Broken in the Break

By Salim Tobi Zubair

Luke Day is the average high schooler. Besides a few friends and an online gaming network, he has an almost non-existent social life. But in the last spring break of his high school years, he is determined to change everything.

Broken in the break tells the coming-of-age story of an average high schooler who embarks on a series of adventures over the spring break to discover what it means to be young and run wild and free. Narrated by the first-person, the story comically recounts a tale of romance and adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Salim Tobi Zubair
• Release date: Feb 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311278494

Salim Tobi Zubair

Salim Zubair is a UK-based author and filmmaker.

Book preview

Broken in the Break

Salim Zubair

Copyright © 2014 by Salim Zubair

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Dedicated to Mom, Dad, Tauheed and Jamiu.

(ID, K, Z & J)

I love you all.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 1

The alarm sounded like ten bombs going off at the same time. The annoying, beeping noise sounded explosive, piercing into my ears. Before I had even lifted my eyelids, my hand banged the snooze button. I always dreaded the sight of the alarm clock in the mornings - it had some nerve waking me up from my well-deserved sleep. I hated the sight of almost everything in the mornings. I couldn’t say I was much of a morning person, least of all a Monday morning person.

With painful regret, I realised joining the online FIFA videogame tournament the previous night probably wasn’t such a great idea. The dreaded thing kept me up for pretty much all of the night. Getting up from the bed now was going to be something of a myth.

The excruciatingly deafening sound of the alarm clock came on again and my hand, without my consent again, shot straight to the snooze button. The alarm had to be broken because there was no way the five minute snooze time went by so fast. That was a minute and a half at most! I might as well sleep the three and a half minutes I have left, I thought. And just before gentle slumber turned to deep sleep, there were three gentle but quick knocks on the door followed by a voice.

‘Luke, wake up. You’ll be late.’

That was the third and final alarm: my mom. She was one alarm that won’t stop until I was wide awake - there was no snooze button on her.

‘Already up, mom,’ I said drowsily.

‘Of course you are, dear. Now seriously, wake up.’

It wasn’t even worth trying to fool that one. I got up and yawned and stretched like a crazy cat then sat on the side of my bed just staring into empty space for a while. My bed had never felt as comfy as it did at that moment; trying to get up was a herculean task. I stood up and didn’t dare take a look back at the bed.

I stepped into my small bathroom and splashed two handfuls of lukewarm water on my face. I looked in the mirror and there I was staring back at myself. Luke Day, your average seventeen-year-old from the suburbs. I stood five feet ten inches tall, weighed about ten stones, had a full head of spiky black hair and had a clear face except for one or two zits hanging around. I was so much of an average Joe sometimes I would catch a reflection of myself and it would take a second or two to realise, ‘Oh that’s me’. Who knows? You might have seen me in passing a number of times but I was not the kind of guy you recognized, I was barely the kind of guy you even noticed. I was not a Goth guy, a gangbanger, a surfer dude, an athlete, a drama geek, a hip-hop head, a burnout kid or a science nerd; I was just that guy over there.

I put some toothpaste on my four-month old brush and did an incredibly quick wash; my dentist would have been horrified by the scene. Then I sprayed some axe deodorant all over myself - the perfect alternative to a shower for those days when you just couldn’t be bothered like this one. I got out of the bathroom, took off my track bottom and put on a pair of blue slim fit jeans, a pair of untidy red Vans, a black t-shirt and a light blue hoodie. I switched up the colours now and then but jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie were pretty much all I wore.

I stepped out of my room and it was a whole different world out there. My room was like a troll’s nest or cave or wherever trolls live - it was carpeted with pizza boxes, clothes and soda cans. I often had to kick my way to the door to get out. There could have been an anaconda under my bed and I’d have never known. But once you stepped out of my room, it was an immaculate suburban home with brilliant carpets, sleek and comfortable furniture and everything kept in top shape.

I ran down the staircase and straight to the kitchen. My mom and dad were already on the mahogany dining table for six which was covered with flowery linen. The table was laden with eggs, sausages, toast, pancakes, tea and a jug of orange juice. Although my mom hardly ate anything but salads and crackers all day, she liked to keep her family well fed.

‘Hey, mom, dad,’ I said as I went directly for some toast.

Mom said hi back with a big smile - she was a real morning person. Dad grunted in reply - he was not.

Meet the family. My dad was a big dude, tall and thick. He had a full head of jet-black hair, defined jaws and really good skin. For a guy in his forties, he didn’t look half bad. He was wearing his red, woollen house robe and matching slippers and had his eyes fixed on his iPad, reading the news online. My mom was an inch shorter than I was which was quite tall for a lady. She had curly brown hair and glowing skin and was also in perfect shape for a woman in her early forties. She was also in her red house robe with a matching pair of slippers - hers and Dads were from a matching set. She was drinking organic green tea and eating some nasty-tasting organic crackers. I also had an older brother who wasn’t in the picture at the moment. Dick, he was off in university on an impressive scholarship. He was the perfectionist that made people forget there was another son in the Day family. He had perfect grades, ravishing looks, was a high school football legend and played almost every instrument there was - everything from the trombone to the triangle. And I was the skinny guy that played videogames and watched TV, little else other than that.

‘How’s school been, Luke?’ Mom asked. She always started a breakfast table conversation. She had a theory about it being important for a healthy family relationship.

‘Same old same old,’ I said with a mouth absolutely filled with food.

‘As always,’ she said. ‘And Luke, I forgot to tell you that your dad and I will be away next week.’ She was buzzing with excitement. ‘We’ve been invited to spend the next week at this lovely,’ she paused and gave a little gasp. ‘Lovely hotel. It’s five-star and it’s right on the beach.’

‘Sounds awesome.’

‘And free,’ Dad cut in. ‘It’s been paid for.’

‘Makes it even more awesome.’ All my concentration was on the delicious scrambled eggs.

‘Yeah.’ Mom was in wonderland now. ‘I can’t wait. It’s been a long year since I’ve had a vacation.’ Then she turned to me. ‘Will you be alright on your own for the week, dear?’

‘He’s a grown up, Jess. It’s probably been what he’s been waiting for. You know how these teens kickback in spring break.’ Dad cut in before I could answer the question. ‘Just don’t go burning the whole neighbourhood down. Don’t get any ideas from these movies.’ He said that in a sarcastic tone.

‘No neighbourhood burning, Luke,’ Mom echoed jokingly.

It was their little joke. They knew I did nothing but watch TV and play videogames so they made sarcastic comments like that all the time. The nerve of those two. They thought I was going to sit at home and play online video games all week. That really was what I was going to do but my own parents thinking that gave me a good mind to actually go crazy that spring break. But who was I kidding? The spring break of 2013 would be just like the spring break of 2012, 2011, 2010 and ‘09. The chances were that I would play videogames, watch TV, talk about hot girls and eat junk food all break with my best friend Jake.

‘Really funny, guys.’

‘Yeah, it’s in us Day boys’ blood. We’re party animals. Yeah back in my day I was known for being quite the party heart. That rubbed off on Dick quite a lot.’ Dad and his back-in-the-day stories again.

‘Yeah Dick is just like a younger you,’ Mom agreed. ‘But Luke is more like an Eduardo boy. Like my brother’

‘Mom!’ I protested. ‘I’m sitting right here.’

‘What’s wrong with your Uncle Stephen?’

My uncle Stephen used to be my aunt Stephanie just two years ago. And I loved her or him - whatever. I just thought I was more of a manly man than that.

‘Know what? I’ve got to be on my way to school.’ I was suddenly done with breakfast.

CHAPTER 2

It was lunchtime at school. I was eating cardboard-stale pizza, an apple and a can of soda. Everyone was in their respective cliques, not a soul was out of line. The bitchy girl clique was at it again, screaming on and on about senseless stuff. I was at an opposite end of the cafeteria and I could hear them go on and on about nothing. They were dying for attention but they were already dead to most of us. I didn’t really belong to any clique; I used to just catch lunch with Jake.

Jake. He’d been my best friend since…I don’t really know. He’d always been around for as long as I could remember, as far back as Kindergarten. He spoke a weird language that was part humorous swearing, part movie and lyric referencing and part sarcasm but he was the kind of dude that you just had to love. He was a skinny dude which was an unsolved mystery because he ate army-sized rations. He had spiky blond hair that was just all over the place all the time, his eyes were a weird shade of green, he had an oval face and he was about as tall as I was but he always insisted he was taller. Weirdo.

‘The scream team’s at it again,’ Jake said with total disgust as he scoffed down his mouth-watering burger - he packed a lunch box for school. A KFC box meal, that is.

‘Like they ever took a break,’ I said.

And I’m sure Jake replied to what I had just said with something that was funny, smart or offensive, maybe all three. But as Becky Richards passed by and smiled at me, everything and everyone else in the world was blocked out. All my concentration was focused on trying to smile back, trying to get the perfect smile, not too excited but not too aloof, but just right. I didn’t get it right at all - I probably looked idiotic. I just couldn’t get myself together when it was with Becky.

Becky. In short, she was my dream girl. Every time she passed by me, I saw it in slow motion with an explosion behind her and the wind in her hair and the sun in her face and flowers in her hair and butterflies flying around her and rainbows over her head while she rode a unicorn. A little too graphic, I know; I sound like a weird, psycho stalker dude, I’m well aware of that too. But seriously, when she moved it was like time didn’t. But every time I tried to talk to her, it was like there was an explosion in my head and butterflies in my stomach and the sun was on my shoulders and rain was over my head. I’d start to panic and the best I could do was smile like a mentally handicapped seal like how I was just doing.

She had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen, with perfect shiny white teeth, flawless tanned skin and straight shoulder-length brown hair. And her body – my oh my - her body. She looked like she belonged in a Kanye West video or on the cover of sports illustrated magazine. Every time she walked in a room, there was silence for at least three seconds as if to pay respect to the beauty that was her. If you’re that hot, you’re allowed to be a snob or whatever; by law of the land, you could rule the world if you wanted. But that was Becky’s catch: upon her hotness, she was the warmest girl too. She was the nicest and smartest girl I’d ever known. She was the kind of girl that made you feel at home wherever you were. Just standing next to her made you forget all your worries and for a moment or two, you’d believe it was all good in the world and you’d just want to scream, ‘Hakuna Matata!’

Once upon a time, Becky and I used to be close. Up until the sixth grade we were like two peas in a pod. Then puberty hit and everyone realised, ‘Wow, you know what? Becky’s really hot,’ and suddenly I wasn’t the only boy who wanted to be friends with her anymore. Plus for a shy kid, being friends with her was easier when she had her all milk teeth missing than when she was hot and I had a crush on her. She got hotter by the day, dudes got nicer to her, I got weirder and that was the slow end of a beautiful friendship.

‘Do you know how retarded you look right now?’ Jake snapped me out of Daydreamland.

‘What?’

‘You were all lost in space and crap.’ He turned around and gave me a knowing look. ‘Don’t tell me you’re still mind-banging that Becky chick.’

‘What the hell do you by mind-banging?’

‘Don’t play dumb with me, Lucas Vincenzo Day.’

‘My middle name’s not Vincenzo.’

‘Whatever, man.’ Jake and his theatrics. ‘Look man, I’m tired of seeing you day dream all day about a girl you’ll never get. A girl you can’t even talk to. Snap out and put yourself out there … just aim a bit lower.’

‘I don’t see you putting yourself out there.’

‘What?!’ He gave a big dramatic gasp. ‘What about Cece?’

‘What about Cece?’ I didn’t catch his drift.

‘I got to third base with her. My legendary conquest is still talked about today.’ He poked the crummy metal table with his index finger to prove his point.

‘First off, you didn’t get to third base. You