Watch Where You're Going - LA Short Story

Darlene Nguyen 8p6

Watch Where You’re Going

“Ms. Elmajian was so hard on me yesterday. If she keeps this up, I swear that I’m going to quit ice skating,” Vanessa complained with her slick, black hair, a beanie that hugged her head, a red scarf that clumsily wrapped around her neck, and boots that were all the way up to her knees as we entered the “Wilson Park”.
“Calm down, Vanessa,” I said with glossy, brown hair, a sparkly burette, a purple cotton scarf that’s let loose around my neck, and black fuzzy boots, “She’s helping us become the best. Besides, if she doesn’t push us this hard, we aren’t going to be ready for the ‘Christmas Show on Ice’.”
“It’s easy for you to say, Demetria,” Anabelle said with light red/orange hair, a pink headband, a green scarf that’s carelessly trapping her neck, and boots that sagging on her feet,“You’re just too good. Every time Ms. Elmajian criticizes me, she always compares me to you.”
“No she doesn’t.” I scoffed as we continued to walk.
Saturday, December 16th was one of those days when Vanessa, Anabelle and I hung out at the park. Strutting down the path, the cool, wind blew through our hair, chilling our faces, but we didn’t care. Two coats and a pair of comfortable boots which covered each of us kept us warm. I felt so warm inside as if there was a ring of warmth surrounding me.
“Hey you!” I heard a boy’s voice behind me.
“Huh?” I turned around and saw a boy waving at me that I recognized in Palos Verdes Intermediate School (PVIS), the school that I went to. I smiled back and as I turned back around, I banged into something really hard with my head. It felt like a hammer just smashed my brain. I blinked my eyes several times but every time I opened my eyes the world was spinning very quickly. I felt something warm dripping down my head and was pretty sure it was blood. And just like that I fell to the floor, feeling paralyzed.
“OH MY GOD! Demetria are you okay?!” asked Vanessa sounding worried.
“Obviously she isn’t! Look at her, she’s bleeding!” exclaimed Anabelle.
“Call 911!” said the guy who distracted me, whom I couldn’t remember the name of.
It all started fading away and seconds later, I blacked out.
“She’s opening her eyes!” I heard a strange voice yell
White walls, white sheets, the beeping sounds, the smell of medicine and a bunch of men in lab coats… Was I in a hospital? How did I get here? I tried to sit up but my head hurt, throwing myself back on the bed.
“Take it easy, Ms. Telecar.”One of the men in white told me and handed me some sort of medicine and a cup of water. “This medicine will make you feel better.”
I complied and took the pill. A few minutes later staying awake, his skin color started turning green and his two eyes became four. That’s when I realized, I was in an alien world. The next day I went to school my friends thought I was acting strange.
“You guys have pretty, green alien faces,” I smiled at Anabelle and Vanessa when I arrived to school after the incident.
“Umm, are you okay, Demetria?” asked Anabelle as she felt my forehead.
"OMG! Your alien hand touched my forehead! Eeeek!”
The school bell rang and everyone rushed into their classes. I walked slowly admiring this alien planet, taking my time to go to class. It felt like I didn’t care about school. I opened the door and walked in calmly as if I was early to class. The classroom was awesome. It was all green and yellow and full of all kinds of high-tech stuff. My classmates were even more fascinating. Their skin color and number of eyes varied. One guy had red skin (I think he was a Martian) and five eyes. How much more can you see with three additional eyes? I wondered.
“Where have you been, Ms. Telecar?” Ms. Blackstad asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Looking at how many green things you guys have in your alien world,” I said simply.
“STOP joking around and get to your seat!”
“What if I don’t want to? I want to explore your planet and see how many odd shaped antennas you have, like you! It looks like you have three” I giggled.
“Excuse me?!”
“Yeah! They’re so long and pointy, but I love them anyway. Your forearms are like all buffed. Do you work out? And oooh, your tail! Did you trim the hair off of it?” Everyone in the classroom started to giggle.
“NO! I don’t have a tail or antennas! What is going on with you, Demetria?!”
“Well, I’m living in an alien universe, duh!”
“That’s it! I’m done with your jokes. To the principal’s office, NOW!”
“Yay, I can’t wait! I bet principles look the funniest.” How would the principle’s room look like? I wondered as I skipped away.
A few minutes after the principle, who, by the way was definitely from Venus, let me into his office, my parents came in and had a little talk with the principal. My parents took me home and I stayed at home for the rest of the week, until it was time to go back to the hospital. When we went to our room, the doctor gave me sleeping drugs.
After a while, I woke up once again squinting at the bright light. My mom explained me that I got brain surgery and fixed the bleeding from my head. I was so glad and I couldn’t wait to get back to school! I asked her what happened to the aliens that I met and my mom said that it was all my imagination. She also advised me to apologize to Ms. Blackstad.
“Of course I’m going to go and apologize to her.” I said as if it was obvious, “What about ice skating?”
“You’ll have to take a small break and you probably won’t be able to perform in ‘Christmas Show on Ice’.”
“Why?! I practiced really hard with the girls. I was thinking about going solo!”
“Maybe next year, sweetheart,” she kissed me on my forehead, “Think of it as a life long lesson, kind of. Always watch where you’re going.”

A Retrieved Reformation - Vocabulary

1) People who are usually addicted to drugs can't stop to rehabilitate. 
2) Criminals who want to get clemency because they're tired of being the bad guys, act better to get respect from the community.
3) I had an exclusive sneek peak at the new movie of "The Chronicles of Narnia".
4) Anguished, she dumped her boyfriend for cheating on her.

"A Retrieved Reformation" - Writing Focus

I had a friend named Linh. She's not your typical girl walking around school. First of all she's tall, and her hair is super long with highlights, making her look cool with some dyed hair (not that it's a bad thing, of course). It's also hilarious about how she runs! I'm not insulting her, but when she runs it's like her leg can't really bend like an average person's so her legs kind of go to the side. But who knows if she run like a normal person, I just never saw her do it. Also, whenever someone tells a joke that's funny, she mixes it up herself and makes it not make sense, making it even more hysterical. Linh can really cheer people up and I miss her since she's changed schools to ACG.

Homework: Interviewing p.177

Darlene (Me): Where were your parents born?
Onica: Phillipines
Vivi: Vietnam
Lucky: Vietnam

Me: What are your favorite foods?
Onica: caesar salad, steak, frozen yogurt, and burgers
Vivi: sushi
Lucky: vietnamese food, pho, and fast food

Me: What do you most enjoy doing?
Onica: chilling with friends and family; and for myself, go out of town or out of the country
Vivi: writing
Lucky: talking and telling jokes


Me: What is most important to you in life?
Onica: everyone is, but mostly friends and family
Vivi: my daddy
Lucky: family


Well yes, I have some common grounds with each question and each interviewee.

"Hamadi" Vocabulary

1) Today Mr. Patrick kept talking on and on about writing a narrative essay so I thought listening to him was very tedious :)
2) I want to see how people in real life used to dress back in the archaic times, but no one ever dresses like that anymore.
3) My friend across the room made a vague hand gesture, that made it hard to understand.
4) He was inquiring for information from the internet about The Black Eyed Peas.

Auntie Misery & Monkey's Paw Vocabulary

1) She amiably showed us around the house.
2) He always was very presumptuous when he found out he was going to Harvard.
3) They credulity believed all of the rumors they heard.
4) Auntie Misery felt sympathetic to an old man and he granted her a wish for her hospitality.
5) After the bully beaten him up, he limped back to his friends, looking gnarled.

Lemon Brown Vocabulary

1) My brother was probing through his pile of sheets to look for his homework.
2) Katy Perry made an impromptu appearance on American Idol.
3) The student council meeting was tentatively scheduled next week.
4) She looked around intently as her paretns grew more furious.
5) The black clouds looked ominous, ready to attack the city.