When Time Stops

Chapter 3

The next morning I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Perfect! What better weather for practicing the art of stopping time than a downpour. I got out of bed, went downstairs, ate a quick breakfast of waffles and eggs, then rushed back to my room to start practicing. The day went by slowly. But I guess that’s what happens when you are stopping time. It took me a few tries before I got the hang of it.
The first time I only succeeded in stopping a single raindrop from moving. The try after held the same result. I saw a bird flying by my window, so I tried stopping time around it. Let’s just say that didn’t end so well for the bird or the ground. By the time I was able to stop time completely it was pitch black outside.
While I was eating a late dinner Ari started telling me a story about how her math teacher couldn’t do the math.  I took a bite of my sandwich. It might have been the best sandwich I had ever made. It had the perfect ratio of turkey to cheddar cheese, and the tomatoes had just the right amount salt and pepper on them. I really knew how to make a sandwich.
“And then...” she started. I stopped time, not ready to hear a long speech about some random kid whom I didn’t care about. I got up and walked over to the pantry and grabbed a bag of jalapeno chips. I took off the blue sticky note that had Ari written on it in an elegant script. I laughed as I opened Ari’s bag of chips. She would kill me if she ever found out that I ate them. But I deserved them for the torture she was about to put me through. I put a chip in my mouth and savored the crunch and hint of spice. I fell into the couch and turned on the TV. Starting one of my favorite Disney movies Hercules, I popped another chip into my mouth.
Whenever one of the songs started I jumped off the couch and burst into song. Having seen the movie more times than I could count, I knew all the songs by heart. Of course, I had no singing skill whatsoever, so I sounded like the dying cat. By the time the movie was over, I had mentally prepared myself for Ari’s rant about math, if that’s even possible.
I walked back into the kitchen and sat back down, taking the same position that I had been in when time stopped.
“...he multiplied x by three when he was supposed to divide.”
I gasped. “That’s awful,” I said sarcastically. Ari stuck her tongue out at me then continued her story.
Ari kept rambling on about her teacher while I focused on my turkey sandwich. Even though I had just eaten a whole bag of chips I was still starving from the two-hour lacrosse practices.
Shit. I still had to study for my math, biology, and English tests I had the next day. I looked at the clock, it was already 7 pm. Nowhere near enough time to study if I wanted to get any sleep. Of course, I could just stop time and study.
“I’m going upstairs,” I announced.
“I haven't finished telling my story yet,” Ari called after me as I ran up the stairs.
“I have to study,” I called back.
“Fine, but come back down when you are done. I’m not done ranting.”
I found out that I could stop and restart time over just one thing besides myself. I kept my clock going so I knew how much time had passed. I ended up studying for four hours. I took a nap afterward then restarted time. I set my clock back to the correct time and went back downstairs to finish my sandwich.
“I thought you were going to study,” Ari said as I re-entered the kitchen.
“I decided to do it tomorrow,” I lied.