March 15 - The Perfect Morning

The perfect morning is when your whole class is kept in the dark. You know something, and they don't. You know that you and your fellow 8th graders will sneak out and set up breakfast a block away at the beach. And you have to lie to convince them to leave you alone long enough that you can sneak to the kitchen without them knowing. Of course, they know something is up. Why else would all of the 8th graders leave at exactly the same time? But they don't know exactly what is going on. When you arrive at the beach, you kick off your shoes, and lay out the blankets and food. You draw boxes in the sand, in hopes of organizing everything. Then the birds come, and you have to chase them away. They leave you alone, so you go down to the edge of the ocean and watch the waves crash around your ankles. Before you know it, you can see the tiny dots of your class running down the stairs on the other side of the highway. As they get closer, you run out to greet them, smilingly stupidly from ear to ear. They aren't all surprised, but most of them are, and their faces are the best part of all.