I’m a twelve-year-old kid living with my dad and my grandmother.

My friends say that there are times I go nuts when I’m hyper. I think just because I might get a little carried away does not mean I am nuts.

My dad always tells me, “You are getting big now. Be more mature and blah blah blah.”

I want to go out and have fun, honestly, which I have been doing a little late.

My exams are coming up. I want to do good to get into an excellent high school and make my dad and grandma proud. Been doing all-nighters, trying to cram as much as possible.

Sleeping at the edge of my bed on my side, and it’s almost time to get up to take my final exam; after that holy land of summer vacation awaits me, my school will close for summer vacation, and summer begins officially. I was going in and out of consciousness, relying on the phone alarm to wake me up.

“Ataru~!”, My grandmother called out like she was in a choir.

Being startled awake, I fell forward, and the floor high-five my face that morning.

“What?!” I replied, wide awake after taking the face plant.

“Don’t what me.” my grandmother snapped back. “You need to get ready; you’re running late!”

“I’m not? I just ...”

I stopped, realizing my phone was dead, and went to the living room to check the clock there.

Roughly thirty minutes.

“Ah, no, no, no, no!”

I hurried into the shower and made a half-assed attempt at showering, brushing my teeth afterward and skipping breakfast with what little time I had left. I grabbed my lunch bag and ran out as fast as I could to make it in time.

I usually took two buses, one to the main bus terminal and then the second to my school. Since I was running late, I jumped into an overcrowded bus instead of waiting for one that wasn’t so packed. Being squished so tightly put an image in my head of those Japanese trains where the conductor pushes you into the train to make you fit. After fifteen agonizing minutes, the bus finally moved, and when it finally arrived at the bus terminal, I jumped out sweaty as hell and thankful to breathe the somewhat fresh city air; I Almost thought I was going to die.

After I caught my breath, I then ran to the next bus with utter haste. As I bobbed and weaved between a crowd of people crossing, I crashed into an Asian kid.

“Watch where you’re going, you idiot!” He barked as he gave me a dirty look and continued. “And tie your shoelaces!”

Jerk!

I would have responded, but I had little time, and I had to get to school, so I continued and jumped on the next bus. No thanks to the driver. I had barely made it to the exam hall, let alone finished the exam, but what’s done was done, and it left me to think of what to do next with my free time.

I pondered to myself, mind drifting while I walked, till somebody pinched my shoulder.

“Ow! Who in Da he-“

“You shouldn’t daydream while walking.”

I turned around and saw my old friend Louise; she was the same height as me and had her hair in cornrows; we knew each other since we were both six years old. The day we met was weird. An older kid was beating me up, and then out of nowhere, she jumped in and sucker-punched the brute holding my shirt, grabbing my hand after and pulling me along. She was speaking French the whole time, so couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

When we finally outran the bully, she started asking me something in French.

I cocked my head to the side. “Huh?”

“Why do you not fight?!”, She had asked in broken English.

Louise had pinched me again from my flashback.

“Ow! Alright, easy!”

She had lost most of her French accent, but you could still hear it from time to time. “How well did you think you did on the exams? I felt I could have done better myself.”

Every time you say that, you always score in the nineties.

“You know you don’t have to score a hundred on everything, and sometimes you have to relax.

She huffed. “But you got to push yourself if you want to go to a wonderful school.”

“Yeah, but I want to have some fun sometimes, not spend every day with my face in a book or my butt in a chair. I mean, I want to ...”

I trailed off; a blonde girl who passed by drew my attention.

Louise looked at her, then back at me before shaking her head. “You should go talk to her.”

I laughed as we walked out of the exam hall. “Waste of time. That girl is way out of my league. Besides, every other dude is already gunning for her. Probably dating someone from the track team or something.”

“She’s not dating anyone on the track team. You’d know that if you came to track training as I asked.”

“Track isn’t for me; I’m way too slow. I mean, you beat me every race. Imagine if I ran against a guy?”

Louise’s brow furrowed. “Are you saying because I’m a girl that you should automatically be faster?”

“Yep, if we were on the same fitness level.”

Louise moved parallel to me, getting closer to give me an ear full until we both felt a sudden weight on our shoulders.

“Hey, guys!”

We both flinched at the loud greeting, making the third wheel giggle.

I tilted my head to the side. “Julie?” she was hanging between our

“Yes!” Julie happily replied. “I have to hail my best buds, especially after nailing those exams.

Being shorter than both of us, Julie used Louise to propel herself far back before taking out her Bluetooth speaker and doing a victory dance to the tune that came out of it.

“What do you think of my new beat?” Julie asked.

I shrugged. “Needs work.”

“Okay,” Louise added.

“Wait! Today was the last day! Julie, move over!” I shouted before I joined in the dance, which I was terrible at doing.

Louise looked at us both. “Don’t dance in the hall!”

“Relax, there’s nobody around. You think I’d be dancing if there were people? Join us; the school’s over after all.”

“Yea.” Julie agreed. “Come on, ever since the dean made you a prefect here, you’ve been acting like you got a stick up your butt.”

“Yes, lulu, join in, mi amigo, por favor. I am even asking in French.”

“That’s Spanish!” Louise yelled.

“Same thing.”

“Si Je ne te connaissais pas Je prendrais ça a une insult”, Louise muttered before she joined in, which I could only assume was an insult."

Later, after our horrible dancing, we made our way out from the school entrance and towards the bus stop.

“What are your plans for the summer, guys?”, Julie asked.

I thought for a moment. “Got some new games. Once my dad relinquishes my console, it’s open season. Going to play till I’m blind and dumb.”

“Cool, I’m going just to mix some songs.”

“You’re joining me online when you can, right?”

“Yep.”

“I got track camp, then I have to visit family in France,” Louise added. “When I arrive in France, I’ll join you guys online when I can. By the way, Atrau, why were you almost late this morning?”

I nervously chuckled. “That is a story for another time; let’s just get home.”

Accepting my answer, Louise waited with Julie and me for our bus to arrive.