Category Archives: Middle School Short Stories

Cheesy Problems

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Cheesy Problems

                     By: Cheryl Dean the 3rd

Do you cheese roll? Well hi, I’m Derek, and I’m a cheese roller. On July 15th which is tomorrow I will be going to the Summer Olympics for their first year of cheese rolling. I have been cheese rolling since I was 8. I am now 19 and I live in Albert Lea, Minnesota. I am currently staying at the 2034 Olympian Hotel in Paris. I will be going tomorrow at 7:30 am to get prepared to race at 4:30. My judge (Jill) will then weigh me, measure me, and much more. I’m going to bed at 7:30 to be prepared for the race tomorrow. It is now 7:02 and I’m going to brush my teeth, shower, and go to bed. Goodnight.

The next morning I’m going to training with my instructor (Jackson), and my coach (Owen). I’m at my warm ups but Owen is not here. Even worse, neither is Jackson. I’m starting to worry. (13 minutes go by). I know they stayed in the same hotel room. Maybe I’ll try calling them. Ring ring ring. Owen didn’t answer so I’ll try calling Jackson and if he doesn’t answer we have a problem.

I go to the front desk to talk to them. I found out their room number 304 and I got a room key since I came with them. 

Swoosh 

I go up the elevator to the 3rd floor. I found their room and I opened the door. I walk in to find them still asleep. I wake them up. 

“What are you doing in here Derek” 

I’m waking you up for training? 

“You didn’t get the email?” 

Huh?

 “It’s rescheduled for tomorrow Judge Meredith is sick”

 Ok. 

I leave. 

I guess I will check my emails for more info. Wait, I don’t have an email? Maybe it just didn’t go through. I’m going to try to email her to get more info. Oh! She emailed me back and said that she was confused. I asked her what she was confused about. 

 “I’m confused because we’re still having the race today and I’m not sick,” she said.

I go down the elevator. 

Swoosh. 

I go to room 304, use the room key, and walk in. No one is in there. So I go down to the front desk and ask them if they know anything about them or have seen them. They say

 “yeah they checked out about 30 minutes ago”. 

I am now confused because we were supposed to warm up, and they lied to me about today and told me it was tomorrow. Were they trying to make me miss it? I look out the window at the parking lot. The van was gone. I’m stuck here. No vehicle. 

I start getting hungry. I end up calling an uber. I go to Mcdonalds and there is a fight. I don’t think too much of it. Until I realize it’s my instructor fighting the chef and worker yelling “GIVE ME MY FRIES, MILKSHAKE, AND DR. PEPPER!” 

I leave.

After that I try to get an uber but it will be 35 minutes until I can. So I decided to go on a walk in Paris since I’ve never been here before. The eiffel tower was only a few blocks away. I’m sweating. I’m thirsty. I’m nervous. I don’t think I’m ready. Since my coach and instructor left, it’s just me. I decided to run a few blocks to the eiffel tower. And for extra preparation run to the hotel.

I am dripping sweat. I got ready for the race, including showering again. It is a 3:28 race that starts in one hour. I arrived at 3:34 and now they are weighing me, measuring me, and everything else. They’re are a lot of people. I’m anxious. I’m excited. I have a good feeling about this race. Even though my coach isn’t here to support me I will prove to him I’m fine without him and I’m better than ever.

“Alrighty ladies and gentlemen welcome our first contestant for cheese rolling!” 

They are about to introduce me!

 “6 ‘2’, 154 pound, male Derek Shepard!”

 Omg that’s me! 

Being announced at the olympics has always been my dream! And I am here to chase it. I am also here to chase that rolling cheese!

“And the race starts on 20, 19, 18”

 Oh my gosh I better have stretched well. 

“17, 16, 15, 14” 

It’s getting to me but nothing is stopping me.

 “5, 4” 

It’s the last few seconds! I got this and I’m more ready than ever. 

“ 3, 2, 1, GO!” 

I am running faster than ever.

 “And Derek Shpeard took the lead in 1st place!”

Ok i’m doing good. I’m almost there. I finished! Did I just win? We’re about to find out! Fingers crossed!

“Ok everybody we have our first place championship winner! Great job to…Derek Shepherd!”

Omg I just won 1st place at the olympics! I can’t believe this! Wait, are my coach and instructor in the audience? Why are they here? Well it’s kinda a good thing because I was able to prove I’m better off without them and maybe it’s a good thing they never showed up to practice. I just cannot believe they tried to convince me my big day was cancelled. I dont know whats going on with them but I don’t care because I just won 1st place at the world wide olympics!

After today I finally did some research and I would like you to meet my new instructor Alex, and my new coach Mark. They have really shown me what it looks like when people are really trying to put in their effort and help show me and tell me how I can improve and accomplish my goals.

The Second Chance

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The Second Chance 

By: Bumblebee Homie

“There Elsa goes down the rink in a zigzag motion, ready to score,” the broadcaster said on TV. “It’s only her against the goalie. She hits the puck and in the goal it goes. She scored!” 

My dream is to be on that rink with people watching me from all over the world. I am 14 and live in Churchill, Canada. By the end of this year I hope my dream will come true. 

This week is the big game that could change my life. If we win this game we will then play to be the top team in the country of Canada. The rest of the week I just have practice, but there is one more thing I like to do. I like to meditate. Everyday after practice I go home, sit on my swing, and think about what I want to happen every second of that game. Then I just breathe, getting prepared for the minute I step on that ice.

“Today at practice we will be scrimmaging against other people on our team,” said Coach Bree,“You guys need to hustle. You are as slow as snails.” 

“Coach is being tough on us today,” said my teammate.

“Yeah,” I responded,” but the big game is in two days.”

When I got home I didn’t even do my meditating, that was how tired I was. On top of the scrimmaging, coach Bree made us skate around the rink fifteen times before we could leave because she was saying we were too slow. I really don’t think it was a good idea because we will all be tired and sore before our big game. 

The next day at practice we only did a few warm up things before we meditated  as a whole team. Coach Bree let us out early and told us to all go home and get a lot of rest. I knew the whole team was nervous, the team we were playing was not only good, but physical. 

It was the day of the big game and I was feeling confident. When we got to the rink I could see that I might have been the only one that was confident. When we got on the rink and started warming up, someone from our team skated off the rink and threw up. It didn’t help anyone else on the team feel any better. 

There was one minute until the game started and Coach Bree was talking to us about strategy. 

“Ok everybody, we all know today is going to be tough, and we need to keep our heads in the game,” said Coach Bree,”All we have to do is think of strategy. Just remember your plays and it will be smooth rolling from there.” 

I was ready. All that needed to happen was my team doing their best and shake out any nerves they had. 

“WELCOME everybody to the 2024 Canada’s Best in the Country hockey game! Just a few reminders for everyone, we want to make sure everyone is safe and has good sportsmanship throughout the game,” said the announcer.

My team got on the rink and we all got in position. The ref threw the puck in the air. I played ball from there. 

One of my teammates got hold of the puck first. She went all the way to the goal and missed. Right away, Coach Bree called our first timeout. 

Coach Bree started screaming,“Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork, you guys. I don’t just want one of you going solo down the rink one on five. If we want to win we have to work together, ok.”

“Yes, Coach Bree,” said the team in unison.

We got back on the rink. No one liked that  Coach Bree yelled at us, but we didn’t want to let her down. 

I started with the puck, passed it to one of my teammates, they passed it to another one of my teams, and by then I was right next to the goal. My teammate passed it to me. SCORE! The crowd went wild. 

For the rest of the half, it went back and forth between my team and the other. The score was 5 to 6 with the other  team in the lead. 

At the start of the second half the other team started and missed. It was our turn. One of my teammates started and it went to a few other people before it came to me. I was losing my balance as someone was on my tail. It was like a lion chasing a zebra. I quickly passed it to my teammate near the goal and I really didn’t know what happened next. 

In the mix of it, I ran into the wall and the person behind me ran into me. As the other person was walking away she took my helmet with her as it was stuck on her jersey. She pulled me down and accidentally took my helmet off before I hit the ice. In that second I was unconscious. 

The next thing I remembered was being in the hospital bed listening to Dr. Hiemberry and my mother talking. 

“Elsa has a severe concussion and possible brain bleed,” said Dr. Heimberry. ”We will have to go into surgery within the next few hours if that is alright with you.”

“That’s fine Dr. Heimberry, I will do anything to help my daughter,” my mom responded. 

Later that day I went into surgery so they could help prevent the brain bleed. The only thing I could do about the concussion was taking medications to help it heal. The worst part was I damaged my brain a little. It is the part of my brain that helps tell me how to move. There wasn’t much I could do besides work to build that memory of just simply walking. I was told walking shouldn’t be a problem, but getting back out on the ice is a different story. 

Dr. Heimberry helped me day by day recover and I had a few other surgeries for who knows what. I got up and walked around a few steps at a time with support from a walker. Each day a new family member would come visit me, and I really never felt alone. One month later, I was out of the hospital. 

When we got home for the first few days all I could do was lay down. My mom was way too worried about me and to be honest, I could have been out of the hospital a week or two before I was. The only thing holding me back was the thought of my mother. She told me I had to do 30 consecutive steps by myself before we could leave. Even Dr. Hiemberry told me I was free to go by the third week I was there. 

By the end of the week my mom told me I could watch the tape of the big game.

“Hey Elsa, Coach Bree just sent the footage of the game. Would you like to watch it,” asked my mom. 

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to watch it, but I knew I was going to see myself get hurt. I didn’t even really find out the result of that game. Did we win? Did they even finish the game? 

“Sure,” I said, questioning myself, ”I will watch the game. 

Right as I started watching the game, the doorbell rang. My mom told me I should get it, which surprised me since she really hasn’t let me walk for the last week. I paused the video and got up. I used my walker to get to the door knowing I was rusty. When I opened the door I saw my whole team stand there.

“We missed you!” they all said in unison. 

“Mind if we come to watch the game with you?” stated Coach Bree. 

“Yes, Yes, Yes,”I responded,”I would love it if you do.”

The rest of the afternoon we watched the game and hung out. There was one odd moment. It was near the part that I got hurt. While it happened we all grabbed hands and prayed like you do at the dinner table. Then it got even weirder.

“You know we will miss you on the ice,” said someone on my team.

“Yeah,” said everyone else at different times.

It was silent. Did anyone believe I could play hockey again? I did up until that moment. I started to realize that playing hockey again might not be possible for me. I didn’t want it to end that way. 

“Does no one believe I will be able to play hockey again?” I asked.

The room was once again silent.

Coach Bree finally responds,”We all wish you could play hockey again, but your mom told us your doctor said you would barely be able to run for a while let alone skate for the next few years. By then you will probably just give up on hockey.”

“I don’t want to give up on hockey, and I never will,” I said as I ran to my room as fast as I could, which was not really fast at all. 

I spent the rest of the night in my room. I really didn’t want to give up on hockey and I was determined to get back out on the ice. 

For the next three months I walked a little bit more everyday to the point where I was at a jogging pace. My mom was worried I would get hurt, but she believed me. She knew what I wanted to accomplish. 

Once I got up to a slow running pace which was another three months later, I started on the ice. I was basically back on day one. I went from using the walker for a month, to falling left and right, to acting like a really bad figure skater. It wasn’t until about a year after the accident that I got a hockey stick back in my hand. I knew if I wanted to reach this point it was going to take awhile, but it was starting to get hard. 

There were times that I just wanted to quit and times that I just wanted to be able to play hockey again. One week I just couldn’t do it anymore. I spend 80% of my time in my room and the rest in the kitchen or bathroom. Then I finally got my confidence up and got back on the ice once again. 

Once I was back to being a good skater I started my hockey journey. For weeks I practiced on my skills until I was an ok hockey player. I would have kept practicing for weeks, but I found out that they were having a rematch of the game I got hurt in. 

“I have been watching you on the ice lately and I think we can all agree that you are ready to play hockey again,” said Coach Bree. ”So we talked to the team that we played in the Best in the Country game. They agreed to a rematch. It won’t mean anything, but we want you to have your second chance.

“When is the game?” I asked. 

Coach Bree respondes,”It is this Friday, three years from the day it all happened.”

I spent hours preparing for that game. I knew I was never going to be as good as I was, but I was doing pretty good considering what happened. I went to practice with the rest of the team, and did my meditation when I got home. It was finally the day we had all been waiting for.

We got right into the game. I wasn’t starting, but Coach Bree just wanted me to get the way of the land or at least that’s what she said. I really just think my mom told her I couldn’t start. 

It was half way into the first half before I went in. It wasn’t hard for me to get right into the game. I was dominating. I passed it to my teammates left and right. Whenever I passed it to them they scored. It was like I was a good luck charm. By the beginning of the second half the score was 5-6. We were in the lead. 

I didn’t start the second half but I did seem like I needed a break. There were five minutes left in the second half, and the score was tied 7-7. I finally went in. 

It went back and forth between teams and there was thirty seconds left, score 9-9. One of my teammates passed it to me. Everyone was behind me. The only thing that was stopping me was the goalie. I went straight into the right, faked left hit in and … SCORE!!!!!! Right before the clock ran out. We won. 

After the game everyone came to celebrate at my house. 

“We are so proud of you Elsa,” said Coach Bree. ”You probably expected this, but we want you to join us for our around the world tournament. After we won the Best in the Country again, we want you to join us this time because you lost out on your chance.”

“Thank you guys!” I say really loudly,”I am so lucky to have you all.” 

We ended up getting second place in the world tournament and had a great time. By the end of the year I was 18. I ended up going to college at the University of Waterloo in Canada. By my second year I was assistant coach for the Waterloo Warriors men’s team. When I graduated I became a hockey coach for young girls that had or were having trouble getting back on their feet, just like I did.  

Five Olympic Rings: One Cross Country Team

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Five Olympic Rings One Cross Country Team     

By: Tater Tot The Smart Goober

Sarah Konalie was a 5 ‘8 , sixteen year old girl who had deep blue eyes, curly brown hair and skin that stayed tan all year around. Sarah was a very talented cross country runner who was ranked number one in  her conference. Sarah Konalia was born in Boston Massachusetts, but at the age of four, she moved to a small town in Iowa. The same year Sarah moved she started running to help take off some of the stress of joining a new school and having to make new friends. Sarah went undefeated last cross country season even going on to win state.

 Just when Sarah thought her season was over she got a call from the Olympic Cross Country team head coach Bertha Johanson. 

“Sarah I am so glad I was able to get a hold of you, you accomplished great last season, and I am excited to inform you that a spot on our Olympic team has opened up, and I would like to personally invite you to come to the meet where we will choose who our next member will be,” said Bertha

 Sarah said, “Thank you so much for this opportunity! This is a dream come true, I can’t wait!”

Bertha Johanson sighed over the phone and then said, “Sarah, I am happy to know you are excited, but you will be going against people that are almost double your age, and have been training for this their whole life. Now that being said, you do have the best time out of all of these people, but you still need to train hard and keep improving.”

“I completely understand, and, if you don’t mind me asking, who has the next best time behind me?” Sarah said.

“That is a great question and it is actually someone that is your age, and you have gone against often this past season,” Bertha said. 

“Oh, do I know them personally?” Sarah asked.

“Umm yeah you actually know them very well. It is your teammate Karen Shoop.” Bertha said.

“Oh, Karen, as in the one that in our last meet I only beat by a couple seconds?” Sarah said in a worried tone.

Betha Johanson then said, “Yes, I thought it would be a great competition, and motivation to challenge the both of you. I was talking to your coach and she said the two of you really pushed each other during the season.”

Sarah was too stunned to speak but then got the words out, “Uhh yeah something like that.”

Coach Bertha then said, “This isn’t a problem for you is it?”

“No, not at all!” Sarah quickly said.

“All right, good, I look forward to seeing you two weeks from now on Saturday.” Bertha Johanson said.

“See you in two weeks,” said sarah. “Oh and thank you so much for this opportunity!”

After the phone call ended Sarah couldn’t help but worry about Karen being at the race. Although Sarah had always beaten Karen, recently Karen had been getting closer and closer to beating Sarah. Even to the point of Sarah only winning by two seconds at their last meet.

That was not the only problem Sarah had with Karen. Although they would always treat each other with respect, in the second grade, Sarah’s boyfriend at the time, Mike who she had been dating since kindergarten, was playing at recess with Karen, and did not come over by Sarah when she walked outside. This was something he did everyday, so when he did not it really hurt Sarah’s feelings. After that day Sarah and Mike broke up and shortly after he started dating Karen. 

Sarah knew she needed to start training immediately to improve her time, as well as give her body some time to heal. The race was only two weeks away which is not a lot of time for her to improve her time as well as give her body the amount of rest it will need to perform at it’s best of abilities. There was no way Sarah was going to let that boyfriend stealing witch get in the way of her making the Olympic team. 

Sarah decided to make a schedule for her training. On Mondays she would run four miles at her race pace, eat a good meal, and then do arms at the gym. On Tuesdays she would do five easy miles, and then go straight to the gym where she will do legs. On Wednesday Sarah would go for a walk, and then go to a yoga class. On Thursday Sarah was going to do integrals, sprint half a mile, walk a fourth a mile, sprint a mile, walk a half mile. Sarah would do that a total of three times. On Friday Sarah is going to go on a seven mile long run, then go to the pool to relax. On Saturday Sarah will go to the gym and do a full body workout followed by yoga afterwards. On Sunday Sarah will clean, and do stuff around the house, but no workout.

Now that Sarah had already created her schedule for training, she started right away wasting no time at all. It was Saturday so that meant Sarah needed to go to the gym and do a full body workout accompanied by some yoga after words.

Sarah got dressed in her workout clothes and headed out the door to the gym. When Sarah arrived she stretched, and proceeded to grab the 20 pound weights to start with arms. Sarah did 10 shoulder presses, rest, 10 bicep curls, rest, for a total of three rounds.  

After arms, Sarah did abs because as a runner it was super important for Sarah to have a strong core. Sarah did 10 crunches, 10 sit ups, rest for 30 seconds, one minute plank, rest for 30 seconds, 15 leg raises, and repeated three times.

All that was left for Sarah to do at the gym was legs. Sarah did 10 squats, 10 left leg split squats, 10 right leg split squats, and repeated it for three rounds.

After the gym Sarah was a little sore so she was excited to go to yoga and stretch. 

When Sarah arrived at yoga she grabbed one of the mats and started stretching before the teacher arrived. When the teacher walked into the dimly lit, lavender-scented yoga room they all started to stretch together. Throughout the yoga class they proceeded to stretch, and hold poses that helped work on flexibility. Sarah loved yoga because it helped her get longer strides, and made her body feel refreshed.

After yoga, Sarah went home and prepared a steak, with potatoes, and five cut up strawberries. While Sarah was going to sit down to eat, she got a call, a very unexpected call, from Karen. Sarah answered the phone with a sweet, welcoming tone, “Hi Karen it has been so long since I have talked to you! How have you been?”

“I am doing great, I actually wanted to call and tell you that I got a call from the Olympic head coach, Bertha Johanson saying that she wants me to go to the Olympic Cross Country team tryouts, and that I have a really good chance of making the team. There is only one person with better times than me. Can you believe it? This is a dream come true!” Karen said with an excited but also arrogant tone.

“Oh, that’s great Karen, I am so happy for you!” Sarah said with excitement, even though in her head she was annoyed with the fact that Karen had called her to brag about her accomplishment.

“Oh I am glad you feel that way because I was actually calling you to ask for your help. I was wondering if you know who the person that has a better time than me could be? Coach Bertha told me that they were my age but I was too scared to ask her who,” Karen said.

Sarah smiled over the phone, barely able to keep in her excitement about how Karen was going to react when Sarah told her that the person with better times is actually her. Sarah took a deep breath and then said, “I actually do know who you are talking about, and I know them very well.”

“Oh really, that’s great Sarah! I am so happy we are able to put our past behind us, and you are willing to help me out.” Karen said excitedly. 

“Yeah no problem at all, and you actually know them too. In fact you are speaking to them over the phone right now.” Sarah said smugly. 

Karen, after being too stunned to speak, finally managed to say, “Oh that is great, I am so happy for you.”

“Yeah I am happy for you too, well I have to let you go and get back to training, and I am sure you have to do the same. So see you in two weeks!” Sarah said

“See you in two weeks.” Karen said still in shock from finding out that Sarah was going to be at the Olympic tryouts too.

After the phone call with Karen, Sarah worked hard for the next two weeks of training. During the two weeks of training there was only one problem Sarah encountered. She kept replaying the race that Karen was so close to beating her over and over in her head. Sarah would replay this moment and then get in her head and not focus on her breathing and strides. 

This problem caused Sarah to only improve her time by five seconds, opposed to the ten seconds she was planning. Although five seconds is a really good improvement in cross country, the ten seconds would have given Sarah more reassurance to be able to beat Karen.

The day of the race quickly occurred. and it was time to see if all of Sarah’s hard work was going to pay off. Before the race started Sarah stretched and then went on a slow one mile run to get her body moving. After the run Sarah stretched again and took her box at the starting line where she did stride outs.

With only one minute till the race would start. Sarah walked to her box and got ready to start. Just as the starting guy was walking to the stand, he shot his fake pistol from to signal the take off of the runners, Sarah looked to her far right and saw Karen Shoop. 

This was not good. Sarah started thinking about the race that they were neck and neck, and could not help feeling that this time it was going to be different. Before Sarah could replay that moment in her head for a second time she got interrupted by the starting guy counting down. 

“On your marks! Get set Go!” The pistol went off and so did the runners. 

Sarah was off to a great start. She was feeling the wind in her face, and she had a great adrenaline rush. Sarah had a pretty decent gap in between her and the group of people behind her, but when she looked back to double check she noticed that there was a person getting closer to her. That person was Karen. 

This time instead of letting Karen get in her head Sarah embraced the freeing feeling she got when she ran and ignored Karen behind her.

Sarah had just finished mile one of the race and her time clocked in at five minutes to be exact. This was good, but for mile two Sarah has to pick up the pace a little and try for a four minutes and fifty five seconds mile.

Sarah focussed on her breathing and strides for mile two. When Sarah finished mile two she was still feeling good and was able to run that mile at a four minute and forty five second mile pace. At the two mile marker Sarah looked behind her to see Karen holding her pace and only a few feet behind.

Sarah knew that for mile three she would have to give it all that she had left. Sarah slowly started picking her pace up and widened the gap between her and Karen. Sarah was feeling good about herself and started to focus on the trail ahead. 

After a minute Sarah looked behind her to see that Karen had gotten really close, maybe five feet behind her. Sarah knew that with only three quarters of a mile to go she would have to widen the gap before the final stretch. Karen was a great sprinter so when it came down to the final stretch between the two, Karen would have been able to sprint right past Sarah to win. 

Sarah picked up her pace even more, and with only a half mile left Karen was still behind her so close that Sarah could hear her breathing.

That’s when Sarah decided to pick up the pace. Sarah started to practically sprint; she was bound and determined to beat Karen. Sarah practically sprinted for a fourth of a mile and that gave a huge gap between her and Karen, there was at least fifteen feet between the two of them. Since Sarah was practically sprinting, she used a lot of her energy, and now she had to hold a good steady fast pace while also leaving energy for when she sprinted at the end.

Sarah was able to see the finish line now. There was still a good ten feet gap between Sarah and Karen, but Sarah knew she had to pick up the pace because when Karen started sprinting that gap would shorten drastically. Sarah took off and now there was only fifteen feet between her and the finish line, but there was also only ten feet between Sarah and Karen.

Even though Sarah was in pain she sprinted as fast as she could and that’s when she heard people cheering. They were cheering for her. Sarah had done it! She had made the Olympic Cross Country team! A dream she had since she was just a little girl. Sarah had run the best race of her life. Her old personal record was 15:55, and she ran a 15:30! 

Sarah was happy she made the Olympic team and not only that, she was happy to have learned a new lesson that she has never forgotten, and used it for the rest of her running career and everyday in her life since. Sarah learned that no one can stop you from reaching your goals except for you, and your own mindset. Not even a boyfriend-snatching, evil, backstabbing, witch!

Brace Yourself

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Brace Yourself

By: Anita Dump

5..4..3..2..1

ring ring

School’s out for the day. I head to my locker and grab my gym bag, then wait for my best friend Hailey. 

“Hey Emily, are you ready for practice? I heard we are doing a lot of running,” said Hailey, “are you sure your ankle is going to be ok?”

“Yeah,” I said, “It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to.”

Right before basketball season, I sprained my ankle during PE doing relay races. It caused me to sit out the first two games, but now I am able to play just having to wear an ankle brace. 

We headed down to the locker room and start getting ready for practice when all the sudden we hear the Weller twins, yelling everyone’s ear off per usual. This time it was about one of them getting new shoes. It finally stops when the coach comes into the locker room and yells at us to hurry up, and of course Hailey and I are the last ones in the locker room.

“Hurry up,  Coach Rachel is going to yell at us for taking so long,” Hailey complained.

“Sorry my brace takes like a million years to put on.”

Finally we get into the gym to warm up, and  Coach gives us a firm look so I just hang my head.  She l calls us in and gives us a lecture about taking too long in the locker room and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me including Coach Rachel. Once she is done lecturing us she tells us what we are doing in practice today.

“Since you guys lost your last game we are going to do conditioning today”Coach Rachel said.

You could just hear the groans throughout all the girls, then the excuses started.

“But we have a game tomorrow, we will play worse because we are soar,” said one of the twins. 

“Well, maybe it will teach you guys not to slack off while playing,” said Coach Rachel, “and as a matter of fact every complaint or excuse I hear is one down and back.”

We started the conditioning and on the first drill with running I hurt my ankle and fell to the floor. 

“Emily, are you ok!” said Hailey in a worried tone.

Then the Coach came over.

“What hurts?” said Coach 

“My ankle,” I said  while trying to stay calm

After that Coach Rachel called my mom and I went home early. On the car ride home my mom told me I should probably sit out on our next game.

“No I can’t sit out, I have already missed two games this season, I can’t miss another one.” 

“I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for the morning. We will see what he says,”my mom said.

After we got back from the doctor, he said I was fine to play. I just had to be careful considering my ankle is weak. I got to school an hour late just in time for second period with Hailey.

“So can you play today?” Hailey said in a nervous voice.

“Yeah, the doctor said I just need to take it easy.”

The rest of the day went by slowly but when the final bell rang I was ready for our game. We got to the locker room and put our uniform on and shoes then I looked in my bag and realized, I forgot my brace! This causes me to get really nervous, so I started to overthink everything. After all this is the first game I am playing, and everyone has already played two. What if I am absolutely terrible and the coach doesn’t even play me, or worse she tries playing me and I make us lose. 

We got on the court and started to warm up and I didn’t miss a single shot which really boosted my confidence. Once warmup was over she sent the starters out on the court. I saw Hailey was starting like usual and it made me kind of sad I wasn’t out there with her this year. The game was going smoothly and half way through the first quarter I was in the game and right off the bat I made a shot and forgot all about that I am not wearing my brace and should take it easy. I decided to guard the biggest girl on the court, she was rough. She pushed me over which caused me to fall then stepped on my ankle.The pain was excruciating.

“Emily, are you ok!?” said the Coach.

I tried to respond but I couldn’t get a word out of my mouth. I saw my mom rush over. She picked me up and took me to the car and drove me to the hospital. At this point I am terrified because I am in urgent care. I am in extreme pain, I am brought to the hospital bed and a doctor comes to the room. 

“By the looks of it, I think that’s broken,” the doctor said, “but we will go ahead and take some x-rays.”

He was right, it is broken and I will be on crutches and have to wear a cast for three weeks. He also said I will probably be out for the whole season because I need to rest, which breaks my heart because this is the first year I can play school basketball. The doctor also mentioned that my injury might lead to later problems down the road and that my ankle might never fully recover.

The three dreaded weeks are finally over and I am going to go back to the doctor to see how I am healing and take off my cast. It has been miserable sitting around while I know all my friends are playing basketball, but Hailey has made sure to tell me everything that happens when I am not there to see it for myself.

“And then number 45 started to get mad and threw the ball at the ref just for calling a foul!” 

Though Hailey made sure I didn’t feel left out, part of me was still really sad. So that is why today is important. It could either be one of the best days of my life or one of the worst. We showed up at the doctor and got in to my appointment.

“Let’s take this cast off and see what we are dealing with.”

How could he say that so calmly this could determine my future.

“Well there is certainly still quite a bit of swelling.” Not what I wanted to hear. “But you should be fine to play basketball in a couple weeks.”

That was great news! I am so excited that I am able to play this season and trust me I will always remember to bring my brace, maybe even a backup.

Cheese Boy Champion

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“Cheese Boy Champion”

By Purple Grape

Tom is the number one cheese roller in the state. He is a five-time Olympian champion and he is only 21 years old. “Tom started when he was 16 and is still going on to win the title of the 6th-time champion. The competition for qualifying for the Olympics is Saturday. He goes on a five-mile run but goes easy for the first 4, then goes hard on the last one to train. The competition starts at 7 am and at 5pm he goes on a 3-mile run at the local park. Then he goes to his local bagel bar and gets a very protein-loaded bagel to ensure he gets the protein for his competition. Then, the first whistle blows and he starts running and then he starts rolling and then all of a sudden he is in the hospital. 

Then the doctors tell him that he has hurt his neck and broken his leg so badly that he needs surgery on his leg. He goes into surgery a day after and it all comes out good. The day after that he just rests and thinks about the day and then realizes that they did not make him sign a consent to say that the damages are against him. Then the next day he calls his lawyer and they talk for a while

“Hi, how is your day going?” Tom Said

“Hi, What can I help you with?” Mr Williams Said

“I was wondering if you were busy next week, I was thinking about entering a case to the courthouse.” said, Tom

“I should be free, just tell me what time,” said Mr Williams.

“ Ok, thanks,” Said Tom

“ No problem”, said Mr. Williams

Tom sued the competition and is going into trial in three days, so he must get to business. He is now on trial and is pleading his case to try and win the case. Two hours later, he is done and has been rewarded $536,000. He was awarded this much because of the hospital bill and then was awarded an extra $500,000.

That year he was awarded this much money and is hoping to go to the Olympics next year. That next day he decided that he was going to run 5 miles every day to get ready to win the Olympics the next year because the Olympics were canceled due to weather conditions. These weather conditions ruined the track and took off the paint that was supposed to mark how far they ran or threw. He goes on a run on a cold Sunday morning and all of a sudden he runs into someone and apparently blacked out and then when he woke up he was in the hospital again. He ran into a tree and did not know where he was so they took him to the hospital.

His qualifying match is only a week away. Now instead of 5 miles, he is running 8 miles everyday to get into the body he wants to race in and the body he feels good in. Now the race is tomorrow and he is running 6 miles today.  He is very tired but is gonna pull through. He is done running and it is 9 am so he is going to a bagel shop to get a protein-filled bagel. He has plans to go out with some friends for lunch at 12. At lunch, he eats wings because he thinks he needs to get his carbs in for the day. Then he goes to bed early because he has to wake up early to make it to the competition. 

The next morning he wakes up at 5 and then goes on a 3-mile run at 5:30 am to prepare for the day ahead of him. He then goes to the bagel shop and gets the same thing he got the previous day. Next, he goes home, changes into his race clothes, and then starts driving to the competition because it starts at 9 and it is 6 and it is an hour and 30-minute drive to the competition. He is ready to go at the start line at 8:45 because he wants one of the front spots. Then the race is over he figures out that he and another person are tied for first.

He gets a call. He answers it, it is the person from the competition.

“Hi, this is Mrs Rodriguez.”

“Hi, this is Tom,”

“We are from the competition that you were in last weekend, we have some news for you,” said Mrs Rodriguez

“So what is this news?,” said Tom

“So you know how there was a tie for first place, Well after watching the tape, we saw that you crossed it first so you won the competition, and are going to the Olympics! ” Said Mrs Rodriguez

“Thank you so much for this great news!”  Said Tom

He goes to the Olympics and competes twice and he won both of the rounds. He is now on the podium and gets  the gold medal and is now a 6-time Olympic gold medalist. 

Making it Pro

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Making it Pro

By Scarful

Hello there you should read my story. It’s about my life. I really recommend it.My name is Tanner Rock. I am a 15 year old male. My dreams are to make it pro in the NBA but I’m not very good at basketball. I recently moved to Nevada with my mom. My dad passed away when I was younger. And I wanted to make him proud and make my dream come true. But my mom is living in rough conditions. We moved so my mom could get a better job. 

On the first day of school I met a really nice kid. His name is Oliver. His dreams were also to make it pro in the NBA. But he was 10x better than me. And he said he could give me some pointers on my ball handling and shooting. After school he gave me his number to text him. I  went to his house later in the day to practice my basketball skills. We practiced for around

2 hours and his mom said,

 “Hey do you wanna stay over and have some dinner?”.

 After I ate I walked home. It wasn’t a very far walk to my house. When I arrived home I told my mom what I had done at Oliver’s house. She was really happy that I made a friend. At my old school I didn’t have that many friends. Oliver and I tried out for the high school team. We both made the team.

After my freshman year I didn’t start that much and I still wasn’t a shooter, I was more of a passer. I only scored around 30 points the whole season. But my sophomore year I scored a lot more points than I did the year before. I was averaging 19.3 points a game. My junior year I was on varsity so I didn’t play a whole bunch but I was still averaging 17.6 points a game. But my friend Oliver was doing very well; he was averaging 25.0 points a game. And in our senior year I was averaging 26.1 points a game. My last game there was a college scout and this was my chance to make a college team. I was playing really well; this game I had 23 points in the 3rd quarter and I finished out the game with 36 points. And the college scout came up to me and we were talking for a while. I made the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Oliver on the other hand he did make a college team, but he’s on the Iowa State Cyclones. We both did pretty well; our freshman year he averaged 22.4 points a game and I averaged 23.2 points a game. And through the rest of my college years I decided to go in the NBA draft.I didn’t get drafted till the 5th round. I got on the Houston Rockets.

And so did my friend Oliver. We finally got reunited. I got the starting center position at 6’8 and my friend Oliver got the starting point guard position. He’s only 6’3 but he can do everything he can drive down hill. He can shoot three pointers really well. And he’s the best at his mid range shots. We were 24 games into the season and we were doing good.

Then Oliver tore his ACL. He was out for the season and the thing that sucks is it was his rookie season. He was on pace to get rookie of the year. He was averaging 22.3 points a game more than any rookie this season. I’m only averaging 19.8 points but I was averaging 6.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The very next game after Oliver got injured he got my first triple double. I had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. When we were getting to the end of the season. I actually got rookie of the year with averaging 23.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 9.0 assists. 

The thing I was the best at was tip offs. I won almost all of my tip offs besides one and I only lost because I slipped when I jumped. After the season me and Oliver would train every day with our private trainer. When the next season arrived, me and Oliver both got 21 points in our first game of the season. 

Week 8 of the season we had to go against the boston celtics they were 7-0 and we were 5-2 not off to a bad start but we didn’t have the best start to the game we were down 10 points at the end of the first quader. The score was 29 to 19. I had 3 of those points with a lay up and 0ne made free throw but Olliver didn’t have any points so he was really discouraged but when we were on the bench I had to give him a little speech so he didn’t feel down on himself. 

After that when we went in halfway through the second i gave it to Oliver on the give and go and he got his first points. After that he got hyped up and got 10 points after and at halftime the score was 56-55 we were up by 1 point. During halftime our coach gave us a pep talk. I only had 7 points so I was kind of mad. But after half i got 14 points in 4 minutes. I had 21 points going into the 4th. We were up by 5 points with 2 minutes left in the game. Then they got a lay up and a three pointer with 20 seconds left and it was 120 to 120 and then they got a layup in 5 seconds so we had 15 seconds to either get a three pointer or a layup and we gave it to Oliver then he gave it to me in the post and i passed it to Oliver in the corner for a three and he MADE IT!!! To win the game. The only team to beat the Boston Celtics was us so far. 

  At the end of the last game of the regular season I had 45 points, the most I’ve ever scored. In the off season I was working out with Oliver and I was doing squats and I tore my quad. But luckily it was right after the season was over. So I had enough time to heal. It’s gonna take around a month for my quad to heal. After the offseason was over I was all healed up and ready for my 3rd season. On the first game of the season I jumped up for a rebound and got injured. After the game I went to the hospital and I found out from the doctor that I won’t be able to play for the rest of the season. And Oliver was having the best season of his career. 48 games into the season he was averaging 25.6 points a game. After the season they ended up 72-12 and won the championship. But gladly I got a ring. 

My 4th season on my first game I didn’t do any good. I was still a little hurt from the previous season. I had 0 points in my first game. And I didn’t get too many in the first 10 games. So the Houston Rockets decided to trade me. They traded me to the pistons. I wasn’t a starter for the Pistons and barely got any playing time. And when I got in the game I wasn’t doing anything. Then the Pistons traded me the next season. Then every team that traded for me would trade me a season later then my last shot to prove I’m still good. The last game of the season I was playing for the Lakers and I got injured again. I knew my career was most likely over. And I got cut a week later and no team wanted to pick me up so I had to retire early. And Oliver went on to win 5 more championship games and be known as the GOAT.  

MMS 7th Grade Short Stories

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I am a teacher at a middle school and I have assigned my class a short story writing assignment. As a way of trying to inspire them, I told them that I would publish their stories on my website when they were finished with them. I knew I had a section on the site for Fan Fiction and I decided that I could easily post these stories under that section.

These stories will not be perfect. These are 7th grade students who do not have a lot of experience in writing stories. They have been introduced to the idea of a plot map and they are working toward using thas as a tool when they write. The story assignment was supposed to have some connection to a sport or a sporting event. I was following the end of unit assignment from the HMH curriculum that we use.

The assignment is due this Friday, January 18th so I will start posting the stories some time that day and perhaps over the weekend.

The students will all have a pseudonym on their stories just as a way to protect their identities. I know my community here is great, but the internet itself can be a negatove place and I want to protect these kids as much as possible.

There will be a variety of writing. I know some are really working well on this while others are wasting time. I am sure the product will show this as well. However, please be kind to the kids. Most of them are working fairly well on their stories.

Thanks to everyone who gives this a chance.