I know this is really late but heres my first page also it has nothing to do with my original short story proposal at all.

            I awoke to the sound of gunfire.  It was unbearably loud.  So loud, in fact, I couldn't hear the next words that came out of my mouth.
            “What the hell is going on?!”  I screamed, well at least I thought I screamed.  No response.  The gunfire had ceased but still nothing.  With life coming back to my eardrums I decided to remove myself from my bed and find the handheld pistol that Peter had put under my bed some three months ago.  “Only for emergencies” he had said, “I don’t want you shootin’ things unless you really have to” Peter was right, I was terrible with guns.  I had taken a small training class over a year ago but I still could barely even load it.  But this was definitely an emergency and I needed to find it.  I searched under my bed for what seemed like hours until finally I wrapped my hands around something cold and lifeless.  A feeling that could only resonate from a gun.  

Suddenly more gunfire rang through halls of the house.  This time it sounded closer, and louder than ever.  I wailed in pain, my ears felt like they were just blown out like a pair of speakers.  There was a knock at my door.  I fumbled with the gun until it was raised and aimed at the middle of the large slab of mahogany, which served as an entrance to my room.  

A voice howled from the other side. “Mr. Hennessy!  Mr. Hennessy!’  I recognized the voice immediately; it was Abe, the bodyguard who was in charge of security detail for this floor of the house.  He must have been awaken from his quarters by the gunfire too and decided to make a mad dash towards my room to see if I was safe.  I was wrong.  I grabbed the handle and turned it.  I swung the door open and found myself starting down the barrel of an M-16.  The bearer of the gun was Abe.  Except he didn’t look like the Abe I knew, this figure looked like some sort of evil twin. 

“Abe, what are you doing?”  He opened his mouth to speak, but before he made a sound his eyes rolled back and his head and a red liquid seeped from his mouth.  I watched as his lifeless body slumped to the floor.  A flash of metal stuck out from his back.  Behind him stood Peter.  

Jimmy's First Page

It was a typical foggy day in San Francisco. The wind was blowing across Clayton's face as he walked around abandoned cars on the lifeless great red bridge. Sweat was dripping down his forehead as he dragged a small refrigerator behind him. He was treading slowly, avoiding the pockets of radiation that still remain scattered across the road.
"If only these cars still worked" he thought to himself. "Then I wouldn't have to haul this damn fridge all the way back."
The only technology that still worked on the surface were weapons. Almost everything else stopped working after years of sitting in the weather and neglect. And plus, even if somebody were to try and fix something they wouldn't know how since almost all documentation has been lost.
He proceeded to walk down down the bridge towards the once great city of San Francisco. From where he was, he was only able to see the tips of the destroyed skyscrapers through the thick fog. He thought of how grand the city must have once been, but it now lay in irradiated ruins. He dreamed of how wonderful and easy life must have once been, of how it was before the Third War. But now here he was, dragging refrigerator across a 2 mile bridge, prepared to get ambushed by bandits at any moment.
By the time he got to the opposite side of the bridge the sun have already began to set.
"Dammit," he muttered to himself. He had to get back to the settlement while there was still sunlight or he would be unable to find his way back. He quickened his pace and headed towards the heart of the broken city.
Despite quickening his pace, he still wasn't moving as quickly as he would have liked to be. After all, carrying a thirty pounds of weaponry while hauling a small refrigerator up the San Franciscan slopes isn't an easy task. He had to be careful with the refrigerator though. It contained several packages of Nuka-Cola, the irradiated, thirst-quenching, tumor-enhancing soft drink of the wastelands. Nuka-Cola was one of the few substances remaining that doesn't cause a person to vomit after consuming. However, it also contains significant amounts of cocaine, a substance that Clayton is addicted to.

First Page

    My name is Hanna. Hanna Dunn. I am 16 years old. I guess you could say that I am a social misfit, like Bernard Marx from Brave New World. People don’t like me. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I don’t look like everyone else. I don’t have the luscious, luxurious salon-hair. I don’t wear anything that shows my midriff. I am plain and simple. I wouldn’t say that I’m ugly. My mom told me i was pretty all the time. Sure, I do wear glasses and I don’t have the most perfect teeth. That’s me Hanna Dunn. My life is the definition of hell. It feels like fate is not my side. When I was 10, my mom filed for divorce and remarried a young college graduate, named Dale, who has a thing for cougars. After 2 years of marriage, my mom and Dale had a pair of beautiful twins named Lori and Megan. It seemed like my father and I didn’t matter anymore. She never called me on my birthday and on holidays.She never sent me cards or never showed up to my 8th grade graduation. She never did anything that a parent is supposed to do. I was never invited to her home on weekends. I feel like she has disowned me.
    The bell rang and I sat in my English class watching all the students rush into the flooded hallways to socialize with their friends. I rolled my eyes and slowly gathered my things. My English teacher, Mr Diaz, tapped my shoulder.
    “I need to talk to you”, he told me signaling me to come to his desk.
    “Ok”, I responded quietly slowly walked over to his desk.
    Mr Diaz always smelled of coffee. He had a tiny scruffy black beard that is very appealing. He always played classical music and always hummed while grading papers. Majority of the girls find him attractive, but I find him annoying. He has that Im-so-cool-attitude. A more socially acceptable term is: Hipster.
    I finally reached his desk. “Yes”, I responded in a very annoyed tone.
    He walked to his cluttered desk and turned the volume down on his radio. I recognized the tune. It was Planets: Mars, The Bringer Of War by Gustav Holst. “Hanna,” Mr. Diaz pointed out, “You are failing my class.” He paused.
    I looked up.
    He continued. “If you do not bring up your grade, then you would have to repeat my class in summer school.” He stopped and waited for me to fight back.
    I shrugged my shoulders. “OK”.
    “Is that what you want?”, he cited
    I shrugged my shoulders again.
    I walked out the classroom and stood in the hallway for 10 minutes as if time had stopped and i was stuck motionless forever. I had a blank expression on my face, but on the inside my mind was swarming with many emotions and thoughts. I don’t want to go summer school. School is far worse than hell for me, why would I want to put myself through more hell? I stood there confused, unaware of the people passing me by as if I was caged rabid animal. I trudged to the front of the school occasionally sighing every 30 seconds. I noticed a familiar figure sitting looking up towards the sky. I realized it was my only friend in this hellhole.Lucia .

Sophie's 1st Page
         
          Peter Hanson was born in Sydney, Australia in 1981. He lived with his mother, a cheery, blond receptionist, and his father, a tall, handsome pilot. They lived together happily in a quaint little seaside house with a big porch, where they would sit and drink lemonade on hot days. Peter's favorite thing to do was listen to his father's stories about all the different exotic places he had traveled to. Peter loved the way his father's eyes lit up, and how he moved his big hands through the air when he was trying to describe some far off land- like India in the springtime, or some ancient ruins in Italy. His father's stories fascinated Peter, and he fantasized about one day being a pilot too, and having his own stories to tell. One fateful July afternoon in 1990, Peter's father was killed in a car crash, on the way to buy ice for lemonade. Peter felt as though his whole world had been shoved through a trash compacter. For the first month after the accident, he only left his bedroom to get food and go to the bathroom.  However, his room slowly began to resemble the nest of some sun-shy animal, and he decided that this would not an optimum living environment, if he wanted to grow above five feet tall. So instead, Peter vowed that he would become a pilot, and travel the world like his father. Unfortunately, Peter's mother was not able to pull herself out of her grief as quickly. She became rather ill, Peter would often find her lying in bed, with the blinds drawn, for hours or even days at a time. Because of this, Peter was forced to grow up very quickly. By the time he was seventeen, he was quite self sufficient. He cooked and cleaned for himself and his mother, and his grades were good enough to get into even the most prestigious of colleges. However, Peter encountered a shock when he discovered the cost of pilot school. He couldn't bear the thought of asking his mother to pour away what little savings she had. So he took on many loans, and part time jobs, until finally graduated. He landed himself a job at Australian Airlines, and at last, he was free to live out the rest of life as a pilot like his father.
            "Peter Hanson, please report to gate 6 for flight 3564. Peter Hanson" The harsh voice over the intercom shook Peter from his reverie. He glanced at his watch, swore loudly, and started at a run through the bustling airport.

First Page-CN

My mommy came to my school and picked me up early! Thats a good thing and a bad thing because I had just bit another kid so mommy is mad at me, but I get to leave and go home early. While we walked over to the car I saw a really cute rabbit by a tree. Quinby says that it looks weird cause it's pink, but I like pink it’s one of my favorite colors and Marvin agrees, I am even wearing it today. Mommy should wear more pink, Daddy should too! 
“ ..ve. Eve, are you listening to me?” Un oh, Mommy’s talking in her ‘mad’ voice, I guess I got distracted by the bunny, it was just too cute to ignore!

“Yeah...”Mommy sighs like she’s trying to make fog on windows, I do that all the time in the mornings. I make a contest to draw as many things as possible before it clears away. Darwin does it with me.  Oh, looks like I’m getting distracted again.

“Your Father and I are going to talk about this when we get home. Got it young lady?” “Okey-Dokey.” ‘Okey-Dokey!~’ Darwin’s copying me again, I hate that. But Quinby always tells him not and boops his head after words, and that's really funny so I guess its ok. By the time  me and mommy are in the car Quinby hits Darwin.

‘Don’t Mock Eve, You doo-doo.” Doo-doo is a funny word. But now Darwin and Quinby are fighting, they fight a lot.‘You need to loosen up, You're too serious’ Darwin says. I’ve heard this conversation before, so I just tune it out till we get home. Quinby and Darwin are always fighting, sometimes it makes my head hurt a lot.

“ Honey, we’re home now. Can you unbuckle yourself or do you need my help?”Mommy always thinks I need help with things, but I’m a big girl now so I can do things by myself.

“ I can do it!” As I hop out the car I grab my backpack and my lunch box, I still haven’t eaten out of it though, cause we left early. Darwin and Quinby stopped fighting right when mommy drove into the parkway, they both love being home cause I’ve got the coolest house.

Max's First Page

Max Agress
7th Period
English 2
Ms. Mason

                                                  Street Prospect

           From my understanding, it all started when I was 2 years old. A heated argument between my ma and my pops got outta’ hand and he busted a choppa’ through her brain. Pops was a drug lord, so he knew what to do next. His partnas’ and him came took care of the corps and I was left there cryin’. After that point, it was all down hill. Raised by the streets, rap music, and the game, no one was lookin’ out for my future no mo’.

           Pops knew what he did was wrong and he tried to help me out, but how could he? When he couldn’t even help himself out in the first place. The only life he knew was the drug life. All this lead to one of my first memories and one of his last.
From what I recall, he came into my room, told me to be a good kid, and left. That would be the last time I would ever see him. After that moment, I was taken to live in The Acorn Jects with my best friend Alphonzo, but we just call him Zo. We were basically bros, but his parents never cared about me. They acted as if I was merely a burden and basically let me do anythin’.

           One of the only things they did for me was force me to go to school.  I fuckin’ hated it, all they would ever do was force some bull shit down my throat. They tried to teach me to treat others how I would want to be treated, but shit didn’t apply to me. No one cared about me, cept’ for Zo. The real lessons I learned came from the brothas’ on the streets. They taught me how to make money, they taught me how to protect myself, and they taught me how to live. School didn’t do anythin’ for me cept’ waste my time. I’m surprised I even lasted in it as long I did.

           As time passed by, I got caught deeper into the streets, takin’ the path of my pops. Even tho’ I was just a youngin’ they patnas’ thought I was ready the join the trade of the streets. In the 5th grade, I made my first sell. It was just a little dime sack, but doin’ so felt so right. From there, they taught me how to grow dro, and all the different types of dro. From that point I became of full time student, goin’ through the bull shit of school during the day, then coming back to Acorn to learn bout’ the game. This happened almost every day of my life, until the 8th grade. That year was the most defining year of my childhood.

Injung Ahn
Mason 7
                        Noises
“Ring! Ring!”
The disturbing noise echoed through my brain like a sonar echolocation. It rattled my ears and my brain recoiled from the encounter. I shut my ears to block the noise but for naught. The noise travelled through my hands like light through a window. I couldn’t do anything about it. I tentatively opened my eyes. Light flooded them and I winced. I felt the warmth of my blanket and bed cover me while I contemplated where the noise was coming from. I saw it the face of my tormenter: the ringing device on the dresser. I fumbled as I stuck my leg out of the covers, but recoiled because a breeze of subzero air struck my leg. I quickly put my leg back in the covers and reviewed my situation. How I thought to myself could I get to the device and disarm it without allowing myself to feel the evil cold. My brain raced to find the solution as if I thought the device would explode in the next 5 minutes. I reached out quickly grabbed the device and pushed a couple buttons. The evil tool stopped and I sighed relieved. I threw it on the ground and enveloped myself in the warm covers of my bed. Suddenly, I was taken back to the dream world and felt myself slip from consciousness. 


Dozens of thoughts swirled through my mind as i fell into a trance. I felt as though I was trying to catch soap bubbles directing my attention to another fragment of my memory as they faded and i moved on to the next. 


Approximately 25 minutes pass and then the same disturbance occurs.
“AAAARGHHH” I yelled indignation.

First Page-Natalie Burns

“Come eat your dinner, girls”, John sighed as the girls continued to play. Camille didn’t stop bashing the two mini cars together as she insisted that she wasn’t hungry.

“Marie, won’t you eat?” John pleaded to his other daughter. When she turned, a long, golden lock of hair fell from a freckled shoulder.

“You know I only like to eat Mom’s food.” John turned to the prepared meal, rubbed his temples, and sat. He stared blankly at the overcooked pasta for an extensive amount of time, as if his mind had been consumed by the soggy food. To his left sat the obituary from nearly a year ago. ‘Annette Anderson, wife and mother of two, died March 1, 2010’ was highlighted with bright colors and infested with squiggly hearts. The purple rings around his eyes made the girls think he was a zombie, but when he slowly got up and dragged his feet as he walked, they knew he was one. Before he drowsily wished the girls goodnight, he shamed them once more about not eating.

Camille and Marie carried on with their fiddling fingers.

“How was school today Camille?”, Marie asked with genuine curiosity. Quickly Camille looked away.

“It was okay, we learned about division”. She took the hint when Marie’s eyebrows pulled together in a skeptical look.

“What really happened?” Camille looked down, dropping the HotWheels to the floor.

 “Well,”, she had said, giving up trying to find a lie,

“I got detention today from Ms. Avery”. Marie’s eyes rolled as she accepted this, because it has become such a regular occurrence.

“And why was that?”. Camille pretended to be deaf and cupped her ears and squinted. After Marie threw few “hmm’s?” and “c’mons” she finally gave in.

“Ms. Avery asked me why I have been so angry this year and asked if it was because Mama was gone.”. “And?”, Marie motionlessly asked.

“And. I told her to go to hell. “, she shrugged. Marie opened her eyes wide with eyelashes scattered across her eyes like a fan. Her very own little sister had told the H-word to her teacher. 

EXPOSITION:Soandso is a 15 year old sophmore girl at Aeries High School
INCITING INCIDENT: She signs up for the African American Student Union for the second time (her request to join was ignored when she signed up for the first time her freshman year)
RISING ACTION: They reject her and then act as if she never signed up
CLIMAX: She decides to make her own club, African American Student Union 2, which results in the sparking of a full blown club vs club war
SOLUTION: African American Student Union 2 ends up being much more successful than the original, so they decide to join forces to rule the world, starting with the steps at the entrance to the school

First Page

1917
            The time was twelve p.m. on a Monday. Sherlock and Watson were standing, or rather pacing, in their sitting room of 221 B Baker St. The previous day, Sherlock had received a letter from the U.S. Government’s Secretary of Defense; stating the arrival of two official U.S. representatives at his London home the following day, precisely at noon. Information about the subject of the visit was not included, only the request for complete privacy. A knock at the door awakened Sherlock from his concentrated internal rumination as to the reason why the U.S.’s own Secretary of defense would be contacting him through this mysteriously vague letter. He opened the door to let in the two suited men standing on his stoop. As they entered, the men scanned the flat with their eyes, presumably taking in any and all curious details; a trait which Sherlock used more than even these men, for that was his profession.
“Mr. Holmes,” said one of the two representatives, addressing Sherlock. “I believe you were told that we require absolute privacy.” said the man while looking at Watson.
“No, Watson stays.” And at the look of further argument pending on the representative’s face, Sherlock continued, “Dr. Watson is my partner- my colleague. He has worked with me on all of my cases; I will not have this be an exception.”
The official, who had obviously heard of Sherlock’s insistent personality and saw no point in trying, took a seat, the other following his lead. “We have come on matters regarding top-secret U.S. warfare action plans.” But at this he stopped, for another person was making noise in the kitchen. The delegate looked incredulously at Sherlock, and taking this as a sufficient clue, he called,
“Mrs. Hudson, please leave.”
“Oh don’t mind I was just making tea for your friends”
“Mrs. Hudson.” Sherlock said in a curt tone which Mrs. Hudson understood, so left.
“Mr. Holmes, I don’t think you understand the severity of the issue we are dealing with!” The official scolded with a clenched jaw.
“Landlady. My apologies, please continue.”
The representative carried on, “We are hoping that you will be able to help us to recover the aforementioned warfare plans. They have been-”
“Stolen. Yes, obviously” Sherlock finished for him.
“from the U.S. Warfront Bureau.” Continued the official, ignoring the interruption. “We believe that the thief is a German spy, who is posing as a government official. If we are right, then he will be attending an upcoming conference between the warfront offices of Britain and the United States.”
“Ah! But how to tell…” Sherlock trailed off.
“I’m sorry?” Inquired the representative.
“You want me to pick him out of the crowd at his meeting. But how, when he has already been successful this far passing for a U.S. official? Yes, this is exactly why I’m here.” 

First Page

              The wind was blowing harshly, the ground was covered in a thick blanket of snow. A small 

stone creature can be seen walking the back streets and side alleys of downtown vancouver on these 

nights. He does not have a name, but people call him Jim. Jim loves these cold nights, people stay in their 

houses and the streets are his. While walking he notices a strange shoe print in the snow, one he has never 

seen before, it intrigues him. He takes a closer look and can tell he has not seen it before because the shoe 

it comes from a different land, a land he has only heard of... America. Jim is frightened because he knows 

america is a place filled with evil, so he investigates. Jim stiffly moves through the snow following the 

tracks the beach. As Jim looks around he notices a strange man sitting on a log. Jim begins to approach 

the man when suddenly, the sun starts to come up. 

              FLASH! Jim is frozen....

 A couple hours later Jim is awoken, he knows he the man has left, but he has no clue where. 

He begins to walk along the beach, a place that is familiar to him, Jim was built on the beach by some 

kids long ago... this was his home. But now, this place was tainted... by an american. It sickens him and 

he throws up all thats in his stomach, sand. Feeling terrible Jim decides to get a drink, so he goes close 

enough to the ocean to take a sip....

First page

My name is Jaden, i’m not your average teenager, I didn’t grow up with bikes and candy. My family is made up of the highest ranked agents from around the world. The closest thing I received that was close to candy was some sugar-coated centipede from south america, but that is not the point. Now for as long as I can remember, i’ve been training to be a C.U.N.T (Certified Underaged Neglected Trainee) CUNT’s are a underground secret agency that is run by a family organization, whose main goal is kill those, who are the main source of death’s around the world.

For 16 years I’ve been training alongside one of the most well known CUNT in the CUNT agency, Donnell Jones. Donnell is like a father figure to me, he’s been through with me thick and thin and has taught me everything I know today. Several months ago I was assigned one last task before I was eligible to graduate, this task was to travel to Afghanistan and kill Osama Bin Laden. I didn’t know much about him, only thing I knew was that he was involved in some “9/11 attack” Still if it was my last task I suspected he was someone big. I traveled with several certified CUNT’s as I was the only CUNTee on the mission. On the helicopter ride there I carefully observed all the regions we were passing by, as this was my first time outside of the headquarters, I was quickly fascinated. During the ride I soaked in all the amazing scenery. Before I knew it Donnell was screaming “GO GO GO” and I quickly followed the rest of the CUNT’s. Gunshots fired as he followed his team, but I was uninterested, I was really fascinated by the amazing design of the building and the quality of the tiles on the floor. Again before I knew it Donnell and the rest of the team were carrying Osama on a stretcher. I was speechless. Donnell looked at me with that "what happened out there" face and I knew what he was going to say. "What happened out there?" He told me. "I was sorta.. lost in the scenery" Jaden told him. "The scenery of a run down condo?" He told me with an aggressive tone. I was silent from there. The ride back was filled with many of the teammates gloating about their achievements on how they “shot a terrorist in the face” but when it came to them asking me on what I did, I was silent. Ashamed that on the biggest mission of my life, I was distracted by tiles. They kept on bugging me but Donnell turned around and gave the group the death stare, and they knew to stop bugging me.

first page- AaronT

            When Mikhael entered his room the phone was ringing. It wasn’t a grand noise, although in truth it wasn’t a grand phone, the whole apartment was on the rundown side. The drapes gave off a scent that most would categorize as hard to describe, all the chairs squeaked as if someone had put an entire family of mice in them, the kitchen never well stocked, and the lights always dim, when they worked. The man who inhabited these rooms matched them well, his threadbare coat a colour that no dye could produce, his shoes showing signs of overwork, even his hat, a flat rag of a thing, looked as if it had seen better days.

            The reason any of this was surprising was who was on the phone.

“Hello”

“Hello” said a voice known throughout the world. A voice that had proudly rallied nations to battle, and instituted a new world order. This was the voice of a man who could have buildings, countries, men built and destroyed.

“Comrade” strangled out Mikhael. Then immediately aghast at his poor response, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Mikhael do you know who this is?” asked the voice.

“Of course comrade, who wouldn’t” and indeed this was a voice known the world over. A voice more familiar to most than “the pledge of allegiance”, this voice so well known, yet so few had ever heard it spoken to them, only over the radio waves, through television, through fervently proclaimed quotes had they heard the words uttered by this voice, and yet Mikhael knew it.

“Do you know why I am calling you comrade?”

“ I must admit sir, that I do not, in fact if I were to guess at the recipient of one of your calls, I believe my name would be among the last” Mikhael stuttered

“Mikhael do not let any one ever say you are not well spoken.” Chuckled the voice

“I’m sorry… I do not understand” Mikhael chocked out after attempting to wrap a severely shock addled mind around this seemingly alien speech pattern which now confronted him”

“your speech comrade, it is very well thought out, you have a way with words, you have a gift Mikhael. Though I suppose that is normal for an author”

“I’m sorry comrade but you have me mistaken, I am no author. The farthest from it in fact” trilled Mikhael as he began to clutch at a familiar concept. “I am the simplest of factory workers, I do one job, a simple job for a simple pay, and at the end of the day I can say that I have worked in benefit of the nation, nay the world”

“Come, come Mikhael, do you think me stupid?” after a long pause the voice continued, “ with my recourses do you honestly think I do not already know who you are? What you have done? What the great Mikhael Katsenbogen had written and accomplished?”

first page of short story

                Margarita Castro

“Life of a swimmer”

I will always remember that day as it were yesterday May 18, 2010 exactly two years ago. Beating the national butterfly swimming style setting a record of 200 meters in 2:05.96 minutes was the best thing that had ever happened to me until my tragic accident. On our way back home to celebrate my triumph   a bus whose breaks didn’t respond crashed our car in which my coach, my friends, and I were in. Before I knew it in within a blink everything was upside down everyone was bloody and hurt. I couldn’t help but scream for help I couldn’t feel my body I was stuck in between the seats and my body didn’t seem to respond to the movements my brain was telling it to make. By the time the firefighters got there I felt all weak and was seeing double. After that I woke up to a white plain room which seemed like the hospital. While waking up I could hear a familiar voice that called out my name “Monica, Monica honey” then I realized it was my mom. She had a face expression I had never seen before a feeling of being scared worried and sad and of hiding something. I asked her to explain in detail what had happened but halfway through she broke down crying. I knew something was not right my mom is a strong women who never gets taken down or gives up for anything. Then my father came in and with such tranquility just like the man he is he explained to me that I would start feeling some changes in my body that could greatly damage the chances of me ever swimming again. For me the news hit me like a rock had hit me right in the head but how what would I do without being able to do what I love to do what I live for. I stayed quiet for a while breaking down now I understood why this was so hard for my mom. When the doctor came in more calmly he explained to me step by step everything I needed to know. He told me I had been bleeding for a while after the accident and that something appeared to have gotten in my blood stream that they had never seen before, then considered it an unknown disease, he tried giving me hopes up by telling me they would do all they could possibly do and they would have the best doctors come down here and find a cure for this. This disease would cause my bones to go week and little by little my bones wouldn’t respond to my movement signals. His last few words caught my heart he said “Monica never give up, if what you wish to see is you swimming again stay positive and believe you will get out of this”.

Jack Bastian's story proposal

Peter Clarkson is a struggling musician waiting for his big break.  He plays regularly at a small jazz club, owned by his parents, in New York but he has never played in front of an audience much larger than 50 people.  He formed a piano trio that fills up his parents club.  But the only reason anyone comes to the concerts is to see the amazing drummer.  He is immensely talented.  More than he even realizes.  Until one day, Samuel Jones, a famous jazz pianist walks into the club and hears the amazing sounds coming from Peters drum set.  He stays around after the show to talk to Peter.  He asks him if he would consider playing with his trio.  Peter is in pure disbelief.  Samuel Jones had played with the best of the best and now Samuel was the best of the best.  Peter agrees and starts practicing with him the next day.  After a few months of playing with Samuel, Peter starts to break the ties with his parents jazz club.  The audience for the shows at the club were waining because the great Peter Clarkson wouldn't be hammering away at the drums.

Sophie's Short Story Proposal

               Peter  had dreamed of being a pilot ever since he was little. He wanted an to explore the world, and live an adventurous life. Being from a poor family, he had to work his way through pilot school- it was very hard work, but he finally achieved his goal. However, when he got a job at a commercial airline, it was not what he had hopped for. He found himself making the same few boring flights over and over again, and the airline he was working for was very corrupt. It would often trick passengers into missing their flight. The airline owners were grossly wealthy, while the employes were mistreated. When he asked his boss to be able to make flights to more exciting places, she just laughed at him. Peter desperately wanted to change to a different airline, however he was still in enormous debt from pilot school, and could not afford to quit his job. One night he came up with a plan. He would run away, and fly around the world. Slowly, piece by piece, he started stealing the parts to build a small airplane from work. Every day he would sneak a little back in his briefcase. However, not all parts were brief case-sized, so he had to go on several over night missions. It took him 13 months to gather and assemble all the right pieces. At last, he found himself needing one final part. Peter has a very close call when his boss had stayed behind at work, because he was suspicious of Peter. However, he managed to escape, and finish the airplane. The story ends with Peter flying to India

Natalie’s Short Story Proposal

EXPOSITION: The tired family of three is falling apart. The father, John, middle aged and weary could no longer support his two daughters Marie, 12, and Camille, 9. Marie is the mature, pulled together sister, while Camille tends to be more impudent and can have a sharp tongue. Problems had started three years ago when their mother, Annette, had died. Lacking a mother and unable to cope, the family went down a spiral of depression and darkness.

INCITING INCIDENT: In desperation, John remarries to a bride to hopefully pull the family together. He wishes nothing but the best for the girls, but unfortunately they disapprove of her. Samantha is a stubborn woman who is never wrong in her book.

RISING ACTION: If anything, home life for the girls was only getting worse. They would immediately hurry to their rooms as soon as they entered the door, not wanting to feel like a burden. The two girls hold their tongues at every moment they are being unfairly shunned from Samantha.

CLIMAX: Samantha’s controlling ways ignite Camille’s feisty temper to lash out. Marie tries to keep the two rational, but they have entered a heated argument. Over an intense shouting match, Samantha ends up hitting Camille across the face.

FALLING ACTION: Samantha is forced to move out once John hears about the incident.

RESOLUTION: Samantha comes back a changed woman after years of therapy. She then apologized to the now full grown sisters, leading a healthy friendship with Samantha.

EXPOSITION:Soandso is a 15 year old sophmore girl at Aeries High School
INCITING INCIDENT: She signs up for the African American Student Union for the second time (her request to join was ignored when she signed up for the first time her freshman year)
RISING ACTION: They reject her and then act as if she never signed up
CLIMAX: She decides to make her own club, African American Student Union 2, which results in the sparking of a full blown club vs club war
SOLUTION: African American Student Union 2 ends up being much more successful than the original, so they decide to join forces to rule the world, starting with the steps at the entrance to the school

Safi's Short Story Proposal

Exposition: Ariel is a mermaid and princess of Atlantica, an under water kingdom ruled my her father, living the high life with her friends Sebastian and Flounder. Much fun is had. Inciting incident: Ariel can't find her magic seaweed anywhere and it wasn't even hers and she has to give it to its rightful owner the next day!!!!!! Rising Action: Ariel, Sebastian and Flounder look everywhere but they can't find it. Sebastian thinks Ursula the sea witch stole it so they must venture to her lair and retrieve it. Climax: After a pretty quick journey they get to Ursual's place where accusations are made, a confrontation is had and a fist fight ensues. Falling Action: They get the seaweed and swim as fast as they can back to Atlantica so they can meet up with Ariel's friend in time. Resolution: The seaweed is returned and Ariel is going to make more of an effort to keep an eye on her belongings.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the German Spy

EXPOSITION: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are a mystery solving duo, living in London, England, 1917. The U.S. has just entered WWI.
INCITING INCIDENT: Sherlock receives an urgent letter from the U.S. government saying that two representatives will arrive at his house, the following day at noon, and they require complete privacy.
RISING ACTION: The two U.S. official representatives explain that a German spy has stolen important documents from the pentagon, regarding vital war plans against Germany. They need him to track down the spy, whom they believe will attend a government function in London, one week from then.
CLIMAX: Sherlock and Watson are at the government function, trying to determine who the German spy is. Sherlock uses his classic method of closely monitoring people's idiosyncrasies, and details regarding their appearance. Unfortunately the spy has been trained very well, so everything from his appearance to his manners and speech, makes him indistinguishable from an Englishman. Sherlock poses as a server, and "accidentally" spills hot soup on the man he believes to be the spy, who instinctively swears in German.
FALLING ACTION: The spy has revealed himself, and is arrested and forced to hand over the stolen documents about the U.S.' war plans.
RESOLUTION: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson have successfully solved the mystery of the German spy.

Justin's short story

Retired evil-doer, Nathaniel the Great. Hidden among society lives a peaceful life. Until one day an old co-evil-doer Quinten comes and informs him that there is great trouble among there peaceful home world that the evil-er lord Muzzafuzza has gone and taken over their society, Quinten and Nathaniel both blast out doing 100 million on the milky way high way to their home planet. When Muzzafuzza realizes that the two greats are coming he flees and leave their home world to them

Angelina's Short Story

In the small native town Kuwaiti, Hawaii, a 17 year old girl named Lilo gets her foot bitten off by a great white shark when she is attacked while surfing. As the shark was ready to bite her again, a pack dolphins came to her rescue ( this actually happens ). Lilo doesnt have a family because they were shady people and they left her on a rock  outside of the neighbors house when she was 2, so she lives with her 87 year old neighbor, Agnus, and her dog, Stitch. Agnus is a retired Marine Biologist. When Lilo turned 18, she found Agnus dead laying in her bed. Lilo is hecka sad and basically goes into a depression because the only person to ever care about her is dead. A couple of days after the poor death of Agnus, Lilo finds a box of thousands of  pictures and newspaper reports in Agnus's room. The pictures all had different types of marine life. And the newspapers all had different aquariums that are looking for new places to  build an aquarium for the injured mamals that they are taking care of. Baically Lilo snaps out of her depression and builds the biggest aquarium in the world and names it after Agnus. The end dudes.

A long time ago, in Canada, lived an unuckchuck. This unuckckuck was special. It comes to life at night and reigns terror on people. But than Aaron comes and bugs him, so the unuckchuck kills him. The unuckchuck than has to hide from the police. He feels guilty, because canadians are super nice and he has not been nice. He has let canada down and kills himself.

Jimmy's Short Story Proposal

Exposition: A post apocalyptic San Francisco. Most civilization is wiped out and the surface is a radioactive wasteland. There are two types of people that still remain: those that lived on the surface and survived the nuclear war, and those that avoided the fallout by taking shelter in special bunkers. The surface is currently a lawless place littered with bandit groups, with the exception of a few small settlements. Now a boy that was recently kicked out of his vault must survive the surface.

Inciting Incident: The boy gets addicted to Nuka-Cola and begins stealing it while living inside the vault. The vault elders vote to have him exiled from the vault into the wastelands.

Rising Action: The boy travels around trying to quench his thirst for Nuka-Cola, the radioactive soft drink of the wastelands. Without it he will die. He learns that there is a warehouse nearby filled that has a freezer filled with Nuka-Cola and is guarded by bandits. He attempts to eliminate the bandits and take the Nuka-Cola.

Climax: The boy guns down the bandit group and the blood attracts nearby mutants. His Geiger counter is destroyed as he is trying to run away. He locks himself in the freezer to hide from to mutants and starts quenching his thirst for Nuka-Cola.

Falling Action: He is able to survive several hours inside the freezer.

Resolution: He dies from radiation poisoning from the Nuka-Cola.

Brian's short story

MEGA ROUGH
A mercenary is hired by a terrorist  group with ideas of bombing town square on a day of festivities. The man accepts the job without feelings of guilt or remorse, for the job pays $200,000. The day of festivities arrives, and a squad is sent out get the job done. But just as they are planting the bomb, feelings of guilt hit the man, triggered by an epiphany of some sort. The man then questions how he is going to get rid of the bomb, which has a set timer...

I'm Fired

John is a 23 year old college drop out who has an internship at a huge fashion company in New York. He arrives 2 hours late on his first day, and as soon as he enters the doors, he receives a notice telling him to go to his boss' office. His boss gives him a long lecture about how this company is family owned and he will not tolerate tardiness. He warns him that if he is late again he will be fired. He goes on with the rest of the day without any troubles. The next day, he decides to bring his boss lunch as an apology. He contemplates what top bring him, and decides on his favorite sandwich deli. He only has enough money for one sandwich, and decides that he will go hungry to repair the relationship with his boss. He decides to take the elevator to his boss' floor. When the elevator gets to the floor, the doors will not open. He waits for an hour and a half, before he gets hungry and eats the sandwich. Seconds after he eats the last crumb, the doors open and his boss is out front. "I've been looking for you all day. Where have you been?" John tells him the story of how he wanted to get him lunch for him. His boss doesn't believe him, but he decides to let him go just this one time. He only asks John, "Where is my sandwich?"

Zoe's Short Story Proposal

Exposition: A young girl by the name of Rebecca lived in a small town in southern mississippi by the name of River Side. She lives on a rundown farm with her broken family of three. She lives with her drug addict father and her drug dealing mother. She attends a run-down public school called River Side High School. She lives a hard life at home and life at school is not much better.

Inciting Incident: On a hot september morning, Rebecca's first day of Junior year, she walks into her 1st period class late as usual. She stands at the front scanning the class for an empty seat, and finds herself having to sit in the only available seat next to the most popular girl in school. Rebecca is ok with this but sits uncomfortably since Debbie, the most popular girl in school is very intimidating. Rebecca is a great student and immediately starts working hard in class zoning out her suroundings. Rebecca, then shifts a little in her seat and her highlighter rolls off her table and lands on Debbie's stiletto shoe. Debbie freaks out and tells Rebecca to watch out because Debbie was now out for revenge.

Rising Action: The next few weeks of school were hell for Rebecca. Debbie and her little cult of "perfects" were out to get Rebecca and took every opportunity they could get on embarrassing and making Rebecca's life a living hell. It had been three weeks of torture, and Rebecca walks into the school friday morning dreading what awful thing Debbie would do to her when she saw the words "this school is better off without you" written on her locker along with posters up and down the halls of signatures of everyone in the school agreeing that they want Rebecca gone.

Climax: Rebecca goes home crying her heart out thinking everyone hates her and there is no point in living. Her parents couldn't care less and ignore her sobbing. Rebecca then attempts to hang herself in her bedroom in an attempt to escape all the pain.

Falling Action: Rebecca's neighbor came over later that night to bring Rebecca's homework to her that she left at school and sees the rope hanging from the ceiling of her bedroom from the attempt suicide ad demands an explination. Rebecca and her neighbor have an intense conversation of what has been happening in Rebecca's life and her neighbor successfully convinced Rebecca to call the principal and tell him what Debbie and her friends had been putting Rebecca through. The principal punishes the girls accordingly.

Resolution: Instead of being depressed about what Rebecca had gone through, she chose to not dwell on the past and instead put together a slide show about bullying and the affects bullying have on people. She showed this slideshow to her fellow classmates at am assembly in hope that it will educate her classmates in thinking twice before they bully someone.

Cullen R's A Weekends Ended Thrill

A Weekends Ended Thrill.
Elements in exposition: Dan gets new truck and decides to go biking for the weekend. invites Joseph, Lenny, and John
Inciting incident: Get to camp sight, set up camp. they have a couple beers by the campfire anticipating the next day of fun biking. they go to sleep.
Rising action: First day out biking and everyone is killing it. loose dirt down every trail from everyone flying down so fast. everyone is going big, everyone is relentlessly confident. stumble upon a huge huck over the traintracks.
Climax:John decides to hit the jump straight over a moving train.the anxiety builds as they talk about the jump and everyone seems certain that John will make it. When the train comes John takes a breath and hits the hump all-but-perfectly, front tire touches the top of the train throwing John off balance. John hits the ground hard and flips once puncturing himself on the handle bar on his second rebound off of the ground. John lies there as his friends stumble down the hill towards him. after a dramatic conversation John dies
Falling action: Remorsefully everyone caries the bikes and john back to the camp sight, pack up and drive tearfully silent home. Dan's eyes don't see past the dimly lit road. when they get back they tell johns mom and sit there at the kitchen table with her comforting her and reminiscing about John.
Resolution: they attend the memorial (dialog of what everyone is thinking) Everyone heads back to Dan's house and sit in his garage with a cooler full of beer and a bottle of whiskey. everyone tells a drunk story about john and how great of a guy he was. before everyone passes out they vow to each successfully hit the jump to redeem John's unlikely death.

Max's Short Story Proposal

Exposition: In the Jects of Acorn, Oakland,  a young boy by the name of Trayvon Acorn is raised by the ghetto community. His dad, a former drug lord passed away when he was at the age of 3, and his mother was killed by his father slightly after he was born. He learns all his life lessons though the streets.

Inciting Incident: At the age of 13, he is given the opportunity to participate in the game of contact football and there he finds his passion in life. Rather than being stuck in the trade of the streets for his who life, he finally has an opportunity to make something of his life.

Rising Action: Prospering though the sport dominating anyone he comes up against, he is seen to be the next Bo Jackson. In his Jr year he is seen to be the #1 recruit in his class, having the opportunity to go to any college of his choice.

Climax: Not being able to get out of street life, he partakes in many drug deals. One day, before his home coming game, one of his 'homies' hits him up and tells him to bring 3 pounds of cocaine to an abandoned warehouse in Point Richmond. Questioning why he was sent up there with that quantity of narcotics with out any reason, he thinks about it. Finally he decides to do it, because he really has known him since he was a 'youngin'. When he arrives to the spot, he meets up with a strange man in a pea coat, only to find out, he has a 'chopper' hidden under it. The strong man robs Trayvon and while he escapes, he is shot in the behind.

Falling Action:  Because of the wound he took, he is no longer able to play football, and is stuck living the same life his dad does. As he recovers, he plans his revenge against his former 'homie' and the man who did this to him.

Resolution: 4 years after this, he finally find his former 'homie' who did this to him. He finallyconfronts him, forces him into a back ally, makes him get on his knees, shoots him in the back of the head. As he flees the scene, the cops begin to chase him, then finally they catch him and sentence him to life in prison.

Injung's Short Story Proposal

Exposition: the main character is a middle aged man named Jonathon Twain. He's living alone in the city working as an  under-payed computer programmer, who has a love for music.

Inciting Incident: one day he decides he is fed up and quits his job.

Rising Action: without anywhere else to go decides to pursue his dream of becoming a great musician. this proves rather difficult because he has done nothing his entire life, but sit a desk with a computer. without enough money to go to a music school or get music lessons for an instrument he uses his savings to purchase a piano. he uses his computer to help teach himself how to play while he finds another job, because he is shamed to return to his last job, as a free lancer who helps fix computers since he must lay rent. he works dilligently at practicing the piano and decides to enter a piano contest. when he enters he is dismayed to see that his competition are mere 15 year olds, but soon finds out that this may be incredibly hard after he hears the first contestant.

Climax: he wins the competition out of sheer will power as he tries his hardest to succeed.

Falling Action: he decides that this life is what he wishes to pursue so he takes his amateur winnings and moves to Paris and resumes his quest to master piano.

Resolution: although he works quite hard he never makes himself well known and marries at 35 a french girl.

Aaront's proposal

this story does not follow the normal arc
the story is set in a country very similar to Stalinist Russia
             the story begins with a man in his apartment receiving a call from the dictator of the country he lives in. a completely random call from one of the most powerful men in the world, it surprises him, he is initially shocked, and attempts to figure out why he is being called. the dictator simply asks what he can do for the man. the man is dumbfounded, things continue like this. the man continues to receive these calls and continues to speak to the dictator until they develop something resembling a friendship, but they can never truly talk, and there is always a wall. the man still has no idea why he is being called, and the dictator offers almost no explanation. this continues. they discuss a wide range of topics, ranging from governance of the state to the mans work, there appears to be no point. eventually the man confronts the dictator as to why he does these things, why he calls randomly, why he will grant the wishes of a few lucky people seemingly randomly, why the state of peoples lives around the man are so dire, why the dictator has some sort of god complex. the line goes dead, and the next day the secret police of the oppressive state take the man away, he is never seen again.
(details are not worked out, story is rough)

Short Story Proposal (ClaireN.)

Exposition: A family of three living in Bellevue, Washington begins to notice that something strange is happening to their daughter. The mother named Jane, is a counselor and the father named David, is an architect and their daughter is an 8 year old girl named Eve. The story starts with the parents receiving a call from their daughter’s school, saying that she had been showing aggressive behavior lately and had bitten another child. The parents are shocked because Eve had never shown any such behavior in the past. When the parents question Eve she replies that her friends told her to. Increasingly startled by this information they ask for the names of her friends, Eve tells them that her friends names are Marvin the mermaid, Quinby the clown, and Darwin the Monkey....

Inciting incident: (Rewind back to when Eve was at school) Eve’s class had just finished learning about fractions and they had been let out for recess. The other children went in there little groups leaving Eve the odd one out. The other kids stayed away from Eve because they all thought she was weird, she was always talking to herself and pretending people were there. The others played pretend too but they knew it was just fake, Eve got angry when they said no one was there. One brave kid came up to Eve and had invited her to play. At first she was excited and had accepted the invitation, but then Eve began looking very confused. The other child had touched her shoulder to get attention but was then bitten by Eve. The kid cried out loudly catching the attention of nearby teachers.

Rising Action: (Back to present) Jane and David were stunned, they knew that Eve had imaginary friends, what kid didn’t have at least one in their childhood, but this was not normal. Jane, the first of the pair to come out of her thoughts had sat down with Eve. She asked Eve to explain about her Imaginary friends. Eve then vehemently says that they are not imaginary, then said that they were her right now and that they were unhappy with Jane. David who is overwhelmed leaves the room for a few moments. After this conversation they quickly had dinner and put Eve to bed. David and Jane decide to take Eve out of school for a few days to take her to the Doctor.

Climax: (At the Doctors’) The Doctor decides that Eve’s general health is ok and recommends that they go see a psychologist. The psychologist is a middle aged woman named Kathy Reynolds, She is kind-hearted but is stern when needed. When they are at the psychologist, Kathy ask them to leave the room temporarily. She leads them to a room with a one-way mirror and ask them to sit here and wait while Kathy talks to Eve. After a short session, Kathy tells Eve’s parents that she believes that Eve has schizophrenia, one of the youngest cases ever know.

Falling Action: When the family goes home they have a tense dinner, which leads to Jane and David having a fight over whose fault it is. Jane says that its is David’s fault for being a workaholic and never spending time with Eve. David is arguing that if Jane paid more attention to Eve rather than her looks Eve might be normal the fight goes on to the night. With Eve crying in the background.

Resolution: The Family is now trying to cope with the fact that Eve is schizophrenic and David and Jane’s relationship is becoming more and more strained as time passes. Will the couple’s relationship worsen or will they come together to overcome this hardship? How will they go about dealing with Eve’s condition?