5:45 am

I get up to the sound of my annoying alarm clock. I’m 20 minutes late! I hurry and pick out my outfit black leggings, brown shirt, wait I have to wear a scrunchie, let me just pick from my collection of 40! 

6:30 am

I make it downstairs only after 50 minutes of decision making. I brush my teeth and go to eat breakfast.

7:15 am

 Running out just catching the bus. Pushing through the clumps of half-asleep kids, finally reaching my seat.

7:30 am

Homeroom starts and we do our usual thing, announcements, library, etc. me and Alexia go to the library and I get a book while she goes to the book fair.

7:38 am

First period I have reading so I stay with Mrs. Risser she said we were finally changing seats and I got put with; Emma, Ethan, and Hayden.

8:35 am

2nd period I had a gym and we were playing basketball (really dumb cause I can barely hold my binder) ANyway I survived and had a little bit of fun so yeah.

9:35 am

Period three is science class with Mrs. Lancaster she is a good teacher I just suck at science. We had a test today and I think I did okay. After the test, we had partner work so of course, I chose to work with Autumn because she’s really smart.

10:35 am

Fourth period I go back to Mrs. Risser and have writing class it was pretty basic I started journaling and deleted all of my like fifty bookmarks. After that, I read “Catching Fire” [like the best series ever (the Hunger Games) check it out in the library]

11:35 am

 Period five I had Mr. Messinger he’s my social studies teacher we are learning about the Romans. We did an activity involving Quizlet Live and my group won first so we got to pick a prize and there was only one pack of gummies so I got that pack and everyone wanted my pack to the point where Gavin said he’d give me 20 dollars for them!

12:05 pm

Lunchtime came and this is a part in my day that is really dumb (like me!!) so yeah.

1:05  pm

 Sixth period with Mr. Manion was normal and pretty fun because I got somethings done! I had independent station then collaborative and got half of a worksheet done with my group.

2:05 pm

DA. . . .  a time. So I went In focused as all can be then came out laughing my head off (Autumn kept taking my pencil and dropping it then say and I oop sksksk I dropped my hydro flask!!)

Bus ride    

Aubrey’s mom is working at the book fair so went to the library (I usually walk to the bus with Aubrey by the way) so I walked with Sarah.

Home 

When I got home I did my homework, played with my dog (who is gonna have puppies any day now) and ate dinner. After that, I brushed my teeth, washed my face and went to bed for a “good sleep”.

It has been a few years since the ‘incident’ and with that, the family has gone back to normal, for now. 

“Hey Patch can we play, can we play?” said Alex with excitement, 

“not right now I have to finish this,” said Patch nicely. 

“Either Lucky or Apollo can”. 

“Oh ok maybe next time…” said Alex sadly 

“um yah sure,” Patch said not paying attention. *After finding Lucky*. 

“Hey Lucky~,” said Alex happily 

“How can I help you, Alex?”  said Lucky with a happy tone. 

“Can we play?~,” said Alex,

 “Yes! What do you want to play?” Said Lucky,

“can we play in the field?!” said Alex jumping up and down. 

“Sure let me just go and get some things and we can go!” said Lucky “ok!” said Alex. 

*5 minutes later*

“Ok ready?” said Lucky “mhm!” Said Alex. 

Once they arrive at the field they saw something when they went up to it they saw it was a wolf,

 “excuse me sir?” said Lucky calmly “Are you lost?”. “No, no I am ok thank you-” he said lifting up his head.

 “Sir are you ok?” said Lucky scarcely.

“I said I was fine Lucky!” he said with an angry tone “wait how do you- APOLLO what are you doing here?!” said Lucky with a  surprised tone, 

“Dad kicked me out again because I was not training to be alpha,” said Apollo with a calm tone. 

“Here you watch Alex and I will talk with Dad,” said Lucky angrily. 

“Ok but be careful he is really mad with me and Patch so I don’t know how he will react to you,” said Apollo. 

“I will be fine just watch Alex!” said Lucky yelling now, 

“ok just be careful,” said Alex “I will don’t you worry!” said Lucky to Alex. 

“Wait! Lucky” said Alex calling to her 

“what do you need Alex?” said Lucky coming back. 

“I am coming with you!” said Alex meaningfully. 

“What why?” said Lucky confused, 

“Because you’re my sister I need to help!” Alex yelled. “Fine let’s go Apollo are you coming?” said Lucky, 

“no I’m going to stay here.” Said Apollo “ok just stay safe,” said Lucky worrying 

“I will” Apollo promised. 

*at home* 

“Dad!” yelled Lucky. 

“What do you want child!” yelled there Father. 

“Can you please tell me why! Apollo is out in the field!?” said Lucky with an unpleasant tone. 

“Because he had decided not trained to be Alpha!” Dad yelled back. 

“So what!” Lucky said now yelling 

“That is no way to talk to your father!” He raises his paw and lets out his claws and getting ready to hit Lucky when Alex jumps in front and gets hit instead.

“DAD!” Lucky yelled 

“what! He jumped in front!” Dad yelled. 

“What is all of the screaming about!” Patch had yelled coming out of the den, 

“Dad hit Alex’s eye and now it won’t stop bleeding!” said Lucky.

 “What! Dad why!” said Patch yelling 

“because your ‘sister’ here was yelling at me! So I was going to hit her then Alex jumped in front, it’s his fault, not mine!” yelled Dad with an angry tone.

 “That gives you the right to try and hit Lucky! What would mom think!” yelled Patch with tears in her eyes 

“Don’t you dare! Bring up your mother!” Yelled Dad “you have no right to speak of her!” 

“Yes I do she was our mother!” yelled Patch.

“Um, guys Alex!” Said Lucky worryingly 

“oh yeah! I will go and get Apollo, Dad you go somewhere else. Just wait till Apollo comes.” said Patch.

By: Thad B.

One day there was a boy named Jamal who lived in New York City. He lived with his Mom in an apartment building. Jamal and his mother were very poor their apartment building was a wreck and they barely could pay for rent. Jamal was 17 years old and he loved to play basketball. Anytime he wasn’t helping his Mom all he did was play the game he loved.

 Jamal was very good at basketball but he had bad grades in school so he couldn’t play basketball if he didn’t have good grades. Then one day his school had a guest speaker, the speaker told the students about his life story. His life story was about how he loved to play football but he couldn’t play because of his grades but when he actually put effort into school the last year of college he was drafted into the NFL. Then Jamal started to try harder in school so he could play basketball. That next day Jamal was in math class that was his worst subject. They had a test last class and were getting back today.  Jamal knew that he was going to get a bad grade because he always does. When he got his text back he was stunned he got 97.3%. Aftermath class Jamal started to talk to himself if I did a good job on this test I can study for others and get good grades.

So after Jamal started to try again he finally could play basketball. Jamal was a center on his school basketball team. Jamal was 6/10 and weighed 235. Jamal was an inside-outside scorer he was also getting d1 college looks. At the end of the school season, a Gentleman wearing a black suit came up to Jamal and said “Hi, I’m the scout for The Kansas Jayhawks and I was wondering if you would like to be a part of our basketball team.  We will give you a free ride as well Jamal answered Heck Yeah!

End Of Part ONE!

I went back to their house, not my house. I went and got their runaway little boy’s clothing and got his suitcase to bring along with. I went and said goodbye to their dogs Falcunnoopsee, Quoorsarak, and Jagekeoco. They miss their owner. In their eyes, you can see their sadness as their master walks out the door past me. I was all alone, but I put a note saying the Mr. and Mrs. Espinoza can call me when everything is okay. I got a call from Kyra she really missed me and that mom and dad weren’t taking me leaving very well. They wanted me to come back as soon as possible. I came back after a month. They weren’t mad because their sadness took over. They had no more room to be mad, so all they did was be sad. It was to the point that even Christmas couldn’t make them more than give a smirk. One day I took Kyra up to my room and played music so loud they couldn’t hear me scream. I told Kyra that they needed help and unless they get that help we will run away. Kyra agreed that something should be done, but running away shouldn’t be the answer. I didn’t understand why. I thought it would be the perfect idea showing them what they did to their kids, but Kyra said the whole reason they are this unhappy is because I left. 

“ No, it is actually their fault because they made their child run away from all the bad stuff going on.”

“ Actually no, it was all YOUR fault and if you don’t understand that I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re making up lies! You are such an idiot for believing that it was my fault!”

“ You know what I don’t want you in this house.”

“ Why?”

“ I can’t have spoiled brats blaming whoever they want every time someone says no to them.”

“ At least I am more of their child than you ever will be.”

At that moment I felt bad for everything I said, but I noticed that Kyra didn’t say sorry like she usually does. She meant what she said. That just killed me right there. Was I actually a spoiled brat that blamed people whenever I got told no? 

I went to school the next day I asked Mattias if I was actually that bad and he said I wasn’t, so I mean I guess that’s a win, but when we first met and became best friends he said he is super scared of me so I mean he isn’t that reliable. 

“ Hey, Aaron.”

“Hey, babe.”

“ I have a question.”

“ What is it?”

“ Am I a spoiled brat?”

“ Babe you might act like a diva, but you aren’t spoiled.”

“ You sure?”

“ I mean you have more drama than a normal girl does so I mean if that means spoiled than yeah you are very spoiled.” 

“ Thanks…are we still up for acai bowls?”

“ Heck yeah! Those I can’t miss out on.”

“ Okay see you there?”

“ See you there.”

By: Bambi

What is a toxic friend? Why do they put me down and hurt my feelings all the time? Do they even want to be my friend, or do they just want to make fun of me? I’m afraid to leave them, what if they start to talk about me?

If you have a toxic friend, you may or may not know it, if you do know it I would say, get rid of them right away. A toxic friend is someone you don’t want to be around, they constantly put you down no matter what you say about it, they are hard to get away from. They always have a reason to make you feel bad about yourself, but the thing is, sometimes it can be scary to get rid of them because you don’t know what they are going to say about you. 

You need to surround yourself with good, fun, loving friends that you actually want to hang out with, you need a friend that you can rely on and trust with your secrets. 

The thing about toxic friends is that they will make you do things, like tell you, “you can’t hang out with her”, or “Ew why are you talking to her, stop she’s annoying.”. They will tell you all these things and you will listen because you are afraid of them and you don’t want to say no, they will say all these things, and you will do all these things, to the point where you turn out to be like them. 

Some things you need to do to address the situation is, tell a trusted guardian or teacher because they know what to do and they can help. Another thing you can do is you can help yourself, tell them to stop, tell them that you don’t like the way they are treating you and others. If these things don’t work tell their parents, their parents will either tell them to stop, or not care, but most likely they will help because they wouldn’t want their kid to act out and be rude to other people. 

Make sure you stay away from people with bad attitudes or people that are just rude, because you deserve better, you deserve a good healthy friendship. 

By: Hayden N.

“Jackal!” Ela said. It was already too late as she watched Jackal get taken by the creatures. No one knew why the creatures had come. No one knew how the creatures were born. No one knew why the creatures would take all of mankind. Everyone knew one thing though. If a creature ever saw you then you couldn’t escape.

The rest of the group was shaken up. They had lost too much men. Some of our best men even got taken. Jager wiped out from a flying piece of metal. Nomad was flung in the air over a cliff. Maverick fell into a pit of lava instead of being taken by a creature. Last but not least our best man Maestro was attacked by a creature jumping from a camera. 

We were just about through the tunnel when Lion heard something.

“I think one of em is near!”

“Do you know where?”

“No I can’t get a signal here.”

“I think we have a bigger problem than just a small creature!” Ela shouted.

Everyone looked up the tunnel to see it. A creature about the size of 50 elephants stood in front of us!It was far bigger than anything else we faced. Everyone looked up in terror. Everyone knew it was the end. 

It was only the click of one rifle that made the abomination cock its head toward us. 

“Fire!”

Everyone rifles in hand started spraying at the monster. Some people took out grenades, smokes, c4s, anything they could find. The monster wasn’t in any hurry casually strolling down the tunnel. Even it knew we were no match. As it got closer and closer it we were more afraid. There was no hope for any of us. 

BANG!

BANG!

Two ear piercing explosions went off. The creature yelped in pain and turned to face whatever had hit it. Standing behind the creature was a thin silhouette. She had shining red and an FBI cap on. 

It was Ash! She had been the leader of the FBI and was one of the best people in the world at fighting. She had a smirk as her breaching rounds sunk into the creature’s back that had already started to open up. 

I closed my eyes and hoped it would work. Two seconds later I saw the monster on the ground dead. Its back was in bits as the breaching rounds could break anything. 

Once we were back at the camp we were celebrating. No one knew why we were celebrating because even though we had survived that encounter. There was much more to come. Another day lived fearfully another one to come, and another, and another. There was no way to stop the creatures from coming and we knew that.

In July 23, 2016 my uncle said to his two sons, Ryan the oldest and Conner the youngest and told the rest of the family that he is going to a plane show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and he will be back home in a few weeks. My uncle friend Trey was also going with him on a separate plane. On July 24, 2016 my Uncle and Trey were preparing for their flight to Oshkosh. The day has come, on July 24, 2016 they were starting up the oily plane engine burning up the oil and my family and I Facetime him before he leaves and when we where talk we heard the GPS said 4 hours and 13 minutes. I thought to myself, that will take a long time. So when he was flying we were waiting for the past 4 hours for him to call use but then my grandma phone started to ring she picks up the phone and the man said, “ sorry ma’am your son has crashed”. And the look on my gramma’s face made me nervous.

By: Anna H.

One night my family and I went to the West Lampeter community fair. It was the last night of the fair and it was time to go home. On the way back to our car we saw something very tragic, it was a car crash! Right in front of our eyes.

  The car ran right into the other car and it just drove away without even checking on the people that got hit. We sprinted over to the car that got damaged, it was all dented and scratched up. I saw the girl that was in the car was ok but the mom that was in the car was not ok. She was shaking and unconscious in the seat of the car. We called the ambulance and the police department went right away to chase down the car that hit the other car and to get the mom to the emergency room immediately.

  It was the scariest thing that I have seen in real life, their were ambulances galore and cops trying to hunt down the car crasher by asking questions to us. I was just standing right in the middle of all this commotion not doing anything about the situation. I was so confused about what was going on and I didn’t know if I should have helped or not.

Finally the cops started moving into their cop cars and went chasing after the car crasher. Also the ambulance took the mom to the emergency room immediately. 

We were watching the girl while her dad was going to pick her up. We were trying to calm her down but she was too scared to calm down. The girl was shaking and crying so we didn’t know how to calm her down. Finally her dad came to pick her up and she wasn’t crying or shaking anymore. In the end The cops chased down the person who hit the car and everything was now ok. After it all, we checked in with the family and the mom just had a concussion.

By: Thumper

People say treat others the way you want to be treated, but nowadays people don’t seem to get that message. Friends are supposed to help you and bring your spirits up, so why do some people make others feel unwanted and helpless? In this article you will see that doing these things is unacceptable and how to deal with this.

The Beginning:

At first, you think you guys are best friends but then the first insult happens, then another one, and before you even realize it you are caught up in a toxic friendship. You might be thinking, “Well I’m just trying to help them,” but are you really going to stand there picking off everything wrong about them? Sure, friends can help their other friends by saying opinions in a positive way, but telling someone they are wearing too much make-up or saying their outfit looks bad is rude and annoying. Kids that have toxic friends go to school worrying that their “friends” will make fun of them saying, “You have worn that outfit too many times” or “Your hair is an absolute mess.” If a friend you have does this to you, the best thing to do is to quickly get out of that friendship. People should not have to be bullied by their supposed friend every single day and think that something is wrong with them because of it.

The Drama:

A major part of being in a toxic friendship is drama. You might see your words getting turned on you or an embarrassing thing you did when you were younger that even you forgot about get brought up. This is them trying to get in your head and the best thing to do is not retaliate because if you do they will know that they got to you and they will most likely continue bully you. Friends should not make fun of things you like or constantly try to be better than you at everything. People should not receive judgement from their friends, it hurts the person and no one should have to think they need to change themselves to be friends with another person.

Manipulative:

Eventually, the small insults will manipulate your mind into thinking you have to be them. Their manipulative ways can even turn you into someone your not, and the bad thing about this is that your real friends might see that and might distance themselves from you. If your friend tells you you are acting different you should change your attitude to things because if you don’t you might lose your only real friend and then will be stuck with the people who made you that way in the first place. Toxic friends can even make you fear them. You shouldn’t be scared to open a text from a person, fearing that it will be them saying how you did something wrong a week ago. They manipulate you to stay friends with them just so they can tell you what to do and make you feel bad about yourself. No one wants to have to care for someone who doesn’t care about them at all. It’s not right because friends should have eachothers back, one of them shouldn’t have to feel excluded or worthless because of the other person wrong doings.

Toxic “Friends” will act like they like you but in reality, they will talk behind your back. They will start drama, change you, and point out every insecurity you have. Best thing to do is leave the friendship and try your best to block them from your life. People shouldn’t be bullied everyday by someone they thought they could trust. They should feel welcomed and know that someone has got their back in any given situation. Bullying someone based on their appearance, likings, and the things they wear is unacceptable and should not be considered nice and helpful things.

By Sarah B.

I looked up from my phone and realized that I was still sitting in the airport. I sighed. The room was so cold! The only thing that kept me warm was my grey sweatshirt and black leggings. I brushed my short black hair out of my face. I looked at the window. It was still dark outside. But if I was supposed to go all the way to India, it was probably good that it was night. I had two minutes left. The time passed so quickly that I almost forgot my brown duffel bag. The  elderly airport security guard said

 “Is this you?” as she took my passport. She looked at my dark brown eyes. 

“How come your eye color has changed?” she said. I looked down.

 It had been two years since the accident. I got into a car crash on a bridge and the glass cut both of my eyes straight down the middle. The doctors could fix it, but they needed to give me new eyes, and the only eyes available were dark brown, changing them from blue to dark brown. I sighed. 

“I had a car accident, and I had to get new eyes.” The woman looked at me. 

“Are you sure? I have never heard of such a thing! Oh well. I guess with all this new technology, it’s probably possible.” the woman let me go onto the airplane. It was very small and there were only one seat per row, so I got into my seat, and put my duffel bag on the overhead box. I was very tired, so I tried to go to sleep. But I just couldn’t! I was on one of those airplanes that you don’t want to be on because a baby’s crying, Kids are yelling, someone’s talking really loud  on their phone, and a man is sitting right next to you, snoring. I’m guessing the pilot was annoyed to, because he yelled back at us 

“Be quiet!”. And so then , and only then, it was quiet enough to sleep. 

I woke up 4 hours later, and opened my window. I saw so many people! They were all dressed up in colorful dresses and turbans, and they were all yelling in hindi. I took my bag out of the overhead box, and got off the plane. I was so excited to go to see all the places that everyone talks about! I got off the plane, and as soon as I got off I smelled spices. I smelled cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and some great smells, but I didn’t even know what they were. I went to my hotel room and plopped down on the soft, white,beautiful bed! I was so surprised that the room was so clean. I thought that most places in India were dirty. I wanted to go and see what I could find in the city. But there, it was almost night. I sighed. “Oh well.” I thought to myself. 

“I guess I’ll have to go tomorrow”. 

The next day, it was a beautiful day. I went to town as soon as I woke up. Everyone had an umbrella over them, but I have no idea why. I asked one of the women,

 “आप सभी के पास छाते क्यों हैं “  In hindi that means “why do you all have umbrellas?” she answered me

 “क्योंकि यह सूरज को हमारे चेहरे से दूर रखता है और हमारे कपड़ों को खराब होने से बचाता है” In hindi, that means

 “Because it keeps the sun away from our faces and protects our clothes from spoilage”. Then she rudely walked away. I was very confused, but then I heard the music and smelled something wonderful! It was Chicken tikka masala! I followed the music and the smell. It was coming from a little house in the ground. I walked down the steps and opened the door. There was a man there, singing in hindi and cooking. I told him “This smells delicious!” He looked at me. 

“Who are you? I have had my door closed. What has brought you here?” I answered, 

“The Chicken tikka masala! It’s smell is wonderful!” He smiled. 

“Princess who likes my food must be very good at tasting. Are you a cook, princess?”  I looked at him weirdly.

 “What do you mean? I am not a princess!” The man smiled at me. His dark brown eyes looked at mine.

 “Yes, I know that you do not call yourself a princess. But I do, because you are so beautiful.” I blushed.

 “Thank you!” I said. Then the man walked over to me. He lead me to a table.

 “Here, Sit.” he said as he smiled at me again. He went back to the stove and got some of the wonderful chicken tikka masala. It’s curry filled my nose. “Mmmm.” I said. He looked at me. “Aren’t you going to eat?” “Oh yes, I am.” I held the spoon up to my mouth. It’s chicken tasted so good. Then, I told him I had to leave. “Princess! I hope you will come back tomorrow!” I smiled at him. “I will!” He stared at me as I walked out the door. He yelled out at me. “Wait! Princess! Will you come tomorrow and stay at my house? And what is your name, dear one?” I blushed again. “Yes, I will! As long as you have your chicken tikki masala!” He yelled back, “I will!” I had forgotten to tell him my name, but then quickly remembered. “My name is Ivy! Ivy Davis!” He waved back to me, and I to him. I got into a blue  rental bike, and went back to the hotel. 

The next morning, at 6:00 Am, I jumped out of bed. I packed my bag and checked out of the hotel. I got in a taxi and told the driver where to drop me off. As he was driving, I realized how pretty the setting was. There were lots of green plants, but there were also some houses that did not look very pretty. Their windows were smashed and the grass was all dried up in their front yards. But then, I got to his house. I was really hoping that he’d tell me his name. I thanked the driver as he let me out. I walked along the streets to get to his house. I finally found it, and that same smell of chicken tikki masala filled my nose. “Mmmmm!” I said as I opened the door. “Ivy!” He said, as he greeted me with a warm smile.  “I have been waiting for you. Come, sit down and we will have some food.” I thanked him, as I ran over to the table. It had so much chicken tikki masala! And I ate it all that night. He showed me to a back room that had a bed in it. “Here!” he said. “Here is where you will sleep.” The room looked very clean. I had seen some of this room before, and it was very messy. I guessed that he had cleaned it up. The bed looked wonderful, and I went to sleep. But before I went to bed, he whispered in my ear, “My name is Muhammed.” 

A couple years later…

It had been a very long time since I had first met Muhammed. I think that it had been over a year! I had gone back to the U.S. a couple months ago and had gotten an ok to live here. Now, I live with Muhammed. And last month, he asked me to marry him. I was so shocked, and so happy. And then we had our wedding, right here on the streets, and all our guests had chicken tikki masala. It was a wonderful day! And now, Muhammed has made another back room for our two children Mark and Angelo,  and our newest one, Aashi. She is lovely, and she looks just like Muhammed. It is so wonderful to live in India. I have taught my sons to cook, and we have opened up a restaurant. And that is the story of how the best restaurant in India came to be. Tikki Masala.