We See the Same Stars

"Things were good. She shouldn't be complaining. She'd gotten six commissions in her first month of being here. She'd made a friend. Her things-I-like-about-the-inner-city list was getting longer by the day. But it was impossible to shake the feeling that she didn't belong here."

Would you take the chance for a better life if it meant leaving everything you love behind?

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Akila Johnson has grown up in Outer Atlanta, the slums of the city, where public school doesn't go past 5th grade and no one can afford private. Where child labor is still outlawed, so kids have nothing to do between the ages of 10 and 16. Where the people sing and play music and paint and draw, since that's the one thing you can't teach.

That is, until an inner-city philanthropist decides to pick an artist from the outer city and pave their way to success. That artist is Akila. Follow her journey as she moves to Inner Atlanta and adjusts to her new life. But just remember-

All is not what it seems.

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An original dystopian short story, written for the author's 11th grade AP Lang & Comp class.