Kids/Teens Book Club discussion
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CONTEST: With an actual prize!
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sounds awesome!! just to clear this up...the story we write has to have the title "The Ring"?
Mod
Good Luck!
We'll see about that, Joel! ;DThough, I think you have a pretty good chance of winning. A few spelling mistakes and punctuation, but I liked it!
The problem with me is that I never finish what i start writing, so trying submit something in this contest is hopeless for me. :|
Okay, I take that back... I'm working on a story right now. yay!
Yay! Go Diana! ;D I'm still working on mine.
dang, i forgot... i WILL work on it tommorrow, when I should have plenty of free time, since its my birthday :)
that would be the start of a great book, are you going to right more :3
You should! :)Happy (belated) birthday by the way!!!!
wow that was fantastic!!! great job i really like it elizabeth!
Awesome. I can absolutely see that published, Elizabeth. Love it. :)
Here's mine! Please read the description so you don't get confused.http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2...
Thanks! My sister came up with the idea.
Lydia, what a unique take on the title!
Thanks! Like I told Lexi, my sister came up with it. ;D I was originally going to do something about rings of fire.
http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2... Here is mine, although it's not even close to being done, I am still working on it. It is just the beginning of it.
I like it so far. It's got me hooked. ;D Keep writing!
here's mine!http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2...
"I just have a lot of messed up stuff going on in my life right now. I don't want to talk about it," I told my best guy bud, Luke. I know he hates it when I shut him out, but in this case I have no choice. I don’t want to tell the ring secrets.
"Look," Luke said, "I give advice to girls all the time. I can help you if you just tell me what's up."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I can deal with this on my own." The hurt expression on his face killed me, even though I tried not to think about it. I had to keep my friends' secrets.
"But you don't have to. I get you, Ellie." He stepped towards me and held my shoulder. "I get that you don't want to bother people with your problems. I get that you think you have to handle everything yourself. I get that -"
I couldn't help it. I snapped. "No, you don't get it!" I screamed at him. He staggered a bit, but I continued mercilessly. "You don't know what's like to accept that your best friend in the world will have cancer when she’s older because her mom has genetic breast cancer. Oh, her parents are getting divorced while her mom is going through chemo. You don't get what it's like when you have a best friend wish she was dead and tried to make that wish a reality nine times. One of those times was last night. She tried right before I was on the phone with her. Have you ever needed to talk someone down from taking a few more pills or cutting one more time, knowing that if you didn't succeed they would seriously hurt themselves? I don't think so. Do you know what it’s like to realize that you can't do anything but be their shoulder to cry on? No. You don’t have a clue about what I go through every day.”
For a moment, Luke seemed unable to respond. Then, his mind came back to life as he calmly said, "Well then, I just don’t get it. I don’t know anything about you or what you are all about. I must not be in love with the real you.”
Then he turned and walked away, leaving me and my rapidly beating heart to ourselves.
While riding my skateboard to my apartment after school, I called Stella and Emma and told them to get a hold of Eva and Lola. We needed to have an emergency meeting. When I walked into my family's apartment, I greeted my parents and ran to my room. My four best friends (who conveniently live in the same building as me) were sitting on the floor of my room, surrounded by paint-splattered walls layered with posters and pictures. Some people might think that my parents would have mentioned the presence of five teenage girls in their apartment. Most people would be surprised by the sight of those girls waiting for them in their room. However, as you probably guessed, I'm not most people. Neither are my friends. So when I walked into my room, I knew they were waiting for me. They left my usual spot open, and I gladly sank into the giant purple owl pillow that marked it. We made a perfect circle, a ring of friendship and strength.
As I revealed what happened with Luke, they each reacted similarly to how I thought they would. Stella tried not to show her concern when I admitted to telling about her parent's divorce and her mom's cancer, Eva listened with her usual compassionate pessimism, Lola attempted (and failed on one occasion) to hold back her opinions, and Emma soaked up each detail in order to make her judgment of the situation.
Dianna always spoke after me, but since she’s in rehab, we shifted our attention to Eva. However, Lola decided that it was her turn to speak, which isn’t unusual for her
"Oh My Gosh!” Lola proclaimed. "He loves you! Sorry though, you kind of screwed up this time. But, knowing you, which I do, I'm sure you will fix it. And it will be ok. And you two will be together. Ok? Ok." I laughed and thanked her, and she smiled back.
After the slight detour, Eva assumed her turn. "You shouldn't rush anything, but I have to agree with Lola. You have to be the one to fix this. It's not going to be the easiest thing you've done, and he's probably really angry, and he might not want to talk to you, and even if he does who knows-"
"Ok ok. Thank you. My turn." Lola interrupted. Then, she paused as her brain to caught up to her mouth. "Actually, it's Stella's turn. Because I've already said what I'm thinking and I have no real advice. Though I do have one thing to say. I can't believe you told him our stuff! So much for the ring secrets. Geez."
Oh, I hoped they would leave that part out, seeing as we have bigger things to worry about. "I feel bad about telling some of our secrets, I really do. But I didn't mean to. It just happened. I'm sorry guys."
Lola dramatically sighed, "I guess it’s ok. But don't do it ever again, ok? Go ahead Stella."
Stella bubbled with excitement, hardly able to maintain her sitting position on the sea-green button pillow. I laughed, knowing this is her favorite subject to talk about. "I knew it I knew it. I knew he loves you! I told you." she exclaimed. It's true, she did tell me. She always tells when it comes to our love lives. "Now here's what you need to do. You need to run to his house and demand to see him. Then, you need to tell him you love him back and convince him to show you his room and, well," She paused and slyly half-smiled to drive her point home, "You know the rest."
She turned to Emma and waited for her to start speaking, but Emma just blankly looked back. Finally, after murmuring something and smiling faintly, she weighed in her opinion. Mostly she agreed with the others, but she said something that sparked my interest, "It's almost like one of your books, Ellie. You just need to figure out how this one's going to end." She flashed a sweet, knowing smile.
We discussed the situation further throughout the night, and for once my companions and I all agreed. The official conclusion was reached quickly, and thankfully it wasn’t like Stella described. My mom cooked us pasta for dinner, which was devoured in a matter of minutes. Since there was nothing more to be done that night, my friends went to their own apartments after we devoured the pasta my mom cooked and promised to meet in the lobby before school.
The next day, I set my simple plan into action. We knew that there wasn't much to be done, so there was no use in making a drama movie-worthy scheme, although it would have been fun. Everyone (except I) treated Luke normally. They talked, hung out at lunch, and complained about teachers and the preppy rich kids that make up most of our school. I, on the other hand, managed to wait until after school to come into contact with him. There was no point in having awkward conversations that consciously avoided our situation. In the morning, I met with a teacher to discuss a test, and during lunch I worked on my English essay. After school, I walked over to him and told him that I really wanted to talk to him.
"What is it?" Luke asked me. He looked at me with an intensity I’d never seen before. I guess he figured he had nothing to lose.
I looked into his electric blue eyes and felt a shiver run up and down my spine. In order to prevent babbling too much, I took a deep breath before speaking. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I blew up at you yesterday. I didn't mean it. You really care about me, I know that, and I've never thought otherwise. It's not your fault that I don’t always want to talk about what's on my mind. My friends mean so much to me and we have a promise to not tell each others' secrets. And usually, we don't. Being the one to break that promise was horrible, but they like you, so it could have been worse. But I can't do it ever again."
He closed the space between us, causing me to stop mid-rant. "I respect that, but, you're going to have to talk to your friends about that. If we’re going to go out, we’re going to get used to telling each other everything about each other, our friends, and our lives.”
Did I hear him right? Did he say go out? "What?" I barely managed to croak. Luke only smiled, so I forced myself to ask, "Is this your strange way of asking me out?”
"Yeah, it is. Am I going to get an answer?"
For his answer, I rose to the tips of my toes and kissed him. They were the most glorious seconds of my high school life. When we finished, Luke wore a look of pure happiness on his face. "Is that a good enough answer for you?" I asked him, even though I already knew what he would say.
As I rode home, my skateboard seemed to be floating on a cloud. There was no need for me to call my friends, because we had already agreed during one of our Skype conversations in class to meet after school. Allowing my mind to wander, I wondered why I would bother writing all of this down for the whole world to read. It's not about me and my normal teenage girl life. It's not even really about my amazing new boyfriend, Luke either. It's about my best friends, my unbreakable ring. This definitely isn't the direst situation we have navigated through together; however it is another example of our endless friendship. And if we can’t talk about the little stuff, how are we supposed to help each other when the Earth crumbles under our feet?
dang... i had a good idea... oh well too late... great stuff guys!!
Mod
yay democracy!
Winner receives a signed copy of Minder by Kate Kaynak with free shipping.
Details in the message sent to you 48 hours ago.
ENDS AUGUST 23