East or west, home is best

It was an extraordinary day for Kate, who was ready for a school trip abroad. She couldn’t sleep all night because she was thinking about that trip. Due to this fact she was very tired the next day, but, although she was exhausted, a smile couldn’t disappear from her face.

“Did I pack everything?”- she thought.

Kate was a fifteen-year-old teenager who was always cheerful and happy. She helped her friends and acquaintances when they asked her. She tried to solve their problems and console them if they were sad. The girl was very popular among the boys because of her appearance. She was a tall youngster with long, curly fair hair and a fringe. She had a gorgeous smile that accompanied her every day. She liked wearing fashionable and expensive clothes although her family wasn’t very wealthy. So, how come she put on such pricey clothes? One word would describe that – aunts. Yes, her two aunts who lived abroad and every year each of them sent her a great deal of items that everybody was envious of. Even Kate’s older siblings (sister Kerry and brother Mike) were jealous because Kate’s things were the most beautiful. Generally, Kate was a good girl but one thing must be mentioned here: she was good only when she was alone, without her friends because she sometimes did strange things in their company.

Once upon a time Kate (who was an average student) and her best friend Paul decided to improve their marks to please their parents. But what’s wrong about that? Is making progress a bad thing? No, of course not. But they wanted to have better marks without learning! Paul hired one of his acquaintances who stole the register and they all went to the school bathroom to add some ‘As’. Fortunately (but unfortunately for the group of friends) they didn’t manage to do that because some older student who was there saw it everything and said:

-          ‘Why are you doing this? Do you want to have problems with teachers and with the POLICE? You are irresponsible. You had better learn instead of doing such stupid things. It’s against the law. If they find out, you will go to prison.”

Frightened teenagers quickly realized that what they tried to do made no sense and finally they returned the register.

But that day, the day of the trip was totally different. Kate didn’t think about school and homework. At 7.30 she left home and went to school where all students of her class had to gather. But on her way, she met her neighbour.

-          “Hello, Kate, where are you going with such a big suitcase?” – he asked

-          “Oh, hi, well, we’re going to the seaside on a school trip. It’s a trip abroad. It will be amazing, I’m sure.”

-          “Wow! I envy you. How long will your trip last?”

-          “Well, a fortnight. I’m looking forward to swimming in the sea and making sandcastles… Well, I have to go now, otherwise they will go there without me. Bye!”

-          “Bye, bring me some souvenirs. Bye.”

At 8 o’clock all the pupils and teacher, Mrs Smith, gathered in front of the school. The teacher counted the students and all entered the bus. They were going for eleven hours. On the way, some students vomited because they didn’t listen to the teacher who told them not to eat too much. They were dirty and tired after such a long journey. However, they were looking forward to seeing their three-star hotel. Kate was going to share her room with two friends: Paul and Jane. But when they finally reached their destination, poor Kate realized something.

-          “Oh my God!!!  I forgot my pyjamas! How will I sleep!! Gee!”

-          “No, you’re pulling my leg!” – Paul laughed.

-          “No, I’m not kidding! How will I sleep? How? Tell me how…”

-          “Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world” – the boy consoled Kate – “oh, I have an idea. Do you have your pink dress here, you know, the one with a big heart on it?”

-          “Yes, yes, I have it. Why are you asking?”

-          “Well, don’t be angry with me but, to tell the truth, it looks like a nightdress so you could sleep in it...”

-          “What? Don’t you like my dress!? How come? It’s so gorgeous and fashionable!” – answered the cross girl.

-          “To be honest, it’s awful, believe me, nobody likes it and whenever you appear in this dress, everybody laughs at you…”

-          “Ok, I guess, I have no choice. Now it will be my pyjamas.”

After the argument, Paul went to the bathroom to take a shower and they were going to go to sleep. Suddenly, some shouts were heard from the bathroom. Those were Paul’s shouts:

-          “No, no, it’s impossible!”

-          “What’s the matter?” – asked Jane, the teenager, who shared the room with Paul and Kate.

-          “The shower doesn’t work!” – answered the boy.

-          “Oh no! What will we do?!!” – shouted Jane.

-          “I know! What we have to do is to ask some of our friends to let us use their bathroom” – said Kate – “let’s go”.

Fortunately their friends allowed them to have a bath in their own room and then all could go to bed. But Kate had a strange feeling… She felt lonely although she had her best friends here, with her, she did want to go on this trip, she dreamt about it. So what was that feeling?

-          “Jane, are you sleeping?” – she asked silently.

-          “No, I can’t sleep although I am sleepy… and you? Are you sleeping, Kate?”

-          “Jane, I’m talking to you so, believe it or not, I am not sleeping either. But, never mind. Can you hear Paul snoring?”

-          “Yes…”

-          “So, let’s play a trick on him. Haha” – the girl offered and both started laughing uncontrollably.

-          “Errr, what are we going to do?”

-          “I don’t know yet…”

And both girls began thinking what to do to have fun.

-          “I know! Take the torch and come with me” – said Kate. “But be quiet” – she added.

They went downstairs, to the dining room, leaving the door of their room wide open.

-          “Kate, why are we here? Are you starving?” – whispered Jane.

-          “No, I’m not starving. I would do something funny so we will borrow those markers that I saw here in the morning while eating breakfast.”

-          “But why?” – asked confused Jane.

-          “Don’t ask now. I’ll tell you later. Now, take the markers and let’s get out of here.”

-          “Oh no, I can hear some voice. Somebody is coming here! I’m scared”

-          “Shhh, we have to be quiet, otherwise they will accuse us of stealing things from the hotel! Let’s hide behind that big flower” – offered Kate.

-          “Kate, I am so afraid. Let’s escape!”

-          “Wait a moment; they are talking in the corridor. We’ll escape as soon as they go away.”

Luckily, after fifteen minutes they could go because nobody was there. They entered their room.

-          “Do you have the markers?" – asked Kate.

-          “Yes.”

-          “Good. We will practice drawing. On Paul’s face.”

The girls drew some red spots on Paul’s face and put the markers on the chest of drawers.

-          “Wow, he’s so handsome now” – they laughed.

-          “We will plead not guilty” – Jane added.

Tired and exhausted, they finally went to sleep. Next day, Paul was the first to get up. He went to the bathroom to wash himself when he finally saw lots of red spots on his face.

“Am I ill?” – he thought –“I don’t feel bad. Hmmm, suspicious. What are those spots on my face?” He went silently to the room where he noticed the red marker.

Indelible – he read on the marker. “Oh, no! I will revenge!” He took the marker and used it to draw the whiskers on the sleeping girls’ faces. Because he was looking forward to seeing their reaction, he woke them up quickly.

-          “Hello, Paul” – said Jane. “Paul, what’s the matter with you, are you ill?” – she asked.

-          “Oh, Jane, what’s the matter with YOU? Are you changing into a cat?”

-          “I don’t understand. What do you mean?” – she asked.

After a while, Kate got up. First, she looked at Paul and started laughing then she took a look at Jane and she couldn’t believe her eyes. Jane, who saw Kate’s whiskers, began laughing too, and they both ran quickly to the bathroom.

-          “Oh my God, I can’t remove it!” – said Kate.

-          “I can’t do it either” – said Jane.

-          “No wonder” – claimed Paul – “you didn’t read that this was an indelible marker!!!”

-          “What are we going to do? Everybody will laugh at us” – cried Jane.

-          “Serves you right!” – replied the boy.

-          “Oh no, it’s breakfast time. We have to come down to eat our meal.” – said Kate. “Let’s cover our faces, maybe nobody will pay attention to us.”

-          “What a shame!”

However, everyone, including the teacher, saw the teenagers’ funny-looking faces.

-          “You certainly had fun at night, I see” – the teacher said.

-          “Yes, we did, but now we don’t…” - replied Jane.

 After breakfast, all the class and Mrs Smith gathered in front of the hotel. They planned to go to the seaside to swim and to sunbathe. The weather was gorgeous! The sun was shining and there was no cloud in the sky.

-          “Ok, let’s go, don’t get lost, follow me” – the teacher said.

They swam in the blue sea for nearly three hours and threw water at each other. Obviously, they were having a great time together. Suddenly, Jane saw that Paul’s red spots almost disappeared.

-          “And your whiskers are invisible too” – he consoled the girls. “We’re in the salty water all the time and maybe that helped us! Hurray!”

Although the group enjoyed themselves so much, they had to come back to the hotel. On their way, they did some sightseeing and took some photos of the most incredible places.

Finally, the last day of the group’s stay abroad came. This was a time of buying souvenirs, packing and returning.

-          “It was an unforgettable adventure for me” – admitted Kate.

-          “Yes, so funny” – agreed Paul.

And finally they returned home. Sleepy and tired after a long journey. Kate’s mum was so pleased to see her daughter.

-          “Hello, mum, I missed you so much!” – the girl said and hugged her mother.

-          “Me too. How was your trip, sweetheart?”

-          “Well, I liked it a lot, but…” – she said. And then she realized one more thing:

-          “That strange feeling I had that night, well, it’s gone now.” – she thought and smiled. “East or West, Home is best”- she added.

VOCAB:

Appear = turn up= show up – pojawić się                             hide àhidàhidden- chować

Disappear = vanish – zniknąć                                                the corridor- korytarz

Pack- spakować                                                                      spots- plamki

Cheerful- wesoły, radosny                                                      chest of drawers- komoda

Acquaintances- znajomi                                                         suspicious- podejrzany

Solve (a problem) – rozwiązać (problem)                              notice- zauważyć, spostrzec

console- pocieszyć                                                                  revenge- zemścić się

appearance- wygląd                                                                indelible- niezmywalny

a youngster = teenager- nastolatek                                         whiskers- kocie wąsy

gorgeous- piękny                                                                     no wonder- nie dziwne!

accompany – towarzyszyć (accompanied – cz.przeszły)        remove- usunąć

fashionable- modny                                                                 pay attention to (+ing)-zwracać uwagę na

I am interested in (+Ing) – interesuję się, jestem zainteresowany…

Wealthy- bogaty                                                                     serves you right! – dobrze ci tak!

Describe- opisać                                                                     meal- posiłek

Items=things- przedmioty, rzeczy                                          cover- zakryć, przykryć

Jealous of = envious of – zazdrosny o                                   what a shame! – ale wstyd!

Strange- dziwny                                                                     get lost- zgubić się

Company – towarzystwo       (in their company- w ich towarzystwie)

Once upon a time- pewnego razu                                          follow…- podążać za, śledzić

Please… - zadowolić (kogoś)                                                Admit- przyznać

Make progress- robić postępy                                                hug- przytulić

Average- przeciętny                                                              change into- zmienić się w

Register- dziennik

Add- dodać

Manage to- zdołać, dać radę

Irresponsible- nieodpowiedzialny

It’s against the law- to wbrew prawu

Find out- dowiedzieć się

Go to prison- iść do więzienia

Realise- zdać sobie sprawę

…made no sense - …nie miało sensu

Return- zwrócić, wrócić

Gather- gromadzić się

A suitcase- walizka

I envy you- zazdroszczę ci

Otherwise- w przeciwnym razie

Enter (the bus)- wsiąść (do autobusu)

Vomit- wymiotować

However- jednakże

Poor- biedny

You are pulling my leg= you are joking= you are kidding- żartujesz!

Pyjamas- piżamy

To tell the truth=to be honest- szczerze mówiąc

Ask- pytać, prosić

Nightdress- koszula nocna

It looks like a…- to wygląda jak…

Let = allow to- pozwolić

Shout- krzyczeć, krzyk

I am sleepy- spać mi się chce

Snore- chrapać

Both- obie, oboje

Begin àbeganàbegun- zaczynać (+Ing)

Torch- latarka

Accuse …of (+ing)- oskarżyć kogoś o…

Whisper- szeptać

Borrow … (from)- pożyczyć (od)

Marker- pisak

Confused- zmieszany

Let’s get out of here- wynośmy się stąd, chodźmy stąd