Sophie C

Sophie Cramer (she/her) loves baking, dancing, and listening to Taylor Swift.  She also loves hanging out with her best friends. She likes traveling and recently went to New York with her parents.  She's in 7th grade at LFSF (Lycée Français de San Fransisco) , a French school in San Fransisco.  

Behind the Scenes 

Ch.1

Elma was always the favorite daughter. Clara always felt useless and unwanted.  She was good at a lot of things but never knew what she wanted.  Her sister, on the other hand, had wanted to be an actor ever since she was little.  She had even been in a few movies and had flown to Broadway with plane tickets her parents bought.  “I’m going to New York while you’re stuck in high school!” Her sister said.  Elma had dropped out of high school for her acting job which had made her a lot of money.  But one day, everything changed.  Their parents called them for a family meeting with the expression they had when they wanted to tell Clara that I was going to go to Miami as Elma’s camera man. The sisters sat down on the designer couch their parents had bought with Elma’s money. 

           “We have decided to buy you two plane tickets for New York!” their mom said.  

          “Wait, what do you mean ‘us two’?”  Clara asked. 

           “Well, we thought since you don’t have a job yet, your sister could show you how she got to be so successful,” their dad said.

          “Yeah then you could learn how to be more like me!” Elma said.  Clara was dreading it but wanted to make her parents happy. 

Ch.2

When they got off the plane, all that Clara could see were tall buildings but no sky which made her nauseous. Her sister made fun of her for that all the way to the theater.  When they finally got to the theater, Elma seemed right at home.  She knew everyone and wasn’t lost at all.  Clara was blinded by all the bright lights and almost tripped over costumes multiple times. Her sister led her all the way to her manager’s office, at the way back of the building.  They entered a large room with tall windows and a desk that looked like it was made out of pure gold.  A Lady with a name tag that read “Lillian” sat at the desk, signing papers.  When she saw Elma, a smile spread across her face.  Why did everyone always seem so happy to see her?  Beep!  Clara checked her phone.  The screen read “Dad”.  “Has your sister taught you anything?  I’m sure she has, she’s such an angel.”  The one time he texted her was to talk about her sister.  She ignored it and put her phone back in her pocket.  “I brought my sister today” she heard Elma tell the lady “I hope that’s not a problem”  

Ch.3

Elma spent pretty much all day acting.  Clara was just sitting in the audience , on her phone, not even paying attention.  Elma felt like she always had to work so hard.  She didn’t even want to be an actor.  Her sister was so lucky.  

         “Mom and dad never force her to be something that she doesn't want to be,” she thought.  That’s when Elma got a text from her parents.  When they texted her it was always to remind her to stand straight or something like that, but this time it was about Clara.  

         “You should tell your sister to try acting! Then she can start making some money too!”  She was surprised and also scared.  What if Clara was better at acting than her?  She had no choice though, she didn’t want her parents to be mad at her.

           “Hey loser,” Elma yelled to her sister. “Mom and Dad want you to try acting”  She heard Clara sigh. Why was she upset?  She had such a great life.  

Ch.4

Clara couldn’t believe it and neither could Elma.  Not only had Clara tried acting, she had also auditioned and landed the lead role in Romeo and Juliet.  That was the role Elma wanted!  Her life was crumbling apart.  There was no chance her parents would let her be a doctor now.  She hadn’t made even close to enough money for their liking.  Clara was practicing her lines out loud the whole way back to Pennsylvania, which was really annoying for Elma, but her parents insisted that she helped. 

 “I’m so excited!” Clara said. “The director says that I’m perfect for the part.”she giggled and kept reading her script.

 “That’s what he always said to me,” Elma muttered under her breath. 

                                               Particular Potatoes

A potato farmer named John hates his job.  Every day he wakes up, goes to work, picks potatoes and then goes back home. One day, his boss tells him to pick the potatoes at the very back of the farm. John is usually assigned the potatoes of the front of the farm but he doesn't really care. He takes his tractor to the back of the farm,past the well. The sun is blocked by the trees. He shivers but gets to work picking potatoes. He's almost done when he feels something hard and round in the dirt. He reaches in the soil and pulls it out. The sky is dark now and he's tired but he really wants to find out what this is. He looks at it again and realizes it's a pocket watch. He turns around to see his boss standing there. There's lightning and he disappears.