Shelly was so excited because she finally had a week off. A week off from work, a week off of school, a week off from dealing with people. A week to relax and keep to herself. She wanted to do something fun and exciting, but wasn’t expecting that to happen. All she could think of during that last day of school before spring break was about what she’s going to do… and being alone. Time went by super slow as she watched the clock. The intercom clicked on.

“HELLO STUDENTS.” A deafening sound of the principal’s voice came over the intercom. “AS YOU ALL KNOW SPRING BREAK IS HERE. AS MUCH AS I WANT YOU TO ENJOY TIME OFF, I,M AFRAID SCHOOL TODAY WILL HAVE TO BE EXTENDED.”

Kids in the classroom all started freaking out.

“What??”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Are you serious right now??!”
“Hey class calm down and keep your voices down, Mr. Principal is still trying to talk!” said the teacher.
“APRIL FOOLS STUDENTS! YOU GUYS ARE ALL DISMISSED HAVE A FUNTASTIC TIME AND REMEMBER, BE SAFE!”
Shelly was angry and was holding her breath in to keep from yelling. She sighed and let it all out. “Phewfta!”
When Shelly finally got home her mom told her, “Hurry, go pack clothes and swimsuit enough for a week!”
Shelly confused said, “What? Why?”

“Just go do what I said the plane is leaving in a couple hours!”
She ran upstairs to grab her clothes and everything she needed. On her way up, her mom yelled to her from downstairs, “And grab the paddle from off of my dresser!”
“Why do you need a paddle?” Shelly asked as she walked to her mom and dads room.
“Because you never know who you’re going to have to beat away while we’re gone!”
Leave it to Shelly’s mom to do that. Only she would be brave enough to wack strangers away with a random paddle! She hurriedly grabbed the ping pong looking paddle and ran back downstairs.

It took them a while to get everything packed and into the car. They had 45 minutes to make it to the airport and 30 of those minutes would be used to drive there. Her mom started to stress out over the time. It seemed that because they were in a hurry, everything that could go wrong and get in their way did. They got stuck at every red light. Stuck behind every slow driver possible. Stuck in traffic.
They had 30 minutes left before their plane was taking off and they still hadn’t arrived at the airport.

“Crap it!” yelled her mom and she started speeding, passing everyone she could and at one point she even ran a red light.

WHEEEEEE-OOOO! WHEEEE-OOOO! Cop sirens yay. They were getting pulled over. Just what they needed. Her mom pulled to the side of the road and the cop pulled right up behind her but he didn’t get out right away. He sat in his car for what seemed like forever.

Shelly’s mom saw the cop talking on his phone and got irritated. “What does he think he is doing?! The stupid cop is sitting there talking on the phone. He’s probably figuring out personal business with his wife and keeps us waiting? Why do cops do that? Why do they act like we have all the time in the world?” and as her mom was rambling off about who knows what the cop came up to her window. “About dang time.”

She mumbled under her breath.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Asked the cop.

“Oh nothing.” Her mom answered.

“Just so you know, everything that happens right now is being videotape recorded.”
“Cool I get to be popular on video! You think that’s supposed to make me happy and joyful? Because it’s not!”
“That is not the point.”
“Okay do what you need to do because we have somewhere to go and people to see.” Shelly’s mom said. And Shelly was very surprised yet happy at the same time that her mom hadn’t pulled the paddle out yet.
“Anyways , Ma’am do you know why I pulled you over?” asked the cop.

“Yes I do, because I was speeding. And sir you’re not helping me get to the airport on time for my flight that leaves in 25 minutes.” Answered her mom.

“Where are you guys headed?” asked mister cop.

“I’m taking my daughter to Arizona and Mexico for spring break!”

“Can I ask you to lower your voice please? I’m two feet away from you, I can hear you clear enough.”

“Sorry I just… I’m trying to make our flight and I’m running late. I was speeding a little I know, but I’ll never do it again. I promise.”
“That doesn’t give you an excuse to speed around the city. Can I have your driver’s license, registration, and a copy of your insurance please?” the cop asked.

Shelly’s mom dug around looking for them and handed them to the cop, grumbling while she was at it. “We’re never going to make our flight.”

As they were sitting there waiting for the cop to come back with whatever it was he was doing, her mom got real pissed. It seemed as if he were taking his time… again.

“Yea take your time, we have all the time in the world Mr. Cop. Our flight only takes off in 15 minutes.”

“Oh just take a breather mom.” Said Shelly.

“Do you realize our whole trip could be cancelled?! Not only because we’ll miss our flight, but if I get a ticket, I might not be able to afford the trip anymore!”

The officer came up to the car as her mom was impatiently yelling at her and gave her the registration and stuff back.

“I recorded everything and put this down on your record, but I’ll only give you a warning this time. If you’re caught speeding again within the next year, you will get a ticket for twice as much as normal.”

Her mom was relieved. “Oh thank you thank you thank you so much! I love you, you’re the best!” She said, her excitement a little out of control.

They got to the airport and there was a little under ten minutes left before their flight took off. They ran together, probably looking funny with all their luggage but they didn’t care. They found the gate as the pilot was closing.

“NO! Wait! We need to get on this flight to Phoenix!” her mom yelled to him.

“Oh we ended up having to delay the flight to Phoenix, Arizona for an hour because they were running a little late on schedule. The plane isn’t here yet. You didn’t hear?”