Chapter 9
I woke up and yawned and stretched. I rubbed my eyes and looked outside. It was a bright sunny day. Then I looked at my calendar. Stinky socks! Tomorrow was the music competition! I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face. Then I changed into my favourite green and yellow dress. I put on thin white socks and went downstairs. “Hi, honey,” my mom said while carrying 3 sunny eggs onto the table. “Good morning,” said my dad, who was reading a newspaper. “Good morning dad. Good morning mom. I’m gonna be busy today. so you won’t find me after breakfast.”
“Ok.” My parents knew that I was a special agent and took it seriously. I finished my egg and bagel with a few gulps of milk. Then I wiped my mouth and put my plate and cup in the sink. I went upstairs and put my laptop, my notebook, my green and blue lead pencils, my watermelon flavoured eraser, my study books, and my flute case in my orange leather bag. I pressed the button tightly and then swung it on my arm. I said goodbye to my parents, hopped on my bike, and was headed for Ally’s house.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! No one was home. Then I remembered, it was Sunday. Ally’s family always went to church on Sunday mornings. So I rode on my bike and went to Special Agent Trivia Workshop.
When I got there, I parked my bike on the pike rack and went inside. I signed in by putting a check mark on the big chart underneath the column labelled “Sunday”. Then I went in the elevator and went to my office on the 5th floor. I turned on my laptop and tried to contact Ally on www.twyf.sa since it was her free church period time. She told me she would be back in 2 hours and then she had to learn her Bible lesson. So I went onto www.specialagenttrivia.sa to work.
After one hour, I finished working and went downstairs to eat my lunch in the lunch room with all of the other people who worked at Special Agent Trivia Workshop. We had pasta, spaghetti and meatball with mushrooms, orange juice, and soup. After I finished eating I went back upstairs and played on www.missioncomplete.com by myself for 45 minutes. Then I logged out, packed my bag, and left the workshop.
I looked at my watch. Ally should be home now. I rode my bicycle to Ally’s house. Sure enough, on the second bell ring, Ally’s mom, Mrs. Fang, opened the door. “Hello Mrs. Fang. Is Ally available?” “Hi Monica. She in her room practising her flute for the competition tomorrow. I’m sure she’ll let you practise with her. Come on in. I’ve baked some homemade cookies and made some ice tea.” “Thanks Mrs. Fang!”
I went upstairs and knocked on Ally’s door. She was practising her flute sitting on her bed. Ally looked up. “Monee! What a surprise! Come in and practise with me!” I closed the door and sat beside Ally. Taking off my orange leather bag, I took out my flute case and shoved my bag under Ally’s bed. Ruff! Ally’s white silky terrier, Igloo, ran up to me. It jumped into my arms and licked my face. I patted her soft, silky head and let her go play with her almost-chewed-up ball. Ally stopped playing. “Come on!” I cleaned my flute pieces and assembled them together. Then Ally and I practised for 2 hours for the competition tomorrow. We tried our very best. We sounded wonderful! Now we had to see how well Janisa, Allan, and Jason were doing…
Ally and I went downstairs and ate some cookies and drank some ice tea. Then we went upstairs and called Jason and Janisa. Then we went to Allan’s room and told him to stop playing computer and come practise with us.
Pretty soon, Janisa and Jason arrived. We practised for 2 hours and 15 minutes until our lips became so weak and we were out of breath that we just lay down on the carpet, dirty or not, right after we finished the piece. Luckily, it wasn’t dirty, but Ally and I liked to keep our hair clean so after we practised we took turns washing our hair in her bathroom. I really like the smell of Ally’s grapefruit flavoured hair shampoo.
After that, it was 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Janisa and Jason left and Allan went to the park with his friend Ryan. Ally and I played RBGY Jungle Sand Block force, A very exciting board game. We played 2 rounds and soon it was 6 o’clock. “What do you want to do?” asked Ally. “I’m bored. “Me too. Do you have any ideas?” “No.” “Drat.” I was bored dead when I suddenly suggested we go play in the park, since it wasn’t even dark. We put on our identical green crocs and then went to the park a block away. We played special agent and pretended that the park was our castle.
We had a lot of fun. Suddenly I slipped and fell onto the sand. “Are you okay?” asked Ally while rushing over to me. I was not hurt, so I picked myself up and brushed off the sand. “Yes.” I laughed. “Let’s go back in case anyone gets hurt again.” Ally agreed with me.
I packed up my stuff and helped Ally clean up. Then I rode home.
When I got home, my dad said, “Monica, did you practise for the competition tomorrow?” “Yes, more than 4 hours today,” I said. “That’s great! Good luck!” said my mom. I ate dinner and then went upstairs. After 10 minutes, I was in bed. This, time, however, I was quite nervous.