THE GIRL NAMED MELISSA.

Even as I screamed at the top of my lungs saying, "Fire! Fire! Everyone get out of the school there's a fire in the hall way!"  I knew I couldn't stop anything. 

Melissa had told me about a million times in the past about things I didn't understand. It turned to the point where I knew she was growing insane. I wanted to stop it, but when you see your friend as the way she used to be, it's hard to face the truth. My best friend Melissa was insane, and every one knew it.

At times I think she knew it too. She didn't care about it. She thought it was okay, because I didn't do anything about it. It's always too insane and she must be taken to a mental institution.

I felt as if there was no right answer. 

I didn't understand how I was the only one who knew. 

It was hard for me to accept anything. Whenever I had the chance to tell my parents, or even call Melissa's, I wanted to call.  I wanted to call every one.  But what could I say?

"Mrs. Blune, your daughter..."  I  didn't have any classes with Melissa. Maybe my brain was just imagining something that isn't really there. At least, that's what I hoped.

I would ask people about Melissa without being straight forward about it. I'd only ask how she was doing? But during all the days I asked people about her, I wondered if maybe they thought I was crazy. 

Never mind any of that.

The last time Melissa came over, she told me about the dreams she had been having. All the crazy  dreams I would only hope to never dream about. It was all so unpleasant. 

She looked at me as if nothing was wrong. She told me she liked the dreams. It's only when we hang out that she becomes a different person. As if Melissa were never there. I always tried to blink. Blink and wait for it to go away. But she  would rock back and forth murmuring to herself, "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay."

I looked down at her. I never knew what to do. It seemed as if no matter how hard I blinked, or how long I closed my eyes, she was still there. She...the thing that scared me the most.

Eventually I would look at her and tell her that everything is fine. As if just being with her in person, just the two of us, makes Melissa become someone else. 

But I couldn't take it anymore.

Too many things were wrong with her.  I'd tell her I had to go. None of it made sense to me. 

Whenever we text, or whenever we call, or whenever anyone asked me about how she is doing, I'd pretend that everything was fine. But I felt butterfly's fluttering around in my stomach as I walked with Melissa.

"Do you remember when we saw that dead dog on the ground when we were younger?" she laughed.

I didn't know what to say. We never had ever seen a dead dog together. 

I looked at her. I could tell she saw the fear in my eyes.  The fear going on in my mind as I walked home on a Thursday night from school. 

I remembered all of the remarks I heard from people telling me that Melissa was doing fine.  All she did was smile.

I ran as fast as I could back home and I didn't looked back. I needed to get away from Melissa. At this point, I needed to tell  my parents.

I walked up to my house and still didn't look back. As I opened the door I saw both my parents already sitting down in two giant red chairs.  They looked as if they saw an F on my report card.

"Jenna, we have to talk. We've been hearing from a lot of people at school lately that you've been  acting a little strange. They said you were talking about how Melissa was insane. Honey, Melissa has been worried about you. You haven't been understanding what they've been saying. I even got a call just now from Melissa saying that you ran away from her walking home from school after she talked about her new  dog coming home today."

My eye twitched. That's not what happened at all!

"I...I don't understand.  Melissa didn't say that she..." I said with tears in my  eyes.

"Your mom and I have set up an appointment at a therapy place downtown. We feel it's the best thing to do to get you... back on track," my dad said.

With that, I dashed upstairs with tears running down my face. Melissa was the one who needed do go to a therapist!! Melissa was the one who needed help!!  Melissa is the one who didn't understand!!

I sat on my bed with my hands on the sides of my head. I banged on the wall until my hands felt like they were  going to fall off.

That night I didn't get any sleep. Everything I had thought seemed like it was just a big mistake. But I couldn't accept it. I needed to be right.  I had to be right.

The next day in the morning I glanced at something in my drawer. As I heard my mother call me down for school, I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. I had a great idea.

As I walked downstairs and grasped my lunch and put it in my backpack, I headed to the door and stopped as I heard my mom speak.

"Be nice to Melissa today honey, she really needs it after the way you've been acting."

I replied by saying ."I've made her a present and hope  she will forgive me."

I looked back and saw my mom smile. "That's so sweet! I bet it's great!"

As I opened the door and started to walk outside into the  hot sun, I grinned as I whispered to myself,
"It's to die for."

When I got to school, I asked my teacher if I could be excused. I walked into Melissa's first period class and told her that my teacher needed to talk to the both of us.

"Why does Mrs. Hope need to talk to me? I don't even have her for any of my classes.   I love you but it's the better thing for both of us!" Melissa replied.

I told Melissa to wait. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a pack of matches. I lit one match and told her I'd drop it unless she said she was insane.

"No Jenna! You need to put that out right now!! Jenna you have serious problems that you need to talk to someone about! You're my friend."

I said to her, "Well, you're not my friend. Better you burn than me."

And with that, I dropped the match right on Melissa's feet. 

I watched her burn as I ran to the nearest classroom. 

"Fire! Fire! Everyone get out of the school!  There's a fire!!!"

I watched all the teachers and students run in horror as they all saw the fire building up. I ran to the nearest exit and locked it. 

I smiled and laughed as I watched the school burn to the ground. 

"Better her than me"

WE WONDER.

We wonder why we aren't all made the same.
To have the same eyes, same face, same brain.

We wonder why we can't look like a model on the page.
But live life as if an act on stage.

We wonder why The boy in 3rd period likes someone who's not you.

But, don't remember that we have better things to do.

Than to worry about guys, our face, our body.

It seems as if putting ourselves down is a hobby.

THE CHANCE.

I may not be Shakespeare
I may not be Silverstein
I may not be the best poet
You've ever seen.

But I know how to write
And I know how to draw
So give me a chance
And just give it a glance.

And see just how good
This nine year old can dance!

WHAT IS POETRY?

The thing about poetry is
Well, no one really knows!

Is it one of those rhymes
That makes your ears chime?

Or is it just my sister's old
Middle school clothes?

If you find out this secret
Then tell me its real meaning.

Or my ears might start bleeding!

So please.
What is poetry?

MY STATE COMPETITION

I was worried if we could make it. 

Cheerleading was so fun for me that I could not give up.   But we had to wait for our turn to show off our skills that we had practiced for months.

My coach said that it was not about winning or losing.  She told us that it would be hard to beat more than one hundred people, but we do it by grade level—so we would be fourth to last.

Then I asked my dad if I could have a snack and he said, “Which snack?  I have four.”

“Um…the one that I usually have.  The one that has the purple spots.”

“Oh, that one!” he said. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I said to him.

“Good, I want you to be happy.”

“Yep,” I said to Dad.

We were almost up, so we got ready.  Soon it was our turn, so we lined up to go. 

I was so good.  I was the best I could do!  But we only got second place, but we did what we could—so our coach did not care.

She said that we did the best, but they don’t think so. 

I thought so.  We really were. 

Then we got our trophies and got home.

A POEM FOR SHEL SILVERSTEIN.

Know we're all tired.
But just please listen up!
I'm not trying to be mean, or a little too ruff.
But my words mean, well.
Just think Old Household Stuff.
Thank you for coming, and sharing this day.
I hope the drive wasn't too far away.

-Kate W-

MEETING STARLEY

My life is really boring in a little one story house.  But not as much since I met a girl named Starley.  

Starley is a girl who is my cousin, just to point that out, and she loves to live with me.

Well, she is going to move in with me and in fact, she is moving in today.  And I am soooo, soooo excited to see her...since I never have!

Ding, dong!  

I heard and I ran up to the door and saw a long black haired girl staring head to toe at me, but  I mean...why wouldn't she?!  We just met and all, so she would want to know what I look like!

But seriously...she should!  

Oh!  I forgot to tell you, my name is Lindzey White--the coolest kid in school!  And I love being sooooo cool at school.

Anyway, I started talking to her and told her to come in.  She seemed nice and I thought she was a really pretty girl!  

My mom came into the room and told her where to put her stuff (which, by the way, she had a lot of!).  

When Starley came back down, I asked if she wanted to play outside with me and go in my tree house and Starley asked me when we were going?  

I said, "Oh!  Right now."

Starley was very confused.  "But, we're going without your mother?  You can drive?"

Now I was confused!

I asked her if she knew what a tree house was, and she said that it was something her mom would take her to on her birthday.  And that the park was right across the street from her.  

On her birthday?!!  I was pretty sure the park is something special to her!

And then I realized that Starley's family was very poor!  

I showed her the actual thing that was my tree house, and Starley filled with joy!  We went outside into my tree house and Starley was so excited that she looked like she was going to scream!  

Now that I knew mostly everything about Starley, I kind of liked that she was poor because in my class everybody is rich, and I'm one of the only one who isn't...so that is very surprising to me.  And probably to Starley, too!  

Me and Starley decided to play some games when my mom told us to come up for lunch.  We were having soup with my mom's special egg salad.  I loved egg salad and when Starley tried it, I think she pretty much fell in love with it, too.  

When we were done, we decided to unpack all of Starley's stuff.  Finally, we were done!

Then...since it took so long, we had dinner.  We were having spaghetti and meatballs with shrimp.  

After dinner, we went downstairs to watch TV.  When my mom told me and Starley to go upstairs and read,  we went up to our rooms and started reading and fifteen minutes later it was time for bed.

So, we turned our lights off and went to bed.  

Then in the morning, we had breakfast.  

After that, we went outside and played in the tree house again. I think the tree house was very cool for Starley and I was pretty sure she liked the tree house more than I ever had.  Since, you see, I got the tree house when I was two and now I am twelve.  The only reason I still like it is because all of my memories are wrapped into it, but I can see why Starley likes it more...because I'm twelve, and Starley is ten.  So she is a little bit younger, so I'm kinda more mature.  

But I still, and probably always will, love that tree house.  And now that I'm more interested about that tree house,  I should probably tell Starley that she should stop talking about the tree house.  She should be talking to me and not the tree house!  And anyway, if she talked to a tree house, that would probably be one of the weirdest things in the whole wide world.  

So I asked Starley if she like me and she said, "Of course!"  And, of course, that's what I thought she would say because she wanted to be nice.

She probably actually hates me and just acts like she's my friend and secretly is just in it for the tree house and my mom's really good food that I love even more than anything. She even makes broccoli taste good!  

Broccoli!

And I'm not going to tell you how good her homemade ice cream is!

I was actually annoyed at Starley and wished she'd just pop out of my perfect life!  So I stomped into my room and Starley followed me in.  I sat down on my bed and started balling and dripping tears on my mattress.  Starley asked me what was wrong and I said in a mean voice, "You!"  

And surprisingly, she started crying, too!  She started talking about how stupid she was to me and how she focused on the treehouse more than me.  

Then I told her to stop crying, so she stopped and so did I.  She talked about how she hated being poor!  It was sooooo sad!  

I told her how I was the only girl in my class who didn't have like a trillion bucks because when I was little, I was poor.  And Starley's face filled with sunshine and happiness.  

So did mine.

Starley and I may not have got along at first, but we finally got along in a weird way.

Oh!  By the way, hi!

The end.