Middle School Pandemonium

By Pamela Riley

Want to learn about Covid? I didn't think so. Covid and reading anything remotely interesting just don't mix. Got it! But...if you want to laugh about the craziness of living in a real pandemic then this book is for you! 

 

Starting middle school during a pandemic is definitely not ideal for Casey Murphy

• Language: English
• Publisher: Backpack Publications
• Release date: Oct 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088176986

Book preview

Introduction

2020 — The Worst Year Ever! This was no joke, and I bet 99% of the population would agree. There is always that one weirdo that enjoys stockpiling toilet paper and never leaving the house. Go figure!

I am not talking about the worst year for America only. This was a worldwide year of crud. Nobody could escape it. Kids all the way up to old people, rich and poor, everybody on every continent had to change their lives to stay safe.

My mom decided to give me a notebook to document my experience of the pandemic. She thought this was historical and that one day my kids or even grandkids might ask me about this year. I could break out my Pandemic Notebook and read it to them for FUN. I am sure that will be a real page-turner fifty years from now.

I had the time to do it. My parents raised the stakes, too, by promising me a DeMarini baseball bat of my choice if I filled the whole notebook! Mom would flip through it looking for actual words and sentences. Now, all I had to do was write about the year. Easy!

My story starts in January of 2020. Thinking back to the beginning of the year, life was good. I was an ordinary fifth grader ready to graduate from Ocean Breeze Elementary School in Florida. Little did I know, my world would soon be turned upside down.

I bet every kid has their own horror story from that year. Chills of fear and panic might be racing down your spine just reading this book intro. Calm down and breathe.

Maybe one day, people will laugh about the craziness of 2020. There is one thing I know for sure: I learned to appreciate the good old days of being able to see someone’s entire face and not worry about being six feet apart. Right now, let’s go back to the beginning of The Worst Year Ever!

Chapter 1

: END OF NORMAL

It’s January 2020 and the new year started off right. My family was heading to Brazil in February. Dad needed to work down there, and we thought it would be fun to all go. None of us had ever been to South America, and it sounded like an adventure.

We got a bunch of travel shots to mark the occasion. Those shots stung, but we didn’t want to ruin the whole trip and get sick. You get sick because a mosquito bite passes diseases into your blood. Can someone name one good thing the mosquito does for the world? I didn’t think so.

I even threw in a flu shot, just to be safe, at the health clinic. My mom’s motto in life is Safety First. No getting sick on this trip. Who would have thought vaccines would be on the brain for this entire year?

Dad knows some people that live in Brazil through work, and they invited us to a big parade called Carnival and a trip to the beach. The beach was going to be very educational. The bathing suits are all ridiculously small. Wearing as little as possible is normal down there, and I am talking for guys, too. I would stand out as a total American with my rash guard and trunks.

Carnival is a BIG party in the street with lots of dancing and teeny tiny costumes. These Brazilians really don’t want to wear layers of clothes. Everyone dances all night, and the music is blaring. Bring it on!

Mom was digging through our summer clothes a few weeks before the trip. Even in Florida, we were in full-blown winter and had to find our bathing suits and sandals. We splurged on some new clothes to help us look and feel our best.

Mom and I were sitting in the car waiting with the dogs to go to the kennel and then the airport. We were practicing our travel Portuguese, which sounds a lot like Spanish. Our Texas roots would come in handy as we tried to remember our basic Spanish. Onde está o banheiro? That would be a good one to say down there. Plus, I am sure I would need to find a restroom from being dragged miles and miles around Brazil with my parents.

South America, here we come! Adventure awaits! Nothing’s going to stop us! Except my dad was on the phone and not budging as he talked to his office. We were going to be late, and this was an international flight! Move!!!!

Dad kept shushing us and then told us to get out of the car. What?! Why?! My iPad was loaded, and I was ready for ten full hours of complete zoning out.

Dad’s company at that exact moment in time was thinking of being sold to a bigger company. We had to brace ourselves for this next part. He needed to cancel the trip to Brazil. We were not going.

Of course, my mom said we could still go. Dad could leave us in Brazil and fly to wherever he needed to go. Then, he could just fly back to Brazil to hang out with us. Plan B was DONE!

But since it was a work trip, that plan would not work. So, we unloaded all our luggage and unpacked all our clean clothes and canceled all our reservations. It was super depressing. This canceled trip should have been a minor hiccup in life. Depressing would be on its way soon enough.

The next exciting thing was me turning eleven in March. I dialed down my birthday party to a classic Nerf-gun battle, water-balloon fight, and pizza after my baseball practice. I love any excuse to get out my Prometheus Nerf gun. It holds about 200 Nerf bullets and fires like nothing you have ever seen! I pictured myself strutting outside with my gun in rapid-fire mode, just like a modern cowboy. How could this possibly go wrong?

The only problem was this buzz everywhere about some weird virus called Covid-19 spreading all over the world that can kill people. Talk about a party crasher.

One kid’s mom was nervous about sending him over to my party because he has asthma. Partying and Covid just don’t mix. Got it! Can this party-killing virus DIE already? It was starting to put a crimp in my life, and I didn’t like it one bit!

My dad drove me and about eight kids back to my house after baseball practice to celebrate my birthday. My mom put this very complicated obstacle course together in the front yard using all kinds of junk from the attic. She wanted to use a stopwatch to see how long it took each kid to shoot targets from certain spots in the grass and follow all these crazy directions.

Mom gathered us all together to explain there was a deadly VIRUS going around the world that only we could stop. Really? I wonder where she got that from since it was all over the news.

By hitting the target, you kill the infection. Just imagine the Halloween bin exploded. There was a spider, skeleton, and zombie with targets, and loaded Nerf guns at different stations.

There was an area in the yard where everyone else could fire at the kid hitting the targets. Cards on the grass gave more directions, like do a barrel roll or hide from the water balloon attack zone. After a full demonstration of the course, we were all itching to go.

The first kid was ready with protective eyewear and pads. He nodded at my mom to start. He hit the targets, but EVERYONE could tell he was about to CRACK! You could just see the look on his face as he glanced back at my mom and then just went for it! Suddenly, he dive-bombed for cover behind a folded table in the middle of the yard to reload and never looked back.

Nerf balls were flying, and everyone grabbed a Nerf gun. It was complete madness. Everyone was firing water balloons while trying to reload their ammunition. My mom just threw up her hands and went inside the house. Dad picked up the slack, and everyone had tons of fun!

My dad compared the party to a book called Lord of the Flies. I think it’s some award-winning book about a bunch of kids that go NUTS while stranded on a deserted island. I think they become cannibals, which means they eat other humans.

Just like that, everyone went CRAZY at the party, avoiding every rule just shoved down our throats. It only took about ten minutes before the water balloon cooler was empty. Then kids just shot each other at close range. I got a decent bruise on my leg, but at least nobody shot their eye out. That was a good thing.