at the giant slimy frog in the middle of the table.
"Take your scalpel and make an incision from the side of the frog's mouth to the base of its throat. Then, extract the organ you see inside." Mr. Yale continued. Jack wrinkled his nose and sliced the frog's neck. He put down the scalpel and picked up the tweezers. He started to pull the organ out, but the slimy feel of it was so disgusting, of course Jack vomited. There was a moment of silence, and then the class shrieked and ran for the other side of the room, Mr. Yale called front office and asked for a janitor, and told the girl who sits across from him named Amber to take him down to the nurse. Amber stood up and Jack got up too, nauseas. Wobbling down the hall toward the nurse, Amber walked next to himc up, and his disgruntled mom got out. She stalked into the school, and Jack heard the door open.
"Well, hello there. I'm Mrs. Lewis, Jack's mom." His mom said smiling tightly. He knew she would be furious about his detention, but didn't want to scold him in front of the nurse.
"Oh good, so you'll be taking him home then?" Mrs. Jenny asked, smiling brightly.
"Yep, Jack, come on. Go ahead and get in the car. Do I need to sign anything?" His mom replied.
"Nope, no papers or anything you have to sign. Have a nice day!" She replied waving. His mom nodded and left, getting into the car after Jack. Once inside, she exploded.
"You got LUNCH DETENTION?! Jack!" She exclaimed, pulling out.
"Mom, I'm sorry, all right? Lily distracted me." Jack said defensively. His mom took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
"Jack, we discussed this already. You promised you would try harder to pay attention in class and get good grades, and if you got straight As your father and I would sign you up for architectural camp." His mom said, a little less angry.
"I'm trying, but it's hard. You know it's not my thing!" Jack complained.
"Of course it's hard. Nothing's ever easy." His mom sighed, "But that doesn't mean you don't try." With that remark, she fell silent and they remained quiet for the rest of the drive. Soon, they reached the house. Jack relaxed slightly at the familiar sight of the white Victorian style house with blue trim. Slightly, being the key word. He walked inside and slipped off the heavy backpack his mom had mysteriously picked up somewhere. He headed over to the kitchen to get a snack, but his mom stopped him
"You are also grounded until farther notice, until your dad and I can come up with a better punishment. You are confined to your room." She said, scowling at him. Jack glared at her and started to climb the stairs.
"Oh, and Jack, give me your sketchbook. No architectural designing. If you're bored, do math problems. Here's your backpack." She added.
"But-"Jack protested, horrified, taking the backpack.
"No buts. You heard me, hand it over." His mom growled, extending her hand. Jack slapped it down and ran up the stairs into his room. He climbed up the ladder into his bunk bed and stared out the window. His bedroom was located in the tower on the side. He stared at the surrounding countryside. Idaho Falls had beautiful scenery, but he wanted to design architecture and live in the city. Furious at his mom, he made himself a private pact. The best revenge was being right. He knew his mom just expected him to ignore her and do what he always did. Jack decided to surprise her and get straight As. Architectural camp is a bonus. His mom wanted him to suffer. Jack decided to do math problems. Of course, to sufficiently surprise her, he needed to keep it secret…he thought. Jack unzipped his backpack. For good measure, he turned on his radio.
"Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy…" Jack hummed along to the tune of "Call Me Maybe". Pulling out his math homework, he started slowly and methodically doing the problems. He also made his best effort to write neatly, and was pleased with the result. Finishing up, he put the paper to the side and started organizing his binder. Three paper cuts and one neat binder later, Jack was finished. Placing his math homework carefully into his binder, he closed it and put it in his backpack. He then pulled out his social studies homework and started carefully completing it. Soon he finished and put it back in his Social Studies section.
"Jack, it's time for dinner!" Mrs. Lewis yelled from downstairs. Taking a moment to look sufficiently angry, he walked downstairs. Mrs. Lewis was serving up spaghetti and meatballs, and his dad was spooning corn onto the side. Lily was sitting on her chair, patiently waiting for everyone to sit down. When Jack glanced at her, she smirked and winked at him. Jack's mom and dad sat down at the table and Jack flopped down. Picking up his spoon, he shoveled corn into his mouth. The corn was delicious and Jack finished it quickly. He rapidly ate his spaghetti and meatballs and leapt up to go.
"Whoa, hang on a moment. We need to talk." Jack's dad, Henry, said, stopping Jack in his tracks. Lily looked delighted.
"Lily, go to your room. It's none of your business." Mrs. Lewis said. Lily looked disappointed, clearly having gotten her hopes up for hearing her parents chew out Jack. She stomped out angrily, glaring at them.
"So Jack, your mother explained how you had a fairly adventurous day. What happened?" His dad asked. Jack decided to still act like he was angry.
"If Mom told you what happened, why are you asking me?" He replied, scowling. His dad glared back.
"None of that stuff, now. I'm asking for your opinion." He clarified. He put down his fork and looked stern.
"Why do you need my opinion? Lily distracted me, I got lunch detention, threw up in Science, end of story." He said deliberately not being helpful.
"Well, fine. What do you think would be a fair punishment?" His mom asked, raising an eyebrow. Jack pondered the question, he needed more time to work on his homework, but they wouldn't expect him to do a punishment he'd normally hate.
"Well, not more grounding. Don't you think lunch detention was suitable punishment?" Jack asked, while he leaned against the wall.
"No, of course it wasn't. That was because you weren't paying attention in classes. You need punishment for not living up to your promises." His dad corrected. Jack threw his hands up.
"I said I'd T-R-Y! I didn't say I would do it, I'd try!" Jack exclaimed, genuinely frustrated at that point.
Jack, stop that. I know what you think but this is reality. In our minds, it's the same thing. You aren't trying hard enough." His mom said, and his dad agreed. Jack took a moment to calm down. While he did so, his mom decided to help him out.
"So, I suppose more grounding is exactly what you need." His mom finished. Jack scowled, acting furious.
"So, go to your room now." His dad hinted.
"Fine, I will." Jack snapped and turned stalking up the stairs. Once safely locked in his room, he grinned. Yawning, he chose to go to bed early. Climbing up the ladder into his bunk bed, he closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly.
Chapter Two
"Jack!" His mom yelled. Jack was instantly alert. He tossed the covers aside and climbed down the ladder. He quickly realized he had fallen asleep in his clothes, and they were wrinkled and messy. He changed into a fresh T-shirt and jeans, and walked downstairs into the kitchen.
"Here, have a bagel." His mom said stiffly. Jack took it equally curtly. Stuffing it in his mouth, he packed up his lunch and conveyed it upstairs. Dropping it into his backpack, he hauled it downstairs. Jack's alarm for the bus rang, signaling he had to leave.
"Bye Mom!" He yelled as he raced out. The door closed behind him as he ran to his bus stop. Getting there early, he passed the time fantasizing about his teacher calling his parents in praise of his wonderful homework. Pretty soon the bus pulled up to the curb. Jack climbed on, heading toward the back. Pretty soon he found an empty seat. Sitting down, he stared out the window. He lived near the school, so the bus pulled to stop pretty quickly. Disembarking, he pushed open the doors of the school and walked inside. He hurried to his first period class, Social Studies.
"Good morning, Jack." Mrs. Lee said.
"Hi!" He said, happy for once about social studies. He reflected on how good it felt to come into class prepared. He walked into class and sat down in his seat. Glancing up at the board, he read the warm up:
Take out your homework and write a paragraph on why it is important to learn about Christianity. Jack pulled out his homework and a piece of paper. Quickly scribbling down a paragraph for the warm up, he looked up.
"Alright class, I will be coming around to check your homework soon. Please share your paragraph with the person next to you." Mrs. Lee said, like she always did. Jack obediently turns to the person next to him, Jennifer, and starting rattling off his answer.
"It's important to learn about Christianity because it's one of the major world religions and it's important to know about the world religions so you can understand people's religious habits and not offend people accidently…" Jack said. Jennifer arched an eyebrow, obviously thinking that it wasn't the best answer. She then proceeded to share her answer, a lengthy 2 paragraphs that put his to shame. Mrs. Lee walked up.
"Here, Mrs. Lee." Jennifer said, displaying her homework.
"Excellent work as usual, Jennifer." She replied, and looked at Jack.
"Here it is!" Jack exclaimed, proudly displaying his homework. Mrs. Lee looked it over, and then looked shocked and angry.
"Jack, I knew you hated homework, but I never thought you'd get someone else to do it for you!" She exclaimed, scowling. Jack's jaw dropped.
"What? No, I did it!" Jack was horrified. The entire class was staring at them at this point.
"Impossible. Your handwriting looks nothing like that." Mrs. Lee declared, pointing at his warm-up as evidence.
"No, but I was doing it really neatly…" He trailed off when Mrs. Lee glared at him. He couldn't believe it. He had spent an hour doing his homework neatly and carefully, and his teacher didn't even believe he did it.
"Lunch detention and I will be calling your parents." Mrs. Lee decreed. Jack felt sick; his parents would be furious. He started to protest, but Mrs. Lee had already moved on to the next table. It was even more humiliating because he knew everyone had seen. Jack reflected that the teacher would call his parents, but not in praise of his homework. The rest of class, everyone was staring at him, and not because he was wearing something weird. Jack groaned and scowled and buried his head in a book, because he didn't want to face his classmate's laughter. Class was mostly a nightmare. Finally though, the bell rang. Gratefully, Jack darted off to gym, eager to leave Social Studies. Walking into the locker room, he quickly changed. Standing next to the door, he waited for the teacher to tell him to go outside.
"Alright, everyone go outside!" The gym teacher yelled. Jack shoved the door open and raced outside, skidding to s stop on the wet field.
"Today we're going to be playing Capture the Flag. Please form a line single file." The teacher said. Jack was jostled roughly into the line, in between a guy named Jim, and a girl named Cara. His sister was on the other side of Cara.
"Now, I want every other person to go to this side of the field." The teacher said. Jack obediently walked onto the field. He sighed when he realized Lily was on his team. The teacher blew the whistle, and Jack raced to the side. He then waited patiently. Pretty soon, some kids on his team made a break for the flag. While the defenders mobbed them, Jack raced around them, heading for the flag. With one leap, he grabbed it. His teammates cheered, and the defenders turned to stare at him. His actions didn't really register until Jack was halfway back.
"Distract them!" Jack shrieked, as he ran for his team's side of the field. Half his teammates charged onto the field, blocking the defenders from getting to him. He trotted onto his field, victorious. His team cheered, and the gym teacher whistled again. Everyone applauded, and Jack basked in the adoration of his classmates… Did you really believe that? Here's what actually happened. Jack sidled toward the side, where he idled, waiting for class to end. A loud roar startled him, and he looked up. Someone from the other team was breezing by him, and his teammates were screaming at him to stop him. Jack instantly sprinted toward him, but his foot had fallen asleep. Jack tripped and fell, and the enemy crossed the finish line and won.
"Jack! You're supposed to be paying attention!" Some people were yelling.
"Great lot of help you are." Someone else muttered. Jack was mortified and embarrassed. Dodging his classmates' muttering and dark looks, Jack hurried off to the locker room to change.
Jack sighed as he dropped his backpack on his bed. His day had been the worst day of his life. First the accusations of not doing his homework, then he let the other team win capture the flag, and during detention his teacher called his parents. During math, his teacher, in front of everyone, said this wasn't his homework, and told him lunch detention. He had to admit he already had lunch detention and was subject to the humiliation of after school detention. Fortunately, his parents both had to work late today, so he had a few hours until they got home.
"Oh J-a-a-a-c-k!" an obnoxious call sounded.
"Oh no, I forgot Lily's home! Quick, hide!" Jack muttered to himself, taking cover and assuming defensive position.
"You got another pho-n-n-e call!" Lily sang as she flounced up the stairs and barged into his room confidently. Jack closed his eyes, awaiting execution.
"Make those 2 phone calls." Lily added upon reflection. Jack sighed, horrified.
"No, 3 if you count the one from Mom, and it seems like you're in big, as in B-I-G trouble." Lily said cheerfully.
"What did she say?!" Jack said, his eyes widening. Lily smirked, savoring the moment.
"Aww, is someone having a guilty conscience?" Lily asked, faking pity.
"Quite gloating and tell me what Mom said." Jack snarled, as his patience at an end. Lily shook her head.
"Tsk tsk. You need better manners." Lily said. Jack bit his lip, and then took a deep breath.
"Ok, I'm really sorry I was mean to you. Would you please be kind enough to inform me of what our Mother called about?" Jack said politely.
"Why, of course I will. I'll tell you all about it. Mom called because you got 2 detentions, and she said some B-I-G punishments are in order. She also said she thought you were going to try harder, so because you aren't, she is very disappointed in you. She said she thought you had better sense than that, and told me to tell you that you should consider yourself grounded until they can devise a suitable punishment. I believe you are supposed to be locked in your room, and I'm supposed to confiscate everything related to architectural designing, video games, or other means of entertainment. She also told me to print up these…" Lily held up a packet of papers. Jack glimpsed the word Math at the heading, and multiple problems covering the paper before Lily carelessly tossed them on his desk.
"According to Mom, you have to complete 5 of these worksheets by the time she gets home, or she will rip up all your architectural designs." Lily said, calmly raising an eyebrow as Jack scowled.
"Oh, don't be too angry at her. You did get 3 detentions in the past 2 days. Why did you get the detentions today, anyway?" Lily inquired. Jack sighed, decided if he confided in Lily, she might leave him alone to get his worksheets done.
"I got detention because I did my homework extra neat, and the teachers thought I got someone else to do it for me." Jack explained wearily.
"That's why?!" Lily scoffed. Jack nodded unhappily, closing his eyes.
"Let me see." Lily demanded, needing evidence. Jack sighed, giving in as he unzipped his backpack. Rummaging through his binder, Jack identified his math homework amidst the sea of worksheets and quizzes and homework. Fishing it out, he tossed it down to Lily.
"Wow, I can see why your teachers thought someone else did it. What are you going to try now?" Lily asked, studying the page.
"Eh, probably do it correctly but with my usual handwriting." Jack said, sighing.
"Do it messier, to make sure." Lily suggested, shrugging. Jack decided that sounded pretty rational, and nodded.
"I better do these worksheets. When did Mom say she was gonna be home?" Jack grunted, climbing down from his bed.
"Going to be home and she said about 7:30." Lily corrected. Jack rolled his eyes, not in the mood for a grammar lesson. Flopping down at his desk, he picked up a pencil stub and looked at the worksheet, lamenting his fortune. The worksheet had 30 problems on each side of the paper. Lily trotted off, closing the door behind her. It was 2 hours later when Jack realized his sketchbooks, video games, and designs were missing. He scowled, then put the final answer on the 5th worksheet and tossed his pencil over his shoulder. Math problems do not put him in a good mood. He then put the papers off to the side, and then pulled out his regular homework. He started messily scribbling down answers. It was simple compared to the worksheets his mom demanded he complete. In fifteen minutes, he had finished his homework. His English homework he just did neatly, because luckily his English teacher didn't call him out on it. He stuffed it in his binder, not being particularly careful and accidently crumpling a couple pages. He didn't really care though. He opened his door and headed downstairs, starving. He glanced at the clock: 5:45. He had an hour and fifteen minutes until his mom got home, so he decided to grab a quick snack. Opening the pantry, he scanned the different types of chips. Settling on Cool Ranch Doritos (Extra Spicy), he crept back up to his room, taking care not to alert Lily, since technically he was supposed to be confined to his room. He got to his room and silently closed the door. Then he relaxed and opened the bag of chips.
"Jack! Come here!" Jack's mom yelled. Jack started awake, disturbing the half eaten bag of chips that fell on his floor with a loud crash, spilling all over the floor. He wildly glanced at the clock: 7:30. He had fallen asleep, and his mom had come home. And from the sound of it, three hours was not sufficient time for her to cool off.
"What was that?!" Mrs. Lewis yelled suspiciously. Then, even more ominously, he heard feet tramping up the stairs. Hurriedly, he started shoveling chips under his desk. He knew his mom would be furious if she found out he was either
A: Stockpiling junk food in his room
B: Leaving his room and sneaking downstairs to grab junk food, or
C: Eating junk food right before dinner,
…That or any or all three things. The doorknob turned, and Jack looked up; right into his Mom's furious green eyes.
"JACK HENRY LEWIS!" She screeched. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack glimpsed Lily peering in from behind his mom. Jack flinched and lowered his gaze guiltily.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" his mom cried. Jack slowly got to his feet.
"Actually, I don't want to know. We'll talk about this later. Let me see the math worksheets." Eager to show he did something right, Jack snatched up the 5 worksheets.
"Here they are!" Jack said, relaxing a little. His mom took them from him, and counted through them.
"You only did 5." His mom growled. Jack instantly tensed. Slowly, he turned and stared at Lily. She guiltily tried to escape, but his mom turned too.
"Lily told me I was only supposed to do 5." Jack said defensively—and angrily. Now, if Lily was a decent actor, she would have been able to pretend Jack was lying to get off the hook. Unfortunately, she failed theater; actually, it was the only thing she was bad at. Lily guiltily tried to explain.
"I, uh, I must have misunderstood…" She trailed off, knowing his mom wouldn't believe her.
"Ok, Jack, you're off the hook for only doing 5. However, I thought I made it clear snacks are not allowed in your room?" Jack's mom asked. Jack pouted.
"But I was hungry, and you wouldn't be home for another hour and a half. It would take even longer for you to make dinner." He complained. Jack's mom sighed.
"And why did you get 2 detentions?" She asked wearily. Jack decided maybe he could be cleared of all charges, and maybe even not get in trouble.
"Well, I decided I would really try hard to get good grades so I could go to architectural camp, so I wrote my homework as neat as I could. My teachers didn't believe I did it neatly, so they thought I got someone else to do it for me. Here, I'll show you!" Jack rummaged through his backpack, pulling out the homework. He handed it to his mom, who looked it over critically.
"I can see your teachers were correct. Who did you convince to do it for you?" She asked, and Jack stomped his foot.
"When are you and dad going to believe me when I tell you I do my work?!" He yelled, exasperated.
"When you prove it, and when you're trustworthy." His mom said unflappably. Jack scowled and slammed the door on her. Normally this would send her off the edge, but she just went away, probably to chew out Lily. Ordinarily, this would have made him evilly happy, but he was too tired and upset to react much. Jack finished cleaning up the chips, then climbed onto his bed and went back to sleep. Later he woke up. Realizing it was nearly dinnertime, he climbed down. His shirt was grimy from the Dorito cheese and from wrinkled from sleeping in it. He quickly switched it to a clean white shirt.
"Jack! Lily! It's time for dinner!" His mom called. Jack opened his door and headed downstairs. Flopping down on his chair, he waited patiently for dinner to be served.
"I'm sorry, Jack. Your servant has the day off." His mom said pointedly. Jack leapt to his feet realizing his error and quickly assisted his sister in setting the table. By the time he finished getting water for everyone, dinner was served. Jack sat down and started serving himself the enchiladas and refried beans. Passing it to Lily to dish up, Jack picked up his fork and started to dig in.
"Mm, yummy, thanks Mom!" Jack grunted appreciatively, trying to butter her up to soothe her anger. She nodded, a bit appeased, and kept eating. The enchiladas were perfect—a rich sauce coating a fantastic mix of beef and dough with cheese sprinkled all over and just a dash of salsa. Jack picked up his spoon and polished off the refried beans. After the enchiladas, the beans made a perfect side dish. He sipped a bit of water; the food was a bit spicy. He finished quickly. Remembering yesterday, Jack sat and waited. Pretty soon everyone was finished, and Jack debated whether or not to do the dishes. Common courtesy won out and he stood up, picking up his mom's plate as well as his own.
"Well thank you, Jack." She said, pleased. Happy to have achieved the desired result, Jack took it over to the sink, where he rinsed it off and filled the sink with hot soapy water to wash it thoroughly. While he waited for it to fill up with water, Jack went back to the table and cleared it off. Lily got up and started helping, obviously thinking the same thing as Jack—appease the parents to get out of trouble. Jack smirked and checked the sink. Shutting off the hot water, he grabbed a sponge and started to scrub the dishes clean. Lily just sort of stood there until she realized Jack stole her job and since the table was clear, she went back and sat down. Unfortunately, their mom did not approve, and Jack tried not to laugh as Lily was scolded. Revenge is sweet, indeed Jack thought to himself. Finishing the dishes, Jack set them on the rack to dry and skipped back to the table to sit down.
"Jack, please go get the homework from last night from your backpack." His mom said. Jack sprang with alacrity and hurtled up the stairs, disappearing into his room. He headed to his room and snatched his homework from his desk. Appearing downstairs, he handed the paper to his dad and sat down expectantly. Putting on his reading glasses, Mr. Lewis peered at the paper. He frowned, and looked up to Jack.
"Well, it does seem like you got someone else to do it for you. Can you prove you did it by writing something neatly? Here, write your name on the back of the paper." He said, handing Jack a pencil. He tried to write his name, but the pencil was not sharpened and it was a bit harder. It came out reasonably well though.
"Alright then, Jack. I believe you, but try not to do it again." His dad sighed, handing the papers back to him.
"You may go now, Jack." Jack's mom dismissed him. Lily got up to go also, but his mom stopped her.
"Hang on a moment, Lily. We need to have a talk, also!" His mom said as Jack disappeared up the stairs. Once upstairs, Jack pumped his fist.
"Yes!" He exclaimed quietly, and went into his room. Climbing up onto his bed, he flopped down as he fantasized about his architectural camp and gloated about Lily's come-uppance.