My Little Bother (I mean brother)

"Toreka!" yelled my little brother,"Mum wants you!"
"Wait!" I shouted back, "Tell Mum that I'm writing an email." I could see my brother run in to my parents' room and then back out.
"She still wants you." he said ,"NOW!!"

Oh no, my pen pal would have to wait. I ran to my mum's room as fast as I could.

Hopefully she wouldn't make me do something extremely painful, like clean my room or do chores. "What are you doing?" she said firmly.
"I-I-I-I'm on the computer." I stammered. Shivers slithered up my spine.

"Clean your room!!" she yelled. Clean my room??? If you've been in my room with out an invitation, you'd understand what I'm talking about.

With out a word I put one foot after the other. "Why?!" I groaned. I opened up my door and my younger brother stood there mocking me saying, "Why?" in a high sarcastic voice. Normally, I'd laugh. But today I couldn't be bothered. "Get ouuuuuut" I moaned. "Fine" he said "But I'm taking this." And just like that, he took my jewellery box, ran to his room, and slammed the door. I put my head against his door, I could make out the words he said, " Oooo, Look at me, I'm a girl."

Angrily, I pushed open his door to find everything of mine on the ground. That was the last straw. I was about to tackle him when he held out his arms and said " W-w-wait!!! Mummy wants you!!" Typical. I went to her and told me to clean up my mess from HIS room. I went back to him he whispered, "Just joking."

What an Ambush!

“Toreka wake up!” my older brother yelled, “We’ll be late for Cross Country!” I opened my sleepy eyes to see him staring at me. “Okay, okay. No need to get all worked up. Gosh” I moaned, “ Anyway, the Cross Country is probably postponed today. I hope we don’t have to run. My netball shoes smell gross when they’re wet.” He walked out muttering, “Girls these days”

When I arrived at school I greeted Mr Burt with a Good Morning" - As usual. And he replied, good morning-As usual. But that morning he spoke with a sly grin. Hmm. Principals these days I thought in my mind. I walked in to class to see that everyone was whispering something that sounded like...”Cross Country today!” the speaker yelled. My jaw dropped. My heart sank. Cross Country?? What an ambush! Well, that was certainly unexpected. Maybe Mr.SlyGrin over there tried to capture everyone before they could get out the old “sick note”. I have to admit, teachers can be smart like that.

“Okay” Mr Barks signalled, “Bring in the 10 year old girls.” I panicked. We were going first? My confidence dropped even more. I dragged myself to the starting line. I sighed loudly. “Who cares Reka.” Sylvia said. “We’ll all run together” Mino smiled at me.

“Okay ladies” Mr Burt practically laughed, “ On your marks...” “Oh boy” I groaned. “Get set...” “Remember don’t sprint” Mino quickly said “ BANG” We were off. Most people kept sprinting past. Whereas, I was happily jogging with my friends.

Unfortunately, that little spark of happiness didn’t last for long. This thick icky gooey mud was sticking to my shoes. Great! Absolutely positively great. My shoes would be saturated by the time I finished a quarter of the way there. My shoes would stink, and I knew this would all happen eventually. I was NOT looking forward to the rest of this race. If I came anything other than 10th and upper, my brother would be teasing me the whole walk home. Plus, I’d be walking in my soaked netball shoes. Why does he get the bonus?

My heart skipped a beat when I noticed the race went longer than usual. Oh no. Daniel would be teasing me for sure. But the least I could do is try, even though I knew I was doomed with the curse of older brother’s insults. I loped past Miss Burne and my joy lifted. “Come on Toreka, you can do it!” I told myself as if I were a dog. It sounds ridiculous, but it was a huge help.

Side by side, Seini-Mino and I jogged past Ms Squires, then Miss Lavakula. I enjoyed doing this because they each had a bit of encouragement.

I squinted trying hard to see if any one had crossed the finish line. Sadly, someone had. So my hopes of coming 1st were crushed. I started to slow down because my heart couldn’t take the disappointment. I had to get used to being teased now.

I gathered momentum as I ran through the gates. As soon as I passed the playground I opened up the throttle and the crowd was cheering me on. I crossed the finish line with a boost of enthusiasm.

At the end of the day, I realised that I had survived the Cross Country. And, if you think about it, it wasn’t that bad. Plus, I came 8th, but I still had the smelly netball shoes to look forward to.

Vaka Voyagers

Maori myths and legends tell us stories of how the first Polynseians got to Aotearoa New Zealand. Yet, no one knows where they came from. Most think from the island of Hawaiiki, which is around all the other Pacific Islands. The movie above explains what they would've taken along for th ejourney. Imagine trying to pack food for 50 people, for 3 months!!! These polynesians sure are Mighty Mariners. Too bad no one else can do the same as these brave warriors.

Check ou tsome of my other work on my own blog.