The sun was high in the sky, blinding me, along with the little lights bouncing off the playground equipment. There were no clouds in the sky, and the grass was greener than ever. All the students, including me, looked like star models getting ready to be on the cover of a magazine. 

As I slowly walked outside, I noticed my friends nearby. Better not waste this opportunity to play hide-and-seek tag! “Hey!” I yelled as I waved my hand to let them know where I was. 

“Wanna play hide-and-seek tag?” 

Within seconds, everybody agreed and darted away to find their hiding spot. 

 I found a spot that I thought had potential right behind a thick tree. I noticed a large group of students hanging by a gate as I looked for the seeker. What can be more important than playing hide-and-seek? I pondered. Whatever it is, I’d better go check it out. Following my instincts, I walked slowly, watching out for any seekers around. None! I walked faster and faster as I got closer to the people. Ruff! Ruff! What can that be? I inquired to myself. It can’t be a dog. No way. 

I laughed at myself for thinking of such a terrible idea. As I neared, I realized that people were petting something on the other end of the gate. I fidgeted with my fingers as a single sweat bead dripped down my face. I spied a splash of brown between students’ clothes. It WAS a hideous, daring, piece of fur! No way, I told myself. These idiots were actually playing with that disgusting creature! They were as silly as people who wear underwear on their heads as hats. 

“OMG! Why are you petting a random creature?!!” I growled as I stomped my foot.

 When nobody answered, I realized that if whatever they were touching was more important than me yelling, I needed help. Immediately. I turned abruptly on my heels as I scanned the playground for a teacher. All of the teachers were crowded on the OPPOSITE side of the playground. To get there it would be very hard. In fact, it would be nearly impossible to cross the field- almost as hard as flying directly into a tornado and making it out alive. I inhaled deeply, then ran. Fast.   

I made it through the first part just barely. Then, I crossed the playground without being seen. Unfortunately, I still had to cross the field. 3… 2… 1… go! I ran at full speed, dodging the soccer ball multiple times. Yes, I made it. As if to throw out all of my efforts, the gate creaked open. A blur raced by the crowd of third graders. Everybody at recess screamed as loud as they could. 

“Yikes!” “Help!” is all I heard from them.

 Zoom! Zoom! The creature chased people as if it were a tag game. Finding a place to be safe was my only desire at that moment. 

 I looked at the teachers but not one of them had noticed. I could see a tiny dot of fur in the distance. It was far. Like really far. I still had time. My first thought was to run into the building. That wouldn’t help anybody, though. Except for me, of course. But I’m not selfish! I thought ignorantly. Instead, I ran to one of the first tall playthings that the mongrel couldn’t climb. I watched as fast people mocked it, only making it angrier. 

“Mr. Vargas!” Screamed a child whose face had a frown. “Pay attention, please!”

  Mr. Vargas looked up, scanned the playground, then sat up. He tried to get everybody into a straight line, but the dirty, annoying rascal kept butting us out of the line. Finally, he called for our principal. Everyone threw their hands up in the air and let out a sigh of relief. Help had arrived! They managed to catch the sly, mangy, ball of fur.     

I’ll never forget the time when the dog went loose. I’m pretty sure by now, everyone knows to never ever pet a random mutt- or even go by that untrustworthy gate. With all those students looking like models, I sure hope that they all know that even though they had the looks, they sure didn’t have the brains! (It takes some brains to outsmart a dog at recess, in case you didn’t know).

“This may have been the best day of my life!” I said as I returned from one of Japan's most jaw-dropping, eye-widening shopping plazas.

It was a casual Thursday in Tokyo, Japan. We started the day with a few visits to temples, but when we got on the bus, I was suddenly filled with joy as I heard we were going to one of the biggest shopping areas in Tokyo. I frantically grabbed my bag and dashed off the bus as soon as we arrived. It was like a rainbow just exploded; all the people were flooding the streets like a river. The smell of fried rice and the sight of all the clothing choices filled my body with joy. I got pulled to the side when I was ready to go with my friends. 

“Hey Summer, Ms. Morrow and I decided to keep you with us because your phone may be too distracting.” Ms. J explained. I was about to protest, but I just nodded and moved along with them. We were instructed to get lunch while there, but the teachers wanted to spend as much time as they could shopping, so they just sent me and the people with me to 7-Eleven to get something to eat for lunch. I got some chicken and a few snacks for later, so I could enjoy shopping too. However, I was pretty glad they let us stop at 7-Eleven because they would make us pay for our food if we went to a restaurant, and I wanted to spend my money on shopping.

(that was also the first time I tried pocky sticks; aka my favorite snack).

 We stopped at an interesting store. It wasn’t a mall, but it had a lot of different stores inside one store. I looked around to see anything I found interesting, and in the corner of my eye, I saw a pop-up shop full of charms and stickers.  I walked over to see if there was anything I was interested in. 

“Find anything interesting?”I heard Ms J say. She then started talking about how she wanted to get her niece something as a souvenir, and she started asking me for advice since he said we were around the same age.

“Yes, I think she could use these charms for like, a phone case or something.” 

The next thing I knew, I was grabbing all kinds of charms as fast as a mom shopping on Black Friday. I grabbed a few charms before I realized the price. They were $4 a piece! I returned all the charms because I knew I would only have enough for 5 max. I ended up getting something for my sisters at a sticker store. Unfortunately, we had to head back to the meeting spot, since we had gone so far. I bought a few things on the way back, like a katana keychain and tanghulu. I still had a great time — even if I was stuck with my teachers the whole time. My experience in the plaza was truly memorable. Seeing all the sights and trying new foods made me the adventurous person I am today. 

Imagine being surrounded by strangers in an imaginary world. Your mom is nowhere to be found. You’re supposed to be happy because it’s your birthday, but you’re lost. That’s where my story begins. 

I visited LegoLand as a surprise visit for my birthday. My mom bought tickets to LegoLand in New York. I thought we were just going to the theme park and going back to our hotel in Manhattan, NY. It turns out that The surprise was an overnight stay in Legoland Hotel. This was very exciting because the room had my favorite theme, Ninjago. This hotel was amazing, they had an elevator with a disco ball and all types of fun music. They had playrooms for Lego buildings. Also, they had a personalized cafe with all types of food. After viewing the hotel, we put our bags down and went to the theme park. 

Everything was going perfect, at first I got on some rides at LegoLand. I got surprised with a hotel in LegoLand, watched my Lego movies, and had fun with my mom. But until this happened.

I saw some kids playing with their lego swords, so I asked my mom if I could get mine from the hotel. She proceeded to get it for me, but I told her to trust me and let me get it. She nervously agreed. I ran to the elevator, looked back at her nervous smile. I gave her a thumbs up as I entered the elevator, which had cool Lego music, by the way. I went down the hallway but I just figured out my mom gave me the wrong directions, so I went the other way and I found the room we were staying in. I unlocked the door with the keycard, grabbed my lego sword, and locked the door. I went to the elevator and started dancing to the music cause the music was on fire. When I got to the lobby and when I went to the spot my mom was in, she was nowhere to be found.

I went down to the lobby to double check she was not there, then I went up the floors again, and down to the lobby again. I went into that loop four times, until I started calling for help, “Help me, can someone pls help me?!” I cried out as I ran with my arms on my head. Heavy footsteps ran up behind me. It was an employee. He came and said, “How can I help you young man?” He said calmly with his loud but calming voice. I said, “I lost my mother!” I said in sadness.  “She has a black shirt and red pants, and a scarf, did you see her?” I said in panic.  He said no in a calm voice.

So at first I was confused and scared, cause I was only 10. So I got myself together and went up the 3rd floor again from the elevator, ran down all the hallways, but still couldn’t find my mother. I sat there crying. I thought. At that point I gave up. Until I found her coming from the elevator. I ran to her telling her that “I was trying to find you” and she said “I was trying to find you!” I walked back to the hotel room with my mom and as soon as I got in the room, she closed the door. I took a good look at her, and it was not my mom. It was a life size lego figure, then she pushed me toward the wall and the wall opened up and it was a surprise party all along. My mom was there, all the friends I met in the park were there, it felt like a thousand people cheering me on and they all said Happy Birthday. I ran to her like I was running in the waves at the beach and hugged her as tight as I could, and she told me calmly, “So how do you feel?”. I said happily, “I feel like a ten year old!” After we had cake, I later went to bed, but I was not tired at all. So I turned on the TV and watched a movie until I fell asleep.

I watched as the trees whizzed by outside my window. My family and I were on our way to Meals on Wheels, an organization that supplies food for seniors. That day, we were going to help deliver food to those seniors. But first, we had to meet with the manager of this particular outlet, discuss some things, and pick up the food boxes. After a long, boring talk that seemed like it went on for years, we finally set out. I almost fell asleep. This one man was blabbering like a chatterbox about things we already knew. I tried my best to be engaged, but I ended up missing a lot of the conversation. Finally, he stopped talking, and gave us directions on what to do. There was a piece of paper with a list of names, addresses, and instructions about the seniors and where they lived. We made a plan before we set out about how we were going to conquer more houses in less time. We created a long list of addresses and instructions about the seniors. Then, we smiled and high- fived each other once we devised a good plan.

 I remember vividly one of the senior’s houses. We knocked on the door, and heard a “Come in”. My hair stood up on the back of my neck as I entered the senior’s house. Usually they come to the door and we hand them the food and leave. However, this time was different. Once we walked in, there was something that immediately caught my eye. In a small room to the left of the entrance, there were a million things. There were probably enough books and magazines in there that would satisfy an ELA teacher for life. There were enough photos to tell us that the lady wants to remember every single little part of her life. I almost laughed aloud. However, I was able to keep my mouth shut and continued to the living room, catching myself from saying anything rude. We found the old lady on her couch. We walked over and gave her her food. Her face lit up with joy as we handed her the box of nourishment. I smiled brightly and turned and walked towards the door.  However, before we left, I got a glance of the rest of the house. Everything was covered in clothes, boxes, photos, toys, and a lot of other random things.

 Once we left the house, my dad came up to me and said, “That looks like the beginning of a house that’s hoarded.” I silently agreed. After we finished, we drove about 30 minutes, eagerly awaiting the comfort of home. The whole trip took about one long hour, not including the time we spent going up to the senior’s front doors and giving the food to them. When we arrived at home, all of us were exhausted. My feet trailed on the floor as I basically crawled upstairs. My cheekbones hurt from smiling at everyone so much. My eyes were drooping and my body was slumped, so as soon as I washed my hands, took my shoes off, and did a little bit of stretching, I collapsed on my warm, comfortable, and soft bed. I didn’t fall asleep though, surprisingly I actually was awake enough to pick up a book and start reading. I read for a long time, until it was time for scrumptious dinner. I learned three things today. One, following a route is fun. Two, sometimes things are harder than they seem. Three, I never want to grow up. Overall, today was very exhilarating and interesting, and I can’t wait to do it again.