Just about everyone eagerly anticipates summer break during the school year; Akos wasn't an exception for the rule either. He'd finally have time for everything. He'd be able to read every single book in that huge pile he haven't had time for. And, even: given this much time, he'll be able to change the whole world. Yes. He will go and change the world.
That said, there was something that he hadn't accounted for. There can be not only too little free time but also too much of it, and the fact that you don't have anything to do whatsoever is not always a purely positive thing. That's how one usually ends up in that "end-of-summer low": anything you could be doing is pointless, even in theory. Also, even if there was something that wasn't pointless: in practice, nothing is going to work out anyway.
He was sitting in the garden on a porch swing, sifting through that particular pile of books. Neither "History of Art" nor "Geometry and Its Applications" felt as exciting as they felt back during the school year.
He dragged himself back to the house, grabbed the orange juice from the fridge and poured himself a glassful. He slowly sipped on the pleasantly cool liquid, then climbed the stairs, up to his room. "It's not that everyone is obligated to be in a good mood all the time" - he told himself; this thought satisfied him a little. Normally, the time during which he wasn't doing something important counted as "wasted", and he really didn't like that happening.
"So I'll do exactly what I wasn't supposed to be doing", was his next idea. Stereo on, the Maiden album resumed from where he left it in the morning... he became so excited of this thought that he ended up being almost happy, even. It took a few pushups to release the sudden excess energies.
He was in this kind of mood when he noticed his sister, Anne, showing up a few blocks down the street. Long, blonde hair (slightly disheveled by the wind), a backpack, a smile... she was a phenomenon not to be overlooked easily. She was radiating even more energy than usual, her keys already jingling in her hand. She flew up the stairs, slammed the door open.
"Hey! How are things at home?" - her huge, blue eyes were eager to absorb anything that's interesting. And is there anything at all that isn't?
"... nothing?"
"Math class was so awesome today! By the way, what have you been up to this morning?"
"Among other things... I've been reading. It wasn't too interesting. Then I put some music on. It has been... well, a boring day."
"But then... what was the interesting part? What have you been thinking about?"
"About... what weirdness of a dream I had, again. And how I'm fed up with the fact that I should be doing something substantial but that never ends up happening.""
"Why should you? It's summer break, right? Or... make up something and imagine it's real! I'm always doing that, too, when I'm feeling down."
"Well, it's not that such a thing happens to you especially often..." - as if he heard this advice a couple of times already. But, he had to admit: sometimes it worked. "So... what were you thinking about?", he asked.
"Well... but lemme tell you where I have been first! Sooo me and Pete and the others went to Ms. Hayes, you know, the math teacher... she even gave us cookies! And for lots of problems, it was me who solved them first, and then we were talking about how to send information faster than light. I know that Pete and Geza thinks I'm weird, because I'm into thinking about stuff like that, but it's sooo interesting! And then, when we left, we were waiting because the bus was late, and somehow I had this idea, that people should have four eyes because they'd be able to guess distances better that way. And then we had quite an argument over this, they were like, why do I keep making up stuff like this, but actually, I made it up so that they'd say that! They can be sooo boring!"
"And now you're so satisfied because you managed to get into an argument with them."
"Well... yes? I just had to tell them eventually, that if everyone was so unimaginative as they are, then we'd be still hunting mammoths with stone axes."
"I see. And what was their response to that?"
"That mammoths don't even exist anymore, and even if they did, I would've been eaten by one anyway already, while I was staring at them with my four eyes. Then they started talking about soccer. So: I won."
No lack of self-confidence here, Akos thought. He surely wouldn't have drawn a similarly positive conclusion given this situation. But then, of course, it might be the case that she was the one who was right.
"Well you got to tell me about that dream of yours in a bit, but... later? Got to go and draw a four-eyed mammoth!" She grabbed her bag and stormed out of the door, towards her room.
Akos was staring at the spot she'd been standing at for a while, then reached out for "History of Art" and started reading.
Half an hour later, he was curiously eyeing the latest creation in his sister's room. Inside: a huge desk, leafy plants everywhere, the walls plastered with her drawings, featuring all kinds of fantastic creatures, buildings... and a huge photo: Earthrise, from the Moon. Their parents, listening to her neverending stream of ideas, often remarked that she should come back down to Earth and notice that the trash bin is full... so she put up this picture.) Blue carpet, with orange patterns, also, lots of bookshelves, overflowing with titles ranging from physics textbooks to Harry Potter. On the latter, she had the opinion that it's not imaginative enough, and also, it's illogical: because of this and this and this.
"Well, that much about this one. I do like it, actually." she put the drawing back to the desk.
"By the way, where are you going exactly? And with whom?"
"Szárliget. School math camp. A couple of my classmates, some of yours... Laci's gang, for example."
"I see. Szárliget is a cool place, by the way; the camp was there last year, too. That said... I have no idea what Laci's gang is going to be doing there. Maybe it was mandatory, sending someone from our year? Or they caught wind of the fact that there is a pub with a foosball table."
"We'll see. Because, as we know, I'm good at observing everything!!! Anyway, I think it's gonna be nice."
Of course, it was Akos who was top of his class in math. It's no wonder that teachers weren't particularly delighted when he announced that he'd rather do driver's ed this year. They would've clearly preferred having at least one student who was actually interested in the classes.
But this one wasn't the only math camp he could pick for this summer, and also, he had been wanting to get a license for a long time now. Also, the core of the crew would consist of Laci Fenyes and his pals... He was getting increasingly happy about having made that choice. It was the kind of guys who didn't like anything that wasn't "cool". As for what counted as "cool"... well, ten bottles of beer a day. Blasting techno music, with headbanging. Plus, Laci's dad was some sort of rich enterpreneur, so he always ran around in the coolest outfits, winning the unconditional respect of most of his classmates.
It's fairly fortunate that issues like this didn't tend to grab little sis' attention too often. Unlike, for example, math, which she combined with similarly interesting phenomena of the world in quite an extraordinary way. In the style of her four-eyed thingies. If only she combined herself with her classmates just as well. It's for the better, actually, that she'll end up going to this camp. She could use some socialization. And preferably not as in "explaining math during lunch break to classmates and doing their homework for them", which was how it usually went down.
The next morning, they were standing in the bus stop already, with a huge bag on her back; Akos only joined her to say bye. Just a couple final pieces of advice...
"And see, even Mom was saying you can totally try how you like beer, you'll be just fine. The world has many interesting things in it."
"All right... you know what? I'll write you a mail. On actual paper. I haven't written stuff on paper since... forever! And it's way too easy to chat online. Have fun with the driving lessons!"
"You have some fun, too!"
The doors slammed shut, the bus accelerated away, with Anne waving from the back window. Akos kept standing there as it vanished behind a turn in the road, then, finally, set out for home. Could it actually happen that... is it now him, who is trying to talk someone into... becoming more like his not-so-beloved classmates? But nothing is black or white. What those guys are doing is far from preferable, but what Anne is doing isn't right, either. Even though she's a high school freshman already, she's still into her fantasy worlds so much, loves math to pieces and doesn't care at all about her classmates. But wait and see, for happens in this camp...