"I Hear Something" by Faith O.

I hear something
But is it really something?
Is it a figure of my imagination?
Is it my mind deceiving me?
Is it a spirit whispering --
In my ear?
Is that the thing I hear?

No, that can't be.

Is it a sound from far away?
Is it something I can't see?

No, that can't be.

Wait!
I know what it is.

It's my heart telling me something I am scared to do.
That is what I'm hearing.

I must not be afraid.
I must not be afraid.

"Red Lily" by Cloesha S.

Red lily

So royal 

So bright

Just sitting on the lake side

Not another in sight

This little red lily
Sways soft in the wind

Unique 
And 
So 
Sleek

"Obituary" by Destiny C.

Hello, fellow family members of Destiny C. 

Today I am going to talk about Destiny's accomplishments.

There are three categories. The first category is her achievements; the second is her unbelievable creations; and the third is her outstanding careers. 

First, her achievements: Destiny has successfully overcome many different obstacles, and there are many different colleges such as Yale, where she got her math bachelors degree, Harvard, where she obtained a masters degree in science. and Princeton where she earned a Ph.D. in Psychology. Also, Destiny won 21 Grammy awards as a professional singer. Those were just the first few achievements of Destiny.

Second, and this might sound unbelievable but it’s true: Destiny wrote 12 songs in one month, three books in a week and collected 15,897 pieces of candy on one single Halloween. Another unbelievable feat is that she lived in each of the 50 states for five months each. Also, Destiny was the biggest millionaire of all of the millionaires. She received lots of money from all of her outstanding careers. Destiny played piano with no hands (she used her feet and elbows); she opened up a musical restaurant, where she had the employees sing to the customers when they took their order; and Destiny invented the first ever chocolate fountain cake. There was a hole in the middle of the cake, filled with chocolate frosting, and then it bubbled out chocolate bubbles! Destiny will always be remembered for her very intelligent ways.

The third part of Destiny's obituary is the outstanding careers column. Destiny's biggest category of outstanding careers was becoming the first African American lady to become the president of the United States. The next outstanding career was to become a guitarist. Destiny used to play guitar all the time when she was little, so that made her a better guitarist. Even with no hands. Also, she became the lead singer in a band. In addition, she was a professional dancer. Destiny loved to dance with her grandpa a lot.

Along with the outstanding career as a songwriter, Destiny loved to listen and make up her own little songs. As a skateboarder, Destiny went to the park with her mom to practice and get better at skateboarding. Conjointly a spy, she loved to spy on people. But then, she started getting caught a lot.

Destiny additionally became an actress and a surfer. Those are the outstanding careers that Destiny had. Destiny was a very intelligent girl. She had her own personal creations, and she would love this obituary if she were here right now.

Destiny's grandpa will always love her so much, so will her grandma, auntie, and uncle. Everybody will miss her.

Everybody loves Destiny, she will always be with us, and we will never forget her.

We hope that she is in a very fun, happy and suitable place.  

"Have You Ever Wondered?" by Alma F.

Have you ever wondered why abortion exists?  Well, I have, which is why I believe that abortion should stop existing, and I believe this for three reasons, which include ending abortion, abortion is bad, and abortion should be against the law!

The first reason I believe that abortion should end is so we can have more brothers and sisters. It seems to me that if there was less abortion, then there would be more population, which would mean there would be more people and not less. Furthermore, I think it should end because they are killing more human beings who want to exist, which would mean we have less population than more. So, therefore  I think that abortion should end.

The second reason I believe that abortion should end is because abortion is bad. It seems to me that if abortion is bad, it should end. Without abortion, we will have a better world with more community workers. Furthermore, I think abortion is bad because when you are killing something in your stomach that is going to become a human being, it would not live its wonderful life which would mean  that we will have fewer workers in the U.S.A. So, therefore, I think that abortion is bad.

The third reason I believe that abortion should end is because its bad and it should be against the law. It seems to me that if it was against the law, then we would live in a happier world, which would mean more happy kids and adults in a more precious world. Finally, it should be against the law because sometimes the park is empty and we need more children. The park should be filled with more happy children. So, therefore, I think that abortion should be against the law.

Some people might argue about abortion because sometimes they get kidnapped and raped and get pregnant. Then they don't want to have the child because they don’t want to remember about it. I might do the same because I of course do not want to remember. But abortion should be against the law.

In conclusion, I believe that abortion should end for the several aforementioned reasons, and I hope that you now believe it too!

"To Have or Not to Have?" by Aileen A.

Abortion. Is it good or bad ? Should it be legal or illegal? I believe that abortion is reasonable and should be legal especially if the woman has been the victim of a rape. In that case, she would not have to remember that horrible moment. If a woman is not ready to have a kid and it's in her womb, she should be able to have an abortion. Some people think that abortion is murder, but its not murder. It is performed before a fetus has developed into a human person. The fetus cannot feel pain!

The first reason I believe that abortion is reasonable is because some teens experiment with sex and don't use protection and end up having an unwanted baby. It seems to me that abortion is preferred in this case. Also its a free country, which means that no one should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body. Furthermore, the woman is the one who will be going through all the parenting. So therefore, if the mom does not want to go through parenting, she should not have to and should be able to get an abortion.

The second reason I believe that abortion is reasonable is because some people think that adoption is a better option. In reality, giving up a child for adoption can be even more hurtful than having an abortion. Abortion might be the best opportunity for the mother. Furthermore, according to me, when a woman has an unwanted baby, there's a high chance that the mother would have an unhealthy relationship with that baby. So, instead of having a miserable life with the baby, she should be able to have an abortion. In my opinion, I believe that abortion is a good option.

The third reason I believe that abortion is reasonable is because a baby might come with a very severe or even a life-threatening health condition, and the mother should be able to end the pregnancy. If she would rather have a normal baby then a hard life with an unhealthy baby, she should have the option of either keeping the baby or having an abortion.

Moreover, when a mother decides to have an abortion, she potentially reduces crime. Teenage girls, unmarried women and poor women are more likely to have unintended pregnancies, and those unwanted pregnancies could lead to unwanted babies and later to increased crime. So therefore, I believe that abortion should be legal.

Some people might argue that abortion is not good because it could expose a woman to various health risks and even death. But I say that the risk of a woman dying from a doctor-performed abortion is less than one in 100,000 while from giving birth it is 13.3 per 100,000. Therefore, abortion is safer.

In conclusion, I believe that abortion should be legal for all of these reasons, and I hope you now think the same way as me.

"Other Half" by Anonymous

One sunny day,  I was walking home from school with my friends as I typically do. Summer was near and we were ready to go swimming. We were all very close, and we all stuck together. There was my best friend Tray, my friends Letoya and Layla, who were sisters, and my friends Ellyn, Karyn, Anush and Anita who were all also sisters, and many more. But those were my main friends. We always had a great time walking through the streets of Riverside.

We did many activities outside of school which include: movies, mall, parties , etc. We argued very little for there to be so many of us. But that was the good thing about us. We liked to have fun. We also lived very close to each other. There was never a dull moment with us. We were like a family. They all welcomed me with open arms, and I them.

Then came Kevin.

I met Kevin through mutual friends. He was tall, brown-skinned and looked older than his age. He was hilarious and very nice.

He and I clicked right away. I began to hang out more with him than I did my friends. He became my mornings and my nights. Still, I managed to have a little time for my friends, and my friends became accustomed to him as well. Soon he and I began to date. Those were the best days of my life.

When we dated, we rarely argued. I had more smiles than frowns with him. He was more than my boyfriend. He was also now my best friend. I shared all my secrets with him, and even though I didn't  feel loved in my living situation, I felt loved with him. He was always there for me.

He was my first for many things. Beware of my next sentence. September 9th of last year was my first and last abortion. I was pregnant at 15.
Our guardians agreed that Kevin and I were getting too serious, so I was forced to move back to Inglewood without knowing I was pregnant. I was so heart broken, I cried almost every night. I found out I was pregnant after two missed periods. My mother was not angry, but she did not want me to have the baby, so she put matters into her own hands and made the decision for me. I still cry about it . I murdered another half of me. When I killed my baby, I lost my dignity. But Kevin was there to go through it with me.

He was angry about it at first, but he got over it, and we stayed together for two years strong. Without me in Riverside, he began to get into a lot of trouble. Sometimes I blame myself, but there was nothing I could do.

Soon, he experienced a reality check and bettered himself. We both decided to work on ourselves because we began arguing a lot. Eventually, the distance tore us apart. Kevin wanted to work it out, but I just wanted friendship, so that’s what we did. We became really good friends. We are still really good friends today, and we talk about everything. But I will never forget about my abortion. It still affects me to this day. I’m sad it turned out like that. I should have been more cautious.

"Strum" by Josh V.

FADE IN:

INT. BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

We see a child's bedroom. The window is slightly cracked open. Hot Wheels and action figures lie on the floor. Lint is floating through the air. There's a carpet, twin sized bed, dresser, cubbies for toys, and a television set on top of the dresser.

The bedroom is quiet. Nobody is in the room. Then the door opens.

An eight-year old boy in jeans and a white Bob Marley shirt with a backpack on his shoulders opens the door.

The boy comes through the door and drops his backpack onto the carpet.

The boy grabs his television remote off his bed and sits down (crisscross applesauce) onto the carpet in front the television.

As the boy flips through channels we see his surroundings including blue painted walls.

We see the television channels change, then the boy flipping them.... 1 (click and channel change), 2(click and channel change), 3(click and channel change), and 4 (stops).

The boy stops and stares, then leans in a bit closer towards the television.

He sees a tall, cool looking, hippie African-American guy holding a white Fender Stratocaster.

The boy zeroes in. It's the film "Woodstock."

The hippie African-American guy holding the white Stratocaster starts playing his Stratocaster.

MUSIC IN: THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - VOODOO CHILD (LIVE WOODSTOCK 69')

The boy gets CLOSER to the television and turns the volume up using the buttons on the television.

The look on the boy's face is like he's mesmerized watching this crazy hippie dude SHREDDING on his guitar with his TEETH.

At the climax of the song, the screen goes black, and we hear a reverberated echo of the very last note.

CUT TO:

TITLE CARD: "FIVE YEARS LATER"

FADE IN:

INT. GUITAR CENTER - DAY

We see Josh, the same boy from earlier, five years later, wearing a Black Flag shirt and jeans with slightly messy/spiked hair inside Guitar Center at the register being helped by a Guitar Center employee.

The store isn't very busy, nor is it crowded.

We see in the background a random customer, a great looking young female, playing a Gibson ES-335 with a beautiful Antique Tea Burst finish, plugged into a VOX AC15C1 TUBE AMPLIFIER.

This random female is playing a slow note-by-note cover of "Since I've Been Loving You" by Led Zeppelin.

The tone coming out is purely luscious. The mood in the building is mellow and chill.

Josh has just finished purchasing an all-black Epiphone Les Paul Jr. guitar. The Guitar is out of its box and looks new and glossy.

The transaction wraps up.

GUITAR CENTER EMPLOYEE

Have a good one!

JOSH

You too.

(About to leave)

The random female customer is still playing the guitar.

Josh leaves. The random female customer's guitar playing gets louder and harder.

CUT TO BLACK:

FADE IN:

INT. BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

We see Josh in his bedroom, which is slightly different from the last time we saw it. New furniture: Queen sized bed, new dresser, 32-inch TV, new posters, etc.

Josh pulls his newly purchased guitar off of his guitar stand and puts his new strap on it.

The strap is black and has cartoon blackjack cards of promiscuous women.

Josh puts the guitar around his shoulder with his strap and plugs it into a small Marshall 15 watt guitar amp.

Josh turns on the amp and immediately: loud, ear-cringing feedback rings out.

Josh immediately turns the distortion effect off the amp and turns the volume down.

Josh sits on the carpet, puts his guitar in his lap and starts hitting random strings slowly.

Then, Josh put his finger on the low E string and runs it up and down the neck.

The strings are very out of tune.

CUT TO BLACK:

FADE IN:

INT. BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

We see Josh on at his black desk on his laptop looking up guitar tutorials on YouTube.

Josh watches a tutorial on how to play "Voodoo Child" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He can't comprehend it. The Video seems too hard for Josh to understand.

Josh gets irritated and changes the video to "I Just Want Something To Do" by the Ramones.

MUSIC IN: I JUST WANT SOMETHING TO DO BY THE RAMONES

CUT TO:

TITLE CARD: "2 MONTHS LATER"

INT. BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

We see Josh playing along to "Something to do by the Ramones." He's rocking out to the tune, and right on the last note of the song, a string pops and breaks.

The song ends. Josh stares at his broken string with a confused face.

Josh puts the guitar on the stand with the worn-out broken string flinging all over the place.

Josh walks out the bedroom door and shuts it.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

We see the door exactly the same way it was in the last sequence.

TITLE CARD (ON SCREEN): "2 DAYS LATER"

Title Card disappears and suddenly Josh opens and walks through and closes the door.

Josh is holding a small plastic Guitar Center bag like an excited little girl who just bought a Barbie. He places it on his desk and pulls out two hot pink packs of Ernie Ball Super Slinky Electric Guitar strings.

Josh gets a pair of wire cutters and lays them down onto his bed along with his guitar.

Josh unwinds and pulls his old strings out of the guitar and puts the first of his new pack into the tuning machine. Josh starts to wind it up with the tuning machine slowly, annnd.... SNAP! the string pops and breaks in his face.

Josh... Again, with the confused look on his face.

JOSH

Sh$t!

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

Josh finishes up re-stringing his guitar.

TITLE CARD (ON SCREEN): "2O MINUTES LATER"

Josh has finally and successfully restrung his guitar and is tuning it with the tuning app on his phone.

After tuning, Josh starts to play a half-a$sed cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love."

"DOOM-DOOM-DOOM-DOOM *Josh screws up* DUN-DUN-DUN DA-DA-DOOM *Josh screws up*-DOOM

Josh strugles to get the first two measures of the song right.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - DAY - NIGHT

We see a super cool montage of Josh reading song tabulators, learning scales, learning from YouTube videos, listening to new music, and practicing playing his guitar in his bedroom all day and all night.

The montage ends with a super cool explosion.  

EXPLODE TO BLACK:

TITLE CARD: "2 YEARS LATER"

FADE IN:

MUSIC IN: SANTANA – “BLACK MAGIC WOMAN”

INT. BEDROOM - DAY

We see a CLOSEUP of a new white Stratocaster being played along to the intro of "Black Magic Woman" by Santana.

The CLOSEUP fades out and we see Josh playing the crap out his shiny white Stratocsaster along to the song note by note.

Josh looks super cool and into it...

Then we hear some old African-American guy's voice.

His voice sounds like an old Blues-Man from down South who smokes a lot.

OLD MAN

It looks like the two years of practicing has paid off for Josh. This leaves you thinking "Is this guy going to be in a band one day?""Is he going to get all the chicks at school?""Is he going to be the biggest, baddest cat around?" The answer is...

CUT TO:

TITLE CARD: "NOT YET THE END"

"Sprint to Finished" by Azeez A.

      I usually wake up earlier than this, I thought to myself.

     I quickly got up and looked at the clock, and, just as I feared, I was late for school.

     I was going to take a quick shower, but it would take too long, so I packed my bag as fast as I could and put on some school clothes. I felt kind of irritated because my plan from yesterday was to wake up earlier today so I could complete my spelling homework. But with the time already being 7:54, I was doomed. By 7:56, I started to panic because I hadn't even cleaned my shoes, and the only uniform I had was from yesterday.

      At this point, nothing was going the way I wanted, and I already knew I was going to be late.

      I didn't live very far from school -- not far at all -- so I usually tried to get to school not too late. Because I walked to my school, it was up to me how late I got there.

      Around 7:58, I was about ready to go, but I kept getting that weird feeling of forgetting something -- like that feeling you get when you don’t wear the sweater you usually wear every day.

     So, I reluctantly started my walk to school, or more like run because I was already 10 minutes late for class, and I didn't want to waste any more time.

      I picked up speed, and, before I knew it, I was sprinting to school. I looked like such an idiot! While regular people were peacefully walking down the street, some sweaty four-foot, big-headed kid was running down the sidewalk and occasionally bumping into people. Sadly, that kid was me, but I didn't care because I had never been late to school, and lateness to me was like not being there for your team during a game.

      I never liked coming to school really early either, but being late was the scariest thing to me (apart from actually going to school). I had seen other kids walk into class late, and they always had a sad and scared look on their faces. I mean, who wouldn't?

      This was my third-grade year, and this time I was going to a new school called Telesis Primary School. I hated the school and everything about it, but what I hated the most was my teacher whom I'll call Mr. Mean. He was a tall, skinny, muscular guy, and to me he was the creepiest feature on this earth. I hadn't yet experienced first-hand that suspenseful feeling of walking into class late, knowing you just interrupted the whole classroom and getting weird looks from the teacher.

      It was already 8:24, and I was still sprinting. By this time, all I could do was hope that the teacher hadn't started a major lesson and that everyone was still goofing around, giving me enough time to sneak into the class without being noticed.

      I picked up my speed and ran even faster. I was getting closer! I could see the parking lot from where I was.

      Two minutes later I was in front of the student gate, which was unfortunately closed, which meant I had to go to the tardy line. Luckily for me, not many people were there, and as a matter of fact I was the only one there followed soon by two sisters behind me.

      I thought I would feel better when I got to school, but I felt worse and started to get nervous. I kept thinking of the wrong things. I kept thinking of how embarrassing it would be as I walked into the class toward my seat, with everyone staring at me -- literally everyone: the girl you liked, the nerd in front, the guy with the cool shoes -- and what gave me the most concern, because he always had this really broad and masculine look that made him look angry all the time, was the stare of Mr. Mean.

      Mr. Mean -- even his name scared me. He didn't chit-chat with the rest of the teachers after school. He had no kids, and he dressed so differently from everyone else. It was 8:32 am, now, and I started to get frustrated. The guy at the tardy line took almost five minutes to write out the bloody tardy slip; nonetheless, he got it done, and I was finally on my way to class.

      I was very nervous because everything was quiet, and I could tell they had already started class. I hid my anxiety by pretending I was looking for something in my backpack as I walked in. Then I swiftly squeezed my way through to my desk and sat down.

     It was so embarrassing. All the kids were staring at me, and I tripped over a girl’s backpack. The little staring ritual was over when Mr. Mean said “Open your notebook and follow along with the class."

     I quickly replied with an "Uh, okay," as I nervously brought out my notebook with my shaky, sweaty hands.

      I was getting my pencils out of my backpack when that weird feeling of forgetting something came upon me again. I sat there for awhile trying to figure out what it was, until I finally remembered; I had forgotten to use the bathroom after I woke up because I was too much in a hurry.

      Ten minutes later, at around 8:50, I really started to feel it.

      I wanted to ask the teacher, but I was too shy and scared of Mr. Mean, and talking to people wasn't easy for me. I had always been the kid who would try to hide when the teacher needed volunteers, so I simply didn't ask him. I tried to wait it out a little until about seven minutes later when I had no choice. I was either to face my fear and ask the teacher or wait until recess at 9:30, which I knew was not about to happen.

      Well, I went for it and asked the monster -- I mean teacher, but the answer I received was about to put a big blow to my self esteem.

      I raised my hand and said “May I go use the restroom, teacher?" and with no thought or hesitation, Mr. Mean replied “No” and continued with “You are supposed to use the toilet before you come to school or during breaks; you cannot take time out of your education because you chose not to use the toilet earlier."  

      I felt so sad and angry that I would have cried if it weren't for the fact that I was too much in shock after just being deprived of my basic personal necessity. I stopped everything I was doing and just sat there, staring at the board. The pain felt fatal, and holding it any longer would have probably killed me. At least that’s what I thought.

      The craziest thing was that no one noticed what was going on. I was sweating heavily, gripping the desk really hard, and even trembling a little, but everyone just continued to do their work and didn't even bother to look at me. Then I noticed little tears dropping from my face, or they might have been sweat, as it was really hard to tell at the moment.

      My stomach started to ache, but not just like any other stomach pain. It was a pain I could feel all the way through my stomach, like a spear going straight through, or as if I had just gotten punched a million times.

      Now it had gotten to the point where it was unbearable, so I started to think of random things I could do to end the crisis, I thought of making a quick dash out of the room to the bathroom, which would mean not following Mr. Mean's rules, and I came up with other ideas. I had all these crazy notions flowing through my head, and all I had to do was choose one.

      I tried to get out of my seat, but with all these mixed emotions and pain on my mind, I felt kind of glued to the chair. So, like an idiot, I just sat there and hoped for sort of miracle to happen.

     Then, suddenly, I let go. My legs started to feel warm, and an odor started to build up. I could hear drops of urine splashing on the floor. That continued for about a minute. I was in my own little world. My legs were completely soaked, and I got scared again. What I was truly feeling was not physical but more of a mental trance. I was shaking even more than before and was cloaked with embarrassment. I felt so ashamed -- like a coward who left his army and fled from the battlefield, or a magician who has just been exposed to be a fraud -- but most of all I was scared, and more than I had ever been.

All the kids around me jumped out of their seat in surprise. They all started screaming and were moving away from me. "Eww, nasty!" they said, and “Disgusting! Gross, he’s peeing on the floor!"

      These were the only words that I could hear around me during my little incident, so I put my head down and just kept staring at the desk, too scared to look up. I could almost look through the desk and see a pool of pee filled with fear and hatred towards me.

      Then, all of a sudden: “Buzz, buzz." It was time for recess.

      All the kids ran out of the room, keeping their distance from me and my creation. Mr. Mean, with no emotion, told me to go to the bathroom and clean myself. He said also that he was going to call my dad and have me taken home.

     I got up in the slowest and most obscure manner and walked to the bathroom. On my way there, my legs were shaking. I kept thinking of how I should have just stayed at home, or how I could have just held it until recess. I tried to cry, but couldn't, because all my sadness and embarrassment had now turned into anger…..towards myself.