It's Right There

Author's Note: This is just saying that you should look behind how a person acts and talks, because what you think they are thinking, is totally different from what they probably are. 

There are lies

Behind that nasty smirk

There are lies

Behind that slick of words

There are lies

Inside their very thoughts

There are lies

In where you figured

There were not

Poof

Author's Note: This poem is just describing what will happen to you if you don't watch your back, and figuring out what people say about you when you aren't looking.

Rabbit runs from its predator

Careful not to make a sound

Accidentally snaps a twig

And it becomes found

It's just a little animal

So little and frail

It's head gets bitten off

Because it left a trail

It didn't watch its back

Evil fox came from behind

Doesn't have eyes in the back of its head

How was he supposed to know

One last glimpse left

One right

And poof

He's gone

The a Team

Author's Note: This conversation is in a coffee shop in London with singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran and a drug user. This was his inspiration for writing the song, The a Team. 

"So tell me, how did it all start?" Ed questioned.

"Well, I don't really know. I mean, I was pretty depressed, and I had nobody to turn to that would care. I got kicked out of my house, so I was sleeping in an alley. I saw some people down the way, you know, using drugs. I thought since my life was miserable already, what else could hurt?" said the junkie. 

As I went to take my seat in the corner of the coffee shop, I overheard some odd things being said by the table that was by the window. At first I was quite puzzled, but then I realized what they were conversing about. I couldn't help myself, but to listen.

"That seems pretty sad. Are you better now?" Ed asked confused. 

"Well, no. You never fully recover back to being the same person you were before," they answered.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This person who seems so innocent and, I just can't- I can't explain it. What if they're violent? What if the side effects aren't gone? It's such a horrible thing.  

"Did you ever notice any side effects of doing the drugs?" Ed queried. 

"I mean, dude. It is crazy when you go mixing it up with killers like that. It's like you're in wonderland, and you can't escape it because it's your reality. Every now and again, a lose my train of thought," the junkie answered back quickly. 

This is absolute madness that I am hearing this right now. It just baffles my mind. I've never heard anyone talk about their problems like this before. I want to say something to them, but in all honesty, it scares me that I'm so close to this person right now.

"I don't know if you mind me asking this, but did you ever take anything out on people because you thought it was them who had the problem?" He asked nervously.

"Yes, after I started using the drugs, I went back to my girlfriend's flat, and, and, I beat her. I couldn't control myself. The drugs had overtaken my body. I know it was my fault, but I feel like it was really the drug--" he claimed.

I ran out of the coffee shop before he got the chance to finish. I can't take this anymore. He does harm people, and I can't take a chance. I know it sounds childish, but you can't take chances.

Life Jackets

Author's Note: This piece was something that I originally started writing in Science class and I wanted to continue it, but I didn't really know how before my conference, so my teacher gave me suggestions in how to finish it.

"Help! Help! I can't---swim---please---help---somebody--I can't---bre---" As you may or may not know, drowning is one of the many dangerous effects of not learning how to swim and choosing not to wear a life jacket. Thousands of people die every day because of it. Most die because they think they don't need a life jacket, and then they go and jump in and quickly figure out that they don't know how to swim and there is no one to help. Life jackets really are a huge help when learning how to swim, or even just in case. Knowing what kinds of places have life jackets, learning how they really work, and learning what the best types of them are, are key in knowing what a life jacket can do for you.

You don't realize that your drowning until it actually happens. That moment when your body goes into panic mode, and life slowly slips away. Life jackets do many things to prevent this from happening. Say you are camping and there is a lake. If you want to go on a canoe, yes you are in a boat, but you could still fall in. Even if you are a good swimmer, they make you wear a life jacket as a precautionary measure. Every place with some type of water sport, makes you wear a life jacket. You don't realize what things different places do to keep us safe using life jackets, even if we think we don't need it.

Buoyancy is the force that pushes an object up when it is surrounded by water. Life jackets work by using different materials that are light enough to keep the life jacket and the person in the life jacket, afloat. It helps the person stay up because the life jacket's weight, plus your weight, is less than the weight of the water itself. It depends too, on how much matter you contain and how much you are displacing the water. If you weigh say, 400 pounds, the life jacket might have a harder time keeping you up because bigger objects have more gravitational pull to the earth because they are larger, plus you take up more space in the water. The lighter the object, the less water it needs to displace to be able to float.

I learned that there are two different, main types of life jackets that are used. One is a foam vest. Foam vests are used because they don't absorb water and if it did, it would then have the same weight as the water around it, therefore, it would sink, and it would bring the person right down with it. Another type is and air-filled vest. Air-filled vests are used because compared to water, air weighs nothing. Water is very heavy, being that the air vest would help the person float. The most commonly used vest is foam, because you don't have to blow it up right away or release a string that will fill it up. It is quick and ready to be used. 

Before doing this research, I never knew that there was science behind something as simple as a life jacket. I just thought that it floated because, well, it floated. I didn't even know why things float or how. Now I know that there are many different ways that life jackets benefit people and sometimes save a life thanks to science. If things as straightforward as a life jacket never would've been invented, there would be many problematic incidents in the water that sometimes could lead to death. Science really makes a huge difference in our lives whether we notice or not. 

Hate List

Author's Note: This is a piece on the analysis of the book Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I have analyzed three key pieces to the story and they are each described throughout the essay. 

An enemy that you see every single day. You pass them in the halls; their overall existence bugs you, and there is absolutely 100% nothing that you can do about it. That is life for Valarie and Nick, and many other kids worldwide. Constantly being bullied is a big problem in many schools, yet most people don't take the measures that Nick went to, to get what he wanted. Shooting them. Shooting the people he hated most; those who would never be gone unless he decided it would be so. Obviously, there were some things that really popped out in the story, other than the shooting itself. The Hate List, drawing, and deciding to talk, are the three key elements that really made the biggest impact in this story. 

Do you ever wish that the people you hate the most would just disappear? So do Nick and Valarie. Creating a list with everyone and everything they have ever hated at one time or another, helping them deal with their feelings. In this book, also known as the "Hate List," they promised each other that it would never go anywhere and nobody would get hurt. It was just a way to make them feel better about themselves, so they weren't down all the time; something to make them feel happier around each other knowing that they each felt the same way. This book is a main symbol in the story because, it would have absolutely no point and there would be nothing to tie the story to. Sure, someone can go and shoot up a school, but there is always a reason behind it. Taking away the Hate List from this book would be like taking away someone's meals for a day and wondering why they are hungry tomorrow.

Drawing is what some people do without thinking. It just comes naturally to them, and makes them happy, just like Valarie. Ever since the shooting, she has been the outcast at school, as usual, and she's been seeing a therapist. The therapist is really trying to help her get her away from her past, and into the present. By doing so, he tells her to draw things how she really sees them.  For instance, say there are people in a lunch line choosing their food. Most people would see that normally, however, she drew it with lions fighting over some meat. Different, huh? Drawing is a main symbol, because she draws things honestly, and how the pictures in her brain are seeing things.

The last thing that everyone should learn how to do is talk. Not just talk for fun and enjoyment, but seriously. Talk about their feelings, and what they're thinking. In this book's case, talk about their suicidal thoughts and actions that they've been doing to harm themselves. Deciding to talk is the last main symbol, because this is how Valarie coped with Nick being dead, and also making new friends, who were thought-to-be enemies before. Her therapist really helped her get through such a rough time of being accused of murder, and wanting to kill people.  

The three key elements that stood out the most throughout the entire story were the Hate List, drawing, and deciding to talk. Though Nick seemed like he would be a bad person, underneath, he wasn't. People did lots of things to tick him off, and he didn't think that people should be thought of as "lower" than others just of because of what they wore or if they were quiet or not. One thing that Nick would always say to Valarie was, "You know, sometimes we get to be the winners." And that right there, is a very true statement.

What's Really There?

Author's Note: This is just a piece to remind you to take a second look at people before you make an judgement about them.

You may think she's a princess

You may think she's a brat

Big house

Fancy clothes

Lots of friends

You may think she has it all

But really

She has nothing

It's all just a show

Because it's her time away from

Her sadness at home

It's Gone

Author's Note:This was originally a song that I wrote for fun one time, and decided since I wasn't going to do anything with the song, I might as well use it for my poetry.

You gave me your heart

And you took it away

The dreams I'd had about us

We're bound to be crushed

Someday

In some way

I want to forget you

The laughs we had 

Were worthwhile at times

Though the tears I cried afterwards

Made me feel like

You didn't love me

Anymore

It was nice to have you for the time

But obviously

You didn't want me

Take your memories 

I don't need them

Because I don't want to remember

What could've been

You Wouldn't Believe It If I Told You

Author's Note: Watch what you say to people because when you get them angry, that's when the truth comes out, and that is what they show when they really are upset.

The person wants to scream

They can't

It's hidden behind what they're willing to say in public

You should hear what they tell their family

They take their anger out

On a wall

Slowly, slowly

They punch

Then faster

Blood drips down their knuckles

They're broken

They're shattered

And the people will never know

Because they don't show it

Nobody cares

They want to feel like they have something

But they don't

Because nobody could ever think

That they would be the person 

To do such a thing 

Yet they would

Because they're ruined

What You Can't See

Author's Note: In this, I just was trying to use word choice and a message somewhere I guess. 

As there is perception

There is depth

The things you can’t see

That go unnoticed

For the longest time

Until they’ve vanished

Forever and ever

Without leaving

A simple trace

As if they were never there

To begin with

How do you not notice?

Author's Note: This is just a little message to everyone out there who thinks they are better than everyone.

If people knew what each other thought about one another, we would all be hated. Honestly, everybody is just 'friends' with each other so they aren't alone; the awkward one. Nobody likes to be the outcast, because they think it's better to be popular than to be left out. What even is popular anyways? The definition of popular in the dictionary is "well known." Just because people are well known, doesn't mean that they are liked by everyone. In all conscience, nobody likes those people who are otherwise known as, popular. You don't have 'haters'. People just don't like people like you. Get over yourself.