Procrastination!

Hey, now you may be reading this short story thinking it’s something exhilarating, important! Or at least interesting. But... Nah! This book is about my sad last day of winter break. So, I would ask you to reconsider wasting your time reading this...

Still there? Ok, But I'm warning you- you better go off and watch Mickey Mouse or something.

So, this story starts with Isabell, (me) waking up on December 31st. Ever since December 23rd, my school has been on winter break, and I treated it as a great treasure. I was so productive during the time! But enough of me explaining myself and let’s hit the BOOKS!

~December 31, 2035, ~

I woke up this morning the usual way, no rush or hurry. I sat up straight in my bed and yawned. Today was another carefree no workday of Winter Break. I start doing the downward dog on my bed, considering I do it every morning to stretch. But don't think I'm weird even though it is pretty weird... But no one I'm my family knows that I do it cause, it's pretty embarrassing sticking your bottom in the air every morning. My brother unexpectedly Slams open my door with the new hoverboard he got 4 days ago. My brother is Jake. He is 13 years old while I on the other hand am a very mature 15-year-old. "Hey nerd-," I'm so startled at his entry that I fall off my hoverbed. I was still hazy from waking up but after hitting my head on my table, it woke me up enough to know my idiotic, stupid, no restraint at all, little brother saw me with my booty in the air. "HA! Man oh, man! I can't wait to tell him this!" I naturally assume he means his friends who aren't any more mature than him. I get up. Brush me off. And head to my bathroom.

~December 31, 2035, 7:15 AM~

After the lovely greeting, my brother gave me I head to the bathroom. Automatically the doors swing open. As I step in, they shut behind me, dimming the screens so I could have my privacy.

I hear my mom come into my room "Bell, Good Morning did you sleep well?"

"Thanks, Mom I did." Mom leaves and closes the door behind her. I count 1...2...3, Right on schedule my Dad enters my room on the phone texting work. "Hey Skipper," I don't know why but my dad calls any child 'skipper'. He closes the door but opens it again. "What do you plan on doing today since it’s the last day of your Winter Break?"

My mind zones out.

~December 31, 2035, 7:20~

"WHAAAAAATTT?!? I scream in shock. I had no

"Welp love you Skipp see ya later." says dad

I Run to my closet, throw on some jeans, a T-shirt, and run downstairs. My mom is making pancakes for breakfast.

"Honey I'm making your favorite pancakes! Want to taste test?"

Pancakes are my favorite food, but I don't have time to drool over food!!

"No Thanks, mom!" I say as I Grab my coat off the kitchen chair.

I run to the back door about to slip on my ExtoSHOEZ when I stop.

I look back at my mom 'Hey. mom, can I go over to Ellie's?"

"Sure sweety"

I grab my hoverboard from the closet and set the fast speed setting on both my shoes and my hoverboard. I dash out the door.

So many thoughts run through my head when I come to a dramatic stop.

"What did I do this winter??" I ask in the middle of the sidewalk.

I start listing things in my head as I pick up the pace again.

"Hover School, PS5, TV." I stop.

"Hm, I did a lot of stuff this break!" I smile to myself as I arrive at Ellie's Front door. I ring the Doorbell.

~December 31, 8:00 AM~

Ellie is my best friend, we met at an ice-cream shop.

Ellie's Mom opens up the door. I smile. Ellie's Mom doesn't like me very much because she thinks I'm a bad influence on Ellie. Or that's what Ellie said.

Ellie's mom begins to talk. "Ellie is in the basement doing Pong"

"Thank you, Mrs. Criteria”,

I jump down my hoverboard and tell it to stop hovering. I pick it up and head into the basement of Ellie's house.

~December 31, 8:24 AM~

Ellie is playing Pong against her AI assistant (ROB).

"Hey ROB. Hey Ell"

Ellie is so happy she hits the ball when it gets to her so hard it makes a small dent in the AI's head.

"BESTIEEE!" Ellie runs over to me and hugs me.

~December 31, 9:00 AM~

After I watched ROB and Ellie finish their match. Ellie and I sat on the couch and watch reality TV shows.

"Hey, Ellie?" I speak

"Yeah?" She replies with her mouth full of popcorn.

"Well, Today is the last day of Winter Break, Right?"

Ellie pauses the TV "yeah so?"

"Well, I think I was really productive this break. But then again I want a second opinion."

"Shoot" She replies

I take a deep breath like I have a long speech to give her or something. "I Did Hover School, PS5, and TV."

I look over at Ellie and surprisingly she seems underwhelmed.

"Girl," she says.

"I know! I was so productive-"

"Girl." She pauses. "You did absolutely nothing this break." She finally says.

"I know." I Sink into the couch deflated.

Ellie grabs me by the hand and drags me out of the basement. She takes me to her front door.

"Hey, mom! Bell and I are going, -uh" She sounds like she can't think of an excuse.

"We are going to the park" She finally says.

"OK,” her mom says from the kitchen.

She picks up my hoverboard shoves it in my hands and calls her hoverboard from her room. It comes rushing down the stairs. She puts her green coat on and we are off, to supposedly 'the park'.

~December 31, 10:00 AM~

Ellie and I have been riding for a while I have just been trailing her. Turning where she turns and stops when she stops. I am so focused on not losing her-consider she is moving very fast- that I didn't even remember the path to my own home. Ellie and I arrived at my Doorstep. My dad opens the door.

"Hey Skipper and Ellie"

"Hello, MR. Dracuna" Ellie says. "May I help Bell not waste her day?"

"Of course, you can come in."

Ellie and I go to my room. We sit on the bed. Ellie trashes my room just to find a piece of paper. She gets a pen and starts ferociously starts writing.

~December 31, 10:30 AM~

"Ell?"

"quiet. Finally!"

Ellie slams the piece of paper upside down on my bed the grabs her coat and leaves. I hear her saying thanks to my mom and dad for the 'hospitality'.

I hear her leave and I flip the piece of paper over. It says:

Hey, bestie! the reason I left is I want you to do this by yourself.

*Help Jake With HW

* Cook something for once in your life

*Make your room (Yes I trashed it on purpose ;D)

*Watch SpongeBob

* Study for School

*Play your piano

*Help a grandma cross the street.

*Grow a plant

Now, you MUST do everything on this last today Trust me ;)

  -Love,

Ell

I am a bit overwhelmed by the list of things Ellie told me to do.

I need to get right to this.

I stuff the paper in my pocket, slam my door open against the will of the AI door. slide down the railing of the stairs and run to start my first task.

~December 31, 4:00 PM~

I lay on the couch flopped on my back watching sponge bob. Now before you want to jump in this book and slap me, well I am doing what Ellie said... technically. Well, she never said I had to do it in order, so I skipped to the hardest ones first, Watching SpongeBob.

hm? When I was going to get to all the other tasks well... I don't know. I DO SOMETHING BETTER!! I make the most mature thing ever.

"Hey House, what time is it?" MHM! that’s right! I asked for the time when I was relaxing fine!! Do you know how hard that is?!?

"It's 4:00 PM" The house responds.

I’m so shocked I fall off the couch and start scrambling to go outside. "SEE YA MOM!"

I dash out of the house without a coat and only my hoverboard. I go to the closest store. The closest I found is BakeBuy. I sit on my hoverboard while I wait for any old lady to come out. I see a store worker pushing a hover-cart into the store. I run to her I grab her arm and drag her to the other side of the road. Right now, I'm desperate! Don't think I am kidnapping the old lady. I realize that the Old lady may be thinking that, So I quickly try to reassure her. "You have grandchildren, right?" I say probably not comforting.

"y-y-yes" She mutters

"PERFECT," I exclaim This is actually worth it! "Oh, and don't worry I'm not kidnapping you."

The old lady calms down. The bit when we reach the other side of the road. "Now start walking please." She obeys I quickly run to her saying "oh hello old ma'am I’ll help you get back to your job at BakeBuy.

I take her to her store and hop on my hoverboard and race home like my life depends on it. I am shivering... Considering I'm going 4 miles per hour in the night without a coat.

~December 31, 6:00 PM~

That's right it took 2 hours to find an old lady...... That sounds really weird ;-;. Anyway. Finally, get home and I run to the couch and check the list:

Hey, bestie! the reason I left is I want you to do this by yourself.

*Help Jake With HW

* Cook something for once in your life

*Make your room (Yes I trashed it on purpose ;D)

*Watch SpongeBob

* Study for School

*Play your piano

*Help a grandma cross the street.

*Grow a plant

Now, you MUST do everything on this last today Trust me ;)

  -Love,

Ell

Phew progress. "Home what time is it?"

"it is 6:05 PM." it responds.

I eagerly look at the list to find what is quick to do. I realize one of the tasks is to help Jake with his HW........ nope. 

Hey, bestie! the reason I left is I want you to do this by yourself.

*Help Jake with HW

* Cook something for once in your life

*Make your room (Yes I trashed it on purpose ;D)

*Watch SpongeBob

* Study for School

*Play your piano

*Help a grandma cross the street.

*Grow a plant

Now, you MUST do everything on this last today Trust me ;)

  -Love,

Ell

~December 31, 6:23 PM~

Here I am reluctantly trying to find Jake. Yes, I changed my mind. I decided it would have been ‘cheating’ crossing something off the list I didn’t do. Plus, Ellie might ask Jake if I helped him. I get to his room upstairs and I open the door. As expected, he was on his computer trying to customize his hoverboard to change color every 6 seconds.

“Hey, Jake.”

“Hey, nerd,” he responds.

~December 31, 6:40 PM~

Right now, Jake and I were on his bed. I was helping him with his math HW. 

“How do solve the problem 9x*(8/7) =144/7?”

“Um,” He takes his piece of paper and does the work. “x=2?”

“Is that a question?” I ask

“No?” he responds

“Dude, are you going to be putting question marks on a test?”

“No.”

“That’s better. Now, what’s the answer?”

“X=2.”

“You’re ready!”

“YESS! MOM!” He exclaims, “IM READY FOR THE TEST TOMORROW!!”

He stops in the doorway and turns around. “T-Thanks Bell,” he says as he hugs me and runs downstairs. Hmm, I guess it wasn’t so bad helping him.

I remember my list to I run downstairs and say 

“House, what is the time?” I say

“8:00” The house responds.

“NO, NO, NO!!”

~December 31, 8:00 PM~

“BELL!!” My mom calls from her room.

“Yes, mom?” I respond

“Remember you have school tomorrow, so you have to go to bed at 8:40!”

“......” I almost faint. I quickly check my list to cross Jak’s HW off and see what’s next.

Hey, bestie! the reason I left is I want you to do this by yourself.

*Help Jake with HW

* Cook something for once in your life

*Make your room (Yes I trashed it on purpose ;D)

*Watch SpongeBob

* Study for School

*Play your piano

*Help a grandma cross the street.

*Grow a plant

Now, you MUST do everything on this last today Trust me ;)

  -Love,

Ell

I have to cook, study, play the piano, ...... and-. Grow, a plant?

“Ok! I got this! Just got to do everything extra fast!” I run to the kitchen and Ask the house to give me an apron. I’m greeted by an apron getting yeeted at my face. 

“Thanks….” I say to the house.

So, what to bake? I think. 

“Welp you can never wrong with-”

I get to work. I ask the fridge for bread, I put my hands in front of my face to be prepared by bread getting thrown at my face. Though It didn’t. 

“Kitchen Sink,” I command

“Yes Bell?” it replies.

“Toaster mode.”

The Sink automatically flips itself over to reveal a toaster. I take out 2 slices of bread and put them in the toaster. I wait 30 seconds and the toast gets sucked in by the toaster and dispenses a plate from beneath the toaster with my toast on it. I Go to the fridge and ask for PB & J. The fridge gently hands them to me. I take them over the toast, grab a knife, put everything arranged on a mat near the toaster, I press a button, and VIOLA! PB & J sandwich. Oh, COME ON, don’t think I’m some lazy bum that needs everything done for her, I’m 15! ( a mature 15 yr. old ) I cross cooking off the list and head to play the piano. I grab my keyboard, set it up in the family room, and I play my favorite piece on it. ‘Symphony’ By: Clean Bandit.

Those 2 activities took 15 minutes.

~December 31, 8:15 PM~

I put my Keyboard away and conclude that I can watch a science video to study for school. I search up some chemistry videos and watch that. That takes 5 minutes.

~December 31 8:20~

I Run upstairs knowing I don’t have a lot of time to go to clean up my room. Cleaning up my room didn’t take too long considering I just had to fix my desk and make my bed. There go 10 minutes.

~December 31 8:30 ~

I Am already on my hoverboard and out of the house to go to Evergreen’s farm. I arrive there is 2 minutes and have wait in line.

I wait 4 minutes when I was finally second to the first person. The guy in front of me was just using his phone standing there. I had to take drastic actions. Do you that time when you are in line and someone isn’t moving up and you want to either slap them in the back of their head or tap them and say ‘Hey um can you move up?’ It’s SOOO embarrassing. So those were the 2 options I had in my head then. Slap him or ask him. So, like the civilized person I am, I decided to tap him and ask him to move. He looked back at me. He looked so scary! I was practically disintegrating on my hoverboard. I was almost about to fall to my knees and beg for mercy when he scoffs and leaves. I am so relieved and nervous that I just Grab the store owner’s hand and Focus on my card to transfer the money to him. It works when a small electric wave spreads through my arm into his. I pick up a tree and race home. 

~December 31 8:37 ~ 

I threw the baby tree on the table in the kitchen. I am out of breath and look at the plant and realize I just brought a tree into my home. I let my head fall on the table.

“I’m so stupid.” I say “House, what time is it?”

“8:37 PM” it replies

I grab some water in a cup, put the tree on my hoverboard, and send it to my room. I run upstairs behind the hoverboard and when we both arrive in the room; I grab the tree off the hoverboard and set it on my desk. I pour the glass of water onto the tree. And I run into my bathroom and brush my teeth and take a bath. I run into my room turn off the lights and jump into my bed. 

“Hey house what time is it?”

“8:00 PM”

I am relieved to find that I made it to bed on time and did all of the tasks Ellie gave me. I let the covers automatically weave their way around my body until I’m snug like a burrito.

“New lesson,” I mutter as I drift asleep exhausted from today. “Never Procrastinate.”

I smile to myself as I fall asleep.