Who's Superman? Was the question a little kid asked me. And all I could say was that there's no such thing as a Superman. He's just a fictional character with supernatural powers. He's not real, he's made up. But then who will save us when we're in trouble? I didn't have an answer for that.

Try to hear, don't leave me hoping. Please, don't try to quit. Just answer this one simple thing, Can you hear it? Won competition to be published in Creative Communication 2016 Spring Anthology

In which a fortune cookie saves a blind date going down faster than a roller coaster after a steep climb.

Based On True Events Bad boy, Wyatt Matthews, is as bad as bad can be. He's hot, so hot the sun can kiss his ass. He has a reputation that he can live up until death. He's as popular as a celebrity, envy by guys and lust for girls. And he's so rich, he can do just about anything, and get away with it without so much as a blink of an eye. With his signature jacket, that's the symbol of his power, never wearing, just slinging it over his shoulder, he's the most respected kid at school. With all of this, he would never think of even checking out barely at the top, Autumn Griffin. The well-known good girl who's too smart for his taste. And she always keeps her distance from him. Instead he has his sights set on her best friend, Brooke Anderson. But Brooke finds him a jerk and turns him down. Wyatt never gets turn down, and he'll do anything to get what he wants. Autumn tries to keep her away from Wyatt Mathews. Why? She thinks she'll get some bad boy disease on her, ruining her straight-A report card. But it turns worse when Wyatt has his eyes set for his next defenseless victim, Brooke. Luckily Brooke has some other guy in her sights, but Autumn thinks Wyatt won't give up that easily. So when the two of them make a deal, Autumn gets into the bad boy life of the Big Four. Where she also meets the sweet yet mysterious Cyrus Jones, the hilarious Luis Stinson, and the easygoing Dean Rodriguez. But what's worst is that the good girl always falls for the bad boy. The question is... which one?

The Masked Musician is a famous bounty hunter who came out of the shadows. She is famed all over of Endeavia. But not much of anything about her is known, though there are rumors here and there. Her beauty is far beyond anything you'll ever gaze upon, her singing voice is as beautiful and alluring as the Sirens of Greek Mythology. And her amazing power to control music with a flick of her wrist that can make even the most strongest of opponents go down on their knees. Anyone with a bounty on their head, you must be warned. When you see a lovely girl, wearing a mask revealing only her beautiful green eyes and has a tail of fur that scurries around her shoulders that seems to belong to a small animal. Run. Run at first sight and never look back.

Rebecca Finch hates telling stories. And in her family, they treasure story telling like second nature. But this year she is forced to go to the family reunion to tell a story that might make a little kid cry. When she takes a bus to Chicago, but accidentally falls asleep, she finds out that she... Missed her stop. Kicked out by the bus driver, she has nothing but the clothes on her back, a dead phone and twenty bucks. But that's when Jay, the optimistic hitchhiker that carries a bottomless backpack, stumbles into her path to join her on the adventure. Against her will, of course. With only two weeks until the reunion, the two travel across the country. Armed with only a frying pan, they join the circus, befriend a mob boss, get harassed by a perverted zebra, run away from the Men in Black, and steal a motorcycle only to get caught by the police for a whole different crime. After all the endless bickering, random trivia facts, and off-key singing, how will the two survive each other?

"I huffed, "Pfft, demigods of the big three, please. I have golden blood. I'm rich, I could die, but I'm rich!" 15-year old, straight A student Alexandria Olympia always thought she had the normal life. She's always loved Greek mythology ever since she was a little girl, and her annoying twin brother, Julies, who loved Roman mythology when he was a little boy. And with all of those myths in her mind, she wished that she has more adventure in her life. But things start to change when the new kid joins her school, who walks with crutches. Now she sees that the world is more different than she thought. Her eyes sparkle as the words from her books come to life, then reality sets in. New friends and foes both mortal and immortal, a mythological monster in every path, and true love just around the corner. Maybe her life isn't as normal as she thought.

Ms. Heart is a rich girl, with a poor heart. She's forever scared of love, not knowing the dangers it will do to her heart. But she also knew she would die without seeing the world. Mr. Art whole life surrounds art. He could paint, sketch, draw with eyes closed, and sold his art with no complaint. But one day he suddenly couldn't draw at all, it was as if he lost his skill of art. The two of them traveled to Paris, one seeing it as "The City of Love", the other as "The City of Lights." And when they both meet, they spend their time together in the most romantic place in the world. But when things begin to fall apart, both of them will need to find what their looking for. But is what their looking for what they wanted from the start or each other?

Ms. Heart is a rich girl, with a poor heart. She was forever scared of love, not knowing the dangers it will do to her heart. But she also knew she would die without seeing the world. Mr. Art whole life surrounds art. He could paint, sketch, draw with eyes closed, and sold his art with no complaint. But one day he suddenly couldn't draw at all, it was as if he lost his skill of art. The two of them traveled to Paris, one seeing it as "The City of Love", the other as "The City of Lights." And when they both meet, they spend their time together in the most romantic place in the world. But when things begin to fall apart, both of them will need to find what their looking for. But is what their looking for what they wanted from the start or each other?

Rights and responsibilities is the 2014 theme of National History Day Contest, a broad topic. And I chose to write a just as broad topic of human rights. What are human rights? Is it to prove we're human? Prove that we're humans are right? Or to tell us apart from aliens? Though, now that I think of it, all extraterrestrial beings should have rights as well, but let's just have the Men in Black deal with that- But before getting off of topic, let's focus back on this. As you read about this, think about these questions (not the alien one, unless you want to). Think about what it takes to not only be human, to act like one too. And after you read this, think to yourself. Do you have the right to be human? This essay won first place for the 2014 National History Day essay contest in California.