GLIDE: A STORY ABOUT FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, AND A PAIR OF ROLLER SKATES

Camila Bravo

6th Grade • Acero Brighton Park

Dear Reader, I am telling you a story, about love, family, and friendship. This is a story about a young girl who was finding her way into the world. But Reader, this story is not like others. Not every story has a perfect ending.

There was once a girl who loved stories. She was an ordinary girl, yes, she went to school, she had friends, loved roller skating, but unlike some kids, her life was chaos. Her friends didn't care about her, her parents fought and her mother sometimes forgot about the girl and her brother, and he was always shouting trying to fix the problem. Reader, if only you knew about her daily struggles and how much she wished it could end. Her only salvation was stories, oh, how she wished she could jump into the pages and leave her life. She was as meek as a mouse when not reading but she was as bold as a lion when reading. But before we can go on, we must go backwards. As in, the past....

When Alevia was born her parents didn't know what to name her, but when they heard her brother Devin say “Look Mommy! Her eyes light up! Why do they light up mommy?” Reader, they in fact lit up because of the sunlight that was coming out of the window. So then her parents looked up the Latin root for light and it was “lev”. They then just added an ”a” and “ia” so it sounds

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like Alegria or “joy” in Spanish. I personally think that she was named Alevia because she was the “light of their lives” or she would find “light in the dark”. And you Reader, why do you think she was named “light”?

Reader, remember when I told you that Alevia had a chaotic life and her daily struggles were horrible? Did I tell you that? Well, Reader, her troubles were just beginning. One day, when she came home from school, she was sure she needed help with math homework. It was data and statistics, her worst area in math, and she loathed math already! She didn't want to fall behind, so she was going to ask for help from her brother, Devin. She found him in the backyard, tossing a baseball from one hand to the other. Now before we can go on, Reader, mind that Devin is older than Alevia. I’m sure that some older siblings are not that supportive of you sometimes, but for some of you I'm sure that’s not the case. Devin loves his little sister, but he is more worried about his own life than Alevia’s problems. So Alevia went to Devin and said “Um...Devin?”

Devin exclaimed “Levi! Not now okay?! GO AWAY!”

Before looking away, Alevia saw his eyes raw with tears. She went to ask her mother, but couldn't find her. She went to ask her father and his response said it all: “ Good riddance to bad rubbish!” as she heard in so many books. And when he started raving about how ignorant her mother is, she took it as a cue for her to leave. She couldn’t believe that her mother had left! Walking with her heart heavy she left to hide under the covers and cry because she never felt so alone and still had to do her math homework.

The following day, Alevia was already having a bad day. She

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forgot her book, her mom hasn't appeared yet, she was running late, and missed the bus. She even forgot her math homework! She was so upset! She worked on it the whole night and she finally finished at 1:00 in the morning! She quickly gathered her books and took off to class — 10 minutes late. She apologized to her teacher, and she gave her a red drenched test — a C! She was above average! She tried so hard! She was really looking forward to talking to her friends about her horrible luck! And when she got to lunch her friends weren't sympathetic. They started criticizing her and called her things. Then they started talking right away about who had the latest Louis Vuitton bag (her friends were the “cool” kids, and are totally vain). But it was mostly Jennifer, the leader of the group. Ashley and Paloma had looks of pity/sympathy, but they didn’t say anything. Jennifer then called them over and they moved to another table.

Alevia felt horrible, and it wasn't even 12:00! She wished she could jump into a book or sink in her bed now more than ever. Humiliated, she went to eat at the library. When the bell rang, she saw her “friends'' leaving without her. Fine, she thought bitterly, with friends like them who needs enemies? She still missed them though.

When she got home she started on her homework, when she finished she was sitting down when a random number texted her. It said “Hey, do you want to go skating?” with emoji rollerblades. Alevia assumed it was Jennifer and set out to start going to the park, where they always met. I know Reader, why is she going with a stranger? Well Reader, you must know that her parents never warned her about the dangers of strangers. So kids, NEVER GO WITH STRANGERS, THINGS END BADLY! Oh, ehm, sorry, I got carried away. So Alevia set off to

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roller skate with Jennifer. But when she got to the park, she found it deserted. But then she saw a dark shadow behind her and it was coming closer, and closer, and AHHHHH!

Just kidding, Reader! That was funny, right? Hahahaha...hahaha...haha...ha. Ok, sorry! Back to the story!

“Hey! Remember me? Giselle? Your biology partner?” Alevia blinked. She did remember her! Just very vaguely.

“Yeah, sure. I...do!”

Giselle smiled. Then frowned. “You almost never notice me. You always seem to care for Jennifer and her besties. Talking about them, what did they do to make you look so humiliated?” Alevia started crying. But instead of Alevia crying of sadness, the tears were of joy! She was GLAD someone cared about her! Giselle quickly sat down and tried soothing her aching heart. “Shhh, Shh, it’s okay. What happened?”

“I'm so glad you care about me! This might sound dorky, but no one ever does!”

Giselle made a surprised face. “What?! Why won’t they care about you? You're a great biology partner, and I assume you're the best at rollerblading!” Alevia blushed. She then told Giselle about her situation. After a long 45 minutes, Giselle finally said something. “If I were you, I would talk to somebody about this. But another thing I would do is to listen to people. Like listen to your parents when they are fighting. You might be able to listen to the source of the problem, and might give your parents some ways to solve their conflicts and support each other. Now, wipe your tears and let’s start skating.”

The next day at school, Reader, Alevia was having a great time.

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All her teachers were impressed, as Alevia was completing her work with all her effort, and participating with a lot of confidence. Alevia had a great time with Giselle in biology class. Giselle just couldn’t stop laughing when Alevia was saying some silly puns while doing their project. At lunch, instead of sitting down with her other friends, she sat with Giselle and another girl called Elizabeth, a sweet girly girl. Talking with her new friends, she was happy, and felt appreciated, yet she missed her old friends. While she thought this, she noticed that Jennifer and Ashley were arguing in the middle of the cafeteria. Paloma was crying, begging them to stop. It seemed like it wasn’t going to stop, not even with Paloma’s pleas. Alevia then got up and went towards Paloma, “Paloma, what happened?”

“Jennifer tried to cyberbully some 4th graders! She wanted us to do it too, but we didn’t want to. But she was so insistent that we finally gave in and now were going to be expelled!” She started sobbing so much that Giselle had to take her to the office to calm down. Alevia took a deep breath. She was going to confront the problem.

Sip. Oops, sorry Reader, I was getting some water, want some?...Oh, wait, I’m going to wet the thing you are reading this from.

So Alevia walked towards Jennifer and Ashley. They were bickering so loudly and talked so fast that you could barely hear, dear Reader. “Woah, woah, relax! What’s the issue?”

Jennifer retorted, “This traitor here told on me! She said I was forcing them to cyberbully some kids, but that’s a total lie, I had nothing to do with that!”

“Yes you did!”, said Ashley. “Stop lying! You didn’t leave us

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alone so we finally gave in so you can leave us alone! You always have a way of getting me and Paloma in trouble! SO IT IS YOUR FAULT!”

Ashley was steaming. Alevia knew she had to step up, or it would get real messy. “Jennifer, I agree with Ashley. You never forced me to do things like that, but I know how pushy you can be. You have to stop this because it is wrong. Why do you want other people to feel inferior to you? Is it because you feel insecure or that you have a problem? Whatever the reason is, it is not an excuse to do what you are doing. If you keep acting like this, our friendship is over.”

For a second, Jennifer seemed to have a flicker of worry on her eyes. But after a pause, she said, “I don’t care about that. So go right ahead. Ashley, you can also go with her.”

Alevia felt like she was punched in the stomach. She just wished that Jennifer would understand how much she will miss her. Even though Jennifer had her times, she was a really kind person, just hurting inside. It seemed like she needed some support, as her situation at home was the same as Alevia’s. Alevia didn’t know this, but Jennifer will miss her too. “Goodbye....” they both whispered. Ashley and Alevia then left to calm down the hysterical Paloma.

The next day, Alevia decided it was time to talk to her parents. She thought it was going to be easier to talk to her mom. Their conversation went something like this: “Analise Mitchel, how can I help you?”

“Hi mom it’s me, Alevia....”

“Hi Levi, it’s nice to hear you, but right now it’s not the time to talk, I —”

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“Mom, I want to talk to you right now, and I hope you can, but if not that’s o.k, but a lot of things are happening right now and I really want to talk to somebody about them, and I need your support.”

“Sigh. Ok honey, I guess I could spare a few minutes. What happened?”

“Mom, I just want to know why you and dad don’t get along! And why do you leave the house?” “Honey, you shouldn’t worry about me and your father, we, well, just have different points of view! And I leave the house because sometimes I think I will lose my patience and then the situation will get worse! What else is on your mind, honey?”

“My friends had been bullying me, but not anymore, I made some new friends, and now, well, you know Jennifer, right? Well, she's not my friend any more, because she put me in an emotional rollercoaster, and she cyberbullied kids.”

“WHAT!? The sweet Jennifer I met last year?”

“Yes, but I think she acts like this because she has some type of problem....” And their conversation went on and her mom gave her great advice. She told her to always continue to smile and to put herself in the shoes of others; and guess what Reader? She realized that the same advice can be applied to her own life.

In school, Elizabeth, Alevia, Giselle, Ashley and Paloma went to classes and lunch together. They all went to Ashley’s soccer tournament, and Elizabeth’s science fair. And when Alevia won the writing contest they were ecstatic! Ashley and Paloma were suspended for two days for their actions, and Jennifer was suspended for 1 week! They still saw her at the soccer

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tournament and at the science fair, and the day in the park when they were all having a picnic she came up and apologized to them. They then made plans to go roller skating as a group. Alevia got more confident in school and in her normal daily life. Her parents got divorced, but they were okay with each other and both love Devin and Alevia.

Reader, I know you are wondering what book Alevia wrote. Well, Reader, it is in your hands, or computer, or wherever you’re reading this. Reader, I want to tell you that family and friendship is important. Some of you might be like okay, okay, I know this! But do you really? Some of you I’m sure never really value the love your family and friends give you until it is no longer there! I know this because this is my story. Yes Reader, I am Alevia! I could have been in hot water when Giselle texted me to come to the park because my parents never took the time to tell me how to stay safe. I needed my family to make me who I am! My friends are the people who make me feel good about myself! Family and community is something all of us deserve, no matter if your family is not as perfect as somebody else's! I want you to learn this as the message in this story, and to make sure you are a Giselle in another’s person’s life, and to say thank you to all of those who make you shine! - Alevia Mitchel Campella

( P.S. Reader, I am too shy to put my name on the cover, so this is our little secret!)

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