Sam's Lifestyle

• Lauren Qi, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2011

“BBBBBRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNGGG!!” the bell rang as students franticly rushed to their class lines for morning assembly. “Good morning Beverly Hills North,” Mr Morgan, the school principal announced “as you can see the weather is perfect and I expect that gymnastics will be continued. Today we have no messages, so have a great day,”
“Oh no,” thought Sam “I always failed physical activities and I was hoping gymnastics would be cancelled!” As Sam sulkily walked across the school, he imagined his classmates teasing him and blaming him for letting his team down. Sam walked to the playground and his stomach began to churn. He could see the equipment and the gym teacher patiently waiting for the class.
“Good morning class, as you can see we will be going on the beam and the parallel bars. Today one person from each class will be chosen to a camp to compete with many other schools, any questions? Well let’s get started then!” the gym teacher said. “Help me!” Sam thought as he desperately thought of a plan to escape, realising there was none. Sam reluctantly walked to the beams and parallel bars. He did his best to avoid making flaws but he could still imagine his classmates tormenting him.
After the activity the teacher would be announcing who would go to the camp. Sam secretly wished that he would be chosen but he knew that he did not achieve the score needed to attend the camp. Unexpectedly the teacher praised Sam for his excellent balance and invited him to the camp! Of course he would need his parents’ permission but will they disagree or more importantly will they ignore him as usual?
Students wildly ran out of the school gates when the last sounds of the bell died away. After a long walk Sam finally arrived home. He hesitated with his front door key in the lock. From inside, he could hear his baby brother crying relentlessly and his sister Lucy bragging about the latest reward she just received. Was it worth telling them about what happened to school today? Would they care? Straightening his shoulders, he walked in the door.
“Hi, Mum,” Sam said. “Drink up your milk. There’s a good boy.” Mum whispered gently to the baby, ignoring Sam completely as usual.” I knew it was no use talking to her,” Sam thought to himself. “And I received 3 merit awards this week,” Sam’s sister, Lucy, announced proudly. “That’s very good, dear,” Dad said as he read the newspaper. The baby smiled at Sam as Mum fussed over him. “Only the baby can notice me now,” Sam thought, annoyed. Sam slowly walked across the room swinging his arm as he went in case his parents might notice him. No one even said hello!
Sam picked up his fork at dinner and hesitated. “Should I tell them about the camp?” Sam asked himself. He can see Lucy proudly showing off, Mum feeding the baby, Dad half listening to his sister and eating his dinner at the same time. Sam took a deep breath and slowly let it out.”Mum, “Sam said, hoping she would listen, to his disappointment, she took no notice of him. “MUM, THIS IS YOUR SON SAM SPAEKING WOULD YOU PLEASE PAY SOME A…”Sam shouted impatiently. “Okay, okay stop yelling your frightening the baby!” Mum said. “Thank you for paying attention, Mum today we had gymnastics…” “BBBRRRRIIIIINNNGGG!!” the phone rang. “OOOHH” Sam groaned loudly as Mum walked to the phone “I’ll never get a chance to tell her!”