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S-A-M, I need to have a little chat with you! Craig screamed sarcastically from across the

crowded hallway.

Standing at the other end of the hallway, I stopped walking, turning half of my body 90 degrees

before I realized what Craig was going to talk to me about. He was going to convince me about

doing thatagain. You idiot, you had to yell that. I thought, walking past students as fast as I

could.

Sam! Come bac-Craigs mouth paralyzed instantly after I started sprinting, and he started

sprinting himself. I sprinted my heart out, not wanting to talk about that the fourth time today.

Stop, dont you dare run again from me. You know you cant beat me! exclaimed Craig.

My corners of my mouth started to move upwards. Of course I can beat Craig! I became Flash

for a brief instant, ran until I reached the next cross-section and turned. Then, stealthily opened

the door to the nearest classroom and slipped myself in. The moment I stepped into the

classroom, my mind pictured many confused faces. I made quite a scene since I was breathing

heavily, then, my heart almost jumped out of my body. There she was, dreamy girl was sitting in

the front row, third seat horizontally. At the corner of my right eye, I noticed that there was a

well-dressed girl at the front of the class, holding a book with her left hand. Her tiny right hand

gripping a snow, white chalk that was transferring its body to the wide board.

Hello young man, may I ask why youre in my classroom? asked the teacher in an unkind tone.

Jeez, why am I always embarrassing myself? I thought. Forgetting to answer the teacher back,

I stormed out of the classroom as quickly as I can. Like always, I ditched class and went to the

peaceful place filled with knowledge. My heart felt that the library was the right place to go`

after a something bad happens to you so that you can think of resolutions to solve the problem.

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This time, I embarrassed myself in front of my love, Amber. My love for her manifested last year,

she isnt very talkative, but she is gentle and compassionate. Although shes quiet half the time,

her emotions are usually shown, not hiding anything from others unless she really has to.

Sitting in the hollow room, I was thinking of ways to explain my rash entrance to somewhere I

shouldnt be. Then I thought, Maybe it wasnt such a big deal, she was laughing after all.

Dring dring dring! Students were shuffling around in the narrow, but long hallway, making it

hard for me to find Amber. While my head was rotating and my eyes going left and right, I

caught a glimpse of Amber. The curly, gold strands make her recognizable amongst the

students. Then again, and again, and again. I tried to follow her but lost sight of her after she

headed somewhere with a dark haired girl, probably Karen, her best friend. I shouldnt follow

them, I thought, should I? No, I shouldnt Amber will think that Im creepy. Afterwards, I

went to find Craig. I went to the front of the school, and as expected, there he was. Ever since

we became friends, he started waiting for me afterschool; you could say that we were best

friends. I tried recruiting Amber on our adventurer to get home, but every time I try, she goes

somewhere with Karen. Maybe I should change my tactics; I really want to spend time with her.

During my walk home with Craig, we somehow turned from complaining how boring school is

to who we liked.

School is so boring! Its not like becoming the president or anything when I grow up. I

exclaimed.

Totally, but I guess relationships makes it more interesting. Craig

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I walked, gently towards my little brother, Eteey and ruffled his hair up. He laughed and the joy

returned to his face. He didn't even know what was going on, but I did. My mother, Julia walked into the

room with my annoying, older sister, May, who were both each holding pastry based sweets like pies

and cakes. Both put the cake on the table. Eteey was having a fit before I calmed him down, since he

didn't know what was going on and he always mad. "Hmmm...Hey, Peter, (the 'I' was Peter) can't you

help us once in a while with cooking?", said May. "Nah, you want me to make a fire in the house like last

time?", I protested. "Well, you could learn something from us, instead of playing your stupid Nintendo

Wii all the time!" I sighed and continued to play my Nintendo Wii, which was in the living room. Julia

smiled at this and called us into the other portion of the living room. Eteey smiled and my big sister also

smiled. Even I, who was too much of a computer freak, looked too.

Presents layed around the Christmas room, just as May and I expected. My litte brother dived into the

presents as if he was about to dive into a pool and quickly opened the presents entitled to him like he

was a frightening, gobbling shark. "Ooh, my own drawin' book, yay, a Hotwheels controller truck,

and...and...and...MY OWN LUGIA AND PIKACHU ACTION FIGURE! Now I can add that to my collection!",

Eteey cried. May, Julia, and I smiled at his predictable behavior and focused on our presents. "Mom, I

can't wait until you open my present!", May told her. Julia was amazed. She had received the new

montly issue of 'HOW TO BE PRETTY' and I dispised these, because of the book's hypnosis over women. I

already thought Mom was beautiful the way she looked. The women turned to the present Eteey got

her. It was a card that told a mother why a toddler loved her. The blonde smiled at this and kissed my

brother on the cheek, surprised at what was actually inside the card. An admission to work at Sunday

Salon, the beauty shop lay inside. "How'd you-", she stopped when I said, "I helped him." Julia smiled

and hugged us both, including May.

May opened her gifts and happily found a diamond necklace, which she had been craving for the entire

winter from Julia, a new shirt from me, and with some help from me, Eteey got her the pants she had

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also been asking for all winter. This confused me, as she both kissed Eteey, Julia, and me on the cheek,

then moving, so I was able to open my presents. I breathed and opened my gift, slowly and carefully,

finding a set of new boxers from Mom. "Wow. Thanks. Like I needed that.", I said, sarcasticially. Next, I

opened Eteey's gift, which was just a wad of bubble gum. "Thanks, really, Eteey.", I continually said,

sarcasticially, which fooled my little brother all the while, so he grinned. He opened the final present,

which he knew was from May and he knew it was something that stunk. He again, was surprised,

because he got the new hit Wii game that was what all the kids at school were talking about. "Yeah, I

can't be nice.", she murmured and turned only to see I was hugging her like a loving brother. Then Eteey

and Mom came and hugged me too and we were instantly cuddled up like simeese twins. I got up, put

on my shoes and my coat as I had just remembered myself that I had to post a letter. I went down the

stairs and through a long hall, and I made my way out. The air was extremely heavy, with dense fog

everywhere, nearly as dull as in London at this time of the year. The clouds were a thick mixture of grey

and black, which did not even let a single ray of light break through.

I walked quite fast among colourful leaves bearing in mind that the post office would be closed

in ten minutes time when I saw in the mist something that made my blood run cold. At the beginning, it

was only a dark shadow, but when it approached, I could clearly see the angry eyes, open mouth, sharp

teeth and the raised tail. The enormous husky stopped about five yards in front of me scowling at me

with its piercing, black eyes. I shivered with horror when I realised that the dog had bloodstains all

around its head and on the chest! I moved a few steps back after I had understood that it had to be the

one that I had heard about in the news.

Suddenly, I realised that there was nobody in the park except for the animal and me. Never before have

I been in such a fearful and stressful situation! I noticed that I could hear no other sound that the

beating of my heart: even the wind was not blowing. All of a sudden, the dog made a growl making my

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hair stand on end. Certainly, I must have been very pale then as I could feel that the husky was going to

attack in a second. As if it could read my thoughts, the animal moved towards me. I shielded my face

with my hands waiting for the furious blow, my heart beating at the highest rate, but... nothing

happened. The dog passed beside me and ran away.

I heaved a sigh of relief and slowly lowered my hands. Suddenly, I felt someone tapping my

shoulder. I turned around. In front of me, I saw a short, lank, old lady who asked: Excuse me, my boy,

havent you seen my little puppy? "Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life

is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you

react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good or bad

mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said.

Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I

often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years

later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business:

he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers.

While trying to open the safe, his hand shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combinations.

The robbers panicked and shot him.

Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours

of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of

the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him

how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to

see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

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"The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry

replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I

could choose to die. I chose to live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when

they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and

nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic

to anything. 'Yes,' I said. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took

a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on

me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from

him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.