I woke up to the disturbing sound of Peyton singing. He might be enthusiastic about listening to his fav lyrics coming out of him every time he takes a shower, but I’m nowhere near interested… And I’m glad he only sings while in shower. I pick up the towel that would’ve probably fell outta my hands when I dozed off. “ How much more time will it take for you to rinse that soap off your body mate?”, I shouted through the door. The singing didn’t stop abruptly as I imagined it would stop. Without another thought I started banging continuously on the door. After a few minutes of loud banging I heard him shout, “hold your horses!”. Rather defeated, I sat on the chair and stared into the eyes of whoever the lady was in the painting hung on the opposite wall. He burst out of the bathroom interrupting our blink test and gave a sly smile. I sighed and took my opportunity to take a decent bath.

My first class starts in a few minutes and I’m still walking out of the door holding a leftover piece of pizza. A typical day in my life! Peyton had to drive me to school but since I was running late I offered that I would drive faster and took the wheel. I sped through the neighbourhood and didn’t slow down until we reached the school. But as I expected the 2nd bell has already gone off and people are nowhere to be seen in the parking lots or corridors. Peyton got off and ran, disappearing into the halls. I thought it wouldn’t make much difference if I walked so I took my time to walk to my calculus class. Mr. Connors wasn’t exactly pleased to see me arrive late as usual but had no choice other than to allow me in.

 The classes were boring and the only hour I found interesting was break hour, because I could finally stop dreaming about food and actually have some. I spent the time with my guy group praising how the Hawks crushed the seals in last night’s game! It was epic! While eating, Peyton asked me how much long would he have to share shelter with me cause apparently, his parents will come to visit him by the end of the week and they don’t like uninvited guests. I said I’ll figure it out as soon as I can. The food today was actually pretty tasty which isn’t the case everyday at our school. I guessed it would’ve been something to do with principal Richard getting a title in the national edition of Edunet magazine. He has always been a silent player. Anyways, I focused on the ongoing debate and ate our principal’s victory meal for us.

I braced myself for the chem class after taking the necessary things and closing my locker. I walked to my class in the west wing with Adrien. Surprisingly, Miss. Kinsey hasn’t arrived yet. “ Oh yeah.. I totally forgot that today Kinsey mam is not gonna take our class. We have a sub for 2 hours Kyle!” , said Adrien. I smiled, thanked him for the info and ran back to my locker. The halls were silent except for the noise coming from the west wing. I opened my locker and stashed all my books. I took the keys for Peyton’s car and went out to the parking lot. The place was filled with emptiness with a few people roaming around, probably bunking their classes or disappointing their parents. I climbed inside of the volkswagon and started driving. I drove out of my campus and headed for the beach road.

The roads are brimming with traffic and the constant honking makes me cringe. As I took a turn into the windward neighbourhood, I stopped the car. I didn’t feel like going further. Deciding whether the thing I’m about to do is just bad or bad-enough-to-land-me-in-jail, I parked the car near the curb of the Stanley’s house. I got down, covered my head with the hoodie, wore my shades, locked the car and started walking towards the posh house at the end of the street.

Not a single family or person is out of their house. Only an old couple from a house are outside on their lawn reading magazines. I stopped in my tracks as I stare at the white building in front of me, at the end of the street. A scattered pile of mail lays on the porch . I opened the gate and went inside. I picked up the letters and tucked it in my bag. I went to the front door and tried the handle, no luck. Walking to the back side of the house, I looked over the houses to make sure no one is having a live telecast of my goofing around. I tried the latch to the back door but no use as well. With no other option, I decided to go for it. I reached down, grabbed a stone and went to the side of the house with a window, facing the dead end of the street. With the stone, I started hitting the corner of the window with the latch to the inside. The stone made a few cracks to the glass but it isn’t strong enough for breaking the glass. Once again, I checked on all sides just to see the street wearing a deserted look. I held the stone high. Closing my eyes, I threw it hard due to which the glass gave in and shattered to pieces. It was a small amoeba shaped hole, just a few inches short for my hand to go through. I picked up another stone and gently tapped at the edges of the hole at the flakes to shatter them. The hole finally widened and I felt grateful. Before I knew what was happening, something hard hit my head and blackness swallowed the world.

I woke up to a throbbing pain at the back of my head. My hand involuntarily went to the throbbing part and I winced in pain as my fingers touched the bump, wrapped in a gauge . My eyes opened me to a police station; I turned around and saw a few cops drinking coffee. maybe they’re on a break. I went out of the room and the cops looked at me and stopped smiling. A guy kept his coffee cup aside and came towards me. He took out handcuffs from his cuff belt and took the pleasure of securing my hands. “You are under arrest for trespassing and breaking into a house young fella!”, told the cop. He rudely interrupted the beginning of my sentence by saying “whosever house is that, has been contacted and informed and they’re on their way here. Thank goodness that traveller did the right thing, reporting it to us .Oh you’re in big trouble kid”. “ Yeah, kids these days do all kinds of nasty stuff, when I was a kid, I used to beg my mom for 63 cents so that I could buy a bar of chocolate!”, added in another cop sipping his coffee. Just before he could start again, a couple dashed into the station with a look which looked like a mix of  worry and anger and disgust. The man lifted his head and stared at me without taking another step, which made the woman to look at what got her husband’s attention. “ Kyle? You’re the one that broke into our house? This was not what I meant you nincompoop!”, spoke he. “I told you we should’ve just given him the spare key instead of trying to teach him a lesson for forgetting the key inside and leaving the house.  Now that’s what happens when you tell your son to figure it out all by himself!”, spoke the lady and sighed. “ Mom , dad,  thanks for stopping by. I got it figured out”, I said and smiled.