Young Writers Society

-Kerry Cook-

I looked up as a crumpled piece of paper came out of no where and landed on the book before me. My immediate reaction was to glance at Mrs. Kop, our History teacher, checking to see if she had noticed. She hadn’t. She continued reading out of the book, oblivious to the distracted class. I smoothed out the slip and immediately recognized the handwriting. I turned around to look at him, a grin on my face. He winked at me. I returned to the note. He was asking for my confirmation, if I would be going to the Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada.
“Do I really have to?” I scribbled under his sentence. I was playing with him; I had already decided to go. Before I could pass the note to him another landed on the desk.
“Replying with a no or anything vague isn’t an option”, he had written. I rolled my eyes at his words.
“Alright, I’m coming. Obviously”, I jolted down, took a quick look at Mrs. Kop, turned around and tossed the note at him. It hit him on the chest. Fitz chuckled, taking the note. Fitz has always been my best friend. Tall, athletic and grey eyed, he was one of the most adventurous boy I had ever met. Maybe that is why we were so close, we both liked to call ourselves daredevils.
The festival was on twenty first of December, a Friday. As my thoughts wandered to my birthday which would be the day after the festival a splitting headache made me grab the edge of my seat. What is on Friday? I shook my head lightly. The headache had disappeared leaving behind a light throbbing. What was I just thinking? I shook my head again, trying to see through the confused thoughts. I heard the bell ring, signaling the end of class.

Afton Morris

Eight years. What did you say after eight years? Afton didn't know. He was sitting on the roots of a tree, his smart phone sweating in the palm of his hand as his eyes swept over his sister's school. Afton didn't go here. There weren't any girls at the school he went to and definitely not any sisters.

Afton wrote the text out again and this time he didn't delete it.

Hey Lex. We need 2 talk.

It was brief. To the point. It was the way Afton talked when he was stressing out in his head, but he hit the send and waited for the pixelated reply.

OK. After school?

Afton smiled to himself and shook his head. He stood and crossed over to the school gates, striding into the grounds.

No. Now. I'm out front.

Afton stopped and waited for his sister. Without realising he was doing it, he craned his neck, his eyes desperate for the first glimpse of her in eight years. It would have been nice to be able to say he hadn't realised how much he missed her 'til now, but it wouldn't be true. The pain of not seeing Lexi had been weighing on his mind for these eight long years.

Then there she was - there! It could be none other than his twin, her long, auburn hair buffeted in the wind as she looked around herself, neck craning in his direction.

"Lexi." Afton lifted a hand in a slow wave and relief - even happiness - spread over her face as she slowly walked over.

What did you day? After eight years, what did you say?

"Hey, I got your text?" Lexi stopped about an arm's reach away from him and Afton felt tense. He wanted to reach out and pull her into a tight embrace, but instead he said:

"You've got taller." Stating the obvious again. Afton shook his head and smiled, almost shyly. Then he let out a laugh and a confidence seemed to come over him. "Man, Lexi. I can't believe I've left it so long, look, you're going to the carnival, right?"

Scott McAllister

"Duuuude! The world's ending in a week! What should we do? Launch rockets? Fireworks? Go scuba diving? Visit secret bases in China? Bungee jump off a plane? All of the above?" Scott had asked his friend Steve. The two friends were hanging out in Scott's living room, watching the snow descend from the sky. "But you're going to pay for all that, right?" Scott continued on. "'Cause I'm broke."

"Dude, no, I'm broke too," Steve replied. "You forced me to buy like all of Walmart the other day, remember?"

Scott tilted his head as if he was reliving some kind of moment. "Ahh, yeah, I remember that like it was yesterday."

"Because that was yesterday."

"Oh. Right."

The two of them slumped back on the big comfy red couch and continued to stare at the snow delicately falling from the sky. Living in Quebec, snow wasn't an uncommon thing, and it would continue to pile on some more and more. Sometimes, Scott really didn't like it since he couldn't drive his rad bike through it and do super rad tricks because snow is all mushy and white and hard and tall and nope, but he did like to snowball Steve or Murph's face sometimes. Or something he'd make snowmen outside his window so when his dad naps on the couch, boom, the snowman is staring down at him. He even made a whole show of putting red rocks as eyes and then finding glow sticks to circle around it, but that was beside the point.

"I'm bored," Scott tried again. "I thought the world ending was supposed to be super cool."

Steve suddenly perked up as if he suddenly remembered something. "Isn't there a festival or something in a week?"

"A festival?" Scott repeated. "Sounds rad."
"Didn't you go to it last year with me and Murph?"
"I dunno," Scott replied back. "I don't even remember what I ate for breakfast today. Or lunch. Or dinner."
"We had dinner like half an hour ago."
"Wow, my memory must be getting bad then."
Steve laughed. "Yeah, man. You're getting old."
"Dude, I know," Scott said. "I'm getting dementia or alzheimer's or something, and when I turn seventeen, I'll be wrinkly and leathery and, like, dead."

The two friends laughed at each other, continuing to stare at the snow fall from the big open window while the TV blared some kind of infomercial.

"So, this festival thing—what is it, again?" Scott asked.

"It's the Quebec Winter Festival, dude!" Steve said loudly as if he was appalled that his friend really didn't remember. "Remember last year when your dingbat self threw the dart at that guy's face instead of the balloon? Or when you spent like a hundred dollars trying to win a giant banana with dreads?"

"I didn't win it, did I?"

"No. No, you did not."

"Man, what a bummer. I bet I was cryin' buckets or something, 'cause I must have needed to get that banana, like you don't even know." Suddenly Scott jumped up out of the couch. "Man, I'm bored! Wanna go to Murph's?"

And so they two headed out through the biting cold weather.

Lexi Morris

The Quebec Winter Carnival. Lexi had never been before, but its reputation was promising, and the feedback from others who have attended was nearly always positive. Lexi didn’t think of herself as much of a party animal – she tended to feel uncomfortable when being around too many people – and she was prepared to sit this one out. But if Afton’s going…
Afton. Why had he decided to talk to me now? Why had he waited eight whole years to speak to me again? Didn’t he miss me? Didn’t he want to be with his little sister? Didn’t he know how much it hurt to be alone – left behind?
And suddenly the awkward vibe hanging thick in the air between Afton and Lexi was dropped, replaced by anger.
“Let me get something straight, you don’t bother to see me – to contact me in any way – for eight stupid years, and then one day you show up to ask me whether I’m going to a carnival. A carnival! How do you think I feel right now, Afton?” Lexi could hear the volume in her voice, but all the other students were already in second class, leaving the area deserted and free of onlookers. Lexi broke the distance between her and her guilty-looking brother with one stride, giving him a shove backwards with both palms. This action wasn’t as forceful as she’d hoped it would be, and only caused Afton to loose a little balance before placing one foot lightly behind his robust build. Many childhood memories invaded Lexi’s mind from this outcome – when Afton would upset her for some rarity.
The two siblings had seldom fought with each other, as they were so close. However, on the occasional exceptions when frustration or some other negative emotion blinded Lexi, she would try and push him to the ground, tears streaming down her face. Lexi had never succeeded though. Sure, they were only seven minutes apart, but Afton, being the eldest, had always been stronger.
Afton stared at the ground in shame, not meeting Lexi’s eyes. “I tried,” he began in a small voice. “I tried to get to you – tried to find you, but Mum… she kept moving place to place, making me go with her. Every move lead us further and further away from here; first to Birmingham, then to Manchester, we even stayed in Ireland for a couple years before moving back to Britain.” He looked up from his spot on the ground then, his dark, brown eyes searching for a sign of understanding – a sign of forgiveness. “I’m renting a shabby place down the road, not far from where you are. Today’s my first day at this school– ” Afton was cut of as Lexi’s arms were thrown around him in an embrace, almost knocking him over.
“I missed you,” Lexi choked out, a relieved smile washing away her previous fury. She was amazed at how quickly her emotions changed – first hate, then love. Lexi felt Afton’s strong, warm arms wrap around her the way they used to, holding her tight. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had hugged her – had really hugged her. Tears pricked her eyes, and she blinked them away furiously.
“I’m not leaving you again.” Afton stroked the soft, auburn hair on Lexi’s head – which rested against his left collarbone. “I promise.”
The two of them stayed in the same position for what felt like a few minutes, before breaking apart and remembering reality. “I’d better get to class now,” Lexi told her brother, already gravitating towards her next classroom.
“Yeah, okay. I’d better go to the office and enrollee myself. I’ll see you at lunch.” Afton gave Lexi a quick smile. It was only now that Lexi noticed how much her brother had changed, and how much he had stayed the same. He still had the same deep, intelligent eyes – same warm skin and wavy hair. Yet his face had matured quite remarkably, and he stood a lot taller than before. These last two came as no surprise to Lexi though, what surprised her most was the way he held himself. She wasn’t quite sure what it was at first. The right word seemed to tease at the tip of her tongue.
Confidence. That was the word. Something neither of them had possessed when around their abusive father. Lexi was happy for her brother. She was happy that he’d escaped the pain he would have faced if he hadn’t left – the pain that Lexi had gone through. At the same time she felt the injustice; Afton had all the confidence, and she had… well, what did she have?
Lexi started to walk away. She was almost around the corner of the hall when Afton’s voice stopped her in her tracks.
“Hey, Lex?”
Lexi turned her head in his direction with one eyebrow raised. “Yeah?”
“Do you want to go the Winter Carnival or not?”
Lexi though about this for a moment before replying, “Yeah, sure. Why not? I mean, what’s the worst thing that could happen?” A half-smile tugged at one corner of her mouth.
“Great! We’ll go together.”

Meg ran around the track, feet flying in the beating LA sun. She smiled at her best friend Jake as she passed him. He smiled back and started to pick up the pace, challenging Meg to a race of sorts so tat by the time they had finished their laps, both were panting heavily. They walked off to the side to catch their breaths and to talk while the slower people finished up.

"So... You going to.... The Quebec thing?" He panted. Meg nodded her affirmation before taking a quick swallow from her bottle.

"Going to ask her tonight." She said once she had gotten her breathing under controller. The winter festival was a big event down here in sunny California, a place that never had any snow. This would be the first year that she could go without a parent or guardian because one of her senior friends had offered to make the drive.

The rest of the kids had finished up by now and our coaches told us that our meet was next week and that we were all free to go change. I changed as fast as I could in the locker room before heading out.

Home was only a few blocks away, so most days I elected to walk to and from school, and today was no exception. I slung one of my backpack straps haphazardly over my shoulder and started to walk down the street.

As soon as I got home, I dumped my bag in my room and headed over to my mom's room, I didn't even think of it as my parent's room anymore, just my mom's room. She was lounging on the bed watching some new reality TV about people who are preparing for the coming apocalypse. I thought it was ridiculous, but whatever.

"Mom, I was wondering.."

"Fine, whatever, jut leave me alone!" She snapped at me, waving her arm in the direction of the door. I ran out and did my little happy dance in the hall. I ran into my room and grabbed my cell out of my bag.

I can go!!!! Yay!!!!!!!

YES!!!!!!!!! -J

See you in class tomorrow!

Hanorah

I took a deep breath and walked into school,as soon as I got into school I was bombarded by my friends.
'Ermm guys..please don't kill me'I gasped as I pushed my way through them.

'Sorry..but the Quebec winter festival?Didnt you hear?'Rose asked.

'No'I raised my eyebrow.

'It'll be so much fun!!Youve got to come!!'Alex said

'Guys..my mum will probaly say no'i sighed.

'No isn't an answer,you're mum will say yes, we will make her and if she says no we will take you anyway'Carly yelled.

'Thats pretty..'I laughed trying to find the word I was looking for.

'Amazing, right?'Rose said'And if you don't we will kidnap you'

'Thats creepy, but fine if it means that much to you all I'll go'I smiled, and I was viciously hugged by everyone.

'Guys..'I started

They apologised again, and got off.

'Cmon we are late for class'I said and they followed lead to my least favourite place.

Sebastian Quinn

The rain stopped as I just reached my dorm building.

Love you too, Murphey's Law.

The squelching sound of my Chucks turned a few heads and some stares as everyone saw how drenched I was. I avoided eye contact and headed straight for my dorm. My roommate was probably still out. Outside my room, a note had been posted by my band director announcing the Band's winter trip. I took it down and read over the note.

Bandies,

This winter break our Band trip will be to the Quebec Winter Solstice Carnival. The trip is funded by the school since the program has been very successful in the past few years. We will be leaving for the airport on Dec. 17th. Air tickets have already been booked for those who have already signed up for it last month. If you've changed your mind, your fee of $100 is required by the last class period before the semester ends. Those of you going, check your email for more details.

Huh. I almost forgot about the trip we were going to take. Thank God I had signed up for it earlier. i wouldn't have been able to pay the $100 fee. Probably because I had more than likely spent the equivalent at the coffee shop on food and tea. Worth it. I decided and headed inside to check my email on the desktop that my roommate and I bought together to share.

1 New Email

I clicked on it.

Quebec Band Trip

Another click on the title and the email body opened up.

We will all meet at the end of the Music Hall by the Band Room at 5 A.M. SHARP on Dec. 17th. We will do a headcount and roll and then leave campus by 5:10. We will be getting on the 7:03 A.M. flight for Quebec. One large suitcase and small carry-on luggage is allowed. If you want to bring more, you'll have to cover the baggage fees on your own. We'll land at about 8:40, and hopefully check into our hotel at about 9:45. We already have a few activities set up for everyone, including tours, meals, museums, etc. We'll also be going to the Quebec Winter Solstice Carnival on Dec. 21st. We'll be leaving one Dec. 22nd, but fight times haven't been confirmed due to computer problems the airport has been having. So far, everything is planned and ready to go.

Go Band!

I chuckled at my Band director's signature closure at the end of every letter. This will be fun. I decided. I'll be able to get away from school for a little while. Including practicing.

I eyed my snare pad hungrily from across the room.

I'll take it with me to pass the time...

It was my last day of school and the last place I wanted to be was my math class. I sighed and looked at the clock again, barely 20 minutes had gone by since the last time i had checked. I turned back around to my teacher who was droning on and on about some equation or other. I tried to take notes, but soon my thoughts turned back to the trip to Quebec carnival. I had packed everything I needed for the trip, now all I had to do was make it through the rest of the day. I sighed again and blanked out for the rest of class.

When the bell rang, I crammed my stuff into my back and practically ran out the door. I made it to my house in excellent time and ran up to my room. My bags were sitting on the ground. I Grabbed them up and started to make my way down to the door when I ran into my mother.

"Your father is coming home for the holiday this year." She said without really looking at me, it was only when my bag bumped into her that she actually looked at me. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going on a road trip with my friends. You gave me permission yesterday to go." I told her, begging her to remember.

"Cancel it, your father is coming home and he needs to know what a great job I'm doing parenting you." She said waving her hand dismissively. I continued to walk away form her and down the stairs.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked me, confusion coloring her voice.

"I'm going on my road trip with my friends." I told her.

"NO!" She shrieked at me. and tried to grab my arm. Realizing what she was going to do a second before she did it, I picked up my pace and ran out the door, slamming it shut behind me. I ran down the street, away from my house. I could here my mother coming out of the house, screaming her head off at me to come back, but I was home free. I could see the car coming down the road.

They pulled over at the side of the road and opened the side door. I ran around to the back and opened the trunk, flung my bag in haphazardly, closed the trunk. As soon as that was done, I leaped into the car and shut the door.

"Go go go!" I yelled at the driver. He stepped on the gas and I crashed into the seat as the car speed off. I looked out the window just as we were about to turn the corner and I saw my mother standing on the curb, waving her arms wildly.

|Lukas Hyde|


“Hey man” Charles said,” you gotta loosen up a bit!”

Lukas, his best friend -a Mexican guy named Charles, and Lukas' cousin, James, all sat out on Charles' back porch watching the sun rising over the mountains in the east.

“You've gotta get out there!” Charles enthused, almost spilling his cup of coke,” You've gotta do something new!”

Lukas snorted,” like what?”

James, a short blonde guy with a really big nose tossed the remains of his coke out onto the dead, dry dirt in front of the porch, and watched as it seeped away,” well,” he muttered,” winter break's coming up. There'll be plenty of places to go to and things to do then.”

“Well, if it's an inch off of my dad's bounds then I won't be going there,” Lukas said.

“Physicists are crazy,” Charles chuckled.

Lukas glared at him,” as annoyed as I am with my dad right now, I know he's got his reasons.”

Charles shrugged,” look man, my mom, me, and my dad are going up to the winter carnival in Quebec! Maybe your dad'd be cool with you coming along.”

Lukas laughed,” yeah. And Quebec is only like six THOUSAND miles out of my dad's domain. You're completely nuts!”

“Hey!” Charles protested, his face serious for a change,” There's gonna be a lot of stuff to do! They've got all kinds of shows, stands, circuses, fairs . . . they've got freakin' EVERYTHING, man!”

James nodded glumly,” except for warm sunshine.”

“Dude,” Charles grinned,” it's Canada, you get snow or nothin'!”

James grinned back,” well I'm getting nothing. Dad's got a conference in New York, and I'm going with him for a month! That's more my ave!”

“Wish I could come,” muttered Lukas, absentmindedly drawing patterns in the dirt with a stick.

“You can come with me” offered Charles.

Dad'll never let me go, Lukas sighed.

“Come on man!” Charles insisted,” Just ask your dad! If he says no, then you lose nothing!”

I might try . . .

“Okay.”


“No! Absolutely and utterly no!”

Lukas's hopeful smile slowly melted into a glare.

His father frowned down at him,” come on son! What are you thinking! Quebec is thousands of miles away! You'd be gone for a week! It's crazy!”

“Whatever you say dad,” he muttered, turning and heading for the door.

“Lukas! Stop!”

Lukas ignored him and slammed the door behind him on the way out. Why can't he just learn to let go a bit!


Outside Charles raised an eyebrow,” well?”

“No!”

They walked together down the sidewalk for a while, Charles grimacing, and Lukas feeling like punching a cactus.

“You know what your problem is, man?” Charles said suddenly.

“I've got a dad who's squeezing me to death?”

“No” Charles shook his head,” you're letting yourself get squeezed to death. You're letting it happen. Come on dude! You're old enough to do something on your own! Just . . .” he trailed off.

“What?” Lukas asked, his curiosity half-piqued.

“Just come with us anyway,” Charles suggested, his black eyes twinkling,” It's legal. You can do it. And when you come back, I bet your dad won't bee TOO mad!”

The anger coursing through Lukas' veins suddenly froze and slowly he smiled,” I'll do it!”

Afton Morris

As he made his way to the reception, a frown was tugging at Afton's brow, but with some determination, he pushed it away. Of course she was mad. Hell, he'd be mad, no he was mad- the way their parents had kept them apart like this. It wasn't right. Even had they been an ordinary brother and sister, it wouldn't be right, but them being twins, it felt more wrong somehow.

All of that was going to be different now. It wasn't easy - Afton had abandoned his mother in Blackpool and the way she moved around all the time, he wouldn't know where to start looking if he ever wanted to find her again. She'd know though. Hadn't Afton talked often enough about coming back here and seeing his sister again?

But it was hard. His place could hardly be called a place and he needed a job soon or he'd be out of there again, faster than he'd moved in. First though, he needed to move schools.

Afton asked at the reception who he needed to talk to and followed her directions to the head teacher's office, who was only too happy to have him. Apparently, any twin of Lexi was more than welcome here.

______________________

There wasn't much packing to do for the Winter Carnival, in truth, Afton had barely unpacked. As small as his new place was, Afton didn't own enough things to fill it up and it was better not to even try. When you moved around a lot, you got used to traveling light and living out of a rucksack for weeks on end, barely letting yourself give in to the belief that this time it might be for real, before you were whisked away again. Afton didn't mind though; he'd always known he'd come home.

Meet u at the park?

Afton pressed send, but he was already walking in that direction, confident in his sister's answer being yes.

Sebastian Quinn

I hated it when I got into moods like this.

I sat at the edge of my bed, staring at my instrument cases for my music degree and the anatomy and disease textbooks for my medical degree. I've always told everyone who asked me about my future that I've always loved science, but there was no way I could think about having a career without music being involved somehow.

Now just sitting, my eyes trailing from my suitcase to my books to my instruments, I started to think. What was I going to do with my life? Did I really want to be a doctor? A biology teacher? A music instructor? A band director? I was alright with just being a student for a while. Learning new things was always interesting for me. But I had to go out into the world after a few years. Get a job doing something and making money for it. Then I'd have to start doing adult things, like buying a house, look for a husband.

Shut up. Shut up.

I breathed in deeply.

You're only eighteen freaking years old. Calm yourself.

I felt like I had reached some sort of one-sixth life crisis. I glanced over at my suitcase.

"I really need this trip."

Even so, I decided to wait a little longer and head outside. It was Saturday, December 16th, so my morning music theory class was the only one I had to get through to have the rest of the day off. I decided to take my wallet, phone, and headphones out on a stroll through campus. Maybe I'd run into someone interesting. Or at least calm down a little.