Middle School Time Control

He woke up in the morning like he always did. It was 7:00 a.m. when he got out of bed. Crawling out of his bed, he picked up his phone from the charger and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

Following his daily routine, he used the toilet while checking his social media before turning on the shower. As always, he thought of the day ahead of him. He had thought of what the next day of school would bring him as he scrubbed shampoo through his wavy brown hair. Stepping out of the shower, he dried his tall, muscular body with a towel before heading to his room to get dressed.

Everything seemed normal for Jack today. Nothing had happened any differently than usual. He followed his routine down to the minute. He didn’t really care that he was stuck in a rut, he only cared about what happened later in the day. Today, he had plans to go to the gym later in the day with a couple of friends. He didn’t usually get the opportunity to play basketball with other people aside from his team. He was excited for the day ahead, until he heard his Mom yell, “Remember, you’ve got an orthodontist appointment at 4:00 after school!” . 

Just like that, his day had gone from bright to dank. His mood was liable to shifting frequently due to the hormones in his eighth grade body. He noticed when he had them too. For whatever reason, he became ticked off at the fact that he wasn’t told about his orthodontist appointment until today. His left hand shaped into a fist before slamming down onto his desk. 

Jack finished getting dressed by grabbing a shirt and jeans to wear with his favorite pair of Jordans. He looked at the clock as it showed 7:30. He decided he had enough time for breakfast before the bus would arrive at 7:45. As he entered his kitchen, he peeled a banana and ate it, throwing away the peel. He sat down and organized his bag quickly. The process took about ten minutes. He checked the clock again. To his surprise, it still showed 7:30.

Needless to say, Jack was confused. He had taken at least five minutes to eat and ready himself, but the clock showed no movement. He decided to count through a minute while watching the digital clock on his stovetop to check what was going on.