Hi, I’m Alyssa! I am 14 years old and this is my sister Poppy, she is 7. We are on summer break, so I decided to have friends over. And that’s what I am doing today, so I am cleaning and organizing my room to prepare for the sleepover.

        I start to clean my room taking things off the shelves placing them in stacks and in sections of the floor like categories im trying to organize each item has its place and each place has a spot for the perfect item, so they look just right, in each square of the shelf. 

        I grabbed a clorox wipe from the container, It’s smell of powerful citrus hit my nose, like a lemon being freshly squeezed into the air, a chemical smell of bleach hits my nose. Mom walks into my room with Poppy behind her giggling. I smiled and asked mom, “What’s up?”

        “I’m gonna help you clean, Issa!”

Mom was about to reply but Poppy yelled  with such enthusiasm that I had to plug my ears. But it wasn’t her screeching it was her singing the song Evangeline from The Princess and the Frog, her favorite movie, while jumping up and down. She finally stopped singing long enough to state for the whole world to hear...

        I blinked, my eyelids feeling as if someone was hanging their coat on my eyelashes, a coat that was filled with loose change and had a wallet filled to the brim, one that you have to use both arms to lift to hang it up. I looked at my mom in disbelief. I was about to challenge my mom on this idea because I need my quiet time, it is the one time when my mind can just wander like walking on a long sidewalk with no one in sight, peaceful and quiet. All the thoughts are allowed to come out and I can react however without anyone to judge me. 

        I was still thinking about how I wanted my quiet time, when Poppy jumped onto my already made bed. The act made me take in a quick, sharp breath like the wind being sucked out of the air with a vacuum, so I didn’t snap at her, I guess it is a trampoline now.