Holidays (Part 1)

'Everything comes to an end'. With these words ringing in his mind, fifteen year old Adrian Pritts sought one last look at the famed Wallerby High School on the last day of the month of June. He would be starting his next year this September, but this was not the time to think about it.

Adrian was still wondering how he would spend his vacation as he walked down the lane to his house. He did not have any siblings or friendly neighbours. School was the only place where he had friends and fun. His parents were not much either. They were very rich and lived in a huge house, or so called mansion. Adrian had been asked numerous times why couldn't he find the fun in having so much wealth, but usually Adrian remained silent. The reason was that his parents, although millionaires, just wanted to become even richer. They owned a huge stationary company and it was heavily profited. They sold the best stationary in the country. But the Pritts couple had bigger ideas. They wanted their company to become the best stationary brand in the world and because of their hard work, Adrian was usually left alone.

The Pritts were also very racist. They did not want their only son mixing with other public children so they had sent his to a private prep school. But when he turned into a teenager, he compelled them to send him to a public high school. They were not very happy about this but still they sent him to a famed public school in the city.

This was where Adrian had literally found himself. This was where he had found friends. Apart from all those he loved aero planes, aircrafts and such. He loved to become an aircraft engineer. That was his one and only ambition from the time he was seven years old.

Coming to present, Adrian reached his house in a matter of just ten minutes. His parents had offered him their limousine for a simple fifty meter walk from their house to school, but Adrian had refused. He wanted to be just a normal boy.

When he reached the highly polished door of the three storied building, his father greeted him noiselessly, simply not taking his eyes away from his laptop.

"Son, school's re-opening on the second, right?" he asked.

Adrian nodded, walking to his room. That was all; not even asking how was school. Not even a talk of about how the holiday was going to be spent. So, once again it's going to be a typical Pritts holiday. At the same time Adrian was not a small child. He was old and could manage things to himself.

He went to his room and shoved his bag onto his bed and started changing. Just then the house landline rang. He was about pick it up when he heard his dad shout.

"Don't pick it up, it's Mr. Coater, I'll deal with him"

Then his mother retorted. "What?! You never let me deal with anybody. I have had enough experience. I know how to do the stuff!"

"No, you don't, woman!" saying so, his dad picked up the receiver and started blabbering excitedly about his stupid business. Shaking his head, Adrian opened up his laptop. Suddenly he heard his father pause.

"Adrian!" he heard him call. Frowning, Adrian came downstairs.

"Tell your friends to call your hand phone, not the landline. We have important business and we can't afford to lose time with this rubbish," his dad said.

Rubbish huh? "Right, dad, it's just that my phone's battery is dead, so. . ." Adrian said.

"Alright, just pick this one, so, like I said don't let them call this one."

Adrian flew upstairs to his room to pick up the other line. He checked the number and

instantly recognized his mistake.

"Hello, dude, how many times have I told you not to call my landline?!" Adrian said.

"Hey mate, is it you? Oh, I'm sorry, your phone was switched off, and so I thought I'd call your landline. . ." the voice of Tobey McLenning reverberated through the speaker.

"Actually my battery's dead. What's so important enough to call my landline and we just left school, right?"

"Well, err . . . You know our class had been planning to go out during the holidays, right? Amanda just called me and said that Mrs. Tenners had told that she confirmed our trip to the Seven Pillars and Amanda couldn't tell us that at school because we went quite early, and guess what? Mr. Stettner is coming with us. Never mind that now, the Seven Pillars, man, awesome, right? I've never been there, have you?" he answered.

"Not even in dreams," Adrian muttered. He had actually forgotten about the talk that had aroused the class a few weeks ago. Suddenly, he felt a leap in his heart, a shining

star. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive, man! I think Mrs. Tenners is gonna call you guys to ask permission from your parents," he replied.

"Oh, that's cool. So, yeah, I'll catch up with you later; gotta go-lots of work to do. . ." Adrian said.

"Yeah, right, I'll call you some time when you're free, and PLEASE remember to charge your phone battery."

"Ha ha, yeah, bye," saying so, he kept the receiver. So, after all this holiday was not going to be a boring one. This was going to be a real holiday for Adrian. But still he was not so sure what his parents would say or even if they would agree, but he had to have faith. He was still dreaming (for once aircraft had lost their charm) about it for the next three days when the telephone call from their class teacher came. Fortunately (although the call came on the landline), his parents agreed and wrote a letter signed with their official seal and mailed (as in email) it to Mrs. Tenners.

She had first asked their permission and then had told them that they will be arriving at their doorstep the following day to pick Adrian up on their way. First Adrian was revolted to hear his dad telling that he himself could drop Adrian at the Seven Pillars and there was no need for public transport, but his teacher knew how things were done. So, after a long conversation, Adrian's father had agreed to let Adrian travel with them.

The next instant Adrian had shot to his room, got out his Samsung Galaxy S5 and was now talking excitedly with his friend Tobey.

"Dude, guess what?! My parents agreed!" He said.

Tobey McLenning who at that time had just taken a refreshing bath could not make head or tail of what Adrian was talking about.

"Hey, man, calm down! What happened? What did they agree for?" he said.

"Sorry, it's just that Mrs. Tenners rang upon us and my dad agreed about sending me with you guys. I seriously thought that they're not gonna agree but surprisingly they did," Adrian replied.

"Yeah, you know Mrs. Tenners, right? She can get anything out of anybody. So, she might've convinced your parents. Anyway my mum's calling and I've got to pack my things up, so see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, you too, bye," Adrian kept the phone and went to open his cupboard. Looking up, he saw the hugest mess he has ever seen in his life. Time for a cleanup, he thought as a whole bunch of clothes fell upon the floor the next instant.

Click here to read Holidays (Part 2)

This short story was written by Jeshan Fernando