Tag: writing prompt

The Transition from Middle to High School

Recently I wrote a short essay on how to ease into the transition of middle school to high school. I hope you enjoy!

The transition from middle to high school is tough. It can be intimidating to move to a bigger school and once again, be at the bottom of the school. As you move into 9th grade, it’s important to learn how to manage your time, how to make good friend choices, and how to still make time for what you enjoy.
Managing your time is important because with homework from multiple classes that is expected to be finished on time, you’ll need to make sure that you get through everything you need to do. A planner is helpful for managing homework, because, if you maintain it well, it’ll list out everything you need to do and when they’re due. Planners are also useful for big projects, because you can plan out your steps and what needs to be done in what order.
Classes will start to move faster! You’ll often need friends who you can rely on to help with homework and/or catch you up if you missed a class. Having friends you can rely on is incredibly useful, especially when studying for tests, as you can bounce information back and forth to review tough topics.
Lastly, make sure you still have fun! While there might be a lot of homework and it’ll take some time to settle down, you should make sure that you have time to do activities that let you relax. Having an activity separate from school that you enjoy will help make sure that you don’t get too overwhelmed or stressed by school. This can include a club/extracurricular offered by your school or something you choose to do in your free time.
Using all three of these strategies can help you adapt to a new school and a new style of work. While the transition from middle to high school can be rough, managing your time, having the right friends, and still having fun can make the transition easier and help you adjust.

What do you remember about your middle to high school transition? Was it easy or confusing?

The Shadow: Poetry Prompt

Hi! I wrote this short story from the prompt, “You wake up trapped in a strange castle with no memory of how you got there and there’s something lurking in the shadows as you explore the halls.”. I hope you enjoy!

There was a faint, dull throbbing in Emery’s head as she looked up to see stone, more stone than she’d ever seen in her life, elaborate windows, and a gorgeous, gorgeous view of rolling hills and green pastures. She sat up, pressing a hand to her forehead, adjusting the tiara (tiara?) that sat on her head, walking over to the window. The glass was cool to touch, foggy with condensation, and she resisted the urge to draw on it, to sit there and doodle and forget her senses and why she was there and really where she was.
She took a deep breath, walking over to the door, and pulling it open with a sense of finality. The hallway was deserted, completely silent. Emery’s gaze darted to the side, seeing a faint wisp of something, something dark, menacing, hiding in the corner, a shadow, really. It called to Emery, telling her to touch it, to let its cool, refreshing solitude wash over her. 
Emery blinked and the moment was gone, the voice of the shadow just a figment of her imagination. Maybe the whole castle is too. Maybe I’ll wake up in just 5 minutes and I’ll never see this place. Wouldn’t that be nice. She continued walking down the hallway, pausing as a stairway appeared in front of her, so sudden it was like it was enchanted. She risked a glance behind her, watching the shadows in the corner shrink and grow, pulsing towards her. She pushed down her growing sense of dread and continued up the staircase, counting the steps as she did, pushing open a small door at the top of the stairs to open up into a small room. One of the castle’s turrets, she would assume, a square one. 
The shadow was back.
It sat at the top of the stairs, as if waiting for Emery to turn around and notice it. Emery closed her eyes. On top of everything, this…creature (?) just had to be following her. As she turned around to examine the room, its voice spoke in her head once more, loud, bold, unafraid. I know you want to go home…Emery. Or Emmie. That’s what they call you isn’t it? And you hate it, but I bet you’d be ok with being called Emmie if it got you out of here. If it got you away from me.
Emery closed the book she was studying with a thud, letting the cover slam down on its antique, ink-ridden pages. She shook her head. She was imagining things, because shadows couldn’t talk, let alone talk in people’s heads, and this place must be making her dream. It must all be a dream and she would wake up and be normal and go to school and live her normal life and-
You know, it’s sweet how you have all these hopes and dreams. Most people that end up here don’t. And so, they end up being these unsatisfying hosts, but you. You’re different. Aren’t you, Emmie?
The shadow was almost on top of her. And then it was in her and then it was her and her thoughts and the shadow’s thoughts were just one and the same and there was no distinguishing, no real difference between the two.
The shadow wanted a host, after all. And it had gotten one.


Vanilla Berry Lotion

I wrote a short story for my writing class recently. Our prompt was to write a story about any object on our desk. I wrote a realistic fiction story about my vanilla berry lotion.

I open the lotion jar and sniff its contents. The smell floods my body, sending warm and happy tingles all the way down. I close the lid, but not before taking one last longing smell. I follow Mom throughout the beauty shop, my mind still on that sweet lotion. All I know is that I must have it before it runs out, because surely a lotion with such a smell would run out soon. “Tara!”my mom snaps. I jolt to attention, not sure if she had been calling my name before. “Well?” she asks. I guiltily shrug, not able to picture what she might have been talking about. Mom sighs, exasperated and narrows her eyes at me. “I said,” she repeats,” that I am going to buy something here. I also asked you if you wanted to get anything.” I leap up, my eyes shining bright. I could get anything I wanted! I race to the front of the store, pick up the lotion and race back. My mom laughs at how quickly I’ve chosen. We pay and go home.

To this day, I still love the scent of that lotion and keep it on my desk as a reminder of that happy, lucky day.

The Tsunami: A Short Story

I soared through the water, my flippers propelling me forward, and forward, and forward……………… Finally, arriving at the perfect momentum I spun around with the exact force coming to a stop right before Liz, my gymnastics coach. She laughed, then clapped for me, “You are doing so great Alexi!” she exclaimed, “You are definitely going to win the Gymturtle show!” I blushed with pride, well as much as a turtle can blush anyways. See, I’m Alexi, daughter of Oma and Letti, two great gymnastic stars who used to be wildly popular, but have been losing their talent ever so slowly. I have been wanting to find out why for years and the only way for me to do that was to participate in the show in which they started losing their powers. The thing is, the Gymturtle Extravaganza was one of the hardest shows to win and I needed to win it. So of course when I mentioned it to Mom and Mother, they hired me the best coach they could find, Liz! The only person who knew why I was actually doing the show was my best friend, Salem. She was a turtle just like me, but we had totally different personalities. Speaking of, here was Salem swimming towards me! As soon as I saw her, I smiled, but then seeing the look on her face, the smile dropped. “Hey Liz!” she said quickly before turning to face me. “Have you noticed the water drop?” she asked frantically. I frowned a bit, “No, I can’t say I have” As soon as I started paying attention to the sea, though, I could tell that it had changed. We all looked at each other, frightened. We decided to check our houses to find our parents and friends, then meet up in front of my house. As soon as I swam into my house though, I knew it was empty. Since I had time to spare, I decided to look around my neighborhood park to try to find some of my other friends. Everyone was missing! I had a bad feeling about what was about to happen……. Suddenly, a colossal wave hit me from the back and I felt so scared! As soon as I could, I went to find Liz and Salem. It wasn’t easy though, sand was scattered everywhere and coral was flung everywhere in sight. The only way to find them was through sound. I sighed. I was amazing at school, always getting A+ on my work. The only thing which I had trouble with was sound location. In my defense, it is really really hard. I shook myself. Why was I thinking about school, when I really should be thinking about Liz, Salem, and sound? Huh. Salem and sound. Salem was amazing at soundcation (sound location). I knew if I gave her a turtle call, she would trace her way back to me. Perfect. I knew I only had one chance to make it right, so I closed my eyes and concentrated hard. I let loose a sharp click cry then fell silent. I silently prayed hard for Salem to hear it and trace her way back to me. 5….4…..3…..2…..1…. “Hi!” I heard Salem call from behind me, Liz right next to her. “Great click call! Ms. Are would be proud!” I snorted a bit then hugged my bff. “Sooo,” Liz ventured. We separated quickly. “Did you find anyone?” she continued. I shook my head sadly, “No, I even checked the park!” “Yeah, I didn’t find anyone either,” Salem said sadly. “I did find something pretty interesting though! Follow me!” Liz exclaimed. Keeping a close on my friends, I swam through the water cleanly, determined not to lose Salem and Liz. Soon we reached the shore, a place where we came all the time to eavesdrop on the humans. “Translate for us!” Salem nudged. I concentrated and then turned back to my friends. “It’s not good news. The current drop we felt earlier, that’s because a tsunami happened.” My friends looked at me blankly. I sighed. “A tsunami is basically a giant wave,” I explained. They nodded, not understanding for a bit, then realization set in and they sat up straight. “Will it happen again?” Liz asked frightfully. I listened for a bit longer then concluded no, it wouldn’t happen again. Suddenly, I heard the familiar creak of the gates. A flood of friends rushed in and Oma and Letti surrounded me in a hug. They were breathing heavily. “Didn’t you hear the alarm?” they asked. “No,” I admitted, “I was too busy training” They hugged me again and I was happy. The Gymturtle Extravaganza could wait.  I was with my family and friends, right where I needed to be.

Changing in the Covid Times

Summer 2020 is almost over and I have a few weeks until school starts. I’ve been thinking about how much my life has changed and decided to share it with you!

I’ve had to adapt a lot because of COVID. A lot of the things which I would have liked to do this year are almost impossible now. 

Normally, I would have finished fifth grade off with a few parties and graduated to middle school. I would have also started school earlier, but it got pushed back. So, change has become a part of my everyday life. I am part of my school’s dance team and we would have danced one of our best pieces for a competition. Since the coronavirus limited the number of people able to be there for a performance, we didn’t have the chance to perform. I would have also gone to India for the summer to spend time with my grandparents and have some fun there. This year though, I am communicating with them only through WhatsApp. Change has come and wrapped itself around my everyday life. I have grown to be more flexible during this pandemic.

I am still changing with what will be best for me. A lot of major events in my life have been delayed or made virtual. It’s always a big disappointment for me, but I have learnt to be very flexible during the pandemic. I have always wanted to start middle school with a big bang, but COVID has made that event a lot smaller. I also had plans to go on a cruise to Italy, but that was canceled. I’m also missing travel and school a lot. 

Change has made itself a big part in today’s life.I’ve learnt to adapt and live with it, even when times are rough. I’ve realized that if you don’t change, you miss even more.

How have you changed in 2020?

Shark Encounter by The Mint Girl

I wrote this story for the Houston Public Library’s writing prompt, “If you met a shark in the wild, what would you do?” I hope you like it!

“Let’s go!” Ruchika, my cousin squeals. We have just arrived at the beach and I can’t wait to lounge in one of the chairs with a book, calmly watching the waves. “Uh uh!” my mom, Amruta says. “We need to unpack our bags and settle into our beach house first. Then you all can go play.” A collective sigh comes from us and we burst out laughing. I’m here with my cousins, Aadya, Ruchika, and Kavya. It’s been a long time since we’ve last been together, so when we met at the first hotel, we hugged each other and jumped with joy. Our journey has been long, but so so fun! “Come on now, let’s go to our cabins” my mom’s voice comes, jolting me out of my memory. I hurry after her, but before I go, I make sure to look behind my shoulder and make our sign. I look back just in time to catch my 3 cousins joining their ring finger to their thumb cleanly. We share an excited grin before we go. After changing into my favorite swimsuit, the one with a penguin on it, I hurry out of the cabin as soon as I can and run into Kavya, who’d just come over to check if I was ready. “I love your swimsuit!” Kavya gushes, “I love yours too!” I reply, just as excitedly. Kavya is wearing a light blue swimsuit, with a beautiful peacock on the front. I turn just in time to see Aadya and Ruchika exiting their cabins. Aadya wears a flamingo swimsuit and Ruchika wears a turtle one. We do a group hug. Tara Aunty, Ruchika’s mom, comes out just as we break apart. “It’s like you girls haven’t just seen each other!” she observes. We burst into giggles and skip joyfully to the beach. Once we pick the perfect spot, Sriya Aunty, Kavya’s mom, holds up her bag, filled to the top with unknown things. “I have a surprise for you girls!”  she says. We glance at each other excitedly. What could it be?  Sriya Aunty slowly pulls out a few objects. On first glance, we can’t make them out, but I lean closer and finally I recognize it! My eyes grow as wide as saucers. “Are we going snorkeling?” I blurt out. Sriya Aunty smiles and nods. “ Since you, Ikshita already know how to snorkel, I figured that Kavya, Aadya, and Ruchika can learn from you!” she says brightly. We grab our snorkeling gear and race to the ocean. My cousins catch on quickly and are wowed by the marvelous scenery underwater. When we come up to catch our breaths, I make a suggestion. “Do you want to go into slightly deeper waters?” I ask. Everyone is excited and we decide to do it. We keep our goggles facing down and marvel at the magical underwater background as we swim deeper and deeper in. Suddenly Ruchika nudges me and I look up, a bit annoyed. My annoyance drains away as I see what she saw. We are face to face with a sleeping lemon shark! I pop up out of the water. “Did you see that?” Kavya whispers. We nod, a bit excitedly and a bit nervously. “What do you think we should do?” asks Ruchika anxiously. They all look at me, since I love sharks and know as much as there is about them. “We should just back away slowly” I say. “That way we won’t provoke it”. Making a silent agreement, we dive back underwater and swim back to the beach. When I come out of the water, I see my cousins grinning ear to ear. “That was so cool!” Aadya exclaims, “I can’t believe that we came face to face with a shark!” I can’t help myself, I start grinning too. We rush up to our towel and start telling our moms about the shark encounter we had. “Well that certainly sounds like a lot of fun!” says Chaaya Aunty, Aadya’s mom, “How about you do some more research and maybe start a club at school?” We nod enthusiastically and go back to our cabin, happily talking all the way there.

I hope you enjoyed this. What would you do if you met a shark in the wild?