Flowers Dancing in the Shadows
By Avantika
All over the gorgeous land of Hawaii, the smell of sea breeze and wet sand spread smiles. Kahlula was dancing the traditional Hula dance on the moist sand. Calanthe was up a palm tree, scavenging for coconuts when she heard the singing. She peeked through the leaves to find a beautiful girl. Immediately, the second she saw her, Calanthe fell in love with her dancing.
“That must be Kahula. Everybody gives her kudos for her dancing; now I see why.” Then she thought, “If I can learn to dance, it would be a miracle since I have two left feet.” Excited by the idea, she dropped the coconut at home and came back as quickly as she could only to see footprints that had partially been washed away by the waves and a couple flowers that had fallen from Kahula’s lei. Calanthe picked up the flowers and held them in her hands, with a sorrowful look in her eyes. Calanthe walked home picking the petals off of the flowers, releasing them in the wind, one by one. She reached home and made a decision.
“I’ll go through my parents old, music records; I might find some music to dance to.” Calanthe said while her sister looked at her in disbelief, probably thinking “Is it possible for her to dance?” Calanthe searched, and found a suitable record.
Calanthe started the record, and she found that every step she did, she would end up on her face or her back she couldn’t stay up on her feet. She wasn’t surprised, but she was upset that she couldn’t even do one thing right. Calanthe, sore from falling so many times, decided it was time to go to bed. Hunting for her bed in the room, which was dark since the blinds and curtains were closed, Calanthe stumbled upon her lamp and fell one more time. She analyzed her clock hanging in her bedroom, and the time was only 5:42.
“How is that...?” Calanthe was interrupted by a loud blare of noise that crashed like thunder. “Mom’s probably attempting to cook again, why can’t she just order pizza or something? Anyway, I’m going to have to skip eating, *yawn*, way too tired.” With no further delay, she sprung into bed and immediately plunged into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, Aphrodite was enjoying the sun on the beach when she heard Calanthe’s mom while she was trying to cook. Surprised by the loud boom, she went to go find the ruckus. Since she was a goddess, she figured she could help whatever misadventure was occurring. The goddess found herself on Calanthe’s front porch. She saw that the door was unlocked, and she crept into the house without making a sound. The room closest to the front door was the family room, then Calanthe’s bedroom. She peaked in only to find a disastrous mess and a girl fast asleep.
Aphrodite had seen her earlier, yet she didn’t know when or where she saw her. She hung around for a while cleaning Calanthe’s room when suddenly Calanthe woke up from being hungry.
“Who? Why? What are you doing in my room!?” She screeched.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, but I heard a lot of noise coming from your house, and then I came in, and...”
“First tell me your name,” Calanthe said still startled.
“I’m Aphrodite, and I don’t want to hurt you or anybody. I can give you a wonderful gift if you’d like, since I did technically break into your house.” The goddess, frightened by the girl’s sudden awakening, spoke quickly.
Calanthe thought for a long time, contemplating what she wanted. Finally, after thinking deeply, she peeped, “Can you gift me some beauty, like something I can use to make me dance beautifully, not my appearance, oh, and a delicious sandwich would be great.”
Aphrodite nodded, and she whipped up a box that shined like an aurora borealis. She didn’t think the ever so beautiful Aphrodite could actually do it, even with her being the goddess of beauty. Making her dance would be a miracle. Gorgeous Aphrodite explained to young Calanthe that it must be used within 24 hours. By that time, it was 6:15 P.M. and, that meant that Calanthe must use it by sunset the next day. Soon after the gift was given, Aphrodite disappeared in thin air. Calanthe was content, and went to sleep, after eating her sandwich of course. “Tastes so much more like a sandwich then mom’s burnt, tasting sandwiches.
The next morning, Calanthe popped right out of bed, she brushed her teeth with one swipe, and grabbed the box, and dashed right out of the front door. She passed people, and she made it to the beach, she saw that Kahula wasn’t there. She asked many people if they had seen her, but Calanthe found one person who knew where she was, a total stranger to her.
“Kahula moved to the Big Apple yesterday night, did you know her?” the stranger said.
Calanthe’s face changed from a smile into a frown in a second, “Well not really, I saw her last night dancing on the beach, but now nothing matters, and my chances to have even some talent are lost.”
With that, she walked away, her head swaying lower than ever before. She pulled the box from out of her pocket and just looked at it. Poor, sad girl, she had such high hopes, she thought that Kahula could teach her to dance the steps, and she could use the box to give her elegance, but now she felt that everything was impossible. She hobbled her way home, somehow making it there without breaking down. All she ever wanted was to dance like Kahula. Well, at least that was all she wanted since she saw her dance. She stared at the box again, and thought about what she wanted to do with it.
Calanthe clasped it and decided she could be more than a good dancer, she wanted to be a beauty that could be remembered forever. Calanthe glanced all around the beach from the window of her living room. She stared at the flowers, noticing that each of them was different. No two flowers were the same, and Calanthe figured that no two dancers could be the same too. She knew that she was never going to be exactly like Kahula. The young lady took the beauty then made herself into an elegant flower, the hibiscus; see in tropical paradises up to this day, so that she could be something that would make other smile, just like Kahula had done for her.
The Story of the Baseball Bat
By Fernando Armando Rodriguez Tomales
“Welcome, “said the dictator as he opened the door, and all the people went into the secret bunker. A very secret meeting was taking place. In the bunker there was also a high security vault with the golden ball that was worth $10,000,000,000,000. Ajax, was an Olympus spy trying to steal the ball. But what he didn’t know is that Jim Bo was a German spy looking for the ball as well.
“Will you all please proceed to the meeting area.” said the dictator.
All the people went through the hall. Ajax scanned the hall, looking for ways to get rid of the security cams. So he snuck into the bathroom and used his computer to hack in the security. Suddenly, all the security cams look like there was nothing there. Ajax snuck out to find the vault
“Hmm, where could it be?” he said.
It was a very big bunker though, but Ajax found it minutes later. He used his super-secret Mt. Olympus training to pick the lock and open the vault. He slowly opened the door and took a deep breath, it was the moment of truth. But when he walked in he was surprised to see Jim Bo there with the ball in a bag to take it away.
They both stared each other down for sec, then as soon as Jim Bo moved, so did Ajax. They both reached for their guns but Jim Bo was quicker.
“BANG!!”
Jim shot with precise accuracy Ajax in the hand and he dropped his gun.
“AHHH!!” Ajax screamed in pain
“You were a good, but not good enough.” Jim said with an evil tone.
He raised his gun to shoot Ajax, he thought quickly, Ajax yelled loudly.
“YAAAAA!!”
Jim Bo flinched when pulled the trigger. The bullet flew true but missed and deflected off a metal plate and hit a gas tank. The massive explosion blew them back and they hit a wall. The ball rolled across the floor out of Jim’s hands....
Moments later Jim Bo recovered and limped over to the ball but suddenly out of nowhere Ajax lays him out with a crushing hit. Jim Bo is stunned! Ajax then reached for the ball but Jim Bo was back on his feet and delivered a hit to th
e head.
“Let’s dance!” said Jim Bo as he spit blood out of his mouth.
“With pleasure” Ajax replied with a grin.
They ran at each other and hit with great force, yelling and screaming delivering blows after blows. Ajax though was destroying him, throwing him against a wall delivering devastating body blows. But as soon as he lost focus, Jim Bo hit him so hard he fell down. Jim Bo picked up his gun all bloody and sweaty.
“All of that for nothing, aww, what a shame. But that ball and that money belongs to me.” Jim Bo said with a cocky tone.
“You.... will never get that ball,” Ajax exclaimed while panting.
“Oh really, you really think I won’t get it, huh?” he said in a sarcastic tone.
“Well you can have this!” he yelled as he cocked his gun.
Ajax knew he might die, but he wasn't dead yet, so he took a big wooden plank and sat there Jim Bo aimed his gun and said,
“It was a pleasure meeting you” Jim said quietly, and then he fired.
In that split second, with almost super human strength, Ajax swung the wooden plank and hit the bullet witch went back, and hit Jim Bo right in the chest. He stopped and fell to his knees and then died. Ajax recovered the ball.
“You can have that,” he said.
He went to Olympus with a victory and one of the most exciting heist ever seen in history.
The baseball bat was then created, and people made a game out of it. But they don’t use bullets anymore we use a baseball. The baseball is actually the same shape as the golden ball that Ajax stole. And that’s how that came to be.