Gokul

My Teacher Took My iPod

My teacher took my iPod.

She said they had a rule;

I couldn't bring it into class

or even to the school.

She said she would return it;

I'd have it back that day.

But then she tried my headphones on

and gave a click on Play.

She looked a little startled,

but after just a while

she made sure we were occupied

and cracked a wicked smile.

Her body started swaying.

Her toes began to tap.

She started grooving in her seat

and rocking to the rap.

My teacher said she changed her mind.

She thinks it's now okay

to bring my iPod into class.

She takes it every day.

By-Kenn Nesbitt

A Prepared Reading from

Percy Jackson And The Last Olympian

‘Make a wish,’ she said.

 ‘Did you bake this yourself?’ I asked.

 ‘Tyson helped.’

 ‘That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick,’ I said. ‘With extra-blue cement’.

Annabeth laughed.

 I thought for a second then blew out the candle.

 We cut it in half and shared, eating with our fingers. Annabeth sat next to me and we watched the ocean. Crickets and monsters were making noise in the woods, but otherwise it was quiet.

 ‘You saved the world,’ she said.

‘We saved the world.’

 ‘And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody.’

 ‘You don't sound disappointed,’ I noticed.

  Annabeth shrugged. ‘Oh, I don't care.’

 ‘Uh-huh.’

 She raised an eyebrow. ‘You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?’

 ‘You'd probably kick my butt.’

 ‘You know I'd kick your butt.’

 I brushed the cake off my hands. ‘When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable . . . Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal.’

 Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. ‘Yeah?’

 ‘Then up on Olympus,’ I said, ‘when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking-’

‘Oh, you so wanted to.’

 ‘Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought—I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity,...