mentors

We're having fun
Trying accents
Laughing at
Each other

Laying on my
Sleeping bag
Scared in by
The thunder
And lightening

We're trying
To write
Fiction novels
And we can't
Think of anything
So late at night

I say
Something funny
We laugh
Hysterically
It's something
You would've heard
If it wasn't
Summer now

We think
About how
We couldn't
Put the tent up
Because it was
Inside out

How we
Took it down
Faster than
Anything we've
Ever done before

We didn't want
To get struck
By lightening

I keep thinking
That I'll be able
To tell you guys
About how funny
It was

How stupid
We felt

And then
I realize
It's summer

You guys
Probably
Won't read your
Emails

Or reply back

This leaves me
With an empty feeling

Like my friends
Just died
And I have
No one left
To tell our
Funny stories to

I used to wish
That I was Peter Pan

I never wanted to grow up

Drama
Guys
Sticky situations
Paying rent
Holding a job

Yuck

Sure
I wanted to be old enough
To get my license and drive a car

That's about it

I hated change
And everything
That came with it

The pain
The insecurity
The long nights

Wondering
What I'd do without
The teachers that'd
Stuck by me
That held me up

Every time
Change occured
I'd cry and be
Depressed

8th grade graduation
Was the most horrifying
Experience of my life

I didn't want to go
To high school
And leave Elfman

I was leaving Mr. H
Who had become a
Great mentor and friend

I was a mess

I knew I'd have my friends
But most of them didn't
Understand what I
Was going through

I didn't want to talk
With my mom or anyone
For that matter

I curled up inside
And cried to myself

I got to high school
It wasn't too bad
I started enjoying it
A few of my teachers
Were pretty cool

The Young Writers Project is fortunate to have several dozen top students from the University of Vermont, Saint Michael's College and Middlebury College who are providing feedback on student submissions to YWP's newspaper series.