“Tonight is beautiful.” I held Teagan’s hand as we looked up at the stars from the back porch swing. Suddenly, the door opened and Mr. Nelson, without a word, grabbed Teagan’s arm and dragged her inside. 

I sprang into action and ran behind them, I held onto Mr. Nelson’s arm just before it came crashing down on Tegan. Mr. Nelson turned to me and snarled. He grabbed a handful of my clothing in his large hand and lifted me above the floor and threw me through the front door. 

Tegan screamed as Mr. Nelson came after me on the lawn, “James! Please just go! I’ll be ok!” 

Feeling defeated, I held my ribs as I hobbled to my car. Whether Mr. Nelson knew it or not this was not the end of it! If you want to see how I dealt with Mr. Nelson for his hospitality, keep watching til the end of the video!

Luckily for me, I was able to drive myself to the hospital where I called my parents and told them where I was.

"What happened?" Mom and Dad rushed into the hospital room just as I was pulling my tshirt on. 

"Your son will be fine," Dr. King said. "A few bruised ribs but in a few days he'll be ok."

"Bruised ribs?" Mom gasped and looked at me wide eyed.

"Someone tried to rob me on the way home but I was able to get away."

Mom hugged me tightly and cried.

"Paula," Dad looked at my reddened face, "You're suffocating the boy." 

Mom removed her arms hesitantly. 

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I had the perfect life. My parents adored me, I had tons of friends and my boyfriend Alex was the hottest boy at school. 

He was the captain of the football team and he drove a shiny new car. Every time he drove me to school, I saw a few girls turn green. I felt sorry for them, how did they even live?

Everyone loved me, except for my small sister Ivy. I didn't know what her problem was. Between you and me, I thought she was jealous. A few times I caught her in my bedroom trying on my clothes. Then there's that time I saw her drooling at Alex when he came over to swim in our pool. Ugh. As if he could even look at her twice. I bet he didn't even know she existed. 

Ivy and I looked nothing alike. I was tall with naturally blonde hair. She was a brunette and her height was average. So was everything else about her. That's why what she did next took everyone by surprise. Want to know what she did?

It was the last weekend of summer break. I'd just returned home after being away all summer and I couldn't wait to see my boyfriend Alex again. I bet he'd missed me. Correction, I know he'd missed me. Why else would he be throwing me a surprise welcome back party at his house? I wasn't supposed to know but my best friend Olivia was the biggest gossip at school. 

I'd just finished getting ready when mom announced that Alex had arrived. His timing was perfect. I even practiced my surprise face for when we arrived at his house for the party.

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“Are you sure, this is the item you want me to hide, Shelly?” Gideon, my twin brother, looked at me with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah sure why not?” I handed over the old tattered jewelry box that Grandma left for me in her will. We couldn’t get the box open because there wasn’t a key, so why not?

Gideon handed me his Xbox, “Ok, so you know the rules. The person who figures out the riddle and gets back their item first will forever be dubbed the Riddle Champion. Remember, you are only allowed to hide the items in the amusement park, home or at school.” 

Gideon and I shook on it. We went our separate ways, prepared our riddles and hid the items. When Grandma left me this box she told me that I should keep the box safe until the time was right. Little did I know that the game with Gideon was about to ruin my life! 

Hey, my name is Shelly. Gideon and I have a great bond but in spite of this we have always been competitive with each other, pushing each other and ourselves to be the best at what we do. 

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I was sitting on the bench in the park enjoying the cool night breeze with my date for the evening. 

“Come here, it’s getting a bit chilly.”

He put his arm around me and I leant my head against his shoulder.

He looked into my eyes and my heart started beating faster. I knew he was about to kiss me. 

But as he leant towards me the alarm on my phone suddenly started beeping. It was midnight!

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to go out with you anymore! We’re over!”

If you think that is weird, just wait til you see what happens later in this story.

It was the last day of the summer holidays and my friends and I were determined to make the most of it. We had arranged to spend the day at the lake in our town. It was our favourite place to hang out in the summer.

I was watching my friends splashing about in the water, it looked so cool and inviting I decided to go for a swim.

I dove into the water, it was icy cold and almost took my breath away. I started swimming towards my friends when suddenly I felt a cramping in my leg. 

“Aaargh!”

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“Nora don’t worry, she won’t find out!”

“You don’t know my mom!”

“Stop worrying. Have some fun! This carnival is only set up here once every five years!”

“Yeah! Look, have some of my cotton candy!” 

“Oh look! It’s a mini roller coaster! Let’s go on that one!”

“Then I want to go to the haunted house!”

“Fine!”

I had an exhilarating night. I was only fourteen years old and it was the first time I’d ever snuck out with my friends. You’re probably wondering why I needed to sneak out because what I was doing with my friends was totally harmless. Well, my mom was a total tiger mom. I wasn’t allowed to do anything! I was only allowed to go to and from school and she completely controlled all of my extracurricular activities. I had gymnastics on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Piano on Wednesdays and swimming on Fridays. Apart from those days, I had to be either at home or school. If I went anywhere it had to be with her, my dad and my younger sister Lily.

I wasn’t allowed to have sleepovers with my friends or to go to any of theirs. I had to top every single class or I was punished. And just like the original tiger mom, my mom didn’t allow me to participate in anything fun at school – no school plays, no fun days, nothing. In fact, if my mom found out that we were having a fun activity at school on a particular day, she’d force me to stay home to study.

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Dad opened the flap of my tent, “Hey, Darius, I need the backyard to set up for my birthday party.” 

I nodded. As Dad walked back to the house. I packed up my tent and placed my belongings in my black duffle bag. That night, Dad allowed me to sleep in his car that was parked in the garage. 

You may be wondering what type of parents would make their sixteen year old live in a tent in their backyard or even sleep in their car when they have a house. Well, honestly, I left my parents with no choice. Continue watching my story and you’ll see what I mean. 

When I was about fifteen years old, I wasn’t allowed to go out with my friends unless chaperoned by one of my parents. While my other friends were able to enjoy life, and date, I decided to stay at home. How embarrassing would it be if my parents were at the same table hanging out with my friends! My younger sister, Grace, didn’t mind but I wanted the freedom that my other friends had.  

I found that freedom with a group of older boys. I honestly can’t remember how we began to hang together, I just remember we used to hang out a lot. But, these boys lived in nicer neighbours than I did and their parents were doctors and lawyers so I was quite surprised when I realized the kind of things they did. 

As much as I wanted my freedom, this freedom came with choices and consequences which I didn’t understand at the time. Anyway, my new friends embraced me and to prove myself I did everything they wanted me to do, including skipping school. As long as I did everything they wanted they got me new clothes and shoes and anything else that I wanted. Life was good! 

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“The ice cream truck’s coming!” Charlie, my six year old brother yelled. “I’m going to ask Dad for some money.” 

“Dad said not to disturb him unless it’s an emergency,” I warned. 

“But this is an emergency, an ice cream emergency! Dad and I always get ice cream together,” Charlie pouted. 

“How about if I paid for the ice cream, will that be ok, Charlie?” Neil, my boyfriend asked. 

“Sure!” Charlie looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. 

Neil was the perfect boyfriend, and maybe that should have been a big red flag. If you want to find out what happened between Neil and I, keep watching the video.

Neil took Charlie’s hand and walked outside to the ice cream truck. They returned a few minutes later with three ice cream cones and a tub of ice cream. I took the tub and placed it in the freezer for dessert. Neil handed me the extra ice cream cone. After Charlie ate his ice cream cone, he went to his room to play while Neil and I watched the television.

Fifteen minutes later, Dad emerged from his office. 

“Where’s Charlie? I'm ready to get our Sunday ice cream.” 

“Ooohh, sorry Dad, the truck came a bit early today and Neil took him to get ice cream. You said not to disturb you.” 

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Bang! Bang! Bang! Rick and I lit the firecrackers and threw them down the street. 

“Rick! Gordon! I hope you aren't the ones bursting those firecrackers out there,” Mom yelled from the yard. 

“No, Aunty,” Rick yelled back. 

We waited about five minutes, before we started our shenanigans again. 

“Rick, check this out!” 

“Gordon, no!!” 

But it was too late. Jemma, Alicia’s friend from next door, called out to her and she ran right in front of me. The firecracker exploded. The cry that Alicia let out will haunt me for the rest of my life. 

Rick, Jemma and I ran to Alicia who was curled up in a ball in the middle of the street holding her ears.

“Alicia!” Mom screamed as she ran into the street and knelt next to Alicia. 

Dad scooped Alicia up and put her into the back seat of the car, Mom hopped into the car beside her and Dad jumped into the driver’s and the tires screeched as Dad pulled out of the driveway. 

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"This week's topic will be Ethics. Throughout the week we'll answer the following questions: What is ethics? What are the examples of ethics? What…"

I hated Mondays. I bet I could get away with a nap. Nothing fun ever happened at Oakwood High so what would I miss if I just zoned out for 10 minutes? Nothing right? Wrong. Turns out, we were about to have a very interesting Monday. Stick around and find out how a teacher almost lost his life for being too enthusiastic about his job.

I closed my eyes and my mind went to my best friend Jason and that almost kiss a few weeks ago…

"This week's topic will be Ethics. Throughout the week we'll answer the following questions: What is ethics? What are the examples of ethics? What…"

I could've sworn Mr. Scott said this exact same thing right before I dozed off.

"Mr. Scott are you alright?"

"Sure am Lynne. Is something the matter?"

"You just said the same exact thing you said 10 minutes ago. Word for word."

"Lynne, I just started the lesson now. 10 minutes ago I wasn't even in this class." Whole class gasps.

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“Damn, where is this paper?”, Mom said as she searched the house.

“Have you tried checking the library?” I tried to suggest, but mom glared at me and made me keep quiet. She didn’t even bother searching the library!

She decided to try Dad’s new car, I didn’t understand why she thought her documents could’ve found their way into his car, because Dad never concerned himself with any of her model stuff. I didn’t bother suggesting it because she wouldn’t listen to me anyway.

Let her search in vain then, I thought.

Few minutes later, I heard my mom screaming and crying loudly. She took out all dad’s things and set them on fire, she was also breaking anything and everything.

I ran to dad’s car to see what made her go ballistic and what I saw changed my whole life forever.

No matter what you do, a life event or an important decision you make will change your life forever. Your life may change for the better, but it could also change for the worst.

I’m Emma.

Mom and I used to be the best of friends, she always wanted a baby who was as beautiful as she was, so she could train this baby to take over from her in the modelling industry.

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