A Girl With a Dream

A girl with a dream.

By Maren Sawyer

Dedicated to my puppy Jeter my mom and my dad and everybody who helped me write this book.

Maple leaf writing competition

Brattleboro ,Vermont

Copyright 2018

Once upon a story there was a girl named Mackenzie Starz,that's me! My nickname is Kenzie. I love animals. As I was growing up I had many pets pretty much any animal you could think of, such as a cat, a dog, a fish, a guinea pig and even a parrot. I love them so much. Except I do not like cleaning up my dogs well know you what right? Anyways when I got my first pet I was 5. It was my dog Maggie. My guinea pig was named Brownie. My parrot was named Twitch. My cat was named Cow. Hey, I was only 2. And last but not least is my fish Bubbles. I love them all so much I know I already said that, but I really do.

When I was 3 I went into preschool and when I went in to preschool I also got a new sister. Well, lets just say that my new sister expanded my vocabulary, a lot. For example, I didn't know what annoying meant until I met her. When I went into kindergarten when I was 6 I was nervous, but not as nervous as I was on the first day of preschool. When I walked into the classroom I saw a girl who looked very nice. The girl's name was Carley. Carley had long brownish blonde hair in a high side ponytail with a bright pink bow with rainbow colored sparkles. Carley came up to me with a big grin from ear to ear.

“Hi”! Carley said with excitement in her voice “I am Carley”.

“Hi, I am Mackenzie.”

“Do you want to be friends?” asked Carley.

“Sure” I said enthusiastically.

“Wow” I thought “ maybe this won’t be so bad after all. I already have my first friend”.

As the cold fall days passed me and Carley became closer and closer. By November we had already had 20 playdates and 1 sleepover. On our first playdate Carley met all my pets her favorite was Cow. Carley was happy to hang out with all my pets because she did not have any of her own. I really liked having Carley around and it was the same with Carley. We made a great team. But , not all good things are perfect. Because as soon as I got settled into pre-school, a new girl arrived named Violet. Violet Parker. She looked all cutesy and innocent on the outside but on the inside she was a soul smasher dream crusher killing machine. On the first day Violet was like a mean celebrity. She was all decked out in pink expensive clothing and had on lipstick that was probably more expensive than my whole outfit! I thought she was perfect and she was! Well, at least on the outside that is. I was intimidated by her because I knew she would be the boss. Violet walked up to me and said “Hey you look like you got your outfit from your grandmother.” I could not believe she had just said that.

“Well at least I did not get mine from some expensive place” I shot back.

Carley, who was standing right next to me, looked at me and said, “Ummm isn't that a good thing?”

“Oh yeah”. I whispered back.

When I got back home from school I went to my animals and said, “Hey guys, whats up? I had a horrible day at school but at least I know I can talk to you guys”.

That really made me feel a lot better. I had a full on conversation with them. I felt as if the animals knew everything that I was saying and were talking back to me.they were making sounds like a When it was time for bed I said good night to all of my animals. I went into my bed and got to sleep. The next day I woke up in a very weird feeling. I was literally sweating bullets- well not literally. I felt like I was going to faint but I got ready and went to school. When I was there I saw her, Violet, the meanest girl on planet earth.

Violet walked over to me and Carley and said, “Ohhhhhhhhhh Mackenzie I see that you decided to come back to school with your grandma clothes on. I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs, but I knew I had to keep it calm, cool and collected.

“Oh, and I see you have came back looking like you just came out of my Barbie dream house”! I said. I might regret that later(but for now it felt pretty good). Violet turned and walked away.

“I think I finally got her” I said to Carley.

“Nice one Kenzie thats why your my bff.You know how to comeback with style, and, also your mom makes really good brownies”.

“ I know right”, I replied.

The next day had rolled around. “Wake up Mackenzie your breakfast is on the table” mom yelled from the kitchen. When I walked in I could smell the strong scent of coffee and pancakes. The pancakes were for me and the coffee was for my Mom and Dad. I ate my pancakes which tasted great, most likely because it had the plumpest blueberries in them. After that I went back to my bedroom and got dressed. I was wearing my pink shirt with sequins on it with a fake leather jacket because I had always really wanted a leather jacket. I was also wearing jeans and some twinkle toes shoes. Oh how I loved those twinkle toes. I brushed my teeth with my hello kitty toothbrush. I used to love her. Now that I think about it she is actually pretty scary. Anyways then I put my jacket on, feed my pets their food, and went to school.

I got on the bus and sat with Carley of course. But first, I said “hi” to our bus driver. I liked that guy and he liked me. I was planning to keep it that way and it would've been if Violet hadn't told on me for something I did not do. It started like this. Violet was walking down the aisle and just as she came down near us I happened to put my leg out- not even knowing that she had been on the bus in the first place. She tripped over my leg, fell down and got a small scrape on her knee. She pointed at me and then she said that I had did it on purpose. I had told the bus driver that I didn't and that I didn’t even know that she was on the bus. But I stopped talking when I saw his face. It was the I don't want to hear about it looking face. After that I did not dare to talk to him again because who knows, maybe he believed me but maybe he did not. Anyways, I had just got to school and at least I did not have to talk to Violet the rest of the whole entire day which at least was a very good thing.

The rest of the school year was more of the same. Violet never found a nice thing to say to me and I did my best to stay out of her way.

The end of the year finally came along and I was excited to get it over with. Over the summer Me and Carley had many playdates. I also had a lot of time to play with my pets and had many exciting adventures with them. It was a fun summer and I had no worries the entire time. When it was time for first grade, though, I was pretty nervous. I did not know if Violet was still mean or had overcame it. Of course, my fate had betrayed me and I was stuck another year with violet.

During 1st grade, Violet was too caught up in her group of friends so we really never talked, but after that, in 2nd grade, 3rd grade, in 4th grade, in every grade, we had big huge blowouts until I finally took a stand in 5th grade. Here are all the things that happened over the years.

In 2nd grade the most memorable argument was the “lunch time fail” as I like to call it. I was getting my lunch. It was spaghetti and meatballs. Violet was walking to get hers. I did not see her and accidentally spilled my lunch on her. She was not very happy.

“Mackenzie do you know how much this outfit cost?” she yelled at me.

“Oh my gosh, I am so so so sorry I was not looking.” I said apologetically.

“Well next time maybe you should look where you are going.” she said in a angry voice.

Next time I definitely will look where I am going I thought.

3rd grade that was a bad year. This year was the big “Mackenzie sabotaging Violet because she is mean”. Here is how it started. One day I was doing my math in math class. I sat next to this boy names Eli and on the other side of me was a girl named Victoria. I sat across from Violet. The teacher told us to listen.

“Today we will be having a math bee” she said in a loud voice. “It is like a spelling bee, you will stand up when I call out your name. We will go in order, okay, then I will give you a math question and you will answer it. If you get it right you are in and if you get it wrong you are out and you will go to the side of the room near the chalkboard. Do you understand?”

“Yes” we all said.

“Ok, lets get started”, she said. The teacher started with a kid named Jordan. The question was what is 10x10 and he got it right. When it was Violets turn I was telling Eli good luck because he was next. I happened to say that right as Violet was doing her question and she got it wrong and then blamed it on me saying I messed her up. I did not intervene because the teacher told Violet what I had said because she had heard me.

4th grade was fine just a few little fights that don't matter. But in the summer after 4th grade I saw Violet as I was walking my dog. She tried to insult me by saying “hey Mackenzie what is that ugly thing you have on a leash? where did you find it? In the dumpster?”

“Hey Violet would you like to pet my dog” I said.

“Ummmmmm why would you ask that”, Violet replied.

“No reason just try it she is very friendly” I said

“Ok fine but not because you told me to. It’s because I want too”

Violet bent over and pet the dog. She smiled at me. I smiled back. That was the first time she ever smiled at me.

“Hey Mackenzie I'm sorry for being mean all these years. I was bullied and I thought if I made someone else deal with my pain then maybe it would make me feel better and well, I guess it did.”

“I know how it feels” I said. “hey wanna walk my dog with me?”

“Sure thanks mackenzie” answered Violet.

“No problem”. We walked the dog and we all had a great time.

We walked Maggie every single day together. We loved it.

Violet wasn't so bad after all. I had the idea of letting Violet walk the dog with me. When I was little I struggled with anxiety. When I got my dog it was to help me. My dog was my emotional support dog. It really helped me. When I got bullied I would hug her, kiss her and give her all my love. I have a dream that when I get older I can help people with animals and that they can be the best that they can be. Help them not be nervous and let the animals make them calm. And I can reflect back on Violet and how I helped her.