Annoying Homework

Leigh Alvarado startled awake, her dog Willow jumping all over her. The mechanical dog stood stiffly and the robotic voice said, “Homework due today. English essay, five paragraphs. Two more paragraphs must be finished.” Leigh groaned I frustration. She had totally forgotten to do her homework. 

She twisted in her bed to strap herself down and flipped the gravity switch. Leigh grabbed her homework off the ceiling, and pressed the purple button on her bed. It zoomed to the kitchen, where Leigh slowly lowered herself into her electronic legs, made by the best cyclops in town. 

On the counter, she pressed the automatic food button, and searched for her favorite: peanut butter and jelly. The machine whirred to life, and immediately started to make her food. She added a few more sentences to her essay, and packed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich into her lunchbox. 

Leigh grabbed her favorite ax, and chopped her mom’s bedroom door down, the best way to wake her up to get ready for work. Today was the last week of school, and of course she woke up late with homework to do. She jotted down a few more sentences, then shoved the homework into her bag. She started to walk out the door, when she noticed she forgot something very important. She was still in her pajamas. 

Leigh pulled the small steel box from her pocket, and switched the lever that unfolded the chair. She buckled herself in and zipped across the ceiling back to her room. Without the directions programmed into all her items, she would get lost in the labyrinth of rooms she called home. Leigh quickly threw on her favorite jeans and sweater, and zip lined to the front door.

Just as she ran outside, the bus floated to her door, four stories above the street below. Leigh activated the invisible bridge, and walked to the bus. She sat in seat seven, put on her headphones, and wrapped her blanket around herself. She was already looking forward to the weekend, and Monday had just started. She grudgingly pulled out her essay, about the wyverns, severely underpaid for their labor. Leigh remembered when wyverns were uncivilized beasts, incapable of human speech and was glad they had adapted to the more civilized life of the cyclopes and humans.

The essay was finally finished, just as the bus pulled into the academy floating above them. Leigh’s first class was English, which she was slightly worried about, due to her rushed essay. The class went smoothly, because her teacher, a faerie, was grading papers tomorrow. Afterwards, Leigh went to Mythology, on the other side of the school. As she ran down the halls of the academy, she quickly slipped a translator over each ear, which translated mermaid speech into English. 

Mermaids were not common in this part of the city because there was little water, but the mythology teacher had a pool built into the wall of the classroom. Without the translators, her language would sound like gurgling bubbles, and the class would learn nothing. 

Almost to class, she realized she forgot her Mythology tablet in her locker. Leigh quickly found her locker, number 777, and grabbed her tablet. She sprinted to class and arrived at the door to the classroom out of breath, just as the late bell rang. Leigh sat in her seat, and prepared herself for another long, boring lecture about undersea lifestyles, and the cyclopes history.

Homework piled on as the day progressed, and Leigh worried about finishing all of it on time. Another essay for English, this time about a book was due on Thursday, an at-home science lab was due tomorrow. She also had thirty-two pages to read for Mythology, as well as a painting due tomorrow in art, and a paper to fill out about extra-curricular activities, such as discus throwing, basketball, and and art club. Plus, her homework from Friday was due tomorrow. Leigh was completely swamped. 

During lunch, she read the pages on her tablet for Mythology and answered the questions that followed. She also filled out what she could on the science worksheet, and began her English essay. Leigh’s workload of homework was decreasing, but very slowly. Nobody, not even her parents, understood how hard she worked to get good grades. The final bell rang, and Leigh packed her bag and walked outside to wait for the bus. The bus floated over two minutes later, and Leigh pulled out her tablet to start the painting for art class. After a while, she started on her extra-curricular activities sheet. All she needed was a parent signature, and the form would be filled out. She worked on her essay, then put all her stuff away when she heard the automated voice of the bus say, “Next stop, Leigh Alvarado.”

Willow ran up and jumped all over Leigh. “Don’t forget your homework.” The robotic voice said. All she had left for homework was the English essay and science project, so she quickly did the science project before her mom got home. Leigh finished her chores then ran to the door when she heard her mom’s hover-car pull up outside the front door. As her mom walked inside, Leigh ran up to her.

“Mom, can I please go to Amy’s house for a party tonight? Please, please, please?”

“Leigh, I got a call from the secretary. You had and English paper due today, and you didn’t ‘remember’ it when I asked if you had homework. Also, your grades have gone from A pluses to low A’s. I think you should spend more time on school work and less time with your friends.”

“But can I go to the party please?”

“Did I not make myself clear? You are not going to this party, or any party until you raise these unacceptable grades. Did you even do your homework today, and all your chores?”

Leigh said, “Yes, all my homework is done, and all my chores are done. Most kids have C’s and D’s. At least my grades are still A’s. I can easily get them back to A pluses. I already started a bunch of extra-credit work for each of my classes. Please just let me go to this party.”

“Leigh. I said no. Let me see the extra-credit work. If it looks alright, you need to do all your laundry, fix Buster’s collar, set the table, and be polite. Then, we’ll see about the party. What time does it begin and end?”

“The party is from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. I will do everything you said okay? I really want to go.”

“Will there be dinner food at the party?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Do what I said, and I will let you go.”

“Thank you, so much Mom.”

Leigh showed her mom the extra-credit papers, and her mom approved. After that, Leigh put her laundry in the machine and told it the settings for the washer and dryer. Next, she had to fix Buster’s collar, which she was supposed to have done last week. The only thing wrong was the dented piece that was out of place. She searched through the spare parts bucket, and found the perfect piece. With Buster’s collar fixed, she set the dinner table, and cleared the lunch table in the sunroom. Her mom gave her the okay, and she zip lined through the carnival hall, to her favorite painting.

She pressed the golden eye of the ancient animal, called a wolf, and the painting swung into her closet. Leigh turned left and accidentally went back to the kitchen. Back in her closet, she walked along the purple ceiling and walls, searching for the perfect outfit. Leigh was glad she had convinced her mom to let her go, and silently congratulated herself for thinking of extra-credit work. 

Then, on the ground level, she saw the perfect dress. It was modern, but not terribly so, and the blue lace and tulle really made it stand out against the rest of her clothes, which were mainly purple. She tried it on, and it fit perfectly. She vaguely remembered receiving the gift for her birthday, last year.

As she put on a little mascara and lip gloss, she really wished she had a new hairstyle. It had been ages since Leigh had changed her hair, and she picked up the frame by her bed, covered in a thick layer of dust. She poked her head through, and chose lavender with blue streaks, in a stylish new trend called a pixie cut, and invented by the pixies. It went perfectly with her dress, and she enjoyed the change from her usual strawberry-blonde hair. Leigh walked down the stairs and twirled in her dress. Her mom flashed her the look of approval.

“By the way, you’re paying for your own draxi. Dragons are charging way too much these days, and I’m saving up for an upgrade. Have fun at your party.”

Leigh groaned then ran back upstairs, grabbed thirty dollars, and walked to the door. The invisible bridge outside their house activated, and Leigh raised her arm and yelled, “Draxi! Draxi!”

A dragon whooshed down from the sky, and picked her up in its claws. It tossed her onto its back. 

“Hi, my name is Ella. I’ll be your draxi flyer today. What is your destination?”

Leigh told Ella where to go, and went to her party. She had a lot of fun at the party, but she almost fell out of a window. But as she fell asleep that night, she realized she had forgotton to finish her painting due the next day.