Caleb sat in the back row, his fingers drumming on the desk, eyes locked on the clock ticking above the whiteboard. He felt a simmering anger boiling within him as the teacher droned on about equations he had mastered long ago. Finally, he could take it no more.
"Why am I even here again?" His voice cut through the teacher's lecture, drawing startled looks from his classmates.
Caleb strode purposefully towards the vice principal's office, his mind set on finding answers. Mr. Jones, the vice principal, was a stern man with a penchant for order. As Caleb entered, Mr. Jones looked up from his paperwork, his expression unreadable.
"I need to be dismissed. I don't understand why I'm repeating this year," Caleb demanded.
"It's complicated, Caleb," Mr. Jones replied, his voice trailing off as if he knew more than he was willing to share.
Caleb dialed his grandma’s number, but the call went unanswered. Frustration mounting, he decided to walk home, hoping to find clarity there. The sky had turned a somber gray, threatening rain as Caleb ventured onto the sidewalk. Just then, his older sister, Carly, appeared beside him.
"You're not alone in this. They enrolled me again too," Carly said, her voice tinged with confusion.
Caleb and Carly halted abruptly, their eyes widening at the unexpected hazard. With a quick glance at each other, they carefully jumped over the cable, their hearts pounding with the thrill of narrowly avoided danger.
"What else could possibly go wrong today?" Caleb muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
Caleb and Carly entered, finding their mom sitting at the kitchen table, paperwork scattered before her. The air was thick with an unspoken tension.
"Mom, what's going on? Why are we repeating school?" Caleb asked, his voice a mix of desperation and hope.
Before she could respond, everything froze. The world around them seemed to halt, leaving only Caleb aware of the strange occurrences.
Caleb sat up in bed, heart racing, a thin sheen of sweat on his brow. The familiar surroundings of his room were a comfort after the surreal dream. As he gathered his thoughts, he realized the dream was a reflection of his own fears and anxieties.
"Just a dream," he whispered to himself, relief washing over him. Despite the unsettling nature of the dream, it had given him clarity on the expectations weighing on him and the path he truly wanted to take.
