We all get into my friend Mariah’s car. She drives us to our hoco 2017. We all blast musicout so loud abd shove sour patches into our mouth. We approach the driveway and something catches my eye. I see a bunch of limousines. And a girl with curled hair and a large purple flowery dress. Thats when i realize how underdressed I am. I'm wearing only a plain black dress with nothing on it. I begged my mom fir a dress like that girl’s, but she said that we cant afford it. Money is extremely tight in our home because my mombis an author. We only have a 2- bedroom house while even Mariah has a 3+ bedroom house. Its embarrassing.? That is ehy I dream of getting into Harvard to get highly educated, but thst means i must face letting my dreams of creative writing go.

We bring our caf

ONE YEAR LATER Its hoco 2018. I worked(okay and stole somevof moms money) and bought a good dress. I’m on the dance floor wearing a dress consisting of a millennium of flowers. My hair was done by the hair dresser. It has the perfect curls. Different color lights are shining everywhere and my favorite songs are blasting across the whole dance floor. Best of all, my friends are all around me and continue to stay by my side. _I’m having a blast. _I think. I dance harder and faster and before I know it I’m at the center of the crowd. I’m dancing hard until I see your sparkly blue eyes staring right at me. Your brown short hair and white skinshines in the bright light… I gaze at you in awe. _Who is this person? How have I never seen him before?! _

We keep staring at each other until you come up to me and ask “Do you wanna dance?” That’s when my world flipped over. A extremely gorgeous boy asked me to dance?! I’m so FLATTERED!!! This has never happened to me before. Maybe I can finally be cool!

I let my guard down.(Lewis Capaldi Someone you loved)

It was the Friday after a long week. It was time to have fun. I thought. I picked up my phone laying right next to me and called you to come over. “There is an open room. “ I said “Wanna.. yk?”

You said yes. The first day was awesome. Before I knew it, you were at my door every Friday waiting to go into that empty room. I was terrified of ruining my life with a pregnancy, so I asked “is this safe for us to be having sex weekly?” “Yes I did the research!” He said. “Promise?” “Yes” he said ”Ok I trust you handsome!” Then we kissed.

Mari (short for Mariah) saw all 16 of our sex posts and got flustered. She came up to me and said “ Rachel, you shouldn’t be hanging out with this guy! He was terrible to us before, Remember?“ “Yeah, but he’s nice to me now, so...“ I said.

Mari: So what? He's not nice to the rest of us! (our friend group)

Rachel: But he’s super hot and I finally get to be exposed to the cool league!

Rachel: You should be happy for me!

Mari walks away

And then you pulled the rug. (Lewis Capaldi Someone you loved.)

About 3 months into our weekly sex routine, I realized that it was my period week. _What that’s so odd… I haven’t started it yet! _I rechecked the dates, but nope I wasn’t miscounting the weeks! The next day I woke up with a horrible stomach ache. I groaned so loudly that mom came into check in on me. I suddenly burped and she was like GO to the bathroom!! She was pointing frantically, so I went grudgingly, but then couldn’t make it to the toilet in time. I threw up all over my pristine white bathroom floor. Is this cramps? No it can’t be! My cramps usually aren’t this terrible!

I threw up 4 more times that day. 4. Mom took me to a doctor to see what was going on. The doctor checked me and said that I had no diseases. When mom mentioned that I missed my period week, he was like “oh has she been having sex lately?!”

Oh crap. The answer is yes. And WAY too much.

It all hits me like rocks. God help me. I’m so ridiculously stupid.

I clasp my hands with my mouth. Mom face turns red. “It’s with that white boy who’s lurks around our house every Friday right?” “Mom saidI. KNEW he was up to no good. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you with a relationship.“

“Unfortunately, This calls for a pregnancy test.” “NO!“ he said our sex wouldn’t lead to pregnancy! Ever! He promised! He did research.”

“Well is he an experienced doctor? Does he even have have his _degree _yet?”

That stops me. “Case is closed we are taking a pregnancy test. _Ugh! At least I know it won’t come out positive. _

I get into the car with my mom to drive to the pregnancy test place. “Rachel I can’t freaking BELIEVE you!” Mom said “You had such an amazing and successful life. Your grades were all. As you were set to go to Harvard! And you risked throwing all of that away for some boy?!”

I’m not pregnant. I’m not pregnant. I keep repeating to myself ignoring mom’s lecture_ And I will prove that to you, mom. _

“Ok done!” Said the tester “you should receive a phone call with your results in a few days.

A FEW DAYS LATER… She dropped the phone and burst into tears The doctor just confirmed her fears (Martina McBride, I’m gonna love you through it.)

Ring! Ring! My mom runs to the kitchen. I follow her to listen in. “The results were positive“ the guy on the phone said loud and clear “I recommend you look at our website for options regarding abortion or adoption“ My mom slammed the phone and burst into tears. No this can’t be true. He PROMISED. Just like that my worst fear just came true.

I call you immediately after that. You pick up the phone and I tell you the news. You apologize 20 times. My mom calls your mom and screams at the top of her lungs at her. Just like that, our relationship is over.

My mom took away my phone, so I’m forced to use my laptop. I click on instagram. I need to see what’s going on with his life. Living without him is The. Absolute. Worst. I click on your instagram page and view your most recent post. It’s a picture of you in a handsome suit and the next picture is one of you having sex with me. _That was the night we had sex the longest. _I read the caption: Hey guy squad, big news! I just impregnated Rachel Cunningham😎 Only need one more person to reach my goal of 5! #socool #risktaker #hotguy #firesexer

I freeze. Time stops. I fall to the floor. You never loved me. You were just trying to use me. Which means Im not actually a pretty magazine cover star. I’m just as ugly as I thought I was before.

I did not go to school the following 3 months after. My parents were too scared to let me out in the world and I was too scared that I was going to run into you.

I was literally stuck at home. Eventually they got tired of me beibg at home and made me go back. _Finally, I get to be surrounded by chatter again and be somewhere besides on the plain mattress of my bed. _

I was wrong. Being at school was 10 times worse than being at home. When I walked the hallways to my first class, people made dirty faces at me and would move quickly away whenever I got close to them. I was excited for 3rd period though because Mariah was in my class. _She'll definetly be able to help me. _I walked into 3rd period and scan for my seat next to Mariah. I realize that someone else is sitting there. I stare at the person sitt

Mari walked to every single class with. The one who I shared all of my secrets with. The one who carried my books when I broke my arm. Remember her?

I left 7 voicemails rabting about my pain to her, but she never called me back. And without her, without my dreams. Without my normsl routine,_ I am nothing_.

After school, I walked into room A256. A classroom meant for people to go in when they are having a hard day. _Barely anyone comes in here I thought. And I need some peace right now. _But when I walked in I see two kids both of them with knives in their hands. What are you guys doing with those knives? I ask. Intense fear shows on both of their faces when they hear my question. “Please. You can’t tell. I’ve had the worst two years and NO ONE in this universe gets it. One of them said and the other one nods. Empathetic feelings fill my heart. I TOTALLY feel this kid. I too am going through something no one can understand or will even try to understand. “ That is the exact reason why I came in here today. “ I said. “I won’t tell I promise.” He starts off again “If I cut this knife through my arm, I will go into complete darkness and peace” I will no longer have to face the terrible monsters and obstacles in this world. “ _That is exactly what I’ve been wanting and he just helped me figure out how to get it. Now I must help him. _

And I did. With my help, the cut was deeper then he thought it would be. He successfully died _Perfect _I thought. _This should be my career choice when I am older. It helps kids escape from their problems and have peace once again. _Right there and then, I realized that I had a bigger dream in mind: to escape my own problems.

I opened up my Google app on my phone and looked up ways to kill yourself and the most appealing way to me was jumping off a cliff.

FLASHBACK “Mommy look at people are jumping off that cliff!” 5-year old Rachel exclaims. “Yes! Isn’t that amazing honey?!” Past-mom “Mommy” replies. We were at South-point Hawaii getting ready to see “Daddy” jump off the cliff. We wait for two more minutes and suddenly see daddy at the front of the line. “Daddy!” “Daddy!” Little me exclaim. He goes into a straight position and aims his body right at the landing spot. Then he squats down and summersaults his way down. SPLASH!! Little me gasps in awe and exclaims “I want to do that!””Absolutely not now.” Mommy replies “When you are older”

_If I kill myself by jumping off of a cliff _I thought _Then I would have accomplished two of my dreams. The second one is to be brave like my father and jump off of a cliff. _

Blood red thoughts linger in my mind as the wind blows my hair. I am standing at the very edge of the Skyline Mountain cliff. The very edge. For the first time. I am not afraid. I am eager. I am desperate to put a stop to this rollercoaster. To feel nothing at and to see complete darkness. I repeat complete.

I stare down at the water. It is barely 3 feet deep. There was also a huge bumpy rock straight down from wheereI was standing. Perfect I thought. I look to my left and to my right. No one in sight! Perfect Now I’mall set to reclaim my happiness.

I point my head down squat doen really low and...

Mochi: I hate reading!

Me: you are wrong reading is the best!

Mochi: No! Math is more important than reading! You are going to live your life off of numbers! In reading all you do is just read words.

Me: that’s not true! Books make you learn more about and connected to the world They deepen one’s perspective of life They also better your personality

Mochi: blah blah stop using such teenpagers words!! You don’t make sense! Math is LIFE You know you wouldn’t be living right now if you didn’t have math?? Mom and dad need math in order to have enough money!

Me: No bro if you say that your brain is full of ROCKS!! You can survive without learning that 1+1=2! Why can’t mom and dad just visualize their money? When they see a big money pile they can just say: oh! I have a lot of money!! Yippee!

Mochi: If you think they can do that then prove it! Go to Techstreet and buy me a IPhone 13! With just visualizing your money! Not counting it!

Me: (walks to TechStreet thinking: this totally will work) (I walk in pick the best IPhone 13 to show off my amazingness then walk up to the counter up to a very grumpy looking lady. I place the iPhone in front of her face. She looks at it)

Grumpy lady: that’ll be 800.0 dollars Me(thinking) ok that’s a lot of money so I just need a big pile of 1 dollar bills I give that too the lady

Grumpy lady: that’s only 240!! Are you trying to underpay me?? Or steal the phone?!

Me: uh what?!? How could it not be the right amount of money?!

Grumpy lady: look I would give you empathy if u we’re 1 or 2 dollars off but your like 400 OFF!! I’m calling security NOW!!

Me: no please don’t-

(Security is called. I’m down. Mochi wins.)

Mochi: I win! I win! I win! Math is the beeeesttt!! I bet I can solve the world’s hardest word problem ever right now. (Mochi googles the hardest third grade word problem ever and starts reading the question)

Last part of the Word problem: after many days of getting 14 cups per day, the number of cups increases by 7. Now how many cups in total do we get after 145 days?

Mochi: easy you just do 14-7x145! A:1,015 Dad can you check this?

Dad: that’s wrong!!!!

Mochi: how?!?!

Dad: because you subtracted when the word problems says increase!! You should know what the word increases means! Have you not been practicing your reading/english??

(Mochi looks embarrassed and defeated. He’s out. No one wins.)

QOTD: which one do you like better reading or math?

My answer: although I’m both are important bc my little brother taught me why math was important, I definitely prefer reading over math bc it’s more interesting to me then math is. I’m also better at reading lol.

Your turn:) (if ypu want!)

Date: 5/3/24 Written by: Safia Valika Age:16

Leaves blowing forcefully Away from their only home Down to an unpleasant pile Ready to be tossed away

As they seize from the perfect green To an ugly brown Pleading for the absent water As they begin to weaken

From the warm and blue skies To the cold and windy gray As the flowers so prevalent in spring Now falter and die down

Your painting is a world Where the cold wind is a peaceful breeze That carries each leaf to its own space That brings back their power and strength Making their brown color be beautiful

Where the bare branch still stands Through the wind’s yearn for its leaves Through each leaf’s goodbye Maintaining its beauty and shape

Where new flowers begin to bloom Where shades of yellow cast above Where beauty is present In the season full of sad goodbyes

Footnote: This is based off of the painting you made during winter break of 2023-24!! Remember the beautiful leaves and bra

Jitters before a hike Imagine if you had only one arm, and you were tasked to carry 16 sets of 4 heavy textbooks and go on a fifteen minute walk from your house to the library. Imagine the nervousness you would feel before performing the task? That is exactly what I felt when my family was going on a trip to Peru to hike up Machu Picchu. During the several months before our trip to Peru, my dad kept on saying things like “We are going to have to hydrate up for Machu Picchu.”, “Machu Picchu is going to be a really hard hike.” and “There will be so many stairs in Machu Picchu''. His repetition of those phrases made me think How am I going to survive this hike? It all started when we finally got checked into our hotel room in Aguas Calientes, Peru, and my mom said “Ok we have to get plenty of rest for our hike tomorrow, so everyone go to sleep soon.”  _ Sleep soon?! It’s only eight o’ clock! How much sleep do we need? How bad is this hike going to be? _I thought. I went to my bedroom, turned off the lights and fell asleep. When I woke up we immediately started prepping for the hike. After we triple checked that we had everything, we drove to the site. When we got into the car, I got the feeling that I mentioned at the beginning again.. Ok I have everything prepared. I got this. When we arrived at Machu Picchu, we scanned our tickets. Then we entered the hiking trail. The entrance consisted of a rocky pathed forest with a bunch of  trees with green leaves and ladder-long trunks. The sky was blue and crystal clear of clouds. Then we started on our eternity long journey of climbing white and rocky stairs. The first set of stairs were a breeze, but then when we got to the tenth set my heart started beating. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! Oh no…This is only our tenth set…I can't be tired ALREADY!… Ok … keep … going. I made it through the eleventh set then the twelfth and with tons of encouragement, the sixteenth set. After that set, we Finally. Took. A. Water. Break. Whew! That was WAY too many stairs. I gulped down my water like I haven’t drank water in two days. Our view at the break consisted of bigger than Mount everest- heaped  brown mountain with plenty of grass and gray and black rocks. _There is going to be an even better view at the top. _I thought, _I WILL get up there! _After our break, we hiked up another sixteen sets. In those sets, the stairs weren’t just plentiful; they were also these curvy, rocky and high steps with no railings at all. It was like walking on a curvy tightrope while carrying weights repeatedly  30 times. However, I knew that I HAD to tackle those stairs to reach the top, and I could NOT complain. I clung on to the walls and stabilized myself before taking my very first step up those swirly stairs. I kept saying to myself Reach the top! I can do this! I repeated those actions for each step up those swirly stairs.  There was this set that was EXTREMELY swirly and narrow, so I grabbed onto my dad’s hand to tackle those sets. After our thirtieth set was over, we were finally just FINALLY at the top. Beneath the crystal clear blue skies lie the whole entire brown swervy mountain topped with green grass and a multitude of gray rocks and house outlines. It looked as big as two Mount everests together. When I saw this view all of my leg soreness from the hike disappeared. Remember how I mentioned that the feeling before hiking up Machu Picchu was similar to the feeling that you would get if you only had one arm, and you were tasked to carry sixteen sets of 4 textbooks on a fifteen minute walk from their house to the library? Well how would you feel when you are done? That’s exactly how I felt at the end of this hike.  I had done something that I never thought I would be capable of doing before. I now knew that I no longer had to fear big tasks like this one.

Not Haikus but an ancient civilization!!

Letting go of bonds Like yours and mine I am your teddy bear That now you’ve outgrown

The days we spent together Are now like a fallen rose petal Laying there the sidewalk How could you forget those precious days?

How could you forget all the Talking we did about our woes? The countless we spend together? Leaning on each others shoulders? All the excitement when we saw each other?

How could I still possess those days in my heart? And still think of them often? When you’ve become a treacherous devil? And I’m just a dead bug on the sidewalk

Don’t you ever miss those days? That weren’t full of broken bonds? When you never had to be anyone else? When you felt true love? When I was by your side?

Because now I’m just laying on your bed Barely touched or looked at Your door only opens When someone nudges you But it never swings all the way open Like before times

How could our bond just break? How could you just choose to disappear? When you could still be there? I hate to say this, but I think I know why

You’ve gone on the wrong path You chose all the pretty make up And the fake cover ups That led to a demonizing road

Well farewell my old friend, Because Until the girl Who loved happiness, laughter and empathy Returns home I will no longer hold your hand

The First Day of a New Year for me…       Is a contrast to a completely erased slate    Old mistakes, still like    A lingering worry for your friend  As I loathed the urge for the truth

 Expenditious hours filled with continuous events  Made the clock tick faster than a cheetah’s run  Pondering reflections going on the bottom   Of my endless to do list   No time to escape the dark cave

As butterflies continue to  leave their flowers  Light sneaks it’s way into the sightless cave  At the end my wings began to form  

Me, the little caterpillar  Has blossomed into a butterfly

It was a normal week until a weird looking ship lands on our front yard. My mom steps out to take a look at it. It had gray powder spurting out everywhere. Wanna know whats weirder? The seats were upside down and so was the steering wheel! But what really shocked my mom was that sitting inside the behicle was a little boy who looked just my age. He was asleep too.My mom picked him up and he suddenly jolted from his sleep.”i dont want to hurt you , i just wanted to make sure you were ok” the boy relaxed. “Do youknow where you came from?” “My home, planet wanaka fraka” “what?” my mom thought “uhh ive never heard of thst before” “where are ypur parents ?” She asks “at my home they sent me down here because i was different “ “they don’t want me” this was unbelievable to my mom who can’t imagine being a parent who doesn’t love their kids.But sje still believed their might be a possibility he was right. She looked up the planet on her computer and realized thst it was aterrible townnin Saturn where kids were tortured and discriminated because of their differences. Every singleday kids would work day snd night they never got s break. Thry slso hid the meaning of weekend and good days too from kids. It was horrible from what she saw. Our family was a busy family with 4 kids. We had a lot of events coming up like purboldrst leaving for college, our aunt getting released from cancer snd a garage sale. But we knew we had to make time for this kid. We couldn’t just leave him. We worked through our busy schedules and adopted him. We also taught him the right side up( he only knew upside down) and most importantly we taught him about weekends. It was a horrendous journey because he was a hard kid to teach (cant blame hom) he missed his home and his life but eventually he became the best funniest and sweetest person wver. He called himself the character who didnt know what weekends were 🫶🏼🌺💙 Always remember that there is always a way ghings can work no matter how hard the journey gets💜💜

When a man is turtle Hiding in his shell Casting a dark cave Keeping him from the unknown

Where a time loop begins Of blood, sorrow, and enemy A lethal instrument, cutting deep All blockages and barriers out of sight

When a man becomes a bird He flees the cave Flies high above the destruction Eyes opening wider after each graphic

The horror is like a jolt to a body Leaving bloody wounds in his heart But he still will not take charge Because birds just watch scenes unfold

But when a man becomes a monster The world hears his mighty roar The enemies go up in flames The endless time loop now has closure

When does the endless time loop cease? When do the enemies experience defeat? When does a man open his eyes and fight? When does a man become a monster?

💜💜💜

This is not a paragraph but it relates to the prompt talking about the intensity of love for a boy who you began loving at first sight💙

“My loved ones are like a box of chocolates and a millennium of dazzling flowers received on a day where a heavy blanket of stormy clouds suffocate the sunlight by your heartthrob and the apple of your eye along with a note saying they like you back💞

Everyone on this app who I have interacted with or has supported me is considered one of mynloved ones. Thank you for giving me so much excitement and happiness. Happy Valentine’s Dayto everyone 🫶🏼💕❤️💙💞

Ding! Ding! It’s cold chicken wings o’ clock!! Time for some savory, delectable and perfectly cold chicken wings!! I buy them from the store every night snd then refrigerate them overnight and eat for breakfast. Their so YUMMY!!! i’m a teacher. I teach 3 classes of seventh grade English. Unfortunately my job is not to eat cold chicken wings all day:( I know you are probably thinking why does she eat food when she should be preparing or helping her students?!?! The chicken wings are TOO GOOD! Don’t worry im still a good teacher. Don’t believe me? Well, first off, i was the teacher of the year 3 times in a row! Second of all, a student I had last year made me 40 homemade cupcakes on the last day of school. Frosted too!!! So stop over exaggerating people and LET ME EAT MY WINGS!!!! This lovely morning, I had only 15 minutes of “planning and helping” time because of a meeting. I was on my last bite when Mrs. Anne (my teacher friend) arrives to walk me to the meeting. When she arrives I scramble to hide my wings, so I don’t get fired. Then we walk out together discussing English. The meeting ends quickly , and class starts immediately after. However, there is a delay in our lesson because of the morning announcements being super long due to announcements about the winners from last night’s competitions. The winner for the cooking competition is Maya Anderson, a student in the class at the moment, so the whole class cheered. In the middle of my lesson I realized I forgot where I left my chicken wings. NOO!!! If I don’t find them, I’m over! “Students, due to circumstances, we have to cut our lesson short today. You may either continue working on your grammar sheets or choose a book from our class library and silently read.” Some of them are shocked because I never before cut a lesson short since my wings are in the refrigerator right next door to my class. All the morning meetings have been optional, so I have always chosen not to go except for today mandatory one. As the students are proceeding with their books and worksheets, I scrummage the books in the class library trying to find the wings. Behind me, two girls start to chatter behind me. It’s Maya and Arabella. “ Maya congratulations on your win!! You deserved it since your food is so amazing!” “It warms my heart that you think that! I should bring one of my vanilla cakes to share with the class and Mrs. Jenna too!” VANILLA CAKE?!? That is the one cake I FEAR. That is the one cake, I hid under my bed from when my mom bought it for my birthday. That is the one cake that I start frantically running around and panicking when it is near me. I ADORE every single other cake though. Vanilla cake is a MONSTER!! It is quite troubling that Maya is talking about bringing a MONSTER into my class! After hearing that, I jump up, run to the water fountain and drink gulps. “Mrs. Jenna are you ok?” A student calls out, but I ignore him. Instead of answering, I run to the main lobby panting. I continue to run in circles until someone in the main office concernedly calls me in. “Is everything ok Mrs. Jenna what happened?” god I’m in need of an excuse “One of my students…wants to bring drugs to class!!” I scream The office gasps and demands for a name. “…Maya Anderson” I reply. The office calls Maya down to the dean immediately. Maya walks in with a confused look on her face. “Sit down!” Surprised by the harshness, she obeys. “Are you on drugs?” Mayas mouth falls open when she hears this. “…No sir!” she replies “well then why does your teacher here say you wanted to bring drugs to the class?” Maya turns to me with a confused and shocked look. “Oh wait” she says “I think I meant that I wanted to bring vanilla cake to share with the class not drugs” “Sorry if you misunderstood Mrs. Jenna. I promise you… ” I stopped listening to the rest of the statement because she mentioned vanilla cake again which causes me to get up and run out. “Mrs.Jenna aren’t you going to listen to your student talk? Where on earth are you going?!” The dean asked. In response I scream VANILLA CAKE VANILLA CAKE!!!!!! and run to the library. Without realizing, I knock all of the picture books off the shelves and interrupt the library lesson going on. I run out pound on the school exit doors. Before I know it the deans after me. I run into the art room, break a honor roll painting and jump on the tables. The dean is coming closer with a shocked and angry face, but I don’t care. I need the mention of vanilla cake OUT. As I run out of the art room. I bump into another teacher causing her to fall. I run , not apologizing. Soon, the police is after me in addition to the dean. I don’t care, I just need to get out of this vanilla cake place. I run past the teachers lounge and guess what I see? My lost cold chicken wings!!! Mrs. Anne is holding them, so I stop running. That causes the police to catch me when I am fighting Mrs. Anne for the bag. I’m in jail now for 5 years, and I love it. Why? Because they torture you by serving cold chicken wings for every meal. My kids hate me now and have a “better” teacher now, but I don’t care. My job of eating cold chicken wings is 1000 times better than teaching:). 🧡 Prompt ?: Went to public school?: Who is the craziest teacher you’ve ever had and why? Didn’t?: Tell us one of your craziest life stories!