School Times

    School is an important part of a kid's life. But how are we to learn if we're tired and unresponsive in the morning? Older kids should get to sleep in. The younger kids should have to get up earlier. The times of what time school starts should switch, an the ending times should stay the same. It would be a benefit for the teens and honestly, the younger kids probably won't care as much.

     A proven fact by experts is the simple statement that teens need more sleep. The risk of fatal injuries or death is increased if it's an older teen that can drive. It can also slow down your reaction time, it causes lapses in attention, exacerbates emotional and behavioral problems. Also if they change their 'sleeping schedule' on the weekends, they stay up longer on school nights and sleep less. It also effects their school performance. Since it's difficult to pay attention when you're tired, they might not learn as well and might do worse on homework or a test. It also increases moodiness and the chance the teens will start into drugs and alcohol. Sleep amount has a huge effect.

     Teens get more homework than the younger kids. Teens stay up later doing their homework. They get tired, but to avoid trouble, they force themselves to stay up and finish the paper. In that case, teens stay up later, and get yet even less sleep. If they had an extra hour to sleep in, they could use that to finish their homework and still get more sleep. It would help a lot with both homework completion and attention in school. If teens had less homework, they would go to bed earlier. By choice.

     The younger kids have recess, so they basically have intermission. But since they're younger and have lots more energy, they could use it. We don't have a recess for more than 5 minutes. Recess eats up time in their day, and we spend the whole day working. Which makes us even more tired, working our brains all day. If they started earlier, they could have the needed recesses and at the same time, work as hard and as long as we do.

     The beginning times should switch for the main reason of sleep. Teens need more sleep, and it would be easier if they could catch another hour of it. It would help with a lot of things they do, and it would make life safer, easier, and it would help teens achieve higher grades. Sleep is basically what teens like to do!

Periwinkle the Panda

Periwinkle the Panda was having a good time. His mother was teaching him how to fight, and they were punching the fake tree planted in the middle of their cage. They were talking about last night’s football game, when suddenly, someone opened the door. “Dinner Time!” he yelled. They ran over to take the bamboo sticks out of his hand, and he jumped back. “I hate working with the pandas,” he said to his partner. “They’re big and scary.” “I don’t think they’re that bad,” his partner said. He replied, “Well, either way, we’re getting rid of them. The boss will never know.” Clueless, the pandas just sat there, eating and still talking about the football game.

            The Beijing Zoo was rather rich. A TV in each cage, lots of toys, and an overstock of food. Some were being tested on, like the pandas. They were seeing if they would act differently if they watched sports, drama, or comedy shows. The sports and comedy section stood out the most to them. Obviously, since they were talking about the football game, the watched sports. Interesting!

            That night, it was not calm. The wind was forcing the trees to scrape against the wall, and it was making Periwinkle scared.  It was raining rather hard, and it was not pleasant. That night, he had a dream. A dream the world of black and white became color. And all pandas were the glorious colors of the rainbow. If only it was like that in real life…

            Periwinkle woke up in a ball. He fell off his little panda bed and he was in a pile of long grass. He sat up, and he saw his mother sleeping. He started walking towards the food dish, sitting there, and waiting. About an hour later, the men came, and they fed the pandas. Periwinkle woke his mom up, and they enjoyed their meal. “Ready?” said the man. “No!” said his partner. “Let’s go.”

           Next thing they know, there’s a snare pole around Periwinkle’s mothers’ neck. She tried to break free, but there was nothing she could do. She was trapped. Periwinkle started to cry, “MOMMY!!!” She was tugged back, and with that, she smacked the man so hard, he fell to the ground. He didn’t let go. There was nothing she could do, and nothing Periwinkle could do.

            “Run!” She said. “Run, and don’t ever come back!”

            Periwinkle started to run, but saw nowhere to hide. There was an open door, and he crawled through. He ran until he could no more, and he found himself asleep on the floor of a bamboo forest. As he fell asleep, he couldn’t help but dream about his mother. Was she alright? Is she dead? Even worse, is she dead? Whatever happened, he couldn’t go back. Never.

            When he woke up, there was something very close to his face. He looked up, and saw another panda. “Mommy! You’re okay!” he happily screamed. He jumped up on the other panda, which now had a very confused facial expression.

            “What on earth are you talking about?” It was a female voice, but not his mother’s. He took a step back, also confused, now. “I’m Pinky! Not your mommy!” she said. Pinky looked at Periwinkle, who started to cry. “What’s wrong?”
            “My mommy is either in great pain, or dead.” He cried even harder at the thought, and couldn’t pull it together. How was he to survive on his own, knowing only the experience from his mother?

           “You can live with us, if you’d like!” Pinky offered. She ran off, signaling the ‘follow’ symbol. Unsure, Periwinkle slowly followed. “Come on!” she giggled.

           They walked through the forest for a very long time, talking about their lives, exchanging stories and such. They walked and walked, until they could no more. They found themselves lost, so they made a base and stayed there, never able to find anyone, or anything.

            They stayed there for their lives, eventually having kids and growing up to be one big happy family. But Periwinkle’s mother never left his heart.

The Duck Song!

A duck walked up to a lemonade stand and he said to the man running the stand, "Hey! Got any grapes?" The man said "No, we just sell lemonade, but it's cold and it's fresh and it's all homemade! Can I get you a glass?" The duck said, "I'll pass." Then he waddled away until the very next day. When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand he said to the man running the stand, "Hey! Got any grapes?" The man said "No, like I said yesterday, we just sell lemonade. Okay? Why not give it a try?" The duck said, "Goodbye." The he waddled away, until the very next day. When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand, he said to the man running the stand, "Hey! Got any grapes?" The man said "This is getting old. I mean, lemonade is all we've ever sold. Why not give it a go?" The duck said, "How about, NO?" Then he waddled away until the very next day. When that duck walked up to the lemonade stand he said to the mad running the stand "Hey! Got any grapes?" The man said, "That's it!!! If you don't stay away, duck, I'll glue you to a tree and leave you there all day! STUCK! So don't get too close!" The duck said, "Adios." And he waddled away! Until the very next day... When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand, he said to the man running the stand, "Hey! Got any glue?" "What?" "Got any glue?" "What? No, why would I--- oh." "Then one more question for you! Got any grapes?!" Then the man just stop, he started to smile. He started to laugh, he laughed for a while! He said, "Come on, duck! Let's walk to the store. I'll buy you some grapes, so you don't have to ask anymore!" So they walked to the store and the man bought some grapes. He gave one to the duck and the duck said, "Hmmm... No thanks! But 'cha know what sounds good? It would make my day! Do you think this store... Do you think this store..... Do you think this store, has any LEMONADE?!" Then he waddled away!
~Song Written And Produced By Bryant Oden

ESSAY --- ZACH'S LIE

   Have you ever asked yourself, "What would like be like if all it was, was running away?" Well, reading Zach's Lie by Roland Smith can give you an answer. Life for Jack started out pretty great. Running around, getting in trouble, having fun, everything of a normal child. Or at least that’s how it seemed, until his dad supposedly got involved in some drug business, and was sent to jail. This story is a tragedy, and there are lots of reasons to back it up.

    In the beginning of the story, as I said, they were living a very normal life. But when their dad, Neil, was sent to jail for an accusation of drug abuse, things got a little more mixed up than planned. Neil's boss, Alonzo, gave all the blame to Neil, even though he was the one to blame. He started threatening to kill the family, and so they had to go undercover, forever. They had to change their names, dye their hair, get contacts, move, and blend in like they were just another random family, keeping everything secret. That day, Jack became Zach.

     Later on in the book, Alonzo found out (through spies) what their new names were, and the new looks, too. Things started becoming disastrous, because they had to watch everything they do. One wrong move could've had them all killed, along with all of their loved ones. At one point, he had everyone under control, until he was the one who decided to make that bad move. Everything was taken under control by Zach, and all was good.

     In the end, they all had to go back into protection again. Alonzo just wouldn't stop. This story really is a tragedy. So many tragic things happen. And after you read this book, if you choose, that question buzzing around in your head will be answered. And you might even wish you never asked.

Creative Piece --- Scary Scene

Author's Note: Some of my inspiration was from the book series Darkest Powers. Some of my other inspiration came from the book City of Bones. Some, I just made up. Don't judge the names please.. I was just being random!

I was sneaking around, looking for the knife when I was knocked off my feet again. I scanned the room, seeing nothing but the flapping curtains, soaked from the rain at the open window, spotted with blood. When I finally got myself up to my feet, I could see it in the doorway of the other room. It was rummaging through the boxes of the house, and here I was, sitting here and letting it. I grabbed the lead pipe off the counter, and I started walking towards the thing. It was a dark, tall figure, like a person, but taller. I stepped into the shadows, hoping to be unseen. The pain crawling up my arm stung, and I could feel the warm blood running down. I can admit that I was scared, although I was trying my hardest to hide it. Something came up behind me and dug a knife into my leg. I fell and I held back my tears, wrapping a cloth around it and hoping it would stay. I jumped out at it, knocking it over. It screamed, and its looks were horrible. Pure red worn out eyes, mud all over the skin, the flesh rotting in small spots, and the bone of his nose was peeking through. Scared out of my mind, I panicked, and ran away. Little did I know that there was a graveyard right outside of the apartment. I grabbed the keys and ran outside. There were holes all over. I hesitated for a minute, then took off as fast as humanly possible. To make it even worst, it was about midnight and the moon was hidden by a bundle of clouds. I started running to a secret place.. a fort that me and my friend built before he... well, never mind that. It hurts me so much to even think about it.. Anyway, as I ran to the fort and grabbed the nearest weapon. There, I found the dead body with a note sitting next to it. I pulled out my flashlight, and tried to cover the beam so no one would see me. I walked over, but stumbled on a loose board. I fell right in front of it. I held my flashlight up and saw my friend's dead eyes staring into mine. I held in a scream and started crying. I just couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I grabbed the note and it read:

Trina, 
I hope you will be able to read this note in the near future. There is a story behind all this, and I wanted to explain, but I just couldn't. You might cry, you might not. Remember that one time I told you that I really liked you, and you just laughed? And then the week after that, I asked you to go to the prom with me and you said no because you didn't want to ruin our friendship? Well, I didn't think it would. You broke my heart. A whole part of me died inside, because just the night before, I realized that you were my life and the only reason I wanted to live. And when you said no... I just couldn't look at myself in the mirror. I was hopeless. I was drawn to this.. and I'm sorry. Please forgive me.. No matter what you do, I'm going to love you forever. Please remember that I love you, and I'm sorry.
 --- Jojo

I was crying so hard that the note I was holding was nearly smeared ink and a soggy paper. I felt just so guilty, and everything was going horrible for me. I even stopped caring what would happen to me. I screamed "WHY, GOD?! WHY WOULD YOU LET HIM DO THIS?! DON'T YOU CARE ANYMORE?!" After yelling and crying my eyes out, I heard clawing at the walls, and decided it was time for me to run. I sprinted away, ignoring the scratches I got on the way out. I kept running, until I could run no more. I stumbled and fell, flat on my face. I blinked hard, and the whole vision changed, I was at home, with the sun gleaming through the window and Jojo sitting at the end of my bed. He said, "Are you OK? You were shaking in your sleep.. and I was worried." I smiled and leaned up to hug him. He whispered in my ear, "I love you." and I said "I know. And I love you too."