SmartGirl Internette presents...

Synopsis:

Moving away to a new place is hard, and when I had to go through it, I felt like I could never recover. In this story, I learn to live again, making friends and adapting to a new school. What I said is true, moving is tough, but I can do it, one step at a time.

* * *

I returned to my grumbly self after that. Every day I sat at the table furthest away from everyone at lunch and glared deadly looks at anyone who walked by. My grades slumped downward until I wasn't passing anything but one class: science, and with a low C. One look at that report card, and I was miserably whimpering, but that wasn't the last of it.

I was grounded from the computer until my grades went up. I didn't want to go through all that effort, so my grades went further and further off the tracks. I felt miserable, and I wished more than anything to go back to Glenpool. All my friends were there: Autumn, Andrea, Ashley, Riley, Shawna, Lindsey, Trenton, Traci, and the Hobo all got to continue their lives together.

At least, that's what I thought. It turns out, Ashley and the Hobo moved away right after I did. I saw the Hobo when I was at the zoo and she told me. It was about a five second hug and reunion before I had to catch up with my family by the snakes.

But back to the story. I didn't get why I was so sad. I often scolded myself for being so depressed. This was what I had dreamed for, wasn't it? A new room all to myself, a big house, a new start. Then what did I do? I blew it, that's what.

For four months I stayed that way. Depressed, silent, alone. Then, around Valentine's Day, a new girl arrived in the class. She, for some reason, had switched from another homeroom to ours. I wanted to grab her before it was too late. I had no more than 10 seconds. As all the girl's hands rose to offer her to sit by them, mine shot up first. It was a greedy attempt, but I didn't want the preps to get to her before me.

Mrs. Koger's eyes roved around the room until they landed on me. If she was surprised, she didn't show it. "Anessa, you can sit by Mariah. I think you two will like each other. Everyone, grab a pillow. We're gonna watch Madagascar 2."

Anessa was tall. Well, compared to me. Long brown hair tied up in a loose ponytail framed her face, and heavyset brown eyes observed me. She plopped herself next to me and grinned. "I love Madagascar!" she said.

I smiled back nervously, hoping she couldn't tell how weird I was. "Me too," I replied. "Come on, maybe we can get the bath tub and chair."

Mrs. Koger had a large bathtub stuffed with pillows in her room. Next to it was a green recliner. We were only allowed to sit in them if we were reading or watching a movie. I hadn't sat in it all year because we could only read if our work was done, and mine never was. Everyone always got there before me for movies.

No one was in them yet, so I took my place in the tub while Anessa sat in the recliner. We chatted, and I began to like this girl. We got so caught up in the conversation that we barely even noticed the movie. When it was over, I groaned. The lights turned back on, and people returned to their seats. I was so comfortable, I didn't want to move. I stopped complaining when I heard crying behind my head, coming from where my new friend had been sitting.

I whipped my head around and sat up. Anessa was clutching her forehead and whimpering, her eyes already red. Apparently, she had hit her head on the bookcase as she was getting up. Ouch.

The teacher was there in an instant. Mariah, go get a wet paper towel to reduce the swelling," she said. Silently and quickly I zoomed across the room to obey. Wringing out the towel so it wouldn't drip, I hurried back and handed it to Mrs. Koger.

Anessa soon stopped crying, and we all went to lunch. She didn't sit by me, but instead sat with a group of friends. I felt crushed. I should have known she already had friends. She was just across the hall before, not across the state.

But Anessa still liked me. Eventually a hole was formed at their table and I sat there ever since. But I didn't want to talk unless I was addressed; I wasn't about to make the same mistake I did last time, by saying something stupid. But even so, I got the same looks as last time, and I was, once again, not fitting in. But I would rather be a small part of the puzzle than no one at all.

Now, Anessa and I are best friends, never to be parted, but don't worry; my story's not done yet! One friend is a start, but I'm still an outsider. Tune in for the next chapter to see what happens next!

Every girl goes through overwhelming emotions during her teenage life, but sometimes, it is just too much to handle. At least, for me it was.

It all started at camp. I was lonely, and none of my friends were there. I had a dream about being in a dark, doorless room. I was afraid, and it seemed like I could never get out.

At 4 in the morning I awoke, tears streaming down my cheeks. I stared across the room at the other silent snoozers. My throat tightened as I tried to hold back the tears and my chest felt like a million needles stabbing.

I grabbed the sharpest thing closest to me - a bracelet - and, for a reason I cannot understand, started slicing my arm. The act relieved me from my emotional pain, and afterward, I was satisfied in a way. I fell asleep.

For about two weeks, I didn’t do it again. But then I tore even deeper. I was unhappy, and I felt like a nobody in a human shell.

Finally, I gave up my stubbornness not to tell anybody and told a close friend. My friend understood me and told me not to do it again. She herself had a history with cutting, and it was nice to know someone who understood.

I didn't want to betray my friend, so I would endure hours of emotional pain, fiddling with a sharp object, crying into my pillow. Never did I break my promise to my friend. I found it easier to live through days knowing someone else out there understood me and was maybe going through the same pain. Some days, I felt like I wanted to die, but then I would call up my friend and we'd talk. Some days, I was happy and gleamed with joy.

Then, the pain came back. I didn't listen to my friend, and I cut. I tore the skin, watching a glistening red drop of blood slither down my arm. Then I cried.

I still feel these terrible emotions, and it is not cool nor is it something to brag about. It is not a plea for attention. Every day I wish I didn't have this pain. One day, I hope to break free of this indescribable prison.

I am only halfway through high school, but I’ve been through many life-changing situations in the past 2 years. These situations have had both a positive and negative impact on me.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

My goals from three years ago compared to my current goals are totally different. In 8th grade, I was the perfect student. I was called a teacher’s pet at times, but that didn’t matter because my grades were outstanding. Before I graduated from elementary school, my plans were to achieve honors all through high school. Now, my plans are to try to get the credits that I didn’t receive in grades 9 and 10 and get my grades back up. I never thought I would end up here, but unfortunately, I was wrong.

When I started high school, I barely knew anyone. I had to make all new friends and adjust to a different learning environment. I was enrolled in a higher program at my school, so it was difficult to keep up with the expectations.

In my first month of grade 9, I made a couple of close friends, and soon enough, I had a boyfriend. It was very sudden, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to balance everything, but I was confused.

During that year, I realized that my marks were very low. My parents were extremely disappointed in me. I lost most of my confidence and self esteem, and before I knew it, doing well in school wasn’t even a priority anymore. I only cared about my boyfriend and close friends. Nothing else really mattered. At the end of grade 9, I was missing one credit.

Now the misery.

My grade 10 experience was horrible, and I can’t blame it on anyone but myself. The first few months of school went well, and then everything turned into hell. That year started off with my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend. Without a doubt in our minds, we knew we would be together forever. But slowly, my life went downhill.

My boyfriend and I started arguing and fighting, which was unusual for the two of us. When first semester ended, I found out that I had flunked my math exam and didn’t get the credit, but summer school was optional.

A month quickly went by, and then I made the worst mistake of my life. I stole from a store and got caught. I’m sorry, SmartGirls; I can’t explain to you what was running through my head at the time that I committed that felony. I felt like I didn’t even know myself anymore. I was arrested for shoplifting, but the cops gave me an option. They said either I do the time in jail or I do a two-week program to pay off the charges.

I decided to go with the second option. My friend, who committed the crime with me, made a promise with me that we would never tell anyone. Shortly after that promise, my boyfriend found out. I’m still unsure how he found out. When he did, I wished every night that I’d die in my sleep and not wake up the next day to face another problem.

He broke up with me and I cried on the phone with him for hours and hours. It was so hard for me to let him go! At that moment, I discovered that love is the most powerful force in the universe. Without it, this world would be nothing at all.

A week went by and I missed him so badly. I could tell that he missed me, too. When we saw each other in the hallway, he’d stop in front of me, look into my eyes, and then hug me. He didn’t hate me; he wanted us to be together, but he was just very disappointed in me.

Luckily, I had my girls there supporting me the whole time. They were there for me through my entire break-up, and I couldn’t thank them more.

During March break, my boyfriend and I got back together. The pieces of my broken heart were fixed again, but the scars of emotional distress were permanent. I was going through depression and depended on my anti-depressant pills to keep me going daily.

A month went by and I decided that I needed to get my life back on track, so I threw away my pills and started repairing everything slowly. Things were awkward between my boyfriend and I after we got back together, so I was entirely focused on fixing our relationship. I barely paid attention to my friends, and they all thought that I picked my boyfriend over them.

In second semester, I failed to receive an additional 2 credits. But the English credit I didn’t get could be made up in summer school. It was time to end the misery and pain.

The beginning of summer was awful. I had school every day for a month! Sitting in one class for 3 hours every day was torture. I decided that I would make up for math, but take 10th grade English the following year. It was impossible sitting in a 30-degree Celsius classroom with an annoying teacher yelling at me for 3 hours.

It was a bad decision not to make up for the English credit when I had the opportunity, but I did what I did. I fixed everything with my boyfriend and all of our problems are behind us. We are more in love that we ever were even before we broke up. We opened up to each other much more and we’ve grown closer. I’ve also made up my mind that next year I will concentrate on school and not make the same mistakes that I did before by making school my last priority.

Doing well in school will repair many things, such as my relationship with my parents, my self confidence and self esteem, and lastly my preparation for university. SmartGirls, reading my story will hopefully shed some light for you. No matter how hard your life gets, you just need to believe in yourself. Always keep your head held high and don’t let anything bring you down. Remember that there is always a way of fixing any problem; you just need to keep an open mind to find a solution.

“I move forward, not backwards. I don’t think about the past, I think about the future. I don’t have any regrets because they made me the strong, courageous, and the confident young woman I am today.”

I was going through the daily stresses of being a teenager. It was one of those bad days where it seems like everything goes wrong. You lose your textbook, you fail a test, and you get in a little fight with your best friend: things like that. When I got home, all I cared about was me and my problems.

My mom got home from work where she helps out at an elementary school. What my mom told my family at dinner really made me think that day. “Everyone, you’re not going to believe what happened to me at work today,” my mom said. She talked out the whole conversation, just like this:

A little girl went up to her in the lunch line. “How are you?” she said.

“I’m fine, but what’s wrong, sweetie?”

“Oh, my daddy died yesterday. He was a store and got shot there.”

The whole dinner table was speechless when my mom was finished. This girl was in about first grade, and probably didn’t even really understand what was going on. I felt so bad for the little girl, and so did my mom.

After dinner, I went on the computer and I talked to my friend Robyn. We were in a normal conversation when suddenly she asked me if I knew about the girl with cancer that died 3 days ago at her school. I had never even heard about it. Robyn told me how the girl still went to school even though she only had 6 weeks to live.

Imagine knowing that your wonderful life could be taken away from you in a matter of weeks. Cancer is probably one of the worst sicknesses to have, especially if you know you are going to die because of it.

Robyn told me how they had prom early just for her because she really wanted to attend. It just seemed so sad. I wonder what I was doing the second that she died. I know I didn’t know her at all, but any death makes me think, and how what if it happened to me?

On top of all of this, my friend told me that both of her parents lost their jobs. We doubt that they will move because they will find other jobs where we live. I hope. But it is so sad how they are going to have to deal with not having a lot of money. I felt so bad for my friend.

My family has gone through many troubles, too. My sister got the wrong idea of how she should diet and lost too much weight. She was sick for a while, but thankfully before they had to send her to the hospital, she started gaining weight. But then she got an ulcer in the back of her stomach. It was caused by some kind of virus. She spent the entire summer in the hospital because of her stomach surgery, and she wasn’t able to eat. Of course, this made her lose even more weight. My whole family has been through so much trouble trying to get her better. It is just all too sad.

After all of this, I look at my silly little problems about school and about friends. I realized that I’m pretty lucky to not have an ulcer or cancer. I realized that outside these walls, people are suffering much worse than I am. Even my own sister faces really tough problems. I know she has had a much harder life than I have had.

I also know that I am lucky to have this life. My little problems that seemed so big before now seem so unimportant. Next time, when I’m home and all upset over something that happened with my friends, I’ll think about those less fortunate: those with nowhere to live, no parents. What’s outside of these walls.

Ever since the start of fourth grade, Zarina and I were best friends. I vaguely remember a tall, dark girl coming up to me and asking if I had a sister. The rest is all a blur, but from then on, we were best friends. Nothing could change that. But I didn’t count on what was about to happen.

At the start of fifth grade, we were still best friends. After a while, things changed. Zarina started to hang around with two other girls, Deshka and Elene. This gave me uncomfortable feelings, since Elene and myself were deadly enemies, and so was Deshka, even though we had been best friends in third grade.

Now, every recess and lunch was a nightmare. Like a shy duck, I would follow the three everywhere. They told me I was their friend, but I never really was accepted into their ‘group.’ I hated this feeling of neglect that I carried round with me so often.

An online argument between me and Zarina erupted, and we were suddenly enemies. Some of the emails that we sent each other were horribly insulting at the time, but are now amusing: messages such as ‘you are a wannabe Barbie’ make me explode with laughter.

At the end of fifth grade, we were still enemies. Summer came and then it was time for middle school. As I had predicted, we were in the same class. I hadn’t expected a welcome back, so I got the shock of my life when Zarina came up to me and started chattering away as if we were best friends. I realized we were best friends again. The happiness inside me fizzed up, and I couldn’t help grinning.

But this happiness was short-lived. At around Christmas-time, she started becoming friendly with two girls: Joselyn, the class nerd and brainiac, and Ellie, who was, in my opinion, a wanna-be popular Barbie. At the same time, a new family arrived in town. There were two twins around my age who went into the class above me. Josh was fun, but I was more interested in Heather. On the first day that I met her, we were both extremely shy and we barely talked.

Meanwhile, back at school I was ignored and shoved out of the way. All of the other girls in my class had their own cliques and friends, so I hung out with Heather. Things were still rocky with Zarina.

I remember one evening Zarina and I were instant messaging each other. I dared to ask, “Are we still best friends?” I knew I shouldn’t have asked, but it was too late.

“No,” came the reply. My heart felt as if it had hit the floor.

“So is Joselyn your best friend now?” I held my breath as I waited for the answer.

“Yeah,” came the reply. I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I simply continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.

A few months later, she broke up with them, and we were suddenly best friends yet again. I didn’t know if this was a trick or not but I went along with it. Then next thing I knew, it was summer--next stop, seventh grade.

When I phoned her up after vacation, she sounded so enthusiastic. She literally screamed my name with joy. When I went round to her house before school started, she gave me a huge hug. We planned our typical day in class and laughed at jokes together. Our relationship was stronger than it had ever been before. I was blissfully ignorant of what was soon to come.

We were in the same class as sixth grade, and this time a new girl arrived: Sona. I made friends with Sona when she was lonely and had no friends. Zarina hated her and did not like the fact that I was her friend. We had a small argument, and then things were back to normal.

After Christmas I contracted conjunctivitis. Suddenly, Zarina started to ignore me. I was continually isolated from everyone, and I was considered a nasty contagious bug. Zarina turned against me and started being pally with Sona. I was always ignored. I began to think bad thoughts of myself, thoughts like “Geez, was I really that bad as her best friend?” We lost communication. When we had to send emails, they were brief to the point of unfriendliness.

I remember one occasion at school when she had a ‘private’ talk to me. As usual, Sona followed. I frowned. It was none of her business! As Zarina rambled on about dancing club, I felt tears prick at the back of my eyes. I hated the way Sona stood there listening to every word. I wanted to shout and scream at her for listening into my private issues. “Right, OK. Fine,” I said when Zarina had finished. Then I dashed out onto the field and cried out of misery and anger.

I decided to send her an email, but when she replied the worst came. “Sorry, but Sona is my best friend now...” The email continued, but I didn’t want to read any more. I felt as though an iron fist had punched me in the stomach. I felt the familiar tears pricking at the back of my eyes. I lowered my head so no one would see my watery eyes. I hastily shut down my computer and then dashed upstairs where I sat on my bed and howled.

All I could think was “What have I done to make her dislike me?” I racked my memory, but nothing came to me. Shrugging it off, I continued with my life. Zarina never took any notice of me. Her friends were now people she had disliked when she was my best friend. It was like my worst nightmare come true. I asked her why she ignored me, but she simply said it was time for change. In my head my thoughts were all crashing into each other. “Time for change?! What is she talking about?” I thought.

Then we had an enormous fight online. Some of the messages we sent each other were rude in the extreme. Although I won’t repeat the messages, I can say that after that fight, we both hated each other. This time, I knew it was final. She had her own best friend now, but somehow… I didn’t care. She had done this tactic too many times before. I wasn’t about to let her play around with me again.

I actually felt relieved to have told her all that I was thinking while I was going through this. I felt as if a huge burden had been released from me. I was happy that the worst was over. This time, I just shrugged and accepted the fact that we would never be best friends again. After all, who needs one more friend who is rude and disloyal?

I have my own friends now, and Heather is my good friend. I hang out with people from the other seventh grade class. I have my best friends in Scotland and my best friend in Qatar, and I realize that even though the circle is broken, I still hold many more that will never break.

 Synopsis:

Moving away to a new place is hard, and when I had to go through it, I felt like I could never recover. In this story, I learn to live again, making friends and adapting to a new school. What I said is true, moving is tough, but I can do it, one step at a time.

*** *** *** 

 

Sadly, good things never last. A few weeks later Kristen shows up at school with tears in her eyes. Life at her house isn't good. She tells me her dad is spending all the money for food on beer. Her mom is considering taking her and running away back to Alabama to live at her grandparents’. They might leave next week.

 

Then when the bell rings, she seems to pull herself together and heads toward our class. But before we can get our stuff from out of our lockers, she starts crying again. As everyone starts piling into the classroom, Mrs. Koger gently pulls Kristen outside into the hall. I didn't want to be there, I swear! But I'm the slowest possible person in the world when it comes to getting my things. I try to hurry and get the heck out of there.

 

Have you ever had one of those nightmares where you try to run away from something to safety but your feet start moving extremely slowly and you can't speed up? Ugh, I hate those. Well, all of a sudden my books were too heavy and my backpack was inconceivably small. I find that rather odd, now that I think on it, because it's a backpack for college kids. Weird....

 

By the time Kristen had explained everything to the teacher, I still wasn't done. I was terribly frightened. You see, though I adored Mrs. Koger, I often neglected my homework, and unfortunately, that was one of those days. Luckily, she didn't question me.

 

Two weeks later Kristen was gone. Strangely and without explanation she took her father with her back to Alabama. I never heard from her again, except for this short message I got toward the end of the school year, eight days after I got accepted to write this story you are currently reading:

 

 

From: kristen e <#####@gmail.com>

To: #####@yahoo.com

Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 1:57:15 PM

Subject: twitter

 

hi grl do u hav a twitter? if u do follow me i am ##### ok g2g ttyl

 

 

I didn't know how I was supposed to respond, so I wrote this:

 

Subject: Re: twitter

 

You know, that was a rather small e-mail for someone you have not seen since around September....

Well I don't have a twitter sorry. You know, the day after you moved Tori said you had not moved to Florida and you were living on the streets as a hobo and that she bought you and yer mum lunch...weird....

I don't believe her though. Why didn't you mail me sooner?

                                                                                                          Later,

                                                                                                                Mariah.

 

 

She never responded.

 

Gee, I really miss her now.


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Synopsis:

Moving away to a new place is hard, and when I had to go through it, I felt like I could never recover. In this story, I learn to live again, making friends and adapting to a new school. What I said is true, moving is tough, but I can do it, one step at a time.

*** *** *** 

     It had been several weeks since school started, and Kristen and Tori were great. Tori thought I was barking mad and complained and kept asking why I was following her. I said that I do it because I'm her friend, but it's also partly because I love bugging her so much.

      Kristen is a real laugh, that's for sure. She thinks I'm tomboy, but what she doesn't know is that I adore dresses and always wanted to wear one of those long, flowing ones that go all the way down to the floor and have beads made into an intricate patterns on it. I just despise all things pink, unlike my extremely annoying sister who is for some reason obsessed with High School Musical.

     A strange thing about me is that when I'm happy I sing where ever I go. Several people here seem to find it annoying, but when I want to break into a chorus of "Joyful Joyful," man, I'm gonna do it! I also enjoy using my large array of library and school books as drums. I feel that my math book has a nice monotone to it.

    I love to sing. I'm not sure, but my mom says that by age three I could sing all the Garth Brooks songs completely on key as well as all the songs from "Annie," the  great musical movie. I think she was bluffing.

   Strangely, the food is just as bad here as in my old town. Can you imagine getting your egg biscuits from tiny, separate packages? Gross! And I thought I was lucky to get away from Glenpool, which every day served something new and most likely gross, but also offered the option of a pack of random cereal and a biscuit with a choice of jelly. Oh how I miss thee, non-greasy food; oh let me count the ways.

     As it turns out, I only get two teachers. One for Social Studies, and the other for the rest, unless you count specials.
Every nine weeks we switch to a new activity. My class is starting with Art. The teacher is very sweet, and claims I have very good manners. Yay!

     Mrs. Koger is excellent. She was serious when she said we were going to touch a cow toungue. One of the preps puked. Honestly, how do they eat the school food? I love it, though. The strangely metalic smell of blood, the squishy feeling of it, yet the rough feel of the taste buds. Buahahahahaa! Kidding, we wore gloves and goggles.

     Now if you're thinking that I would make a great surgeon, no way! I'm not putting someone's life at risk by me trying to save them. They'd be dead before the anasthesia could take full effect.

    My schoolwork is hard. I hate it. Math is so far my worst. I just don't see the point. We work hard so the next year we can get even harder work. Where's the motivation in that?

    Long story short, this place isn't so bad after all.


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Synopsis:

Moving away to a new place is hard, and when I had to go through it, I felt like I could never recover. In this story, I learn to live again, making friends and adapting to a new school. What I said is true, moving is tough, but I can do it, one step at a time.

*** *** *** 
 

         As I walked nervously into my new class, I was still contemplating how I was going to stand out in the crowd without looking like a dork again. I could be a drama queen and remain impassive, staring blankly in front of me and saying nothing, but with a big mouth like mine, was that really possible?
          Interrupting my train of thought was a perky voice. "Yay, another girl! Come here, we gals need to stick together!" said a girl in a pink top and a denim skirt as she hopped up from a crowded table and skipped toward me. I got the impression of a rabbit. She had pure blonde hair and blue eyes and a perfect figure. "I'm Lacie," she said. "Come and sit at the Girl's Table!"
          I frowned. It wasn't that I had a problem with her, exactly; she was just too, well... perfect. But I obeyed. I dragged a chair from another table to squeeze between her and six other girls. Everyone stared, sizing me up like typical preps. Go figure.
          "This is Sydnee, Stormi, Kristen, Tori, Madison, and Chealsea," said Lacie, pointing at each girl in turn. "What's your name?"
          Here's another thing I had been thinking about. I liked the name Stella, but maybe Robin--it sounded cooler. But I was being rushed. "Mariah," I reluctantly replied. 
          "Nice name!" said the perky prep.
          "Thanks," I grinned sheepishly. Not to shabby, Mariah!
          Stormi, a tall girl with black hair and black eyes spoke up. "I've never seen you around here, you must be new."
          "Yup! I just moved here from Glenpool, the best town in Oklahoma!" I declared proudly. I did my symbol, pounding my fist where my heart is twice and ending it with a peace sign. The preps looked shocked, staring wide-eyed with gaping mouths. "Um, it's a Glenpool thing," I said nervously. They relaxed a little.
          "What's so special about Glenpool?" asked a spunky girl I remembered was called Chealsea. She wore a green polka-dotted hoodie and jeans. I immediately disliked her.
          "For your information, Glenpool is the town that made Tulsa famous!" I fumed. This was not my kind of crowd! School is like a restaurant buffet. The preps get first pick, digging for looks, not personality or brains. I belong with the leftovers. My old group was filled with hippies and even a wanna-be hobo. Autumn even had a pretend Dragon that supposedly flew around her head. However, we were the brains of the school. Autumn and Riley, who was one of the hippies, went to the Gifted and Talented class.
          Kristen ended the tension that was visibly growing at the table. "I'm new here, too. I come from Alabama," she smiled. "Glenpool sounds pretty cool to me!" That cheered me up.
          "Cool," I repeated, grinning.
          Suddenly, our teacher swept into the room. She had short, spiky blonde hair and icy blue eyes and was wearing a Claremore Zebra pride T-shirt.
          "Hi everyone! My name is Mrs. Koger, and I will be your teacher this year. Try not to hate me too much. I'm not that bad. We're gonna do all kinds of fun stuff this year, like hot air balloons, rockets, and we're going to dissect all sorts of things. I've even got a cow tongue and live coming this week for you."
          "Cool!" Kristen and I shouted. I had always wanted to dissect something, so long as I didn't have to kill it, first! Killing an animal for science class was not something to be a childhood memory.
          Lunch was OK. I sat with the girls from my class and we discussed our favorite band, The Jonas Brothers. That was pretty much the only thing we agreed on, because they hated reading and had never even Harry Potter. That just drew the line. Definitely not Leftover material.
          On the other hand, Kristen was fantastic. Not only was she the best looking in the group, she had brains and personality. I respected that. She liked to act and was a darn good singer! I think she could be the next Carrie Underwood. But the thing I could distinguish most about her was her Alabama twang.
          Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. After all, I already had a friend, and the cafeteria food wasn't as bad in Claremore as it was in Glenpool. Maybe I could find a new group. I wouldn't mind not getting to be the leader so long as I belonged. In fact, maybe this is where I was meant to be, and Glenpool was just a small portion of my life. Whatever this was supposed to be, I was looking forward to a second chance.

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Synopsis:

Moving away to a new place is hard, and when I had to go through it, I felt like I could never recover. In this story, I learn to live again, making friends and adapting to a new school. What I said is true, moving is tough, but I can do it, one step at a time.

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          You do not know how much I wish to say that summer flew by in a daze, but that would be a lie. In fact, the only good thing I can say about it is that now it's long over.
          It was as though time had slowed to a crawl. Every day seemed like a month. A week was a year. I ate and I slept. No one at Glenpool could contact me, since we didn't have a home phone yet. I had no stamps for mailing, and my mom wouldn't let me e-mail Autumn. I was shut out from the world just outside my doorstep. I didn't receive any letters, either, because no one back home knew my new address.
          Then there were the neighborhood jerks from across the street. At first, I was eager to make new friends, so I used the fact that they played baseball in the yard every day to my advantage. I had to drag Morgan, my brother, over to their house. They didn't seem too bad! They even talked a little. but when we turned around to leave, they called us back and said they had a question. "Hey, if your teeth were tied to the Titanic, could you hold it up?"
          With a furious and tearful glare, I stormed back to my house. My teeth have always been a soft spot for me, and when people come out of nowhere and insult them, it really hurts. But no matter how hard it got, I would never consider braces; that would be a sign of defeat, a sign that I cared what they thought. A weakness.
          I never bothered to make friends after that. I stayed miserable in my room, listening to the radio and playing on the computer. I even began to think something I had never thought before. For once in my life, I was looking forward to school! But can you blame me? I would have a new chance to start over. No one would look at me and remember me as the dork that had barfed on the bus at the zoo field trip. Ah, a new beginning!
          At last, after ages of waiting, there laid before me only one day before the first day of school.

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Synopsis:

Moving away to a new place is hard, and when I had to go through it, I felt like I could never recover. In this story, I learn to live again, making friends and adapting to a new school. What I said is true, moving is tough, but I can do it, one step at a time.

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          I once heard the saying "you can never really appreciate something until it's gone." At first I thought nothing of it, until it happened to me. The events to follow are completely true. In fact, you could visit my old town and meet all my friends. They would tell you about me if you asked. My name is Mariah, and this is my story.
          I used to live in a tiny city in Oklahoma called Glenpool. It was small, but nice even so. There were no malls, no hospitals; just a few grocery stores. You know, Dollar General, Walmart, etc. Now, if you're not from Oklahoma, you're probably picturing farms and fruit stands. I'm gonna tell you right now to get your head out of the movies! Picture JC Penney's, K-mart, Khol's, and yes, even Macy's. This is NOT the 1500's anymore!
          Moving on. When: the last day of school. Who: me and my class. What: a party. Why: last day of school (duh!)--that, and I'm moving far away to Claremore, forever.
          "I'm gonna miss you, Mariah," said Autumn sadly. "Do you really have to go away?"
          "Yes, I'm afraid so," I replied patiently. She asked me this every day, but I didn't mind. I was happy to be told that I would never be forgotten. "But we can talk by e-mail and phone and letters! It would be like any other summer, only longer. Well, endless."
          I was sitting in a group with all my closest friends. I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world, I thought. And my parents want to take it all away from me. "Please, we should be having fun, Ms. President! Let's have that dance contest you've been egging on about," said Riley, interrupting my thoughts. Dance we did, indeed! I won second place against Trenton, one of my vice presidents. Hey, I can't compare to break dancing!
          If you're wondering why they just called me president, let's just say that people voted me in for our class' fake country. Same for the vice presidents, except we had a little trouble with everyone voting for pie. Trust me, you don't want to know! In the end, I got three vice presidents, a secretary, and some body guards.
          Eventually the party drew to a close, and soon enough, I was heading for Claremore. I spent the night searching through moving boxes, acting as if every box had a new gift inside until my dad insisted I go to sleep. I didn't want to, but I was too tired to argue. My dad hadn't had time to put up my bed, so I laid on my mattress and fell asleep.

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Hi!

I'm P, a SmartGirl just like you! I go to high school and love it! Well, except for all the work. Anyway, here's the deal. Have you ever had anyone judge you just because of the way you look? Or even worse, had someone label you because of what something someone else has done? As a Muslim girl, I've had many incidents like that. I'm sure many of you have also met with someone who didn't like you because of your race, skin color, etc. Once, at my school cafeteria, a boy who was serving lunch looked at me and called me "Saddam Hussein." I’ve never met him! Another time we had to share our family tree with the class, a boy raised his hand and asked me, "Are you related to Osama bin Laden?" My teacher took my back, but I still felt so helpless. We all have so many problems, but there's one I want to talk about because I think many of us are feeling the same way.

We're growing up in a little bit of a scary generation. There are wars, violence, and an increasing amount of fear in the hearts of many people. But along with all this comes a much more nerve-wracking thing: Stereotypes. Stereotypes are rumors that people make up based on opinions. An example of a stereotype would be that in the times of slavery, every Southerner wanted slavery. That's not true. Some Southerners even helped slaves to escape! I want to talk about a stereotype that I have in mind.

Right now, there isn't much love for Muslims in the world. Why? You may have heard that Islam is a violent religion and that the women in Islam aren't treated well. What you heard was a stereotype. Now, I'm not an Islamic scholar or anything, I'm still pretty young, so I have more to learn. But I have a lot of knowledge about my religion and I can tell you for a fact that Islam is not a violent religion, neither is Christianity, neither is Buddhism, neither is Judaism, etc. Stereotypes hurt a lot of people. Haven't you ever been called a name because of people's negative opinions? I've been called a terrorist, and people have made horrid remarks to me because I'm Muslim. I've never hurt anyone, and I never will! Every religion has its share of fanatics. They're crazy about religion the same way most girls are crazy about Zac Efron. But these fanatics take things to the extreme and make their own rules while bending others. We shouldn't have to suffer for others' actions! Why do we allow ourselves to suffer?! Only we, the upcoming generation, can stop this violence and pain. I welcome anyone's opinions and questions! I'd be more than happy to answer your questions! But treat me with the same respect that you would want to be treated with because although I don't know any of you, I respect you for reading this letter of mine. Remember: I'm just one voice in the crowd, YOU can help fight stereotypes and prejudice too! I welcome you to share you experiences! I'll post up another letter next week - it will address the ten most known misconceptions about Islam. Thank you sooo much! Take care! Bye!

Yours Truly,
P