Why Zebras Have Stripes

          There was once a time long ago, where zebras were plain white. So I am about to tell you the story of why zebras have their stripes.

          This story involves two perspectives, of zebras, of course, and of snakes. Beginning with the zebras, is when they were gathering together from a herd of lions out to make a feast of these innocent zebras. After their brisk meeting, they ran and ran. It wasn't actually all that great. They ran in every which way for hours until dark came and the lions gave up until dawn. To keep safe when morning came, the zebras hid in tall grass huddled up to not be found by these predators.

          Now for the snakes. They just casually slithered around doing their snake thing. One of the younger snakes exclaimed something. "Hey! Why don't we go there? Where it's all wet and cool?"

          The elder snakes exchanged looks and told this snake a lie so he wouldn't be scared to know it could kill them if they tried to survive there. The other snakes carried on with their day but the young snake stayed behind to slowly glide into the water. This snake's mom turned around and saw the end of his body disappear into the water. She warned the rest of the snakes and they all went into the water to save the younger snake. When they went in, they found him face to face with a squid. It was too late before it squirted them all. Luckily they got out in time but they also got out soaked in squid ink. They slithered away from the water in silence but didn't see the zebras hidden in the tall grass. All off the ink got on the zebras making beautiful stripes all over their bodies.

          When they woke up, they were all shocked by the marks on them. They were so caught up in this happening that they didn't notice the lions coming up to make prey of them.

           All so surprised when they noticed the lions, they ran around in horror. All of the lions were confused because the stripes were jumbled up to their eyes. They shook their heads to focus but gave up. When the zebras noticed they were safe because of the stripes, they kept them and appreciated the miracles of their stripes.

The Future

For so many years, we have expected a lot from the future. I mean, lots of people believe we will have flying cars and teleportation in a few generations, but then again, that was believed a few generations ago and we still don't have that. In fact, the famous movie Back To The Future expected there to be hover boards by October 21, 2015. That obviously hasn't happened. Many people also think we will have rubbery outfits and antennas but that's inconvenient and probably will never happen. But some things that were fantasy a long time ago have actually been invented, such as the Google Glass. It shows hologram-like depictions in front of you when you put on the glasses. So who knows? Even though a lot of our expectations have not been met, like lazor-beams and time travel, maybe we will be able to fly around in cars in many years. Maybe we will have hover boards and crazy antennas. Maybe we will even be able to have one drink and it will cover our nutrients for the day. Heck! What if the first person lands on mars in the future? So even though we have been disappointed for years on the terms of new technology, we never know.

Meeting Friends

I have two friends that I sit with at lunch everyday and they always make me laugh. One of my friends I met on the first day of middle school. She was wearing a shirt with two dogs on them and it had some foreign language on it. We were both lonely so I had nothing to lose. "Hi, um...I like your shirt." I hoped she wouldn't think I was weird and I would have no friends for the rest of the year. She smiled at me and thanked me. We sparked up a conversation and I sat next to her in math class. That's how I met one of my best friends. Another one of my friends is so funny, she never fails to make me laugh. One of my friends introduced us and we sat next to each other at lunch. Then one day she told me she would be in all my classes. I was so excited and from then on it was us three in all of the same classes getting into trouble, having fun. And we are still best friends.

My Wish Came True

             Finally. The day came. I packed my bags and hopped in the car that would take me to paradise, well actually it's a dusty camp with huge bugs and steep rocky hills. But there's just something about it that makes me love it so much. The people that I love to death are there, and most of them live in Northern California so this is the only time I can see them. I got there and breathed in the fresh air, said hi to all my friends, and signed up. When I found out who my group was for the week I was so happy. My group leader was amazing. She's always happy and super patient. Fast forward to the next morning, I got out of bed with a sting in my throat and a heavy feeling. I struggled to get ready and I barely touched my breakfast. I felt so sad for no reason. Then I remembered that I have felt this way before and all my friends said I have depression. They said they've experienced it, too, and I had all the symptoms. This was the worst time to feel this way and there was no reason to be sad. But the week went on. I felt like a drag to everyone because my depression made the activities so difficult, and the soar throat didn't help. Then one day our team was assigned the "hike to heart rock." I was excited and thought this could cheer me up but a little devil in the back of my mind kept saying all the negative things. I tried to ignore it on the hike and when we finally got there I almost fell and died. That's irrelevant but I just thought to add it. Now, our group leader gathered us.

              "Girls! Girls! You see that little pond down there that's shaped just like a heart? That's heart rock! If you get a little pebble, close your eyes, and make a wish, your wish will come true!" I grabbed a pebble and held it close to my heart. I wished that I would stop feeling this way. I wished that I could huddle in the group photos and smile for real. I wished. I opened my eyes and threw the pebble, I made it. I'm not really superstitious but for some reason I just felt happy that I made it. The next day we played a game. There was a chair in the middle of the room and the speaker would say something. If you relate, go to the chair. If you kind of relate, go in the middle of the circle everyone made. If you don't, stay where you are. They started off simple like "i like ice cream" or "my favorite color is blue." But as the game went on, they got more serious. "I've felt insecure about my self-image.""I've compared myself to others." I would go to the chair and noticed how I wasn't alone. I saw how honest everyone was, and saw how honest I could be around them. I slowly started to cry. Yes. Cry. I felt so happy to be with these people that I just cried so much. When the game was over, we had dessert and I felt happy after that, actually happy. I treasure that short week at summer camp. I couldn't believe my wish came true.

Dress Code

I can't be the only person who wears certain clothes to give certain impressions, but...why should your clothing define who you are? I like wearing leggings and shorts, and sleeveless shirts. If only I could wear those things at school without being under constant fear that I will be stopped by an aid/teacher. However, dress code rules for safety are beneficial for our school. But why can't I wear the clothes I feel confident in? Apparently, it is so the guys don't get distracted by girls showing too much skin, but if that's so, how is a boy getting distracted by me my fault? I don't know any boy who would do that, but if they did, it's not my fault I'm a "distraction" to them. Maybe rather than encouraging girls to wear "appropriate" clothes, we should teach boys not to see females as something they can "get distracted" by. Not saying all guys are like this, but that would be better than making a dress code to limit girls' clothing options greatly. Now I have to admit, I do wear clothes to say who I am sometimes, and I do judge people on their clothing sometimes too, but I really shouldn't. And I think that we should all look at a person on their character, and not the clothes they want to wear.