When faced with a mountain of tasks, she reposes at the base and whiles
the hours away into nothing. She waits until the last moment, recklessly
courting failure, reveling in the surge of adrenaline searing her body.

Her mouth bleeds offensive speech, but no tourniquet will staunch the
deluge issuing forth from this foulmouthed creature.

She entombs herself in the endless danse macabre, adorned with the lovely
Red Shoes of Vanity.

Malcontent, she broods over her dissatisfaction but takes no action to
remedy the situation. And for all her proclamations of misanthropy, she
surrounds herself with people-- such a social paradox.

When her emotions flare and build to a raging inferno, she represses
them. She douses them with the icy water of self-control.

She becomes attached to material objects, fully aware of their transience
yet unable to release them.

She glares across from the other side of the mirror.

Laura/Age 16

How do I see thee? Let me count the ways.
So perfect, so precious, but mostly to he --
He that you shun so frequently.
His love is a blessing; you count it a curse.
His affections you always assume for the worst.
You're graceful and light
Always right
But you view the world through such shattered eyes.

A brother, a friend;
Heaven-sent
A demon's child, growing wild
The perfect angel, the perfect sin
The perfect loss, the perfect win
"I love you, I hate you --"
The perfect lie.

You dance away just out of reach;
A word, a moment -- we beseech!
As hot as a tempest, as cold as a flame
Guilty as snow; Innocent as blame

Your amethyst eyes destroy me
Your chill is unbearably cold
So young, still a chlid,
But intolerably, undeniably, and looking back --
Justifiably old
Lay down your head
Repent from your crimes
Ungodly beauty refined.

Daryn/Age 17

She is so funny.
She maybe sixteen, but she acts more like two.
She is my best friend and the one person I can truly count on.
I still long for the days when we were younger, just running through the
sprinklers.
But then I stop to think, we were doing that last summer.
She is the kind of person you love to be around and always makes you feel
like a kid again.
She is all one can hope for in a best friend.
She has been there for me through thick and thin.
And I have been there for her too.
She is more then a friend, she is my sister at heart.
Closer than I thought I'd ever become with anyone.
She knows my hopes and dreams,
And I know hers.
For now we live apart, but forever she will stay in my heart.

Ash/Age 17

I can't understand her. She walks around like she is some kind of
beauty queen. Her short grungy, black hair always in disarray. Her makeup
is mainly black, and smeared unsightly across her face. The nose ring is
infected again. I can't stand it when she looks at me, as if to say,
I am beautiful. You are not. And I have to think to myself, maybe she is
right. Maybe she is beautiful. How I wish I could be like that.

Emerald/Age 15

There's something in his face
that makes my blood boil.
His smirk always hides some witty comeback, ready to sting.
Backed by his gang of smirking fools in sweatshirts,
there's no possible way to speak to him. Five smirks in hoods, each with
their own comeback.
That greasy hair, those common, lifeless brown eyes, and that average
complexion with random ugly fleckles.
There's always something in the air when I run into him in the halls.
I finally figured it out that it's love.

Laura/Age 13

I would say my best friend is a boy and here wehre i am at that is not cool. These girls here don't like boys as friends the girls hang with girls the boys hang with boys.
That's when he comes in. We did not like each other for years he drank and
he smelled nasty so I thought he was a bad person. Till last year.
Last year he changed and ended up being the sweetest guy you would ever
meet. No more drinking, No more smoking, and he did not use stuff like
smoke away or a patch. He used his heart and mind. He is tall,strong well he
was tell last year now he is not as strong but at least he has some
muscle. I would say you would not want a better friend than him.

Brittney/Age 13

Everyone sees her as a perfect student. Never one to fail, she charms
everyone. Sometimes I feel a burning hatred in my soul. Why is it not
me?

Everyone knows her name. She's popular, but doesn't know it. I hate
that. How could you not know? Everyone thinks she is the greatest
friend. Someone who will always be there. Someone they can talk to and
not feel stupid. Why is it not me?

Other times I feel like she's the only one in the world I can talk to.
But other times she teases me of things I love. I wish I could scare her.
She's used to standing up to people. Why is it not me?

Connie/Age 13

It's kind of hard to explain, she's like an angel with invisable wings.
Her ears too big to comprehend, only she can hear my screams. Her eyes are
like giant telescopes searching for the pain inside of me, like the stars
in the sky. But, shes always there for me, even though somtimes she is the
one that makes me scream, and feel the pain. She always finds it, and
kills it with a hug, eventually.

Courtney/Age 14

He's a boy
Which makes things
Frustrating.
He's very cute
Which makes things
Complicated.
But he's my best friend
Which makes things
Worth it.
Sometimes it's about me
And he has to make faces
Crack jokes
Make pokes
To get a smile.
But when it's about me
And I smile
Then he smiles
Then it feels good to be alive
Sometimes it's about him
And I have to raise my voice
Guide him
Show him
Teach him
To solve the problem.
But when it's about him
And he smiles
Then I smile
Then it feels good to be alive.
I admit I had feelings for him once
Way back when I was 13
And I knew everything,
But I'll always be his Athena
And he'll be my Odysseus
And I'll guide him home
To different Penelopes
Over and over again
I'm his platonic ideal
But I'm okay,
We're okay
With that.
Sometimes it doesn't make sense
I can't understand our friendship;
Don't know how to analyze it, define it,
It's fuzzy,
How does it work, why does it work,
We're so different, we're so alike,
He hates me, he loves me.
Sometimes I can't figure it out,
But he asks me
Why do I need to?

thu-huong/Age 14

She is a great person but at times can be a back-stabber. She tells me
that I only do things for attention, and that I use people. She acts like
she likes me, but does she really? Whenever I talk to her, I can tell that
she is saying "You liar and an attention seeker." It's just something in
her eyes that everyone can tell that she has something against me and she
doesn't tell anyone.

Allison/Age 16

she's always around me, always in my face, whether it's at school or i
just happen to randomly walk into her when I'm walking to the closest food
stand to buy myself lunch. We have so much in common, yet we are so
different. Maybe that's why we talk so much, from fighting or from
laughing at each other. She never puts me down nor compliments me. She just
listens to me when i need her to, just like i listen to her when she needs
me. i know we'll be together until the end no matter what happens between
us as we grow into women. Wheather she likes me or not, she'll always be
there.

Nessy/Age 15

She took my hand and away we soared. Up into the clouds, to the world we
created for ourselves.

Our world could not last forever. She lost her glasses and replaced them
with contacts; she took her beautiful wavy hair and burned it with
straightening irons, so desperate to fit it. She replaced her Enya CDs
with Nelly and Eminem, all so they would look at her as normal.

She colored her eyes with shadow, her lips with gloss. Her shirts got
tighter, her boobs bigger with that padded bra. Her pants got lower; her
IQ did too.
And she floated away from me.

Holly/Age 15

Her complaints are what keep her going
She's done everything she promised she wouldn't
She's breaking vows and changing them
She's making everything she does seem grim.
It's not cool enough to tell the truth
But to stretch it all and make it gruesome.

It's hard not to believe
It's not easy to leave
She's ran into a wall
It's forcing her to stall
She's jumped in way to fast
She can't face her past
She's pulling strings

She walked away without a word
She said that i was so obsurd
She made me seem like i was wrong
But every argument made her strong
There's nothing wrong with honesty
But she said it wasnt right
She waits impatiently
So she can talk about that fight
She cries about her depression
And only thinks about her self
She's made a bad impression
She didnt care how i felt

It's hard not to believe
It's not easy to leave
She's ran into a wall
It's forcing her to stall
She's jumped in way to fast
She can't face her past
She's pulling strings

Angie Klosky/Age 14

The girl is ruining my life, but it is partially my fault she is, because I am letting her. When we are fighting, I have the whole town after me. When we are friends again, she never acts serious unless she is feeling bad about something that has happened to her. She never has time for me anymore, because she has made more "popular" friends that she hangs out with. Once every great while, we'll hang out, but like I said before she doesn't act serious. She would rather joke around and be silly than talk to me about serious issues that are going on. I don't know whether to call her my best friend or my worst enemy. She is pretty much both. Maybe I should confront her.

Jackie Norton/Age 14

This person can make me feel happy, or sometimes pissed off. I think she loves me, but then i think she hates me. She acts like she cares by "listening" to me but i know all she wants to do is talk about her. I can tell she sometimes thinks in her head, "All right, i'll just talk about what she wants to hear to make her happy." This person makes me want to pull her hair out at once, but sometimes want to kiss her feet. She annoys the crap out of me, but i know i couldnt be the same without her. I want her to be happy, but not too happy to get me jealous. This is how i see this person...

Annie Chang/Age 14

The first time I saw that head of blonde I knew there was something about him. Blue eyes, like crystals. To this day I can't look away from them. And the voice that cuts through my sorrow and anger like a knife through the yielding butter. I melt around him. But he wouldn't know that, would he? He thinks this is all we are, but I see him differently than that. I see more in him than he'll ever know. He's like a fire. A fire itself is constantly blowing about, thinking that every moment is its last. But I am looking at the fire, and I know there's enough oxygen for us both. I know we can both last. But all he sees is the moment.

Katie/Age 14

For once, I've found a way to sort the thoughts in my head. The thoughts about Him. I thought living for him was enough until I realized he didn't want me to live for him anymore. He wanted me to live for myself. He cared about me, but he never loved me. Never actually loved me. He was just the same, sweet guy I had known since grade school. Still spontaneous, still humorous. Still willing to believe that my problem was a joke. It was never a joke, really. He just thought it was. Perhaps, for that, I resent him. And all this time I thought I could've been in love with him. Yet I still don't know.

Marissa/Age 14

Brown hair with pink streaks, pulled back behind her ears. She's quiet, you know, sits in the back writing poetry instead of doing work. Her poetry is sad and filled with death, the opposite of what she's like. Her favourite bands are ones you've never heard of, she uses that to feel superior. She makes a point to be nice to everyone, she'll tell you everything about her and then listen back. She is condescending and hypocritical, in a way that makes you mad. You never see her eyes, she is always looking down. She has blue eyes. The type of blue eyes that are so blue you don't notice the colour until after you've known her for a long time. She looks straight at me, never shifting her gaze. She critiques everything about me, but then completely contradicts herself and tells me "you're beautiful". "Am i beautiful?" i ask to her, we look down. The light reflects off the mirror, me. I am condescending, blue eyed, pink haired,quiet, hypocritical, sweet, a critic.
i am beautiful.
Friend or foe?

sarah brunning/Age 13

Crazy
Popular
Funniest person i know
Can get on my nerves
Thinks she's fat, but i know better
A punk, a prep, no some one in between,
Indecisive
Drives me crazy
Doesn't care about the public
I envy her,
She envies me,
Can wear anything but somehow look fabulous
Unpredictable to others, yet not at all to me
Know her better then myself,
Sometimes feel like i just met her
Makes me laugh,
Makes me cry
Indentical opposites
Not your average 8th grader,
Everything you'd expect from a 14 year old
Probably feels the same about me.....

Ren/Age 14