Katie

Katie

By: Rio

                Hi, I’m Katie! I’m 14 and I’m in the 8^th grade. I have red hair and blue eyes with a dust of freckles on my face. When I was younger, I looked just like my mother, Tasha (Or Black Widow). She’s Russian and very pretty. I started to “speak” Russian when I was 3 years old and I can fluently speak it. I started learning how to write it when I was 3 also. I’m very naturally curious and always looking for an adventure or to go exploring. I love to be outdoors and I don’t like being inside for very long. I love to talk with my friends and just hang out. I love challenges. I love to do crossword puzzles and anything that challenges my mind. I’m very easy going and love to do almost anything. My favorite thing is to work on hair (Cutting, coloring, styling, etc.). My favorite subject(s) in school are science and art. My favorite song is “Treason” by Leps and Victoria Elijah. It’s in Russian and I have it playing almost all the time on my iPod. When I grow up, I don’t know what I want to be.

                My sister, Krissy (we’re 3 years apart. I’m 14 and she’s 16) is studying abroad in Japan. We share a room, we have since we were little kids. The color of our room is soft pastel colors with posters and pictures of friends and family. We each have our “side”. Krissy’s side has her bed, desk, dresser, small flat screen, stereo, posters and pictures of friends and family. Her covers have red and gold on them, whereas in mine have purple and a hint of pink. Krissy and I don’t really get into fights—like most siblings would if they had to share a room with their younger sibling. We have a younger brother, CJ (Clint Junior) and two older siblings, Anya lives in Spain and Nik lives in Miami. Our dad told us that Anya used to be obsessed with archery just like Krissy, but she never stuck with it. Krissy, on the other hand, is very good at archery (she’s been doing it since she was 2). She’s almost as good as our dad—who’s a SHIELD agent (along with our mom, Tasha). His name is ‘Hawkeye’. They always say that they “See things better from a distance.”

                Anyway, what about me? I never had an interest in archery. I did take martial arts lessons, though. I’m still taking them. My favorite past time is doing mental challenges. I love to do Sudoku puzzles. I’m good at math, but I’m not great. I’m also good with money. All three of us kids have a bank account. Krissy has a debit card and seeing as I’m still 14; I just carry cash (or what I need in terms of cash). Sometimes, when I’m working on my school work and if I’m in a hurry, it’s actually faster for me to write in Russian than it is in English. When I do that, my teachers always laugh and tell me just write the answer in English and I still get full credit (unless I get it wrong or something). That’s another thing: I study hard. If I don’t understand something, then I ask for help. The good thing about playing Russian music in mine and Krissy’s room is that she understands Russian also. I’m very close to my sister and our ‘mama’. (‘Mama’ is Tasha and ‘Mom’ is Piper)

                I love to play the piano. Sometimes if I’m stressed or having a bad day, you’ll find me playing something on it; it’s my way of releasing whatever has been going on that day. I love to write poetry also. Sometimes I write it in both English and Russian. Anyway, like I said before, I love to hang out with my friends. We’d hang out at the mall or at their houses. We’re all ‘nerds’ in our own way. I’m the star of the swim team and I love to play basketball and soccer.

                It’s too quiet without Krissy here. I miss her. Our room feels…empty without her in it. Anyway, It’s Friday night (no school on Monday thanks to MLK Jr. Day). I love sleeping in. But then again, who doesn’t? Anyway, I’ll write more tomorrow. I’m tired. Night! 

Sam

Sam,
       I'm not sorry about what we went through back then. It strengthened what we have, Darlin'. I'm glad we made it through the detox, as painful as it was for both of us. I trust you because you've learned from what happened... From the pain...
       That last time... Was pure hell... I had to practically beg Vince for time to come home to you... And he made it damn hard. But it did strengthen the bond.
       I'm glad it's in the past, too. And those times you relapsed... We both hated it.
       I love you too. And I will always stay with you. You're my heart, darlin', and you always will be.

Love always and forever,

Mark

Mark

I’m sorry I was so fucked up back then… Hurting you the way I did… Stealing, lying… cheating… You even took time off the road to make sure I stayed alive… Detoxing was the worst part… All that pain… I regret hurting you the way I did… Stealing from you… I’m surprised that you trust me… I didn’t care about my life or how I hurt anybody else…

I love you… I think our bond got stronger when I finally begged for help… That last time I detoxed… You were overseas and Glenn called you… You could hear me screaming and begging in the background… Sobbing in pain… You couldn’t get too me…

But that’s in the past now… I’m glad it is… Sure, I relapsed a few times…

Anyway, I just thought that I would tell you that I love you… We haven’t been arguing as often as we used too… Been staying with me…

I love you, Deadman.

Love,

Sam

Sam,
       I'm glad you like the stupid shit I did. At least someone outside of my sister did.
       Til we meet again, Sam.

Shan

Shan

Shannon,

                You know, I always did love the…quirky things that you did. How you’d do anything to make me laugh or sticking carrots up your nose on that dare from Jeff. I love seeing you in your tattoo shop, doing what you love to do. I’m sorry that we could never work out… Ana’s a very beautiful young women and she has two beautiful daughters—our grandchildren… I loved you as the Prince of Punk, I loved you as Shannon Moore, and I will always love you as just your crazy ass self.

                This isn’t goodbye. It’s just… until we see each other again.

Love,

Sam

Mark

I'm sorry, Mark... While you were away, I gave Kimber up for adoption...

Sam

Thena

Athena

By: Samwise

            Hi! My name’s Athena, though most people call me ‘Thena. Most kids hate the name their parents give them, but I love mine. I’m obviously named after the Greek Goddess. She’s the Goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Which is totally cool (Yes, I had to Google it. Shut up!). I have short brown hair and bluish/green eyes and I have ADHD. Which stands for Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder; against popular belief, we can be in a normal classroom. I like to fidget and keeping my hands busy. My parents put me on Ritalin and I love to draw. I get so absorbed in my art—the only thing (besides reading/writing) to keep me still.

            I’m far from being popular and I’ll be a freshmen at _____________. Where seniors rule, jocks are plenty, and nobody cares about you; high school is all about image and the “next big thing”. Personally, I don’t really care—I just hope I don’t get beaten up or thrown into a garbage. Tomorrow is the first day of high school; I wonder what it’ll be like. Well, on the flip side, my mom is pregnant again. I’m hoping for a girl; I told my dad I liked the name Artemis—another Greek Goddess and sister to Athena! I glanced over at my desk to find an empty notebook laying on the top. Reaching over, I snagged it and a pen. I opened to a new page and began to write.

December 20^th

          Well, we still don’t know what gender you are, but I guess that’s alright. I’m your older sister, Athena. This journal (NOT A DIARY!) is for your eyes only, understand? For now, you’re still a little…foreign thing inside our mom’s belly. She’s really pretty and our dad is pretty handsome. He’s a farmer and owns several five star restaurants across the States. I should probably mention that our mom isn’t from earth. She’s from a place called Asgard. But that’s another story for another time.

            With me being on Winter break (They couldn’t say Christmas because it might offend people’s religious beliefs), I’ll have a lot more time on my hands. Mom is becoming a better cook every day! I get good grades—I just kind of suck at taking tests, y’know? Maybe I want to be an editor when I grow up…or maybe an artist. I don’t think I’ll be starving… (Ha-ha…Get it? Starving artist?) Soon enough, I fell asleep.

            I awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes. The first day of high school. I was excited, yet terrified. After showering and dressing, I made my way downstairs to find my mom sitting at the island, flipping through a magazine. My dad was at the table, drinking his coffee and flipping through the paper.

            “Want some breakfast?” she asked as I nodded. Mom always made chocolate chip pancakes and bacon on the first day of school. I sat at the table and slowly ate my breakfast.

I must warn you, smelly. Even though the pancakes are good, you have to be careful of those chocolate chips. They’re hot as heck and you could burn your lip off!

After I had my breakfast, I made my way to the bus stop. I was the first one there; I should have brought a book or something—but then that would have been a bad idea because then I would’ve been painted as a nerd. A few minutes later, a few other freshmen started to show up—kids I recognized from middle school.

“’Thena!” A voice called out as I looked over. Oh no. It’s Alaska. Of course, that’s not his real name. His real name is Ernie Backlaw. Everybody calls him Alaska because that’s where he moved from. He likes to talk on and on and on and on! Nobody likes him because he can get really annoying really fast.

“Are you nervous? I’m not nervous…Well, I am a little nervous. It’s a new year! High school, can you believe it? I can’t believe it!” And on he rambled.

The bus pulled up and I realized that it’ll be full of upperclassmen. As I got on, I made the mistake of sitting in the front. The jocks came by and swatted me over the head—granted it was lightly (Surprisingly). I pulled out my notebook;

Let me tell you a few things about the bus, you foreign object. Here’s my tidbit: The bus has three sections: Front, middle, and back. The back is for the popular kids. The middle is for the nerds/geeks/losers, and the front is for the quiet/special needs/all the seats are taken and nobody wants to share kids. I usually get smacked in the head every morning from popular football star Ryan Johnson. Let me tell you a few things about Ryan: First off, he’s the star quarter back for the football team.  Second of all, he’s a grade above me—meaning he’s in 10^th grade. Third, his sister is on the cheerleading squad. Her name is Allison. She’s in the same grade as I am. Fourth, he’s really cute. Looks can be deceiving, Artemis. Remember that!

By the time I finished writing, we pulled up to the school. Everybody rushed off the bus and it smelt like…something not very pleasant. This school was huge! Of course, homeroom had to be on the far side of the school. Lockers were lined up in the hall and I found mine. Making my way to homeroom, I found out my English teacher is my homeroom teacher. That could be cool. I was the first one to homeroom. He looked up and smiled.

“What’s your name?” He asked

“Calaway, Athena”

“Athena? Hm… Greek Goddess. Very creative” He stated, marking me as here

“My parents thought so too”

When I took a seat in the back of the room, I took out my schedule to look and see what classes I have:

1^st: Honors English –Mr. Frank

2^nd: Algebra II – Mrs. Thompson

3^rd: Pre-AP Biology—Mr. Redd

4^th: Lunch

5^th: Pre-AP Spanish—Mrs. Lopez

6^th: American History—Mr. French

7^th: Gym –Mr. Snow

8^th: Drawing I—Mrs. Buttons

9^th: Band –Mr. Chord

I put my schedule away as the room filled with incoming freshmen and a few before the bell rang again. Once settled, the teacher sat on the edge of his desk.

            “My name is Mr. Frank. I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the next four years. I also teach Honors English as well as AP European Literature”. Hm. European lit…Now that might be fun.

            After homeroom was over, I stayed where I was because the homeroom was in the English room. How awesome is that?

January 1^st

Congrats! You’re a girl! Oh. Happy New Year! I knew I was right the entire time! Ha-ha. Let me tell you something, Smelly… Life doesn’t get any easier, so enjoy it on the inside while you can! Once you’re out, you have rules to follow… Though, they won’t really apply to you yet since you’re just a smelly, pooping, crying machine. Mom and dad will make sure you don’t vomit your way out of your crib or anything… If you vomit or spit up on me, I’m chucking you out the window or selling you to the circus!

            Break was nice, but now I’m ready to get back to class. You know how I spent my entire break? Playing football, basketball, and baseball; I watched sports on TV and fought with my dad. I stayed with my grandparents too. What I really wanted was to go to Australia. It’ll be nice to go back to school (Did I just say that?). Means I can get away from my parents for a while. I haven’t been eating all that much lately either. I’m not starving myself; I’m not bulimic; I’m not anorexic either. I just… I don’t know. I’m thin and people tell me I’m beautiful. I am beautiful. I have wavy brown hair and beautiful eyes and a smile to match. I know things; I have a bunch of secrets. I can lie (Doesn’t usually help because my dad knows when I’m lying).

            Going back to school means facing Allison and her goons. Which, to a certain extent, I can handle.

Don’t.Trust.ANYBODY! (Well, except for certain members of your family, but even then). The word is full of backstabbing people. You think you can trust somebody, but then you find out that you really can’t. So, just be careful, alright?

            Well, I’m going to bed. See you in the morning!