Literariux2013-14-1

Land mars

my perfe

my broth

the reas my cat

the new my cat they sa the ne girl

Catalina Sánchez Lina Buenahora Lorenzo García Daniela Tamayo María Camila Restrepo Nabith Estefan Sara Buitrago Stefanía Álvarez

mars a

Editora Martha Liliana Jiménez Nombre y logo de la revista Alejandro Turriago - 9° Diseño Catalina Jurado Colaboradores

Diciembre de 2013 Edición No. 1

Departamento de Comunicaciones Colegio Los Nogales 2013-2014

Editorial La escritura es una de las herramientas de comunicación más fuertes. Con ella comunicamos ideas, sentimientos, pensamientos, emociones… Escribir literatura no es una cosa fácil: no solo hay que comunicar algo, sino saber cómo hacerlo.

En esta nueva edición de Literariux los autores nos llevan a sus mundos, fantásticos y reales, a través de sus ideas, de la forma como las expresan. Muchas de estas ideas se formaron de una palabra, o una propuesta hecha por el maestro, de lo que dijo un compañero… en fin, son ideas que llevaron a los autores a demostrar que les gusta escribir literatura y demostrar que con la escritura pueden comunicarse con otros de una forma casi artística.

Espero que ustedes lectores, disfruten tanto como yo, de esta nueva edición.

Martha Liliana Jiménez

n i d n La s r a on M

ng Texto e ilustraci贸n por: Catalina

S谩nchez

“Five, four, three, two, one, zero, let’s go,” were the last words I heard before the spaceship launching to space. It was July 13th of 2013 when we went.

The day was neither hot nor cold, it was a perfect day to go to space. Our crew was called “The Doubt Science People”, not because we were doubtful, but our founder wanted to have a crew different from the rest, something funny, and something new. But I have to admit it, we were coward people. The entire trip we discussed who was going to explore the planet, and after all they decided that I was the one going. Finally we arrived, I was a little nervous and at the same time happy. Here comes the day I was the first human to stand on Mars. I went out.

The first thing I noticed was the smell like bubble gum; I looked at the floor and saw it was bubble gum! It was like a trampoline, you could jump without hitting. I continued walking and I found a river of Nutella. It was paradise! I got

into it, swam and ate all the possible Nutella I could until my stomach started to hurt. I went out, cleaned myself with a towel (I had brought from the spaceship) and found a comfortable spot on the ground to sleep. In sleep I dreamed that I was in a pool of nutella, just like the river, but in a blink of an eye all the Nutella was gone! I woke up scared, looked quickly at the river and saw it was still there. Ohhhh! What a nightmare! But I knew I had to continue searching for more things. After about an hour of walking I felt something soft falling to my hands. I looked up and then I felt cotton candy falling from the sky, it was raining! I opened my mouth and ate a lot. I continued walking and saw an ice-cream tree with a door on it. I ran quickly to reach it and quietly opened it. Then I was shocked with what I saw.

It was the most horrible and beautiful creature I had ever seen. He had three eyes

each one down the other one. He had an antenna that ended in a circle shape.

His feet were small and all his eight hands had three fingers. My first impulse was to run, but I didn’t because I felt an attraction to him. In no more than five seconds I went inside and found myself eye to eye with the creature.

“Fabanuhjgjdbfjh” he said. I looked at him shocked. “Hi, II ccoomme in peeeaceee” I said to him with a tremble voice.

“Asdfhuidfeufhejnukrehgnoh,” he yelled. Then another creature came down the stairs and said to me “Hello, it’s a glorious day. You are the first one to find us.” He told me to sit in a green couch that was on the side of the room. “Let me explain it all.” he said.

“We are called the -Space Cute Monsters-. We have lived here since Mars exists. My name is Sagimao and I am the language guy. I am the only one who knows all Earth’s languages in case someone comes (like

you) I am the one that will translate everything when we talk. My friend right here is called Nsihdjuman that means the old man. He is the oldest of our species. ” Then we went out. He said he would take me on a tour to the most important parts of Mars. There were many candy cities, some of gummy bear, others of Oreo cookies, and the majority of ice-cream and Nutella. Then he took me to the largest monument in Mars, the Controlalt. It was a big candy cute monster with a crown in the head. Sagimao explained to me that it was like a spaceship in case other planet creatures came to invade them; they would go inside of it and take a large trip to other planet. Then the moment he said that, others came to invade, them I remember I had to go back to my spaceship where my team was waiting.

I told Sagimao about my team and asked him if he could take me back. He told me,

“Yes, of course but only on one condition.” I asked him what it was, and he told me that I had to tell them I haven’t found life and that there was only hard red rock. That was a difficult thing to do, but I accepted. We went back through a forest of ice-cream that smelled like brownie. During that time I saw about 5 cute-monsters all of different size. Next we passed through a lake of melted Jolly Ranchers. When we were passing, I touched the water and it felt like sticky milk. Finally the last place we passed was the valley with the Nutella River and the ice-cream tree houses that I had been at the beginning.

Then I saw far in the distance a little white point and realized it was our spaceship. I said bye to Sagimao and made a pledge that I will never tell anyone about what I saw, but I told him too that someday someone would find them again. Then I went by.

When I arrived, I saw they were all looking through the window. When they saw me they opened immediately the door and let me in. I was invaded with many questions and then this is what I told them, “There is something incredible, scary, beautiful, horrible, it was just everything.” They yelled and ask me, “What was it?” And I told them “What I saw was hard red rocks.”

My

my

Everything,

Brothers

Texto por:

Lina Buenahora

For most people, family is the most important thing in life. I consider myself one of them, my family is the most important thing in my life. My brothers are part of my family and they are the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Having older brothers has helped me in all the stages I have gone through. Now as a teenage girl, I have immature behaviors sometimes and having older brothers helps me a lot to get through this stage of life.

As a teenage girl, I tend to have a difficult behavior, an immature one. Even if sometimes I don´t even notice how I am acting, in some way I know I am being immature. Like every girl, I have a lot of fights with my brothers.

Even though we have had fights, we know we love each other and that’s why we help each other too. As I already told you, in the stage I am passing through many problems pass by and my brothers have helped me getting over them. For example, when I

have problems with my friends, they give me advice. No matter how stupid the problem is. As they give me advice, they forgive me and make me feel better, even if it isn’t in the sweetest way. Their help is the best help someone can ever give me, they are older and no matter if they have experienced the same or not, they know about many topics. My brothers help me in other ways too, by telling me and teaching me how to be a girl when I grow up. They want the best for me and when they talk to me about this, I notice they really care about me.

I have a lot of fun with my brothers. They make me laugh and whenever I am mad or sad they cheer me up and always put a smile in place of tears.

Playing with them is super cool, we always have a great time together. Playing, doing jokes and laughing until you can’t breathe anymore is one of the best feelings you can experience with anyone, but it’s

even cooler and better to have the experience with brothers. I am sure that my brothers have made me cry many times, but I am even surer that they have made me smile a lot more, than the times they had made me cry. I won’t write about all the happy moments I’ve lived with my brothers, but I can tell that they are the best moments, I can remember.

Besides all of this, my brothers are great people. They are full of qualities; they are kind, faithful, loyal, cool, comprehensive, and good at advising and more. As a little sister, I see them as my models so everything they do helps me in life. If they make a mistake any error, they teach me about it so I learn and know from it. If they do something really good, they also teach me and tell me I should do that. Besides my parents, my brothers are also my heroes, they are one of my models and they do a great job being them. I thank them so much for everything. Every day they teach me, and some days I teach them

because that’s what siblings are for. I admire my brothers and I hope they admire me too.

Brothers, is a word full of meaning. Being a teenage girl and having two brothers that are always there for you is the best thing ever. I am so grateful for having them. I hope someday they will also be grateful for having me. I also wish that someday I will be the perfect sister and that we will be perfect as children, because you know what? Besides everything, for me, my brothers are already perfect. Beyond those fights, band faces, yells and more, there´s a heart full of love and good things. I love them and that’s it!

y M

cat Texto por:

Lorenzo

GarcĂ­a

T issot

It was a dark and windy day. The trees were swaying side to side and their leaves, orange and yellow, were falling everywhere. It was fall season and I was sitting in my house sofa without something to do, but watch the boring and tiresome T.V. Then I remembered that my parents, some time ago, had told me that we could have a pet. I immediately turned off the T.V and went out the door. I felt an icy breeze, so I came inside again took a sweater and went out. I wanted a joyful, friendly, and annoying dog, or a calmed, intelligent and lovely cat. My mind was a puzzle.

I started to think that if it was a dog, my house would be a mess and I had to take him out every day. Besides, my house, especially my room would smell horrible. And if I decided to have a cat, my life would be very calm and I could give him a lot of love. My final decision was that I wanted a cat!!!

As I went on the gray and blurry road I started to consider what name I would give to the cat. Then I saw my favorite place to be, the park! I went into its beautiful and delightful gardens. I sat in the maroon bench to think and meditate. Later, I recognized some familiar people. They were my friends, Joe and Fred. Some were close and very friendly colleagues from school. Fred was tall and black haired. He had dark skin and green colored eyes. Joe was completely the opposite, he was fat, short, and his skin was white as milk. We played for a long, fun, time at the park until I remembered that I was supposed to go to the pleasurable pet shop.

Soon, I walked slowly to the pet shop. The day was gray and windy.

Then it started to rain slowly, but strongly. I opened my red, worn out umbrella and went out. But it had a big hole, so I got all wet. I decided to take out the ruined umbrella because it was useless. As soon as I went three steps further, something unexpected happened; I saw a baby cat. He was wet, skinny, and his eyes had some power that enchanted me. I felt in love with that baby. It seemed that his mother had left him and abandoned him. I picked him up and decided to call him Ted, for the moment. He made me take out my sweater to put him inside so that Ted won’t die from hypothermia. I ran with a constant, fast speed to my house.

When I reached my house, I went immediately to change my clothes and to dry baby Ted. He was so cute. His ears and hair was like a mixture of orange and yellow, his brown eyes and purple-like nose had an expression that he was feeling so cold. He smelled to shampoo. I knew he would be my company for many, many years, but there was a small problem. Would my parents let me have Ted as a pet? I went to the room where they were. “Mom,” I said “Dad, look what I found, he was on the road.

Can we have it? “Of course,” they said at unison, “Look how beautiful he is!”

I was surprised because of their decision. Today I have had Ted for five beautiful years; he is such a nice cat!

The Reason of my Life Texto e ilustraci贸n por:

Mar铆a Camila Restrepo

People call them friends, I call them the siblings I never had.

When they are around, gossip and stories come alive.

Great support starts to shine as sadness starts to die.

Our funny videos make us laugh, as loud music makes us dance. the smell of their home is the same as mine, as the awful species tea produce us the same impact.

Sharing drinks is just a small part of the friendship we will always have.

Problems are rare, simple things we don´t even care.

Cooking sometimes fails, but our promises will always be there.

My friends, My family, My everything.

The reason of my smile every day, the ones that will always be there.

The

w e N Girl Texto e ilustraci贸n por: Mar铆a Silva

“In Rosewood, majestic estates sprawl for acres, and Tiffany bracelets dangle from every girl’s wrists. But not all that glitters is gold, and the town harbors secrets darker than anyone could imagine--like the truth about what really happened that night.�

(Wanted, Sara Shepard).

I closed the book and looked out the window. The clouds were gray. The trees moved from side to side as the wind blew. It was the perfect day for staying inside and reading a good book. Books were my passion. They were always there when nobody was. I didn´t have many friends in Gainesville.

I had just moved from California, leaving all my good friends and my relatives behind. Being the new girl is a difficult task; I should know it. My father´s company is constantly transferring us from place to place. Sometimes we go back to California, but only for vacations or when my father gets a year off.

All my life I´ve traveled the world. I´ve lived in all sorts of places and done all sorts of new things.

Once I even had class under a tree next to running zebras and a pack of giraffes. My year in Africa was the best of them all. We lived in a small town called Akasia. The town was totally isolated, so we got to see many animals we couldn´t see closer to the city. I only had school three days a week, so I got the rest free to go hiking with my dad. My father is a biologist and archeologist, so whenever we could, we went to take some rock samples or to photograph all exotic animals. Other time we went to New Zealand. There, we visited the most beautiful landscapes I´ve ever seen. Also, we spent two weeks living with a Maori community.

All of this traveling has taught me to be more social and to sometimes be by myself. Also I´ve gained a lot of friends around the world, considering that I have to make new ones every year. It´s weird because we had always gone to places outside the United States like Brazil, Madagascar, or England, but never to another town or city here apart from California. I thought this year would be easier than the others because I already knew the language and how the school worked, but it was totally opposite. This year was the hardest I ever had.

The first day of school is the most important of all. It defines who you´ll be and who you´ll be with for the rest of the year. My house was a bit far from school so my dad gave me a ride.

“Good luck honey,” said my dad as he pulled over for me to get down.

“Bye, love you,” I answered as I closed the door.

I watched the car go around the corner and turned around to face the infinite stairs that lead to the entrance. When I got to the top I took a step forward to find myself in the middle of a crowded hallway. I looked around in search of the principal´s office. Found it. It was located at the end of the hallway on the left side. I made my way through the crowd and knocked on the door.

A tall woman opened the door and asked with a soft voice, “Are you Maya Pillsbury?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I answered.

The woman guided me inside to a large desk and told me to sit down. A couple of minutes later, a tall man with brown hair came through the door.

“Hello Maya,” he said, “I´m Principal Brown, welcome to East Gainesville Middle School.”

He sat down and asked me a few questions about myself. Later he taught me some of the school’s rules which I didn´t really pay much attention to. After that he stood up and told his assistant to guide me to my first class, homeroom. As we walked through the door, the bell rang. The first day of school had officially begun.

I walked inside the classroom and saw everyone staring at me. Another woman came close to me.

She had long, red hair and big brown eyes.

“Hi darling, I´m Ms. Holliday, your homeroom teacher. What´s your name?” she asked.

“Maya, Maya Pillsbury” I answered softly.

“Well Maya, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?” Ms. Holliday said.

I began to talk about myself, my dad, and all the wonderful places I had lived on. I also mentioned how much I loved science and biology. I also told her that I really enjoyed horseback riding and playing basketball.

I stopped for a second to catch my breath and heard one of the girls whispering to another, “What a freak.”

Even though it was just a silly comment, it made me feel a little uncomfortable, so I asked Ms. Holliday if I could go sit down. I spent the rest of the class just staring those girls. One of them had blonde, curly hair and hazel eyes, just like mine. The other had short black hair and big, green eyes.

When the class was about to end, I heard a voice whispering at the back of my head, “Hey, would you like to have lunch with me and my friends?”

I turned around and saw a beautiful girl with long, brown hair. Her eyes were green and really big and she had a shy smile on her face.

“Sure, I would love to,” I said.

After the bell rang we all went to the next class. We had math class. I didn´t enjoy math very much, but I was good at it so it didn´t bother me. Later we had social studies. We learned about the Roman Empire and Greek mythology. Before lunch break we had English. I really liked the teacher and I loved that at the beginning of the class we had ten minutes for reading any book we wanted. I read a couple chapters from one of my favorite books, Alice in Wonderland. When the bell finally rang I went outside to look for the girl who had invited me to sit with her and her friends. Her name was Emily. We were supposed to meet in front of her locker. At first I was a little lost, but then I saw her with a bunch of other girls at the end of the hallway. I began to walk towards them. Suddenly, someone pushed me with the shoulder against the lockers. I hit my back and head and fell down.

When I came to my senses, I stood up and looked to the right. The person who had pushed me was that girl from homeroom, the one with the curly hair.

I didn´t want to get in trouble on my first day, so I just let her keep on walking. I met up with Emily and her friends, Courtney and Vanessa. They asked me if I was okay; they had seen what happened.

I told them I was fine, but really my head was still hurting. We went to the cafeteria and had lunch.

While eating, I noticed that Emily had a beautiful bracelet on her wrist.

“That´s beautiful Emily, where did you get it?” I asked.

“My mom gave it to me as a gift when she got back from Berlin. She died a year ago in a car accident,” she answered.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I replied and continued to eat my lunch.

During the rest of the day we got to know more about each other. Vanessa and Courtney told me

everything I should know about our teachers and classmates and Emily showed me where my other classes were. They told me the girl with the curly hair was named Sara and she was one of the most popular girls in school. I taught them how to speak a little bit of Greek and showed them pictures from my trip to Australia. We really bonded that day.

When I went home I told everything about my day to my dad, obviously leaving out Sara. He was very happy that I had made such good friends on my first day. He also told me about his day at work.

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about our day, playing cards and eating pizza. Pizza was our regular meal. My mom left when I was nine years old. Since then we have always eaten microwave meals or anything we could order. My dad is not a great fan of cooking. Sometimes I try and make some spaghetti or salad, but I never really have the time.

During the next few days I spent a lot of time with my new friends. Every afternoon we went to the mall or to the park, only to spend a little more time together. We became best friends, especially Emily and I. We did everything together, from eating lunch to babysitting each others’ brothers and sisters. A week had already passed and I hadn´t seen much of Sara.

“Who can give me the answer?” asked Mr. Ray, our math teacher.

Sara raised her hand very quickly. “Twenty four!” she said.

Wrong.

“Good job Sara,” said Mr. Ray. I raised my hand.

“Actually the answer would be twenty five,” I said in a low tone of voice.

“Thank you Maya, I had it messed up, the correct answer is twenty five,” he responded in a happy voice.

Sara turned around to look at me. She had a big frown on her face and a look that could just penetrate through me. The school bell rang and we went outside. When I was just a few steps away from the cafeteria, Sara passed me from the side and then made a sudden stop right in front of me. She turned around and pushed me, cornering me against the wall.

With a sudden hit, she threw my books to the floor as she whispered, “Next time keep your answer to yourself.” Sara walked away.

I picked up my books and kept on walking.

A couple more weeks went by and I kept on going out with my friends. But not a day passed without Sara tormenting me in the hallways or pushing me against the lockers. Sometimes I just wanted to punch her, but nothing good would come of violence. Once we were in art class and we were supposed to paint our favorite place in the world. I was painting myself reading a book under a tree in the savannah of Tanzania. It was one of the best things I had ever drawn. I asked for permission to go to the bathroom and when I came back, my painting was ruined. The colors were all mixed up and in the middle it had something written in big red letters: “Freak.” The minute I saw it I knew exactly who it was from.

“Enough!” I yelled as I stood up. “When are you going to stop?!”

“What´s wrong?” Sara asked with an innocent voice.

“Don´t you have anything better to do than going around messing with people?” I asked with a rough tone of voice.

“I have no idea what you´re talking about,” she answered.

I was about to scream in her face, but then I took a deep breath and calmed down. I turned around and went back to my seat. A couple of minutes passed and I forgot about it, I was concentrated on fixing my painting. Suddenly, I felt something cold and heavy running through my head. I touched my hair and then looked at my hand, it was wet and yellow. I looked up to find out Sara had just poured yellow paint on my head.

“Woops!” she said in between giggles.

“What´s your problem?” I screamed, as I stood up and threw my paintbrush at her.

It splashed orange paint all over her face.

“You did not just do that!” she said with an angry voice.

She picked up some purple paint and threw it at me. I tried to cover my face with one hand as I picked up some more orange paint with the other. I was just about to throw it when someone grabbed my hand. It was Ms. Marin, our art teacher.

“You two go straight to the principal´s office right now!” she said in a mad voice.

We walked outside of the classroom towards Principal Brown´s office.

When we were about to go in, Sara stopped, grabbed my shoulder, and whispered, “You blame this on me and I will ruin you.”

I moved my shoulder so she would let go and walked in. Principal Brown was sitting at his desk with a straight face and an angry look.

“Now girls, sit down and tell me what happened,” he said.

“Well, we…” I began to answer, but Sara interrupted me.

“I was just walking towards my seat and I tripped, so all my paint fell on Maya´s head and my shirt.”

“Is that true Maya?” he asked.

I thought for a second and then nodded.

“Well, then you can leave, but I don´t want this to happen again.”

After that we went back to our normal classes.

Christmas break was just a few days away, and we were all looking forward to it. We had a history paper due two days before break. I had spent almost three days writing it. It was the most complete, longest paper I had ever written. I was very exited to turn it in because I knew I had done a great job.

When we entered fourth period (History) I looked inside my backpack in search of my paper, but it wasn´t there. I ran to my locker to see if it was there, but I couldn´t find it.

“Maybe you left it at home,” Emily suggested.

But I was so sure I had put it in my backpack the night before. I looked again inside my backpack.

Nothing.

“You´re right, maybe I left it at home.”

I talked to my teacher and practically begged for one more day. Fortunately she gave it to me. As soon as I got home I went straight to my room. My paper wasn´t there. I looked under the table, in the kitchen, in my bed, but my paper was nowhere to be found. There was only one thing left to do, write it again. I sat at my desk with my laptop and began. “The French revolution…”

The next morning I could barely move my feet. I had spent all night working on my paper. As soon as I got to school I went to turn it in and then straight to the cafeteria to buy some coffee. My eyes were closing every second. My eyelids felt so heavy. I just wanted to go back to sleep. That day happened so slowly. I almost fell asleep in every class. When the final bell rang I stood up and went to the parking lot as fast as I could. There, my dad was waiting for me in our car. I got in and laid in the back seat. When we got home I practically crawled to my room and into my bed. The second my head touched the pillow I fell asleep.

My dad had to work during Christmas brake, so we couldn´t go to California. I would have loved to visit my family and friends, but I still had a lot of fun in Gainesville. My friends and I went camping for a few days and then spent the rest of the week going to Emily´s country club. Christmas in Gainesville was not cold at all. On the contrary, it was sunny almost every day. Even though Christmas break wasn´t very long, I had a great time and got to spend Christmas with my new friends and my dad.

With all the fun, I totally forgot about my history paper. Our history teacher gave them back to us as soon as we entered the classroom.

“Next time try a little harder,” she said as she handed it to me.

D-. Not a very good grade.

“Yes! I got an A,” said Sara at the other end of the classroom.

I was a little disappointed because I knew I could have gotten that exact same grade with my original paper. But there was nothing to do about it, except move on and be more careful next time.

School continued normally. Obviously that included Sara picking on me every now and then. Nothing weird happened for the next weeks, but one day all my homework began to disappear. Every time I was going to turn it in, my homework was missing. Even all my essays and stories for English class seemed to just vanish. It was almost like my backpack was eating all my homework. I tried to talk to teachers, but they said I was just being very disorganized. One day I couldn´t even find my math book. I decided to start leaving everything in my locker, but every time I went to look for something, “Poof,” it was gone. It was driving me crazy.

One day, I was walking through the hallway and saw someone sitting in a corner. I got a little closer.

It was Emily. I sat down next to her and asked what was wrong. “Someone stole my mother´s bracelet,” she answered.

“Don´t worry, we´ll find it. Here, have a tissue,” I said as I opened my backpack.

As soon as I finished opening the zipper I looked inside my backpack, only to find the most unexpected thing, Emily´s bracelet. Emily saw it and took it away from me. “You were the one who had

it all this time!” she said.

“Someone must have…” I couldn´t finish my sentence.

Emily stood up and as she walked away said, “How could you? I thought you were my friend. You knew how important that bracelet was to me; it was my mother´s! You just wanted it all for yourself, I should have never trusted you!”

For a moment I just sat there, wondering what had just happened.

English class was very lonely. Usually I sat with Emily and chatted, but this time we were sitting on opposite sides of the room. Our teacher began to return our short stories, but of course mine had disappeared before I could turn it in.

Suddenly I heard her say, “I really enjoyed reading your story about mermaids and sea creatures Sara.”

Sea creatures? Mermaids?

That was my story!

I quickly stood up and grabbed the paper. I began to read it. After a couple sentences I was sure it was my story. I told our teacher, but she didn´t seem very convinced. She told us both to write a new story for the next day, so she could rally see whose story it was.

That afternoon I wrote the best story I could imagine. It was about time travel, princesses and magic.

I was ready. The next day, I looked inside my backpack. My story was gone. But this time I was prepared. I had a second copy that I kept in my pocket. Right after that I ran to the teachers´ lounge and gave my story to our English teacher. She took a couple of minutes to read it.

After she finished she said, “What a great story Maya, but I still need to read Sara´s.”

I smiled and told her that Sara was going to turn in the exact same paper. At first she was a little confused, but then she understood my plan.

When it was time for English class, Sara walked in and handed her paper to the teacher. Then she sat down. We began to work on our Do Nows. I looked at our teacher and saw she was reading Sara´s paper.

When she finished, she walked towards Sara and said, “Ms. Abrams, I´m going to need you to come with me to the principal´s office right away.”

Sara stood up and looked at me. I leaned back in my chair and smiled. When she was about to leave the classroom she tripped over Emily, who was picking up her books from the floor. Something fell from her pocket. It was a key. But it was no ordinary key. It was the key to Emily´s locker! Emily grabbed it and went straight to where I was sitting.

Sara turned around and looked at me with mean eyes. A few days ago that would have bothered me, but now it was over. That feeling of being underneath, being crashed, was gone.

I looked back at her with a smile and nodded my head. I wasn´t afraid of her anymore.

“Ms. Abrams!” screamed our teacher from outside the classroom.

Sara went out the door.

“I´m so sorry,” said Emily, “I should have known it was Sara who took my bracelet and put it in

your backpack.”

“Don´t worry, it´s okay,” I said.

We hugged each other.

Sara was expelled for lying and stealing. The rest of the year was great. Now we are on summer vacation. My dad and I have decided to stay another year in Gainesville. We are going back to California, but only for the summer. This time my best friends are coming with me. It´s going to be great. We have an assignment for school. We have to write about a personal experience that changed our lives. I´ve done so many wonderful things in my life, so at first it was hard to decide. But then I got it. Guess what I chose?

Mars at

Last

Texto e ilustraci贸n por: Max Szostak

SPLOOSH!

As soon as I submerge into the strange liquid, all of the dials, lights, meters, scanners, cameras and radio transmitters are still and silent. It is darker than anything I have ever experienced. It is eerily calm, but I know that inside the titanium and platinum shell of my space capsule I am safe.

I need to start exploring, so I turn on the booster propellers. The liquid gurgles and splashes as the nose of the capsule pushes through the sludge. I see a faint glow passing by the porthole.

Slowly, a shimmering ball of transparent Jello floats by. An eye suspended in it turns toward me.

Suddenly, a bony, horned shark-like creature darts by and bites the Jello-creature in half. Half a second later, a serpent with eyes covering its whole body slithers past and gobbles up the shark thing.

Soon after, an octopus with three eyes slurps up the serpent like spaghetti. I realize that I’m headed toward a cave. Bubbles shining with heat come up from the back. Then the mouth of the cave closes, slowly at first but getting faster and faster. I am in the mouth of a gigantic‌ something! I take a chance and open the hatch.

I wake up with a terrible headache. When the stars in my eyes go away, I see that I am in the middle of a desert. How did I ever get here? I may never know. But I have to find water.

It is the middle of the night, but the light of three moons and distant galaxies is sufficient. Small craters puff glittering dust that also illuminates the landscape. It is all so surreal! I begin to walk on aching legs. THUMP! A steaming asteroid lands right next to me! I run while more and more shower down, sending up clouds of the shimmering sand. I dive into a tunnel that goes straight down. I hit a pile of sand. The walls of the tunnels have millions of tiny holes, and from each one comes a twinkling light. I stride forward after resting a bit. I have a strange feeling that there is something at the end of the tunnel.

After walking for what feels like years, I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. I walk faster and faster until I am sprinting. By the time I realize that the tunnel is actually a cliff, it’s too late to stop. I sail over the edge. I’m falling… falling… falling… falling…not falling? I’m not dead? I landed on a cloud! I look up. No broken bones, not even a scratch. I realize I’m at the bottom of a snow angel, like in a cartoon, when someone falls from very high up and then hits the ground. I climb out into a jungle. Wait, a jungle on top of a cloud? Well, I have to find food. I push through the thick foliage. Then I see that none of the plants are higher than my chest. But the leaves and stems are all either covered in thorns, dripping toxins or have a mouth.

I carefully avoid the most dangerous looking vegetation until I get to the edge of the cloud. I try to jump but…

NOT AGAIN! I’m falling to my death, for a second time!

I know I can’t survive this time, because I’m falling towards the desert I just left. But once again, I miraculously survive by landing on a swirling sand storm that cushions me as I fall. This time, it’s noon, and there are four suns in the middle of the sky.

I see an enormous skeleton. It feels moist and looks like a giant goldfish. It is vaguely familiar, especially the mouth. Then I realize why.

Where the stomach would be, I see my rusty space shuttle, coated in slime.

Texto e ilustraci贸n por: Nabih Estefan

Landing on Mars

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five… ” we had just started the countdown to launch Apollo XXXIII at the Kennedy Space Station; this would be the first manned mission to Mars. We were four astronauts: Tato, Garcia, Paisa, and I. In a year we would land on the red planet, Mars. Mars is the fourth planet in the Solar System, it is like a red arid desert, and probably it has or had life. “…5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Launch!!” the mission had just started.

Time…. Oh, Time….

A year had passed and we had just landed on Mars. Exactly 62 years before us, Neil Armstrong had landed on the moon with Buzz Aldrin. We ate our dehydrated food and we had ended one-third of all our supplies, we had eaten it for a year and now it seemed delicious. We got down the launcher, Mars was arid, red, a total silence, we couldn´t smell or taste because if we took our helmets off we could die.

We heard something and turned immediately. The sound came from a crater. I was sent to search, I was sweating and scared. Who knows what could be in that crater?

What if it was an abominable eating creature monster like the Sarlaac in Star Wars?

While I thought of all that, I didn´t see a rock on the floor and tripped and fell into the crater.

I found myself falling endlessly through the interior of Mars, but suddenly I bumped into something, it was a bubble! I was that happy I had landed on something, but my helmet had broken! I started smelling and found out that Mars had an atmosphere! So with my fear gone I started thinking, why was a bubble in the center of Mars? I went inside it through a hole that was there, but as I got in, it was bigger than how it seemed from the outside! There was a whole city inside that bubble! But who made that city? Was there an alien civilization in Mars? Or was it a future civilization that traveled back in time and couldn’t get back? Well, a second after that question was asked it was answered. It was a Martian alien civilization, I couldn´t see to the other side of the city, it was gigantic! It had buildings that ranged for 10 to 1,000 stories. It also had a giant green water pool (at first I thought it was acid but then found out it was not) where all buildings floated, and some buildings were upside down but the furniture was as if the building was normal. And the question was answered because I saw an alien. Then I traveled the entire city without letting the Martian aliens know I was there.

One of the biggest questions people had from the moment life started had just been answered. Yes, there was life on other planets! The Martian aliens were about 4 feet tall. They had greenish-yellow skin, had one eye, two antennas, and four fingers in their hands. Suddenly I heard human language, they spoke English and they said “Live long and prosper� with the Vulcan sign! I was able to speak with them, and they told me that the only way out was driving in the NCC 1701 U.S.S. Enterprise, a spaceship that ran on antimatter fuel and had crashed on Mars a million years before.

Suddenly, when they said that I realized that in episode VII of Star Trek the NCC 1701 U.S.S. Enterprise crashes in an unknown planet because it runs out of antimatter fuel.

I rode the starship and got to the surface. There, I met my friends and found out that in all that time I hadn’t been there, they felt it was a month, and in that month they had to run a scan search, they used the tracker I had in my suit, but nothing worked so they had declared me dead and suddenly I had appeared. I told them everything and went to our launcher. Then we told the people on Earth that we had found life, and they told us our mission was complete, that for the rest of the year we could just travel and learn about more Mars. That discovery has led to having a civilization on Mars and not killing planet Earth.

Ilustraciones por: Nicolรกs Gamboa Texto por: Sara Buitrago

Murió A veces no reconocemos que el tiempo pasa, Que ya no es lo mismo que ayer, Que hoy es diferente, Ya no somos los mismos, Que nuestro pasado determina nuestro futuro.

Ahora pensamos y actuamos diferente.

Pero ya no funciona revivir algo que ya murió…

Como nuestro amor.

Aunque es una realidad cruel La vida nos la enseña de una forma u otra.

Un instante Solo dame un minuto, Un minuto Para recordar tu cara, Un minuto Para escuchar tu voz una vez más, Un minuto Para recordar tu mirada, Un minuto Para no dejarte de mirar, Un minuto Para poder decir adiós, Un minuto Para que no te olvide nunca, Y ese minuto lo recordaré como si hubieran sido años.

My

t c e f r e P Day Texto e Ilustraciones por: Stefanía Álvarez

It was 10:00 in the morning when I opened my eyes. It was weird that no one had woke me up on a Sunday. Normally at this time I would be playing tennis at my club, but today was different. I knew this day would not be as all my Sundays. It would be my perfect day.

The morning began as always. My mom was downstairs watching TV, with my dad by her side looking at golf stuff on the Internet. My sister, Maria, was sleeping because the night before she had been at a party. When my mom saw me she made me a big breakfast that included French Toasts, Waffles and Pancakes. When I finished eating my eight cousins and my uncles arrived. With all the noise I made, I woke María up, she was very excited. All the morning I chatted and played with all, Nicolas, Santiago, Sofia, Maria Dimitra, Pedro, Catalina, Juanita and Tomas.

My mom was talking with my aunts Monica, Claudia, and Pilar and my father with Juan Carlos, Camilo and Nikolaos.

“Is time to go for lunch!” said my mom. We all spread out in three different cars and agreed to go to “Crepes and Waffles”. It was like if my mom was reading my mind. I love Crepes and Waffles! When we arrived, I saw a table that occupied almost all the restaurant and I realized it was our table. I ordered a Pita Mozzarella and a Coke and for dessert, fondue. Then we all decided to go to a park.

Something took me by surprise; my mom was going to buy me a dog, a real dog! We got to the pet shop and bought the most beautiful dog of all. It was a Golden Retriever.

After having a good time at the park with my new dog named Pluto, we went to my house again. There with my cousins we watched a movie. It was the best movie.

It was called “Now You See Me”. When the movie finished it was 6:30 PM, so we decided to go to my parents room, closed all the curtains and began playing la “Mano Peluda”. Because of bad luck, I had to find the people first.

Then we played many other games until it was 9:00PM. We were talking and my uncles entered and told all my cousins that they were going. We all begged and the eight cousins stayed to sleep at my house. At 3:00 AM of the next day we, went to sleep.

Many people may have different ideas for a perfect day. They may think that is better to stay in bed watching TV. For others just talk with your friends. But for me a perfect day would be staying with my family, talking with them and even having a great and awesome time together.

My perfect day will also have new animals in your life and meeting different people.

Landing on Mars

My everything

My Cat

My Brothers The new girl

Mars at last

Muri贸 My perfect day

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