Dwayne's Middle School Days

Chapter 12

It was almost one o'clock in the morning and I'm still wide awake. I have no idea why I couldn't sleep, but I think my mind is just racing for no reason.

Hearing Ricky quietly snore just makes me a little frustrated. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "Why is this happening to me?" I whispered to myself, "Why can't I just *yawn* sleep for at least five minutes?"

I turned to my left side and went under the covers. The distorted sound of the vent sounded pretty relaxing. My eyes began to get a little heavy. "Hm. I should try this sleeping-under-the-covers method more often." I whispered.

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The next morning, I've been woken up by cat knitting its nails on my blanket. I slowly turned and Figaro slowly fell off my bed. I heard a giggle from the other side of my bed and saw JD kneeling down next to me. ¨What do you want?¨ I asked in my sleepy voice.

¨Mommy told me to come and wake you up.¨ JD's high pitched voice answered. I sighed and sat up. ¨You've been sleep for a pretty long time that you missed breakfast.¨

¨What did Mom make?¨ I asked.

¨....cereal.¨

¨Okay, I just make myself a quick bowl of cereal and continue my day.¨ I said getting out of bed and stretching. Me and JD walked downstairs and saw the rest of our family in the living room.

¨Oh good, you're finally awake.¨ Dad said. ¨Make yourself some cereal and join us.¨ As I poured some cereal in a bowl, I looked at the stove clock and saw that it was 11:45am. I realized that because I slept so late that it caused me to oversleep a little. I mean we got nowhere to go today I believe, but still that was the longest I have slept.

I sat in the table by myself eating my cereal while listening to the TV:

Woman: "Jonathan, I don't think I can love you anymore."

Man: "Why, Gloria?"

Woman: "Because, because of this." *ripping noise*

Man: "I-I can explain, Gloria."

Woman: "How could you? How could you hide this terrible secret from me!?"

Man: "It's not what you think."

Woman: "Oh yeah, Jonathan!? Well guess what? We're through!"

Oh my lord why is my family watching this crap? I can't see what's going on but I can already tell it's these boring fickle-romance sitcoms with confusing dialogue.

After drunk the milk from my bowl, I put the bowl in the sink an went back upstairs to wear one of my comfortable-around-the-house outfits. I walked back downstairs and joined my family in the living room where they finally changed the channel and turned on That 70's Show, a show I actually enjoy.

"So how is middle school going so far?" Mom asked me.

"Um, it's okay I guess." I answered.

"If you don't like the school we can transfer you to a different school."

"No no, I like the school. It's just that it don't feel as different as elementary school, except for the work, those are actually more challenging."

"Oh okay, I understand. Do you like that choir program?"

"Mmhm, I actually like it so far."

"Good, good. Oh, Ricky, don't forget you have your first flag football game Tuesday."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Ricky said.

"How do you forget your game schedule?" I asked.

"Yeah, and Mom has the whole schedule paper on the fridge." JD said pointing to the kitchen.

Ricky laughed at himself. "Well, I know now."

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We sat at the dinner table eating homemade pepperoni and sausage pizza. Mom's pizza, to me, kind of taste like Papa Murphy's pizza. I actually had to give me one last slice after eating like three slices.

"Y'know it's been a while since you've made homemade pizza, babe." Dad said to Mom.

"I know, and I'm glad that I remembered how I did it." Mom said looking at the remaining two slices at the middle of the table. I kept brushing my hair away from my eyes everytime I try to bite my pizza. Mom looked away from the two slices and began to notice me. "I think it's about time for you to get a hair cut, Dwayne."

I now noticed what I was doing. "What?" I actually like my medium-long afro. I know it's kind of rare for an African-American boy like me to have a curly black afro that almost touches my shoulders, but it's what makes me unique and I love it.

"You keep pushing your hair back and I think you need to get it cut so it won't be in your face for a while." Mom said.

"But I like my hair just the way it is." I said trying to defend myself. Mom didn't say anything back, I think it worked.

"Does anybody want anymore pizza?" Dad asked. We all shook our heads no. Dad shrugged. "Okay, I guess they'll be my lunch for tomorrow then."

We all put our plates in the sink and got ready for bed.