Struggling to see Light
I still remember that day in kindergarten when Mrs. White told us that it was time to make snowflakes to decorate the classroom. I was wearing my favorite yellow shirt and my lucky shoes that day. I guess they weren't as lucky as I thought they were… As Mrs. White took out all the supplies I had already grabbed my favorite scissors. Next, I ran across the room to where she was sitting, handing out white paper to all my friends. I remember being so excited as I ran across the carpet to where Mrs. White sat. I remember feeling uneasy as my shoe caught on the edge of the rug as I fell forward. Lastly, I remember the piercing pain I felt as I fell down. Everything turned into a blur then. Everyone was screaming and I could hear my best friend Mary crying. Mrs. White was yelling for everyone to stay back as she called 911. I could feel myself being lifted of off the ground and lifted onto a comfy white bed. Then I heard a deep voice assuring me that everything was going to be okay. He lied.
It's been ten years since that day in Mrs. White's classroom. Ten years since I could see. Now the only time I see is in my dreams, which have turned to nightmares since my accident.
After I lost my vision, I fell into a sort of rut. Life didn’t seem to hold the same appeal as it had before. Everything seemed to be a mystery, and it frustrated me. It frustrated me so much that I decided never to go out of my house ever again. That way, I would always know where everything and everyone was. It made me feel safe. That was my life, and I accepted it for what it was.
Then, yesterday, when my parents came home, they announced that I was going to school. At first I laughed, how could they say something that was so ridiculous? Then after about two minutes, I realized that they were serious, dead serious.
"No." I said. My feet started to fidget. This is what always happens to me whenever I begin to get anxious or nervous. There was no way I was going to go to school. Not now, not ever. I had been completely content in my own little world that I had created over the years. And now, my parents were threatening to change it. "NO." I said again, this time louder.
"Emily, we think that it would be a good idea for you to interact with other people. You are turning into a young woman, and we don't want to see you wasting your life away listening to music and sleeping all day. St. Baldrics Academy is a place that will adhere to your every need. It's a very wonderful school," said my mother, her voice full of that maternal tone that reeks of We-know-what's-best-for-you.
"Mom. I don’t think you understand. I. Am. Blind. School is not an option for me and never will be. All I want to do is to live the way I have been living for the past ten years. Why do you have to swoop in and change everything now?" I asked, feeling my anger start to build.
"Its because you need this. I mean look at you," she said.
"Excuse me. MOM, I CAN'T. BECAUSE IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED YET, I'M BLIND!" I said, exploding.
"Emily…" She started.
"And you have no idea what it is like, to have your eyes taken away from you. Because I promise, it is not a freaking tea party, Mom, " I said, my whole body shaking with rage. I could hear my mom crying, trying to hold back sobs.
"You may not speak to your Mother that way Emily!" boomed my Dad, stepping in. "As of right now, you will go to your room and get ready, because tomorrow school starts. And you will not argue with us because WE are your parents and you will do what WE say! Is that clear?"
"Yes." I mumbled as I trudged up the stairs to my room. As soon as I was up there, I slammed the door and turned my music up all the way. I would go to school, but I didn’t have to like it.
The next morning, I woke up feeling the sun on my face.
"Emily! Its your first day of school!" exclaimed my mom, from the kitchen. I could hear her humming and cooking something downstairs. Ughh, if she is so excited, why doesn’t she go herself? I got up out of the safety of my bed, and began to get ready.
St. Baldrics Academy was huge. My mother had told me before that it was a twenty-acre campus, but I hadn’t realized how large that was. As I stepped out of the car, I started to panic. This campus was so large, and all of it was a mystery to me. I grabbed my cane and began to feel around.
"Bye, Emily, " shouted my mom, " Have fun! Meet new people! And make good choices!"
I sighed under my breath. It was time to embark on my new "normal" teenage life.
My first class was English. My teacher, Mrs. Langley seemed to overflow with excitement.
"Hello, Class! I am Mrs. Langley and I will be your English teacher!" she said. Even though I couldn't see, I could feel her smile from across the room. "In this class, we will be exploring the art of…." She paused, for dramatic effect, "SHAKESPEARE!!!"
Crap. I thought. I hate Shakespeare.
"Now, everyone has an assigned seat partner, so listen closely as I show you to your seats!" Mrs. Langley began calling out names, and guiding people to their seats. Soon I heard my name. "Emily you sit here," she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me gently towards a chair. "Your seat partner is Jack."
"Hey," said a boyish voice from across the table. "I'm Jack, and you are?"
"Emily." I said, almost forgetting for a couple seconds.
"Well, Emily, you my friend are very lucky," he boasted.
"And why is that?" I asked, curious.
"Because. You get to sit next to me."
The next day, I eagerly headed to the English classroom. It seemed silly, but I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about my earlier rendezvous with the mysterious Jack. Because I'm blind, I obviously wasn't able to see what he looked like, but I I wondered if he was blind too, or if I was the only one. I hadn't asked many questions that first day, due to my shyness. Jack was the only person I talked to that was not a teacher.
"Hey Emily," said Jack, already seated on the other side of the desk.
"Hi," I replied, trying to act calm. Thankfully, Mrs. Langley, who seemed to be very excited for the lesson today, saved me from having to come up with something to say back.
"Hello Class! Today we will be starting our group project! Obviously because we are studying Shakespeare, I want the first project to be related to one of his plays. Everyone must choose a partner and both read one of the plays. You will be expected to act out one of the scenes and write and analysis."
Ugh, I thought. Even though I haven't actually attended school in a while, I have read countless books on that one girl who is always alone. In my head, I was that girl. Always sitting in the corner minding her own business, afraid to reveal herself to the outside world.
I was just about to raise my hand to ask if I could do the project alone, when I felt a slight nudge under the table.
"Hey, Emily," whispered Jack, "Do you wanna be partners for this thing?"
Immediately I blushed. My feet began to dance around on the floor, feeling the carpet. I breathed in, trying to suppress my excitement. This never happened to me. No one, and I mean no one; boys especially had ever asked me to be their partner before.
"Sure," I said, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Cool, and just so you know, I'm a die hard Romeo and Juliet fan."
I went home that night smiling. So far, my life had sucked up until this week. But now everything seemed to be taking a turn for the better.
The next day at school, Jack wasn't there. I figured he was sick or something and would be back soon so I didn’t ask about it. Later that week when he still hadn't showed up, I finally asked Mrs. Langley what was happening.
"Emily," Mrs. Langley began in a solemn tone. "I think you should sit down."
I took a seat.
"Jack has been suffering from a brain tumor for some time Emily. He's been fighting really hard, but now the tumor has grown and he has been growing weaker. Jack was at the hospital undergoing procedures and treatments, but the tumor was too much for him to handle. He passed away a couple days ago."
I could feel hot tears rolling down my cheeks. My feet began a crazy frenzy, dancing all over the floor. How could this happen? How could the world be so cruel?
"Listen, Emily, I'm sorry I didn’t say anything before. It's just, at this school, this isn't very rare."
"I just can't do…" I started, not being able to finish my sentence.
"What?" asked, Mrs. Langley holding my hand, squeezing it. "Do what?"
"Do this." I said. I got up, wiped the tears from my face, grabbed my cane, and started the dangerous walk home.
Emma
Thoughts:
I wanted to write more of a depressing story, because I think that they are unique. Most people don’t want to read stories about people who are depressed or sad. Personally, those kind of stories are my favorite. I like to read about people in distress or with problems. What I really wanted was for my story to me more of a reality and less of a fantasy.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Extraterrestrials
Extraterrestrials
CLAAAAAANK! The rusted locker sounded as it was thrusted shut for the last time of the year.
"What the hell, Boggle. Why do you always slam your damn locker every time!" Troggle said.
"Chill out, bro," said Oggle.
"It’s the last time I will ever even be in this school, and I'll do what I like…" Boggle said.
"I can't take this school anymore, these last four years at Moonrock High have been terrible," Troggle said in a dreadful tone. "Being with you two alien brats hasn't made it any easier either."
"You think you are really great because you are two minutes older huh" Boggle said.
"Just drop it already, it's your fault we all ended up in detention anyway, now I have to spend the first thirty minutes of my summer with Dr. Oog."
The aliens floated down the hall, due to zero gravity, and into their final detention as high schoolers. The moment they stepped in, the oldest, ugliest, and meanest teacher in their school, Dr. Oog, greeted them. "You're all late," he said not bothering to lift his head up from his Moonrock Times newspaper. The boys didn’t respond, and took their usual seats in the far right corner of the room. The class was filled with students who couldn't resist staying out of trouble before the final bell of the year rang. They reached under their desks and gathered the three straws they had taped underneath, which they had always used to spit zero gravity spitballs at their most hated teachers.
"Oggle do you have the stuff?" Boggle asked.
"Are you kidding bro? I have an even better idea" said Oggle. "This is the last time we have a chance to get revenge over this jerk."
Oggle opened his bag, and took out a huge wad of his old assignments, homework assignments, and reports. He picked up the wad and stuffed the hundreds of papers into his huge alien mouth. He crunched them down into the shape of a ball with his tongue. The finished result was a spitball the size of a basketball, dripping with alien saliva, like a soggy tennis ball that had just come out of a golden retriever's mouth. "Now this is a spitball," he said, feeling satisfied.
The aliens waited patiently for the final minutes of their detention to come to a close so they could hurl their oversized spitball and dash out of the classroom. "Okay Boggle, you have the best arm, I think you should hurl this thing."
"You guys are so dumb. You are either going to completely miss him or have us get arrested by the Men In Black" said Troggle.
"Will you stop being such a downer?! This guy made me redo my paper three times, and gave me a failing grade for my quarter. This is revenge," cried Boggle.
"The key to hitting him is to aim at his feet because the zero gravity will pull the ball up and it will hit him straight in the head," whispered Oggle.
"I know," Boggle said in disgust,."I have been doing this all of my life." The boys waited for the final moments of their detention period to come to a close. As the clock struck 3:59:55, they started the countdown.
"5…4…3…2…1"…DING, DING, DING!!! As the old bell sounded, the boys shot up out of their seats. Boggle hurled the spitball with all of his alien strength towards the nasty professor. The moment Dr. Oog lifted his head from the politics column in the local newspaper, he was met by a soggy wad of saliva soaked paper. In a blink of an eye, hundreds of pages went floating everywhere, covering the classroom in a white, snowy wonderland. The papers provided great foliage for the triplets as they dashed out of the room as fast as their two-legged bodies would let them.
"Lets go! We gotta hurry," yelled Troggle. "The shuttle takes off at 4:05!" The boys rushed to the shuttle, barely making it, and rode the shuttle into their town. They arrived at their house at half past four, sat down on the couch, and watched the news on their plasma screen TV.
"Breaking news," the alien reporter said as the TV turned on. "Starting tomorrow, a summer exchange program sending aliens from the moon to Earth will be commencing. Any graduating students who wish to live amongst humans this summer will have the opportunity to do so. If any students would like to go on this trip, they should report to the Neil A. Armstrong shuttle center by 5:00 am tomorrow morning. Each student will receive a 'skin', or a full body suit made out of human flesh that will be used to cover up their tail, scales, and alien body. This will allow them to blend in with the humans when they are visiting earth. Isn't that right, Loog.?"
"Yes, it is, Joog. Alien graduates wishing to receive these "skins" will receive them free of charge, thanks to our government. It's quite humorous, actually. We have been sending thousands of aliens each year to live amongst the humans yet they still haven't figured out that we exist."
"Yeah, that’s right, Loog. You would think the humans would be smart enough to figure out why their population has been rising drastically over the years, but I guess we can't all be intergalactic geniuses. I mean, this is a culture that is still amused by kicking a ball into a net…"
"That’s it," Boggle said. "We are going to that exchange program", he said as he turned off the TV.
"I'm down," said Oggle, "Its just Trog we have to convince. He would be the only one who wouldn't want to go."
"I'll come," Troggle said as the other two looked surprised. "It would actually sound interesting to live amongst a different race, and study a new culture."
"You are such a nerd, but I'm happy you want to come, we should get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us."
The next day, the three brothers woke up, and made their way to the shuttle center. They browsed the possible "skin" choices and decided on the skins of three Japanese 15 year olds. After hours of custom fitting, they were finally fitted in their skins. After it was done they looked completely human. Their tails were hidden, their scales were covered, and they looked like normal Japanese boys. At 7:00 a.m. they were put onto a space shuttle and sent off to Hawaii. On the way to the islands, they were briefed on everything they would need to know to live on the islands including Hawaiian history, island culture, and Japanese language. At 9:00 a.m., the shuttle, which looked like a normal airplane, touched down at Honolulu International Airport.
The aliens spent their summer venturing around the islands, making friends, and becoming accustomed to living in human society. They had gotten so familiar with the islands it was like they had lived there for their entire lives. When the time came for the boys to go back to the moon, they unanimously made a decision to stay and live on Oahu like so many of their fellow aliens had. They bought a house in town, and since they looked only 15, they enrolled in Punahou School.
CLAAAAAANK! The locker sounded as Boggle slammed his Pauahi locker shut for the first time of the year. "Are you serious? First day of the year and you are already slamming your locker…" said Troggle
"Chill out brah, it's the first day you don't have to be so uptight." Oggle remarked. "Yeah really, just relax. Nobody is going to figure out who we are, we blend in perfectly, just act like everyone else."
And so they were off. They went off to their classes, made a few friends, found their own niche in the school society, and continued to spitball their teachers. Hundreds of people passed them by each day, completely unaware of who they were, and what their story was. They were completely disregarded by many, and few bothered to take the time to get to know them. They were aliens living amongst humans. A thought that many humans wouldn't come close to considering. Who can we trust?
By E.T.
I wanted to write this story to show the possibility of having aliens on Earth. I have read many books, and seen many movies and TV shows, about aliens on Earth so I decided to write my own story about them. I feel that it is very possible that aliens will live among us in the near future if they haven't already.
CLAAAAAANK! The rusted locker sounded as it was thrusted shut for the last time of the year.
"What the hell, Boggle. Why do you always slam your damn locker every time!" Troggle said.
"Chill out, bro," said Oggle.
"It’s the last time I will ever even be in this school, and I'll do what I like…" Boggle said.
"I can't take this school anymore, these last four years at Moonrock High have been terrible," Troggle said in a dreadful tone. "Being with you two alien brats hasn't made it any easier either."
"You think you are really great because you are two minutes older huh" Boggle said.
"Just drop it already, it's your fault we all ended up in detention anyway, now I have to spend the first thirty minutes of my summer with Dr. Oog."
The aliens floated down the hall, due to zero gravity, and into their final detention as high schoolers. The moment they stepped in, the oldest, ugliest, and meanest teacher in their school, Dr. Oog, greeted them. "You're all late," he said not bothering to lift his head up from his Moonrock Times newspaper. The boys didn’t respond, and took their usual seats in the far right corner of the room. The class was filled with students who couldn't resist staying out of trouble before the final bell of the year rang. They reached under their desks and gathered the three straws they had taped underneath, which they had always used to spit zero gravity spitballs at their most hated teachers.
"Oggle do you have the stuff?" Boggle asked.
"Are you kidding bro? I have an even better idea" said Oggle. "This is the last time we have a chance to get revenge over this jerk."
Oggle opened his bag, and took out a huge wad of his old assignments, homework assignments, and reports. He picked up the wad and stuffed the hundreds of papers into his huge alien mouth. He crunched them down into the shape of a ball with his tongue. The finished result was a spitball the size of a basketball, dripping with alien saliva, like a soggy tennis ball that had just come out of a golden retriever's mouth. "Now this is a spitball," he said, feeling satisfied.
The aliens waited patiently for the final minutes of their detention to come to a close so they could hurl their oversized spitball and dash out of the classroom. "Okay Boggle, you have the best arm, I think you should hurl this thing."
"You guys are so dumb. You are either going to completely miss him or have us get arrested by the Men In Black" said Troggle.
"Will you stop being such a downer?! This guy made me redo my paper three times, and gave me a failing grade for my quarter. This is revenge," cried Boggle.
"The key to hitting him is to aim at his feet because the zero gravity will pull the ball up and it will hit him straight in the head," whispered Oggle.
"I know," Boggle said in disgust,."I have been doing this all of my life." The boys waited for the final moments of their detention period to come to a close. As the clock struck 3:59:55, they started the countdown.
"5…4…3…2…1"…DING, DING, DING!!! As the old bell sounded, the boys shot up out of their seats. Boggle hurled the spitball with all of his alien strength towards the nasty professor. The moment Dr. Oog lifted his head from the politics column in the local newspaper, he was met by a soggy wad of saliva soaked paper. In a blink of an eye, hundreds of pages went floating everywhere, covering the classroom in a white, snowy wonderland. The papers provided great foliage for the triplets as they dashed out of the room as fast as their two-legged bodies would let them.
"Lets go! We gotta hurry," yelled Troggle. "The shuttle takes off at 4:05!" The boys rushed to the shuttle, barely making it, and rode the shuttle into their town. They arrived at their house at half past four, sat down on the couch, and watched the news on their plasma screen TV.
"Breaking news," the alien reporter said as the TV turned on. "Starting tomorrow, a summer exchange program sending aliens from the moon to Earth will be commencing. Any graduating students who wish to live amongst humans this summer will have the opportunity to do so. If any students would like to go on this trip, they should report to the Neil A. Armstrong shuttle center by 5:00 am tomorrow morning. Each student will receive a 'skin', or a full body suit made out of human flesh that will be used to cover up their tail, scales, and alien body. This will allow them to blend in with the humans when they are visiting earth. Isn't that right, Loog.?"
"Yes, it is, Joog. Alien graduates wishing to receive these "skins" will receive them free of charge, thanks to our government. It's quite humorous, actually. We have been sending thousands of aliens each year to live amongst the humans yet they still haven't figured out that we exist."
"Yeah, that’s right, Loog. You would think the humans would be smart enough to figure out why their population has been rising drastically over the years, but I guess we can't all be intergalactic geniuses. I mean, this is a culture that is still amused by kicking a ball into a net…"
"That’s it," Boggle said. "We are going to that exchange program", he said as he turned off the TV.
"I'm down," said Oggle, "Its just Trog we have to convince. He would be the only one who wouldn't want to go."
"I'll come," Troggle said as the other two looked surprised. "It would actually sound interesting to live amongst a different race, and study a new culture."
"You are such a nerd, but I'm happy you want to come, we should get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us."
The next day, the three brothers woke up, and made their way to the shuttle center. They browsed the possible "skin" choices and decided on the skins of three Japanese 15 year olds. After hours of custom fitting, they were finally fitted in their skins. After it was done they looked completely human. Their tails were hidden, their scales were covered, and they looked like normal Japanese boys. At 7:00 a.m. they were put onto a space shuttle and sent off to Hawaii. On the way to the islands, they were briefed on everything they would need to know to live on the islands including Hawaiian history, island culture, and Japanese language. At 9:00 a.m., the shuttle, which looked like a normal airplane, touched down at Honolulu International Airport.
The aliens spent their summer venturing around the islands, making friends, and becoming accustomed to living in human society. They had gotten so familiar with the islands it was like they had lived there for their entire lives. When the time came for the boys to go back to the moon, they unanimously made a decision to stay and live on Oahu like so many of their fellow aliens had. They bought a house in town, and since they looked only 15, they enrolled in Punahou School.
CLAAAAAANK! The locker sounded as Boggle slammed his Pauahi locker shut for the first time of the year. "Are you serious? First day of the year and you are already slamming your locker…" said Troggle
"Chill out brah, it's the first day you don't have to be so uptight." Oggle remarked. "Yeah really, just relax. Nobody is going to figure out who we are, we blend in perfectly, just act like everyone else."
And so they were off. They went off to their classes, made a few friends, found their own niche in the school society, and continued to spitball their teachers. Hundreds of people passed them by each day, completely unaware of who they were, and what their story was. They were completely disregarded by many, and few bothered to take the time to get to know them. They were aliens living amongst humans. A thought that many humans wouldn't come close to considering. Who can we trust?
By E.T.
I wanted to write this story to show the possibility of having aliens on Earth. I have read many books, and seen many movies and TV shows, about aliens on Earth so I decided to write my own story about them. I feel that it is very possible that aliens will live among us in the near future if they haven't already.
New School
New School?!?
It was a Thursday and Julie was waiting for her mom to come and get her from school. Her mom said she was almost there so she went to get her bag and all her things together. When her mom pulled up Julie got in the car and started heading home. She fell asleep and about and hour later she got home. She had something called youth conference, which was for church so that was the only reason why her mom had come and picked her up. Julie usually caught bus and so she was really happy when her mom came and got her. When Julie got home she quickly changed and got back in the car where her mom was waiting. The youth conference had started at 4:30ish, but Julie never got there until 5:30ish. When Julie got there they were just eating dinner and so she went and sat by all her friends. While sitting there, her friends were helping her catch up in all the drama that they had been going through and Julie realized just how much she missed all her friends and hanging out with them.
It all started in sixth grade. Julie and her best friend, Lei, were at school walking to the cafeteria. They started talking about graduating from Elementary and what they were going to do next year when they go to Kahuji Intermediate. Lei chose that time to tell Julie that she was going to try for Persona, a very famous high school. Julie didn’t want Lei to leave her, especially now since she wouldn’t know half the people in seventh grade, since other people were coming from different schools. Lei told Julie that she should try out with her. So Julie went home and asked her mom, Tanya, if she could try with Lei. Her mom said, "we'll see" but never ended up letting Julie try out. So Julie just forgot about it. and went to Kahuji and met more people there. She loved it at Kahuji. She never wanted to leave. She got good grades and she loved the people there, everyone was super close. So when Lei came to her again in eighth grade and asked her again if she wanted to try out for Persona (Lei hadn’t gotten in), Julie was a little hesitant. She didn’t want to leave but she didn’t want her best friend to either. So she said that she would ask. So she went home and asked her mom again. Her mom said "we'll see" again and Julie thought that meant no. So Julie just went on with her life and forgot about it. The next weekend though, Tanya told Julie that she would be trying out for Persona the next month and that she needed to prepare. Julie thought that she would never get in so she didn’t really prepare. She only took a few practice tests every once in a while and just left it after that. The next month came around and Julie and Lei drove an hour to get to Persona and prepared to take the test.
When it was time for them to go inside, Leis mom, Aunty Sharlei (who had driven them), said goodbye and went to the mall to wait for them to finish testing. Lei and Julie went inside to take their test and that’s when Julie thought that she needed to try her best. Her parents had after all paid $100 just for this test she was taking. So when she got her test she started to answer as best she could.
After the test, Julie and Lei went outside to the car, which was a dark green suburban and they went to McCarly's, a fast food restaurant and then headed back home. When they got home it was still early so they decided to go the beach. All the worries from the day had disappeared. They had fun for the rest of the day. A few months later, the test results got in. Tanya had gone to go check the mail while Julie and Jill went to Feedland, a grocery store. They were just about to leave when Julie got a text message from Tanya that said "Julie you got into Persona!" The first thing that Julie replied was "did Lei get in?!" A few minutes later Julie and Jill were checking out all of their groceries and in walked Tanya and Aunty Sharlei. They walked over to Julie and Jill and Aunty Sharlei was super exited that Julie had gotten in. After everything had calmed down, Aunty Sharlei turned to Julie and said, "aww, I'm sorry but Lei never got in". After that Julie was very sad and didn’t really want to go to Persona after that.
Julie ended up going to Persona and she had to take summer school. During her summer she went camping with her ward and on the last night of camp, her mom came and told Julie and Jill that they were all (their whole family) going on a trip to Utah since Tanya's dad was really sick and they didn’t think he would make it for that much longer. Because Julie still had to go to summer school (the dean had said so since Julie was in Cridge, a program for new kids coming from public school), she ended up skipping the first week of summer school. Her and her dad came back after spending only a week in Utah and then they came back. Little did they know that that would be the last time that they would see Tanya's dad on Earth. Julie had to come to summer school and her dad, John, had to work so it worked out perfectly. Everyone else stayed though.
Julie's first day of summer school was really scary. She started at 7:30 and she caught a ride with her friend. They left at about 5:45 and there was one more guy that was in the same program as Julie so she new that she wasn’t alone. But then again, this would be her first day while he had already been going to summer school for about a week. When they got to school, it was around 6:45 so she went to "Old School Hall" which was a place that she had been told to go to. She had to find Mrs. K, who was the person in charge of the Cridge program. Julie didn’t know what to expect when she opened the door. So when she opened the door, she was actually pretty surprised. There was a big room with a smaller closed room towards the back. The small room towards the back was Mrs. K's office. When she saw Julie she told her that they would have to go and get her laptop from another place so she was glad that Julie came early.
After they got her laptop, they went to Bringaham, which was where her first class was. They had a kind of "homeroom" class for the first 15 or so minutes. When Julie walked in, she was the first person there because she was still early. She was introduced to some of the girls that were waiting right outside the door, but it was kind of awkward. Mrs. K then had Julie copy down her schedule and then it was time to start class. Julie had no idea what to do during her first class. First she was introduced to everyone and she was really bad at remembering names so she couldn’t remember any of them. So her first day was kind of scary and she didn’t really like it. Her second day was a little better but not by much. The rest of the week actually got better because the whole summer school, her teachers were helping her a lot.
Julie had a schedule just like everyone else pretty much. After homeroom, they went to math, which was in Poohai, another building right next door. They had three classes in all, not including homeroom. They were all in either Bringaham or Poohai. They had English, Math, and Social Studies. At the end of the day they would all get together (they were divided in half during most of the "small" classes and together in all of the "large" classes. They would then do things where they got to know each other or they would do small projects. They would get a few 15-minute breaks here and there every once in a while. The teachers wanted the students to get used to this kind of schedule, which is what it was going to be like during the school year. They had two semesters in six weeks (well Julie technically had five since she missed the first week).
Julie didn’t really like going home that much because she missed her mom, but she didn’t want to stay at school either. When she went home though, her dad was usually outside working and she would just do homework. They would sometimes eat out since neither one of them could really cook. One weekend, John surprised Julie by saying that she was going to go and sleep over her cousin's house. Julie was really happy because this would be the first time she would be going out with one of her friends the whole summer. She had a really good time but she figured that her dad would need her help at home so she went home and she did chores. Her and her dad actually did get closer to each other and they had a lot of fun during the summer with just the two of them. Even though Julie ended up liking summer school and hanging out with her dad, she was glad when summer school was done and her mom was coming back on the same day to so she was really happy for that. She was pretty sure that her dad was also relieved.
Right after summer school on her last day her dad picked her up and they went to the airport and picked Tanya and the kids up. They were all happy to see each other so on the ride home they caught up with each other. When they got home it was almost eight and all of them wanted to get out of the house (yes, even though they just got back) and so Tanya took the kids to Laie, the next town over from where they live and the place that everyone liked to hang out at. They had a lot do fun there and Julie got to see a lot of her friends that she hadn’t gotten to see all summer.
Julie started school almost a month after all of her friends so when her mom and all her friends and family went back to school, Julie didn’t really have anything to do. She would go sometimes to visit with her friends but she couldn’t do that every day so she would go help her mom in her class room (she taught second grade) or she would go help babysit at her auntie's house. After school was done she would go hang out with her friends and stuff like that.
When school started up again, she wasn’t all that exited. She was actually kind of scared, even though she already knew a lot of people from summer school. She was almost half an hour late though, on her first day because of traffic. She had math and they didn’t really do anything, in a lot of her classes she didn’t really know anyone, just like one or two people. By the end of the day, she wasn’t really that scared anymore but she still didn’t really like it either. She ended the day with study hall, which was with all the kids that she took summer school with. She was happy to see everyone and they played a kind of game to end their first day of school.
The rest of the week wasn’t that bad. She made new friends and she kind of had a lot of breaks. By the end of the semester, she had a lot of new friends but she still missed her old friends so every time she had a chance, she would go and hang out with them. She didn’t really like school either. She missed going to Kahukunui, which was her old school and she didn’t like having to ride on the bus almost two hours just to go to a school that she didn’t really like. She would always complain to her mom and dad that she didn’t like Persona and that she wanted to go back to Kahukunui. Her parents were also kind of going into debt because they had to pay a lot for Julies schooling and so Julie tried to use that against them to let her go back. But they kept on saying to give it one more year. Its now almost the end of the year and Julies parents seem to be leaning towards the side of Julie going back to Kahukunui. Julie still doesn’t like going to Persona but she's holding on. She sometimes wonders though what she ever did to deserve to be here. She knows that its good for her future but she is only living in the present so she doesn't really care about her whole "future thing". She sometimes even cries herself to sleep at night, just because of all of this. Tala
It was a Thursday and Julie was waiting for her mom to come and get her from school. Her mom said she was almost there so she went to get her bag and all her things together. When her mom pulled up Julie got in the car and started heading home. She fell asleep and about and hour later she got home. She had something called youth conference, which was for church so that was the only reason why her mom had come and picked her up. Julie usually caught bus and so she was really happy when her mom came and got her. When Julie got home she quickly changed and got back in the car where her mom was waiting. The youth conference had started at 4:30ish, but Julie never got there until 5:30ish. When Julie got there they were just eating dinner and so she went and sat by all her friends. While sitting there, her friends were helping her catch up in all the drama that they had been going through and Julie realized just how much she missed all her friends and hanging out with them.
It all started in sixth grade. Julie and her best friend, Lei, were at school walking to the cafeteria. They started talking about graduating from Elementary and what they were going to do next year when they go to Kahuji Intermediate. Lei chose that time to tell Julie that she was going to try for Persona, a very famous high school. Julie didn’t want Lei to leave her, especially now since she wouldn’t know half the people in seventh grade, since other people were coming from different schools. Lei told Julie that she should try out with her. So Julie went home and asked her mom, Tanya, if she could try with Lei. Her mom said, "we'll see" but never ended up letting Julie try out. So Julie just forgot about it. and went to Kahuji and met more people there. She loved it at Kahuji. She never wanted to leave. She got good grades and she loved the people there, everyone was super close. So when Lei came to her again in eighth grade and asked her again if she wanted to try out for Persona (Lei hadn’t gotten in), Julie was a little hesitant. She didn’t want to leave but she didn’t want her best friend to either. So she said that she would ask. So she went home and asked her mom again. Her mom said "we'll see" again and Julie thought that meant no. So Julie just went on with her life and forgot about it. The next weekend though, Tanya told Julie that she would be trying out for Persona the next month and that she needed to prepare. Julie thought that she would never get in so she didn’t really prepare. She only took a few practice tests every once in a while and just left it after that. The next month came around and Julie and Lei drove an hour to get to Persona and prepared to take the test.
When it was time for them to go inside, Leis mom, Aunty Sharlei (who had driven them), said goodbye and went to the mall to wait for them to finish testing. Lei and Julie went inside to take their test and that’s when Julie thought that she needed to try her best. Her parents had after all paid $100 just for this test she was taking. So when she got her test she started to answer as best she could.
After the test, Julie and Lei went outside to the car, which was a dark green suburban and they went to McCarly's, a fast food restaurant and then headed back home. When they got home it was still early so they decided to go the beach. All the worries from the day had disappeared. They had fun for the rest of the day. A few months later, the test results got in. Tanya had gone to go check the mail while Julie and Jill went to Feedland, a grocery store. They were just about to leave when Julie got a text message from Tanya that said "Julie you got into Persona!" The first thing that Julie replied was "did Lei get in?!" A few minutes later Julie and Jill were checking out all of their groceries and in walked Tanya and Aunty Sharlei. They walked over to Julie and Jill and Aunty Sharlei was super exited that Julie had gotten in. After everything had calmed down, Aunty Sharlei turned to Julie and said, "aww, I'm sorry but Lei never got in". After that Julie was very sad and didn’t really want to go to Persona after that.
Julie ended up going to Persona and she had to take summer school. During her summer she went camping with her ward and on the last night of camp, her mom came and told Julie and Jill that they were all (their whole family) going on a trip to Utah since Tanya's dad was really sick and they didn’t think he would make it for that much longer. Because Julie still had to go to summer school (the dean had said so since Julie was in Cridge, a program for new kids coming from public school), she ended up skipping the first week of summer school. Her and her dad came back after spending only a week in Utah and then they came back. Little did they know that that would be the last time that they would see Tanya's dad on Earth. Julie had to come to summer school and her dad, John, had to work so it worked out perfectly. Everyone else stayed though.
Julie's first day of summer school was really scary. She started at 7:30 and she caught a ride with her friend. They left at about 5:45 and there was one more guy that was in the same program as Julie so she new that she wasn’t alone. But then again, this would be her first day while he had already been going to summer school for about a week. When they got to school, it was around 6:45 so she went to "Old School Hall" which was a place that she had been told to go to. She had to find Mrs. K, who was the person in charge of the Cridge program. Julie didn’t know what to expect when she opened the door. So when she opened the door, she was actually pretty surprised. There was a big room with a smaller closed room towards the back. The small room towards the back was Mrs. K's office. When she saw Julie she told her that they would have to go and get her laptop from another place so she was glad that Julie came early.
After they got her laptop, they went to Bringaham, which was where her first class was. They had a kind of "homeroom" class for the first 15 or so minutes. When Julie walked in, she was the first person there because she was still early. She was introduced to some of the girls that were waiting right outside the door, but it was kind of awkward. Mrs. K then had Julie copy down her schedule and then it was time to start class. Julie had no idea what to do during her first class. First she was introduced to everyone and she was really bad at remembering names so she couldn’t remember any of them. So her first day was kind of scary and she didn’t really like it. Her second day was a little better but not by much. The rest of the week actually got better because the whole summer school, her teachers were helping her a lot.
Julie had a schedule just like everyone else pretty much. After homeroom, they went to math, which was in Poohai, another building right next door. They had three classes in all, not including homeroom. They were all in either Bringaham or Poohai. They had English, Math, and Social Studies. At the end of the day they would all get together (they were divided in half during most of the "small" classes and together in all of the "large" classes. They would then do things where they got to know each other or they would do small projects. They would get a few 15-minute breaks here and there every once in a while. The teachers wanted the students to get used to this kind of schedule, which is what it was going to be like during the school year. They had two semesters in six weeks (well Julie technically had five since she missed the first week).
Julie didn’t really like going home that much because she missed her mom, but she didn’t want to stay at school either. When she went home though, her dad was usually outside working and she would just do homework. They would sometimes eat out since neither one of them could really cook. One weekend, John surprised Julie by saying that she was going to go and sleep over her cousin's house. Julie was really happy because this would be the first time she would be going out with one of her friends the whole summer. She had a really good time but she figured that her dad would need her help at home so she went home and she did chores. Her and her dad actually did get closer to each other and they had a lot of fun during the summer with just the two of them. Even though Julie ended up liking summer school and hanging out with her dad, she was glad when summer school was done and her mom was coming back on the same day to so she was really happy for that. She was pretty sure that her dad was also relieved.
Right after summer school on her last day her dad picked her up and they went to the airport and picked Tanya and the kids up. They were all happy to see each other so on the ride home they caught up with each other. When they got home it was almost eight and all of them wanted to get out of the house (yes, even though they just got back) and so Tanya took the kids to Laie, the next town over from where they live and the place that everyone liked to hang out at. They had a lot do fun there and Julie got to see a lot of her friends that she hadn’t gotten to see all summer.
Julie started school almost a month after all of her friends so when her mom and all her friends and family went back to school, Julie didn’t really have anything to do. She would go sometimes to visit with her friends but she couldn’t do that every day so she would go help her mom in her class room (she taught second grade) or she would go help babysit at her auntie's house. After school was done she would go hang out with her friends and stuff like that.
When school started up again, she wasn’t all that exited. She was actually kind of scared, even though she already knew a lot of people from summer school. She was almost half an hour late though, on her first day because of traffic. She had math and they didn’t really do anything, in a lot of her classes she didn’t really know anyone, just like one or two people. By the end of the day, she wasn’t really that scared anymore but she still didn’t really like it either. She ended the day with study hall, which was with all the kids that she took summer school with. She was happy to see everyone and they played a kind of game to end their first day of school.
The rest of the week wasn’t that bad. She made new friends and she kind of had a lot of breaks. By the end of the semester, she had a lot of new friends but she still missed her old friends so every time she had a chance, she would go and hang out with them. She didn’t really like school either. She missed going to Kahukunui, which was her old school and she didn’t like having to ride on the bus almost two hours just to go to a school that she didn’t really like. She would always complain to her mom and dad that she didn’t like Persona and that she wanted to go back to Kahukunui. Her parents were also kind of going into debt because they had to pay a lot for Julies schooling and so Julie tried to use that against them to let her go back. But they kept on saying to give it one more year. Its now almost the end of the year and Julies parents seem to be leaning towards the side of Julie going back to Kahukunui. Julie still doesn’t like going to Persona but she's holding on. She sometimes wonders though what she ever did to deserve to be here. She knows that its good for her future but she is only living in the present so she doesn't really care about her whole "future thing". She sometimes even cries herself to sleep at night, just because of all of this. Tala
The Summer I Found Love
The Summer I Found Love
Every day for two months since we had been let out from school, I'd sit at the edge of my bed, fantasizing about what the perfect summer would be like. My mother would walk into my room promptly at 11:30 to tell me that lunch was ready, and I'd sit there with a dazed look plastered on my face, contemplating what was supposed to be my latest and greatest idea of my ideal summer romance. Neither of us dared to break the ongoing cycle that we had perfected over the course of the two months I'd been out of school. My mother knew better than to do that ever since the hard breakup I'd been through during the last semester of my junior year. But I was a senior now, and things were going to be different. I could just feel it.
My mother and I had always been close. Since the day of my tenth birthday when I had heard the startling news that my father had been killed in a car accident, my mother and I had formed a bond so strong that it could not possibly be broken by any outside force. Sometimes, it felt as if we could read each other's minds. She had always been there for me whenever I needed her⎯my fortress that shielded me from the dangers of the outside world.
The day my boyfriend, Trent, dumped me started out as a typical day⎯six class-filled periods and a study hall before the final bell rang, some mystery meat was served in the cafeteria, and that pesky History teacher who kept rambling on about the fierce battle he'd had to face in World War II. I had been going about my usual business, and being the good student I was, I spent most of my free periods and study halls in the library. Nothing special ever happened in the library, but I usually liked to finish up that night's homework before I got home so that I could spend the rest of my night talking on the phone with Trent.
I took my Spanish textbook out of my purple Jansport backpack that I had positioned perfectly so that it would lean on the leg of my chair and began to thumb through it, as I reached behind me to tie my long, black hair into a messy ponytail. My hair had always been hard to manage, considering that it was layered and really thick. I had inherited the dark black color of my hair from my mom, and my fair skin tone from my dad, but everywhere I went, people told me that there was no mistaking the resemblance between my mom and I, and that we looked just like twins, a compliment which, of course, my mom always pretended to be flattered by. Rachel looks like a younger version of you, Marie, my mom's friends would say. The contrast between my pale skin and the dark color of my hair was so distinct that it made each of my features stand out even more.
I turned to a random page in my textbook, which read, "Por favor, traducir este en Inglés," but I didn't feel like translating anything, so I put my head down on top of my Spanish book and closed my eyes. Just for a few minutes, I reassured myself, my eyelids heavy with exhaustion. I awoke, startled, as I turned around to face a tall, lean figure⎯Trent. His light brown eyes were wild with excitement and he looked anxious, as if he had drank two Five Hour Energy drinks before stopping by to see me. By the way he paced in circles around my chair, I could tell that something wasn't right.
"What is it, Trent?" I asked, as a wave of worry began to wash over me.
"This isn't easy for me to say, Rach, but," he paused, reaching up to brush a few locks of his golden blonde hair out of his face. I think we should see other people. I'm sorry…" he said, swiftly pivoting around on his left foot as he turned to walk out of the library, not even looking over his shoulder once to see if I was all right. The very place that had once been a refuge for me no longer felt safe anymore. My emotions began to take the better of me as I placed my head into my hands and began to cry, my sniffling quickly turning into sobbing. I cried out all of my frustration and heartbreak, and by the time the period was almost over, my eyes were red and swollen. I guess I must have been crying pretty loudly because when I lifted my head up, a few heads were turned in my direction, concern creasing their foreheads. As soon as I looked over, they turned back to whatever they had been working on, not wanting to be labeled as "nosy"⎯all except for one guy. His name was Jake. I recognized him from my third period English class. I looked at him through my tear-drenched eyelashes and red-rimmed eyes that had distinct smudges of black from my carefully applied eyeliner and mascara. I was a wreck, but he didn't seem to care. He sauntered towards me slowly with one hand outstretched, holding a tissue, and the other, extended for me to grab. I admired how undaunted he had been in coming up to me in the first place, and the nonchalant way that he seemed to carry himself. I took the tissue from him and began to wipe my eyes, as he helped me up. And so began my friendship with Jake.
Jake was probably the best friend I could have ever asked for. Even after the rough breakup that he had witnessed, he stuck around, cleaning up the mess that Trent had made. Jake listened to me cry, complain, and go through my monthly moody phases, yet, he never strayed far from my side. I loved how easygoing he was, and that he was blunt and to-the-point without being overly harsh. There was a balance in him when it came to certain things, especially topics that required more of a sensitive outlook to them, and over time, I found myself growing more and more fond of him.
"Do you want to go and grab a bite, Rach?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, sure! Let's go!" I answered, eagerly. Whenever I was with him, I felt whole again, like my breakup with Trent had never happened in the first place.
Chicago was known to be pretty chilly outside in around mid-July with each girl sporting a puffy parka, skinny jeans, a pair of UGGs, a sheer scarf, and some gloves. I turned around to grab my coat and gloves out of my car, when I remembered that I had forgotten them on the kitchen counter at home. Dang, I thought to myself. What am I supposed to do now? As if I said this outloud, Jake came up behind me, and passed me his jacket.
"Here," he gestured to me, "you look cold. Why don't you put this on? I wouldn't want you to freeze to death," he said with a wink. I glanced at him, noticing how animated his dark brown eyes were⎯almost the color of dark chocolate⎯and the way they glistened as he talked. He had the most gorgeous eyes I had ever seen, from his long eyelashes that protruded out from the top of his eyelids, to the way he could mezmorize me just by looking at me.
My body had begun to warm up, but my hands were still freezing cold. I looked up at Jake, with his chocolate brown eyes and shaggy black hair, and he stared back at me, smiling. His teeth were perfectly straight and bleached white⎯years of wearing braces, he had explained to me many times before⎯and his smile was bright enough to illuminate a whole room. Then, he reached down and took my hands, placing them between his own, which felt warm and strong. I felt my heart do a flip as the two of us stood there, not saying anything.
We walked along the streets of Chicago silently, Jake's hand gripping my hand ever so lightly, but not showing the slightest sign that he wanted to let go. Finally, he broke the silence, and the words that came out of his mouth shocked me so badly that I stood there for a few seconds, dumbfounded. "I'm really glad I met you, Rach. No one has ever made me feel the way you do," he said looking down at his feet, probably regretting the confession he had just made.
It took me a while to form a sentence before I decided on what I was going to say to him. "I'm really glad I met you, too, Jake. Thank you for coming up to me that day in the library." His gazed remained fixed on a dot of white paint on the asphault, but just by glancing over at his pale skin, I could tell that he was blushing more and more with every word that I uttered.
We both stood there for a while, neither of us sure of what to say next. I turned to face him, not sure of what I should do, but he was already staring at me. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, and then closed it, repeating this process twice.
"I'm sorry," he said. "This is really awkward now, isn't it…? I should have just⎯" But I didn't let him finish. I reached out to him, pressing his toned body against me, and took hold of his face with both hands, as I pulled him in closer so that I could kiss him. His hands traced the contours of my face, and I could feel all of my troubles melting away. I could just taste the sweetness of his lips from his cherry Chapstick, and the way they opened and closed around mine, enveloping them perfectly. His arm moved down to the small of my back, as he held me there. I paused, taking in the moment. I guess I never really realized the spell that Trent had on me. But somehow, from the moment I met him, I knew there was something there.
We both pulled away, simultaneously looking up towards the sky. It had transformed from a buttery sunset to the color of twilight, almost engulfing the moon completely. His eyes were wide with surprise, but they still twinkled in the glow of the moonlit sky. Worried that I had misread all of the signs he had been giving me, I thought to myself, Maybe he never really did like me... Maybe he was just being friendly... I was about to say something, but I was interrupted as Jake pressed his pointer finger to my lips, removed it, and began kissing me again, slowly this time, but with more passion.
When the kiss was over, Jake took a tiny, velvet box out of his pocket and placed it in the palm of my hand. Curious, I turned it over a couple of times, wondering what it was.
"Go ahead and open it," he whispered. I removed the cover slowly, as if whatever was inside the box could run away and disappear, kind of the way that Trent had. But of course, it didn't. My fingers grazed a something cold⎯a piece of metal, perhaps⎯ and then a chain, and finally, a clasp. I held the necklace up facing the moon so that I could examine it. It was a necklace with a diamond pendant on it. The diamond had been so deliberately cut that each of its facets reflected a different part of the moon. I lifted up my hair as Jake reached in front of me to put the necklace on me.
"This was my mother's most prized possession. She entrusted it to me before she died," Jake said, looking at me. "I wanted you to have it."
I had pictured this moment in my bedroom in so many different ways, but this definitely surpassed any idea I could have possibly thought up. Jake was absolutely perfect, and his mom's necklace that he gave me was a constant reminder of his perfection. He had many different sides, thoughts, and emotions, but each of them reflected the same thing, just like a diamond. He was my diamond that I would have to hold onto forever.
By: Tamara
My inspiration behind this story was based on the fact that I'm one of those teenage girls who crave romance. I love reading romance novels about girls who get swept off their feet by that handsome prince, and find their own "happily ever after".
I also tried to base my writing off of two of my favorite authors⎯Sarah Dessen, Nicholas Sparks, and Jenny Han, all of which just so happen to be romance novelists. Each of the pieces they've written⎯Just Listen, The Truth About Forever, The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You, We'll Always Have Summer, The Last Song, etc.⎯have inspired me to want to become a better writer. Their books have a particularly interesting storyline and a really deep climax that always keeps me on the edge of my seat, and that's what I wanted to try to incorporate into my story.
Golden Opportunity
Golden Opportunity
Pfffffttttttt!
The referee blew his whistle, signaling the next serve. My mom and I stared intently at the thirty-inch television. Number seven on the USA team served the ball; it floated over the net onto Spain's side while constantly changing its course. It finally landed between the confused gazes of two girls, both thinking the other was going to pass the ball. "Turn your head and you're dead," my mother said. The score was now 24-22, the last set, and the championship match. Seven served the ball again though this time it went straight like a bullet. The ball showing no mercy to whomever it would hit. It bounced off of a Spanish girl's arms, a perfect set for the other team, and the 6'2" USA middle blocker slammed the ball straight down. My mom and I started jumping on the king mattress, wrinkling the silk sheets and screaming our heads off. We then remembered that we had to cheer in secret.
We watched that game about eight years ago, though I still remember it vividly. It is one of my favorite memories with my mother, a moment I will never forget. Although now it is only but a memory, my mother passed away about a month ago. Cancer took her life. This was devastating for me; she was my mother, a friend, and the one I could always turn to.
The castle is much more eerie now, it's just my step brother Trevor, the king or a.k.a. "Dad", a couple of maids, and me, Isabelle. When I was seven years old my mom (an Olympic volleyball player), and I went on a trip to Europe, this is where she found her future husband. She married Prince Edward III, who now goes by "The King." She gave up her chance to go to the Olympics to marry a dud like Edward. Although like every child, I was naïve, and like any other girl I was thrilled about the idea of becoming a princess. So I guess I was okay with the thought of having a king for a father. But now at sixteen years old I can see the reality of this. He is fake, narcissistic, and a selfish jerk, I guess my mom saw something in him that I can't? Or maybe even she was stuck in the fantasy. For the past nine years I have been in training or what I like to call Princess Boot Camp. I learned things like table manners, how to bow, and how to be "lady like." For those of you who think I'm living the dream right now, well I'm not. It was torture. Especially now without my mother, she was my partner in crime. She's the one that got me through all of this.
"Hola Isabelle, tiempo para de say unar," Maria shouted. Interrupting my thoughts.
"Okaaaay! I'll be down there in a minute" I replied. I got off of the bed and checked my email. I had five new messages, two of which were just spam mail. Although one of them caught my eye, it was an email from my grandma who lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Excitement and curiosity started to build up inside of me, the letter read,
"Dear Isabelle,
I know the loss of your mother has been tough on you, and it has been hard for me too. I was wondering if you wanted to come back home to Hawaii for the summer? We can catch up on things and I really miss you. Your height also needs to be updated on the wall, considering you haven't been home for a while. I want to see how tall you have gotten! So ask your father, and bring your brother too! I love and miss, and I hope you can come.
Love, Grandma"
I was thrilled! I ran at full speed down the marble staircase, weaving around maids and waiters until I reached the grand dining room. The King was stuffing his face already but Trevor waited, he was always very polite. "Good morning," we both said to each other. I sat down next to him, still catching my breath and reached for a slice of toast with jelly. When my breathing became steady and "The King's" eating slowed down, I began to speak,
"Dad…I was wondering if I could go to Hawaii for the summer to visit Grandma. She just emailed me, and she said that Trevor was invited to! Can we go pleeeasseeeeee?" I saw Trevor smile from the corner of my eye, so I knew he wanted to go too and he was on my side. The King muttered a couple of things under his breath, I knew he was trying to think of a lame excuse to refuse let us go but there was no reason at all to deny us. He pondered for a couple of minutes and finally spoke,
"No," He said hesitantly.
"Why?" I said. "Grandma wants to see us!"
"I don't care! That women is crazy!" (Grandma never approved of him)
Trevor and I ignored his obnoxious comment and ran out of the kitchen. I then came up with a plan. Since the King barely noticed where we were anyway, we could tell him that we were going to summer camp, but instead fly to sunny Hawaii. Trevor agreed to it and we then had one of our spastic moments, we jumped up and down, smiling, and freaking out! Hawaii was going to be great! We could visit Grandma, go to the beach, and we could visit all of the places that my mother and I loved to go to. Our favorite place was Sea Life Park, the animals there were always happy, adorable, and they were carefree. I touched the tiny golden key hanging around my neck. My mother gave it to me the day she died, but it always reminds to take chances and that she is still here with me.
When Trevor and I calmed down, I went up to my room to reply to grandma's email.
Dear Grandma,
I miss you so much! I just asked the King if Trevor and I could go, and he said OKAY! (: We are really excited and I can't wait to see you!
Love, Isabelle
P.S. I have grown five inches!
Two and a half months later
We boarded the Royal Airline plane, our final destination: Honolulu Hawaii, 7,936 miles away. After a ten-hour flight we finally landed at the Honolulu International Airport, I was exhausted but I ran out of the plane to hug my grandma. We embraced each other and I could feel a tear running down my eye, this moment will definitely be on the list of my favorites. She hugged Trevor and then we got into Grandma's Toyota Prius. When we got to her house in Kailua she cooked an array of Hawaiian foods, including my favorite, Haupia. I then realized how much I really missed Hawaii.
The first place we went to was Walls Beach. This was our favorite beach because there were always volleyball nets set up there. Trevor picked up the ball and we started to pepper (toss, pass, set, then hit). We would practice almost everyday in the Royal Recreation Center, though after my mother died Trevor and I both stopped playing. A little later two buff and tan guys approached us; and they asked if we wanted to play some beach volleyball with them. We played a short friendly game with them and surprisingly we were pretty good, and just a little rusty. We could also keep up with them considering we have never played a real beach volleyball game. Afterwards the two men asked if we would like to participate in a beach volleyball tournament that was in about month. Trevor and I exchanged looks and agreed to it. Our grandma was really excited for us too. We started practicing and got back into shape.
One month later
The Trevor and Isabelle team from Spain, unexpectedly made it to the semifinals, where we found out we would have to play the men that invited us to play in this tournament. This game was long and tiring, rolling in the sand, digging up balls, and setting Trevor so he could hit and bury the ball into the sand. We needed one more point to win, Trevor went into his approach, jumped, and swung. One of the tan men jumped in attempt to block him, though he jumped so high the ball bounced off his head into the crowd. We won. We had made it to the championship game that would be played the next day on the nicest court at Walls. Thousands of grains of golden sand, a 60x30 court, and stands for spectators surrounding the magnificent court.
That night Grandma made us some of her special protein drink when Trevor got a phone call. Grandma and I saw his face drop and then turn to anger. He hung up the phone and said,
"Dad found out that we didn't go to summer camp, and wants us to come home right now."
"What do you mean?" Grandma asked.
"Well…we kind of told him we were going to summer camp, and whaaat? WE CAN'T LEAVE NOW! Tomorrow is the championship game!"
"Oh my goodness" Grandma muttered under her breath.
"What are we going to do?" Trevor asked.
"If we turn our head we're dead" I stated.
"What?" Trevor asked in a confused way.
I held the gold key in my hand and said, "this is our opportunity, and if we have the opportunity to do something we should just go for it. It might not turn out in our favor but the least we can do is give it a shot." My mother's advice still helps me even though she is no longer here and I believe that we can do this.
The next morning, Trevor ignored The King's next call and said, "Lets do this thing!" We walked onto the court, the warm golden sand going between my toes. Our opponents were tall, muscular, and intimidating. This was going to be a tough match. Grandma screamed and cheered the whole time; she was a spirited old woman. The game was nerve racking and stressful, but Trevor and I were on our game. We dug almost every ball, and Trevor pounded his hits, we were a team. At game point the other team hit the ball. It was coming straight at me, right above my head. I then realized where I was and ducked. The ball went out by about two inches. I stood up and Trevor and I had another spastic moment. He picked me up and swung me around. Grandma ran over to us and gave us a huge hug, and I could feel the fresh fiery red lipstick from her wrinkly lips being pressed onto my cheek. This was the beginning of a new family, Trevor, Grandma, and me. So I guess tough times do bring people together.
By, Kristen
I wanted to write this story because I love volleyball. It is my passion and I have been playing since I was 10, I don't know what I would do without it. This was an ideal topic for me because it was fun to write this story and I knew what I was writing about. My coach always said, "turn your head and your dead" and that was my inspiration for the story. It works in volleyball so I thought it would work in this story.
Pfffffttttttt!
The referee blew his whistle, signaling the next serve. My mom and I stared intently at the thirty-inch television. Number seven on the USA team served the ball; it floated over the net onto Spain's side while constantly changing its course. It finally landed between the confused gazes of two girls, both thinking the other was going to pass the ball. "Turn your head and you're dead," my mother said. The score was now 24-22, the last set, and the championship match. Seven served the ball again though this time it went straight like a bullet. The ball showing no mercy to whomever it would hit. It bounced off of a Spanish girl's arms, a perfect set for the other team, and the 6'2" USA middle blocker slammed the ball straight down. My mom and I started jumping on the king mattress, wrinkling the silk sheets and screaming our heads off. We then remembered that we had to cheer in secret.
We watched that game about eight years ago, though I still remember it vividly. It is one of my favorite memories with my mother, a moment I will never forget. Although now it is only but a memory, my mother passed away about a month ago. Cancer took her life. This was devastating for me; she was my mother, a friend, and the one I could always turn to.
The castle is much more eerie now, it's just my step brother Trevor, the king or a.k.a. "Dad", a couple of maids, and me, Isabelle. When I was seven years old my mom (an Olympic volleyball player), and I went on a trip to Europe, this is where she found her future husband. She married Prince Edward III, who now goes by "The King." She gave up her chance to go to the Olympics to marry a dud like Edward. Although like every child, I was naïve, and like any other girl I was thrilled about the idea of becoming a princess. So I guess I was okay with the thought of having a king for a father. But now at sixteen years old I can see the reality of this. He is fake, narcissistic, and a selfish jerk, I guess my mom saw something in him that I can't? Or maybe even she was stuck in the fantasy. For the past nine years I have been in training or what I like to call Princess Boot Camp. I learned things like table manners, how to bow, and how to be "lady like." For those of you who think I'm living the dream right now, well I'm not. It was torture. Especially now without my mother, she was my partner in crime. She's the one that got me through all of this.
"Hola Isabelle, tiempo para de say unar," Maria shouted. Interrupting my thoughts.
"Okaaaay! I'll be down there in a minute" I replied. I got off of the bed and checked my email. I had five new messages, two of which were just spam mail. Although one of them caught my eye, it was an email from my grandma who lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Excitement and curiosity started to build up inside of me, the letter read,
"Dear Isabelle,
I know the loss of your mother has been tough on you, and it has been hard for me too. I was wondering if you wanted to come back home to Hawaii for the summer? We can catch up on things and I really miss you. Your height also needs to be updated on the wall, considering you haven't been home for a while. I want to see how tall you have gotten! So ask your father, and bring your brother too! I love and miss, and I hope you can come.
Love, Grandma"
I was thrilled! I ran at full speed down the marble staircase, weaving around maids and waiters until I reached the grand dining room. The King was stuffing his face already but Trevor waited, he was always very polite. "Good morning," we both said to each other. I sat down next to him, still catching my breath and reached for a slice of toast with jelly. When my breathing became steady and "The King's" eating slowed down, I began to speak,
"Dad…I was wondering if I could go to Hawaii for the summer to visit Grandma. She just emailed me, and she said that Trevor was invited to! Can we go pleeeasseeeeee?" I saw Trevor smile from the corner of my eye, so I knew he wanted to go too and he was on my side. The King muttered a couple of things under his breath, I knew he was trying to think of a lame excuse to refuse let us go but there was no reason at all to deny us. He pondered for a couple of minutes and finally spoke,
"No," He said hesitantly.
"Why?" I said. "Grandma wants to see us!"
"I don't care! That women is crazy!" (Grandma never approved of him)
Trevor and I ignored his obnoxious comment and ran out of the kitchen. I then came up with a plan. Since the King barely noticed where we were anyway, we could tell him that we were going to summer camp, but instead fly to sunny Hawaii. Trevor agreed to it and we then had one of our spastic moments, we jumped up and down, smiling, and freaking out! Hawaii was going to be great! We could visit Grandma, go to the beach, and we could visit all of the places that my mother and I loved to go to. Our favorite place was Sea Life Park, the animals there were always happy, adorable, and they were carefree. I touched the tiny golden key hanging around my neck. My mother gave it to me the day she died, but it always reminds to take chances and that she is still here with me.
When Trevor and I calmed down, I went up to my room to reply to grandma's email.
Dear Grandma,
I miss you so much! I just asked the King if Trevor and I could go, and he said OKAY! (: We are really excited and I can't wait to see you!
Love, Isabelle
P.S. I have grown five inches!
Two and a half months later
We boarded the Royal Airline plane, our final destination: Honolulu Hawaii, 7,936 miles away. After a ten-hour flight we finally landed at the Honolulu International Airport, I was exhausted but I ran out of the plane to hug my grandma. We embraced each other and I could feel a tear running down my eye, this moment will definitely be on the list of my favorites. She hugged Trevor and then we got into Grandma's Toyota Prius. When we got to her house in Kailua she cooked an array of Hawaiian foods, including my favorite, Haupia. I then realized how much I really missed Hawaii.
The first place we went to was Walls Beach. This was our favorite beach because there were always volleyball nets set up there. Trevor picked up the ball and we started to pepper (toss, pass, set, then hit). We would practice almost everyday in the Royal Recreation Center, though after my mother died Trevor and I both stopped playing. A little later two buff and tan guys approached us; and they asked if we wanted to play some beach volleyball with them. We played a short friendly game with them and surprisingly we were pretty good, and just a little rusty. We could also keep up with them considering we have never played a real beach volleyball game. Afterwards the two men asked if we would like to participate in a beach volleyball tournament that was in about month. Trevor and I exchanged looks and agreed to it. Our grandma was really excited for us too. We started practicing and got back into shape.
One month later
The Trevor and Isabelle team from Spain, unexpectedly made it to the semifinals, where we found out we would have to play the men that invited us to play in this tournament. This game was long and tiring, rolling in the sand, digging up balls, and setting Trevor so he could hit and bury the ball into the sand. We needed one more point to win, Trevor went into his approach, jumped, and swung. One of the tan men jumped in attempt to block him, though he jumped so high the ball bounced off his head into the crowd. We won. We had made it to the championship game that would be played the next day on the nicest court at Walls. Thousands of grains of golden sand, a 60x30 court, and stands for spectators surrounding the magnificent court.
That night Grandma made us some of her special protein drink when Trevor got a phone call. Grandma and I saw his face drop and then turn to anger. He hung up the phone and said,
"Dad found out that we didn't go to summer camp, and wants us to come home right now."
"What do you mean?" Grandma asked.
"Well…we kind of told him we were going to summer camp, and whaaat? WE CAN'T LEAVE NOW! Tomorrow is the championship game!"
"Oh my goodness" Grandma muttered under her breath.
"What are we going to do?" Trevor asked.
"If we turn our head we're dead" I stated.
"What?" Trevor asked in a confused way.
I held the gold key in my hand and said, "this is our opportunity, and if we have the opportunity to do something we should just go for it. It might not turn out in our favor but the least we can do is give it a shot." My mother's advice still helps me even though she is no longer here and I believe that we can do this.
The next morning, Trevor ignored The King's next call and said, "Lets do this thing!" We walked onto the court, the warm golden sand going between my toes. Our opponents were tall, muscular, and intimidating. This was going to be a tough match. Grandma screamed and cheered the whole time; she was a spirited old woman. The game was nerve racking and stressful, but Trevor and I were on our game. We dug almost every ball, and Trevor pounded his hits, we were a team. At game point the other team hit the ball. It was coming straight at me, right above my head. I then realized where I was and ducked. The ball went out by about two inches. I stood up and Trevor and I had another spastic moment. He picked me up and swung me around. Grandma ran over to us and gave us a huge hug, and I could feel the fresh fiery red lipstick from her wrinkly lips being pressed onto my cheek. This was the beginning of a new family, Trevor, Grandma, and me. So I guess tough times do bring people together.
By, Kristen
I wanted to write this story because I love volleyball. It is my passion and I have been playing since I was 10, I don't know what I would do without it. This was an ideal topic for me because it was fun to write this story and I knew what I was writing about. My coach always said, "turn your head and your dead" and that was my inspiration for the story. It works in volleyball so I thought it would work in this story.
Wednesdays
Wednesdays
He wasn't supposed to notice me.
I was finally starting to accept the fact that I wasn't popular and probably never would be. I had friends, sure, but I wasn't one of those people who were invited to upperclassmen parties or never spent a moment without a boyfriend. I was just Marissa—the girl who was good at Spanish, played the flute, and danced ballet. I had my talents, and I had my weaknesses, but nothing was ever so special that I became known for it. Until that day when everything changed.
It was a Wednesday, my least favorite day of the entire week. The day when you're smack in the middle, so you're not refreshed like on Mondays or high off of the promise of the weekend on Fridays. You're just there trying to make it until Thursday, counting each second until your finally let out of school. Anyways, that Wednesday I had Spanish as my first class and, as usual, I was running late. My mom and little sister were never able to get up in time thanks to the hour commute we had to make each morning to get to school. By the time I finally got to school it was already 9:00—and my class started at 8:30. I was just about to walk in the door when I noticed that my bag was a lot lighter than usual. Oh no. I dashed back down the stairs towards my locker. How could I have forgotten my Spanish book?
Even though I was in a rush to get back to class, I still slowed down when I reached the rose bush right outside the building my locker was in. Today the gentle pink rosebuds were closed, still hiding from slightly nippy weather of fall.
The problem with being a freshman is that you always wind up with the leftovers of things. In dance, I was put in the back line even though I was better than a lot of the upperclassmen because of seniority. Freshmen have their lunch scheduled way after the seniors (we have to wait until 12:30!), and usually by then all of the food that's edible is gone. And my current problem—freshmen were always given bottom lockers. As I scrambled to get my combination (which, I'd like to mention, took me at least 10 tries) and snatched my Spanish book that was placed in the very back end of my locker, I didn't even notice that someone had opened the locker above me. So when I stood up I only had one second and then—SMACK! Everything went black.
ϖ
The next thing I remember was being in the Heath Center. The lights were dimmed, and I was lying on my back on a cot in one of the side rooms. I looked overhead, where color paintings had been taped onto the ceiling. I had a feeling they were made by Kindergarteners: their handwriting displayed some still developing motor skills, the spelling was a little off-- and the suns had smiles and sunglasses. I felt myself smile a little, and then a sharp pain on my head. Owww. I put my hand on my head. I pulled back as I felt the sudden chill of a bag of ice on my hand, and then everything started flashing back. Oh my gosh. I thought to myself. I glanced up at the clock. 9:45. As if completely missing Spanish wasn't bad enough, I was already 15 minutes late for my Algebra exam. I really hate Wednesdays. I quickly got my stuff together, which was luckily on the floor right next to my cot, and started towards the door.
"Oh! Marissa, you're awake. Good, good. How are you feeling?" The Nurse got up from her seat at her desk, where she had been typing something into to her dinosaur looking PC computer.
"I'm fine. I just need to get to my math test."
"Good, good. Tyler said you hit the locker pretty hard."
"Can I have a note please?" I lightly touched my forehead, confirming the fact that it was still in a lot of pain.
"Of course." She grabbed one of those fake flower-pens from the vase on her desk and started writing on a piece of folder paper. Can she write any slower? I felt like she was double-checking to make sure all her "I"s and "T"s were perfectly crossed and dotted—that's how slow she was going.
When she finally passed me the note I ran out the door. I hadn't gotten two feet out the door when I heard a deep voice to my left.
"Hey!"
His body was the first thing I noticed, perfectly toned and a dark tan that I have always been something that attracts me to a guy. As I moved up his body I noticed his tall stature. He had good posture and nice shoulders, and I could almost see his abs popping through his baggy shirt. And then, just when it seemed like it couldn't get any better, it did. His blue green eyes, gentle and kind, popped against his warm tan. I could see the outline of his dimples, even though he wasn't smiling, and his messy dark brown hair fell in the perfectly places, framing his face. I recognized him. Tyler Martins. The beautiful, smart, and athletic Tyler Martins. The one all the girls swooned over. The one who was talking to me.
"Hello?" I saw his eyebrows start to rise and I snapped back into reality.
"Oh. H-h-hi." I felt my cheeks start to redden and I started walking forward, staring at the ground.
"Hey! Wait up!" I looked back and saw him jogging to catch up with me. "Hey. Are you okay? You took a pretty hard hit."
My cheeks flushed again, but I swallowed the nervous feeling down. I had been embarrassed enough for one day. "Not exactly how I would have wanted to start my Wednesday, but hey, it could have been worse." My stomach fluttered as I saw Tyler smile.
"You have class now?"
I glanced at my neon watch. "Math exam." I wrinkled my face. "But I'm already pretty late so I guess there's no point in going. What about you?"
"Yeah, I have Physics right now." He motioned to the classroom behind us. "Actually I should be getting back. We're learning Water Particle Duality today." I had no clue what that was, but nodded anyways.
"Well I guess I'll see you later then." I said, turning and slowly walking away.
"Wait!" I smirked and turned again, raising my eyebrows. "I never caught your name."
"I'm Marissa."
"Tyler. I guess I'll see you around then?"
I smiled and started turning. "As long as you promise not to hit me with your locker anymore." I looked up at him and we made eye contact, holding it a little bit longer than people who were just friends would before quickly looking away. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered.
He laughed a little. "Bye Marissa."
"Bye Tyler." As I turned I couldn't help but smile. I turned around and walked past the rose bushes. I warm ray of light had fallen on them, and the buds were slowly opening up.
ϖ
Skip to next Wednesday. Of course, I was running late again, and, of course, I didn't have my Spanish book. It was like déjà vu of the week before. I ran over to my locker and started scrambling the combination when I heard him.
"Forgot something again?" I looked up and saw Tyler, dressed in a Purple Hurley T-shirt with jean shorts and a pair of black vans. His dimple was showing through his half smile.
"How you'd know?" I rolled my eyes.
"Lucky guess." He held out a package. "Here."
I cocked my head. "… What is it?" I pulled out a twist donut. Odd. Was he physic or something? I squinted my eyes at him. "Wait. This is weird."
He looked genuinely confused. "What? I felt bad about last week. And my parent's own a bakery…"
My eyes widened. "Martin Bakery?! I love that place!"
Tyler nodded. "That's them."
That Wednesday was the start of a tacit routine between Tyler and I. I would come late for Spanish, and even when I didn't have to get my Spanish book, I would still run over to my locker where he'd be waiting. Tyler would usually bring me a donut and something for himself, and we'd sit against the lockers and talk. We'd talk about anything and everything. I learned that he was a junior this year. He had 2 brothers— Troy and Matt. His parents wanted him to take over the family business, but Tyler wanted to be an artist. He loved Claude Kelly, peaches, and blue, and hated tomatoes. He learned things about me too, and not just that I loved playing the flute. We eventually talked about deeper things. He learned about my old "friend" who stole my boyfriend at the beginning of high school, something I never talked to anyone about because it hurt so badly. We never missed a Wednesday—from the one Wednesday in September, we always met in front of the lockers, and eventually I'd be there every morning, waiting for him. Time passed by faster than I ever would have thought, and before I knew it, I was falling for him. And I thought he was too, until that Wednesday.
Ω
The first bad sign was how distracted he was the Wednesday before. When I got there, Tyler was sitting there, brown bag of pastries clutched in one hand just as always. The only problem was that he didn't even see me walk up. And when we started talking, the conversation was uncomfortably tense, until everything just snapped.
We had been sitting together for a while, but our conversation had unusually come to a halt. I sighed and glanced over at the rose bush. The school sprinkler system had been broken for a few days, and the rose bush was taking the most impact. The once bright green leaves were slowly but surely fading their way to brown, and rosebuds and petals littered the ground instead of adding a pop of color to the plant. The silence between us was deafening.
"I hate Valentine's Day." I blurted. I thought this would be the good way to break the silence. But I was wrong. "And you know the worst part? This year it falls on a Wednesday. Of course." Sighing, I picked off a piece of donut.
"It's worse for us guys." Tyler snapped. His eyes quickly darted away. "You girls get all worked up, expecting us to put in all the work to make it great, and then you're disappointed when nothing happens."
"I never said I was expecting anything."
"Good because nothing is going to happen."
My throat started to close. Why would he say something like that to me? He knew that I never really had anything involving boys work out for me. I was about to leave, but he beat me to it.
He never even said goodbye.
It was Valentine's Day, and I was at my locker. As I looked out past the building I saw couples hand in hand, holding colorful flower bouquets or cute teddy bears that sang. Sighing, I glanced at my watch, clutching my Spanish book in my other hand. I had been there for 15 minutes already, but Tyler was a no show. I should have known. My mind drifted back to the Wednesday before. I cried so much that night. How stupid was I to think that he actually might have felt something for me? To think that maybe he could still look at my broken, imperfect self but still find a way to love me.
Stupid Freshmen.
I looked over at the rose bush, the only slightly comforting element in this world that made me feel like I was the only one without someone who cared about me. Physical Plant had finally gotten around to fixing that system, and the roses were thriving. As if on cue, the flowers were in full bloom just in time for the lovers' holiday, the petals swirling around on each other, creating a beautiful intricate design that ended in a swirl in the center.
Tyler and I reached the swirl. I thought to myself. It was over. I didn't know why or how, but Tyler and I weren't the same anymore. I turned around to leave.
"Marissa."
He came from behind me, with a single red rose in his hand. He looked nervous, but thrilled at the same time. Even still, he had the now familiar wax paper bag in his other hand, and I could make out the twisted shape of the donut.
"I know you hate Wednesdays," he told me, "But I couldn't wait." Tyler got on one knee. "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Wednesdays are my favorite now. Makana
I wanted to write this story because I'm just like the main character. I hate Wednesdays and I love flowers. ☺
He wasn't supposed to notice me.
I was finally starting to accept the fact that I wasn't popular and probably never would be. I had friends, sure, but I wasn't one of those people who were invited to upperclassmen parties or never spent a moment without a boyfriend. I was just Marissa—the girl who was good at Spanish, played the flute, and danced ballet. I had my talents, and I had my weaknesses, but nothing was ever so special that I became known for it. Until that day when everything changed.
It was a Wednesday, my least favorite day of the entire week. The day when you're smack in the middle, so you're not refreshed like on Mondays or high off of the promise of the weekend on Fridays. You're just there trying to make it until Thursday, counting each second until your finally let out of school. Anyways, that Wednesday I had Spanish as my first class and, as usual, I was running late. My mom and little sister were never able to get up in time thanks to the hour commute we had to make each morning to get to school. By the time I finally got to school it was already 9:00—and my class started at 8:30. I was just about to walk in the door when I noticed that my bag was a lot lighter than usual. Oh no. I dashed back down the stairs towards my locker. How could I have forgotten my Spanish book?
Even though I was in a rush to get back to class, I still slowed down when I reached the rose bush right outside the building my locker was in. Today the gentle pink rosebuds were closed, still hiding from slightly nippy weather of fall.
The problem with being a freshman is that you always wind up with the leftovers of things. In dance, I was put in the back line even though I was better than a lot of the upperclassmen because of seniority. Freshmen have their lunch scheduled way after the seniors (we have to wait until 12:30!), and usually by then all of the food that's edible is gone. And my current problem—freshmen were always given bottom lockers. As I scrambled to get my combination (which, I'd like to mention, took me at least 10 tries) and snatched my Spanish book that was placed in the very back end of my locker, I didn't even notice that someone had opened the locker above me. So when I stood up I only had one second and then—SMACK! Everything went black.
ϖ
The next thing I remember was being in the Heath Center. The lights were dimmed, and I was lying on my back on a cot in one of the side rooms. I looked overhead, where color paintings had been taped onto the ceiling. I had a feeling they were made by Kindergarteners: their handwriting displayed some still developing motor skills, the spelling was a little off-- and the suns had smiles and sunglasses. I felt myself smile a little, and then a sharp pain on my head. Owww. I put my hand on my head. I pulled back as I felt the sudden chill of a bag of ice on my hand, and then everything started flashing back. Oh my gosh. I thought to myself. I glanced up at the clock. 9:45. As if completely missing Spanish wasn't bad enough, I was already 15 minutes late for my Algebra exam. I really hate Wednesdays. I quickly got my stuff together, which was luckily on the floor right next to my cot, and started towards the door.
"Oh! Marissa, you're awake. Good, good. How are you feeling?" The Nurse got up from her seat at her desk, where she had been typing something into to her dinosaur looking PC computer.
"I'm fine. I just need to get to my math test."
"Good, good. Tyler said you hit the locker pretty hard."
"Can I have a note please?" I lightly touched my forehead, confirming the fact that it was still in a lot of pain.
"Of course." She grabbed one of those fake flower-pens from the vase on her desk and started writing on a piece of folder paper. Can she write any slower? I felt like she was double-checking to make sure all her "I"s and "T"s were perfectly crossed and dotted—that's how slow she was going.
When she finally passed me the note I ran out the door. I hadn't gotten two feet out the door when I heard a deep voice to my left.
"Hey!"
His body was the first thing I noticed, perfectly toned and a dark tan that I have always been something that attracts me to a guy. As I moved up his body I noticed his tall stature. He had good posture and nice shoulders, and I could almost see his abs popping through his baggy shirt. And then, just when it seemed like it couldn't get any better, it did. His blue green eyes, gentle and kind, popped against his warm tan. I could see the outline of his dimples, even though he wasn't smiling, and his messy dark brown hair fell in the perfectly places, framing his face. I recognized him. Tyler Martins. The beautiful, smart, and athletic Tyler Martins. The one all the girls swooned over. The one who was talking to me.
"Hello?" I saw his eyebrows start to rise and I snapped back into reality.
"Oh. H-h-hi." I felt my cheeks start to redden and I started walking forward, staring at the ground.
"Hey! Wait up!" I looked back and saw him jogging to catch up with me. "Hey. Are you okay? You took a pretty hard hit."
My cheeks flushed again, but I swallowed the nervous feeling down. I had been embarrassed enough for one day. "Not exactly how I would have wanted to start my Wednesday, but hey, it could have been worse." My stomach fluttered as I saw Tyler smile.
"You have class now?"
I glanced at my neon watch. "Math exam." I wrinkled my face. "But I'm already pretty late so I guess there's no point in going. What about you?"
"Yeah, I have Physics right now." He motioned to the classroom behind us. "Actually I should be getting back. We're learning Water Particle Duality today." I had no clue what that was, but nodded anyways.
"Well I guess I'll see you later then." I said, turning and slowly walking away.
"Wait!" I smirked and turned again, raising my eyebrows. "I never caught your name."
"I'm Marissa."
"Tyler. I guess I'll see you around then?"
I smiled and started turning. "As long as you promise not to hit me with your locker anymore." I looked up at him and we made eye contact, holding it a little bit longer than people who were just friends would before quickly looking away. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered.
He laughed a little. "Bye Marissa."
"Bye Tyler." As I turned I couldn't help but smile. I turned around and walked past the rose bushes. I warm ray of light had fallen on them, and the buds were slowly opening up.
ϖ
Skip to next Wednesday. Of course, I was running late again, and, of course, I didn't have my Spanish book. It was like déjà vu of the week before. I ran over to my locker and started scrambling the combination when I heard him.
"Forgot something again?" I looked up and saw Tyler, dressed in a Purple Hurley T-shirt with jean shorts and a pair of black vans. His dimple was showing through his half smile.
"How you'd know?" I rolled my eyes.
"Lucky guess." He held out a package. "Here."
I cocked my head. "… What is it?" I pulled out a twist donut. Odd. Was he physic or something? I squinted my eyes at him. "Wait. This is weird."
He looked genuinely confused. "What? I felt bad about last week. And my parent's own a bakery…"
My eyes widened. "Martin Bakery?! I love that place!"
Tyler nodded. "That's them."
That Wednesday was the start of a tacit routine between Tyler and I. I would come late for Spanish, and even when I didn't have to get my Spanish book, I would still run over to my locker where he'd be waiting. Tyler would usually bring me a donut and something for himself, and we'd sit against the lockers and talk. We'd talk about anything and everything. I learned that he was a junior this year. He had 2 brothers— Troy and Matt. His parents wanted him to take over the family business, but Tyler wanted to be an artist. He loved Claude Kelly, peaches, and blue, and hated tomatoes. He learned things about me too, and not just that I loved playing the flute. We eventually talked about deeper things. He learned about my old "friend" who stole my boyfriend at the beginning of high school, something I never talked to anyone about because it hurt so badly. We never missed a Wednesday—from the one Wednesday in September, we always met in front of the lockers, and eventually I'd be there every morning, waiting for him. Time passed by faster than I ever would have thought, and before I knew it, I was falling for him. And I thought he was too, until that Wednesday.
Ω
The first bad sign was how distracted he was the Wednesday before. When I got there, Tyler was sitting there, brown bag of pastries clutched in one hand just as always. The only problem was that he didn't even see me walk up. And when we started talking, the conversation was uncomfortably tense, until everything just snapped.
We had been sitting together for a while, but our conversation had unusually come to a halt. I sighed and glanced over at the rose bush. The school sprinkler system had been broken for a few days, and the rose bush was taking the most impact. The once bright green leaves were slowly but surely fading their way to brown, and rosebuds and petals littered the ground instead of adding a pop of color to the plant. The silence between us was deafening.
"I hate Valentine's Day." I blurted. I thought this would be the good way to break the silence. But I was wrong. "And you know the worst part? This year it falls on a Wednesday. Of course." Sighing, I picked off a piece of donut.
"It's worse for us guys." Tyler snapped. His eyes quickly darted away. "You girls get all worked up, expecting us to put in all the work to make it great, and then you're disappointed when nothing happens."
"I never said I was expecting anything."
"Good because nothing is going to happen."
My throat started to close. Why would he say something like that to me? He knew that I never really had anything involving boys work out for me. I was about to leave, but he beat me to it.
He never even said goodbye.
It was Valentine's Day, and I was at my locker. As I looked out past the building I saw couples hand in hand, holding colorful flower bouquets or cute teddy bears that sang. Sighing, I glanced at my watch, clutching my Spanish book in my other hand. I had been there for 15 minutes already, but Tyler was a no show. I should have known. My mind drifted back to the Wednesday before. I cried so much that night. How stupid was I to think that he actually might have felt something for me? To think that maybe he could still look at my broken, imperfect self but still find a way to love me.
Stupid Freshmen.
I looked over at the rose bush, the only slightly comforting element in this world that made me feel like I was the only one without someone who cared about me. Physical Plant had finally gotten around to fixing that system, and the roses were thriving. As if on cue, the flowers were in full bloom just in time for the lovers' holiday, the petals swirling around on each other, creating a beautiful intricate design that ended in a swirl in the center.
Tyler and I reached the swirl. I thought to myself. It was over. I didn't know why or how, but Tyler and I weren't the same anymore. I turned around to leave.
"Marissa."
He came from behind me, with a single red rose in his hand. He looked nervous, but thrilled at the same time. Even still, he had the now familiar wax paper bag in his other hand, and I could make out the twisted shape of the donut.
"I know you hate Wednesdays," he told me, "But I couldn't wait." Tyler got on one knee. "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Wednesdays are my favorite now. Makana
I wanted to write this story because I'm just like the main character. I hate Wednesdays and I love flowers. ☺
First Days
First Days
There's a point in life. It's a section, an episode, a phase, which I for one find completely awkward. It's the kind of awkward feeling like arriving to school on the first day of High-School, and having no idea where you're supposed to be. Eyes of all the returnees seeming to stick to you like all the post-it notes holding the pages in your Algebra One math book, while you keep your eyes straight ahead hoping that someone, anyone you know to appear with open arms, a big smile, and a warm "Hello".
Most people would hope that this whole idea of your first day would be just another one of those high school myths to scare the freshmen. But the sad part for me, Elle Rogers, is --- Well, I found out this was no myth. It was the frightening reoccurring nightmare I had pictured highschool would be just like. That was me. Walking hastily through the hallways of George Washington high, with algebra book in hand and Jansport on my back.
There it was, Locker 216. In the corner of the hallway between Chemistry and History. I took off my backpack and grabbed out my gold lock. I had had it since 7th grade. I don't really know why, but something about that lock just brought a feeling of luck to me. I figured since it was the start of a new year I could use all the luck I could possibly get.
But I should have known that luck is never on my side. Walking in my direction was a Roly-Poly looking boy with what my dad likes to call a "pizza face". Pimples, Blackheads, and the scars left behind are every teenager's nightmare. The strange thing about this boy was that it seemed like he was totally unaware of the puss oozing out of the little red volcanoes all over his pasty white face. The boy stopped right next to me, and looked down at the paper he was holding in his hand. I glanced over at the top right corner of the page where the locker numbers were printed on every student's orientation sheet. Locker 217. Oh joy. I would end up with the one locker next to the one boy at school who still picked and ate his boogers in public. Better yet, I also just realized that I was stuck between the wall and Pizza Face over here.
"Excuse me" I said in friendly tone under my breath. He didn't budge.
"Excuse me" I said a little louder in a more stern voice. He glanced over and adjusted his feet. It couldn't have been easy for him to move in the tight space.
"Hello to you to. What is your name?" he said in a cheery voice.
Oh great. Now I was trapped in a corner and forced to make small talk.
"My name is Elle, and I am sorry but could I get through, I really need to get to class"
"Oh yah sure thing. One sec." He dumped out his possessions into his locker consisting of chap-stick, deodorant and some sort of cream with a unfamiliar name. Then he trudged out of the way and I quickly got out of there. Phew. Thank god that was over.
Basically the rest of my day went on what seemed to be an repetitious reenactment of boringness:
1. Sit down in class awkwardly while the teacher stares at her computer screen (I personally don't believe that actually doing anything but trying to make our lives totally and terribly awkward)
2. Teacher acts totally fake and happy to welcome the class
3. Play a name game
4. Read a syllabus that for every class consists of: don't chew gum in class, be on time and don't cheat :D
5. Leave and go to next class
I felt like my life was one big joke that teachers and parents had structured and created to make sure we had no fun. Well all I could think was there's a whole school year ahead of me. Will I have friends? Will I be cool? Will there be a guy? Whoa. So much to think about so much that could happen. God, help me just get through the first day, week, month.
Part 2:
One month has gone by and everything regarding school seems to be in check. I am getting decent grades, a nice medley of B's and C's. Seems about right for the numerous pages of unfinished homework shoved into the bottom of my bag, forgotten only by me,
but never by the teachers obviously. Well anyways the real juicy and interesting stuff is all about my social life. This past month creating drama was like making those glue rulers on the plastic SpAcE MaKeR pencil boxes back in 1st and 2nd grade. Basically, it was the "thing" and the only thing to do.
"OMG, did you hear about so and so's break up?"
"Yah I did, sounded super brutal they were both crying in class today."
"Wow I wonder what happened."
I swear, it seemed like this dialogue was used more than air is used to breathe. It was outrageous the breakups and make-ups and the notorious "friends with benefits" going on here just in the first month of school. But for me, a relationship is all I wanted since day two of school. It was 3rd period, better known as lunch. It was a mad house in the cramped cafeteria, filled with other kids shoving their faces with the daily "slop on a plate". However, the important part of lunch was not whether you ate the school's slop or had your mom make you a PB&J sandwich with the crust cut off, it was all about where you sat.
Where you sat put you in you're social group and ranked your social status. For instance if you sat on the table against the wall, you are considered a Gamer/Tweaker. Gamers are of low rank, but, they are higher rank than the Dorks (Pizza face). Being the second day of school seat and places were not quite official, so for "in-betweeners" like myself, it wasn't to late to get onto the Cool and Normal people table. Hallelujah. Sitting down at the table was my chemistry partner, Ava, who was waving me down to come sit next to her. Yes. I guess I am going to have friends after all this year. I walked over and took the seat next to her.
"Hey Girl!"
"Hey Ava, wutsup?"
"Well schools pretty much a drag and lucky for us its only the beginning"
"So tru…. I guess when I sat down I didn't realize the boy sitting to the right of me. I had just lost my balance a little and leaned up against him. Wow that's embarrassing, thank god he wasn't hott….. At that moment the boy turned around. Staring back at me were two bright blue eyes that looked like smooth waves of the ocean as they mesmerized and put me in a hypnotic state, a dreamland. But of course I had to blink and "Pop" there went my dream bubble. I had all but a second to catch a glimpse of his perfect and beautiful face, before he chuckled and said,
"Are you alright? You seem to be a little bit unsteady."
"Oh no im fine. Just a little tired that's all. Sorry about bumping you"
"No problem. By the way, Im Sam, and you are??"
"Oh im Elle, and its nice to meet you."
"It was a pleasure to meet you too. But I have to get going. See you around?"
"Yeah for sure"
He smiled at me and I swear I have never seen such white teeth. I mean you see on ads and commercials those people who have a little sparkle in their teeth. I didn't believe that was possible until Sam smiled back at me.
Everything now was about Sam. He constantly ran through my mind, knocking on the little door to my curiosity. I couldn't wait till I saw him again.
That moment was between fourth and fifth period. I went to my locker to go drop off my history book. I guess the little gold lock's lucky switch was on because walking in my direction was Sam. Oh wow, he was amazing. Then I noticed there was another person with him. But don't worry it wasn't another girl, it was just Pizza Face. (Well maybe you should worry.)
"So just remember Carl to simplify all your fractions and this next math test you should do just fine"
"Thanks Sam. You're the best tutor ever"
Wow. I was shocked about two things. One that fact that Pizza Face had a name, and two, Sam was a tutor. My dashing prince charming was also smart and a contributor to the community. Was anything wrong with this boy? I mean unless he was a super villain by night, nothing that met the eye seemed wrong about him. Okay snapping back to reality, the two of them stopped at Carl's locker. Sam glanced up and chuckled a little at me probably because my jaw was on the ground and he probably saw the drool I quickly wiped away with my jacket sleeve.
"Oh hey there Elle."
"Hi Sam, so I couldn't help but over hear that you are a tutor."
"Oh yah I help people with math. Considering that it's the only class I truly have a knack for, I might as well help other people."
"Wow, that's really cool"
Man, that sounded really dumb. But I guess it's better than what I was thinking in my head. "Oh Sam you're so perfect will you just be mine". Yup. What I said was definitely better than that.
"Oh yah I really enjoy it. I'd love to stay and chat but I actually gotta get going. See you two around."
Oh yah. I forgot Carl was here too. Oh wells. I guess I will see him around later.
See for me the thing about guys, is that they got to be cute, charming and smart. Sam was perfect but after contemplating him for many hours throughout the day, I came to the conclusion that I want to get to know him a lot more rather than just going off the two-second conversations we are able to hold. Yes. That's my goal. Get to know him then try to date him. Sounds like a plan to me!
Then came second 3rd period on Friday. I sat next to Ava again but this time, Sam was no where to be seen.
"Hey have you seen Sam"
"Yah I saw him during second period. He seemed a little unsteady though. Not his usual confident self you know"
"Hmph that's weird, I wonder why."
Then through the cafeteria walks Sam. It took me a second or two to realize that his was headed straight for me. Uh oh. I started to get all tingly and nervous. What is happening? Then it hit me. Was my plan about to be taken off course? Then it happened.
"Hey Elle. I was just wondering. Are you doing anything this Saturday night?
I just sat there, wide mouthed. Oh brother. This was going to be one crazy second month of school. Dani
There's a point in life. It's a section, an episode, a phase, which I for one find completely awkward. It's the kind of awkward feeling like arriving to school on the first day of High-School, and having no idea where you're supposed to be. Eyes of all the returnees seeming to stick to you like all the post-it notes holding the pages in your Algebra One math book, while you keep your eyes straight ahead hoping that someone, anyone you know to appear with open arms, a big smile, and a warm "Hello".
Most people would hope that this whole idea of your first day would be just another one of those high school myths to scare the freshmen. But the sad part for me, Elle Rogers, is --- Well, I found out this was no myth. It was the frightening reoccurring nightmare I had pictured highschool would be just like. That was me. Walking hastily through the hallways of George Washington high, with algebra book in hand and Jansport on my back.
There it was, Locker 216. In the corner of the hallway between Chemistry and History. I took off my backpack and grabbed out my gold lock. I had had it since 7th grade. I don't really know why, but something about that lock just brought a feeling of luck to me. I figured since it was the start of a new year I could use all the luck I could possibly get.
But I should have known that luck is never on my side. Walking in my direction was a Roly-Poly looking boy with what my dad likes to call a "pizza face". Pimples, Blackheads, and the scars left behind are every teenager's nightmare. The strange thing about this boy was that it seemed like he was totally unaware of the puss oozing out of the little red volcanoes all over his pasty white face. The boy stopped right next to me, and looked down at the paper he was holding in his hand. I glanced over at the top right corner of the page where the locker numbers were printed on every student's orientation sheet. Locker 217. Oh joy. I would end up with the one locker next to the one boy at school who still picked and ate his boogers in public. Better yet, I also just realized that I was stuck between the wall and Pizza Face over here.
"Excuse me" I said in friendly tone under my breath. He didn't budge.
"Excuse me" I said a little louder in a more stern voice. He glanced over and adjusted his feet. It couldn't have been easy for him to move in the tight space.
"Hello to you to. What is your name?" he said in a cheery voice.
Oh great. Now I was trapped in a corner and forced to make small talk.
"My name is Elle, and I am sorry but could I get through, I really need to get to class"
"Oh yah sure thing. One sec." He dumped out his possessions into his locker consisting of chap-stick, deodorant and some sort of cream with a unfamiliar name. Then he trudged out of the way and I quickly got out of there. Phew. Thank god that was over.
Basically the rest of my day went on what seemed to be an repetitious reenactment of boringness:
1. Sit down in class awkwardly while the teacher stares at her computer screen (I personally don't believe that actually doing anything but trying to make our lives totally and terribly awkward)
2. Teacher acts totally fake and happy to welcome the class
3. Play a name game
4. Read a syllabus that for every class consists of: don't chew gum in class, be on time and don't cheat :D
5. Leave and go to next class
I felt like my life was one big joke that teachers and parents had structured and created to make sure we had no fun. Well all I could think was there's a whole school year ahead of me. Will I have friends? Will I be cool? Will there be a guy? Whoa. So much to think about so much that could happen. God, help me just get through the first day, week, month.
Part 2:
One month has gone by and everything regarding school seems to be in check. I am getting decent grades, a nice medley of B's and C's. Seems about right for the numerous pages of unfinished homework shoved into the bottom of my bag, forgotten only by me,
but never by the teachers obviously. Well anyways the real juicy and interesting stuff is all about my social life. This past month creating drama was like making those glue rulers on the plastic SpAcE MaKeR pencil boxes back in 1st and 2nd grade. Basically, it was the "thing" and the only thing to do.
"OMG, did you hear about so and so's break up?"
"Yah I did, sounded super brutal they were both crying in class today."
"Wow I wonder what happened."
I swear, it seemed like this dialogue was used more than air is used to breathe. It was outrageous the breakups and make-ups and the notorious "friends with benefits" going on here just in the first month of school. But for me, a relationship is all I wanted since day two of school. It was 3rd period, better known as lunch. It was a mad house in the cramped cafeteria, filled with other kids shoving their faces with the daily "slop on a plate". However, the important part of lunch was not whether you ate the school's slop or had your mom make you a PB&J sandwich with the crust cut off, it was all about where you sat.
Where you sat put you in you're social group and ranked your social status. For instance if you sat on the table against the wall, you are considered a Gamer/Tweaker. Gamers are of low rank, but, they are higher rank than the Dorks (Pizza face). Being the second day of school seat and places were not quite official, so for "in-betweeners" like myself, it wasn't to late to get onto the Cool and Normal people table. Hallelujah. Sitting down at the table was my chemistry partner, Ava, who was waving me down to come sit next to her. Yes. I guess I am going to have friends after all this year. I walked over and took the seat next to her.
"Hey Girl!"
"Hey Ava, wutsup?"
"Well schools pretty much a drag and lucky for us its only the beginning"
"So tru…. I guess when I sat down I didn't realize the boy sitting to the right of me. I had just lost my balance a little and leaned up against him. Wow that's embarrassing, thank god he wasn't hott….. At that moment the boy turned around. Staring back at me were two bright blue eyes that looked like smooth waves of the ocean as they mesmerized and put me in a hypnotic state, a dreamland. But of course I had to blink and "Pop" there went my dream bubble. I had all but a second to catch a glimpse of his perfect and beautiful face, before he chuckled and said,
"Are you alright? You seem to be a little bit unsteady."
"Oh no im fine. Just a little tired that's all. Sorry about bumping you"
"No problem. By the way, Im Sam, and you are??"
"Oh im Elle, and its nice to meet you."
"It was a pleasure to meet you too. But I have to get going. See you around?"
"Yeah for sure"
He smiled at me and I swear I have never seen such white teeth. I mean you see on ads and commercials those people who have a little sparkle in their teeth. I didn't believe that was possible until Sam smiled back at me.
Everything now was about Sam. He constantly ran through my mind, knocking on the little door to my curiosity. I couldn't wait till I saw him again.
That moment was between fourth and fifth period. I went to my locker to go drop off my history book. I guess the little gold lock's lucky switch was on because walking in my direction was Sam. Oh wow, he was amazing. Then I noticed there was another person with him. But don't worry it wasn't another girl, it was just Pizza Face. (Well maybe you should worry.)
"So just remember Carl to simplify all your fractions and this next math test you should do just fine"
"Thanks Sam. You're the best tutor ever"
Wow. I was shocked about two things. One that fact that Pizza Face had a name, and two, Sam was a tutor. My dashing prince charming was also smart and a contributor to the community. Was anything wrong with this boy? I mean unless he was a super villain by night, nothing that met the eye seemed wrong about him. Okay snapping back to reality, the two of them stopped at Carl's locker. Sam glanced up and chuckled a little at me probably because my jaw was on the ground and he probably saw the drool I quickly wiped away with my jacket sleeve.
"Oh hey there Elle."
"Hi Sam, so I couldn't help but over hear that you are a tutor."
"Oh yah I help people with math. Considering that it's the only class I truly have a knack for, I might as well help other people."
"Wow, that's really cool"
Man, that sounded really dumb. But I guess it's better than what I was thinking in my head. "Oh Sam you're so perfect will you just be mine". Yup. What I said was definitely better than that.
"Oh yah I really enjoy it. I'd love to stay and chat but I actually gotta get going. See you two around."
Oh yah. I forgot Carl was here too. Oh wells. I guess I will see him around later.
See for me the thing about guys, is that they got to be cute, charming and smart. Sam was perfect but after contemplating him for many hours throughout the day, I came to the conclusion that I want to get to know him a lot more rather than just going off the two-second conversations we are able to hold. Yes. That's my goal. Get to know him then try to date him. Sounds like a plan to me!
Then came second 3rd period on Friday. I sat next to Ava again but this time, Sam was no where to be seen.
"Hey have you seen Sam"
"Yah I saw him during second period. He seemed a little unsteady though. Not his usual confident self you know"
"Hmph that's weird, I wonder why."
Then through the cafeteria walks Sam. It took me a second or two to realize that his was headed straight for me. Uh oh. I started to get all tingly and nervous. What is happening? Then it hit me. Was my plan about to be taken off course? Then it happened.
"Hey Elle. I was just wondering. Are you doing anything this Saturday night?
I just sat there, wide mouthed. Oh brother. This was going to be one crazy second month of school. Dani
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