Signs Of Exit

SIGNS OF EXIT: STORIES FROM ELSEWHERE

Written by the students of 826LA’S WRITE ON! AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM

This book was written by the students of 826LA’s Write On After School program in Spring of 2024.

The views expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of 826LA. We support student publishing and are thrilled you picked up this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Este libro fue escrito por los alumnos del programa Write On After School de 826LA en la primavera de 2024.

Las opiniones expresadas en este libro son las de los autores y no reflejan necesariamente las de 826LA. Apoyamos la publicación de jóvenes autores y estamos felices que hayan recogido este libro.

Todos los derechos reservados. Prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de este libro sin autorización escrita del editor.

Editor(s):

Arisdeysi Cruz

Mike Dunbar

Pedro Estrada

Shani Foster

Cover Artwork: Eddie Cortez

Book Design: Eddie Cortez

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

“Saturn in Bloom: Imagination Over Consumption”

As I write this, the Los Angeles Times just published an article in which they asked, “Are these kids already doomed?” The kids the article is referring to—as “awful” and “a whole generation of failure”—is Gen Alpha. They include the kids—the authors—who wrote this book.

Unfortunately, there is nothing new about media outlets stoking prejudice against our youngest generations. And while it is frustrating that it is necessary to state—generation after generation—these kids are alright.

No, even that old saying is outdated and diminishes them. These kids are more than that. They are bright, curious, and creative.

Yes, they are on social media. But they are more aware of its pitfalls, and less likely to use it to tear each other apart than some other generations. Instead, they are using it to build previously unimagined forms of community.

Yes, they play video games. But they use those games as fuel for their imaginations, not as substitutes for it.

Within this book alone you will encounter the work of athletes and pet lovers, artists and gourmets. Their cosmopolitan interests range

from k-pop to aerial arts to sour candy. They are aspiring musicians and entrepreneurs. They are proud of their families and where they are from. They are loyal and kind friends.

And of course, they are all storytellers.

Given the invitation to imagine and create freely, these students thrived. The book you hold in your hand is the longest one ever produced in our Write On! After School program. Even the most reluctant writers engaged in the process and created stories they could be proud of. But more than that, they created stories that really matter.

Within this book you will be taken on journeys from the local park to a volleyball universe, from an unassuming farm to an underwater school, from the back alleys of suburbia to an abandoned hotel.

You will discover worlds in conflict, but also ones full of beauty, healing, and growth. There are worlds with dragons and one with interdimensional jewel thieves. In some worlds, our very existence is threatened by monsters, aliens, or snakes. But in others, beautiful ecologies bloom from the tenderness and care of one person. These are worlds in which familial bonds, powerful friendships, and even romances are forged under the most unexpected circumstances.

By their very nature, these stories require a radical shift in perspective, a break from the status quo. Whether it is a portal or shrink ray, a magical painting or a fast food meal, the true means of transportation to these worlds are the authors’ brave imaginings of something new.

And what’s more, we desperately need these stories.

Far from a generation of failure, these students are representatives of a generation of hope. Through their acts of imagining they offer glimpses of a future better than the present.

To creatively imagine and explore new ideas that shift us out of our set ways of thinking is not only a skill fundamental to the future success of these students, it is a skill essential to creating a better future for us all. For how can we create a better tomorrow, if we are not able to imagine it first? And who better to do that imagining than those who will inherit that future?

Within these stories are the seeds of the ability to think critically. Seeds that will flower into the means to challenge those assumptions we take for granted, that will in time reveal what we previously believed to be impossible is attainable.

Writing is a form of alchemy. It is literal magic. The stories we tell have the power to change perception and beliefs. Those in turn shape our choices, and in doing so can change our actual reality. What we imagine, we create. What we create, we become.

There is hope for better tomorrow. It is emerging from the active imaginings of the authors of this book. The next generation. Our future.

- Mike Dunbar, March 26, 2024

BRAVE NEW WORLDS

SECTION ONE:

Rose and Star

DESTINIE NORRIEGA

Rose and Star are nine year olds and in third grade in Las Vegas. At school, they find a secret locker near their lockers. They open it and go inside and find a library. The library has so many books, a kitchen, and a table to read the books.

They find a book, and they start reading and reading. They read Babysitter Club, books about water, and books about helicopters for two hours. Then they play in the kitchen. In the fridge there’s sweets and healthy food like broccoli, grapes, eggs, tortillas, and strawberries. They eat the food, and they get so full that they have to take a nap on the blue sofa in the library.

When they wake up, Rose and Star realize that the door is locked. They shout, “Help!” but no one comes to help them. Then a voice starts talking to them over the speakers. They recognize the voice as Principal Sun. Ms. Sun says that if they answer her questions, she will let them out of the room.

First she asks, “What’s your favorite food?”

Rose answers spaghetti. Star says she likes chicken and rice.

Then Ms. Sun asks, “What is your favorite color?”

Rose says it’s rainbow, and Star says she likes white, blue, and purple.

Finally, the principal asks, “What do you like to do when you’re bored?”

Rose says that she plays with makeup. She goes on to list her favorites as eyeliner, blush, lip gloss, lipstick, and eyeshadow. Star explains she likes to eat candy, push-pops, and gum.

Ms. Sun thanks them for answering her questions and says, “You’re free to go.”

The girls get their things: their pink and purple purses, their blue and white backpacks, and their water bottles. They open the door and go back to science class.

Their friend Delilah asks where they have been. Rose and Star explain they opened the locker and saw a library and went inside, where they got locked in. They waited three hours before the nice principal began asking them questions.

After science class, they go home and eat dinner and then go to bed.

✶ ✶ ✶

Destinie is a reader. She is good at coloring. She is good at basketball.

The Green World

ISABELLA HERRERA

Everything started with a green world in the city of the Green Lemonade, where the green lemonade people lived. They were made of green lemonade. There was a boy whose name was Mateo who was walking in the park that was very green.

He was looking around and thought, “Why is the world all green?”

He went to the Library of the Green Book to find a book to investigate how to make the world more colorful. Mateo found the answer in a book named Did you have a Question? Mateo read that to make the world more colorful you needed to look for a rainbow, touch it, and the world would become more colorful. Mateo went to his best friend Jonah’s house to tell him what he would do.

“Hey Jonah, I’m going to make the world more colorful.”

Jonah said, “Bro, that’s ridiculous. How are you going to do that? It’s impossible. I am not helping you with that.”

“Okay, but don’t call me when I’m famous,” Mateo said.

Jonah went away because he thought that Mateo was crazy. But Mateo did not stop. He prepared his backpack, and he went to the mountains just as it said to do in the book. Then he saw a rainbow. He was happy and excited because he saw more colors other than green. He went running to touch the rainbow, which felt like air and like slime.

When he touched the rainbow everybody started to see red, yellow, blue, white, orange, purple, and the other colors. When Mateo came back home, the people already knew who had made the world more colorful. Everybody started to clap for him. Jonah was so, so mad!!! Because he wanted to be famous.

“Now who is laughing at who? Ha!” Mateo said to Jonah.

Then Jonah said to Mateo, “Now it’s your fault that we can’t see green anymore. Green doesn’t exist now!”

Then a man said to Jonah, “Who cares about green now? I’ve seen green for 30 years, and I see it all the time, even in my dreams. I’m happy green doesn’t exist anymore!” Then everybody started to say the same thing, agreeing with Mateo over Jonah.

Mateo said, “It’s not my problem that you said no to helping me make the world more colorful.”

Jonah said, “Fine, you win. Sorry. Did you want to still be my friend?”

Mateo said, “Bro, your idea is ridiculous.” Jonah made his face look sad but then Mateo said, “Nah, I’m just kidding Jonah. I’m still your friend.”

Then everybody started to enjoy the worldful colors.

Isabella is 11 years old. She likes to draw and play tug with her two cats, Mancha and Chita.

The Fight!

JACOB V.

One day, Jacob, a fighter from the planet Bottom Up, headed towards the planet Upside Down to participate in the big fight tournament. He had curly hair and his eyes were brown. He was 5’ 3” tall and had a crown tattoo on his right arm. He was wearing a black shirt and a jean jacket.

He passed through planet Bottom Up’s small neighborhood with not many things to do and only four and a half stores with food, but then he went to Planet Upside Down’s big robber town with a lot of drama.

Driving through the forest, it was dark at night. Blinkers were still on in Jacob’s Ford truck. Then Jacob got out of the car, but he dropped a dollar and the strong wind took it away. When he tried to pick it up, he found a green, circular portal. The wind from the portal took him away. He was scared as he went inside.

When he went inside, he was teleported to a boxing match. He saw two guys and their coach walking up. The crowd was going wild. He realized this was where he was supposed to be. So Jacob waited in line to fight in the big fight tournament that he had signed up for.

Suddenly, he remembered that he forgot his application in the car. He walked away sadly and waited until the light went green to cross the

crosswalk. He remembered that the portal was close by. He went back inside the portal and got his application from his car.

He went back through the portal to the fight and turned in his application. He was set against Ali. Ali threw the first punch to Jacob’s face, and Jacob punched him in the stomach. The punch made Ali fall to the ground, and the crowd started counting up to five. There were five blood drops and one loose tooth. The crowd was people from different planets, and they all went wild!

Jacob won the fight and went back home and slept. He was happy. After he slept, he got his Ali jersey and his Ali pants that he won in the fight. He found the portal again. This time, it took him to another planet called Drumroll Please!

This was going to be his most difficult fight yet. He was going to have to fight a frenemy!

Jacob is from El Salvador. He likes to play soccer and Fortnite. He lives near Echo Park. :)

Doodle World

NOE A.

Doodle World is an inconceivably awesome world that does not require school or any learning place or app. But there is something you can do, which is play at least 15 hours of brutal gaming. If you are bored of playing video games, there is something else your curious brain can work on, which is… PAC-MAN!

The rest of Doodle World is just a teeny, tiny bit different from the spectacular gaming experience that is exclusive to the three-hour gaming mark. Doodle World is not too distinct from the real world, BUT! Doodle World is much more than just a spectacular gaming environment. It is extraordinary for its “no school” rule on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That rule has made the population shrink in Doodle World because people who like school end up moving away.

However, the current population of Doodle World is ecstatic about the opportunity that King Noe created, including the VIP pass. King Noe is basically the government, the president, a police officer, and every other job that exists in Doodle World, including a Home Depot sales associate.

Another exciting feature of Doodle World is the VIP pass that includes a precious, ginormous pool and comes with infinity tropical fruit smoothies, cheeseburgers, ramen, and DINO NUGGETS!!! To

get the glorious VIP pass, you have to master the fingerboard technique of landing 27 flips in one go. And…

*DRUMROLL*

You have to do a laser flip into a kickflip underflip and a 270 shove INTO an ollie.

Unfortunately, Doodle World has been invaded by Bubble World. Bubble World is the exact same place and thing as Doodle World, however Doodle World’s population has been taken over by Bubble Creatures. The Bubble Creatures destroyed the government’s top supply of the newest, most exclusive, and most expensive gaming technology. King Noe is devastated, but has no choice. He has to banish the Bubble Creatures from Doodle World.

There is one problem. The only Doodle Person who could banish the infamous Bubble Creatures was the man known as Doodle Bob. Doodle Bob was unique looking because he had turned into a croissant at the age of three. He had pink toes, a pink sweatshirt, blonde hair, and he was always smiling. He always wore a skirt with yellow and green pants underneath, and he carried a bubble wand at all times. He was very energetic. In fact, his jet-motorcycle was faster than a 20,000 horsepower vehicle.

King Noe needed Doodle Bob’s help to banish the Bubble Creatures. Doodle Bob did not want to help though because he felt that they were his family. King Noe even offered Doodle Bob a 2090 Bubble Wand to help him banish the Bubble Creatures from Doodle World. However, Doodle Bob refused the offer and was insulted.

He was so mad that he moved away to Doodle World 2.0 where his great, great, great grandpa lived. He broke in and lived in the basement for decades, trying to come up with the most evil plan to take over Doodle World. But, being the croissant he was, he didn’t have the resources to take over…YET.

Noe A. is in fifth grade and is 10 years old. Noe A. likes to play football and to play with his tech deck. Noe A.’s favorite class is P.E. and his least favorite is reading.

Da

Donkey ALAN M.

My characters are Stickman and Da Monkey. They are fighting friends. The setting is a jungle built into an arena. The problem is that there is a game of fighting. Da Monkey uses explosive bananas and Stickman dodges them. Stickman has a staff and can fly. Da Monkey runs out of bananas. Da Monkey gets a flamethrower from God and starts shooting the flames out.

Stickman flies and starts to dodge the flames and then Da Monkey runs out of gas. He then gets a sword and starts cutting one of Stickman’s wings, but it does not hurt him.

Then they try to be friends. But suddenly, Stickman hits Da Monkey. As he falls off, he says, “It did not hurt,” and starts running away.

Then they have a big fight. Stickman runs out of energy and faints on top of Da Monkey. Da Monkey grabs Stickman and throws him around and says, “I just want to be better than everyone else.” Da Monkey is declared the winner and gets the trophy.

Alan likes monkeys and soccer. He also likes macaroni and cheese. He plays Call of Duty.

The Good and the Bad

ALEX G.

One day Adan and his brother Luis were walking home. But when they got home, they were shocked to see what was in their house.

“Luis, what is that?” said Adan.

“I don’t know,” replied Luis.

The thing in the house was a portal. The portal sucked them in. Adan and Luis woke up in a new world. They were surprised about what had happened. They walked around to find help. While walking around they saw an abandoned building.

When they entered, Adan and Luis saw a sword. The brothers walked to the sword. “Look! It’s called the Master Sword.” Adan grabbed the sword and Luis found a gun that could shoot out portals, but it also turned into a sword. Luis turned it back into a portal gun, and they used a portal to go back home.

When they got home, there was a war going on between ninjas and pirates. They had a fight with the ninjas that lasted for two days, but Adan got tired. The pirates shot a giant ball at him, but Luis pushed Adan aside and got hit by the ball. Luis was no more.

Adan got so mad that he went into a rage and destroyed the pirates. The war was over. Adan went home sad because his brother was killed.

When he got home he went to bed.

A few days passed when Adan heard a knock on the door. Adan opened the door, but no one was there. Then later he heard a familiar voice, “Long time no see, brother.” Adan looked back and saw his brother Luis.

“How are you alive? You died by getting hit by the giant ball,” said Adan.

“A spirit gave me a second chance,” said Luis.

“I’m just glad you’re back.”

Alex Garcia likes to play action and storyline video games. In his free time, he likes to watch anime like Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, and Attack on Titan. He also enjoys reading and writing creative stories. His favorite music includes K-pop, rock, and calm music.

Catalina Island

AMANDA M.

Once, there was a place called a volcano, and that volcano became a very nice place called Catalina. Catalina was made by a subduction in which the Pacific tectonic plate went under the continental (mainland) plate.

The Gabrielino Indigenous Americans lived on Catalina Island for over 7,000 years. When Cabrillo discovered the island in 1542, he claimed it for the king of Spain. Mexican ownership dates from 1821, when Mexico achieved its independence from Spain.

There are also animals, but how did they get there? The wild boar was brought down from Santa Rosa Island and California Mule Deer were brought over from the mainland. The deer became an invasive species on the island because the deer would eat all of the grass. The island’s people got tired of the deer eating Catalina’s plants. They decided to hunt the deer, but the deer possessed super-intelligence that it would use to hide from its predators. The deer knew when people were coming for it.

Years passed before the people eventually found the deer. People surrounded the herd, and the deer were not able to escape. The deer then spoke to the people. The people were not surprised that the deer could speak, but they were confused because they couldn’t understand.

In the end, the people found the deer’s house, and once the deer was hunted, beautiful flowers could blossom again as the deer no longer negatively influenced the beautiful Catalina Island.

Amanda recently went to Catalina Island and this place inspired her to write this story. Amanda likes animals in general.

The Might Might Dragon

ARTURO C.

One day in a far, far away land in a village by the ocean, there was a chief. Chief Jay was a man with dragon-scale armor.

In his house, he said, “What? A dragon hunter is in the forest in sector four. I’m on my way.” In the stables, he said, “Get my dragon ready.”

“Yes, sir! Here it is,” said the workers.

The Chief said, “Come on, buddy!”

Meanwhile, in sector four, the dragon hunter said, “Come on! The boss wants 40 dragons by the end of the week.”

The workers said, “Yes, sir!”

The Chief said, “I see them in the trees!”

The dragon hunters said, “Fire!”

Chief Jay said, “They found us! We gotta go now!”

*FLAP FLAP*

The dragon hunters said, “Follow them!” after they entered the clouds.

The Chief responded, “Go, I’ll fight them.”

The dragon hunters said, “Fight me like a man!”

The Chief said, “You want me to fight you?”

“Yes!” said the dragon hunters.

The Chief said, “Fire!”

The dragon hunters said, “When we finish with you, we’ll have your night fury.”

“No, because I have an army,” said the Chief.

*BEEP BEEP*

“Fire! Fire!” After they fired, the balls went back and forth. After Chief Jay’s army dodged the attacks, the dragon hunters got hit. They had to retreat.

“Retreat!’” said the dragon hunters.

“Good,” said the Chief. When the Chief’s army came to their village, all the dragons were missing.

“Check the stables,” said the Chief.

“You check the dragon village,” his soldiers said. “Sir, all the dragons are gone,” his soldiers said.

The Chief said, “I’m going to find the hunters.”

After many days passed without finding anything, one day the Chief was shot out of the sky and fell at 20 miles per hour. He blacked out for two days. When he woke up, he was hanging over a pit of lava with his dragon.

The dragon hunters’ boss said, “It’s time to die, Jay.”

“NOOOOO,” said the Chief.

“Bye, bye,” said the dragon hunters’ boss. He dropped the Chief into the pit of lava. Will they ever get the dragon? It will all be answered in the next book.

To be continued…

Arturo Garcia Cruz is a fourth grader at Beethoven Elementary School. He is from Los Angeles, California, and at only 9 years old he has published his second book. Arutro is very much about family as he has two older sisters, Edna and Roxana. During his free time, he enjoys playing Minecraft, watching TikTok, and has extreme enjoyment watching YouTube. When reading and writing, he enjoys the genre of action due to its many plot twists and exciting moments.

Monke

CARLOS C.

On Earth, people were people. For now. There was a kid who knew that Earth was in danger. The kid’s name was J-man. He was a gamer. He played a game called Gorilla Tag. In the game, he played as a monkey and tagged people. The last person left won.

One night after playing the game, J-man went to sleep. The next day he woke up at 8 AM. He was worried because the danger would come at 1 PM. J-man went back to sleep and woke up at 12:30 PM. J-man played his last game of Gorilla Tag at 12:55 PM. J-man said goodbye to his family at 12:59:55 PM. In 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… a black hole got everyone in the game.

Out of the eight billion people on Earth, one billion didn’t die. In the game, a speaker appeared. “Guess the game. If you don’t guess the game correctly, you die,” The speaker said.

“Gorilla Tag,” J-man responded. People screamed because they turned into monkeys. J-man went back to Earth because he guessed the game correctly.

J-man played on his Oculus and joined Gorilla Tag. Then he told people that the game was called Gorilla Tag because he wanted to save as many people as he could. He joined a lot of servers and told people

the name of the game.

Then after a lot of hours, he went to sleep. When he woke up, he got on Gorilla Tag to tell more people about the name of the game. Then there was one person left to guess the game, and J-man told him. Then the new player told the speaker the name of the game and was able to go back to Earth.

They celebrated back on Earth with the other one billion people! They told J-man that he was a hero!

Carlos is 11 years old and is in fifth grade. He loves to play Monkey Game on his Oculus, and he also plays soccer. He also likes to play FC24 and VRFS which are both soccer video games.

The Day that It Happened

CEASAR G.

On a sunny day, there was happiness and laughter, when suddenly it all started to change. Pablo was training when it happened. Betty was taking care of the animals, and Johnny was sharpening his claws.

*DING DING DING*

“AHHHH! She’s here! RUN GO GO!” the people said, “Hey window girl! I will offer myself up as your servant!”

“Huh, oh, HAHAHAHAH! No.”

*SPLAT*

“AH! Juan is gone!” A bystander exclaimed!

“Hey,” Pablo said, “¡Ay esta niña otra vez, a la gran púchica!”

Betty said, “Sorry, I don’t speak Mexican!”

“That’s racist,” said Johnny.

“Hiii! Um… Let’s get this over with!” said the Kenui.

The Kenui were the six followers of Window Girl, an immortal villain, who had been around for hundreds of years.

“I wanted to come back,” Kenui One and Two said.

“Wanna bet?” Pablo said. “I’ll get Six! You get back up!”

“Okay!,” Betty shouted.

As Pable looked at Betty—at her ginger hair, her beautiful face—

he felt a sense of love.

*SHING GLOP SHING*

In an unexpected twist, Six was made of slime.

Pablo yelled in frustration, “AHHH!”

*FLOOM*

Pablo’s blade was ignited in a bright flame like the sun.

“What?” Pablo whispered.

“NO! F-F-F-F-F-IRE. I’M MELTING!”

*POP POP SIZZLE SIZZLE*

“Wow. Thank you. I’m free,” said Six.

“Back up is here!” Betty said. Immediately after she said that, she thought, “Wow, he’s cute.”

“Get them!” The rest of the Kenui came.

“Sun-breathing, 13th form, dancing flame dragon!” Tangiro said.

“How did you do that?” Pablo swore that’s what happened to his blade.

“I’ll tell you later,” Tangiro responded.

*SHING CRACK RRRRR*

“Five is coming!” Pablo said.

“Haha! I am too tall for you to take me!” Five yelled, “I’m like a GO—”

Pablo took down Five in a single slash. “So much for being a god,” Johnny said.

After a lot of big talk, finally One was left. “Hahaha! I’m useless, I couldn’t kill a fly,” One said.

“Sure… ” Johnny said.

“Hahaha! That’s just a theory,” One responded.

*RRRRR BOOM CRACK*

“Ahh!” Everyone but Pablo screamed as a huge rock appeared barricading One.

“I have an idea,” Pablo started whistling.

“Ribbit,” the Pope Frog said.

“Really? The dang Pope?” Johnny said.

“Yes, because his hat gives him power. Pope, destroy those rocks!”

*RIBBIT BOOM*

“How?!” One questioned as she becomes vulnerable.

“IDK girly,” Betty said.

*SHING*

“Gone easy,” Pablo said. “Off to Window Girl.”

“Hi, I heard you. That hurt my feelings,” Window Girl said.

“Womp, womp,” Johnny said.

“Well it’s about to be a big ‘Womp womp’ for your whole city, because I’m about to destroy it.”

“Sure, if we don’t stop you… Vanessa.”

“How did you know my name?” said Vanessa.

Johnny said, “Your name is really Vanessa? Dang.”

Pablo said, “I know your name because my grandparents told me all about you and how you terrorized and burned their farms.”

“Nuh uh,” said Vanessa.

Pablo moved in to attack Vanessa, and his blade ignited once again with the face of a dragon.

“Again? How?!” Pablo yelled.

Tanjiro jumped in, “Is that sun-breathing? I thought it was only the ancient slayers and I who used that!”

“I don’t know what it is, it just appeared on my sword earlier,” said Pablo.

Vanessa sent an attack, hitting Tanjiro out of the air. Then Pablo immediately ran with a huge smile on his face to try to destroy Vanessa with his sword. Johnny jumped in as well, trying to get a slash in with his claws. Betty looked into her backpack and found a slingshot, and loaded it with rocks, shooting them at Vanessa. Unsurprisingly, she was getting annoyed.

“RAHHH! Stop that! It’s annoying and it’s not doing anything!” yelled Vanessa.

Johnny and Vanessa fought.

“Oweee!” she said.

“Womp womp,” Johnny said.

“Plot twist! I can regenerate!” said Vanessa.

As Pablo was right in position to get the weak spot with the sunbreathing, he went in for the last action.

*BOOM*

Everything was over.

“NO NO NO NO NO! This can’t be happening! How can I get sick to mac and cheese!”

“I don’t know, maybe read the box next time. Maybe you’re allergic?” said Pablo.

“YAY! We’re all saved!” The citizens celebrated.`

“Pablo, you think you can get rid of me, but I always come back…” Vanessa vanished.

Ceasar is a sixth grade student who likes to come up with characters. He loves to eat spaghetti. In an interview he said, “I give thanks to my mom, my dad, 826LA for giving me this opportunity, and my uncle Diego.” P.S. All the characters are Legos except the Window Girl who is a Barbie.

Taco Bell

DAMIAN M.

One morning in San Francisco, California, three teens named Milk, Dark, and Wafer walked out of a Taco Bell injured. They had been confronted by ten 8-year-olds. The teens had been throwing Baja Blasts at the stalls where the kids were using the restroom.

As they walked and limped out of the Taco Bell, Milk—a mostly quiet Mexican teen from Baja, California—decided to go back to Taco Bell to use the restroom because the Taco Bell had started to get to him. So he tried to go running back but slid in a puddle of Baja Blast and fell apart into Lego pieces. They were all Legos. After he was built again, he ran.

After an hour of waiting, Dark and Wafer noticed Milk was taking a long while. So they decided to check back inside the Taco Bell. Dark—a Mexican from Sinaloa, who was also quiet—recklessly decided to go look for him. When he came back, he had a letter. He then read the letter to Wafer.

“Wafer and Dark, if you are reading this, we got Milk. If you want him back, come find him in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. There is a map on the next page. Come here on July 7th at 7:20 PM or else… ” Wafer, a Oaxacan Mexican who thinks he is cool and the leader,

said, “Oh snap, Dark, looks like we are going to Brazil.“

“Okay,” said Dark absentmindedly as he was daydreaming.

So they went on their phones to get their plane tickets. The plane would leave the next day, allowing them time to pack up and go buy things in stores. The next day, Dark and Wafer went to the Amazon rainforest and followed the map. On the way there it got dark, so Wafer and Dark decided to sleep and continue in the morning.

Wafer woke up in the morning and realized Dark was missing, but he didn’t care and continued on his journey. After 3 hours, he arrived at his destination which was inside a cave. Once he entered, he was attacked by a pack of skeletons, which he escaped and then continued exploring the cave and found an exit. When he opened the door, a dragon came out of nowhere and attacked Wafer. As Wafer ran, he tripped and fell into a deep cave and died.

He got up from the simulation in the VR and saw Milk and Dark around him (it was the real world). “Were you guys in that simulation too?” Wafer asked to which Dark and Milk said, “Yes.” They decided to leave Wafer’s house and go to Taco Bell and get a Baja Blast.

Damian M. is a 13-year-old kid who likes basketball, drawing, playing video games, football, soccer, boxing, drawing, and eating (even though he may not be the best at some of them). He has pet turtles and supports Club America.

The Secret Portal

EMMANUEL M.

Once upon a time, there were four kids. Their names were Joshua, Jacob, Cindy, and Matthew the Robot. They went to a big bridge to see what was on the other side.

Cindy said, “Look at the big castle.”

Matthew said, “Look! There is a big beast up there.”

Jacob said, “Let’s get our robot to fight the beast.” The beast had sharp claws and sharp teeth. They turned on the robot to attack.

They started fighting, but the beast said, “I will let you in if you give me my food.”

The kids said, “Okay, monster, what do you want?”

The beast said, “I want meat,” but he lied to the kids. Then the beast left and went to a secret lab on the top of the castle.

Then they saw a portal that led inside the castle. They all went inside. Then they had to defeat all the bosses inside the castle. They were battling. The kids won, so they went back to the normal world.

Emmanuel’s favorite food is enchiladas, especially the red ones. In the summer he likes playing with water balloons and water guns.

The Upside Down World

GERARDO H.

As I was walking to mom’s house, I suddenly shrunk to the size of an ant. I saw a bottle and went inside where there was a portal. I went through the portal into a big planet where the ground was upside down. Yeah, the ground, that’s right. I grabbed onto a rock, but it was too slippery. I decided to let go because there was a rock above me.

I couldn’t see who was holding the bottle, but suddenly there was a duplicate of myself. I knew that there wasn’t really another, so I crashed into myself, but it was just a mirror.

It swept me away like I wasn’t even that heavy. I was yelling for help, but nothing worked. I saw the bottle, and I started walking towards it. The guy dropped the bottle, so I went to go get it, but I was so little that I couldn’t even see it. I was really confused.

Suddenly, there were cracks and noises coming from down there. The ground made weird noises, but I was still confused. Suddenly, it broke so I quickly got the glass.

I fell and yelled, “Aahahah!” Everything was pitch black. I went as fast as I could to get the bottle, but we both got it. When I looked at it, it was my reflection that broke the mirror.

There was a circle that was a portal. There was a monkey chasing

me, but I said, “At least they’re not chasing me anymore… What!?” Suddenly monkeys came out of the portal. The tiny bottle was there, so I grabbed it, and I took off the glasses, and I was just dreaming.

Reflection

GRACE T.

“Idon’t want to be here right now. I’m so tired of everyone. I just wanna go to sleep,” I tell myself in an irritated, sad manner, hoping that sleeping will make me feel better. Then I lay down and immediately knock out.

“What is this place?” I mutter to myself and look around. Pink. Light pastel pink that has a hint of red. Portals. A deep purple inky color that almost looks like black. It’s kind of cool looking and also calming. Different from what I’m used to.

I walk towards a portal and see that there’s a little sign above it. “Sagescape,” it reads. The portal to the left of me is called “Screenpark,” and the one to the right is called “Everything.” They are really interesting names, but I like them. I end up trying to enter “Sage-scape” since that is the first one that I read and feel drawn to, but I wake up right as I walk in.

I’m doing alright so far today. I just want to go to sleep and lay down at home. Oh well! I’ll just hang out with my friends. At the end of the day, I lay down on my bed. On the nice, soft sheets and blankets. As with last time, I end up back in the pink room. This time, instead of just being distracted by it, I enter Sage-scape.

As I enter, it’s all kinds of dim, like faded and kind of sad. It is

all just grass. Dim, sad, green grass. It is also the same thing with the trees. The trees are big and still somehow beautiful, despite their faded colors. Some are filled with flowers and some with fruit. I love fruit. Especially guavas. I love guavas. I take a bite into one from the tree, but then I end up spitting it back out.

“Eh! What? Why is it bitter?” I spend a while thinking. “Hmm, there’s definitely something going on here. I think I have to figure it out.” I say, thinking out loud. “Although, I think before I start looking here, I might check if the other places are like this.”

So, I leave Sage-scape and enter Screenpark. It is different. Way different from Sage-scape. Sage-scape is a whole field of grass and trees with flowers and fruits. Screenpark is a city, not a crazy crowded city, but a city nonetheless.

There are people. Well, not like human people, but like creaturepeople-things. They are raccoons that can stand and walk on their two back legs. They are cute and chubby, but a bit scary since they all seem sad.

Like Sage-scape, Screenpark is dim and dull, like a gray scale I suppose. After this, I am 100% sure that Everything will look the same, gray and dim, although I haven’t seen what Everything looks like, so I might as well go and see for myself. I hope it’s something easier that can help me get an idea about how to fix this.

“Okay Everything, you are my final hope. Let’s see what you have to show me,” I say.

Then I walk towards the portal and enter. All I see is an endless space, but in the distance, I see some sort of pole thing. I walk to it just to inspect and see what it is. While walking, I wake up. Unfortunately, I have to go through another day. Again.

“Okay, guys! I’mma go now! I’ll talk to y’all later!” I say to my friends in a cheerful voice. I just want to go home honestly. I don’t want to be at school.

“Ah, back home. I hope I get to figure out what’s wrong with the worlds,” I tell myself while walking into my room. Without turning my lights on, I just lay down on my bed.

“I don’t think I’m tired enough to fall asleep yet. Ugh. Okay, well I’ll just do my missing schoolwork.” After finishing my schoolwork— well, some of it—I lay down and finally fall asleep. I go to the pole thing again and look around. “Hmm… There’s a little hatch on it.”

Inside, there is a missing piece in the middle. “Where can I find a piece in a blank piece of land?” I mutter to myself. I walk around the area where the pole is. After a while of walking, I lay down and groan.

“Come on! Where am I supposed to find this thing?” I yell out of frustration. “I wish it could just appear in front of me.” Little do I know, it does, in fact, appear. I grab the object and put it into the slot where it needs to be placed.

Everything looks the same even with the object inside the pole, but it has a more positive energy. I then enter all the other portals to go to their worlds. I realize that all the worlds have their own little aspect to figure out how to fix it.

In Sage-scape, after walking behind the portal a bit, there is a big tree that also has a hatch in it. The object is a big flower. I end up finding one while crying about the fact I can’t find anything and laying down for a bit.

I wake up at that point, but I have had a somewhat fun time there without faking it or hiding anything. I have a more productive and creative day.

While fixing Screen Park, I ask a racoon, who manages to talk and answer me. “You have to find the biggest light post around here. It’s near the skate park,” it says.

So I try to find it and I do find it! I have to find a small enough speaker to fit in it. After asking many racoons, one does have one.

At school, I have a good day with my creativity, but also with enjoying what is around me. Even my friend says I am happier—or, well, I seem happier. I realize I really like flowers. Fixing all the worlds has been fun and I have had a fun time just hanging out in all the spaces. I feel like they have really helped me with my feelings.

That day, I have a more social day, which is crazy to me. I’m not such a social person. “I’ve been having a weirdly better experience

just being me,” I think before going to slumber and going back into what might be weird—but are now familiar—spaces, and new ones that need something for me to do or fix.

But, I have realized the importance of accepting me for who I am is all I need.

Grace is a big fan of music, especially an artist named Cavetown. She has a Cavetown hoodie that she loves very much. She aspires to be an artist when she’s older, preferably a musician.

Jackie Was a Vampire! KIMBERLY J.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Jackie. She was a natural and famous. Jackie was writing to her friend named Sofia. She was having a birthday party that was… TODAY!

Jackie just went to her house and said, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

Then she thought out loud to herself and said, “Hmm… What should I give Sofia? Maybe an iPhone or a puppy. Hmm… I know! I’ll give her a puppy!”

“Hey, Sofia, look! I’m going to give you a puppy!”

Sofia said, “What? OMG! She is so cute! Is it a girl or a boy?”

“Oh, it’s a girl,” Jackie replied. Sofia’s birthday party was over. Jackie was heading outside when she heard a sound that sounded like a stick had been broken. Then a vampire appeared! Jackie screamed, “Aaaaaaaah! Help!” but nobody heard Jackie.

Although Sofia was happy that she turned 15 years old, she heard a distracting sound. It was Jackie herself! Jackie had turned into a vampire. So Sofia had to do something to turn Jackie into a human again or else Jackie would bite everyone! Sofia thought, “Oh, I have an idea. Maybe I can call my friend Sally, so she can help me to turn Jackie back to human.”

Sofia and Sally took Jackie back to their house. Sally went and got

all of the things that she needed. Sally said, “Okay, I’m almost finished with this. Ah, I got it! TADA!”

“Hey, Jackie, here is the potion that will turn you into a human!”

Sofia exclaimed. Then Jackie caught and drank the potion.

“What happened?” Jackie said.

“You’re back! I’m glad we fixed this. Now we are all together again,” Sofia said.

Kimberly likes to write stories and listen to music. She also likes to read stories about history and other interesting topics. Her favorite color is purple.

In a Far Away Land

LILLY F.

Once in a far land from here, Adi woke up in a mysterious land and was feeling mad. He was mad because he had no idea where he was. So he went exploring and wound up in a forest. As he was walking around, he stepped on something squishy. He looked down and it turned out to be a mushroom.

The mushroom shouted, “Hey, watch where you are walking!”

Adi screamed out, “What? Who is talking to me?”

“Me, obviously,” said the mushroom.

Adi replied, “Since when does a mushroom talk?”

The mushroom said, “Since always and I’m not just a mushroom. My name is Rob!”

“Rob! I didn’t know mushrooms had names,” Adi exclaimed.

Adi walked away and continued on his way.

To be continued…

Die Hard LIV

R.

Kyle, Matt, Cassie, Alex, and Jack were all friends in high school. They got an offer for a security guard job, and they took it.

One time, during their fourth month on the job, Kyle was chasing a rat and the rest went to look for him. Kyle hit his head and lost his consciousness (hit his head on the home of the rat). The others passed out looking for him. Since Kyle hit his head hard, he dreamt of the others. Then they actually—PHYSICALLY—got sucked into his head. They all fell from the top of Kyle’s head. They all saw what looks like THE NETHER. They all saw a bunch of monsters.

“Oh lord,” Cassie said.

“What? Oh my,” Matt replied.

First, they explored the area. “Wow! Look at these goofy trees, they’re half black, half pink,” Alexander said. Everyone laughed.

“Whoa, guys, are you guys seeing this?” Jack asked, as what was known as a “KREA” crawled towards him. Jack ran.

“What is it?” everyone asked.

“It’s a KREA!!!” Jack yelled. Everyone else ran toward a village as Jack followed them.

Alex asked, “OMG! Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Jack replied.

Alex said, “No, not you! The KREA!”

Jack said, “What? The KREA that’s following me?”

“No duh, the one on your hand, ” Alex said.

“What do you mean? It’s a rock, ” Jack explained. They all stop at an army of KREAS.

“Look guys, it’s a village,” Matt said.

“No! That’s an army of KREAS!” Cassie explained.

Jack asked, “What do they want?”

“They’re protecting their eggs,” Cassie said.

Jack yelled, “For the last time, it’s a rock!”

Cassie snatched the egg and gave the KREAS the egg. The KREAS still attacked them for taking their egg. At one point, they lost them, and they got to the second monster, which was the CloverField. Without even doing anything, a lightning bolt came out of the sky doing 100 damage to the CloverField.

“Wow, it came out of nowhere,” Jack said.

Matt replied, “Sure did!”

“Thank you thunder,” they all said. The CloverField scratched Cassie and Alex.

“Go behind the monster and hit it with this sharp rock,” Jack whispered.

Alex ran behind the CloverField with the rock. Matt and Jack distracted the CloverField by throwing rocks at it. The CloverField growled while trying to get Matt and Jack. Cassie joined Alex and got a bunch of rocks.

“Thanks,” said Alex.

“No worries,” replied Cassie.

They both threw rocks at the CloverField. Soon the CloverField had a hole in its stomach, made by the rocks thrown by Cassie and Alex.

“Oh shoot,” said Jack as the CloverField was about to fall. Jack and Matt ran away from the CloverField. The CloverField fell with a thump.

They all kept exploring. Cassie and Matt saw a hole. “This has to

be the exit,” Matt said.

“OMG! We’re free!!!” Cassie yelled. Jack and Alex smiled. Suddenly, a rumble came from behind them. They all waited. They saw the army of KREAS running after them.

Cassie and Jack yelled, “RUNNN!!!” They all jumped into the hole, one by one. They all jumped out, seeing their bigger selves. Their bigger selves woke up, seeing their elf-sized selves.

To be continued…

Liv Ryan is in fourth grade and is a lover of Hazbin Hotel. She has one funny friend. Fun fact: Liv loves dancing in the rain and plays Omegle 24/7.

MATTHEW M.

Mateo is good at video games. He plays them in his room, but he is sad because he has no friends. So he called his dad to play with him and his dad said, “No, I have to work.”

Mateo is sad and calls out, “Mom!” and she replies, “I am in my room. I don’t want to get up.” She hung up.

Mateo is sad. He has a chance to call his sister. She says, “Yes.” His sister asks, “Which game do you want to play?”

Mateo says, “Roadblocks. It is the best game.” They play the game. Mateo’s sister wins. He is happy for her.

Matthew’s favorite food is chips. He likes soccer.

Three Gems

NEHEMIAS B.

One day, four friends were reading a book. Their names were Sam, Tim, Sammy the Dog, and the evil witch Noah. They were reading a fiction book and when they turned to the next page, they saw three gems located on three islands. The first island was the fire realm, the next realm was the death realm, and the next realm was the ice realm which they were on.

“I want to steal it,” said Noah.

Tim replied, “Wait, did you say you want to steal it?”

Noah said, “No, I said I want to see it.”

Sam joined, “You did say that!”

“Fine, I did say that I want to STEAL IT!” Noah said to all of them. “I was just kidding about that though.”

Tim replied, “No, you were not!”

After that discussion, they were fighting over the book. Noah got mad and his eyes started to turn red. Then…

*RRRIIIPPP*

“Look what you have done Noah,” said Tim.

Noah screamed back, “What I did? That was you!”

“Shhh,” said the librarian. “This is a library.”

“YOU STAY OUT OF THIS,” they all said.

Noah’s eyes were turning more and more red until a big red ball was surrounding him. Noah turned and turned until he was a witch.

Tim said to Noah, “What happened to you?”

Noah said, “You like my new outfit?”

“Well, um… N-no,” Tim said.

Noah said, “You WHAT?!”

Sam said, “We like your outfit!”.

“Ruff, ruff, ruff,” said Sammy the Dog.

Then…

*WOOSH*

Noah flew through them. Then Noah did something with his wand and he created his base but they did not know this at the time. Then they started to walk over there.

*SHING*

Tim said, “Stop this Noah.”

“No, I shall not. You pay me, then I’ll stop,” said Noah laughing.

“No, I will not. Come down here and fight me,” said Sam.

“Ruff, ruff, ruff,” said Sammy the Dog.

“Sammy says that he and I and Tim could beat you in a battle,” Sam said.

“Fine, take this!” Noah said to Sam.

“Fine, we will take it,“ said Tim quickly. “We just need one more gem at the—”

“Wait, which islands have we gone to?” Sam replied to Tim. “Okay, we went to our realm and then the fire realm. Um… that’s it.”

Tim said, “Okay, I’m guessing we are in the death realm?”

“I guess so,” Sam said. Then they collected the last gem.

“We got it,” they both said at the same time.

“Yeah, but Noah is gonna be here soon. We can make fake ones,” said Tim.

“Good idea Tim,” Sam said. So then they made fake ones of all three just in time. Noah flew by and they hid the materials.

Noah yelled loudly, “Where is it?”

“I-it’s over there.” They pointed to Sammy the Dog. Tim and Sam

To be continued…

Nehemias B. is 11 years old and he likes to play video games and read books. He lives in Culver City, California. He lives in a house and has five family members including his dog. He likes to draw.

Dream Bad

PEYTON U.

Once, there were six people that fell asleep, and never woke up! Another person also fell asleep, and then everyone fell asleep! Everyone had the same dream. They saw a meteor about to hit America, but then the meteor paused because someone pressed a remote!

Someone said, “Who did that?” and then a person pointed at me! Suddenly, everyone was chasing me because they wanted to have the remote. I ran inside my house and locked the door.

My family said, “What happened?”

I said, “I have a remote, and it controlled a meteor that was about to hit the world.” My parents were scared. I put the remote in my safe and put in a password so no one could open it. My password was 129.

The people broke my door! And they broke my room door and they took my safe, but they didn’t know the password. Everyone chased the man who had the safe. The man got in his car and crashed into a tree. They broke his car window and someone else took the safe!

He saw a note that said “129” and opened the safe and took the remote. He ran to his house, but he fell and one of the people chasing him fell and pushed the remote on accident. The meteor was one inch from hitting America, but everyone woke up from the dream.

A news reporter said an actual meteor was hitting the Earth! Everyone was happy when they woke up from the dream, but this made them scared.

Peyton Urbina is a third grader at Grand View Boulevard Elementary School. He is from Los Angeles, California, and at 9 years old, he is publishing his firstever book. During his free time, he loves to spend time with his three siblings Fredy, Ashley, and Evelyn. When they are together, it is always a good time as they play soccer, Roblox, and their PS5. He currently plays soccer on the Barcelona soccer team as a midfielder. He enjoys writing and reading scary stories as he really loves the emotions that are packed within each story.

About a Guy Locked Out

RONNY R.

He was locked out of the house. He was super mad because his brother would not open the door. They were so mad at each other. Their names were Peyton and Gabe.

Peyton and Gabe went to a park together with other kids, Lucas and Jesus. Since they were in the same third grade class, they became best friends. They were always together, even in the cafeteria. They looked the same. They had the same face, outfit, and nose. They even had the same phone, water bottle, and backpack.

“Let me in,” Peyton said. “If you don’t, I will be so mad that I will fight you in the room. I will also tell Mom and Dad that the house looks like a mansion.” He was allowed in because his mom said so.

“Finally,” Peyton said laughing. “So easy,” he added as he walked in. He screamed into the house, “Hey Mom! I’m allowed in right, Mom?”

“Sure. Now are you sure that you won’t fight again?” She responded.

Peyton entered the house with a smug look and went back to his room. He went to sleep but then woke up to get some water and went back to his bed. His brother went outside to play some basketball.

Gabe and his friends decided to apologize to each other.

Ronny likes to play soccer, Oculus, and PlayStation. He likes to eat mango and watch TV shows like Chucky. He also enjoys playing outside with his dog.

Zendavia’s

ROXANA C.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Zendavia running into the forest. Zendavia had long, ashy blonde, wavy hair and was a professional robber that had the power to cross dimensions as long as nobody saw her. As she was running from the police that were chasing her after she had stolen a diamond, she stumbled upon a cave. Then she cautiously looked around and opened a portal by touching the diamond and moving her hand in a slow, upward, circular motion. This caused the cave to collapse.

Then she quickly entered the portal she created and her body transformed from its human form to a body with a mermaid tail. It was emerald green with hints of silver that shone with the moonlight.

“Ahh! Now I won’t be able to get the money I was promised!”

She had been hired by Audrey Olsen, the second richest person in the world. Zendavia started to doubt Audrey’s true intentions because years ago she had tried to kill her and once again it was happening. She was probably being tricked by her backstabbing archnemesis.

She was so distracted looking around. She finally noticed that she couldn’t move so she looked at her legs. She noticed that they were now a tail. After a few minutes, she finally got used to it and decided to go explore. Then she noticed an elegant diamond tower with sapphire

details engraved on the top.

After debating whether to go inside or not, she decided to go. As she entered, she noticed police officers. After looking at them for a while, she saw they were carrying a picture with her face and “WANTED” written in bold letters with five millions dollars as a reward. Then she got out of there as quickly as possible and thought to herself, “I need to get out of this dimension and find out how they found me or who told them where I was.”

As she was swimming, she bumped into one of the police officers because she hadn’t fully been able to control her fall. She said, “I’m sorry,” and he didn’t really look at her. But then he glanced at the paper he was carrying and came back over to her.

She quickly noticed him coming back and she swam away, moving around obstacles. More police officers started chasing her as she came across the same tower she saw before. She went in without hesitation, and as she swam to the second floor, she grabbed a small scarf to cover her hair.

The second floor sold all types of magical jewels, but there was one in particular that caught her eye. It looked just like the one that had taken her here, and she asked the store owner, “What does this do because I have one just like it.”

The store owner replied, “It can transport you to another dimension and change your appearance to a person you’ve seen before.”

“Oh, thank you, but can it also work on other people?” Zendavia asked.

“Yes, it can work on other people,” said the store owner.

“Thank you for your help,” Zendavia said, then she quickly left.

After finding an isolated area, she tried to use the power of the jewel to change her appearance. After successfully changing her appearance, she focused and tried to create another portal to take her back to her dimension. After multiple attempts, she finally created a portal and entered it. It led her to the same ruined cave and she changed her appearance to Audrey as a precaution and to make sure she was safe from the police.

Luckily, on her way to Audrey’s mansion, she was able to avoid the police. She sneakily entered the mansion and found a place to hide, making sure not to get caught by any of the security cameras. When she found a place, she grabbed snacks and hid there for a week, plotting the perfect revenge.

One day, Audrey was alone and Zendavia decided it would be the perfect time for revenge. She decided she was going to stage it to look like Audrey stole the diamond.

She kept her appearance as Audrey and went where the cameras weren’t blocked and said, “Finally! I got rid of Zendavia! I forced her to take the diamond just to steal it from her.”

Then she left and ran back into the mansion as fast as possible. She hid the diamond in Audrey’s closet. When she was in the safety of the mansion, she decided it would be good if she got the money she was promised, so she hacked into Audrey’s safe, taking out all her money.

Five days later, the police arrived and took Audrey to jail. Zendavia decided it would be nice to take a break from everything and go on vacation with all the money she had now, and she decided she would never need to steal again.

Roxana is an exemplary student who loves to sleep and eat sour candy at 2 AM. She also aspires to be an entrepreneur.

The Super Amazing Digital Circus

MEYLING C.

Pomni and Jax owned the Digital Circus and were once happily married. Jax was sometimes mean to Pomni. One day, Jax said he wanted to marry Kinger. Kinger was a circus clown in the Digital Circus. She had small eyes and big sharp teeth. Pomni didn’t mind because she didn’t like Jax a lot. So Jax married Kinger. But after a while, Jax started missing Pomni. Kinger wanted to get rid of Jax, because he still liked Pomni.

One day, they were hosting a show with the Mermaid band. A lot of mermaids came to see the Digital Circus. Jax decided to try to get Pomni back. He snuck into her office and asked her to talk to him. Pomni refused. Jax got mad and wouldn’t leave Pomni alone. Pomni walked out into the forest behind the tent. Pomni kept telling Jax to go away but he wouldn’t listen and kept saying, “I love you!”

Suddenly, they heard a sound in the forest. They looked around and got very scared. Kinger came out from behind a tree. She was mad that Jax didn’t love her anymore and cast a spell. However, she wasn’t very good at it because nothing happened. Or so they thought.

They started arguing and walked into the circus tent. After they walked in, the tent door closed. They were confused and thought it was the wind. Jax went to check it out. He screamed, “We are locked in!”

Kinger looked at her spell book and realized she did it wrong. They were all locked in the circus all by themselves. Jax, Kinger, and Pomni wanted to find the exit door. Pomni wanted to go home. They decided to sleep the night in a bed and hoped to come up with a plan the next day.

When they woke up, they started looking for books, maps, anything to help them get out. Finally, Jax found an old spell book that said he had to make a person he left smile. He had to make Pomni smile. However, that would be quite difficult since Pomni was very mad at him.

Jax started finding ways to make Pomni smile. He tried telling funny jokes, pranking Kinger, doing a funny dance, and more. Jax was about to give up but remembered what made Pomni happy—dancing together to her favorite song. Jax spent the rest of the day setting up everything.

He told Pomni to join him on the floor. They danced the night away. When they realized the tent had opened, Kinger left and never came back. Pomni forgave Jax and they lived happily ever after in their Digital Circus.

Meyling C.’s favorite color is pink. She knows how to spell “cat.” She is in kindergarten. She forgot what she likes to do, other than draw. She likes Centers. It is fun.

The Pretty Ballerina

MEYLY C.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful ballerina. She wore a sheer red dress with sequin beading throughout the top and skirt. She loved to sing. She sang ballerina songs all day long. Her favorite song was the Ballet Piano Song. She had listened to it one million times even though it was a slow song. Her voice was very high pitched and pretty.

One day, while she was singing, a witch with green hair, a hat, and a broomstick put a spell on her with her witch’s wand. The old witch had drunk a jealousy potion, and she was jealous of the first person she saw—the ballerina!

The spell made her lose her voice. She was very scared. The ballerina went to the ballet studio called “Pretty Pink Bows.” She went into the dance room and desperately got her friend Helen’s attention. She moved her arms around until finally she got a piece of paper from the piano. She grabbed a pencil that was lying on the top of the piano and began writing.

She wrote, “The evil witch took away my voice. Please help me get it back!”

Her friend said, “Of course I’ll help you! I know someone who can help you. The princess from Flower Land who lives in the Ballet Castle.

In order to get to the Ballet Castle you need to cross the Unicorn Bridge inside the forest to get to Flower Land. Once you get there, look for the pink heart apple trees. When the trail of trees ends, the castle will be there.”

So the ballerina set off on her adventure. She felt happy and excited to go. She went into the forest, crossed the Unicorn Bridge, and finally got to Flower Land. She looked for the heart apple trees but couldn’t see them. She was about to turn back but saw heart-shaped leaves on the floor to the left. She decided to follow the path.

After a while, the path came to an end and she saw the rows of trees. She was so happy and grabbed an apple. She ate the apple which transformed her clothes into a pretty baby pink dress with shimmery beads embroidered throughout the skirt. The path came to an end and she saw the castle. A big smile crossed her face.

She went to the castle to find someone to help her. She had no voice, so she wrote about her problem and showed it to the princess, who wore a pink dress and had red hair. The princess wanted to help the ballerina get her voice back.

The princess went to get the wizard who lived at the castle. The wizard was old with white hair and had an evil voice. She explained the ballerina’s problem to the wizard and asked him to help. The wizard used his magical powers to give the ballerina her voice back.

The wizard walked to his huge cauldron. He started throwing in many ingredients to make the potion. He threw in seashells, glitter, dove feathers, and strawberry ice cream. He stirred and stirred until a pink cloud of pixie dust popped up from the cauldron. He served it in a kitty mug and gave it to the ballerina.

He said, “Drink. Not too fast, not too slow.”

So she drank it. Then her voice came back. She was so happy. Now the ballerina can sing all day long again.

Meyly’s favorite color is pink. She is in first grade! Her favorite animal is a rabbit. She likes to watch Mr. Beast and wants to be a ballerina when she grows up.

Cracked Eggs

JACKELYN A.

After a long day of helping the villagers in the kingdom of floating islands, wizard Peepo was on his way back to his small cottage that was built into a large tree stump. He strolled through the dark forest admiring all the flowers that only bloomed at midnight. That night it was peacefully raining. Nothing could ruin the moment.

Suddenly a loud roar came from afar. Peepo jumped and ran towards the noise. Curious as to what made the sound, Peepo whipped his head around and saw a large cave surrounded by many rocks. He slowly walked closer to the cave. He hesitated and sighed. “Maybe another time, Peepo,” he muttered to himself. Peepo turned around and walked away.

As wizard Peepo was starting to walk away, a louder roar—louder than any roar he’d ever heard—came from the cave. Peepo jumped into a bush and covered his head as a large gust of wind blew off his hat. Eventually the roar stopped, and so did the wind. Peepo opened his eyes and looked at the cave from behind the bush. Suddenly, twelve little eggs appeared and each of them were cracked.

A worried look appeared on Peepo’s face. He ran towards the eggs, wondering if the mother was still inside the cave, but not a sound came

out from the cave. It was getting dark and soon he’d have to go, but he couldn’t leave the eggs alone without their mother! Wizard Peepo sighed, wondering what to do with them. He looked back at the forest, seeing the sun set, and then back at the eggs.

Back at home in wizard Peepo’s little cottage, Peepo was setting the eggs down on his bed, making sure not to drop them. Peepo smiled as he covered them with a blanket. He then looked around, wondering where he was going to sleep for the night. He was the only one living in his house. From then on, wizard Peepo took care of all twelve eggs, even wanting to name them.

But one day, wizard Peepo had to come back to the village after a terrible disaster. Immediately, the fairy villagers asked wizard Peepo for food, “Please just use your magic for food! We’ve been starving ever since the storm!”

Wizard Peepo shook his head and explained, “I’m sorry, dear fairies, but I cannot, for the spells for making food are impossible!!!”

The fairy villagers were angry. They thought maybe the wizard was lying and he was keeping his food a secret. So they ran off to wizard Peepo’s cottage and went inside uninvited.

The few villagers scattered around, looking in different areas. That’s when one of the fairies called out in the bedroom. “I found food!!!” the fairy shouted.

As every villager entered the room, they found all twelve eggs laying on wizard Peepo’s bed. “How dare he keep food from us,” someone shouted.

“We must tell the king about this and get revenge on the wizard for lying to us,” another said.

That day, the fairies quickly sent out a letter to the king of all fairies in the kingdom. At night, when wizard Peepo came back home, he gasped at seeing all of his eggs missing. He then noticed a letter on the bed where all the eggs should have been sleeping. As he opened it, his eyes widened.

“Our dearest wizard Peepo, you must come to the castle for an immediate trial. From, King Fairy Boots III.”

Wizard Peepo frowned. He crumbled the letter and sighed. He was so confused but worried about his eggs. But right now he had to go to his trial. When he got there, he saw all of his eggs trapped in a cage.

“My eggs!” Wizard Peepo shouted.

“Not anymore, Wizard Peepo, you have committed a crime number… ”

The king paused, flipping through his book. It took a while, but he got to the page.

“Crime number 152—LYING!!!” he shouted dramatically, pointing at wizard Peepo.

The whole crowd gasped as this was said. Even the bear, who could have eaten them all, was disappointed too.

“NUH UH!” wizard Peepo said, shaking his head, “I never lied. I have no food either. And, those eggs aren’t meant for eating!!!”

The king rolled his eyes. “Yeah whatever… OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!” The king fairy shouted again.

Then suddenly a loud crumble came from the roof. Everyone looked up and suddenly the ceiling broke, dropping every single food and crop on the floor. When the whole kingdom found out about the king hiding all the food, they kicked him out with the town’s slingshot, and wizard Peepo got an apology. He was given a new case for his wand as a gift for being the greatest wizard in the kingdom. Wizard Peepo ran around the throne room of the crime, seeing all the eggs gone, though there was a flower left behind and he was happy in the end.

Jackelyn is a creative writer in middle school. And although she hates to write, she has A LOT! of ideas. Jackie also likes to draw, she thinks.

Fun World GABRIEL

Once upon a time, there was this guy named Gabriel who was 22 years old. Gabriel was short and had normal, short hair. He was in his backyard when he discovered this force field that turned him into a kid. The force field had no sound, but it was the shape of a half-circle and was the color yellow. The force field was not science, but magic. The force field had three doors, one was a TV room, another one was a gym, and the last one was a food room. These doors were the color brown and each had signs which said, “TV,” “food,” or “gym.”

Firstly, the TV room contained a ginormous TV, couch, and controller. In the TV room, he could choose any channel he wanted to watch. Everything was gray—gray walls, gray flooring, gray couch, and a lone gray TV.

Secondly, the gym room had obstacle courses and running tracks to get to the other side. With a place to exercise, the gym room contained two paths to get to the other side, a running track and a parkour track.

Lastly, the food room contained tables that he could use to order food. He could eat hot dogs or any other food he could dream of. In the food room, he ate on paper plates.

Gabriel entered the force field. He chose the food room because

he was hungry. In the food room, he ate tomato-flavored ice cream. The ice cream tasted like a tomato with a red texture and smelled like a real tomato. Gabriel was happy to eat the tomato ice cream.

Unfortunately, the force field was broken by Gabriel’s kids— Aaron, Max, and Josie. There were three kids in total. The first kid, Aaron, liked to swim. The second kid, Max, liked to draw. The last kid, Josie, liked to paint. The kids refused to not have fun.

The balance was peaceful and yellow. The kids broke the balance so they could enter the force field. The force field was supposed to protect the adults from turning into kids. Gabriel restored the balance with a book.

In the book it said Gabriel had to work out for one hour, so Gabriel went to the gym room and ran for 30 minutes. Gabriel made a deal with his neighbor Mario to show up when he was working out. Mario chased Gabriel and Gabriel jumped over Mario and ran for another 30 minutes.

The balance was restored because Gabriel ran for one hour. Gabriel felt exhausted and hungry. He was about to eat so much food. He celebrated by eating chicken and tamales. He ate a burger with cheese and meat. He ate French fries on the side without a dipping sauce. Gabriel actually felt relaxed that he got a vacation inside the force field. Gabriel grounded his kids for four months because they broke the balance.

Gabriel likes to interpret his art. He likes to swim in the pool. He made this world because his life is boring.

February 14, 201X

ANTHONY A.

Two “friends” were walking down the cold, dark street as they had just got out of school. Steven was walking Angela home. That’s what best friends do after all. All of a sudden, a swirlylooking cloud in the sky appeared.

“It seems weird today,” Angela said.

“How so?” Steven asked.

“Well—”

*BANG*

Angela got cut off.

“What was- ” Angela started.

The swirly cloud then got bigger and bigger and started to suck them both in. Angela almost got sucked in but Steven managed to grab her hand in time and hold onto a fence.

“Steven... ” Angela said quietly.

But then the cloud was too strong and made Steven let go of the fence and they both got sucked inside the cloud. As soon as they got pulled in, they landed in some otherworldly or nightmarish place. The world was colored with a sunset palette. The grass, hills, rocks, and clouds were all these colors.

But the color of everything was not the only weird thing. There

were also weird items like weirdly huge clocks and teeth. Despite the abnormal and creepy look, the place felt surprisingly cozy, warm, and comfortable. The feeling didn’t fit with how it looked. Both of them were pretty confused about where they were.

“Uh... ” Angela uttered.

“What nightmare is this?” Steven observed.

“It’s quite... gross.” Angela grimaced.

They started walking around, observing their surroundings. Angela’s black, long hair and Steven’s brown hair flowed in the cold breeze.

“It’s actually pretty peaceful,” Angela muttered.

“We should still be aware of our surroundings. We never know what might be lurking,” Steven cautioned.

“I’d like to get out of here already,” Angela sighed.

“Do you think we can somehow find an exit?” Steven asked.

“Hopefully we can leave this world. How can I describe it?” Angela asked.

“Quite quirky?” Steven replied.

They both wanted to exit this freaky world, not knowing what else awaited. They eventually found a tall tower above the clouds that looked like it would take hours to climb.

“What is—” Angela uttered.

“Is that a snowglobe at the top?” Steven observed.

“Should we climb it?” Angela questioned.

“We could maybe climb it to see more of what we can’t right now. Maybe we could see an exit,” Steven theorized.

“That ladder looks rusty. Hopefully it won’t break when we climb it,” Angela feared.

They decided to climb the tower despite the rusty ladder.

“There was... a lot more steps than I thought,’’ Angela panted.

“Well, there’s a cabin right there. Although I’m not sure if anyone is in there,” Steven pointed out.

“Maybe we could take a peek through the window,” Angela replied. They looked through the wooden window of the cabin, checking

if anyone was there but nobody was.

“You think there are laws here?” Angela questioned.

“Is any of this even real,” Steven wondered.

“Let’s just go inside if it’s unlocked,” Angela insisted.

They both went inside the cabin. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. The cabin felt warm and comfy like a warm blanket with a nice drink.

“What nice warmth, ” Angela mumbled.

Steven looked through the glass of a snowglobe, trying to look for anything important, but he couldn’t find anything.

“Will we ever get out of here,” Steven sighed.

“Let’s just go. I don’t wanna stay here,” Angela said.

“Maybe the farther we go, we’ll find something,” Steven theorized.

“Hopefully,” Angela sighed.

They climbed back down the broken ladder. As soon as they fully back on the ground, the ladder broke.

“I wouldn’t wanna go back up anyway,” Angela said.

All of a sudden the wind was getting strong. The fabric of both their uniforms moved with it.

“The wind seems oddly strange,” Angela pointed out.

“That’s normal in the real world, but this place is different,” Steven replied.

“This wind is going in one direction. It seems this place likes to do unexpected events. I feel like this will lead somewhere,” Angela theorized.

“Well... Hmm... Let’s see and follow it,” Steven replied.

They both walked in the direction of where the wind was going. As they felt like they’re getting close to something, the wind got stronger. As soon as they went deep into the wind, it stopped and revealed creepy sights.

There were claw marks on each hill, a darker color palette, and giant eyeballs. And random fog.

“So it did lead somewhere!” Angela said.

“You think there will be an exit around?” Steven questioned.

“I… I hope so,” Angela said. They walked around this darker,

creepier part of the world and they found a giant cloud of fog.

“This has to be it!” Angela claimed.

“We won’t see so… ” Steven grabbed Angela’s hand. “Let’s try to stick together. We can’t give up now and there could be something in there, so we have to be quick and find that exit,” he said with confidence.

“Y-yes let’s go,” Angela said, embarrassed.

They slowly walked into the fog and they could see a pure black figure around a blue swirly light. “That must be the exit but—“ Steven said cautiously.

“We can’t beat whatever that thing might be. We just have to go through that exit,” Angela said determinedly.

Steven quickly ran holding Angela’s hand, but that pure dark thing looked like it was going to attack any moment. Then it just stared as Angela and Steven went into the blue swirly light.

February 14 - Valentine’s Day

“It’s Valentine’s Day now. It’s good we’re back home, and almost on time for school. I better give Angela her gifts,” Steven said in his head.

Steven then got roses and chocolates from out of his drawer. He opened his front door and left for school. ✶ ✶ ✶

Anthony loves to draw every day during his free time. He draws anything and wishes to go to an art school. He will soon be 13 and likes pizza :), has four cats, and a dog. He wishes to go to a Miku Expo.

The Great Volleyball Escape

NAOMI KU

Once upon a time, in a world where volleyballs could talk and get hurt, a boy named Charlie didn’t want to attend his sister’s volleyball game at Alpine Recreation Center. He thought volleyball was a ridiculous sport and didn’t understand why anyone would like it. Charlie’s sister, Mabel, was a volleyball player who played and practiced with her friends. She had been working for weeks for this final game and was excited to play for Charlie.

However, Charlie was forced to watch Mabel’s game, and he did not enjoy it. Then he found a magic volleyball lying on the ground. Because he was bored, he touched it and was transported to a strange world where everything was made of volleyball material. He met Larry and Monica, two other kids stuck in the volleyball world there. They were all scared and confused but realized they needed to work together to get home.

The three turned into volleyballs and were put in a small storage closet. The closet was dark and cramped, with shelves filled with old volleyball equipment. Charlie felt claustrophobic and uncomfortable, but he knew he had to be brave for his new friends. Larry was a tall and skinny boy with glasses and a shy smile. Monica was a small, energetic girl with curly hair and a big personality. They were helpful

and cheerful, and Charlie was glad to have them as his allies.

Together, they came up with a plan to sneak past the volleyball players and the coach and find a portal back to the real world. They spent hours practicing and strategizing, and finally, the day of the giant escape arrived.

Their plan was risky and dangerous, but they executed it flawlessly. They snuck through the volleyball fields, moving slowly and rolling under nets, until they found the portal that would take them back home. As soon as they crossed the portal, they returned to the game where Charlie had first seen the magic volleyball.

They were exhausted but happy and hugged each other tightly, knowing they had just experienced a great adventure together. After that day, Charlie had a newfound appreciation for volleyball and even started to play it with his sister. Larry and Monica became his best friends, and they often talked about the world of volleyball from which they had escaped. They felt proud of their bravery and knew they could do anything if they worked together.

Naomi K. grew up in downtown Los Angeles and attends Thomas Starr King Middle School. After school, she attends 826LA, where she started writing. Her first published work at 826LA was a pumpkin pie poem when she was 11.

Video Game Rage

IGNACIO

As usual, Keven, Alex, and Charlie were playing video games when…

*BAM*

A weird portal came out of the video game chip. It was pink, purple, and orange. The boys got pulled into the portal. When they woke up, they saw a Dorito chip guy. “Where are we?” the boys asked.

The Dorito chip guy said, “You are in the world of the lost Doritos.”

The boys were shocked, but then Keven said, “Good thing I’m good at this game.”

“You think you’re good at the game? I’m better than you,” Alex said.

The boys argued, as usual. Charlie wasn’t surprised. Keven and Alex always argued. Then they remembered that they needed to escape. They did a hundred levels by only eating chips and Mountain Dew. The Doritos gave them the Mountain Dew and chips to eat. They went through more levels and saved the Doritos.

Then they saw the escape button. It was guarded by a hard level. Halfway through, Alex needed help, but Keven refused. Keven and Alex argued more. Then red flashes went around the room, and the

security system found them.

Charlie helped Alex and they finished the level. Traps and spikes shot at them. They pressed the red button that was flashing and were teleported away. But because it took a long time, they were teleported to a large library land, the home of the books.

Then Keven said, “At least we’re not small.”

*KAZAP*

A shrink ray got them. It had three legs and was gray. They saw another escape button. They ran toward it, book by book. Whenever there was a puzzle, Charlie would do it. Most of the puzzles were colored blocks. Others were buttons. When Charlie solved the final puzzle there were traps. They all went through the traps and clicked the escape button.

They were back. Then they were pulled into a painting. It was a “find the key” painting. They hadn’t solved one since 1990.

The boys looked around and burned every tree by creating a forest fire. One hundred days later there were no living things left, only the Doritos they had saved. Then the boys looked down and saw the key. They escaped and played more video games like nothing happened. ✶ ✶ ✶

Ignacio totally lives in LA.

Toy World

HELEN KHEANG

Rose was getting ready to go to the ballet studio. She brushed her wavy blonde hair before she walked out of her room. Rose said bye to her mom. She needed to go to ballet class but she had no idea where it was because the address that she had was wrong! It took her to a different location.

All of a sudden, a wizard wearing a white t-shirt and dark blue jacket with white spots appeared. Even though he was a nice wizard, Rose got scared. The wizard said, “Rose, I heard you were being mean to your friends!” The wizard explained to Rose that he knew that she was saying bad words, had made fun of her friends, yelled at them, and made them cry.

“I’m sending you to Toy World!”

Rose was curious about Toy World so she followed the wizard to his house. When they got there, Rose saw that the house was made of pink slime, and inside was a portal. It was blue and black, like a normal portal. Rose ran through the portal and fell. She fell for 30 minutes! She landed on a purple and pink bean bag in Toy World.

Toy World was a fun, but also not fun, place. There was a detention corner where you had to go for 10 hours. Rose also saw a lot of toys that were bigger than her, a lot of dolls, and a lot of toy ballet shoes.

She was feeling very mad that she was in Toy World and she wanted to get revenge.

She thought, “Look at all these ballet shoes. I’ve used them to dance!”

And then she remembered she had to go to ballet class. “I’m late for ballet class! But how am I going to get there?” she thought. Rose thought about how she loved ballet so much, and didn’t want to be anywhere else but the ballet studio.

“Help! Help! Help!” Rose said.

Just then, Toy Tree, Toy Car, and Jenga appeared. “We can help you!”

Rose saw three toys in matching outfits: pink leggings and white t-shirts. They all had curly hair! Rose thought that they would help her because she was pretty and everyone who is pretty gets help. Someone had told her that once, but it was actually a prank. So she said it to people all the time.

“Thank you for helping me. I’ve been needing help!”

Jenga handed Rose a baby doll.

Rose said, “Thank you! I love dolls.”

And just as she said that…

*POOF*

She turned into a baby doll.

“Anything you say about a toy, you turn into that toy,” Toy Car said. He was nice and he wanted her to know for next time.

Rose felt sad. She felt blue because the other toys called her “baby” and she wanted to be with her mom too. Just then, Rose saw her mom! Her mom had followed her down the portal. She thought that Rose was loopy that day and thought she needed to bring her to the car so she wouldn’t miss class. She went all the way to the wizard’s house and only fell for 10 seconds before she got to Toy World.

She was wearing a pink and red jumpsuit and holding a pink wand. Rose’s mom was a witch! Rose’s mom cast a spell with her pink wand. Because of that, Rose grew and regained her happiness.

Helen Kheang is 7 years old. She has four brothers. She likes to draw. She goes to ballet class with her cousins. Helen is good, funny, and playful.

Video Game World

Once upon a time there was a boy named Levi who loved video games.

“Mom, can I play with the boys online?” Levi asked.

Levi had blue eyes, a black shirt, black pants, and black shoes.

“Yes, you may,” Levi’s mom said.

“Thank you, Mom,” Levi said.

“Hey, guys!”

“Hey!” the chat said.

“You guys ready to play?”

“Yes!” they shouted.

“Let’s do this!”

After they played for a while, Levi said, “Okay, guys, I have to go and eat dinner.”

“Aww, man,” the guys in the chat said.

“I know, guys, but I have to go. My mom is very strict in this house Well, bye, see you tomorrow,” Levi said.

“Sorry, Mom, I was just saying bye to my friends.”

“Oh, okay. Today is spicy ramen,” she said.

“Thank you, Mom! You’re the best, Mom!” Levi said.

“I know I am,” Levi’s mom said.

“I’m done eating,” Levi said.

“Okay, go to your room,” Levi’s mom said.

When he got to his room, he said, “Whoa! Is that a time machine???” His mom had been so exhausted that she didn’t even notice there was a time machine in his room.

“I’ll call the group chat right now,” Levi said to himself.

“Guys, there is a time machine in my room. I am not lying. Can you guys come please?’’

“Fine,’’ said the group chat.

“We are here, Levi.” Because Levi’s mom was strict, the friend group had to get a ladder and come in through the window.

“Whoa! You weren’t lying, Levi,” said everybody when they saw the time machine.

“Of course I wasn’t lying,” said Levi.

“What is it?” asked Sora.

“I think it is a time machine,” said Levi. Levi knew this because he was the smartest kid in his class.

“What is a time machine?” said Luca.

Luca had white hair, a white shirt, and white shoes.

“It’s a thing that goes to the past and the future,” said Light.

Light had purple hair, a light purple scarf, purple pants, and purple shoes.

“Do you guys think this is dangerous?” asked Luca.

“I don’t know,” said Sora.

“Should we go in the time machine, guys?” asked Levi.

“I think we should,” said Light.

“Okay… 1, 2, 3!” said Sora.

They went far into the future to the year 1,000,000.

“Wow, is this my happy place???” they all said, looking around.

But no, it wasn’t actually. Levi was dreaming the whole time. The group chat was exploring the whole galaxy. Luca found a pickaxe and Light found rocks to break, so Light called Luca over to break the rocks. When Luca broke the rocks they saw a whole new world and Levi realized, “This is Video Game World!”

“Wow! There’s like a lot of people here,” said Sora.

“We are here,” Light said.

“It is our turn,” said Sora

“We have 100 lives,” said Luca.

“Let’s try not to die, okay, guys?” pleaded Levi.

100 hours later…

“Bro, we only have one life left. Let’s try not to lose it!” said Levi.

“Okay, I’ll go first,” said Luca. “Oh, wait. I jumped in the lava! NOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Levi woke up. This was all a dream. Or was it???

To be continued…

Leo likes to read books. His favorite book is Dog Man. Leo is 10 years old. He is in fourth grade.

The Mirror Shop

JAMISON KHEANG

One day, brothers Bob and Max went to work. They had to fix a broken mirror. Bob worked at a mirror shop called, “Come Look at Fancy Mirrors.” Bob was 22. He was normal height with cyan hair. He matched with a blue hoodie and red pants. Most of his clothes were the same.

His brother Max helped Bob at the mirror shop. In Max’s free time he liked to play video games. Max was 20. He was funny, fun, and happy. He was a cool guy with black hair.

At the shop they had to fix a mirror. The broken mirror got shipped in. Max began grabbing the glue and started placing the broken parts back together. The return label had question marks, meaning the person it belonged to was unknown. It was also so blurry they couldn’t read it.

Another mirror got shipped, a magic mirror! It was nice and Bob and Max could not stop looking at it. The mirror stood out amongst the rest. It shined like no other and when they got close to the mirror a blue crystal shape became visible. The mirror was the only object on the wall. There was no register. The brothers couldn’t stop thinking of this mirror. All day they would stare at it and stay in the shop late not wanting to go home. The mirror was located at the front of the door.

Bob said to Max, “Let’s take the mirror home. We can sell it on eBay.”

“YES! Let’s do it,” Max excitedly responded.

When the brothers approached the mirror, they heard a sound.

*FOOMP*

Without realizing it, they both disappeared into the mirror.

“Where are we?” asked Max.

“I don’t know but I have a bad feeling about this place,” Bob responded with a scared tone. “I hear a ticking clock. We need to find a way out of here,” continued Bob.

As they were scanning their surroundings, they saw the clock Bob mentioned. Now they were in trouble. A wizard placed the clock as a timer. She wanted to keep them inside to cast a spell and everything they touched would disappear.

“The door is stuck. If you don’t get out before the timer goes off, it will not open,” said the wizard.

They had a problem. They were surrounded by hundreds of millions of mirrors but only one of them was their way out. They tried all the mirrors, one after another. Unexpectedly, they ran into the 35th mirror, the corner mirror.

*FOOMP*

Upon gaining consciousness, they realized they had escaped and had beaten the timer before it ran out.

“Finally! It’s over! We are home,” Max said, relieved.

“We need to put this mirror in a safe place,” said Bob.

So Bob and Max carefully locked up the mirror in the vault where it would be safe and went home after one very long day.

Jamison is a student at 826LA. He likes fries and chicken nuggets. He likes to play games such as PvZZ and Roblox.

Defeating the Monster

ARIANA RIVAS

Two friends were walking by a bridge looking for the perfect picnic spot. Ariana had brown hair and was wearing classic jeans with a top. Gabriella had blonde hair and was wearing a t-shirt and a top. They saw something blue, so they went under the bridge and saw a blue door.

Gabriella said, “Look! I found a door.”

They opened the blue door and saw Cinnamon Roll and PomPom’s houses. They were medium-sized houses full of pots of flowers and trees. When they walked in the door, they saw Cinnamon and Pom-Pom walk towards them. They were so shocked, they put their hands on their heads. Cinnamon and Pom-Pom walked with Ariana and Gabriella around and around and around. Then they passed Kuromi’s house. Kuromi was there taking a nice stroll.

“Oh, hi guys! Who are these people?” Kuromi asked Cinnamon Roll and Pom-Pom, confused. She had never seen these people before.

“Oh, hi! My name is Ariana,” said Ariana.

“Hello, my name is Gabriella!” said Gabriella.

Kuromi smiled and joined them. After a while of walking, the group saw a giant castle. It was dark purple and kind of dark pink with a dark blue door. Ariana looked at the big castle and said,

“What’s that?”

“That’s the queen’s castle,” Cinnamon Roll whispered. He didn’t want to annoy the queen. The queen was on her bed watching TV.

Back in the real world, a scary, scary monster found the blue door and went inside while everyone was having fun. He tried to tiptoe really quietly but his giant feet were noisy.

*BANG BANG BANG*

Everyone turned and noticed him except Pom-Pom who was hard of hearing. And then Gabriella told him, “Turn around, Pom Pom! There’s something scary behind you!” When Pom-Pom turned around, he screamed.

Everyone started laughing, until the monster shouted, “SILENCE!” and everyone was afraid of him.

The only one who wasn’t afraid was the queen. Then the queen appeared before them and told them to fight. After that, all the Sanrio characters started running to the monster and fighting him. Hello Kitty had an army. The queen heard the commotion and went outside. She was not bothered by the monster. Everybody saw the queen and was silent.

The monster thought to himself, “Why is everyone being so quiet?”

The queen then used her infinite magic on the monster. The monster was burnt by all of the magic and they kicked him out of the castle. Everyone was happy that the monster was gone.

They threw a huge celebration. There were pink streamers and balloons, a lot of pizza, apple salad, cotton candy, and candy. There was a big dance floor with a disco ball in the middle. They danced and danced until midnight. Everyone was happy and lived happily ever after.

She loves Sanrio and she is 9 years old. In 4 months it is her birthday and she is good, so yeah. She’s done. Okay, bye.

When the Squishies Came to the Squishy World

LUKAS

It was up to Titan and his friends to save the Squishy World. Titan was a squishy narwhal. He was cyan. He had pink cheeks and a yellow horn. One of his friends was a unicorn named Uni. She was blue with a yellow horn, a purple mane, and a fluffy tail. Their other friend was See, the seal. He was a cyan, chunky seal.

They all lived in Squishy World. They lived inside a squishy cave. Everything was squishy. Some squishies were squished to create the world. They were cut into pieces for the world to exist. Squishies could go to caves, houses, and pet stores where they could get other squishy pets with squishy money.

The squishies were trying to make a pickaxe so they could mine gems. They needed three diamonds to make a diamond pickaxe. They were going to use the diamond pickaxe to get the Squishy Gem.

The monster of the world was called the Watcher. He came for the Squishy Gem. The Watcher was trying to get the Squishy Power from the Squishy Gem. He tried to find the cave where the friends lived. He only had three tries to find it or he would get hurt.

Titan went to a village and asked the villagers to help him find the gem. Only five of the villagers wanted to help. The other fifteen villagers had their own jobs to work on.

The Watcher found the village. He noticed five of the villagers were gone. The Watcher saw the mountain next to the village. The mountain was where Titan and the villagers went to find the gem. Titan saw the monster. He and the villagers found a safe spot to hide.

There was a protector for the village called the Squishy Warrior. The protector saw the monster. Squishy Warrior and the Watcher fought. Squishy Warrior died.

The villagers went to the sea. A kraken appeared from the sea. The kraken was nice, so he protected the villagers. The five villagers got a better home.

The friends went to the portal. They use the Squishy Gem to open the portal. When they opened the portal, five warrior squishmellows came out.

Lukas has one sister. He likes dogs. He likes cats. :3

The Mystery!? (The Never Happy Land)

PAIGE V.

One sunny morning, Maddie was walking down a sidewalk when she arrived at the library at 11 AM in the morning. She opened the door to get into the library. While she was walking into the library, a fellow friend of hers and a worker from the library named Abby asked, “Hello Maddie, how is it going?”

You may be wondering how Maddie and Abby knew each other? Well, Maddie was a regular person in the library so they know each other well.

Maddie responded back, “Hi! I’m good.”

While she was walking to the book aisle, she stumbled across one of her favorite books called A Never Happy Land and there was a new chapter. Maddie grabbed the book. With the book in her hand, she walked to find a table. She saw an open table next to a window and sat down.

While she was flipping through the pages, she came across a picture. It looked like a little garden with flowers, a big tree, and more miniflowers. She was weirded out, shocked, and surprised all at the same time because there were no other pictures in the book. She flipped through the other pages in the book but there were none.

She dug deeper and touched a pedal. She wanted to discover more

so she put her other arm in. She took both arms out again and decided to get her whole body in there. It was difficult, but she did it.

Instead of being her normal height, she was shorter. She was shocked. She wanted to climb a plant to see the view. She stuck her arm out because she wanted to see what the crow had in store for her. The crow handed her the bag it was holding. She wanted to see what was inside. It was a map! She was confused about why she needed a map. While she was looking through the bag, she found a paper and pencil.

The crow wrote, “Hi.”

She took the paper and pencil back and wrote back, “Hello, do you know anything?”

The crow wrote back, “Yes, just follow me.”

The crow faced the other way and flew near a tree. From her angle, the tree was very far. She climbed off the plant and ran with the bag still in her hand until she found the tree, but the crow wasn’t there. She decided to look around. While she was looking, she decided to take a risk and climb up the tree until she reached a branch with a nest. Then the crow she met earlier peaked out. She grabbed the paper and pencil out of her bag to see what the crow wanted her to do.

The crow wrote, “Why are you here?”

She wrote, “I’m not sure.” She wrote again, “Have you seen other people?”

The crow wrote on the paper, “Yes.”

The crow flew down to the grass below. Maddie slipped and fell off the tree branch. She got off the grassy floor and stood up. She ran off somewhere while the crow followed her. She stopped by a cottage. It was brown, wooden, and big with two stories.

She decided to take a break. She knocked on the door in case anyone was there.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

There was nobody home. She decided to open the door but it was locked. She wanted to find a way to get in and realized she had a bobby pin in her hair. She decided to take it out. When she took the

bobby pin out of her hair, she tried to use it to open the door and experimented with ways to unlock it until she heard a click.

She took the bobby pin out and turned the doorknob normally. She twisted it and it opened. She wanted to see what was inside. She walked in and it looked like a normal home with a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedroom. She decided to lay down on the couch and see if the TV worked, but there was no connection. She looked for other devices to contact someone, but there were no other devices except the TV and clock. The clock didn’t seem to work correctly because it showed that it was 11:28 AM but it looked like it was 9 AM outside. She was not sure what time it was.

Maddie went to find the bedroom and decided to take a nap after all that climbing. She was tired. She took a little nap. When she woke up, it looked exactly like her bedroom. She thought that everything that happened was just a dream. She decided to go to the kitchen, expecting her mom Holly to be there, but when she walked in, there wasn’t anybody there. She tried to find her little sister Mackenzie on the couch, expecting her to be watching TV, but she was not there either.

She realized she was somewhere else. She was scared. She decided to look out the window and there was the same crow waiting for her. Now she remembered she was inside the picture inside the book.

She decided she wanted to let the crow inside the cottage. While she was opening the door, she heard knocking. She was surprised because nobody was there, but she decided to open the door anyway. It was just the crow. She let the crow in, and took the paper and pencil out of the bag and wrote, “Why are you here again?”

The crow took the paper and erased what she had written and wrote, “It’s not the time.”

Maddie was confused and took the paper and pencil and wrote, “Just stay here.”

The crow was confused but decided to stay. Maddie decided to go into the bedroom and look for a phone or for something at least. She looked from top to bottom, but there was nothing inside. She looked

everywhere, until she looked under the bed and found a copy of her favorite book. She decided to look through the pages and found the exact same page with the picture she had stepped into. It was a copy of the same book she was in. Now she was in the picture! She was shocked about that. Surprised. Traumatized. “Why am I inside the book?”

“From Maddie to ?” the note read.

During the day, a random stranger picked up a note found in the book and decided to read it. The person was confused and decided to leave it on the ground, not realizing that it was the girl named Maddie who was missing for 25 years.

Paige is a fifth grader and about to go to middle school! She is a fun kid to be with (: She likes to sleep a lot and she also likes kitty cats.

Exploring McDonald’s World!

DANIELA AGUILA

Julio and his dog named Pepito went to McDonald’s because there was no food in the house. Julio was wearing Dickies pants, a white t-shirt, and Nike Air Forces. Julio had curly hair. Pepito’s breed was a mixed poodle. He could be a scaredy cat even though he was hyper.

When Julio got his order, he stuck his hand inside the McDonald’s bag to get his food, but they got dragged into McDonald’s world. While Julio and Pepito were getting dragged, it felt like a roller coaster. When Julio and Pepito were in the McDonald’s World they were shocked and amazed about the McDonald’s World. Pepito was more nervous about it than Julio. Julio got the idea to explore the McDonald’s World. Everything there was McDonald’s! Julio and Pepito saw a tree that had only salads. It smelled kinda like a Burger King. The touch was soft and silky and it sounded like McDonald’s orders.

While Julio and Pepito were exploring the McDonald’s World, Pepito saw McPetco. McPetco looked like the normal Petco but with the letter Mc in it. It was shocking because everything looked like McDonald’s. Pepito wanted to go in to McPetco because Pepito wanted treats and squeaky toys. Pepito was trying to get Julio’s attention, but Julio was not paying attention to Pepito. Poor Pepito.

Pepito bit his leg. Julio finally paid attention to Pepito. Pepito wanted to go to McPetco, and Julio finally took him. On the way there, they saw the junk food were McProtesting. Julio wanted to know why the junk food was protesting. He saw one of the signs that said, “McJunk food should be eaten just like McSalad!”

Big Mac saw McSalad and said, “Oh look there is McSalad!” That’s when the war started.

Ten minutes later, the police came, but the junk and healthy food crushed the police car. Julio and Pepito went to hide, until Julio had an idea. The idea was to make a speech to love each other, but the junk food and salads were too strong because BigMac was a fat burger that had a lot of calories and heaviness and McSalad was a bit heavy too. In combination they were strong.

Julio got an idea to use the police car that was damaged as a shield and make a speech about loving each other and forgiving each other. Julio made his speech about loving each other, but it didn’t work at all because everyone was busy having a war. But the second time it worked. Julio was giving his speech about loving each other and always forgiving each other. The war finally stopped, and the junk and healthy food forgave each other. Problem resolved.

Daniela Aguila is 12 years olds. She loves playing with her pets. She also loves sushi. Daniela is really great at volleyball. When she grows up, she wants to visit Mexico.

The Flowers

ALLISON JOYA

On planet Saturn, there was a small seed that landed from the magical sky. The seed started growing larger. The growing seed felt sad and lonely because there existed no other plants to spend time with.

Later on, another seed fell on planet Saturn and started growing into a flower. The two purple flowers became friends. As the purple flowers were growing, they were getting dry because there was no water on the planet. Just as the seeds were converting into beautiful flowers, suddenly, they just dried out.

A 29-year-old astronaut named Linda landed on Saturn. She had brown hair, green eyes, and wore a pink space suit. She gave the flowers water. The astronaut revived the two flowers. When the two flowers came back to life, more flowers started growing.

The astronaut did not come back to Earth because she fell in love with the flowers and Saturn started turning like the Earth. Saturn was full of animals, water, and plants.

The astronaut lived happily ever after!

Alisson is 11 years old and plays violin. She has been at 826LA for three years.

Katana Masters: The Brawl of the Settlers’ Mountain

ANTHONY JARQUIN

Long ago, there was a young katana master named Unah who constantly trained and fought in battles. At only 18 years old, he was unbeatable and unstoppable. Another young swordmaster, Jobo, was considered the second-best to Unah. One day Unah and Jobo, eager to test their strength, stared into each other’s eyes and began to brawl. During the battle, Unah and Jobo’s katanas were hit several times and broke. Then they saw a sword maker across from them, and both ran asking for swords.

The sword maker said, “I’ll make them if you end your battle, because you BROKE THE OTHER ONES I MADE!!!”

“Oh, sorry sir,” said Unah.

“But sir, the katanas have a purpose,” said Jobo.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO MAKE KATANAS!?” said the sword maker.

“No, sir,” replied Jobo.

“Exactly,” said the sword maker.

The two katana masters then agreed to stop fighting. However, the audience that had surrounded the battle threw their drinks in anger and disappointment. Jobo, enraged at the sight, began to run toward the crowd with his new ultra-mode katana before Unah stopped him.

“LET ME GO!?!?!” Jobo yelled.

“No,” said Unah.

Jobo struggled and gave up, causing everyone to laugh at him. Knowing everyone loved Unah more than him, Jobo became angry and began to attack Unah once again. The katana masters moved onto the Settlers’ Mountain, the most famous battleground for katana masters attacking Titans.

Jobo screamed, “I’m better!”

“No, I am,” Unah replied.

Thus, the ultimate battle began to see who was superior. Angry at the sight of additional fighting, the sword maker headed towards the battle, bringing his own double-bladed golden katana to stop the battle.

“THEY DON’T LISTEN AYE?! Then I’ll make them,” the sword maker said, before laughing creepily.

The fight continued until the sword maker arrived, threatening to end Unah and Jobo. Facing immense danger, the two decided to team up and began to fight the sword maker.

Suddenly, Unah was frozen by a vision sent to him by the sword maker.

Jobo yelled, “WE CAN BEAT HIM!!!”

The sword maker turned on his own insane mode to create a dark, corrupted, and creepy cloud which began to control Unah.

“What are you doing?!” Jobo yelled, causing the sword maker to release Unah from his grasp.

The sword maker attacked Jobo, injuring him severely. As he tried to escape the battle, a portal in the ground suddenly opened and a force from inside clutched him. The audience tried to escape but the sword maker used his powers and trapped them on the mountain. As the battle continued, Unah activated his powerful mode.

“He’s… too… powerful… ” Unah said, gasping for air.

Laughing, the sword maker said, “What’s wrong? Too weak for a person that makes swords? Pathetic.” Unah became angry, gaining the power of lightning-god speed. Using his ability, he dashed at the

sword maker.

Unah said, “Nah, I win.” The sword maker was defeated. Unah collapsed to the ground.

Two years later…

Unah woke up after a deep coma.

“Sir, you woke up,” the doctor said.

“Where am I?” Unah asked.

“You are in a hospital, sir,” the doctor said.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled. “What… was that?” Unah asked.

The doctor screamed in fear. Unah looked out the window.

“Oh no,” said Unah.

The doctor yelled, “EVIL TITAN!” A loud roar pierced the air.

To be continued…

Anthony likes In-N-Out burgers and plays on a soccer team. During lunch, he likes to eat burgers or bean tacos. He also likes FNaF, anime, and hanging out with his friends.

Raising Waves

ANTONIO MATEO

As a kid, there was always the expectation to have a group of friends. I had only found two friends through middle school and high school so far. We were all outcasts of some sort— Bloodrayne, Quiver, and I. I am Seven.

Bloodrayne always had our backs, especially if anyone outside our group tried to brawl with us. Quiver was always able to dart down the hallways, as he was special enough to understand how to sneak around. I was not able to help my friends in any ways that involved physical activity, which made me feel worthless, even though I am intelligent, creative, and funny. Instead of being protective, I had to be the one protected.

But one day all of that would change, when I realized how I could impact my group once and for all. I would no longer be a burden to my group.

It was 3:20 in the afternoon. My friends waved goodbye as we finished talking and we started to go our separate ways. I eventually spotted my cat Chico eating a raw fish from our neighbor’s trash bin.

“Chico!” I shouted in terror. “Let’s actually feed you something nice and fresh,” I said as I carried her back home.

We arrived home and waiting for me was a lunch my mom prepared

for me, since she usually worked full time. Chico went for her own bowl of food. I read the sticky note that contained my schedule for the night and Mom wrote on it, “You truly are special.” I grinned, looked at Chico eating from her bowl of food, and ate my meal somewhat content.

Later that afternoon, I scrolled through Instagram and saw many amazing posts from others. I almost started to tear up until Chico brought another sticky note that read, “6:00 - Take bath.” I followed the instructions and walked over to the shower to turn on the water. I slowly placed my feet into the warm water. It soaked into my skin, bringing relaxation. I sat in the water and thought calm thoughts. I soon vibed and started to doze while in the water, sinking into the tub.

I soon felt waves of air glide over me. I woke up and found myself in a room filled with nothing but peculiarly shaped chairs. They had strokes of paint that were starting to peel. There was a cloudy hole above, with nothing else but the calming ocean around me. I soon realized that this room needed a ladder to reach the top. I decided that it was possible the chairs were needed to escape this dull room.

I first grabbed the nearest chair then placed another on top. I continued on with the stacking. As I carefully tried to figure out what chairs would work best on top of each other based on their weird appearance, the final chair came into place. I slowly aligned the chair with the curve of the heel, until it slipped and came crashing down with many echoes of rummaging thuds. Enraged with failure, I dashed over to a chair and broke it in half. I sat on the floor devastated by what happened.

“I can’t believe what others think of me. I’m a failure,” I muttered as I rested my head on my kneecaps. Then I saw a measuring tool beside me. I picked it up and looked back at the chairs. I retraced the steps I had taken to stack the chairs. I started stacking again, but this time at a slow, methodical pace. I was able to stack the chairs fluently until one chair remained. I placed it down slowly. As I sat it on the top, it was finally complete. A crashing wave alerted me back awake.

I shook, thinking to myself what had happened. I realized out

loud, “Yeah… Mom was right. I do have a gift!”

I understood the impact I had made by completing this treacherous journey. I realized that just maybe this had shown how I had taken stepping stones to reach this point and that I had more to look forward to.

The next day after school, my group of friends and I were sitting at a bench until a certain gang approached us. They had given us trouble before, mostly in indirect ways.

They said, as they turned towards me, “We know who the weakling is here.” They lifted me up, brought me forward, and I saw a fist approaching. Then Bloodrayne yelled, “Hey! Leave him alone!”

She kicked forward one of the gang members who then collided with the other two. They formed one very angry pile.

“Quick, over here!” Quiver yelled as we ran to him.

While the gang members were getting up to coming after us, we started to dash through the neighborhood. That was, until we reached the end of the road, blocked by a tall bush. We were certain that at any moment they would arrive, making us goners. I was anxious until I looked over at an old couch and three unbalanced chairs.

“I don’t think it can withstand the pressure if we balance them regardless of order,” Bloodrayne said.

Then I remembered my dream, and how I used my guts, my hope, my one-in-all moment to stack the weird-shaped chairs. I was certain the ruler I had unexpectedly packed would work. I considered doing my act—trying my power—outside that dream-like space.

I commanded, “Quiver grab the chairs, and you, Bloodrayne, push the couch over.”

Both listened, and as the couch was turned over, I started aligning the chairs. I stacked them in a straight position, allowing us to start climbing them. Both of my friends climbed the stack, and then we all jumped over the tall bush. As we dashed away, we heard the tower collapse as the members of the gang started to climb. We saw the cast of their shadows as they fell off the rickety furniture and disappeared into the bushes. Eventually they walked, or well hobbled, away.

Both my friends started to giggle, and then full-on laugh! They cheered for me, which made me feel special that my idea had actually worked! I felt so admired that I also began to laugh, which was a rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I felt happy. I felt useful and special.

Quiver and Bloodrayne said in unison, “You know what Seven? You really are more than one.” I blushed gleefully. We walked through the suburbs as the sun set. We heard a rattle in the neighbor’s trash can and found Chico rummaging through it again.

Antonio is a dreamer who expresses his creativity as a writer. He is constantly coming up with new and rigorous ideas for the world in his writing.

WHOLE NEW WORLD UNDER THE SEA!

AVERY YOUMANS

*B

OP BOP*

The alarm clock rang. I jumped out of bed very excited because my friend and I were going diving. Then I remembered that I lived in Maui so I lived very close to the ocean. I went back to bed because it was too early for me. But then I heard a knock on the door and I opened it to find my BFF!

Alexa is my BFF. I have known her for 12 years. She was all ready for the beach and I was still sitting in bed. She practically dragged me out of bed. After what felt like forever, I was finally ready to go.

Since Alexa and I were neighbors and we both lived close to the beach, we decided to just ride our bikes.

“Honey! Would you or Alexa like any money for breakfast?” my mom asked.

“Sure!” We both exclaimed at the same time.

I said bye to the rest of my family and we were on our way to the beach. Right when we hit the beach, the sun rose. It was really pretty!

“Should we head to the breakfast shack?” Alexa asked.

“Sure!”

When we finished eating, we went to the water. The water was at its best. We went even deeper into the ocean. We went under the

water for the first time with all of our gear and saw a bright light that caught our eyes. We swam even closer to this light only to find a water tornado thingy. We swam into the swirl of water and boom! It was a whole new world!

The world was so pretty! It was almost perfect! The world had the prettiest colors of coral, and the fish were so beautiful!

Looking around, I said, “Don’t you think this world is a little too perfect?” There was a little bit of worry in my voice.

“Well, it does look like it is out of a movie,” Alexa said.

“Alexa, we should keep looking around,” I exclaimed, getting creeped out by how quiet it was. We kept looking around to see what the heck this place was, when we stumbled across this huge castle. The top of the castle read, “Coral Cove.”

The castle was covered with beautiful seashells and sand topped the roof. We swam to the castle wanting to explore it more. We swam to the big doors in front of the castle. We opened the big doors. The castle was blue and salmon pink. We went inside and found lots of guards there to welcome us like we were royalty.

“Wait, how can we breathe under water?” asked Alexa.

“That’s true,” I said. Alexa and I thought about it for a second only to get our answer from a guard.

“The university has lots of humans in it so we installed air tanks all around the campus. Well, technically, the law made us do it or we would have had to shut down the campus,” the guard explained.

“Oh, thank you!” We both said. We swam across the blue carpet that led down the halls of the campus. We were welcomed by the cheer squad!

“WELCOME TO THE SCHOOL! WE RULE! LETS GO S-HA-R-K-S! THAT SPELLS SHARKS!”

“Oh, wow! That was very welcoming,” Alexa and I said. We both laughed at the same time. We swam deeper into the castle. There were lots of swimming fish and people. There were little windows. Alexa was very scared of the fish and sharks, so when my BFF looked out of the window and saw a bunch of sharks, she yelled, “What the shark?!”

We both started laughing again. We kept swimming around only to find out that we had to have some kind of ticket to get past security, so we left the campus as soon as we could. The consequence for trespassing would have been being put in the dungeon with Miss Wild Fish. Her name is very self explanatory. Rumors were that she stares you in the eye so much that you start crying and pass out and lose all your memories. I didn’t think they were true, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

We stumbled upon a treasure chest, and being the nosy girls we were, we looked inside. We expected something else than what we found! We opened it expecting a gold light and voices singing, “Halalalala!” But we weren’t in a movie, and that only happens in the movies. To our surprise, we found a red button.

“What the heck is that button for?” I wondered.

We pressed the button to see if it did anything. In fact, it did. We left the world under the sea and entered a world full of bright colors and palm trees. Not quite Hawaii, but more like Miami, Florida!

“I have always wanted to go to Florida!” Alexa said.

“Same!” I said, agreeing with Alexa.

We came out of the ocean very wet and our feet were burning from the sun shining on the sand. We were still in our diving suits so we walked to the boardwalk and got some real clothes. We had an amazing time, but realized we were in Florida and we lived in Hawaii. That was like an hour flight. We started panicking, but then realized that Alexa’s aunt lived in Miami, and maybe she could help us find a way back to Hawaii!

We took a bus to her house which was right next to the main street. The bus was full of lots of tourists and other people. Most of the people had just come from the ocean and were carrying lots of sand into the bus. They smelled like sea salt!

After a two-hour ride, we finally made it to Alexa’s aunt’s house.

*DING DONG*

“Oh, girls, hello! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, we kind of got lost… ”

“Oh, how?”

“Oh, we don’t really know.”

“Okay, so how can I help you?”

“Can you drive us to the airport?”

“You plan on traveling alone?”

“Yes,” Alexa explained.

“Why? It’s an hour plane ride! Okay, that’s fine. How about you guys travel with me for the first half of the trip?”

“Fine.”

After a couple of hours we all made it to the airport. “Would you guys like some snacks?” Alexa’s aunt asked.

“Sure!”

We got snacks and we printed out the tickets that we bought at Alexa’s aunt’s house. They were just boarding passengers under the age of 20. We hopped on the plane and Alexa’s aunt ended up not coming with us, but that was fine. After a very long flight we finally made it to Maui! We hopped out, realizing it was one in the morning, and knew we should not take an Uber.

I called my mom to pick Alexa and I up from the airport. My mom explained how scared she was and said she was on her way, and would get there as fast as she could. When she made it, she ran into my arms and hugged me as tight as she could.

My mom drove us to Alexa’s house and Alexa’s mom was over the moon knowing her daughter was safe! I got home and slept like a baby knowing I was safe at home with my mom and family!

Avery enjoys soccer and Chick-Fil-A!

The Basketball Extraordinary Final Game

BENJAMIN LOPEZ

Richard is the tallest guy and he likes to play basketball. He is competing against Mason the Alligator, Moose, 12 Bees, and the Elephant. There is also a kangaroo, a frog, 29 pandas, the sea lions, crabs, starfish, sea stars, lobsters, scorpions, zebras, camels, 30 hippos, chickens, chicks, birds, pigs, piglets, pigeons, crows, and seagulls.

But, before they started to play, there were even more players like the fruit players: apples, bananas, pears, kiwis, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries.

And then came the instrument players like the saxophone, double bass, drum, piano, guitar, banjo, keyboard, triangle, trumpet, ukulele, flute, bongo drums, clarinet, harmonica, accordion, violin, cello, trombone, and a tuba.

Then Richard and Mason and the animals and the fruits and the instrument players were waiting for the coach. The coach was a phone. Then the phone coach started the basketball game.

The players started to run on the basketball court to the other side and the blueberry and blackberries tried to win the basketball game. But then the alligator started to squish the berries into tiny bits. The coach phone was not happy about what the alligator did.

The coach phone kicked the alligator out of the game and then the game continued.

The bear tried to get to the hoop but he fell with the belly flop. After the game was over, they all cheered. Then they went to the celebration. They celebrated with an additional surprise party because they also won the super highest trampoline bounce. They bounced so high to the sky and they had a great, amazing day.

Benjamin enjoys going outside for a walk during his free time. He has one older sister whom he enjoys eating dinner with. Benjamin would love to be a doctor when he’s older.

The Revenge World

CAMILA RUIZ GARCIA

One day, this girl named Lily had a sister that was 8 years old named Ozlem. Lily was so poor. Every year there was a lottery. This year, Lily got three dollars. She was so sad. She hoped that she would get a lot, but she did not.

So she got an idea to… MOVE! From Hawaii to Nevada. So she packed her bags. And she was thinking, “Should I move or not?” She thought and thought.

*DING DONG*

The annoying and nosy neighbor was here. Lily opened the door. The neighbor’s name was Larry. Larry said, “I know your plan.”

Lily said, “okay.” Before Lily closed the door, she gave Larry a big side eye. “Okay bye.” Back to thinking. She said to herself, “No, I will not move.” So she unpacked her bags and put the stuff back.

And then she had an idea to run for president. She walked around her street and saw homeless people. She walked in a store and saw that some things were expensive. And she saw BIG BOB (aka Larry’s son). He said, “What’s up, punk?”

Lily said, “Hello, Big Bob.” Bob walked away without saying anything. She left the store, went home, and took a nap.

Five weeks later…

Lily woke up, ate her breakfast, then went to her computer to see if she could take the test to be president. She had to take the test. The question was “What is 1+1?” It was hard for people!

Five minutes later…

She won! As president, she lowered the prices and now people had some money. But people were mad at President Lily. She was so confused. The people wanted the prices to be even more expensive. She got sad because of all her hard work. So she did this: She raised the prices more than last time. Like in the billions of dollars.

Five days later…

People were so mad and sad about what they had done so they talked to Lily again. President Lily said, “Okay.” So everyone was happy. But some things were still expensive and some were not.

Camila likes to read, do gymnastics, play volleyball, and slay. She likes Taylor Swift. She has two best friends named Talia and Penelope. <3

Five Nights at Freddy’s

DANIEL RIOS

Asecurity guard named Mike worked at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. The pizzeria was old and dark. Mike had black hair and green eyes. He wore a police uniform.

The security guard went to the office, and then, some of the animatronics started moving. Bonnie, a purple bunny animatronic, left the east hall. Mike shut the door. Chica, a yellow chicken animatronic, left the restrooms.

The night guard opened the door because Bonnie had left! Bonnie went to the dining room. Chica went to the west hall.

Mike’s power sunk into the 80s. Then he only had 30% power left. Soon after, Mike ran out of power. Freddy jumpscared Mike.

Daniel is 8 years old! His favorite thing to do is play Roblox and wants to be a Youtuber. Daniel’s favorite color is yellow. Daniel’s favorite book is Dog Man. His favorite show is The Mickeys. His favorite sport is basketball.

Jack and Teddy

JULIO CESAR GARCIA JUAN

Once upon a time in Galaxy Extranamode, it was a summer day in the city San Francisco. It was a normal day. There was a boy named Jack. He had a teddy bear named Teddy. Teddy was Jack’s Plushie.

One day, Teddy was alive but he was a zombie. He would infect everyone and turn them into zombies in order to defeat Jack at three in the morning. Teddy jumped out of the window and fell 12 feet, yet he survived the jump.

So Teddy started hunting for victims to turn into zombies and defeat Jack. Door to door, zombie to zombie, scream after scream, victims piled up. At 8:40 in the morning, Jack woke up to one hundred zombies waiting outside his house to defeat him.

Jack ran to get his black hole sword and he transformed into fight mode. His hair turned yellow and his eyes started glowing. Jack dashed to the door. He was greeted by a crowd of zombies and at the very end, Teddy was waiting for him.

He took a deep breath and started to destroy the zombies with his black hole sword. It was kind of easy. In the end, Jack and Teddy ended up face to face. It was an epic battle, slashes to slashes, stomps to stomps. In the end, both of them were injured. Jack used a special

ability that only he can use.

“AHHH,” screamed Jack. A ring of fire came out of the ground. “You cannot escape,” said Jack.

Teddy noticed that the ring was shrinking and said, “Wait! Whaaaat!?!?!?!”

Jack said, “You have ten seconds left.” Jack proceeded to countdown, “10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0!”

Teddy was turned into dust. Jack was in normal mode. He looked back and said, “Oh well, not my problem!”

Julio is 8 years old. Julio makes tie-dye shirts. Julio lives in Inglewood. Julio is Mexican and loves Mexico. Julio wants to be a radio host when he is older.

Teenagers Being Teenagers in Another Universe

MILLI’ON FRANZONI

Gabriel, Angel, and Jade were friends. One day, Gabriel invited Angel to a sleepover and to play board games.

“Gabriel, you said you had video games!” yelled Angel.

“Be quiet, you’ll wake up my mom! Anyways, I lied,” Gabriel said.

Suddenly, Jade barged in.

“Cheese burgers anyone!?” yelled Jade.

Jade was holding three bags of burgers. Gabriel’s mom woke up and started walking to the living room where the teenagers were. Gabriel ran out of the door and Angel and Jade followed.

“Great, now my mom thinks I snuck out again,” Gabriel said.

“Wait, you’ve snuck out before?” Jade asked.

“What? No—”

A black hole suddenly appeared, sucking the teenagers into a different universe.

“Where are we?!” Jade yelled.

“I don’t know! I’m not a scientist!” Angel yelled.

Gabriel was too shocked to say anything. They all looked at the beautiful purple sky. Anyway, after Gabriel fainted, they all started arguing. Then Gabriel woke up and yelled,

“BE QUIET!!!”

Everyone was silent, mostly because Gabriel was always quiet. After that mess, the teenagers walked around this unfamiliar world. Gabriel stopped walking and looked at Angel in fear.

“What?” asked Angel.

“Behind you… RUN!” Gabriel yelled.

Angel looked behind him and saw a bunch of monsters. They all started running until they reached some water guns and water balloons.

“Hey, maybe we can use these on the monsters!” suggested Angel.

“What are we? Five?” yelled Jade.

Gabriel took one of the water guns and sprayed one of the monsters, eliminating it.

“Great, Angel, you’re actually being smart and useful for once!” Jade said sarcastically.

Jade picked out a water gun and sprayed a monster harder.

The battle was long and hard, but they defeated the majority of the monsters. Then Jade and Angel heard a scream. Gabriel was surrounded by monsters.

“I want to go home to my mama!!!” Gabriel yelled.

Angel grabbed a bucket of water and splashed it on the rest of the monsters and got Gabriel’s clothes and his 6-foot-long hair wet.

“Are you kidding me?” Gabriel asked Angel.

“I did it by accident!” Angel responded.

The black hole appeared again and sucked the teenagers back home. Gabriel went home to his mother with a lot of explaining to do.

Milli’on Franzoni was born on September 26, 2012. She and her story partner/ friend Jaiden Higgins made some stories, and are working on a chapter book that will have Gabriel in it, explaining more about him.

The Folk Village

NATALIA RIOS

*B

EEP BEEP*

Alice’s alarm rang. Alice jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed.

“Pearl get up!” she said, while barging into her sister’s room.

“Ugh… what?” Pearl replied. Alice looked her dead in the eye.

“How could you forget? We are meeting up with Sahtya, remember?”

“Right, at what time again?”

“She’s coming at 11! It’s 10!” Pearl had this look of horror on her face. Pearl quickly ran out of the room. Alice followed, but ran to the living room.

“Now, where are the camping backpacks?” Alice thought to herself. She looked around for a minute and spotted the two backpacks by the door. She grabbed them and went to pack a flashlight, batteries, snacks, water bottles, and of course, their phones.

*DING*

The doorbell rang. “She’s here!” Alice yelled, while running to the door. Pearl followed after.

“Hey!” Pearl greeted Sahtya. Sahtya was Pearl’s BFF. She was funny, kind, and helpful.

“Hi! Ready to go?” Sahtya asked.

“I think we are… I think. Right Pearl?” Alice said as she picked up the backpacks.

“Huh? Oh! Uh… yeah,” Pearl said as she took the backpack from Alice’s hand.

“Come on then! Let’s go!” exclaimed Sahtya as she took a map and started walking towards the forest.

Alice, Pearl, and Sahtya walked for a few minutes.

“Uh… are you sure you know where we are going?” asked Alice.

Sahtya answered with a confused look on her face, “Yeah! I mean we are going to the wat—”

Sahtya got cut off as the map flew out of her hand.

“Oh no! We are lost,“ Pearl cried out with watery eyes. Sahtya tried to run after the map, but against the wind it was impossible. The map was flying away too fast! Until…

Sahtya saw a glowing aura in the distance. “Guys! Come look!” Sahtya yelled out. Alice and Pearl came running to her.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Alice asked.

“Yes? But, look in the distance,” Sahtya said as she pointed to the glowing aura.

“Well, we did come for an adventure. Come on! Last one there is a rotten egg!” Alice yelled. The two looked at each other and ran after Alice.

“Woah! What happens if you tou—” Alice began to say. But then…

*POOF*

She was gone in thin air.

“What? Where did she go?” Pearl said, worried. Sahtya pushed Pearl into the aura, and then followed her in.

They opened their eyes and saw Alice being circled by what seemed like folk/fairy people. Two women pulled Sahtya, Alice, and Pearl aside.

“What are you doing?!” shouted Pearl. The ladies just smiled and brought them into a house.

In the house were sparkly green crowns. The ones that fall onto your forehead. Also, there were cottage-core type dresses. All of them

were green and had jewels on the bottom. The girls’ jaws dropped while they admired the beautiful dresses.

“Holy guacamole!” Sahtya yelled out.

“Help yourselves girls!” the women said.

They all picked out dresses and beautiful crowns. The women did their makeup like all the women in the folk village: bright pink blush, green eyeshadow, eyeliner, glitter, jewels, bright red lipstick, and fake freckles.

“I can’t help but notice. All of the houses in this town are mushrooms?” asked Alice.

“Well, that’s how we started this village. One day, a lady overwatered a mushroom and the mushroom turned HUGE!” the lady explained with a lot of emotion. The lady also explained that the girls would be sleeping there. Alice and Pearl were so happy and excited. But Sahtya thought something was fishy.

“What happened to the lady?” Sahtya asked. The lady just stood there smiling and walked away.

“Stop being rude, Sahtya! They are just trying to make us feel welcomed!” Alice replied. Sahtya just rolled her eyes and put on her crown.

“Anyways… Pearl and I are going to grab some ‘folk food’ or as they say, ‘fairy dust fuel,’” Alice said.

They left and tried out so many different types of fairy/folkthemed food, such as a strawberry shaped like a flower covered in rainbow sprinkles. Once Alice and Pearl got back, they couldn’t find Sahtya.

The first woman named Hazel greeted the two when they came back. “Do you know where Sahtya is?” Alice asked.

“Oh! You mean the one who has a sassy attitude?” Hazel replied. Alice and Pearl looked at each other and then back to Hazel.

“Uh, yeah? I guess,” Pearl said.

“Oh, well I don’t quite know. The other lady was so mad at her. I guess she told the folk dungeon masters.“

“SHE’S IN A DUNGEON?” Pearl yelled.

Alice immediately got her map and saw a small text on it: “Dungeon.” “Here! Here!” Alice said while walking out of the big mushroom house.

Alice and Pearl walked until the mushroom street lights turned on. Finally, they found a button blending in with the stone. They pressed the button and it opened into a dark red set of stairs in the fog. Pearl looked at Alice and gulped out of nervousness. They walked down and the floor behind them closed. They walked until they were at the bottom. Pearl stayed near the stairs while Alice looked for Sahtya.

“SAHTYA! SAHTYA!”

“A-A-Alice is that you?” Alice kept on telling Sahtya to scream, and from the sound of her voice, she found Sahtya. They quickly ran out before they got completely trapped. They snuck back into the mushroom and packed their bags. They decided to rest up and leave the next day. The next morning, Alice got up and woke up Sahtya and Pearl. They all grabbed their bags and left.

“Excuse me, how do we get out of here?” Alice asked.

“Um… Look over there!” the lady replied. Everyone turned around. When they turned back around…

*POOF*

The lady was gone. On the floor was a note that read, “Go to the watchtower.”

They went there and saw wolves, but past the wolves was the same aura they saw at the start. Sahtya was scared of the wolves, and insisted they stay. Alice just rolled her eyes, jumped down, and ran into the glowing aura. Sahtya and Pearl followed and ran for their lives.

They were finally back. They ran to their houses with tears in their eyes.

“OMG! You three! We had the cops looking for you!”

*WOMP WOMP*

Natalia R. loves to write and sing. She hates big crowds. Natalia loves to play piano in her free time. She also loves spaghetti. Natalia is in the fourth grade and 10 years old.

Escape the Hotel

OMAR SANCHEZ

Alex was a tall young man. He had black hair, his eyes were brown, and he was very smart. He liked to go hiking often, and as he was hiking in the woods he found an abandoned hotel. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. Alex wanted to explore the hotel, so he went inside the hotel without thinking.

As soon as he went in, he saw lots of rooms. While he was inside, he saw a photo of the owner and of the hotel celebration on the day the hotel was opened. It was in the 1950s. The hotel was colorful and beautiful back then. But now it was colorless, and had cracks. The picture was quite faded around the edges. Alex just kept walking deeper inside the hotel.

Alex was feeling worried and lost when he saw an elevator in the back of the hotel. He went inside the elevator and took it to the upper floor. Once he got off, he went into the rooms, and found a flashlight. He grabbed the flashlight and kept moving, feeling less nervous. Just then, the lights turned off and made everything dark. Alex then turned on his flashlight and looked inside the rooms to find the switch to turn the lights back on. Once he turned on the lights, he kept on moving until he realized that he was lost.

He didn’t see the elevator any more. He was very worried until

he saw exit signs, so he followed them. He saw the exit door, but he noticed it was locked, so he had to find the key. He kept looking for the key in different rooms, until he found it in the employee room.

The key was dusty and had a scratched metal tag that had an exit engraved on it. Inside the employee room, he saw one last picture under a pile of dusty complaint letters that showed the incident that had made the hotel close. Five people were dead and two people were missing. No culprit had been found.

He left and opened the entrance door. He went down the stairs and opened the door that led outside. As he was about to leave the building, it started breaking and then everything fell. He quickly hiked back to the trail and ran to his house.

Omar likes playing sports, playing video games, and watching Youtube.

DPatas Chuecas

PEDRO SANCHEZ

uring my last game of the season, my team was doing well, but it was tied up moments before half time. I fell and passed out for a bit, and when I woke up the game was still going on.

I shouted as I looked around, “Is there no free kick ref? That was a foul!”

Once it reached half time, instead of stopping we kept on going. I scored a goal but the referee said that they had scored on us.

“We were supposed to score on our own goal to get a point,” said my friend and teammate Rufus.

When the game was finally over, it all felt very different. It was very different from normal. The rules were all scrambled and they said I was the one playing weird. It felt like a sort of group prank and I was the only one not in the know.

When I got back home, I was ready for dinner. But when I got there, it smelled like eggs, waffles, bacon, and orange juice. It was breakfast for dinner. It was already dark out.

I asked my parents, “Why are we eating breakfast for dinner?”

They looked at me confused and said, “We had dinner this morning. This is breakfast.”

I realized then that I was in a parallel universe. I was confused.

Ten minutes ago, I was in my normal universe, but now I was in an alternate parallel universe where everything was the opposite from my normal one.

I ran back to the soccer field. When I got back to where I had woken up during the game, I wasn’t sure what to do. So, I just sat down and thought for hours.

“How can I get back?” I asked out loud to myself and to no one in particular.

Then I got an idea. I would go back the same way I got there. I called over to my friend Rufus. He had brought a very hard ball. I told him to kick it towards me so that it would hit my head. He missed so many shots, and broke most of the bones in my body, including the leg I had used to score the goal during the game. He finally hit me in the head and I fell unconscious.

I heard a beeping sound and smelled the smell of medicine. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was in a hospital bed. The doctor said I had been unconscious for seven weeks. I had been in a coma. I had broken a leg.

Pedro S. likes to play sports. He is very good at soccer and boxing. He also plays basketball. His team won the Mar Vista Recreation League. He can whistle really loud and play the guitar.

The Magical Forest

PENELOPE JARQUIN

Camila and I were walking back home from school when we realized that our homes were missing. We were so scared, but when we took two sloppy steps forward, we saw every single one of our things. We thought about traveling, but we had to get a ginormous backpack to fit all of our camping stuff in, so we ran down the big hill to the really straight cement.

We passed by our school and then by the corner. We saw a place called the Big Backpack Store. We were out of breath because we ran to the place. We asked the employee if they were open, and he said they were closing in about 10 minutes. He said, “Hurry!” So we ran fast in the store and we went to every shelf.

We saw a big Sanrio backpack. We had to get it. It was only 12 dollars. We had more than that so we paid for two. He said, “Alright,” and he said, “Okay, have a good day.” We stated to get ready to go.

We were walking through all of the trees and bushes, but luckily Camila and I were half an hour away from the forest. Camila was hungry so she said to me, “Can I have some food please?”

“Oh,” I said, “Yes,” with a roll in my eyes. I pulled out an apple, and said, “Here Camila.”

She said, “I WANT MORE!”

I said, “We have to save it.” She calmed down and continued the trip.

We were at the beautiful forest and we were looking for the perfect place to camp. We were looking for about 10 minutes. We saw really big bushes, and when we went around the bushes, we saw an opening, a perfect doorway opening. We went inside the opening and we found the perfect place to camp at so Camila and I set up everything.

It was going to be night in about an hour, so we took a good breath and continued exploring. We saw many trees and bushes, but then we saw something really mind-blowing. We saw 20 beautiful fairies. Camila and I were shocked. We couldn’t believe our eyes. Then one very beautiful fairy looked at Camila and I.

We ran as fast as we could because we thought the fairy would tell the rest of the fairies and they would haunt us. We made it back to our camp and we got in our comfy sleeping bags. We waited for the next day to come.

I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a little baby, and a baby bed made out of leaves, strings, and rocks. We saw a purple light glowing. We got up and we saw it was the fairy. We were pretty shocked, we wondered why the fairy would be where we were.

We were discussing why she would be there, when Camila and I looked back at the fairy and she wasn’t there. Camila and I were looking everywhere, but we couldn’t find her until something tapped on our shoulders. We looked back slowly, and we saw the fairy and we had no words.

She said, “What’s wrong, don’t you want to tell me something?”

I said, “I mean, what’s your name?”

“My name is Ashly,” she said.

“That’s my mom’s name,” I thought. She said no words just like I did. I got suspicious, and I thought to myself, “What if she is my mother?”

I took two steps back without making a noise. I said one letter and then I just stopped talking. I acted like nothing happened. I said to Ashly, “Let’s hang out so I get to know you better.”

I had the idea that if Ashly had a lot in common with my mom that could probably mean that Ashly could be my mom. We started to hang out everyday, and I realized she was actually the opposite of what my mom was like.

The next day, Camila and I packed up our stuff to go back home, but right when we were done, we saw Ashly with a very scary smile, dirty ripped clothes, and messy hair. I couldn’t even demonstrate what she looked like.

She said, “Why are you going already? It’s only been one day,” with a really creepy voice.

I said, “What has happened to you?”

We ran as fast as we could into a cave that was really dark, our only choice. We went in and saw a lot of really light red and orange. Camila and I went in and we saw obstacles with lava and fire. We were so scared and looked all the way up when we saw a sign that read, “Free to go.” We had to do the obstacles, so we did. As we were doing the obstacles, the hardest obstacle was next to the “Free to go” sign. We did the obstacle course as fast as we could to get out.

For some reason, I was asleep. I woke up on the side of the sidewalk. I was so confused, but then I realized the fairy stole our homes. They had all planned everything. When I saw her in that room, they must have been discussing everything they planned. They probably heard everything that we were going to do from the start! I couldn’t believe it.

When I approached Camila and told her the news, she was frightened. We said we would never ever go on a camping trip again, until we saw a…

To be continued…

Penelope likes to draw in her free time. Her favorite colors are blue and black and she really enjoys hanging out with her friends. Penelope loves eating her mom’s food!

Something Unexpected

SOFIA ALVARADO

“Winter, you’re not to leave this house ever again!”

“Yes, Mother, I will not leave again.”

Winter was just 5 years old when her mother locked her in her own house from the outside world. Yet Winter thought her mother wanted to keep her safe from what’s outside of their house.

Many years later…

Winter woke up to the smell of sweet butter mixed with the smell of fresh baked hash browns.

“Mom, are you making pancakes and hashbrowns?” she screamed as she jolted down from her room.

“Yes, actually I’m making them for your birthday breakfast!”

Winter was a girl that loved pancakes and hash browns. Her hair was half white and half brown. She also had emerald green eyes that shined like the sea. She had just turned 18 and hoped her mother would let her out of the house for this birthday’s wish. She was a nice girl that loved to help her mother do the chores around the house.

Winter then helped her mother finish making the pancakes and setting the table.

“Winter, I want you to have an awesome birthday this year. Since you’re turning 18, I have decided to have a party in the house with only

the two of us. And we’re going to have cake, music, food, and games. Doesn’t that sound exciting to you?”

“Yes, Mom. That does sound very exciting to me,” Winter said as she tried to hold back the look of disappointment in her face.

“So, Winter, I was wondering if I could leave you in the house for about 2 hours while I go and get the stuff for the party. And while I do that, could you clean up for a bit? This house is a mess, and we don’t want a mess on your birthday,” her mom said.

“Okay, Winter, you’re staying in here to decorate. I don’t want you going outside. It is more dangerous than before,” her mom continued strictly.

“Winter, don’t leave the house!” she shouted as she left.

“Yes, Mother, I will not leave the house! Okay, time to clean up a little bit and see if I can make the house as new as possible.”

Winter’s mother left, and Winter started to decorate even though she was disappointed that her wish didn’t come true. Winter was decorating and setting things up until she bumped into the table with the flower pot. The flower pot shattered as it hit the ground.

“Oh no! Mom is going to get mad at me if she sees this,“ Winter said nervously. Winter then started to clean up the mess until she saw something behind the table.

It was a hole, a hole that led to the outside world. She felt that her mind was under the control of her body. As she was about to take out some bricks to have a bigger hole to get out of, her mother returned. Winter threw the flower pot outside and put the table back where it belonged before her mother noticed.

“Hi, Mom, did you get all the things we needed?” she nervously asked.

”Yes but what were you doing on the—?”

“Oh I just saw a spider and thought I could kill it, but it scurried right away,“ Winter answered before her mom could finish.

“Okay, let’s start the party, Winter. We’re going to have a good time.”

They were singing, playing games, and eating all the food. They

were having fun until her mom brought out the cake to sing to Winter. Her mom then started singing for five minutes, and eventually started to cut the cake.

“Mom, thank you for this birthday party. I really had fun today,” said Winter.

“Of course you had fun. You were with me. But what we need to do is finish this cake so we can go to sleep!”

“Yeah, Mom. Let’s go!”

Both of them went to sleep. Winter then woke up to get a glass of water, and as she was about to go back up stairs, she remembered the little hole in the wall. She stared at the area behind the table for a moment.

She then jolted up the stairs into her own room and started to change. She then ran downstairs to pack some food. She knew her mom wouldn’t notice her because she was a heavy sleeper. Winter then got paper from her room and wrote a letter.

She walked downstairs and towards the table. She then shifted the table to the right. Winter started to remove each brick, hoping to step into the outside world for the first time.

Winter felt a cold breeze surrounding her. The long grass brushed through her legs. Her dress felt light as the wind blew into her. Winter felt as free as the wind. She started to walk with her backpack full of food, water, and extra clothes.

As she was heading to the nearby village that was on the other side of the mountains, she heard something that always led her to trouble.

Winter then changed route to the forest and toward the direction of the noise. After about a 30 minute walk, she came across a cave where the sound was coming from.

“Oh my God. Who are you? Why do you look like me, except for the eyes? Why are they red and not emerald green?” Winter nervously asked.

“Oh, so you don’t remember me, do you, Winter?“ the creature said.

“And how do you know my name?”

“Oh, so you don’t remember your creation? You’re the one who created me, the one who made me look like this. You’re the other me, and I am the other you. I had a malfunction. That’s why I am kept here in this cave by your mother!” the creature hissed.

“Well, you were pretty young when-when-when… ” the creature started to twitch. “Have you ever wondered why you have that kind of hair? It isn’t because you were born with it. It is because you have this unexpected curse on you.”

“How? My mom says that I always had this hair.”

“Nope! You were cursed when you were just 2 years old. You then made me, and now I am here in a cave, all alone.”

“Oh, so I am the one who is at fault in this situation?”

As Winter stared at the floor, the creature was about to touch her when someone pulled her back with full force, making both of them fall to the ground.

“Ouch! Who was that?”

Winter stood up in pain, turning around to see who it was. It was her mother. It was her mother who had pulled her. Her vision got blurry, and she fell to the hard floor underneath her as her mother rushed to pick her up.

“She woke up. Just let her rest for a day and she will get better.”

“Thank you doctor,” her mother said as Winter was waking up. Winter noticed it was nine in the morning.

“Winter, what is wrong with you? Why did you get out of the house?” her mother screamed at her.

“No, I should be the one asking you, ‘Why did you keep such a huge secret from me?’”

“My daughter, I kept it from you because I thought it would hurt you.”

“MOM! Yes, thank you for keeping me safe, but you didn’t keep the trust I had in you safe. I really appreciate that so much. You’re such a good mother,” she sarcastically said while trying to hold her tears in.

“Fine. If you think I just kept you in here just because I didn’t want you to know… First of all, yes, I did hear everything you two were

talking about over there. And you want to know the one who gave you the curse?”

“Yes, and I want to know everything!”

“Welp, I WAS THE ONE WHO GAVE YOU THAT CURSE! There! You happy?” she screamed.

“How… How could you? Why did you even think about that?” Winter said while crying her heart out.

“I thought I could keep you for myself if everyone knew you were cursed. So I cursed you into having that hair so no one would ever be close to you. But when I found out that you made that creature, I knew I made a mistake.”

“Mom, let me get this straight, you cursed me so that I would only be with you and that no one would get close to me? You could have just told me that since the beginning and maybe my little self would have considered it.”

“I’m so sorry, Winter. Yes, you’re right. I could have just told you that.”

“Mom, I will forgive you this once, but I won’t the next time you try to do something like this.”

“Thank you. Before we end this, I will give you permission to go outside, but only if you don’t go past the very far gate and don’t go into the woods.”

“Yes, thank you so much!” she exclaimed as she ran out of the house.

“Oh, Winter. You don’t know what danger you have put yourself in. But don’t worry, I will try not to go overboard in the future.”

Five days passed, and Winter liked the new life she was having. Her mother had gone to the village for two days and was coming back today. Winter thought her mother had arrived but came in the back door.

As Winter was about to enter the house, someone snatched her from behind.

Winter fell to the rock solid ground, having a concussion. She opened her eyes just in time to see a black shadow trying to tie her to

a chair. Winter went black again just as she heard a raspy voice saying, “Nice to meet you again, Winter.”

To be continued…

Sofia A. is a girl who loves to dance in her free time. She likes to bake pastries when she feels like it. Sofia A. has played soccer for more than four years. She also has many friends.

Sweet Berry Mystery

YEVA KAMENETSKA

Hello there, I’m the storyteller.

There were some animals: a panda named Panda, a bear named Co-Co, a blob named Bloby, and a cat named Skittles. Well, Skittles was practically their pet. Yes, I know in this story animals have pets! So the story begins!

Panda, Co-Co, Bloby, and Skittles were just chilling next to the pool in their home. But then, when Co-Co went on her phone, she heard the news that in Hamy Town, the Sweet Berry was EATEN! The Sweet Berry was delicious and legendary. It only appeared once every 21 days— Oh sorry, I mean years.

They were shocked, but they were great at searching. So they went to Hamy Town which was only one minute away.

When they got to Hamy Town, they asked the Mayor lots of questions. He said he had a very good nap and that was all. He did notice that his sleeping hat was gone. The animal’s prime suspect was Ninja Hamy because he was always stealing food!

There was a problem though. Ninja Hamy lived in a dimension called the Bamboo Dimension. They asked the Mayor if they could borrow his portal machine and he said yes.

They got in the portal machine and Panda seemed very excited

when they arrived at the Bamboo Dimension. Panda ran straight toward some bamboo and shouted, “Panda’s coming in hot!” Then he took a huge bite of it!

But the bamboo wasn’t just bamboo, it was very sour, candyjumping bamboo! It would wear off in 5 minutes. So Panda was jumping non-stop for 5 minutes. He never ate that specific type of bamboo again.

After 20 minutes of searching, they found Ninja Hamy’s house. They burst in and broke the wall, spilling Ninja Hamy’s tea.

Ninja Hamy shouted, “How did you find me?”

And they said, “The sign next to your house.”

He whispered to himself, “Oh, biscuits, I really should take that sign away.”

“I was just drinking tea peacefully until you burst in! All I did was sleep and eat,” said Ninja Hamy.

Bloby asked, “What did you eat!?”

“Well, I wish I ate the Sweet Berry, but I ate donuts!”

“So you’re innocent,” said Co-Co.

“Yes, of course I am!”

“Oh, okay then, bye!”

“Wait, get back here and fix my wall!”

“Sorry, but we have to go! BYE!”

Then they left the dimension and they told the Mayor everything. A cop came in and showed them a sleeping hat. The Mayor calmly said, “That’s my hat.”

“What?” said Panda, confused.

They all understood what had happened. The Mayor had been sleep walking and he had gone to the museum.! Apparently, the Mayor had eaten the Sweet Berry! He was embarrassed and said he would be sleeping with a tracking teddy bear so he would never steal again.

Yeva’s favorite animals are pandas and corgis. Her favorite color and food is peach. She is also Ukrainian!

The Little Family

JESUS A.

SECTION TWO:

A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE

One day, my family and I woke up and we were so tiny. My mom and I thought it was a dream.

“Dios mio!” My dad got scared.

We tried to get down from the bed. We threw the pillows off the bed and we jumped down.

It took us hours to walk to the living room. The TV remote was on the floor. We turned on the gigantic TV to watch the news. We were so happy. The news explained that a scientist’s experiment went wrong, but that we would become big again in 24 hours.

We were all really hungry, so we all opened the fridge together, climbed up, and got one egg. We all cracked the egg open with our fists. We poured the egg into a pan on the stove. I used all my strength to push the stove knob in and turn it on. We cooked the egg and picked it up very carefully all together. We put it on a plate and ate it with our hands.

We jumped on the PS5 controller’s buttons to play Fortnite. I jumped on the shooting button. My brother jumped on the aiming button. My sister jumped on the walking button. We got 10th place, but we still tried. It was so fun!

We put pillows under the door, then climbed on the sofa and

jumped off together, trying to grab and turn the door knob. In case we fell, we’d land on the pillow. We tried one time and missed. We tried a second time all together and we did it. Then we decided to go outside and go for a walk.

“I’m going to go back inside and look at my iPhone 15,” said my sister.

After my sister went back inside, the four of us continued on our walk. All of a sudden, I remembered where my tiny skateboard was and I ran back in the house to get it, because my sister left the door open. I reminded my brother to go get his too.

“Jesus, be careful!” my mom called out and so I watched where I was going. When I looked back, I saw my parents watching my brother and I, they were smiling.

After a while, Mommy and Daddy called out to us to go back home. What a surprise! My sister prepared a delicious dinner for us and all we had to do was wash our hands.

We had a lot of pillows so going to sleep was easy because the pillows were already on the floor. We all changed into pajamas, brushed our teeth, and climbed up the tower of pillows to get into bed. As I was going to sleep, I remembered the TV program that described the science experiment gone wrong and I KNEW that when I woke up in the morning, my family would all be normal-sized again.

Jesus is 10 years old and in the fifth grade. He likes to play soccer and computer games on the PS5. He also likes to draw people.

Travel Through the House

AURORA MATEO

“Hey, Lily. Lily. LILY,” Aurora exclaimed. Lily groaned as she woke up.

“Did you pay Mr. Mouse for the mouse hole?” said Aurora.

“Um, yes?” Lily replied.

“Oh great, we’re going to get evicted!” Aurora said.

The next day, Aurora cried, “Sorry Mr. Mouse! I swear we will get you the buttons!”

“Oh, fine. You get two days to pay me back,” replied Mr. Mouse.

“Thank you so mu—” Lily muttered.

“Shh... Get me the buttons,” Mr. Mouse whispered.

“Yes sir!” Aurora and Lily both said with joy. Then they start walking.

“Do you ever wonder why we turned so small and now live in a giant’s home?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t worry about it,” Aurora replied.

“Okay, so where do we get our currency?” Lily asked.

“The place where we always get our things!” Aurora said.

“Ah, yes. The boy’s room.”

“Let’s get a car from the dealership across the rug,”

Aurora suggested.

“But how? We have no money,” Lily said. They started to walk across the rug.

“I think I have a button in my pocket,” Aurora declared. They walked into the dealership.

“Aurora, I don’t think that a button will work-” Lily stuttered.

“Hello, good man! I would like to rent a car,” Aurora said with a fancy accent.

“Why yes, which one?” asked the dealership man with an equally fancy accent.

“We will take the Lamborghini,” Aurora continued with her fancy accent.

“Why yes, of course. Only the best for the best,” said the dealership man.

“And how much will this cost?” asked Aurora.

“Only a button.” Aurora handed him the button. “Here are the keys to your new car,” said the dealership man. Aurora grabbed the key and started the car while Lily stood there shocked.

“Lily, aren’t you getting in the car?” Aurora said to Lily. Lily took two steps forward.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?” Lily exclaimed.

Aurora put her hand on Lily’s shoulder. “It’s called business,” Aurora whispered to Lily.

“Whatever,” Lily replied with an annoyed tone. Aurora started the car (VROOM) then she started to drive through the hall.

Then Lily asked, “Can you turn on the radio?”

Aurora turned on the radio as the sunlight shone through her very cool sunglasses. Lily’s favorite song started to play.

“WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE BOY’S ROOM!” Aurora announced. “Let’s start looking.” They looked under countless bed sheets, countless pillows, and countless stinky socks. After all of that, they found three grams of lint.

“Well, this was a bust,” Lily said. They both sighed.

“Well, we could check downstairs,” Aurora suggested.

“Okay, but how will we climb down?” Lily asked.

“Well, we will need some rope. Oh look, I think that Lego figure has some rope!” Aurora announced. They started to walk toward the Lego figure store.

“Hello, welcome to my shop, we have everything you need,” said the Lego figure.

“Hello, do you have some rope?” asked Aurora.

“Why of course, what kind?”

“We will take a thick rope. You know? One that’s for rock climbing.”

“Okay, how long would you like it?

“Hmm… We will take 12 inches.”

“That’s a lot of rope, but okay. May I ask why you need all of this rope?”

“We are heading down the giant stairs.”

“Ah, yes, but be careful,” the Lego figure warned. “I heard there is a beast that has stinky breath and one heck of a bite. They call it the dog.”

“Now everyone knows that is a myth,” Aurora replied.

“Well, you’re wrong. I saw him with my very own eyes.”

“Okay, we will stay safe. How much for the rope?”

“About one gram of lint.”

Aurora gave him the lint and they started climbing down.

“Do you think the guy was telling the truth?” asked Lily.

“Nah, I bet he just hates tourists,” replied Aurora.

Then when they got to the end of the rope, they saw the biggest! Stinkiest! Beast ever!

“Get in the car!” Lily shouted. They ran to the Hot Wheels Toyota Corolla.

“Drive, drive, drive!”

Lily started twisting in circles to create smoke to distract the dog. Then they drove away.

Lily sighed with relief, “I think we lost it.”

“Good thing we have this car,” Aurora said.

Then they drove to a ghost town with colorful spray paint on the

walls and tool boxes with rusty screws, old creepy toys, and a dusty old car. There were boxes with who knows what, old bikes, and cobwebs.

“Where should we look first?” asked Lily. “Under the car, in the tool boxes?”

“What about in those boxes?” suggested Aurora.

“But how do we get up there?” asked Lily. “Mmm… I know!” Lily found a rubber band and a toy that punched when it was wound up. She got a dusty paper clip and connected it to the toy.

“Now you got yourself a self-winding slingshot,” she announced proudly.

First, Lily test drove it. She grabbed a screw, put it in the toy, and then POOF! It went flying high.

“Okay, yeah, you’re doing that,” said Lily.

“Why me?” protested Aurora.

“I don’t want to be dying on a shelf!”

“Fine! I will do it.”

Lily helped Aurora wind up the toy to sling shot her up to the shelf.

“Wait! Can I get some protection at least?” Aurora asked.

“Fine!” Lily grabbed some old bubble wrap and gave it to Aurora.

“Here, is this good?”

“Oooh, yes! perfection!”

*POOF*

“Oof! Looks like she made it safely,” Lily said.

“Okay Lily, it’s your turn!” Aurora shouted down.

“But how?”

“Strap yourself in, then push down the paper clip.”

“Okay!”

Lily straps herself in then sh—“Wait! Put the BUBBLE WRAP—”

“AHHH!”

*POOF*

“Are you okay?”

“Yea,” Lily said sorely.

“Okay, good. Let’s get looking.”

“Ahh! What’s that?”

Out of the shadows came a man about the same size as them.

“Hello, my name is Robert,” he said.

“Hello Robert! May you happen to have any buttons. We are running low on money,” asked Aurora.

“Well, the thing is… I am homeless,” replied Robert.

“Oh, well, you could live with us!” offered Aurora.

“But you just said that - ” Robert started, confused.

“Oh, umm… We meant… Um… Ugh! Nevermind! Yes, we are technically homeless too,” Aurora explained. “It’s just this girl over here forgot to pay rent.”

“We only have two more days to pay it,” explained Lily.

“Oh! I have a bunch of buttons and a box of Nerds,” Robert said.

“Oh? Where?”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. I don’t know how to get down from here.”

“But there are literally stairs that lead down!”

“Oh… ”

“You literally lived here for like three years while there are stairs right here?”

“I guess?”

“Okay, let’s go and get those buttons!”

They walked to the table, found a small, soft, and red bag stuffed with buttons and Nerds. They loaded it up and started heading back home.

“Stop! That giant is using that machine!” shouted Aurora.

“Oh, the vacuum?” Robert asked.

“What is a vacuum?” asked Lily.

“It’s the machine you’re talking about,” explained Robert.

“Oh, okay.” They avoided the vacuum and got to the kitchen counter.

“Now how do we get up there?” asked Robert.

“There’s some toothpicks in the car!” Lily said.

Lily attached all the toothpicks together to create a ladder. Robert wrapped some rope around the car. He threw the rope up to the top of the counter. Then he got in the car while Lily and Aurora climbed up

the ladder. Together, they pulled the car up. Then they met a problem.

“Ohh! How are we going to get across the sink?!” lamented Robert.

“Get the cutting board!” commanded Aurora.

They pushed the cutting board across the sink so they could cross. They headed downtown to the fridge!

“Okay, don’t look at any one, and don’t look at anything!” instructed Robert.

They passed through. Now on the other side of the counter, they lowered the car with the rope. Then they all got a piece of a napkin and floated down safely.

“Okay, start the car!” shouted Lily.

They got in the car and drove to the stairs. They got out of the car. Everyone grabbed a piece of cardboard. They worked together to build a ramp up the stairs. They got back in the car.

“Go go!”

*VROOM*

“Weeee!”

*CRASH*

They walked the rest of the way home.

“Mr. Mouse! Here is the rent,” announced Lily.

“Thank you.”

“May Robert live with us? Please?” asked Aurora.

“Ugh! That’s another thousand,” replied Mr. Mouse.

“AW! I hate being small!” they all said together.

Aurora is a funny and fun person. She likes to ride horses and swim during her free time. She likes Snoopy and comics and has a way with fashion.

The Cucaracha Crew

JACKY ORTEGA

One day, a girl named Melissa was walking across the street when a crazy scientist dropped his shrink ray. Then the shrink ray hit her umbrella (it was raining), which reflected the beam and it hit Melissa. The scientist didn’t notice there was another girl called Mar. So Mar called the police and after she did, she picked up Melissa and raised her to her ear to tell her what to do.

Melissa said, “Hey! Can you keep it down? Because when you talk, I can hear you screaming at me.” Mar was so shocked that she didn’t say a word. But then, Melissa talked again. She said, “Bring me down! I see something.”

When she went down, she met three cucarachas named Little Timmy, Bob 1, and last but not least, Bob 2. Before she knew it, Bob 1 said, “Are you just going to stand there or what?”

Then Melissa said, “How are you talking? You are cucarachas!”

Little Timmy answered, because Bob 1 was too angry to talk. “We can speak because our friend is an English teacher and he taught us how to read and write. So that’s how.”

After Little Timmy finished talking, Melissa said, “Oh, okay, I guess I should introduce myself. I am Melissa. And also, before I forget, this is my friend Ma—”

While she was still talking to the three cucarachas, they screamed in horror because Mar was wearing chanclas, the cucarachas’ worst enemy. As soon as they saw that, they were ready to attack. But before they could do that, Melissa stopped them. Before anything bad happened, they sorted everything out. They were determined they would help Melissa get back to normal.

But for a small price: unlimited ice cream and lactose intolerant donuts. Since they were so small, they thought a box of donuts was like a big shop full of giant donuts.

Before they could get the ice cream and donuts, the scientist’s cat attacked Little Timmy. It was so unexpected that Little Timmy (who always smiles) stopped smiling. His brothers got so mad that they started to fight the cat.

Mar went to get water, running as fast as she could. Melissa was also in the fight and Bob 1 said, “Hey, Mar, where are you going? The cat is using its nails now!”

Then Little Timmy started talking: “Oh, brother, don’t be so mean, now.”

But before Bob 1 could answer, Bob 2 started talking: “Now is not the time for an argument or lecture. OKAY???”

Then Bob 1 said, “Okay, let’s focus now, because Little Timmy is really hurt now.”

The cat landed a big hit and was about to finish them off. Before that, Mar arrived, and sprayed the cat with water.

Then Bob 1 and Bob 2 said, “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

Before they could say anything else, Little Timmy screamed in pain because of the cat. Mar hurriedly searched her pockets for a Band-Aid. Five seconds later, she found one and put it on Little Timmy. A few seconds later, he was better and started moving his legs. His brothers were so happy that they started crying.

Then Mar said, “I’m not a doctor, but Little Timmy needs some rest. We need to go to my car so we can go to my house and let Little Timmy rest.”

The others agreed. However, Mar forgot her keys at the pond

where she got the water, so they headed over to the pond. But the cat had already gotten to the keys. Mar screamed but it was too late. The cat had already dropped the keys in the pond.

Mar sprayed the cat with water again. Then a few seconds later, she searched the pond and luckily found her car keys. She had to hurry because the cat was about to attack, so she quickly got up with the keys and ran with Bob 1 and Bob 2 and Melissa and half-asleep Little Timmy.

They found Mar’s car and sat in the car before the cat could catch them. In the car, they all sighed in relief and Mar started driving back to her house.

When they arrived, they put Little Timmy on a bed to rest. In the meantime, they made some chicken soup for Little Timmy and also some protein shakes. But first, the chicken soup.

When she was making it, Bob 1 said, “Can you hurry up? My brother is about to pass away!”

Then Bob 2 said, “Hey, calm down, she’s doing the best she can. You just need to wait, okay?”

A few minutes later the chicken soup was ready. As soon as they fed Little Timmy, Little Timmy felt wide awake and had a lot of energy. After they were done with the chicken soup, they decided to finally try to make the protein shakes. When they started making them, Bob 1 said, “I want ice cream in mine!”

Then Bob 2 said, “Can you put almond milk in mine because I am lactose intolerant?”

After Mar was done making the protein shakes, she put them in tiny Barbie-sized cups. When they were done drinking them, they became two feet tall and strong. Mar and Melissa smirked at each other, knowing that Bob 1 and Bob 2 and Little Timmy were ready for the Final Boss.

They headed out to find the scientist’s bunker. They went to the spot where it all first happened. When they were looking around they saw something odd, some sand that was a different color than the sand around it. They knew the scientist’s bunker was RIGHT THERE.

Then Mar grabbed a big tree branch and began hitting the spot in the sand over and over. The Bobs and Little Timmy were very surprised to see how strong she was.

They all jumped into the big dent she made in the sand like superheroes on a mission. Then they spotted the scientist. The scientist was secretly making another shrink ray. Right next to him was a cage with the scientist’s fighting cat. When the scientist spotted them, he quickly unleashed his cat from the cage, but the cat was no match for them. After a few hits, the cat had lost and the only one left was the scientist. Soon the scientist was down, too. When he begged for his life, they said, “You have to give the antidote to us!” and he did.

Melissa drank it and went back to normal, and the cops soon came to arrest the scientist.

✶ ✶ ✶

Jaqueline is a fourth grader and loves roller coasters and also loves to watch movies. She was born in Hollywood and her favorite food is the seven seafood.

Bug’s World

JADE R.

One day, Lucy was in a science lab. The lab was all white, everyone had all-white, clean lab coats, gloves, and glasses. The lab was owned by a good company. It had computers with DNA pictures and microscopes. In the lab, Lucy made a potion. She was allowed to go to the lab to make a potion by a scientist friend, Bob the Cop. Bob was a man with two jobs. He was a part-time Texan cop and a part-time scientist.

In the lab, Lucy made a growing potion. After Lucy made the potion, she went to the park to take a nap. Lucy typically took a blanket with her to the park so she could avoid itching from the grass. During Lucy’s nap, she had a dream that she was in a haunted house. When she was in the haunted house she saw a ghost, and she was running in her dream, but in real life she started sleepwalking and accidentally dropped the potion. She woke up from her dream, and accidentally kicked the potion she had dropped.

When the potion dropped, Lucy tried to pick it up, but the potion fell on the bugs in the grass. The potion caused the bugs to grow so big, even bigger than humans! The people at the park were running from the human-sized bugs, but unfortunately one human got eaten. This person was trying to run, but he fell and couldn’t get up. When

Lucy got closer to the human that had been eaten, she realized it was Bob the Cop. The bug that ate Bob was a daddy longlegs spider who thought Bob was an insect.

Lucy yelled, “Everyone go to the bunker!”

The bunker Lucy told them to go to was a secret bunker that only Lucy knew about. It was underground near a tree in Griffith Park. It was a white bunker that smelled like flowers. The bunker was very big, with enough space to fit thousands of people. In the bunker there were chips, water, forks, and canned food. Lucy knew about the bunker because she liked to prepare for crises.

Lucy called her friends to come. Her friends’ names were Mop, Cat, and Charlotte. Mop liked to mop floors, had white hair, and wore blue and red clothes. Cat had long hair with bangs, and liked wearing a fluffy white sweater and a white skirt. Charlotte had short blonde hair and wore a Sonic sweater with blue pants.

Once her friends arrived, they helped Lucy get everyone in the town inside the bunker. They did this by gathering everyone in the town in a circle and using a microphone to announce to them to go to the bunker.

The next day, Lucy heard a scream. She walked to see where it was coming from, and found out it was her dad screaming. Lucy’s dad was really old. He was 99 and about to turn 100. He was blind, so his eyes were gray, and all his black hair had turned into white hair. It was his time. Unfortunately, he died in a spider web. The spider web was in the bathroom. Lucy knew her dad was dead because there was a lot of blood, and she saw bite marks. She knew black widows were deadly, so she knew it was too late.

Lucy realized a bug got in the bunker because she saw a spider egg. The spider egg looked like rotten eggs, and the colors of it were orange and yellow. Lucy felt sad when her dad died. When she saw how big the bug was, she was scared.

Afterward, Lucy told everyone to leave the bunker and they did. Everyone went to an abandoned McDonald’s. Lucy and everyone else kept the bugs from killing more people by telling them to go to

an abandoned Mcdonald’s where there were no bugs. Everyone was finally safe.

✶ ✶ ✶

Jade R. likes to sleep and loves her mom and likes school and hates spiders and is in fourth grade.

The Ants

ISAAC H.

One day I was walking in the big green grass in my neighbor’s backyard when I saw a big group of ants running from a big fat rat that had big sharp teeth. Then the rat stood and looked at my soul and I ran as fast as I could. I could not see anything, and then I fell down. I looked everywhere but there was no sign of the rat.

As I looked around me, I saw the group of ants. Then I felt an earthquake and I looked up. I saw a shoe that was about to step on me but then the group of ants came and saved me from getting stepped on.

SANTIAGO

“Hello, this is Video Tape One.”

“This is Jonesthey reporting from the spaceship. I work for a company named the Company.”

The spaceship had a lot of lines and had the words at the front, “If you need help, call out ‘the Name.’”

I had discovered another universe at the edge of our universe and entered it. But what I was most worried about was the reading received by the spaceship that said that there was a 50% chance that I’d shrink.

As I entered, I saw a new world. Then we got a reading, but it was encrypted. It said, “чoʇʇоlp.” As I got my scanners, they said that ten thousand years ago a meteor hit one side and made volcanoes, making one side hot. As it was happening, the hot side and the cold side touched. It made a rocky wall between them.

As I was reading, a stampede came. It stopped. I realized that I was small. Luckily, the Company had made a machine to make me normalsized for one hour. The machine was kept in the spaceship and looked like a trampoline with a lot of buttons.

When I looked at them, they looked like mummies and were riding camels with eight legs as they stopped. They were speaking in another language so I put on the translator, which was made by the Company

and looked like a hologram. One of them said, “Look there is a strange creature.”

Then one of them said, “The monster will come soon, so we must take this creature.” One of them grabbed my arm and made me ride the “calemas” as they called them. After ten minutes, we reached their village. Most of it was in ruins.

Then they told a story of why the village was in ruins: “Once upon a time, the village was in peace but then a monster appeared. It shot out ice and froze buildings and destroyed them.”

After the story, I realized that there was a crack that needed to be fixed. An earthquake happened and the monster came and attacked the village. The people fought back.

I had an idea. I would swing onto the monster and then ride it to the crack, fix the crack, and make sure the monster stayed there. When I was riding the monster, we made our destination and I sent it back. I signaled something. I made a portable bike that instantly came to me. As I sent the monster to the crack, the monster dragged me with the bike, bringing me with it close to the crack.

Then I saw the frozen landscape. I was looking around and saw a lot of aliens. They looked like tall furry bears with big ears. They were also riding something. It looked like a sled. Then one of them grabbed me and accidentally knocked me out. I woke up and saw them.

One of them said, “This creature, do you really think he or she is the chosen one?”

Then they realized I was awake and they explained their problem. “Once upon a time, a tree kept all the plants living, letting us survive in peace.”

“Take me there. I will fix it,” I said.

One of them said they would take me there. Thirty minutes later we arrived at the tree. When I got there, I shrunk, went inside the roots, and saw some purple-looking caterpillars eating the roots. I made a plan to distract them, get them away, and then scream so that the weird aliens would step on the caterpillars.

I made a small mini-figure out of the dead roots, waving it around

to get their attention. Then I carried the distraction outside. The caterpillars followed me. I screamed and the aliens stepped on all the caterpillars.

I called for my bike, and I screamed, “Press the red button and grab the little machine and hit it as hard as you can on the ground!”

One of them heard me and did exactly as I ordered. I jumped back to it and got back to my normal size. Then I rode back and told the village what had happened, explained my situation, and told them that the problem was solved. Then I rode my bike to the spaceship. When I got to my spaceship, I turned it on and headed off to the next planet… or universe!

Santiago wants to be free.

Bob Is The Same Size As An Ant!

ISAAC JIMENEZ

Bob and his family are moving to a brand new house in New York City. The house is pretty. It’s small, but not too small. Bob feels strange and odd about moving since he has never done it before and he gets nervous whenever he is somewhere he doesn’t want to be. Still, Bob helps his parents move their stuff.

Bob’s mom discovers a few ants on the wall. Bob is 13 years old and loves ants. He lets some of the ants on to his hand. Little does he know, one of the ants is much more different than the rest. One of the ants is a different color compared to the rest. Ants don’t usually bite humans, but one of the ants bites Bob’s hand and hurts him. He shakes all the ants off his hand.

After a while, Bob’s family finishes moving all of their stuff into the new house. Bob says, “I’m feeling kinda weird.”

Bob’s mom says, “Maybe you should go lay down.”

“I probably should,” says Bob.

Bob lays down, and after a while he falls asleep. In the morning, Bob wakes up to a surprise. Bob is so small! At first, he thinks it’s cool, but then he realizes he doesn’t know how he is supposed to get down because from his point of view, he is so high up.

“How am I supposed to get down?!” says Bob.

Luckily for him, he left his sweater on the corner of his bed. Bob then grabs onto his sweater and slowly starts descending onto the floor.

Once he’s on the floor, he realizes that being small has advantages but also disadvantages. He can eat small foods and easily get full. He is small so people would have to crouch down to see him and maybe could even accidentally squish him.

“There are good and bad things about being small,” says Bob.

Bob’s dad comes to his room, “Bob! Where are you?!” He closes the door.

Bob tries to get his dad’s attention, but fails. Since Bob is small, he can just go below the door. He sees his mom and dad eating breakfast on the table. Bob tries to call out to his parents but they don’t hear him. Bob realizes he can also climb up walls like an ant! So he starts ascending onto the table and makes it to the top of the table. He tries to get his father’s attention and he finally does so.

“Bob?!” says his dad.

“Finally you noticed me!” says Bob.

“Why are you so small!?!?” his dad asks.

“Yeah, why are you so small!?!?” asks his mom.

“Well, yesterday when we were moving our stuff, I saw some ants on the wall and one of them bit me!” Bob says.

“How are you supposed to go to places without getting squashed?” asks Bob’s dad.

“All I gotta do is watch my surroundings and stay away from people,” Bob replies.

“How are you supposed to survive? For example, eating food or drinking?” Bob’s mom asks.

“To eat, you guys have to give me small pieces of food, and to drink, I have to drink from the smallest cup we have and fill it up all the way until it’s completely full,” Bob says. “Also, you guys can help me travel to places by picking me up.”

“You’re right, but how are you supposed to go back to your regular size?” Bob’s mom asks.

“I don’t know,” says Bob. “I know being small can be hard, but it

can also help.”

“Well, we are just gonna have to help you then with a few things,” says Bob’s mom.

“We have a solution for that now,” says Bob. “Now I’m hungry.”

“I will just give you a small piece of a pancake that I made,” says Bob’s mom.

In the end, Bob has to live as the same size as an ant for the rest of his life, but he can do a lot of stuff regular people can’t do. ✶ ✶ ✶

Isaac Jimenez is in seventh grade and goes to Sandra Cisneros Charter Academy. Isaac’s favorite thing to do is to play games with his friends and exercise daily.

Snake!!!

MOISES

Once upon a time, there was a GIANT, green snake named Homes. Homes loved reading the newspaper and while doing so, he learned there was a castle that belonged to the mice. He loved mice and knew he had to visit the castle to eat them. Arriving at the castle, he stood outside starstruck at how big it was. The castle was green, orange, and red. It was made of wood.

Homes knew he wanted to get in, but there was a problem. Their castle was gated. Homes walked around the entire castle and found a tunnel under the castle. Then he entered. He noticed that six mice lived in the castle. He realized the newspaper was correct and that the mice lived in a nest. They were all together in the castle, turning it into their home.

One day, Homes the GIANT, green snake broke into the castle to eat all the mice. Homes looked everywhere, even on the stairs, and couldn’t find them. The mice were hiding under the small mouse-sized wooden table. Homes scared them, so they didn’t want to run away. When Homes passed them, they got out from under the table.

One of the mice said, “Quick! Let’s leave before Homes comes back!”

They ran but it took them 10 minutes to run to the other side of

the castle. Then they saw a tiny mouse-sized door and they knew their escape was close. But, before they could leave, Homes the GIANT, green snake slithered in and ate three of the mice one by one. Two mice escaped and ran back to the table. However, Homes chased them and they got trapped. Homes ate them too. Just then, he heard an engine turn on. One of the mice managed to escape in a big black car.

Moises is in third grade. He is 8 years old. He likes to play. He likes rocks. He is happy.

From the Ant Back to Man

FREDY U.

Andrew and Daniel were walking on the beach on a sunny day when Daniel started to play fight. Andrew pushed Daniel into some random machine that was on the beach. When this happened the machine turned on and zapped Daniel, turning him into an ant. Andrew thought he disappeared until he heard a faint sound in the distance.

“Dude, I’m right here. Do you see me!?!?” Andrew looked down, and to his surprise, he saw Daniel. He picked him up, still in shock.

“Woah, bro, are you really an ant?” said Andrew.

“No,” Daniel said sarcastically, not knowing what to do.

“Oh NOOO! My best friend got shrunk into an ant,” Andrew said. Andrew walked with Daniel in his hand and asked around the beach if anyone there was a scientist or knew of one nearby. Many answered no until a man finally came up to Andrew and said he was a scientist.

The scientist’s name was Dave. Dave said, “Well, I mean, I’m a scientist. What seems to be the problem?”

Andrew said, “Yeah, we were walking. Then I pushed him into some ant machine.”

Dave said, “Okay, I see, I can turn him back but you have to go

on a mission and there is a 70% chance you die and a 30% chance you live.”

Andrew accepted it and Dave gave him an oxygen mask because, as the scientist said, “There will be poisonous gas all around the place. And if you breathe the gas you will die.” So, Andrew took the gas mask and went to the place where the scientist’s mission was.

Andrew was confused because it was a beach, but suddenly a portal opened in front of him, and Andrew jumped into it. It was a destroyed city on the other side. Then he saw a potion, so he went to grab it. But, zombie monkeys and gorillas started climbing their way to Andrew. He was so scared that he ran to a building, ran up to the highest floor, and hid behind a desk. The zombie monkeys searched the building while the zombie gorillas were searching the street.

While he was running to the rooftop he saw another potion and grabbed it. But then the zombie monkey saw him and threw poisonous bananas at him. Andrew was dodging them, but the last banana hit him. Andrew’s health was weak. He laid on the ground.

Then the zombie gorillas came to attack Andrew too. The zombie monkeys were about to stab him! The scientist came in with a grappling move, just in time to save him.

The scientist picked up Andrew as he was limping. The scientist opened up a portal and then they both jumped in. They came back and gave the potion to Daniel and he turned back to a human size again.

They both said, “We will never go back there again.”

The scientist said, “One hundred percent don’t go back there again. Good job though, I’m glad it worked.”

Fredy Urbina likes to play soccer and basketball. He plays FC 24 as Real Madrid. He likes to go camping with his family. They are currently planning a trip to Tahoe.

Saving A German Shepherd In A Day

ANGIE J.

Once upon a time, by a miracle two girls named Andy and Sophia were shrunk like ants. They felt scared and shaky. Andy was older than Sophia. They were at a dog park with German Shepherds and had 7 tennis balls.

Sophia had a Blue shirt and Andy had a Purple shirt. Andy and Sophia felt confused but Andy and Sophia were even more confused when they saw a masked man enter the dog park. Sophia looked at the man and thought he seemed suspicious.

“Hey Andy, that man looks weird,” said Sophia.

“He does look suspicious,” said Andy.

The man wore a red shirt and black pants. The man also wore a black mask that covered his whole face. He walked diagonally toward a German Shepherd. He grabbed it and carried it to his car.

Andy and Sophia ran after the man. They jumped on a skateboard that a boy was using, to catch up to the man.

Andy said, “When we get in the car, let’s climb up his shoulder and bite him on the cheek.”

Andy and Sophia made it to the car. They climbed through an open window and landed on the German Shepherd. They felt itchy because of the hair. The dog started to move to the front of the car.

They grabbed on tight when the dog got in the passenger seat so they wouldn’t fall off.

“Jump!” shouts Sophia.

They leaped onto the man’s shoulder. His cheek was hairy and dry. Sophia and Andy felt great about their plan. They bit his cheek at the same time.

The man screamed and stopped the car. His cheek turned red. He got out of the car. The dog then left the car. Andy and Sophia grabbed the dog.

“Great job,” said Sophia. They high-fived.

The dog went back to the dog park, and back to his real owner who was a woman wearing a necklace and purple shirt. She saw Andy and Sophia and said “Thank you, you have saved my dog!”

“No problem,” said Andy and Sophia at the same time.

“Since you saved my dog,” the woman said, “I’ll put you back to a normal size. I have a magical power.”

“Yes, thank you!” said the girls.

Once they were un-shrunk and back to the right size, the three went together for ice cream.

Angie is a fourth grader. Angie likes to shop at the mall. Angie likes to watch interesting movies, like the Sandlot. Angie is nice and friendly.

The Size of an Ant

KIMBERLY M.

My cousin Daisy and I were so bored. We wanted to go to the park, so we went because the park is kind of next to Daisy’s house. We walked to the park, and then we played for a little bit. We got tired, so we drank water.

Then we saw an ant that could talk. He said, “Hi.”

We said, “Hi,” back. Then we asked, “Want to be friends with us?”

He said, “Only if you drink this.” We agreed because it looked good.

When we drank it, we became so small like ants! We did not know how we turned into ants. Then my mom and dad came to the park to get us. They were looking for us. “Where are they?” exclaimed my dad.

“They said they were here,” added my mom.

They were about to leave and head to Daisy’s house to look for us when I said, “Mom, Dad, we are here!”

“Who said that?” my mom asked.

But they did not see us because we were too small. They were looking everywhere for us. Then we were yelling, “We are Kimberly and Daisy, but we are like ants.”

My mom and dad said, “Why are you guys the size of ants?”

“We don’t know,” we responded.

My mom saw the water, but then my dad had an idea to put the water on the grass so the potion would go away. It worked.

We had felt so small. We told my mom and dad about how we were like ants. They said, “Okay, that is why we couldn’t find you guys.”

Daisy and I were hungry because the potion made us hungry, so we asked my parents if we could go and eat. They agreed and said that afterward we would go eat ice cream. We went to eat at In-N-Out. Then we went to go get ice cream.

Then we went to drop off Daisy. I was sad, but my mom told me I could have a sleepover at Daisy’s house. I was so happy. But first, I had to go get my stuff so I could sleep over. It was so fun! We watched a movie and had popcorn. Thanks for reading my story!

Kimberly is a fourth grader that likes to draw, read, and play. Kimberly’s favorite sports are soccer and kickball. Kimberly loves Stitch and Cinnamoroll. She loves the color blue and is 9 years old.

The Sign

EMMA DIAZ

SECTION THREE:

ENTERING THE WORLD OF ART

One day, a group of good friends were wondering where to go. Emma loved to do art, Justin loved to play basketball, Nathan liked to play flag football, and Jasmine liked to do Tik Tok dances with Emma. Then Emma said, “How about a trip to the museum?”

They all said yes and went into their car to get there. Once they got there, Justin saw a painting of his dream life. Everyone else agreed and wished they lived in that painting too. They went home still thinking about that painting. Then they had pizza and went to bed.

The next day they saw that a new painting was added to the museum. They got so excited and rushed to the museum. When they got there, they stumbled upon the same painting but that painting had a sign that they thought said, “Come in me,” but it actually said, “Don’t touch me.” They touched the painting and got pulled inside of it.

Theta ll said, “That is so cool.” Once they got inside the painting, they saw a pool and jumped in the pool. Then Justin saw a barbeque, and he thought of making hotdogs. Hot dogs and buns mysteriously appeared and he made hotdogs for his friends. Once Justin’s friends got out of the pool, he found a few towels that were laying around and gave the towels to them. After they ate their food, they went inside.

They saw a giant TV and a big couch. They watched their favorite show, “The Amazing World of Gumball.”

Then Justin went outside and saw people outside. He waved, but no one waved back. Then he saw the lights go off. A few minutes later, the security guard came out and looked at the painting and everyone stopped moving. Justin did not know what to do. Then the security guard went over to another painting. When Justin could move, he ran back to check on his friends. When he got in, Justin said, “Is everybody okay?”

Everybody said, “What was that?”

Justin said, “I don’t know.” Then suddenly the sun went down and it became dark.

Then they mysteriously found four bedrooms. They did not suspect a thing. They went to bed and in the middle of the night, Justin saw the sun rise and gasped. Then all of his friends woke up and made breakfast. They made eggs and they ate and went outside.

The lights turned on in the museum, then people started walking in the museum. Justin was puzzled by everything he had seen. Then his friend said, “What happened? Why does he look so puzzled?” Justin stayed silent and went to his bedroom and shut the door. He pinched himself. He was awake, although he thought he was sleeping.

Then Justin went outside to get some fresh air. Out there, he saw other people from the day before. Again, the lights went off and Justin saw a security guard, he froze unwillingly and could not move until the security guard went to look at another painting. When the guard moved to a different painting, Justin could move again. He thought he was dreaming again so he went to sleep. When he woke up, he told his friends, “Let’s get out of here because I have a basketball game on Saturday.”

They all said, “Yeah, let’s go.” Then they went where they saw the people the day before. Justin put his hand on a crystal clear door and tried to push it, but it was rock solid.

Justin said, “What? I need to get out!” They all tried pushing

but the door did not budge. His friends went to look for something to get them out, but all they found was usual stuff you find at home.

Justin sat on the couch confused, then a thought bubble came into his mind. That thought bubble was, “Is this a simulation or is it a dream?” He felt like he had lost his mind but stayed calm. But his friends had not, they had lost their minds.

Emma said, “Oh my gosh, am I going to die here?”

Then Jasmine said, “My mom is probably looking for me.”

Nathan also said, “OMG! I am also going to pass out.”

Justin told them, “Calm down, everything is going to be okay.”

Suddenly they froze. The security guard was back. The security guard looked at the painting for thirty minutes. Then he went to look at the paintings next to them. The friends became unfrozen and were surprised because of what happened. Then they all went to bed because they were so tired.

Justin woke up and saw a man in a robe and his face was black. Using his magic he erased Justin’s memory. Then Emma’s eyes twitched, and in a blink of an eye he was gone.

When his friends woke up, they all saw Justin asleep but did not wake him up because he would be angry. A few minutes later he woke up not knowing anything about the last few days. Justin said, “Hey did we have a sleepover?”

Emma said, “Don’t play around. We know you are faking.”

Justin said, “I am actually not faking. I cannot remember anything.” They all thought he was faking so Justin laid in his bed and found a mysterious book that he had been reading. Then a few hours later, the lights went off but the security guard did not come.

That night the man in a robe came back and erased Emma’s mind, but Jasmine went behind the man, took a lamp, and knocked him out.

The next morning Emma said, “Oh my god, I love this new house.”

Nathan was annoyed and said, “Come on, not you, Emma. Stop

acting like Justin did yesterday!”

Jasmine said, “Listen, there is a man going into our house at night and erasing our minds, but I knocked him out last night.”

“That explains why yesterday Justin woke up clueless,” Nathan said.

The next night the man in a robe was tied up. Everyone was interrogating him. Jasmine asked, “Why are you erasing everyone’s minds?”

“Okay, I will tell you everything…actually, never mind,” the man said. The man vanished into thin air. Once the man in a robe left, everything became blurry and they all passed out. When everyone woke up they did not remember the man in a robe.

They went outside for some fresh air and saw that the lights were off in the museum. Strangely, the security guard did not come that night. None of them thought anything about it except Justin. The next day, they made eggs for breakfast and went for a swim in the pool.

Justin’s phone started ringing, then strangely stopped ringing. He did not notice and kept swimming. Justin said, “I feel tired and want to go back to bed.” So he went back to bed until it was dinner time. When he woke up, he was hungry. He opened the fridge and mysteriously found his favorite food, pizza. He shared the pizza with his friends. They all loved it.

When the pizza was done they went to bed. When he woke up, his friends were already in the pool. Justin said, “I went to sleep so long, why are you not tired?”

They said, “You were asleep for only 10 minutes.” Justin knew he was just dreaming so he made a pizza. He ate a slice of pizza and he felt tired. He thought swimming would be a good idea to wake him up. Then the lights went off, but the security guard came. Then the security guard left.

The friends watched their favorite show, “The Amazing World of Gumball” season four. After finishing the season, all of them were sleepy. Justin stayed awake and kept watching the show. Then he felt sleepy and went back to bed. Then everyone woke up and was hungry.

So they had Justin’s leftover pizza. They spent all night watching TV, all of them falling asleep at different times.

When they woke up, they were super hungry, so they found pancake mix and found all the ingredients to help them. Then they started making the pancakes. Once they finished eating the food, they went outside.

They thought that they could get out of the painting finally. Then they all tried to break the door down but it wouldn’t budge. So they went inside and took a kitchen knife and tried to break the door down with the knife but it would not fall down. So they went to bed.

The next morning they saw a group of friends just like them, outside the door. They misread the sign too and climbed into the painting. Then Justin saw a portal that could get them out into the real world. So he said, “Guys, I see something I think can help us get out.”

So they ran to where Justin saw the portal and jumped into the portal and they were magically inside the museum, not inside of the painting. They cheered with excitement that they were finally out. Then they rushed to their car that was still parked in the same spot that it was a few days ago. They put in the keys and drove off to each others’ houses. They were excited to see their moms and dads. Everyone was happy, especially Justin. He could finally make it to his basketball game. Then they all went to bed and waited for another adventure to arise.

Emma has sold over 2,000 Girl Scout cookies in six weeks. Emma loves to call her cousin Lily. Emma’s favorite book is Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild.

The Painting

ALEJANDRO

One day, my friends and I were walking back to Freddy’s house after school. Freddy’s house was full of a lot of toys and games. It was the best house to hang out at. Freddy had black hair and was the shortest friend while Daniel was the tallest. Elijah had curly hair and I had straight brown hair.

When we got to Freddy’s house we went upstairs to his bedroom. He had the newest collection of Fortnite and many other video games. We sat on the rug on his bedroom floor and started playing Fortnite. Freddy had a lot of snacks in his kitchen. We ate lots of junk food like chips, candy, and ice cream.

After a while we got tired and decided to take a nap. When we woke up we decided to go to the park. We grabbed our jackets and headed to the park. When we got to the park, we saw an old man selling paintings along the grassy path. We headed towards the old man’s stand to take a closer look at the paintings. There were big frames, small frames, circular frames, and rectangular frames.

Freddy said, “Look at this one!” pointing at a painting. It was a painting of a dog running across a grassy hill with a big smile on its face. The dog had white and gray fur, and a blue zig-zag patterned collar around its neck.

Suddenly Elijah exclaimed in shock, “Did the dog in the painting just move?!”

Freddy replied, “OMG! I think it did!”

A few seconds later, a portal appeared before them and a dog’s barks were coming from it.

Elijah peeped into the portal and said, “The dog inside the portal wants us to chase it.” The dog barked and barked, so we decided to go through the portal and follow him. After we jumped in, we fell down a long, spiraling tunnel of doggy bones and squeaky balls. Daniel tried grabbing a ball but the tunnel curved to the left, pulling him away.

After a few turns and twists later, we landed on a huge pile of tennis balls. We picked ourselves up and climbed down the mountain of balls. When we reached the bottom, the dog barked and ran through a tiny dog door. We followed the dog through the doggy door, which took us out on to a beautiful grassy field. The sky was a bright blue with white, puffy clouds and a light breeze blew through our hair.

Freddy said, “This is the field from the painting.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I replied.

The dog was running around with the same smile from the painting on its face before stopping in front of our feet. The dog rolled over on its back, its belly sticking way up in the air. Elijah squatted down and began to scratch its belly. While the dog was distracted, I flipped over the tag on its collar, looking for its name. When I turned it around the name “BULLDOG” was spelled out in bold, blue letters.

“It’s a boy!” I said.

“Cool!” said Freddy.

We started playing with Bulldog, launching tennis balls for him to catch. When we used up all the tennis balls, we went into the previous room to get some more. While we were looking for tennis balls, I noticed something was different about the room.

“Guys! Look! The portal is gone!” I yelled.

Elijah, Daniel, and Freddy rushed to my side.

“Oh no!” said Elijah.

Freddy and Daniel started pacing around the room, looking for a

way out. But after a few minutes of searching, we realized that we were stuck. Bulldog came to the room and started barking.

Freddy said, “Let’s follow Bulldog. It looks like we’re stuck for the night either way.”

We followed Bulldog to a big crystal glass window. As we pressed our faces against the glass, we saw a grassy patch of land.

Daniel said, “Look! This is the park near Freddy’s house.”

Freddy squatted down to pet Bulldog and asked, “How do we get out of here boy? Can you show us the way out?”

But Bulldog kept silent. Frustrated, Freddy walked away in a huff of anger. Bulldog whimpered. Trying to comfort Bulldog, I reached out to scratch his head, when all of the sudden I saw a small script sticking out of Bulldog’s collar. I reached into the side of his collar and pulled out the roll of paper. As I unrolled it, words started to take the shape of sentences and formed a short paragraph.

“It’s a letter,” I said.

The guys walked towards me and we started reading the letter.

“Hi! My name is Bulldog. If you followed me into the painting through the portal, you’ve probably realized by now that you are stuck. Don’t be alarmed. I can help you get back home.”

“We’re saved!” exclaimed Freddy.

“Thank god!” shouted Elijah.

Daniel rushed over to Bulldog and hugged him.

“Hold on guys, there’s more,” I said and continued reading.

“Below the doggy ball pit, you can find an instruction manual. Follow me and I’ll take you there. In that manual, you’ll find out what you have to do to get back home.”

“Well, come on! What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” shouted Elijah.

We nodded in agreement and started to follow Bulldog. We followed Bulldog through a doggy bone garden, which had a huge doggy bone fountain, a doggy pool, and a big dog park, until we reached the ball pit. It was at the top of Doggy Mountain, behind a rich, green forest of trees.

Bulldog ran towards the pit and dived into the ball pit. We followed

behind Bulldog, diving into the pit. We started tossing balls out of the pit, until we cleared the bottom. There, we found a shiny blue book with the word “MANUAL” written on it. We helped each other out of the pit and started reading the manual.

It read, “Hello, welcome to Doggy Paint World. This manual will tell you what you need to do to get out of Doggy Paint World. To get out, you need to beat Bulldog’s evil brother, Husky, at a game of tag. Meet at the top of Doggy Hill to get your number and shirt.”

Elijah and Freddy grinned and said, “Let’s go! This is going to be easy!”

Bulldog barked, telling us to follow him. We followed him to a big wooden dog house. We laid on the soft doggy bed and went to sleep. The following morning, we got up and followed Bulldog to Doggy Hill.

When we got there, we got our team shirts and numbers. They were blue with white numbers. I got number 10, Elijah got 12, Freddy got 13, and Daniel got 15. We walked up to the top of the hill and saw the shape of four dogs on the other side. It was Husky and three other dogs dressed in red jerseys. We walked up to the middle line. Poodle, the referee, blew a whistle to start the game.

We started running after the red jersey dogs. Elijah got tagged by Husky, and then I took out a sausage dog from the other team. Freddy was able to take out the other dog, which was a chihuahua. But right when he tagged the chihuahua, Husky tagged him out of the game.

Now, it was only me and Husky. We ran around, missing each other over and over again. I started getting tired and decided I had to come up with a better plan. I ran into a cave that was on the side of the hill, making Husky chase me. As Husky entered the cave, I quickly hid behind a boulder on the side. I listened carefully, and when I heard he was a few steps away I prepared to pounce.

``3... 2... 1… TAG!” I exclaimed as my hand tagged Husky. Game over!

I walked out of the cave and found a portal. Freddy, Daniel, and Elijah were standing next to it. We went through the portal and landed

back in the park. The old man from before was there. He said with tears streaming down his face, “Thank you for bringing Bulldog home.” We looked at each other confused.

“Bark!”

We turned around and saw Bulldog standing right behind us with a huge smile on his face.

“Did you follow us back, boy?” said Freddy.

We all rushed toward Bulldog, happy to see him again. The old man started explaining what was going on.

He said, “I sent you guys into the painting on purpose. I lost Bulldog a few days ago. However, I couldn’t bring him back home because I was too slow and lost to Husky and his team. You see, Husky lured Bulldog into the painting and trapped Bulldog. When I tried to get him back the first time, I failed, so the second time I left behind some clues for the next person. Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome!” we said and headed back home.

From that day forward, we were friends with Bulldog and the old man.

Alejandro likes to play video games and likes to play soccer.

The Perfect Place was the Museum

NATALIA VALERIO

It all started when there were three friends that wanted to have a sleepover. Their names were Emily, Ellie, and the leader of the group was Amy. She had light brown hair and she was not really popular.

It was the end of school. Amy told Emily and Ellie to meet at the front of the school so that Amy’s mom could pick them up. They all made it to the car and her mom asked where they wanted to go. Amy wanted to go to the mall, but Ellie wanted to go to the library. Emily wanted to go to the museum. Amy’s mom said that they couldn’t go to the mall because they didn’t have money.

“The library is too quiet,” said Amy and Emily. The perfect place was the museum.

Amy’s mom drove them there. When they got there, Amy told her mom to pick them up in one hour. They all got out and went inside the museum. They saw a lot of cute paintings and they also got to see Bob Ross.

They kept on walking inside the museum and saw the gift shop. They desired to go inside and look. They saw a bunch of cute stuff, and Emily really wanted to buy something but they didn’t have any money so they didn’t buy anything.

They got out of the gift shop and decided to keep on looking at the paintings. They thought some of them were funny. They were at the last painting to look at because they were there for a long time. The picture was the Mona Lisa, but Amy, Emily and Ellie did not know that it was Mona Lisa.

There was a huge line to make it there. Once they got there they did not really like the painting because it looked very weird, creepy, and sketchy. They all thought the same thing about the painting, and it was time to leave the museum. It took a long time to leave because they were all the way in the back of the museum. Amy’s mom was waiting in the parking lot. Once they got there, they went inside the car and went home.

The Mysterious Painting

LAILA OKOHIRA

Nicolette was not an ordinary girl. She liked to do witchcraft and other weird things that ordinary people would not think of. One night, Nicolette told her mom when they were driving back home after school, “Tomorrow we have a school field trip to the museum, I think.”

“Okay, that’s fine. Do you need me to sign anything?” asked her mom, Sal.

“No, you don’t,” she said.

The next morning…

“Nikki, let’s get ready to go because we’re leaving soon.” Nicolette was tired when she got out of bed. “What do you want to eat for lunch?” asked her mom.

“I don’t know. Just pack me anything please,” said Nicolette.

“Okay, we are going to leave. Just get in the car!”

Nicolette arrived at school, and then talked to her friend, Cece. Nicolette asked her friend, “Hey, are you ready to go on the field trip?”

“Yeah, I am,” said her friend Cece.

“Do you want to sit next to each other on the bus?” asked Nicolette. “Come on, Cece!”

Cece and Nicolette arrived and got off the bus.

The teacher instructed, “Stay with your groups and try not to get lost please. We will all meet at 12:31 PM, so don’t be late.”

“Which room do you want to see first?” asked Cece.

“Hmm, I want to go to the room with the famous painting. The one that looks like a real portal when you take a picture of it on your phone,” said Nicolette.

When they entered the room, she saw the famous picture. She ran to it because there was a crowd of people walking to it. She was the first person there to see the picture. She tried to take a picture on her phone, but all of a sudden she was swirling in a black spiral hole.

*POOF POW BAM*

Nicolette was lying on the ground with her backpack on her right and her phone in her hand. She was trying to get up, but she was dizzy. In the distance, she saw a little village and three people walking towards her. The last thing she saw was the three people standing right above her.

All of sudden, she woke up with a startle on a bed with the same three people looking at her. “Oh, she is finally awake. Hi, my name is Dusten. I saw you in the distance and thought you could use some help.”

“Hey, I’m Cady. What is your name?”

“Ohh, uhh… Where am I? Oh, my name is Nicolette.”

“Oh, you’re in LA, but this is a school for witchcraft where some people have to go on missions, but not us. Oh, and there’s Walker, but he’s not here right now. He has something to do. I can show you around in a little bit.”

Nicolette had some food and told Cady that she was ready for a tour.

“Okay, so over here we have the principal’s office, but we don’t really call it that. These are all of the rooms, but you will be sorted into a room based on your skills and things like that. Lastly, we have the meeting room. And that’s really it. We can all talk more tomorrow, but for now you can sleep in my room,” said Cady.

When the bells rang, everyone went and ate dinner. When the bell rang once more, everyone went to sleep. In the morning, Nicolette woke up tired, but Cady started calling Nicolette. “Come in, I am going to introduce you to the principal, so get up!” she yelled.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Let me get dressed and I’ll come to you,” said Nicolette.

A couple minutes later she went to Cady.

“Okay, now that you are ready, let’s get the rest of the crew,” said Cady.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Then they went to the other room. “Guys let’s go, we have to see if she can join the school so get up and don’t be lazy,” said Cady.

All of them started walking to the office, and Walker told Nicolette, “You’re the new one here, so you knock.” Nicolette gave him a side eye.

“Bro, are you serious?”

*KNOCK KNOCK*

The door opened and she walked in. Then the principal started talking to her, and her new friends tried to hear what they were saying to each other. Then Nicolette walked out of the door.

“Sooo, what happened?” asked Cady.

“Nope, I can’t come to the school.”

“What? Nooo! Why can’t you?”

“I’m just kidding! You fell for it. Yes, I can join. Oh, and he also said that we have a mission to save some people that are in a library in Austin, Texas,” said Nicolette.

Then they got on a bus. “Okay guys, you better get comfortable,” said Cady.

They stopped at the gas station to get some snacks. “Okay, so who is going?” asked Walker.

“I’m going in,” said Cady.

“No, I don’t want to go in,” said Nicolette.

“Be back soon,” said Walker.

A couple of minutes later, he came back out and went back to the

bus. They were back on the road the next day. They woke up.

“One more hour left,” said Nicolette.

“Okay, cool at least we are almost there,” said Cady.

Then they arrived at a restaurant close to the hotel.

“I wish we could stay and eat,” said Nicolette.

“I wish we could, it would be so fun to do, but sadly we have work,” replied Cady.

“Bro, you guys are so boring, can we like get there already?” said Dusten.

A little bit later, everyone walked from the restaurant to the nice hotel.

“Yay! We’re finally here now and we can relax for the rest of the day,” said Cady.

“I am ready to go to sleep and eat some food,” said Walker.

“Is that all that goes on in your mind?” said Nicolette.

“No,” he responded.

They got to the room and got some room service delivered.

“Mmm…Finally some real food,” said Nicolette.

“Yeah, but I wish we did not have to do a mission. I just want to relax,” said Cady.

A little bit later, they finished the food and they all got ready for bed. They went to sleep. The next morning, Nicolette got up first before anyone else, so she ate some of her leftovers. Then Cady and Walker woke up, and then Dusten woke up with a startle.

“Can you be any louder?” asked Dusten sarcastically, looking at them with a mean look.

“Yes. Yes, we can. But I know you’re being sarcastic. I’m getting an Uber so we have to start walking down,” said Cady.

Then they got in the car and drove to the library. They all got out of the car, and went into the library. The librarian asked if they had a library card to come in.

Cady whispered, “Wait, we have to have a card to get in here?”

“Yes we do, but I have one because I used to live here a long time ago,” said Nicolette.

She gave the librarian her card. The year on the card was about five years ago, but the librarian did not really care, like she didn’t even work there. They all started walking in and there was a weird feeling in the air. All of them felt it the closer they got to the door, but the further they went the more normal they felt. Finally, Walker felt tired so he sat down.

With a big sound they could hear the librarian coming closer and closer. They all rushed into the room.

“That was a close one. We could have gotten in a lot of trouble,” said Nicolette.

“Okay, so I guess we just have to go deeper in this dark tunnel,” said Dusten.

They started going deeper until there was a little light in the distance. Then they were in the light. There was a passcode, so they looked around for something. Nicolette remembered in the class someone had said 123d41 was for a mystery door to something. Nicolette put it into the passcode and the door rumbled and started to open. They ran into the little space and saved some people whose names were Rose and Lexi.

“We came to save you. Do you know where the key is to open the door to let you out?” asked Nicolette.

“Yes, yes! I do know where it is. Under the rock over by the entrance,” said Rose.

Then Walker went and grabbed the key. The room started rumbling. “Quick, the room is going to collapse,” he said. Walker gave the key to Nicolette. She ran to the locked door to help unlock it.

There was a little hole leading out of the library, so they ran to the hole as quickly as they could. When they escaped, they started to walk all the way back to school.

A day later, they arrived around night time. They took showers because they were dirty from the journey. After the showers, they went to bed.

The next morning, Nicolette got called to the office.

“Oooh, someone is in trouble,” said Cady.

“No, I’m not going to get into trouble,” she said.

Nicolette went in. Her friends followed her as she went through the door. Her friends rested their heads against the door to hear what the principal was saying.

“So, I have a question. Do you want to stay here or go back home?” asked the principal.

Laila O. is in seventh grade and is from Los Angeles. In her free time, she does cheer, aerial arts, and paints or draws.

My Great Experience

ISAÍAS MENDOZA

Once upon a time, there were two 13-year-old boys playing games, Jeff & Bobbythy. These two were geeky nerds that loved playing video games. They were both sucked into the game for saying, “This game is so easy to beat. If I was there in real life, I could easily beat it.”

A weird noise erupted from the screen. They were randomly in an area that had trees and houses. They were stunned. “Where the heck are we?” Bobbythy said.

*BANG BANG*

They heard loud pops emerging behind them.

*BOOM*

They rushed to the nearest town and hid inside. “What are we gonna do!?” Bobbythy said.

“I don’t know, it’s hard to think!” Jeff replied.

Suddenly a man—5’8” with a suitcase and a handcuff strapped to his left hand—said on the phone, “We’ve got them. I see them. I’m going in.” Just as he hung up, Bobbythy and Jeff were both gone.

“Do you see him?” asked Bobbythy.

“No, I don’t see him. That was a close one,” said Jeff.

“Wait a minute! We are sucked into a game right?”

Bobbythy replied.

“Yeah, what about it?” Jeff asked.

“Haven’t you noticed that most video games have an ending of some sort like defeating a boss?” said Bobbythy.

As Jeff was about to respond, Bobby stopped him. “He’s coming back!”

“I’m sorry, boss, I lost them!” said @#&.

“If you don’t find them, you’re fired,” said the boss on the phone.

As @#& ran to the field to find Bobbythy and Jeff, Bobbythy and Jeff jumped out from behind the bush. Jeff said, “That was a close one. Remind me to never say that phrase again.”

As they started walking to find a clue to get out of the world, they spotted a mountain in the distance. Then they realized they had beaten this game before, and that they could do it again. They headed up the mountain and found a sword.

They wandered deeper into the cave and realized there was a suit and tie on the floor. They realized that it was the @#&’s lab. They took a sneak peek and saw @#& and his boss talking and making a game plan to destroy Jeff and Bobbythy. As they started walking away, Jeff stepped on a pebble.

*CRACK*

A loud noise came from the pebble and echoed throughout the cave. “What was that noise?” the boss said. They start approaching Jeff and Bobbythy.

“Aha! We found you! We’re not going down without a fight.” A battle commenced, but in the end, Jeff and Bobbythy were victorious. They then realized that @#& and his boss were guarding a pond that led back to the real world. They entered the pond and…

*POOF*

They came back to the real world unscratched.

“We’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, see you around.”

“Jeff! Come eat, dinner’s ready!”

“Coming!”

Isaías was born in the U.S. He is Mexican, plays basketball, and his favorite food is salmon.

Trapped In A Painting! :0

ARIANNA SALGADO

On a hot Monday evening in Las Vegas, there are twin sisters in their house. They are getting ready for school and the rest of the family is in a rush for work. Avery, the slightly older twin, is the one who is getting ready for school. She is picking an outfit while Alicia is still sleeping. Alicia is secretly wearing her outfit under her cat-patterned pajamas to get more time to sleep.

Alicia wakes up feeling very well rested and brushes her hair and teeth, then takes off her cat pajamas and now is wearing her fancy clothes with a pattern shirt and black jeans with matching bracelets and goes downstairs for breakfast.

Avery decides to wear her purple dress with white polka dots and comes downstairs late for breakfast. Her teeth are dirty, and her hair is tangled. She eats, but her cheese croissant is cold and her scrambled eggs are hard to eat. Alicia goes to the hallway, waiting for Avery to get their backpacks, when they come across a painting that was never there before.

Their mom notices them looking at the painting curiously, and she walks up to them and says, “I got this painting from the antique store because this wall felt empty to me. I bought this painting because it was interesting looking. That’s why I chose this painting for the wall.’’

Avery and Alicia are interested in hearing that, but when their mom leaves, the painting starts to get blurry and a spiral appears in the painting. The colors of the painting are turning into realistic colors and making the painting look like it is a window and not a painting.

Alicia gets curious and touches it to make sure it isn’t her mind making her eyes see different things, but as soon as she touches it, she disappears. She is gone in one second and is in the painting. Avery turns to her left and notices that Alicia isn’t next to her.

“Alicia? Where did you go?’’ Avery says in a curious voice.

She looks back at the painting and touches it too, not noticing Alicia in the painting. Avery disappears too and gets sucked in the painting just like Alicia. When Avery gets inside the painting, she sees towns, buildings, people, dogs, and cats that people have with them while walking on the street. The cats are in peoples’ arms.

Alicia is still looking at the tall buildings and only realizes when she sees “Whites Only” signs on the stores’ windows that this is the year 1930. Avery is confused and nervous about being there but mostly feels lost because she does not know where she is.

Moments later, Alicia starts going into the stores. They are all selling shoes, food, and clothes. She takes out her jacket that is pink and wears it and puts a mask on and starts shoplifting the stuff that she likes. She hides the things in her backpack and does this in two stores. She only takes things that are small so if she gets caught she doesn’t have to worry because she is in a painting and has money in her backpack.

Avery is going to strangers and asking them to help her find out about where she is and help her to get out of there, but people don’t understand her and walk away while ignoring her rudely.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” one says.

“Where is your mom?” asks another.

Alicia is carrying her backpack and goes to art museums and museums that have interesting fossils and tools that were made in the 1700s and 1800s. Avery has asked so many people to help her and decides to find Alicia to try to find a way to get out of the painting and

to find a person to give them a tour of the place. A person approaches them to help them because they seem lost. She tells them about the place and says, “It’s a pleasure to meet you and my name is Lora.”

“I am happy to get to know you, Lora. It is a pleasure to meet you too and my name is Alicia. Also this is my sister, Avery!”

When Alicia shows Lora Avery, Avery is shy and scared to speak.

Lora leads Alicia and Avery to a painting in a museum that looks just like Alicia and Avery’s hallway. When they look at it, it turns realistic and a spiral appears.

“Thank you!” they say, and touch the painting.

They come back to the hallway in their house and no time has passed, so they have to go to school. Alicia’s backpack is so heavy and when she gets to school and looks in it, she sees all of the things she took from the world of the painting, so she knows it wasn’t a dream.

Gigi (Arianna) Salgado is a human and has friends that are kind-hearted (even though she also has cringe friends and adults that are happy). She will make a great friend for you (If you want a new friend)! ! :) :3

I Had a Dream

ALLYSON L.

In this story, there was a boy. He loved to play video games and he had a dream to become a famous video game player. One day, the boy was home alone. His parents had gone to dinner. His parents had asked him to wash dishes and do chores. However, he didn’t listen to his parents. He ran upstairs and started playing GTA. Time flew by as he played. Suddenly, he heard his parents’ car coming in the driveway. He had forgotten to do the dishes. So he ran downstairs, but his mom was already in the kitchen.

His mom yelled, “Why didn’t you do the dishes!?”

The boy yelled, “I forgot. I’ll do them right now!”

“I’m taking away your PlayStation!” his mom yelled back.

The boy ran upstairs, slammed his door, and locked it. He put his headphones back on and started gaming. He got so caught up in the video game that it was already morning. He got ready and went to school.

When he was on the school bus he felt a little tingle. When he got to school, he went to his classroom. Suddenly his shoes started changing into his video game character’s shoes. So he ran to the restroom, and suddenly he transformed into his game character. He quickly jumped out of the window and went home.

When he got home, he ran upstairs. Suddenly a black and white screen appeared on the TV. He saw his real life body in the video game. He kept staring at the TV for a while. He heard his mom’s car in the driveway. He turned towards the door but got sucked into the TV.

“MOOOOOM!!!” He yelled.

He heard voices inside his head saying, “You should’ve done your dishes… ”

In the video game, he walked through a building to another kid’s house. That kid yelled, “I’ll do it later,” and ran up the stairs.

So he grabbed his sleeve and said, “Do the dishes if you don’t want to end up like me.” So the kid did his dishes. Suddenly the boy got sucked back out of his TV and ran downstairs to see his mom doing the dishes. He gave his mom a big hug and told her he would do the dishes.

Allyson Lopez is an 11-year-old fifth grader. When she has free time she likes to go shopping and hang out with friends. She also enjoys playing GTA and Call of Duty. She has nine puppies at home. Four of them are hers and the other 5 were just born. She loves to drink boba.

The Day Isaac Was Born

ISAAC M.

Isaac was in his living room bored because he didn’t have enough to play with. He noticed a picture of when he was a baby with his mom and dad. He was so little that his head was bald. He had tiny legs and tiny arms. His face was cute and he was smiling. He was happy and had a baby dragon costume. The portrait was of him. Isaac’s mom was carrying him. Isaac touched the picture and then he suddenly teleported into the picture.

Isaac walked around a place that looked like his house. It sat on top of a hill and was blue with blue walls. The floor was brown. There were two TVs. There were a lot of windows. Isaac walked around until he saw a big scary rainbow monster. It had sharp claws. Out of fear, Isaac ran faster while the monster was still chasing him.

The picture had teleported Isaac into the monster’s world because the monster wanted to eat baby Isaac’s leg. The monster ate baby Isaac in one gulp. Since baby Isaac wasn’t chewed, there was still hope. Old Isaac wanted to save baby Isaac or he would cease to exist. Isaac started to feel brave after he changed his pants. He had put on the rainbow monster’s pants he found along the way.

Isaac’s mom was out working, but his dad from the painting saw him and asked, “Do you need help?”

“Yes!” Isaac said.

They both beat up the monster together. The monster was defeated. Isaac had to go inside the monster’s stomach to save the baby. He carried the baby back to the house. Old Isaac hugged the baby goodbye and teleported back into the real world.

Isaac is nice. Isaac likes reading.

Lucy’s New World

LILY RIVERA

“Come on, Lucy. We have to go to the art museum!” yelled Lucy’s mom.

It was a nice summer day. Lucy wanted to go to her pool, but her mom was making her go to the art museum.

“Ughhh! I don’t wanna go! I want to invite Jessy over and go swimming!” whined Lucy.

“Get in the car, Lucy. You’re not seven anymore.”

Lucy finally hopped into her Lamborghini and her driver drove them to the museum.

“OMG, I’m finally out of that cramped car and I can stretch my legs!” Lucy complained. Her mom thanked the driver, then walked inside. Lucy’s mom was walking around the museum, basically pulling Lucy.

“Mommm! This is so boring! Can we go now? You told me you would buy me a new Gucci bag if I came.”

“Shush Lucy,” her mom said as she was walking around. “Hey, if you really want to leave, I’ll let you walk around the museum and text me when you’re done.”

Lucy said, “Okay. Fine. Deal!” She walked off.

When Lucy was walking around, a painting caught her eye. It was a

painting of people working at a barn. “I could never work at a barn,” she thought to herself. Then a force was pulling Lucy close to the painting. Closer and closer. “What’s happening!” yelled Lucy. Then Lucy was sucked into the painting!

There was a grassy field with a big red barn in front of Lucy. The sun was out shining on the green grass. “Where did I go?” asked Lucy.

She started to walk toward the barn. “Is this barn from the painting?” she asked herself. When she got closer to the barn, she saw a man in overalls. He looked right at her. “Hey you! Where is this place?” she asked the man in overalls.

“You’re here for the job, right?” the man asked, ignoring Lucy’s question. “Come on in! You’re gonna be late,” called the man. He grabbed Lucy’s hand and pulled her into the barn.

“Oh sir! You got it all wrong!” said Lucy. The man didn’t care and pulled her into the barn.

When they got inside the barn, the man said, “You know what cows are, right?”

“Uh duh! I’m not dumb!” said Lucy.

“Okay, okay. Sorry queen!” said the man. “But do you know how to milk them?”

“Ewww no! I’m not milking a cow!” yelled Lucy.

“Well, I’ll show you anyway,” he said.

After he taught Lucy, she tried and actually got the hang of it. “This is not so bad!” she thought. But do you want to know what else she was thinking? She was thinking about how she would get back to her old life?

Later on that day, Lucy was thinking about how she could get back. Then she thought, “What if there is another painting of her old life that she could enter?”

“OMG! I got it! I can buy a painting of my old life!” she exclaimed.

“Hey sir! Is there an art shop around here?” she asked the man.

“Yes, actually. Down the hill on the left,” he answered.

“Well, here I come!” she said. Lucy ran down the hill and turned left. Then she saw Aurora’s Art Shop. “I better go inside!”

“Yo man, welcome to my art shop, dog!” said the owner, Aurora.

“Uh… hi,” she said. “Could I look around?”

“Yeah, bro! Come in!”

Lucy started to look around. Nothing caught her eye, until… She saw a picture of herself looking at the picture of the barn. “Is… that… me?” Lucy was shocked. Her jaw dropped to the floor. “How is this possible? Where did this girl get that painting!”

“Umm… Aurora! How much for this painting?”

“500. Wanna buy?”

“500? You’re joking right?”

“Nah, bruh. It’s 500. Period.”

Lucy was surprised. How could a painting that was not even that good cost 500 dollars? Then she realized something: It was time to get to work! If she could get 50 dollars an hour, it would only take 10 hours to pay the price of the painting.

Lucy decided to work 5 hours that day. She knew she would be tired, plus she hated the job, but she pushed through it. Lucy was working so hard to get the painting. “Ughhh! I’m so tired!” Lucy said. “When am I gonna be done?”

After 10 long hours of work, she ran down the hill again, turned left, and walked to the art shop.

“Welcome back, bestie,” said Aurora. “If you want, you can buy that painting.”

“Yes, please! Here’s 500 dollars.” Lucy gave the money to Aurora.

“Ooooh! I love money,” said Aurora.

“This girl is so weird,” Lucy thought.

“Okay, here’s your painting, buddy,” said Aurora.

“Thank you,” said Lucy.

Then she ran out of the shop. She went to the field, and placed the painting down on a tree.

“OMG! This is it,” she said. Then once again a force pulled her into the painting. “Ahhh!” she shouted. Then…

*POOF*

She was back at that art museum, looking at that same barn painting.

“I’m back!” she whispered, out of breath.

Her mom was walking up to her. “Oh, honey! Where were you?” said her mom. “Would you like two Gucci bags instead?”

Lucy stared at her mom. Then Lucy gave her mom a big hug.

“Awww, Lucy! Did you miss me that much?” said her mom.

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for taking me to this museum.”

Lily R. is in fifth grade. Her hobbies are aerial arts and cheer. She also loves to swim in the summer.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

826LA would like to thank to following for their support in making this chapbook possible:

Alexis Yang

Betty Tesfmicael

Brayden Yee

Briar Kirk

Caily Newsome

Christian Harris

Daniel Chu

Elizabeth Baxa

Emily Stephenson

Emma McCandless

Ethan Peterson

Ethan Simonds

Gary Walkow

Grace Lyde

Gwendolyn Burke

Jack Gilbert

Jackie Hernandez

Janis Cohen-Mitch

Jennifer Fonseca

Jordan Daniel

Josephine

Bloomfield

Juan Lobo

Julie Stark

Juliana Rosales

Katie Mcvay

Leydi Hernandez

Lucia Cisneros

Madeline Schichtel

Marisa Hardwicke

Michelle Gibson

Mira Velimirovic

Mwanday Yamegni

Naomi Hernandez

Rathi Anandu

Reyna Rodas

Sabrina Cisneros

Sarina Jade Velsa

Susan Hamilburg

Tien Phan

Tori Wei

Vianney Caravantes

Will Van Dalsem

Xitlali Navarro

Yamilene Vaal

Yuricza Hernandez

Zara Seldon

ABOUT 826LA

VISION

826LA envisions a Los Angeles where every child has access to quality writing education and is empowered to express themselves creatively through writing. We envision a Los Angeles where every teacher is supported in their writing-based educational objectives.

MISSION

826LA is dedicated to unlocking and cultivating the creative power of writing for students ages 6 to 18, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

How we advance our mission: A nonprofit organization, our services are structured around our understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

With this in mind, we provide after-school tutoring in all subjects, evening and weekend workshops, in-school programs, field trips, college access, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications.

All of our programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student’s ability to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in their own voice.

CORE VALUES

826LA values joy in the service of achieving educational goals. Our community norms value diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. We therefore prioritize partnerships with Title 1 Schools, engagement with historically marginalized populations, and training and deploying community-based volunteers in support of our mission. As a teaching approach, we value creativity, authenticity, empathy, and lively, rigorous, and student-centered writing education. As an educational enrichment organization, we value supporting teachers, principals, and other school staff in the pursuit of excellence.

PROGRAMS

AFTER- SCHOOL WRITING PROGRAMS

Mondays through Thursdays, students attend 826LA for afterschool writing programs. Students participate in community building activities, work on homework or reading with trained tutors, and of course, write! Students submit their writing for inclusion in chapbooks, which 826LA publishes twice a year. To celebrate students’ hard work, 826LA unveils these chapbooks at book release parties, where students read their work to thunderous applause from their volunteers, families, and peers.

FIELD TRIPS

During the week, 826LA invites teachers and their students to our writing labs to participate in a morning of collaboration, creativity, and writing. Whether Storytelling & Bookmaking, Well-Wishing & Poetry, Choose Your Own Adventure, or Memoir, field trips at 826LA support teacher curriculum and student learning by offering a safe space for students to be their most imaginative and to work on their writing skills. In a few short hours, students brainstorm, write, edit their work, and leave with something tangible—a bound book—as well as a renewed confidence in their ability to tell their stories.

IN - SCHOOLS PROGRAMS & WRITERS ROOMS

Because not all students can come to us, 826LA brings specially trained volunteer tutors into classrooms throughout Los Angeles. There, volunteers provide one-on-one or small group assistance with writing projects. 826LA works with teachers to craft all projects, which are designed to engage students while targeting curricular needs. In addition to visiting twenty schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District each year, 826LA has additional sites within Manual Arts High School, Roosevelt High School, and Venice High School called The 826LA Writers’ Rooms.

WORKSHOPS

826LA’s workshops bring students together with artists, writers, and professionals for creative collaboration. Whether the subject is journalism or preparing for the zombie apocalypse, our workshops foster student creativity while strengthening writing skills. This program includes two long running partnerships with Paramount Pictures and the Hammer Museum.

826LA STAFF

Jaime Balboa Executive Director

Diego Quevedo Chief of Staff

Shani Foster Director of Education

Christie Thomas Director of Development

Pedro Estrada Programs & Operations Manager, Echo Park

Mike Dunbar Programs & Operations Manager, Mar Vista

Mateo Acosta

Associate Director of Community Engagement

Carinne Mangold Store and General Operations Manager, Time Travel Marts in Echo Park & Mar Vista

Alma Carrillo Development and Communications Manager

Trevor Crown Senior Manager of Volunteer Innovation and Assessmen

Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo Senior Volunteer Coordinator

Maddie Silva Manager of Special Initiatives

Arisdeysi Cruz Tutoring Program Coordinator

Marco Beltran Writers’ Room Program Coordinator, Manual Arts High School

Wendy Beltran Writers’ Room Program Coordinator, Roosevelt High School

Cole Montgomery Development Coordinator

Ariana Ponce Olivares Senior Civic Engagement Coordinator

Wilson Swain Creative Engagement Specialist

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Susan Ko

Board President

Sarah Rosenwald Varet

Board Vice President Governance Committee

Chair

Karen Van Kirk

Board Secretary

David Ullendorff

Board Treasurer

Scott A. Ginsburg

Development Committee

Chair

Ben Au

Jeff Boos

Scott Boxenbaum

Cisca Brouwer

Chad DePue

Dave Eggers, Emeritus

Jodie Evans, Emeritus

Iman Farrior

Joe Ferencz

Hon. Holly A. Thomas

Holly A. Thomas

ADVISORY BOARD

J.J. Abrams

Judd Apatow

Miguel Arteta

Mac Barnett

Steve Barr

Joshuah Bearman

Amy Brooks

Father Greg Boyle, SJ

Stefan G. Bucher

Mark Flanagan

Ben Goldhirsh

Rebecca Goldman

Ellen Goldsmith-Vein

DeAnna Gravillis

Spike Jonze

Miranda July

Catherine Keener

Keith Knight

Al Madrigal

Krystyn Madrigal

Tara Roth

Katie McGrath

R. Scott Mitchell

Lani Monos

B.J. Novak

Miwa Okumura

Jane Patterson

Keri Putnam

Sylvie Rabineau

Sonja Rasula

Luis J. Rodriguez

Terri Hernandez

Rosales

Brad Simpson

J. Ryan Stradal

Natalie Tran

Sarah Vowell

Sally Will

BESTSELLERS CLUB!

Sign up to make a monthly donation to 826LA and you’ll join our Future Bestsellers Club. For as little as ten dollars each month, we’ll deliver writing from our brilliant, emerging authors right to you!

ABOUT THIS BOOK

What does a flower blooming on Saturn say about our future?

Written by students in 826LA’s Write On! After School program in the spring of 2024, Signs of Exit contains imaginative stories of brave new worlds authored by the next generation. Within, you will be taken on journeys from the local park to a volleyball universe, from an unassuming farm to an underwater school, from the back alleys of suburbia to an abandoned hotel.

You will discover worlds in conflict, but also ones full of beauty, healing, and growth. There are worlds with dragons and one with interdimensional jewel thieves. In some worlds, our very existence is threatened by monsters, aliens, or snakes. But in others, beautiful ecologies bloom from the tenderness and care of one person. These are worlds in which familial bonds, powerful friendships, and even romanances are forged under the most unexpected circumstances.

By their very nature, these stories require a radical shift in perspective, a break from the status quo. Whether it is a portal or shrink ray, a magical painting or a fast food meal, the true means of transportation to these worlds are the authors’ brave imaginings of something new

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.