Levi Harris: A Guide to Middle School

Episode 40: The Kilwa Trip 1

Episode 40: The Kilwa Trip 1

          The funny thing about my school was it did pretty random things at the most wrong and uncomfortable times. Nonetheless, we were heading off to our class trip a little over two months since we got to know our new classroom arrivals. It seemed too early but I was always looking forward to a good class trip. There was always a good overwhelming force that just got you to do something wrong or stupid. You would never act normal since the boundaries of normality seemed to stretch wider and wider. The bad thing about the Kilwa trip for me was. I was stuck with only three friends; Corey, Sameer and Erika. Practically everyone else didn’t want to converse with me. They often gave me odd awkward looks and it seemed I must’ve done something to upset them. Even with those complications, I was still looking forward to getting out of the house.

Monday 11th October 2010, ‘the best night of your life.’

          Being ready is a funny thing. We make schedules and timetables just to get on time. But, there’s always that one thing you do wrong that sets you back and you either make it in time or you get late. That thing for me was failing to wake up. I must have overly anticipated the trip from the day before but as I remember, at 6:20am, my mom was banging on my door telling me that I was about to miss the bus. I don’t know what happened in those ten minutes between 6:20 and 6:30 but I was already in the car, on the way to school having already showered, brushed my teeth and worn a good set of clothes. It’s amazing what males can do when they decided to be competent.

I managed to arrive in time to get my luggage taken and board the bus and I rushed in to see a packed bus full of my classmates. I knew I was going to have to sit somewhere random and next to someone awkward. I checked to find an open seat but none seemed available.

‘Levi! Are you going to sit down?’ I heard a voice shout from the back of the class. It was Erika, dressed in a big black shirt and purple tights with a 59fifty cap on. I found it quite cute as I walked over towards her. She had a huge plastic bag filled with chocolates, crisps, a few subway sandwiches and tones of sweets.

‘C’mon, I can’t finish them all by myself can I.’ She said as I sat down.

‘I think you need to chill on the chocolates. I think it’s getting you wee bit hyper.’ I replied. She listened and put the plastic bag into her school bag and faced me with a grin on her face.

‘So what do you wanna do?’ she asked teasingly.

I looked at her for a moment before giving her a soft peck on her lips.

‘I don’t know right now. What would you want to do?’ I replied.

‘Anything that you’re up for.’

I chuckled before kissing her on the forehead. It was clear that a lot of the sugar she had went straight to her head because she kept on losing focus.

‘I think… you should go to sleep. I’m guessing you ‘ad a lot of…’ I was interrupted by Erika jumping onto my lap and kissing me. She had me pinned down and her hands were tight around my wrist.

‘All right, does everyone have their work-packs?’ Mrs. Salum said. She was a slightly tall, Arabic woman who was our art teacher. She was the coordinator of the trip. I quickly pushed Erika off of me and raised my hand, signaling that I didn’t have a work-pack with me. Numerous heads started passing down a old, wooden clipboard with ruffled papers down all the way to me. It was typical of my school. It wasn’t surprising at all.

It must’ve been because Erika was dead asleep or it was just the nice breeze coming in from the window but I fell dead asleep and woke up only for the pit stop on the way to eat some lunch. Other than that, I don’t really remember how we arrived at Kilwa. We just did.

When we did arrive at our lodge, I was quick to get out and stretch my legs and get a bit of air at the side of the bus as I waited for Erika to exit the bus.

Mrs. Salum directed us to our rooms and I sleeping with an awkward bunch. I didn’t want to seem hostile but with Mustafa and Muksin being in my room, it was hard not to. The other boys who were sharing my room were Sameer and John. It didn’t seem that bad. I put my luggage under the desk they put next to the door. There was a double bed at the centre of the room and one single bed on the right which was rivaled with two single beds on the left-hand side of the room. At the absolute back, a door to the left opened revealing the toilet. I went to rest on the right side of the double bed stupidly, not understanding at the time that one of the boys were going to have to sleep next to me.

‘Oi, Lee.’ I heard a deep voice call to my right. I opened my eyes to see Mustafa sitting on his bed facing me with his fingers intertwined with each other.

‘Yeah.’ I replied. Sort of with a hostile tone.

‘I  messed up man. We were… we were tight man. Honestly, I knew I shouldn’t have. She’s just too…’

‘suductive?’ I interrupted. ‘I know what you mean. It’s cool. It’s done and dusted.’

I finally forgave him for it. It felt better knowing that I didn’t have this anger towards him anymore. He just fell for her trap. The more and more I thought of it that night, the more and more my anger for Angelina built up. I just lied on my bed as all my roommates were out. My mind was just buzzing with thoughts and not all of them were nasty. The more and more I thought about it, the more I understood them and I really benefited from the breakup because I got Erika; someone a bit more special than the average girl.

‘Hey…’ her voice emanated from behind the door. The door creaked open and Erika came in. The lights were off and that added to the attraction. She slowly walked towards my bed and got underneath the sheets to the right of me.

‘Hey hun.’ She said as she gave me a peck on my lips. ‘Howcomes you’re here by yourself?’ she asked.

‘I haven’t been well today. I’m just not feeling it today.’

‘Y’know what can change the day?’ she asked

‘What?’ I replied.

She then climbed on top of me before kissing me.

‘Get ready, Levi Harris, for the best night of your life.’