“Greed”
By Lindsey Sapp
“Gilbert!” Something is
wrong. I can’t believe this woman is yelling at me. No one seems to appreciate
all the sacrifices I have made for this family.
“What Margot, I'm busy and I don't need you yelling at me
while I work.” She walked in my office giving me the death stare. Who does she
think she is?
“Gilbert, we need to
talk. I'm sick of the way you are treating this family. You're a whole new
person just because you think that you have money.”
“I do have money, you
are just jealous because it's not yours!” I yelled at her.
“Listen Gilbert, you're
a changed man now since you won all that money. You only use it for yourself
and never help out me and the kids. I asked you for some money to get John Paul
some pants and Maice Lynn a new church dress. You told me you aren't going to
give us any money cause it's all yours, and if we needed money we should go win
the lottery like you did. That is completely insensitive. You are being
extremely childish when you're a grown man. Gilbert you don't even go to church
with us anymore!¨
¨No Margot, I'm not
being childish. What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours. And if you don't
like it then leave.¨
“Well that's exactly
what I came here to do. We used to have a lovely family on a nice small farm.
We both thought hitting the lottery was a blessing but it became a tragedy.
You're greedy. A very greedy man and my children aren't going to live in a
household with you in it. So Gilbert, I want a divorce.¨ Does she think this is
a joke? ¨Here.” Did she just slam divore papers on my desk? I picked them up
and they were. She's serious.
¨Fine, I don't need any
of you!¨ I signed the papers and threw them at her. What woman wouldn't want a
man with money? A crazy one of course. She and the kids can leave. I don't need
anyone.
¨Oh and you might want
to come tell the kids goodbye because you're not going to be seeing them for a
while.¨ She walked out and I was right behind her. John Paul and Marcie Lynn
were waiting at the bottom of the stairs with their bags. I kissed them on the
head and waved them goodbye. I don't need them. Actually, I don't need anyone.
I have all the money I could ever need and that's good enough for me.
About twenty minutes
after they left someone in a black limousine pulled up. I went to their door,
and a man in a tuxedo handed me an envelope. I opened it. It said that I have
gone bankrupt.
¨Excuse me sir but i
think you have the wrong address,¨ I told the man.
¨No, I ' m very sorry
sir, but you have gone bankrupt. We will allow you to pack your belongings
within thirty minutes. Then you must leave.¨ I quickly went to my phone, called
the bank, and they also said I have money. I quickly packed my bag, and left
before my thirty minutes were up. But I have nowhere to go. I have no money and
no family. I quickly walked down the driveway and headed towards the street. I
totally blew it. If only i hadn't become so greedy and pushed away my family I
wouldn't be in this position. What do I do now?
“Tulip”
By:
Ava Poole
I was
on the dock in Sarasota, and that’s when I remembered Tulip. My mom had
adopted Tulip when she was a newborn baby, and I was seven. I knew deep down I
loved her so much, but I was always jealous of her. She was the new baby in the
family, so she, obviously, got all the attention. She had down syndrome, so I
would be very embarrassed at the fact she was my sister. I would sometimes
treat her as if she didn’t have down syndrome. One night I made her go outside
with me just because I wanted to spook her. I went and hid into the leaves and
left her there all by herself, she was terrified, she even peed herself. I did
this knowing her heart couldn’t take it. She also had sleep apnea. But I would
ignore this problem, because I didn't want to face the fact she wasn't just
like me. Her and I would go on walks together, we would run together, we would
do everything together. But every night we would get home for supper, and
everyone’s attention would go straight to Tulip. Even though I loved Tulip, I
would be so mean to her. I even bullied her to my friends. I would make fun of
the way she looks, or talks. We were in school, all my friends in the bathroom
together just talking, and one of my friends started making fun of her
appearance. I didn’t want to stand up for her, so I tagged along with them by
mocking some of the things she has said.
I lived in Venice,
Florida, but I would always drive her up to Sarasota so we could go shopping
together, and go on the dock. We went one day and I got her favorite ice cream,
cookies and cream. She was so excited about it that she just stuck her whole
face in the cup and got it all over the place. Even though Tulip and I were
having fun, people would always look at us weird, some would even stare at us.
It was to the point where it was embarrassing for me to be seen with her in
public, because she wasn’t normal. All I wanted was a sister that was normal,
When I was young I would always complain about being the only child. But this,
this wasn’t what I wanted. But then something tragic happened, One day we went
to the dock of Sarasota. It was as crowded as ever. I knew Tulip wouldn’t have
liked it, But I still made her go with me. People were pushing their way
through and knocking people over. Tulip even got knocked over a couple times.
Tulip was so overwhelmed and scared by all the yelling and pushing. I got lost
in the crowd and had no idea where tulip was, I lost her. I started panicking.
I started yelling her name, but I doubt she could hear me over all the people
talking. I then could hear her, but it was from a distance. It sounded like she
was underwater. But I knew she couldn’t be, she just couldn’t. I then stopped
hearing her. It felt as if it was dead silence but I knew people were talking.
I called 911. They made all the people go home and they went out on boats to
search for her. Weeks and weeks went by and the police still had no clue where
she was, they didn’t even have an idea of where she could be.
¨Broken Window¨
By: Lauren Reed
“Crash!” Allison sprung
up from her bed, as she heard the sound of a baseball going through her window.
Allison was so shocked as to how something like this could have happened. She
peaked her head through the now-broken window.
“Sorry about that!” A
voice yelled from down the street. Allison squinted her eyes to see a tall,
lean looking guy running towards her house. She looked like a mess! How could
any guy see her like this! She thought, running towards her mascara to put it
on. She quickly rushed towards her hairbrush as she heard the sound of the
doorbell chime. She hurriedly opened her door,only to find a tall blonde
headed boy sweating in front of her door frame. The guy was around the same age
as her,but almost a foot taller than her. Allison held out her hand with a
baseball in it.
“This yours?” She said,
a little peeved, that he had now broken her only window.
“I’m so sorry about your
window,uh..” He said, awaiting an answer.
“Allison.” She said with
a harsh look on her face.
“Is there any way I can
repay you?” As if the guy had any money to spare. Normally she would have made
him pay back the damage,but she could tell that he was truly sorry. “Hey I
know! How bout’ you come play with me and my friends down the street?” His
smile was one of the biggest she had ever seen, how could she possibly say no.
But, then again she had never played softball much less baseball. Her face
turned red of embarrassment, she had never played a sport before.
“I-I don’t know
how-“
“I’ll help you!”
Grabbing her hand, they both ran down her stairs,outside,and towards the field.
Softball season had just
begun, and the air was full of pollen. It was the last day of tryouts, and
Allison was shaking in her cleats. She and her team raced to go see the paper
the coach had just put up on the bulletin board outside of the dug out. Allison
had made it, and it was all thanks to him. She whipped out her phone calling
Tyler to tell him the good news.
“I knew you would make
it! What position did you get? When is your first game?” Tyler said
ecstatically with pure joy in his voice. She was happy too, crying almost all
her hard work that he had put her through this summer,was worth it.
Tyler and Allison were
out playing at their usual spot, down the street from her house. Tomorrow was
Allison’s last game as she had never been so nervous. Tyler noticed how
stressed out this made her and thought maybe the two of them could play for
fun.
“Why do you keep
throwing them so sloppy?” Allison yelled across the field pouting. She knew she
was acting like a total jerk but she was stressed out of her mind with
softball. Tyler knew this and shrugged it off trying his hardest to throw
perfect for her. He tried to throw the ball as hard and accurately as he could
but the ball ended up being slightly off from her direction.
“You’re useless! You
can’t throw just one good ball can you!” Allison yelled, throwing her bat
against the ground. Tyler tried to spit out words but the second he did..she
was already on the way to her car. He watched her drive home making sure she
got there safe before getting in his own car and driving home.
The light up
above the team shined bright as ever, as Allison’s team was getting ready to
play. Her and her team ran towards the dugout as they were getting ready to
bat, until she noticed. Tyler had not been there, he had not missed a single
game of hers until now. But, in the crowd she saw his parents. They had never
gone to one of Allison’s games before but she was happy they could make it and
played her game as usual. After the game, Allison made her way to his parents
to thank them for coming to her game, but as she was walking up to them they
appeared to be crying. She was beyond confused but ran up to them anyway.
“What’s wrong?” She
asked obviously and with pure confusion. “And where is Tyler? Did he sleep in
again?” They just looked at her like a lost puppy.
“Tyler, he’s dead.”
“The Audition”
By Alissa Wilson
“It’s finally
happening!” I screamed running down the stairs. My roommate walked out of his
room.
“What’s going on?” Ethan asked. He looked exhausted from
his game last night. He probably stayed up late afterwards to study.
“I got a call from Island Records!” I say as I jumped up
and down with excitement.
“That’s awesome! What did they say?” Ethan’s face lit up.
“They want me to fly out tomorrow for a second audition,”
I start to head back upstairs, “we should start packing if we’re going to be
ready by tonight.”
Ethan stopped me from
leaving. “Hold on what about the finals coming up, and how are you going to pay
for the trip?”
“I can do the finals online and the company paid for
everything. I even got extra plane tickets so you can come along,” I told him.
I walked upstairs and started packing as Ethan did the same. I’ve always wanted
to play music people enjoyed. I’ve practiced playing music almost everyday
since I was little. After we finished packing, we decided to grab something to
eat before heading to bed. The next day we got up early and headed to the
airport. The flight there was long but enjoyable as I was excited for what was
waiting for us when we got there. When the plane landed and we grabbed our
luggage we headed toward the exits. There was a man holding a sign with my name
and Ethan’s name on it. He wore dark sunglasses and a black suit. As we walked
closer I noticed he had an earpiece that connected into his suit.
“Hey, are you our ride?” I asked.
He replied “Are you Elaina and Ethan?” We nodded
and he gestured for us to follow. He led us out to a long black limo. All of
the windows were tinted so black you couldn’t see through them. The inside was
even nicer. LED lights ran across the doors, and the seats were the most
comfortable I’ve ever felt. Once we got to the hotel, the driver took our bags
out of the back and helped us carry them in. After we checked in and got our
room key we headed up to our room, and saw someone standing beside the door on
the phone. As we got closer we could hear him yelling about something but
couldn’t quite make out what. Before we could listen in further he hung
up.
“Ah, you must be here for auditions tomorrow,” he said
looking me up and down, “what was your name again?”
“Elaina,” I replied. He must be the manager. His voice
sounded familiar. Maybe who called me?
“Hmm, Elain seems a bit catchier,” before I could respond
he changed the subject, “I hired a fashion designer for you to see later today.
Your driver can take you there be ready no later than 5:30. Other than that
your schedule is free for today. I will schedule a hair appointment for
tomorrow. I’m thinking a shorter cut would look better on you.” Before
either of us could respond he turned and left. We walked inside and sat our
stuff down.
“I don’t think you
should do this,” Ethan said as he sat down on the bed.
“It is a lot of change,
but that’s to be expected right?” I walked over and looked out of the balcony
connected to the room.
“Changing your name? And
how you look? It's too much.”
“You’re right, but I
can’t just leave,” I turned around and faced him.
“What if you tried to
make an agreement with them?”
“That’s a good idea.
I'll ask for less major changes,” I said I grabbed my phone to call the manager
and set up a meeting.
¨Spoiler Alert.¨
By:Lauren Reed
My friend and I were
planning to go see a movie Friday night. We both had waited and waited for the
movie to finally be out. What I didn't know was that my friend had been reading
the book of the movie we had wanted so desperately to see. On Thursday, the day
before the movie my friend had finally finished reading her book. At lunch that
day, when I sat with my friend, she had come in with her face lit up. I asked
her what she was so happy about, but I did not know that she had been reading
the book. She looked at me and shouted out the ending of the movie, spoiling
the entire movie for me. I was furious, how could she tell me how the movie we
had so longingly awaited to see ended? Spoiling is simply one of my biggest pet
peeves.
Watching a movie is supposed to be a
fun and new experience, but that is all thrown to shambles when someone spoils
a movie or book. The producers or authors want you to empathise with the
characters but how is that possible when you already know what to expect? What
is even worse than getting spoiled by someone is getting spoiled by yourself.
While I was on my phone one day I was scrolling through my social media
normally. I had recently been watching this new show that had just come out and
everyone was talking about it. I was trying my best to avoid spoilers but
they were everywhere! After I had seen these spoilers, I lost motivation to
finish the show and stopped watching it. Spoiling ruined my experience for a
show that I really enjoyed, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Sometimes I wish people would use a spoiler warning for more things. I think
more people should stop spoiling. I mean how would you feel if you knew the
outcome of a baseball game before you played it? Or, if you knew how you were
going to die? What about if you were spoiled for how the superbowl or
Olympics would end? To conclude, spoiling a show,movie, or book is just
overall rude and unthoughtful. Let people enjoy the show, just as you did.
“Clue”
By Alissa Wilson
It was a rainy
afternoon, and the whole family decided to hangout and play board games. We
played Jenga, Monopoly, Trouble, and now we were playing Clue. It was down to
the last few questions. We all knew it was Colonel Mustard in the conservatory.
All we needed was to figure out how it happened. I just finished my turn, and
the next person to ask questions was my sister. She wasn't paying attention.
She was on her phone. We all told her it was her turn. After we waited for her
to finish texting on her phone she started her turn. We knew she never paid
attention because she started to ask questions we already answered. I started
to get annoyed that she wasn't paying attention to the game while playing.
After her turn she got back on her phone.
“Why don’t you put the
phone up? The game is getting really interesting,” I said hoping she would
listen, but she ignored me. She continued to stay on her phone only looking up
when it was her turn. After the game ended she finally got off of her
phone.
“Who won?” she asked.
“Mom,” I said as I put
the board and game pieces back in the box.
“Does anyone want to
play another game? We’ve got Scrabble, Battleship, Blokus, and the Game of
Life,” she gets up to go back to the room.
“I think we’re done for
today maybe later,” I said before she could make it back. I hope next time she
won’t be on her phone.
“Amazon Packages!!!”
By: Ava Poole
When I was a kid I loved
getting packages. It was always so exciting being able to go run outside and
watch the mail lady give me my package, even if the packages were not mine. My
parents would get packages all the time, they order dog toys, gluten free food,
clothes, anything you could imagine. I remember every time I heard my dogs
barking, I would rush down the stairs and outside to get it. I would always
make my mom or dad open them for me, so I never knew the true struggles of
getting packages. Until one day mama was at work, and dad was taking a nap. I
saw the delivery truck from outside the window and rushed down the stairs. This
time, it was my package. It was my Christmas present, from my great grandma.
She would always get presents shipped to my house. Like my barbie dream house,
my playhouse, my american girls dolls. She would have to ship it because she
lives in Arizona, and we only flew there once. It was a hot sunny day and we
went on a shopping trip. I remember riding in one of those train things that
takes you around the whole mall. But that's off topic. I really wanted to open
it but seeing mama always struggle opening it made me not even want to try.
About an hour went by and dad still wasn't awake. I ---curious as ever---
wanted to know what I got. So I decided I was gonna open it myself. I never
realized how much tape was around the box, or how sometimes when you open the
box there's another thing you have to open up. But I wasn't gonna let this stop
me, so I tried to get it open with my bare hands, which didn't work at all. I
got so frustrated that I couldn't open it, so I got a knife to open it. And as
I was trying to open it the knife slipped off the end of the box and I had cut
myself. I started crying out, even though this wasn't the first time I woke dad
up with my cries, he still ran in there worried as ever. He rolled his eyes and
told me to just go upstairs and wrap it with a towel. I was sitting on the
bathroom counter, with the towel wrapped around my hand. I was thinking about
all the other ways amazon packages could be wrapped. They could put it in a
ziploc bag, a zip up bag, they could even put it in a grocery bag!! But
no.
WRONG ORDER
By:Shane knighton
One
day I just got out of baseball practice. The practice is around 3 or 4 hours
long of hitting,throwing,pitching and whatever the coaches tell you to do. So I
was on the way home from baseball and I was starving and I asked my mom if I
can get some wendy’s and she said sure.And I was looking forward to a good long
meal at the start of practice. So we pull in the drive thru.And Wendy’s has a
full menu Baconator,Son of a Baconater,salads,Cheese fries,Frosties,Plain
cheeseburger,Swiss burger,Chicken nuggets with a choice of sauce,and
sprite,coke,dr pepper,and water. So I tell my mom what I want because I don't
like telling the lady by myself. My mom tells the worker I want a Son of a
Baconater with a large fry and a large sprite. And you know how they put your
order on the screen to make sure that's what they ordered and we checked and
everything was on the board we ordered. So we pull through the driveway and pay
and get our food. I didn’t check if they got our food right or not because they
usually get our food right every time.
And they got my
large sprite right so I thought they got the order right so a few minutes later
I get the fries out to eat while in the car and it was a small fry instead of a
large fry and we were almost home so I didn’t feel like turning around. So when
I went inside I got out my food to do homework also. And when I got out my food
I got probably the smallest burger you could get at wendy’s and five chicken
nuggets and barbecue sauce it bugged me so bad but I still ate it.
“People”
By Lindsey Sapp
When I was in elementary
school, I went to school with this one guy who had no manners or respect. He
always acted like he was never in the wrong every time he would get in trouble.
Something so simple would start the biggest argument. One time the teacher
kindly asked him to stop talking so loudly while working on a group project. He
quickly turned around and started yelling at her saying he wasn’t loud and
didn't have to mind her. He yelled while she tried to calm him down. He
eventually gave up, flipped a desk, and stormed out of the classroom. If he
would have simply said yes ma'am and talked quieter, then the problem wouldn't
have become a much bigger issue.
Another time in
elementary school, I mistakenly became friends with a bully. Jill seemed very
nice at first until I introduced her to my friend Bob. In the beginning we all
were good friends until Bob wouldn't give her a pokemon card. She wanted his
Pikachu card. If she would have asked for Eevee, Snorlax, Ditto, or Mewtwo, he
would have happily given it to her. Jill wouldn't settle for anything less than
what she wanted. They got in a huge argument, and Jill started spreading rumors
about Bob. She said Bob was calling her very mean things that he would never
say, even to an enemy. I was caught in the middle of the fighting. Both of them
were my friends, but Jill was very manipulative with bad intentions. She told
the teacher that Bob was saying mean things about her to other people. The
teacher gave Bob ISS for something he never did. Bob and I stopped being
friends with Jill because of how rude she was. I've never understood what
drives people to be so mean to other people. Especially over little things.
Looking back on this incident is kind of funny, since it was over a pokemon
card. But by middle school Jill moved, so we didn't have to worry about her
anymore.
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