confiscating books

I read a lot. Even in classes. So teachers take away my books and I try not to look like I care, because I know I deserved it. But I actually think that confiscating books is actually making me read more...

It's like making up for lost time. I'm the 300-page-a-day kind of girl, and when a teacher takes my book right when I'm at the most suspenseful part, I read like crazy in my next class, which results in yet another confiscation, which results in me reading more... you get the idea.

And class is just too slow for me to actually *SIT STILL AND PAY ATTENTION*. I can ace most tests without studying. (except math. I have the worst teacher >_<) In other classes, especially French (where we work on one silly conjugation for weeks at a time and I read the whole textbook last year), I can't pay attention at all. I know all the stuff already, so why make me listen to it AGAIN AND AGAIN?!? It's boring. A lot more boring than my books.

So basically, if people take away my books, I just end up reading twice as much. Yeah.

#lamepostideas #hashtagssuck

my beautiful persuasive essay

Yes. It is beautiful. Five minutes of my hard work and time, and the person who was supposed to peer-edit it didn't do anything yet. D= (i didn't choose the topic) BTW, sorry for not posting yesterday =(

Imagine a world where everyone is the same, where people’s differences aren’t appreciated, let alone acknowledged. This is what the world would become is we forced our children to wear uniforms to school every day. School uniforms aren’t a good idea because they cost too much, prevent kids from expressing themselves, and send the message that differences are bad and should be hidden.

To begin with, parents are paying through the nose for their children’s uniforms. NOLA.com says that plaid, a common uniform pattern, has to be ordered six months in advance. One set of uniforms for girls (blazer, skirt, vest, shoes) can cost up to $250, according to Peter Houghton. Most parents buy more than one set in case they get damaged or lost.

Also, uniforms decrease individuality. Debate.org points out that by forcing girls to wear skirts, schools with uniforms are actually promoting sexist ideas, which no self-respecting school should be doing. There are enough rules at school that prevent you from freely expressing yourself, so why add one more?

There’s yet another negative lesson that uniforms teach students: it’s not okay to be different from your peers. Peter Houghton states that by making everyone dress the same, uniforms teach children that the best way to deal with differences is to hide them from others. Imagine what these children will act like when they’re grown up, shunning everyone who’s not like them in some way.

You’re probably thinking that uniforms are actually a good idea because they keep students from judging each other based on appearances. Actually, this isn’t true. Students can still form cliques and exclude others based on several things, like speaking style, ethnicity, and grades. If a group of students are desperate enough (which they often are), nothing will be able to stop them from bullying their peers.

Overall, uniforms shouldn’t be used in any decent school. They are ridiculously expensive, suppress children’s natural desire to express themselves through appearance, and don’t properly teach them how to deal with people who are different from them. By enforcing uniforms in 23 percent of American schools (according to educationbug.org), we’re doing more harm than good for our children.

false cadences (my actual nanowrimo)

On March 15, 2069, Kathica Perlman woke up in her plain white living compartment. If she had a choice in the matter, she would’ve painted the walls and put up posters and drawings. Neon green polka dots would look epic. Sadly, though, the Authorities would consider them “frivolous” and send her on some dangerous suicide mission into a war zone, and Kathica treasured her life too much to risk death in exchange for polka-dotted walls.

The Authorities were so strict because everyone was fighting. World War VII was taking place, and one of the powerful nuclear bombs had killed Kathica’s brother, Walter, a few years ago. She still missed him and would’ve left flowers at his grave, except every garden in her city Etherios had been destroyed in the war. And in addition to fighting each other, the countries of Earth were being assaulted by alien armies, unlike any of the friendly and intelligent microbes the astronauts had encountered earlier.

Kathica changed from her sleeping clothes into her Uniform, a tight gray jumpsuit that was made of the most cost-effective material. She hated the Uniform because it choked her, suppressing the pores on her golden-brown skin. And gray just wasn’t her color. It was the color everyone had to wear, because it was apparently the most efficient to make the Uniforms in, so she tried not to mind too much.

After picking up her small computer, she opened her compartment’s door and stepped out, surveying the war-torn city. It was a good thing that the compartments were bulletproof and bomb-proof and had extremely strong padlocks on their doors. If they didn’t, she’d be dead by now. However, if the Authorities were to ever come to her door, she had to unlock it and politely let them in. And Kathica Perlman didn’t do many things politely, but she also didn’t want to die like Walter.

The shuttle to school stopped in front of her house. She got on, sitting next to her sort-of friend Evangeline. They rode in silence, which was fine. Kathica didn’t have anything worth talking about to this girl whose father was actually one of the Authorities. Evangeline didn’t brag about it, unlike many of the other Authorities’ children did, so that was why Kathica liked her more than the others. Her own parents were military tacticians and engineers, not as brag-worthy.

people are gullible

Hello, nonexistent reader. XD

My AMAZINGLY EPIC language arts teacher (Niksch - for those of you who go to my school, I don't hate her at all!) showed us this website: www.dhmo.org

After you zone out on there for a while, do you think DHMO should be banned? I mean, it says a lot of really negative things. Too many people are dying, okay?! And the government doesn't even know! Yup, this is a really serious issue....
...
...
...

Haha, actually don’t ban it! It’s *WATER!*

Dihydrogen Monoxide = 2 Hydrogen and 1 Oxygen = H2O = Water. Yay for chemistry!

Are y’all really stupid enough to ban water? Look up there at the title of this post (in case you don’t know, it’s in neon blue cursive) XD

I figured it out in, like, five minutes. And when I did, I laughed so hard I was almost kicked out of the room ^_^ MEERA, RESTRAIN YOURSELF! :D

anchal's story :)

Posted w/ permission :D
Avani x Readhead Dude is my favorite ship :)

Remember, keep your head low and don’t make eye contact with anyone. I give myself advice all the time. You may think I am giving bad advice to myself, but actually, it can be very helpful. Its just that I am different than the crowd. But i’m not outshining everyone, I’m just hidden under everyone, which suits me just fine. Oh--I’m sorry. Did I forget to introduce myself? I’m Avani Avila. Half-Indian, Half-American. Everyone I meet gets my name wrong. Sometimes I’m Avila Evani, sometimes even Ava Li (that one doesn’t make any sense!).

Nobody bothers to get my name right, probably because I blend into the background so well. Once, my parents didn’t even notice me come into the house. As it grew darker, my parents called the cops, while I was sitting quietly in my room, studying for a math test. Boy, you should have seen how angry they were when they found me in my room. Now, you can probably tell what I’m like. A quiet girl, sitting in the back of the room. Nobody, not even the teacher, noticing her playing on her cellphone in plain sight. It used to bother me some, the fact that everyone forgot me, but now, as I said before, I’m used to it.

Anyways, today is the first day of school, and I expect it to go on like every single first day of school: silently. Every year, the process starts all over. This time, it should be as normal as ever. I mean, what could even happen to a mute girl like me? Well, the truth is, anything could happen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I walk through the rusty, blue door, the peeling paint only adding to the sketchy look of our school. Gretchen High School. Bah. I can find homeless shelters that are better looking than this thing we call a school. I slowly walk to the back of the room, scanning for the seat farthest from the teacher’s desk. Unfortunately, one of the two back row seats is occupied by some kid with really bright red hair. Which means that I will have to sit next to somebody this year. How horrible. I tentatively take a seat, sitting on the very edge, my back facing the kid.

“Are you sitting next to me because you feel sorry for me? You know, being alone and everything? Because I don’t need anyone’s sympathy.” says a voice behind me. I start, but don’t completely turn around.

“No…” I mutter, wondering what else to say. Stupid! You were keeping this whole first-day-of-school thing controlled until now. Oh well, at least you didn’t make eye contact with anyone yet. But for some reason, I keep talking.

“I’m not trying to give you sympathy,” I say, completely turning around to face whoever this is. It takes only a second for me to recognize the face. Mixed emotions burst inside my head like fireworks, unable to grasp one of those feelings. As I learn how to breathe again, the blurry image of a skinny, pale boy with flaming red hair slides into focus.

“Avani? Is that really you?” he asks, looking slightly shaken. This cannot be happening. How could this happen?Oh god, why did this happen? Why does it have to be him?

“I….I….?” I’m speechless. I just can’t get it out in words. Here, why don’t we go back six years. Maybe then you’ll understand this lopsided situation that I’m in right now…

~~~

take these broken wings (so far)

I *MIGHT* use this for Nanowrimo.
The title will make sense later! I assure you!

Someone said that we all act different when we’re not around others, that we have little quirks we never show others. I say that’s completely true. Now, you’re probably expecting me to start a lengthy ramble about how I’m shy around my peers but more outgoing when I’m all alone. That’s true, but it’s not what I meant. I can talk to people who you will never see. It’s not because you aren’t there to see them, it’s that they’re invisible to everyone except myself.  

My name is Ava Marie Costello, and I am most certainly not invisible. I actually have friends that you can see (what a shocker) and two sisters who I’m stuck in the middle of. The older one’s Celeste, and she’s the only girl in her high school class who preferred band over cheerleading. Talia, or Tally, is the baby of the family, and she’s stuck up and “pretty” and popular, Celeste’s polar opposite. I don’t mind being a middle child because I can get away with anything. Or at least I could, until the day that changed everything.

Two weeks before that day, I was walking home from school with one of my “invisible” friends, talking to her all the way. No one heard me because I took a different route than most people. There were only one or two other kids that walked that way. They were all older than me, and they never paid any attention to the way I seemingly talked to myself.

The girl I was walking with was named Cindy, and she was at least a head taller than me. I can still remember her long red curls and her dark blue eyes and the corners of her mouth creasing in a warm smile, but no one else I knew at the time had ever seen her. I’d only met her that day when I was outside running laps to please my evil gym teacher. She ran with me but no one noticed. She had a good pace, not too fast but not too slow.

Our conversation took an interesting turn when Cindy said something like “So this is the twenty-first century, eh? I always thought y’all would have rocket ships and whatnot by now, zooming across the sky like in my time, but here we are, walking home from school like old-fashioned weirdos. I should really read my history books better...” That was how I finally learned the truth about her and the other invisible people: they were time travelers.

If you read as much as I do, you’d know that traveling through time is impossible because you can’t alter the course of history and all these crazy paradoxes would happen if you did. That was why Cindy and her kind were invisible: so they wouldn’t change things too much, so nobody would be able to see and remember and have conversations with them. Nobody, that is, except for a few. Like me.

As we were talking about time travel and other sensitive topics, we were being eavesdropped on. I was too young and naive to even suspect such a thing at the time, but I know better now. I know far better.

The person who was watching us looked to be a typical high school senior, tall and gangly, fists jammed in his hoodie pockets while listening to music through his earbuds. I’d seen him around school for a while. He was on the track team last year with me, and he was one of the best at the 800-meter run. At the time, I didn’t know his name.

Cindy and I reached my house, and she said her farewell. “Next time I come ‘round here, I’ll watch out for you, Ava Costello. You can see me, after all, and that’s something to notice.” The boy who’d been following us was gone, walking off down my street. I didn’t suspect a thing. I just thought he lived nearby when he was actually from a world away.

The next two weeks passed by normally and uneventfully, with Tally rambling on and on about her popular clique at school (she was in seventh grade back then) and Celeste trying to get her in trouble and me, the awkward middle sister, starting to give up on making them get along. To escape the day-to-day chaos of my house, I went on absurdly long bike trips to the library, where I’d sit and read for hours at a time.

On the last day of my first life, I was in that library, poring over a particularly thrilling book, when I felt someone poke the back of my neck. I can still recall the way I jumped, startled, out of my chair, thinking it was a murderer. It was actually Celeste, bringing me the awful news that would change my life forever.

Tears were streaming down her face that day, a rare sight. “Ava…. I…. I’m so sorry,” she wept quietly. “I’ll drive you home. Mom will explain everything.” At the time, Celeste was in her first year of college.

reading list + review-ish thingies...

This is my strange taste in books. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
(notice how this was posted at 4:44... Yay for precise timing and/or scheduling posts for no apparent reason)
(this is in no particular order.)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card -- I'm not done with this yet, but I love because the characters seem more like... real people, with real flaws. And it's way too suspenseful. Seriously. I almost got it confiscated at least once in every class today (except PE and Teacher Aide, of course!).

A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer -- People don't read this one because it has a lot of REALLY hard words in it and it sounds old-fashioned, but once you can get past that, you'll end up loving most of the characters, like I did! Tyrian annoyed me, though. He's too... perfect.

The Alchemyst (and the rest of the series) by Michael Scott -- This was generally a good series, but the last book had a million typos in it, and it wasn't that polished. I really liked how the author used things from different cultures' mythology in a modern setting. Scathach is EPIC! Vampire warriors FTW!

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass -- The characters in this book are also like real people, and I really liked how three separate stories were woven into one. However, I wished the book would be longer or have a sequel... I want to know what happens to everyone!

Dragon Slippers (and the rest of the series) by Jessica Day George -- The plot was pretty epic and I liked the general idea of the series! (Riding around on dragons does sound pretty cool, right?!) One thing I didn't like, though, was that Creel (main character) seemed to change really abruptly...

The Hunger Games (and the rest of the series) by Suzanne Collins -- I only read this because everyone said it was so good, and I wasn't disappointed at all... until the part where basically all the main characters died. (WHY?!??!?!?!?) R.I.P. Rue and Prim and basically everyone else <3

Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth -- At first sight, this seems like yet another dystopian series, but it's actually worth reading. Tris isn't too annoying and unreal unlike some characters from other books, but I think she changes a little too quickly...

The Game of Sunken Places by M. T. Anderson -- I LOVED the plot twist at the end! And the characters (namely Brian and Gregory) are fairly well-developed. The beginning really got me hooked. The only bad thing: it was a little hard to follow the story and remember what happened before.

If I find the time, I'll continue this later. Right now I have to go... I'm writing two books at once, okay?!

post ideas

• lengthy rants about why you can't think of an idea
• a list of common typos
• reasons why I am amazingly awesome (JKJK)
• why geometry homework is annoying
• how to do vibrato
• random pictures of things
• nicknames of random people 
• why I fail at this (JKJK again)
• a story about a butterfly swimming the butterfly (I just got back from practice, okay?)
• lists of obscure but good books (I might do this in my next post... *coughs*)
• geometry problems (actually, don't. that would be very boring.)
• how to pull an all-nighter (I could use this.)
• a post in which every sentence is at least a hundred words long 
• UGHHH I DON'T KNOW (there's that first bullet point. I wonder why they're called bullet points.... so this is why children these days are so violent! ^_^)

writing stuff

I haven't posted in a while, dear nonexistent readers. I'll *TRY* to make this post not boring. (notice how I said *TRY*)

So... Where do I start? Ah, yes... I've started a new book. Twenty days before Nanowrimo. Yay. I'm gonna put this one on hold for a month so I can work on the new one. It's not very good yet, but if you stalk me enough you'll be able to find it somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight... *tells self to stop being weird*

And I've been reading a LOT too. Books that no one'll ever hear of, mostly. They're not exactly eighth-grade level, but who cares? I just re-read A College Of Magics for the 2394802938th time... Jane reminds me of Anchal ^_^ You're probably looking at your computer, wondering "WHY DOES MEERA MAKE THESE WEIRD REFERENCES?!?!?!?!1" I don't know, actually. Yay.

Okay... what else should I write about?... School. I love my language arts teacher even though everyone thinks she's strict. She's actually hilarious and gives awesome assignments ^_^ I'll have second semester PE with Jenny/Jelly/Kirby and Rhea (who knows me as her beloved stalker kitty). We will all fail at running. Next year, I'll get to do *SWIMMING* in PE! I'm going to do totally awesome at that... until we have to do the butterfly. Yikes. Even though I'm on a team I have no arm strength.

Basically.... HI! BONJOUR! வணக்கம்! (I don't think anyone can read that last one without Google Translate... By the way, I'm now an official teacher at Tamil class! I'm actually my aunt's teaching assistant, so I only grade tests and presentations and take attendance, but at least I get volunteer hours for NJHS.)

Before I go, I would very much like to leave y'all with this kitty that doesn't look like a kitty: (^..^)

asdlkl;asdjkf;lasdjfl;askdjf

I've been neglecting this blog because of school and stuff like that, but A CERTAIN PERSON found it and wants me to post, so I'll post this pathetic little song-like thing I wrote... because I have no life at all. ^_^

I don't know you.

But you can hear my words.

For all I know

You're across the world

From me.

You don't know me

But soon you will.

Hold on to my words

Keep them with you 'till

The end.

Have you ever 

Wished on a star

Desperate for something

That's just too far

Out of reach?

Have you ever 

Cried all night

Though the tears on your pillow

Never make things right?

I have.

You're not alone

Though you might think you are.

We're so far apart

But we can see the same stars

In the sky.

If you find yourself

In despair

Remember me and 

Pretend like I'm there

By your side.

I don't know you.

I wish I did, though.

And when you're lonely

I need you to know

I care.

You don't know me.

I hope you now do.

Remember my words.

And then you

Won't be alone.

first day of school

Math: Yay, Kristin and Anchal and Harini are in my class! But I'm also with a certain other person whose name I refuse to mention. We made Venn diagrams about things we have in common with random people in our class.

TA: My classroom got changed at the last minute, so I'm Lanthier's TA instead of Yen's. The sixth graders are super cute and stuff. All I did was holepunch paper and put stuff up in the windows and finish so early I could read. It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be.

PE: We sat around and listened to our teacher ramble about stuff like the honor code and technology agreement forms and whatnot. It was boring. Then we went to get our planners and I forgot my money.

Science: The teacher seemed a little strict about me reading in class. She just talked about herself for awhile, and how her daughter hated going to the school her mom taught at. The teacher gets annoying people in trouble, though. I like that.

SS: I like the teacher! And the person who sat next to me seemed pretty cool even though she's new to Miller! =D We watched a lot of videos and stuff like that, and went over expectations and the usual boringness.

French: Certain annoying people aren't in my class this year! Yay! Lots of people forgot everything they learned last year and it was really funny listening to them attempting to speak French. I was sitting in the back row and thinking "sigh this is so easy i read all this in the textbook last year."

LA: The teacher is awesome, partly because I already know her XD I sat next to Jenny and we drew unicorncats the whole period! (combinations of unicorns and cats ^_^) This is the only class we actually have HW in, but I finished half of it already.

this post makes no sense.

I couldn't post... I wasn't feeling well D: Stupid ear infections! And my piano theory homework is annoying me >.<
I'll probably be able to come to school though.

I'm chatting with Rhea right now and she said that if someone comes in your dream, they miss you. And because I had a creepy dream about her (which I don't remember now), I was all like "RHEAAAAA JUST ADMIT YOU MISS MEEEE ^_^" XD it was really random. Apparently, everyone from school misses me... but I don't think they actually do. I'm a very forgettable person! YAY FORGETTABLE PEOPLE! =)

And this is what our chat turned into:
me: meowmeowmeow
meowmeowmeow
meowmeow
meow
meowwwww
Rhea: did you eat sugar?
you're too hyper XD
me: NOOOOO
meowwwwwww
i'm a unicorn :D

My friends are random.

I just love the title of this amazing post! Don't you? Yay, this post has the best title ever =D
OK, now I'm just being strange. I'll stop. Why are my endings so awkward?

WEB orientation!

I had to wake up at 7. WHY SO EARLY D=

Anchal didn't bike there with me. She ditched so I just went to Miller by myself. At least I could bike as fast as I wanted...

We got there and stood around awkwardly for an hour, and then we cheered for the pixies when they came into the gym. Anchal and I grabbed Aishu and my sis and hugged them XD

My WEB group is pretty cool. Two people ditched the orientation, though. All the girls were really shy and sweet but the guys were all loud and annoying. How stereotypical.

The pixies were so short and adorable <3 Anchal was shorter than some of them but she wouldn't admit it XDAnd they had a gazillion questions for me... THEY WERE THE CUTEST THINGS EVER =D it's hard to believe I was that small and cute two years ago. I probably wasn't a very cute pixie, though....

I had Neha and Carolyn (my sis's friends) in my group =D and I also had this guy my sis doesn't like. I can see why they don't get along ;)

In general, orientation was very... hyper. The whole time, I had to act "loud and energetic" but as you know it's not really my nature.... YAY FOR THE POWER OF INTROVERTS! We're underestimated sooooo much, but not speaking our minds doesn't mean we're not thinking!

I have an ear infection and it's really annoying me right now. Yeah, this has nothing to do with WEB orientation and my flashy bright pink WEB Leader shirt which I'm wearing right now. (No, don't make me post a selfie. Don't even think about how awful I look in pink. And because I said that, you're probably picturing how weird I look now... whatever.)

And because I'm off topic, I'll just leave and spare you from reading any more of my awful writing. 

WEB training

Day 1: We got our group assignments. I'm with Aishwarya and Leo and I don't know them that well. Neha (pixie friend) is in my group =D but too bad I don't have Aishaniiiii...........
It felt a lot like I was a pixie again. I'm supposed to be "energetic" and extroverted but it doesn't come naturally to me. YAY INTROVERTS XD
Isa and I biked there and back together and we went past Aishani's house and screamed her name. XD

Day 2: I called a lot of pixies (like 4) on the phone and it was so awkward...
We got our neon pink shirts! I look weird in mine unless I wear my neon pink hairband with it. And we practiced leading the sixth graders through activities and the campus tour thing. We signed up for jobs during orientation and it was very violent because people were fighting for one particular job ;)

my amazing schedule.

Looks like an overdue library book doesn't matter...

0 period: Geometry, Orcutt
1st period: first sem. TA, Yen / second sem. Comm Arts, Cypert
2nd period: PE (first sem Hong, second sem Davies)
3rd period: Science, Bandyopadhyay
4th period: SS, Gasparik
5th period: French, Kennedy
6th period: LA, Niksch

Apparently I have all the good teachers.

what is this

Still don't have my schedule :(
I'm worried I got held back or something... even though I had awesome grades, I had an overdue library book and I heard someone say you can get held back for something like that.
OK, stop it, CALM DOWN, MEERA!!! Sigh. Do you have any idea how easily you freak out? Geez. Relax. It's only your schedule... (yay for talking to myself)
Seriously, though, I'm getting too freaked out about this whole thing. Everyone already got their schedules and I'm still waiting for mine D:

i want a title for this story

The strange man points at Myra as he bellows, “Class, this is the new Dianna.” A thin, makeup-covered girl standing to her left whispers, “So you’re Di’s replacement, right? The new alto? I hope you’re as good as she is. You certainly look uglier than her..”
Myra isn’t sure what to say. She knows that with her pale skin, messy hair, and freckles, she’s nothing like the fake and skinny popular girls in her new school. What disappoints her the most though, is the fact that her choir director doesn’t even know her name, let alone give her a proper introduction to the class.
The girl on her right, however, is also freckled and plain with a more muscular build than everyone else around her. Summoning up all her courage, Myra asks her, “W-who’s Dianna?”
The girl doesn’t hesitate to reply. “Her full name’s Dianna Pristine Sweetwater. I know, fancy. She was the most annoying person to stand next to, and her singing was just horrible. But our director adored her, until she moved away last week. He acted like it was the end of the world or something. Anyways, I’m Ashley. The girl on the other side of you is Nicoletta and she’s a bully. Just like most of the kids in this school. Who’re you?”
Feeling a bit more comfortable, Myra says her name softly and with her trademark stutter. Just then, the director yells, “Dianna! Sing a high E-flat!” Myra’s not sure what to do, until Ashley whispers to her, “Did I mention that Dianna has perfect pitch? Luckily, so do I.” Ashley whispers the note in Myra’s ear so she can sing it in her ghost of a voice. She didn’t even sign up for choir; her mom thought it would make her more outgoing.
“Louder! I can’t hear you!” shouts that masculine voice that Myra hates so much. She tries her hardest to sing loudly, and the note comes out audibly. The whole class launches into song and she tries her hardest to sight-read the notes on the paper before her. Most of the notes come out as squeaks or whispers, though. “Dianna! Sing your part alone! Everyone wants to hear your perfect voice!”
Knowing that she doesn’t have anything near a perfect voice, Myra stretches her vocal chords and tries to get an acceptable note out. Her voice is soft and a little too low-pitched for what she’s singing. “I c-can’t do this,” she whispers to Ashley after she’s done singing and the whole class erupts with laughter.
After enduring a long lecture from her despicable director on why she’s a bad singer, Myra is elated when class is dismissed. She and Ashley both have a free period next, so they stay in the library and read books. As she enjoys her hour of peace, Myra already starts worrying about the next day’s choir class. She can tell that Ashley feels the same way.
Every day goes like this for Myra, until she graduates the eleventh grade. As much as she loathes it, her mom signs her up for choir the next year. After spending her carefree summer days camping in the mountains with Ashley’s family, she’s forgotten completely about choir.
Eventually the first day of school arrives. Myra looks at her schedule and sees “Choir” written on it in big, bold, imposing letters. When that horrible class rolls around, she and Ashley, whose parents signed her up as well, enter the room together. Although Ashley’s voice sounds as amazing as always, Myra’s is still a shadow’s ghost. She tries her hardest to live up to her director’s expectations, but always fails, still angry that he hasn’t learned her name yet. He calls her Dianna even when taking attendance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five years have passed since Myra Collins first walked into Greg Peterson’s choir classroom. Greg and his wife are spending the evening at the opera and enjoying every minute of it.
“Greg, look! The very tall alto over there has an amazing voice. Don’t you wish you had a girl like that in your choir class?” asks his wife. Greg watches the singer as she moves across the stage. Pale skin, messy hair, freckles... this definitely rings a bell. “The new Dianna... it can’t be!” he whispers to himself.
When the show’s over, Greg marches up to the opera’s manager. “What’s the name of that tall alto? The one with the lead role? I think she might have been in my choir class a while ago.”
“Myra Collins,” the manager replies. He knows that Greg Peterson teaches at the local high school. “Do you want to talk to her?” Greg replies that it would be nice, thank you very much. A few minutes later, he’s staring directly into the smoky eyes of the girl he treated so badly.
“Your name’s Myra? I never knew that. Sorry about choir class five years ago,” he tells her. “It’s o-okay,” replies Myra in her soft voice. She still stammers, Greg notices. “Did Dianna perform today?” he asks her. “S-she tried out. Didn’t make the f-first cut.” Her voice is louder than it was five years ago. “Ashley sang, t-though. She’s the g-girl I was next to. My b-best friend.”
Myra’s former director is shocked out of his mind. Who would have guessed that the girl he screamed at so much, the girl with a stammer and a small voice, the girl who’s name he hadn’t even remembered, would become an opera star? He sure wouldn’t have. Maybe his high expectations of her did something to transform her this much...
Smiling to himself, Greg Peterson walks out of the opera hall.

sick :(

I've been having headaches and a really bad cough for a while. Seriously, I was coughing the whole night and driving my entire family crazy! (Sorry...) And I can't really breathe because my nose is completely clogged and my throat hurts like crazy. Swimming helps with that part, though, but I was all disoriented yesterday in practice. When I was swimming backstroke, I "cuddled" with the laneline and went under it into the next lane. Awkward. All I can hope is that I get better in time for school...

Basically, I'm not feeling well so I won't come online as often. I might schedule a bunch of random stories when I can, but not right now. I don't have enough time.

So... um... what did I do since the last time I posted? Not much, actually. I played with my unicorn/friend and wrote random stuff which I don't want to put here.

I don't have anything else to say, and as much as I hate these awkward endings, bye!

a random poem thingie

*Sorry I couldn't post for a long time... my six-year-old best friend (who's also my pet unicorn) was at my house and we had so much fun I forgot to come online! I wrote this yesterday because I was bored...*

You stand there

Waiting.

Eyes hidden behind 

Purple lenses of goggles.

Frizzy hair trapped under a

Swim cap about to fly off.

You're nervous. Don't be.

Just finish this race.

It's only fifty meters.

How hard

Can

It

Be?

You dive in,

cold water stings

your feet.

But you don't feel it

You're too busy kicking

Like your life depends on it,

Your arms circling,

Pulling back the water

And making you go forward.

You don't breathe

At all.

Reach the wall, flip turn

Push off

And keep going

You're tired. Breathe.

Or at least try.

Don't slow down.

Faster.

Don't think of

Anything else except

Reaching

That

Wall,

Finishing the race.

You're done.

The longest thirty seconds

Of your life

Are over.

You try to get out of the pool

But your arms are

Drained of energy

And your legs wobble

Like you've forgotten

How to walk.

But you don't care.

You're done.

Your first-ever

Swim meet

Is over.

And you can't wait

For next time,

To swim those fifty meters

Over again.

constructive criticism?

I'm really bad at playing this song (I just learned it myself). I'm pretty sure I screwed up somewhere, but whatever...
at least I actually tried vibrato :D but it got screwed up by my sucky microphone thingamabob. D:

By the way...

LOL i have a pervy mind XD