Apart from playing computer games, my next best thing was football. I loved dribbling the delightful ball at top speed around dazzling footballers, and I was desperate to get into the school team. I arranged to meet my friends, Lloyd and Adib around 7:30, at the front gate before school started to play some football before try outs, which were coming soon. Both of them were not particular happy about playing early in the morning, but they said yes. I dragged myself out of my bed, squeezed the toothpaste onto the brush, stroked it on my teeth, hauled myself downstairs and started to munch my toast. As I was eating a question made me drop my toast. Where is my school uniform? I leaped out of my seat and started searching the house top to bottom. I rummaged around my mum’s room, my room, my dog’s room, the bathroom, the car, the garage, the kitchen but not the basement. I scampered to the basement, fiddled inside the dirty basket but couldn’t find it.
“Check in the dirty basket,” yelled mum. So again I looked inside, I was in an immense rush so I just heaved out everything three or four at a time all over the floor when I reached the bottom of the basket, where the uniform was cluttered. I was wondering what idiot would put my washed clothes back into the dirty basket right at the bottom. “KOHULAN!” I had no time to find him and punch him; I had to pack my bag, after wasting that entire time finding my uniform and I only had 10 minutes. I plonked my uniform on when I came to a situation where I was scuttling around the whole house once again searching for my bag. I asked my brother but he didn’t say anything; just that I had to feed the dog. I was in a rush; I just poured some dog food onto a pot and left it under the table leaving the dog to come and find it. As he got up and ran for the food there I spotted in his basket a flat, Nike, blue bag. I was thinking, what bamboozle would do such a thing, putting my bag under the dog.
“KOHULAN!” It was too late to beat him up; but he was in the shower. It was strange; he was actually going to be late for the first time to school. I was now relaxed so I sat down, was finishing my breakfast, but it then came to my eyes, the time on the clock. I was late and I didn’t want to keep my friends waiting. I flipped my bag to my back, slapped some cream on my face, positioned some gel into my hair and before I knew it I was outside my house walking slow as a penguin. As I was walking I looked at my watch and saw I was 10 minutes late. So I stopped dawdling and set off as fast as I could.
I was on the road when I noticed that there weren’t a lot cars going by with school kids or any of them on the road as usual. I thought it might’ve’ been a religious festival and maybe they had the chance to stay out of school. I was getting closer and closer to school also getting more and more curious at the amount of people I saw going to school which was absolutely zilch so far. I stopped worrying and thought people come late to school more often, after all I did come early to play some football.
I turned at the corner of the road, crossed the road with my head down and came to a halt. I looked up to see my two friends not in their school uniforms, I turned around to see the school gate was shut, on the other side there was nobody there and on the other side the road was not busy, just with normal people going. I looked at my friends and they were bursting out with laughter. I was devastated, horrified, abashed, disgusted and I felt like crying and running of to my mummy. I wished I was an invisible man, I hoped there would be a big hole and I will fall into it, I wanted the whole place to be empty and I wanted to wake up from a dream. Instead I was standing there looking humiliated and stupid with my school uniform on and ready for school on a Saturday. After they stopped laughing and calmed themselves down they didn’t look at all pleased. This was because with the gate shut there was no chance of football, I had made them wake up early for no reason and make them walk and wait for me at school in the cold weather. As my punishment I had to suffer a few days at school of my most embarrassing moment ever! When it came to Monday my name was everywhere from the school newspaper headline to Graffiti on the wall. The question from everyone to me was “Is today the day you go to school or is it on a Sunday or a Saturday” or it will be “ I’m Mathulan and I love school so much that I come to school on a Saturday” with a burst of laughter to go with it. All I had to do was live it.
