Laziness that Caused Bad Luck

          "Psstt, Gregory," called Mike. "What? Do you want my answers again?," answers Gregory. Mike complained, "Huh, no. I am talking about the project we were taught." "So what?," said Gregory with a flat tone. "I just want to know, that ...," Mike couldn't finish his words when Mrs. Myra cut them, "Mike, quit talking. Keep focus." Mike replied, "Yes Miss ..."

           Breaking the silence, Miss Myra said, "Class, we will begin our project right away. For those who didn't come to school yesterday, our project is planting herbs in the back of our class. Yesterday, we didn't split the team, and we will do it today!" All of the students had butterflies in their stomachs when they were informed about the group members. Some of the students shouted joyfully, and some ... well, don't really like their groups, especially Mike. He didn't like his group, because he was in the same group with Freddy, the class bully. Every cloud has a silver lining. He was so grateful to have his bestie, Gregory, in that group. 

          "Hey moron, what are we gonna plant?" Freddy insulted. "I don't know, but it must be herbs.," answered Gregory. "Well, don't give me that kind of look. Use your brain to decide on the herbs!" "Hey, remember, many hands make light work.," advised Mike. Freddy snapped, "Keep your advice for yourself. Now, think!" Mike wanted to say something, when the teacher said, "Enough! Let's continue our lesson."

          During the recess, all of the students were outside their classrooms, including Gregory and Mike. Gregory asked, "Mike, what will we do to handle this situation? " (Slurp) Mike answered with a slurp, because he was drinking coke. "Stop drinking, Mike. Look! You stepped on the mud.," warned Gregory. Mike's shiny shoes were covered in mud. "Noooooo!!!!! My favorite shoes!," cried Mike. "Don't cry over spilled milk," Gregory spoke wisely. They were talking until the bell rang. They rushed back to their classroom. Then, the lesson continued until the end of the day.

          Beep beep beep! The sound of the alarm-clock woke Gregory up the next morning. He prepared all his stuff, and got into the school bus. It was a short 15-minute journey to Redwood School. It is a complete school, with elementary, junior, and senior high. As the name suggests, Redwood School is surrounded with red trees from all over the world, including Laceleaf Japanese maple, Cotinus coggygria, and Dogwood. The school planned to build a kindergarten in the front of the school, to be officially nicknamed 'The Complete School'. After 15 minutes, Gregory got out of the bus and entered the school gate. It was very crowded with students running, screaming, and speaking at the same time. Gregory's head looked around, trying to find someone, but it was hard to do in such a crowded place. It's just like finding a needle in a haystack. Finally, Gregory spotted a familiar figure in the distance. It was Mike! Gregory approached and jumpscared him. "Where have you been?," asked Gregory. "I have been in the same place where I was 3 days ago. Now, I...," Mike hadn't finished his words when the bell rang. All of the students rushed to get into their class. 

          "Alright class, sit together in your groups. I hope Mike and Freddy can work together.," said Ms. Myra. All of the students moved their tables and formed a 3 by 2 square. Mike and the others sat at the corner of the classroom. Then, they started to speak. "Alright guys, umm... I've bought some ginger. Here it is.," said Jeremy, one of the group members. "Me too. I've bought mint.," Olivia added. All except Freddy brought the herbs. "I don't care if I don't bring herbs, and don't ever tell me what to do!," snapped Freddy. "Class, let's go to the back of the class. That will be the place where we gonna plant our herbs. Now go!," exclaimed Ms. Myra. 

          All of the students went to the backyard, where they brought their shovels and hoes to their plotted land. The plot was a 30 by 30 cm plot of black dirt. Mike and Gregory took a bucket full of water. Then they watered the black dirt. "Not like that! Don't you know how to water the plants?," asked Freddy to Olivia. "Then, try to water it just the way you think it's right!," Mike answered. "None of your business. Now, get to work!" Freddy gave his comment. While the others were preparing the media, Freddy sat on one of the chairs there, supervising how his team worked. If someone asked him why he wasn't working, he simply said that he was tired and needed to rest. Then, after 2 hours of labour, the team called it a day. They already prepared the media and for the next day, they would plant a ginger in it. 

          The next day, Mike brought a handmade compost from home, equipped with a trowel. His friend saw it and they wondered how to make it. Then, the first section began. It was an English lesson. Mike is pretty good at English. The next period was Math. Mike isn't good at it, but Gregory is. Every time there was a hard question, Mike would ask Gregory. After math lesson, it was Christmas Carol practice. The students couldn't wait for the last activity of the day - planting the ginger. All of the students got into their groups, waiting for the teacher's command. "Alright class, this is the last day of planting herbs. I hope you all can finish it today!," Ms. Myra explained. All of the students got up from their chairs, and went into their plots. Mike was planting a ginger when Freddy said, "Hey! Don't dig it like that! You should make it larger!" Mike was so furious that he threatened Freddy, "Be careful. That's the last straw over there!" "I don't care!," said Freddy. 

          Eventually, Mike had seen enough, so he ran to see Mrs. Myra. Freddy tried to stop him, but because of his small body, he could slip out of Freddy with ease. In 2 minutes, Mrs. Myra arrived at the scene and asked, "Freddy, what are you doing?" "I'm tired. I need to rest.," Freddy replied. Ms. Myra responded with a serious tone, "You haven't contributed anything for your team in the last 3 days. As a consequence, you have to work on your media by yourself. After that, you have to write a reflective piece about your mistake. Other members of the team can supervise Freddy, just like he did to you. Now, start working!" Freddy grabbed his shovel, and got back into the drawing board, doing the media again