The stars were burning brightly in the night sky. The evening breeze felt cool on my skin. It was the last night of summer break and I was calm, oddly calm. It's not that I was excited to go back to school. I wasn't. School is a lot of work for me. But I was excited to see my friends again, and I knew that she would be there.

Chad tightened his grip on the rope. He could feel his fingers weakening. "Come on, Chad! Pull! We're losing ground!" shouted his teammate George. Chad gazed at the mud puddle toward which he and George were being dragged. Then he looked up at his opponents. They were screaming something, but Chad couldn't quite hear it. The muscles in his arms and shoulders were tightening. "It's now or never!" George shouted. Chad dug his heels in the dirt and pulled with all his strength.

Chuck analyzed the engine. With his experienced gaze, he was able to tell that the vehicle needed a fan belt. He figured that the job would take twenty minutes and cost about ten dollars, but he had bills to pay. He summoned the customer over to him with a wave. "Ma'am," he said, "your vehicle needs a new radiator. It's going to take about four hours and cost around five hundred dollars, he lied. The woman smiled. "So I get my car back tonight?" she asked. "That shouldn't be a problem," replied Chuck. The woman, still smiling, said, "Thanks, Chuck. You're a good guy." Chuck felt a little guilty, but he smiled back at her and said, "You're so welcome."

Anthony was making a snowman in his front yard. He wanted to make the tallest snowman ever. "Making the tallest snowman ever is hard," he thought to himself. As Anthony rolled the snow around to form huge spheres, Justin was watching him from the bushes. Justin had plans too, only his plans involved karate kicking Anthony's very tall snowman. Justin figured that no snowman deserved to be as tall as Anthony's. Justin stretched in preparation for his attack.

Sid saw the ball floating through the air. He knew it was coming to him. He positioned himself where he thought it was going to land. Then a large cloud moved in the sky. The sun blazed and Sid couldn't see anything. "Thump!" the ball landed right in front of Sid. Coach yelled across the field, "Pick it up, Sid! Throw it to second." Sid couldn't see the ball in front of him. All he could see were spots. The coach threw his hat on the ground and continued to yell, "Pick it up, Sid!"

The stage was bordered with colorful lights but otherwise dark, yet in the center was a single spotlight, and in the center of that was microphone stand. I slowly walked across the stage with my hands by my side. The crowd murmured. I grabbed the microphone from the stand and cleared my throat. Then I held it a few inches from my face and said, "Greetings, my fellow Thunderhawks. Are you ready to get excited for the pep rally?" One guy clapped slowly.

General Brosnan surveyed the enemy forces and gasped at their sheer numbers. He knew that his men were better fighters, every last one of them, but were they that much better? He wanted a second opinion. "Major Miller!" he called to his subordinate, "Take a look at " Major Miller gazed at the throng with concern and said, "Look at all those ugly mugs." Major Miller was also quite surprised by the enemy's numbers, but he felt that today would be as good of a day as any to die.

The Gorlak raiders surrounded Bruce Hand. The one with the red eye said, "Now we have you, Bruce Hand. Give us the key to your adventure Jeep." Bruce couldn't allow the Gorlak raiders to get their hands on such advanced technology, but they had him surrounded. Fear sank through his heart. Suddenly he had an idea. "Ok," he said, "here's the key." Bruce activated the plasma grenade in his pocket and tossed it at the red-eyed Gorlak raider.

The Green Fox notched his arrow and pointed it at Sheriff Woodburn. The Sheriff had been in standoffs like this in the past. Sheriff Woodburn did not fear death and he wasn't going to give this masked bandit the privilege of seeing him cower. The Green Fox, however, wasn't going to take any chances with the Sheriff, whom he knew to be a crafty adversary. So the Green Fox said, "Put your hands in the sky, Sheriff." The Green Fox waited for the Sheriff to comply. If the Sheriff resisted this order, the Green Fox was prepared to loose the arrow.

Kelly took her seat in the airplane. There were three seats in her row and, to her dismay, she was assigned the seat in the middle. As the time of departure drew closer, Kelly grew pleased that she was still sitting alone. "Maybe I'll get the whole row to myself," Kelly said under her breath. Just then two tremendously large men approached. "Excuse me, Miss. I have the inside seat." Kelly sighed. She knew where the other person would be seated as well.

"There's no way that I'm getting on that," said Latrice, gesturing toward the unicorn. Latrice had never ridden a unicorn. She had always been too afraid that she might fall from the sky or be burned up in a rainbow or something. Cordelia put a hand on Latrice's shoulder and said, "When the Gromlins come, you're going to want to ride one. You may as well learn now without the pressure of Gromlins." Latrice considered the wisdom of this statement and decided that Cordelia was right.