CW-More Poetry

Aww! Feel better, Ellen! I hope you finish your artwork! I want to see some more of it!
So, like I said, we started our poetry unit a few weeks ago.
I like poetry. It's fun to play with words and rhythms. Iambic pentameter comes sort of naturally after a while.
There was an exercise where each of us was given an object to describe - a stone, flower, pine cone, or seashell. And then we had to compare it to ourselves. We've also been writing daily lines comparing normal things to something completely different.
And then each of us in class was given a card with a word written on it. We had to write a line of iambic pentameter ending in that word. And then everyone lined up in order in front of the classroom and recited their lines. And it was organized in a sonnet! It was fun! Each of us wrote a line of a sonnet without knowing it!
And to prepare for writing the poems, we wrote pairs of lines ending in homophones.
So far we've written a sonnet (which we did in high school) and something called a Ghazal, which I'd never heard of. But It was fun to write too. The repetition and signature thing at the end. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time explaining forms of poetry. You can probably find explanations online.

Oh yeah. I'll post my short story. I want to re-write it and make it longer. But here's the less-than-ten-page version.
It's not fantasy, and I don't have much experience in this genre, but this is a story idea I've had for a few years. It was good to finally get started on it.



Antoinette
There was an outburst of raucous laughter from the desks next to Jamie. She turned and glared at the group consisting of Scott, Andra, and Jerry.
“And, dude, the big feud is over fish? Seriously!” Jerry said, not trying to keep his voice down.
“And the gang members are too nice,” Andra snorted.
The three of them laughed again. Scott, who was leaning on the back legs of his chair, almost toppled over.
It was easy to tell by looking at the four of them that they fancied themselves the coolest students in school. Andra wore as little as possible while still being legally allowed in public, plus her face was plastered in bad makeup. Jerry’s pants were several sizes too big, letting his boxers show. Scott’s jeans at least fit, but instead wore a skin-tight shirt to try to show off his looks.
“All looks and no brains,” Chloe whispered.
Jamie tried to stifle her laugh, but it just turned into a loud snort.
Mr. Dans stood up in front of his English class.
“Now, onto another, bigger project. As you know, the protagonist changes throughout the story. Without this change, he would never have been able to cope with this new life. You’re going to do a group project about that over the next week. We’re going to pick partners by lots this time.” There was a groan from the class. Mr. Dans laughed. “See, it’ll do you good to get to know someone new. Everyone come pick a number.” He placed a hat full of paper scraps on the front desk. Everyone swarmed to the front of the class to grab a piece of paper.
“What’d you get?” Chloe asked eagerly.
“Six,” Jamie replied.
“Crud. I got eleven.”
“Everyone, find your match!” Mr. Dans called.
Everyone chorused out their numbers, slowly dividing up into pairs.
“Six,” Jamie called unenthusiastically. “Six.”
“Six,” called a voice back.
Jamie turned and her heart immediately sank. Facing her, waving his scrap of paper, was Scott.

So, the next day after school, Jamie found herself walking to Scott’s house to work on their project.
Jamie wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting. Maybe graffitied walls, parched yellow grass and a snarling rottweiler tethered by a spiked collar. In fact, the house was very nice. The garden was well-tended and neat.
As she reached the front porch, she took a deep breath and pushed the doorbell.
There was a loud bark from inside and Jamie flinched. It was a Doberman or something!
“Hold on, Antoinette,” came a voice from inside. The barking ceased. A moment later, Scott opened the door. For once, he was dressed normally in a plain t-shirt and jeans. At his heels was a large dog with long, silky red hair. Her tail was swishing behind her, whacking Scott in the knees.
“Hey,” he said calmly, raising a hand in greeting. “Come on in.”
Jamie did so. Antoinette, paced up to her, whining happily. Jamie grinned and held her hand out for Antoinette to sniff.
“We can work in the living room,” Scott suggested, leading her through a doorway and into a spacious carpeted room with a wooden table and couches in the center. “We need to do a timeline, right?” Scott asked. “I got a big piece of paper so we can show things in order. Should we try to draw the events out with paragraphs explaining them?”
“Uh,” Jaime said blankly, “Sure.” She was just glad that Scott wasn’t being as loud and boastful as he was with his “cool” friends at school. Or at least, not yet. “I’m not great at drawing,” she admitted. “But I’m not bad either. Anyway, I wrote down some of the changes the main character goes through, and how they effect the people around him.”
“Yeah, so did I.”
Shock of all shocks. Scott had actually prepared for the project!
“I liked this book,” Scott continued, spreading the poster paper out on the table. “I mean, the others we’ve read were well written, but they weren’t that fun to read.”
“Yeah,” Jamie agreed, warming to the conversation. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m not sure why all the great classics have to be so... depressing, I guess. This one was fun to read.” She sat down and pulled her backpack off, taking out her binder and a pencil.
Scott sat down across from her and Antoinette flopped down beneath the table and put her head on Jamie’s ankle.
“Mark Twain was fun too,” Scott said, tapping his finger on the table. “He was funny.”
Jamie vividly remembered Scott’s friends talking about how much they hated the book and Scott laughing along with them. But he seemed genuine in how he said it.
“Yeah,” She agreed, surprised. “Most people say that they didn’t like Huckleberry Finn, but that was one of my favorite books so far.”
Scott grinned. “See, Andra and Jerry hate reading this stuff, so I never really talk to them about it. They really can be pretty immature.” He sighed. “Let’s see,” he continued, looking down at his paper. “I guess we should get to work, huh?”
The two of them started taking notes, making suggestions about the story and sketching out designs on the poster board. When they had a good outline set up, Antoinette decided that it was time for them to take a break. She crawled out from under the table and started bounding back and forth, crouching half way down and leaving her rear in the air as she wagged her tail.
Scott and Jamie laughed.
“She still acts like a puppy,” Scott sighed, standing and walking across the living room to retrieve a red chew toy from under a chair.
Antoinette stood, suddenly alert, eyes fastened on Scott’s hand. Scott threw the toy into the hall and Antoinette bounded after it.
“Listen, do you want a snack or something?” Scott offered. “Or we could play some music on the stereo.”
“I don’t really like loud music too much,” Jamie admitted.
“That’s Okay. We don’t really have that much loud music,” Scott said. “I have a few soundtracks, depending on whether you like the movies. Beatles…”
“Beatles?” Jamie laughed.
“You got something against the Beatles?” Scott asked, pretending to sound offended.
“Not at all, actually. I like the Beatles. Especially some of their later stuff.” She’d always thought that Scott was into rap or something.
Antoinette trotted back into the room and dropped the chew toy next to Jamie.
“You don’t have to touch that if you don’t want,” Scott said. “It’s all slobbery.”
Jamie shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’ve never had a dog. I have a cat, but Mom won’t let us get a dog.” She picked up the toy and threw it for Antoinette.

The next afternoon, Jamie sat in her living room, listening for the doorbell. She’d invited Scott to work at her house that day. Two days ago, she never would have invited him inside.
She heard the chiming from the front door and jumped to her feet. Scott greeted her with a smile and a raised hand as she let him in. He unrolled the poster from under his arm and spread it out on the table. It curled inwards at the edges as he let it go.
“Looks like we’ll be able to finish today,” Scott said, standing back and looking at the poster with sketches and scattered paragraphs inked onto it.
“I think so,” Jamie agreed, plopping down onto the floor. Scott did the same, leaning against the side of the couch. He suddenly sat bolt upright. “Dude, I thought the pillow moved,” he said, laughing at himself. It was, in fact, Jamie’s cat, Annie. Annie had been curled up on the sofa, resembling a pillow, but she’d stood up and stretched as Scott sat down next to her. She curled up again and went back to sleep.
Jamie and Scott got back to work, occasionally pausing as Scott made her laugh or to exchange a quick personal story. It took Jamie a while to realize that she was just as comfortable with Scott as she was with Chloe. And he looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him.
Annie stood up again, stretching. She purred loudly and padded over to Scott, rubbing against his shoulder. Scott grinned and scratched her warm chin.
“Animals are great,” Scott sighed. “They don’t really care what you look like or how popular you are.”
Jamie looked at him, startled. “What do you mean? You are popular!” It was out before she could stop it. She snapped her mouth shut, but it had been said. She was used to saying whatever she thought to her friends.
Scott gave a hollow laugh. “Yeah. It stinks, doesn’t it?”
Jamie couldn’t help her mouth from falling open.
“Eheh. I guess you don’t want to hear about that,” Scott sighed, turning a bit red and scratching the back of his head.
So, Scott didn’t feel like he could confide in his “friends” at school. She shook her head. “I don’t mind.”
“I know that Andra’s kind of mean to you and Chloe. I’m sorry.”
“Why do you hang out with them? You said they were immature, and you can’t talk to them about some things.”
Scott paced across the room. Jamie wondered if the question was too personal.
He sighed. “Well, you asked for it. Don’t laugh. Truth is, I’m afraid of being alone.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Why would I laugh at that? Anyway, even if you don’t want to be alone, you should surround yourself with people you don’t like. Uh, not that you don’t like them, but…”
Scott gave a small smile. “I know what you mean. They can just be jerks sometimes.”
Jamie hesitated, then plunged forwards. “Back in middle school, they used to pick on me. But you know, once I got a couple good friends, that pretty much stopped. It’s not so bad in high school anyway. You’re stronger with good people at your side. You don’t need a lot of lame friends, especially if it makes you do things you don’t like.”
Jamie suddenly turned furiously red. All of that had come out of her mouth without her really realizing it. She had been of thinking aloud without paying much attention.
Scott knelt down in front of Annie, who had sat back on her haunches and was watching them with eyes narrowed in a cat smile. For a while, there was silence.
“You could be a student counselor,” he said, giving a half laugh. “I’ve never heard a speech like that before.”
If possible, Jamie’s face turned even redder.
Scott grinned broadly at her. “Thanks.”