COUNTING DOWN

By Reilly Brady

Five. Five blinks. Waiting. The ice clinking in the glass, too clean, unsettling. Five fingers, five minutes, five seconds. How long had it been? Five buzzes on the phone: five messages. Just a glance, then phone back down. Head down.

Four. Arm, arm, leg, leg. Squeezing hand and hand, tapping foot and foot. Almost standing up four times, but always staying seated, four limbs, foot and foot on the ground, hand squeezing hand. Four children, across, reading books, eerily silent. Four rows of chairs. Four chairs in a row. The ice clinked again, breaking the loud silence.

Three. Getting closer. Don’t like this number. Unlucky. Three, six, nine, twelve on the clock. Three pens in the jar. Somewhere, someone sniffs. A cough. Three coughs. Three fake plants in the room, shining, immobile. No wind to move the plastic leaves. No more threes.

Two. Too close, or too long? Waiting, waiting. Is waiting better than the answer? Distraction: magazine, page two. Buy a watch, on sale! Two hands on the clock on the face of the watch, two hands on the clock hanging on the wall. Two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, two arms, two legs. Two people sitting to the right. A man and a woman, also silent. Two buzzes from the phone, which stays down on the table. Four legs on the table – no, twos, not fours. Too many numbers. The clock, tik tok, too loud. Head hurts.

One. What’s after this? One too many seconds goes by. One mouth, one nose, one head. One million thoughts. Phone buzzes once. Focus. One table in the center of the room, mostly empty. One smell of dry alcohol, hand sanitizer, piercing the throat. One throat. One cough, clearing the throat. Head down. Back up. One person is approaching.

Zero. Zero seconds left. Stand up. Zero distinct thoughts in a racing mind. Time to listen.

By Garrett Sablich

10 seconds left in the game, we are up by one

9 yards from shooting range, they are nearing the penalty area

8 attackers pushing up the field, this is their last chance to tie the game

7 defenders trying to block, crosses or through balls

6 yards from goal, they have broken through the defense

5 open players, why aren’t they marked

4 corners the ball could go, and I have to defend them all

3 seconds left, the pressure is on

2 decisions to make, stay on the line rush the ball, not enough time to think

1 shot, the ball moves faster than a bullet, reflexes kick in

0 on the clock, we have won.

Biographies

James Chang (7): James is a seventh grader and likes comics. He is very happy to be selected for Tabula Rasa.

Mia Gustavson (7): Mia is a seventh grader at Pinewood. She enjoys reading and creative writing and is working on the start of a novel right now! She especially loves writing poems, and sometimes even putting them to music. Outside of that, she loves nature and being outdoors, and is especially excited by animals of all sorts.

Avery Wilson (7): Avery is a seventh grader who is delighted to be featured in this year’s Tabula Rasa. Writing has always been a passion of hers, and she is very excited to finally share some of her work! Besides writing, she loves spending time with her friends, caring for her pets, and participating in every Pinewood sport she can.

Gabriella Ip (8): Gabriella is a current eighth grader who is excited to be in this year’s Tabula Rasa. She has been starting and admiring art since third grade and never gets tired of it. She uses art as a coping mechanism and a creative outlet since pictures often say more than words. Most of the time she focuses on using acrylics, watercolor, and occasionally charcoal. Besides art, she enjoys playing volleyball and playing the piano for fun.

Makena Matula (8): Makena is an eighth grader and is honored to be part of Tabula Rasa. She loves to create and experiment with art in all forms and believes that creativity and self expression should be celebrated. She is excited to take art independent study next year. In her free time, you can find her playing guitar, listening to music, drawing on her walls, and writing about anything and everything.

Mina Okamoto (8): Mina is an eighth grader who is pleased to be in Tabula Rasa. Some of her hobbies are guitar, reading, and creative writing. She believes in the importance of expressing and unpacking social issues through her writing. She enjoys using writing as an exploration and expression of self.

Florencia Rodriguez Steube (8): Flo, a current eighth grader, is super excited to share her work in Tabula Rasa this year. She loves creating art in all of its shapes and forms, but, as next year’s editor of the In-Depth section of The Perennial, she is partial to the unique experience of writing, especially fiction and poetry. Aside from that, her various wacky interests range from playing Dungeons and Dragons to learning about mycology, the study of mushrooms.

Sophia Yao (8): Sophia is an eight grader who is thrilled to be included in Tabula Rasa this year. She has been writing stories and poems since elementary school and is so excited to finally share one. She also enjoys playing volleyball, spending time with her friends, and reading to her sister.

Ella Aspinall (9): Ella is a freshman who is honored to have been featured in this year’s edtion of Tabula Rasa. She has always been passionate about the intricacies of writing and how beautiful the process and outcome can be. She loves creating art, especially in the genre of realism, and enjoys creating portraits of her friends to express her appreciation for them. In addition, she spends her time playing guitar, sketching in her notebook, and watching niche YouTube videos about survival in Indonesia.

Vincent Chen (9): Vincent is a freshman who is confused about being featured in Tabula Rasa. He isn’t sure how he won and doesn’t know what to write for his biography. If he had more time to think about what to write, he would probably say that he likes math problems, or something else that’s equally stereotypically nerdy.

Skylar Chui (9): Skylar is a freshman who is super excited to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. She loves drawing with all media and writing small stories. At Pinewood, Skylar is on the basketball team, volleyball team, and swim team.

Samantha Hsiung (9): Samantha is a freshman who is ecstatic to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. She loves writing and uses it to express herself, especially through the form of poetry. She also writes for The Perennial, which she hopes to continue doing all throughout high school. Aside from writing, she also enjoy reading, playing the piano, and fencing (the sport).

Sally King (9): Sally is a freshman who is shocked to be honored in this magazine! She loves to write but hates to share it. Sally enjoys playing tennis and was disappointed when the lacrosse team did not survive the recruiting season. Sally is related to Sam King even though they are not similar in any way.

Natasha Moretti (9): Natasha is a freshman who is honored to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. When she isn’t creative writing, she can be found reading a good book, socializing with her friends, dancing, figure skating, or researching a topic that she’s interested in such as human rights issues.

Rosalie Wessels (9): Rosalie is a freshman who is very honored and frankly a bit surprised to be in Tabula Rasa this year. She loves to go windsurfing at the lake and enjoys programming. At Pinewood, she is a part of tech club and plays basketball and tennis.

Michelle Chen (10): Michelle is a sophomore who loves to see the world. She likes to capture memories with a favorable palate and a touristy picture. Despite having drawn for over 10 years, she puts in great effort and time to start a new piece. In her free time, she enjoys playing volleyball, listening to throwback music, and reading murder mysteries.

Lulu Diffenbaugh (10): Lulu is a current sophomore who is thrilled to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. She loves to read mysteries, journal about her day, and edit her friends’ papers. At Pinewood, she loves to participate in visual arts through her art classes and Pinewood’s school newspaper, The Perennial. In her free time, she loves to hang out with her cat and ride her bike.

Magnolia Lemmon (10): Magnolia is a tenth grader who loves to eat cookies and hang out with her dog. She is so grateful to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. At school she is involved with the performing arts, and can be heard singing in the halls or dancing to and from her classes.

Nicole Maneatis (10): Nicole is a sophomore who is grateful to be in Tabula Rasa for a second year. She owns way too many geckos, and if they could talk they would say she is often out of the house while running track, playing tennis, or staring up at the sky, thousands of light years away, wishing she was there. She additionally enjoys painting, researching astronomy, skiing, reading, and designing in her free time.

Prithi Srinivasan (10): Prithi, a sophomore, is very excited to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. She loves reading, writing, crafting extremely long sentences, and being placed on some kind of watchlist due to the concerning topics she researches when she writes (see: Types of Knives). She is currently a copy editor for The Perennial and will be the Opinion editor next year. When she is not hovering over her laptop into the late hours of the night, she can be found reading ingredient labels on every food product that enters her house to check whether it is vegan or not.

Sam Kavich (11): Sam is a junior who is overjoyed and honored to have a story in this year’s Tabula Rasa. Creative writing is her biggest passion; she also loves reading (especially fantasy and sci-fi), video editing for The Perennial, history and theatre. Recently, she’s also enjoyed learning how to play the ukelele and knit. She writes because writing allows her to create her own worlds and stories where anything is possible.

Sam King (11): Sam, a junior, is thrilled to be apart of Tabula Rasa this year. This is her first time being published in a literary magazine, and she hopes you all enjoy her piece. Other than writing about her adventures, she loves to film and edit them into videos and post them for the world to see. At Pinewood, Sam is also involved in varsity soccer, ASB, journalism, and theater.

Eva Liu (11): Eva is a junior who is honored to be in Tabula Rasa this year. She looks forward to working as an editor in Tabula Rasa next year and also as the Co-Editor-In-Chief for The Perennial. She is undoubtedly a political junkie, especially when it comes to international relations. In her free time, she can be found writing poetry on her patio in the middle of the night and playing tennis.

Drew Ness (11): Drew is a junior at Pinewood who plays school and club volleyball. She is passionate about art and will be pursuing it in college and beyond.

Alexandra Roesch (11): Alex is a junior this year and excited to be in Tabula Rasa for the first time. When she isn’t creating art, she can be found playing tennis, writing short poems and stories, or performing in the theatre productions at Pinewood. She also enjoys sailing in the summers on the East Coast and lounging on the beach with a good book. She loves to draw because it acts as a type of meditation and helps her clear her mind when life takes over.

Micaela Rodriguez Steube (11): Micaela, a junior, is delighted to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. She has a curious mind that pushes to explore all subjects available to her, her favorite being chemistry. Though she’s a fervent science nerd, Micaela also has a love for writing and literature. Micaela will also be the podcast producer for The Perennial next year. In her spare time, Micaela can be found playing with her dogs or tutoring her younger cousins.

Carter Brady (12): Carter is a senior who is honored to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. He loves running, playing soccer, and watching movies. Carter has been the news section editor for The Perennial for the last three years and will attend Johns Hopkins University to study neuroscience and psychology in the fall.

Megan Chou (12): Megan is a senior who is very excited to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. She is very passionate about golf and will be continuing her golf career at SMU for the next four years.

Katherine Han (12): Katherine is a senior who is excited to be part of Tabula Rasa this year! She loves making videos in her free time, and watching a lot of Netflix—currently she is re-watching Avatar the Last Airbender which is arguably the best childhood TV show in existence. Katherine is also a part of The Perennial as the Media Director and the PAWS club on campus. Katherine is super excited to be studying communications at the University of Southern California next school year. Fight on!

Natasha Kumaraswami (12): Natasha is a senior who is very excited to be a part of Tabula Rasa this year. She is President of Pinewood Service Learning and Editor-in-Chief of Pinewood’s yearbook. When she isn’t planning events or designing pages, you can find her breaking traffic laws, losing at Monopoly with her family, and chasing her teething puppy around the house for her shoes. She plans to study Chemistry at Duke University in the fall. Go Devils!

Courtney Young (12): Courtney is a senior at Pinewood. She expresses her creativity through many mediums such as the visual and performing arts. She got to explore the connections between these two creative outlets through her AP Art sustained investigation where she asked the question “How does an actor get into character?” Courtney would love to continue pursuing art when she goes to UCLA this fall.