Connie Monologue

Grass tickles my bare feet, and the sultry night air caresses my skin as I stand facing the forest. With the moon full and glistening over the dew covered greenery, I am enraptured. The gentle breeze wraps around me like a lovers embrace and I am lost to my surroundings. The nights are beginning to cool with the new season and are a welcomed relief to the waning summer heat.

Early that morning, newly hired park ranger, Jennifer Flores, stuffed a banana into the blender and mixed up a high energy chocolate drink. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her face was clean and free of makeup. She was dressed in a black jogging outfit that hugged her body tightly and showed off her shape. She poured her drink into a glass and guzzled it down like she was in a beer chugging contest with her sorority sisters.

Connie’s parents ask if she wants to go to a barbecue at her aunt’s house and “Connie said no, she wasn’t interested, rolling her eyes to let her mother know just what she thought of it” (484).With her being so young and having no way to protect herself, she should not have stayed home or even been allowed to by her parents. Connie hears a car coming up the driveway, “a car she didn’t know” (484). Even though she does not recognize the car, she goes outside anyway. This is a big mistake that shows her immaturity. Instead of calling her parents to tell them an unknown vehicle is at their house, she decides to go find out herself and let the men know she is home. By the time Connie gets to the phone, Arnold Friend is already threatening her family’s lives and it is too

Jarvis was quickly interrupted by the commander asking, “Wait, what’s the Cuse area?” Jarvis paused to pick at his mashed potatoes with his fork before beginning again. “I’m from Syracuse. The Cuse is just what we locals call it. Well, at

"Mother, you have no right to question Mary Alice," Chris scolded. "Mrs. Henshaw, no matter what you may have read, Chris and I are dating, nothing more," Mary Alice said.

Once again, Tess is lying in bed being a spoilt brat! Acting like what she is going through is the worst thing in the world, it’s like I don’t even exist anymore, what happened to Fin was just ‘life’, and Daniel has no blame in it. Brendan, Mum and especially Joe think that because Tess and I are sisters, I should be the one to say something, to help her … but what am I supposed to say, that everything is ok, that nobody blames her or Daniel, what happened that night was just a terrible freak ‘accident’. It’s all rubbish, I hate Daniel! My own nephew, for what he did, and of course I blame him, he took my son away from me. As for Tess, she should have done something before his anger problems hurt innocent people. Maybe if she had Fin wouldn’t

ECHO I’ll be a balmy summer’s morning and you’ll ride at a comfortable pace down rowdy sidewalk of flinders’ lane. Your thoughts will skim briefly over the funny conversation from the previous night, before settling with quiet satisfaction over the forlorn gurgles of your empty stomach. Pleasant chimes will become audible as your iPhone vibrates, and when your heart sinks deep into the pit of your stomach, somewhere, you’ll know. Call it what you like, we think its fear, but it’s chemical. It’s the imbalances in the brain, fluctuations in the level of cortisol and serotonin that stimulate your senses and rev up the volume of those voices inside your head; those uncalled for whispers that tell you you can’t; no Jeanie, you shouldn’t, it’s not worth it in its cautious, menacing little voice.

She returns home but while in the car with Arnold she wasn’t aware of what his intentions were. Any teen girl would have plenty thoughts racing through their head, being lost and confused. Going back to the value of family, in Oates’ short story you question Connie's actions. Is this a self sacrifice? Or did she step into the car because of her curiosity? For example, Arnold Friend gives off a bad comment, "You don't want them to get hurt”(Oates 13). She thinks about her family before herself and even if she was upset with her mother and sister she put them first. Another lesson that possibly could have been learned would be Connie’s self admiration foreshadowing her downfall. Due to her being flattered by the attention of someone older she allows him to lure her out the house, “ She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited,”(Oates

I would like to thank for coming and visiting our AVID class. To go up and become a Miss San Joaquin is just really mind-bogglingly crazy! I have so much respect to you. I wouldn’t have the guts just to do any of the things that you’ve mentioned in class. I really admire you for that. To have the guts of steel to do something that might not even work out is just crazy. I also have lots of gratitude for you coming and seeing us even though you were scared to speak in front of us.

Running through branches and high standing grass, I sprint as fast as my body will move. Insure about how much energy my body has left, I keep pacing a constant speed to catch up to Lennie. As the forest begins to come to an end, there is a lengthy creek that comes to view. Hesitating, I plunge into the water trying to find my dear friend Lennie. Just as I think there is no hope on finding him I see a movement out of the corner of my eye. Thinking it was just an animal, I turn away not even realizing that the animal was Lennie. Lennie, terror- stricken and drizzling, is standing right in front of me. I try to dash toward him, but since my legs are in the water they don’t seem to move quickly. Not even bothered about how slowly my feet are moving I still leap toward him in excitement. Since we were hugging I didn’t even realize that the neighing and running footsteps of the men’s horse were drawing closer to us.

“William! Get back here! You know that’s Melinda’s land!” Carefree young William raced through the field, closing in on Melinda´s apple orchard. Melinda was the evil fairy who owned 25 acres just outside the town. On her land was an orchard. In this orchard grew the finest apples in all of England. These large, sweet apples were desired by any who laid eyes on them. The only problem was Melinda… She cursed anyone who dared step foot on her land, especially her cherished apple orchard.

Ben & Wally Already I know we are going to have so much fun (and drama) with these two. I kind of agree with as kids being closer and sort of falling apart as they grew older. To be completely honest they are both knuckle heads who need to get over themselves, but of course thats going to be a long way down the road. But yes, no matter what they are certainly going to act like brothers, I actually made Wallace purposly older by a year just so I could see him play that "I'm older than you card." I could actually see Wallace partially trying to prove himself to Bennett because to him Bennett is the pinnicale of Jazz sucess in his eyes at the moment as he hasn't been able to be close to anyone as close to it as him. I could see him being even partially angry seeing Bennett get to cocky since he had it all for a while and ruined it through his arogance, so like Wallace has

.... I wander around the carnival the scent of corn dogs and cotton candy lingering in the air all around me. Tents and rides line the roads, colorful lights flashing from them. The laughter of children constantly echos through the air. Making the carnival feel as alive as the sun. Something hard bumps into my shoulder and I'm pushed into the grass. I look up to see panicked chocolate brown eyes looking back into mine, a blush creeps into my cheeks.

Fifteen Years Young (Could’ve Been Yesterday) “Maggie. Maggie! Wake up!” I shook my sister gently on the shoulder. “There’s something I need you to do! Are you awake? Maggie...Maggie! Please wake up!” All efforts at rousing my older sister were in vain, for she stubbornly kept her eyes closed. Maggie has always been stubborn as a mule. She always stayed in her own sweltering hot room instead of sharing my own air conditioned room, even in the summer. One of her many charms I suppose. It was early in the morning, just past midnight. The sky was still dark even with the moon’s light. Directly under her bed, thick comforters lay abandoned on the floor along with several empty water bottles. My sister snoozes peacefully in the midst of this mess,

August was concluding and school was set to begin in just a week’s time, so my mama had suggested, “Hey, why don’t we go into the village to do a little back-to-school shopping?”