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“I hate love!” said by all the people who have gotten hurt, including Rafael Montoya. Rafa is a junior in high school. He is a wrestler and a very studious young man. Rafa has his life planned out, but he has an effect. He is in love with a girl who is no good for him. She is well-known in school. Her name is Monique Cardera. Throughout the whole story Monique makes Rafael's life miserable. I recommend this book to people who are interested in romance, fights, Hispanic culture, and love.


              Everybody says that “Love Conquers everything”, in this story, love doesn’t conquer everything. It’s the complete opposite. Rafa wanted the best for Monique. He gave her everything since her previous boyfriend Luke didn’t treat her right. If Monique was different and actually loved Rafael, this story would be so much different. They would be still together, he would still be on the wrestling team, and he wouldn’t be lying to his mom. His mother was an amazing absorber. She can tell when her son would be lying. She also told Rafael not to be with Monique because she knew what type of women Monique is. Rafael’s sister America and brother Jojo are very important in the story, as well as their stepfather, Jesus. Jesus is actually America’s dad, but not Rafas and Jojos. Jojo is in middle school, and he is already following the wrong path. He is a cholo. Jojo wants gangbanger. He loves getting into trouble and making his mother suffers. If Jojo wasn’t like that, the story would change. There wouldn’t be any sadness from his mom which would be great on Rafael. There wouldn’t be any cops showing up at their footstep every afternoon, and Jesus not hiding. 



     Jesus is another character that’s important. Jesus is an immigrant from El Salvador. He is currently hiding from ICE, Immigration and Custom Enforcement. He didn’t go to his court date and was a warrant for doing that. Until one day, ICE showed up and took Jesus away, keeping the Montoya family devastated. If Jesus wasn’t an immigrate, Rafael's’ mother would be calm and not stressed out about the cops. Also, Monique wouldn’t be trying to get along with Rafas mother and trying to make things supposedly right. 

Monique is a horrible person. She tried making America sit on an olds man, just so Monique can take a picture show it to the police. The only reason why she wanted to do that was because the old man was looking at her weirdly. Rafael was furious and disappointed. That day, Rafael changed his feelings towards Monique. He finally realized that Monique isn’t good for him. 

    Rafael’s mother didn’t know he quit wrestling. She thought he was still in it and doing a fantastic job, but he wasn’t. The only reason why he quit wrestling is because Monique thought is was a waste of time. Rafael felt that wrestling was taking too much time of his life and from Monique, therefore he quit. The cause of that made him gain weight making it obvious to his mom that he isn’t working out anymore. Making that another reason why his mother deeply dislikes Monique. Rafael’s mother loves Jesus. She is truly thankful for what he was done to the family. When he got arrested and sent back to El Salvador, she felt like the world ended, making her feel depressed and miserable. This caused a lot of intention in the house. She felt like nothing mattered anymore. She hoped her children would make her happy, but they didn’t. Rafael was too busy with Monique and JoJo was too busy making trouble. Only America was there for her. America on the other hand loved Monique. She taught she was amazing and cool. They would always talk about hair and boys. America immediately changed her opinion about Monique when she told her to go sit on that old mans lap. Causing Rafael and Monique to break up, but Rafael felt like that was the best thing to do since Monique was about to but Rafael’s little sister in danger. Breaking up with Monique was actually a good thing for the family. Rafael went back to wrestling and got a scholarship, he also took over Jesus job as a sells men at a flea market getting a lot of money. Rafael’s mother went to El Salvador and married Jesus, giving him rights to come back to the United States. Jojo got sent to a boot camp to get his act straight and America got to see her father finally.

     In conclusion, Rafael’s life would've been great if he didn’t meet Monique, but on the other hand none of this would’ve happened and make the whole story completely different. So what if Rafael didn’t break up with Monique. His life would be terrible. Monique is a no good young lady. She basically almost ruined a perfect family. This book is trying to tell us not to change for love. If the person loves you for who you are, then that’s a perfect relationship, but if they try to change you or you try to change them, it’s not going to work. Don’t rush love, love will come to you when you least expect it.

 
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- That's me. First Sergeant Corea ! (: And I'm going to tell you about my favorite passion ! (: You may ask why I'm wearing that uniform. Well, it's because at my school, we got a AJROTC course. It teaches you stuff about the army. This uniform is for only presenting the colors. (The Rising of The U.S and Georgia Flag)
I wore this uniform on Graduation. I was one of the cadets that presented it. That exact day i got a promotion. I became a Sergeant, but now I'm a First Sergeant. My previous rank was a cadet, but for doing most of the after school activites, i got promoted.
The retangular things on the right side of my chest are ribbons. You earn these by doing stuff in school. I got ribbons for being a leader, doing parade, drill team, flag detail, and just being good in class.
I got a Medal for being an excellent leader in my class. My Medal is called The Military Officer Association of America.
The cords i got on my sholders are for doing Drill Team (red cord) and Flag Details (white cord).
Drill Team is when you drill and match around. When the commander tell you " RIGHT, FACE! " you turn to your right in a snap! The way you get a red cord is by going to competitions. You compete with other schools to see who is the over-all champ. Unfortuneately, we didnt make it to state, but this year, im determine to make it! Also, this year, I am commanding an all girl unarmed squard. This is going to be so much fun!
Now, Flag detail is a very simple task to do. If you want a white cord, all you got to do it rise the flag and take down the flag, for about 15 times, and thats it! It's very easy. (:
Well, thats about it, if you want to ask more questions about JROTC or tell me stuff about you, please comment below!
Thanks for read!! (:

 
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- A big situation is happening in Chicago. Teachers aren't working. Students aren't learning. Parents are worried. What is happening!? This is whats happening. Teachers are striking! Why you may ask? Well, there are a lot of reasons. Some of these reasons are selfish and not humble. In my opinion, I oppose to this protest. I just think it's not necessary.
- The reasons why teachers are protesting, is because, One, they are getting low pay, Two, health care is high, Three, the students test scores are effecting their income, and Four, the conditions of the school are hazardous. It may sound like, they have a right to protest, but you got to think that, they sound very selfish. They are thinking of themselves and not the students. Most of the reasons are for then and not the students.
- For example, they care about the condition for the school. They need a better classroom to teach, which is very dumb. I think it doesn't matter how the school looks like. Another example is, put it this why, look at Chamblee Charter High School, their school is very hazardous, yet, they still have great education, and the teachers still teach. Even if their classroom don't have conditioning, they will do anything to keep the students happy.
- Another, they are complaining about the health care being high. It's not the students fault that health care is high. They should talk to the health care pharmacist , and not go off on the students. That's just pitiful and mean. They need to just calm down.
- In conclusion, i think they should just drop the protest, and deal with it. This protest is a waste of time. Not only for the parents but for the students also. The students need education. In other words, This protest/strike is a complete waste. They should just stop and go back to teaching the kids. 

 
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    Did you know a man maned John Tapene from New Zealand said that teenagers are becoming lazy and irresponsible? Also, that we should develop a backbone? what is that suppose to mean? Well, let me tell you something, we are not lazy and irresponsible, We do stuff everyday. So, if you say "what can we do; where can we go?" Well, I'll tell you where and what: we need recreational centers/facilites.
    John has a point on some of the things he said, but on the other hand he doesn't. I don't like when he referred to all the teenagers as cry babies, and telling us what to do. He said to go mow the lawn. What if you don't even have a lawn? That's something you should think about. Another thing, when he said wash thw windows, how are we going to wash them if they don't need to be washed? What if they live in a two ot three story house or apartment, and their parents dont let them use a ladder?
       It's not that easy. Teenagers have it really tough. He has to thinkg and realize: things are not as easy as they were in his childhood. Sometimes it is necessary to have recreational facilites to keep us from being bored and to keep us out of trouble. Yes, we do have to give the world something, but we are already giving it something that is very important, which is happiness and cleanliness. We Need time on our own, and spending it with friends is what we want and going to recreational facilites is where we want to go.
     In conclusion, don't take or remove our facilites. We really need them. We have a plethora of kids who want to spend time together at these centers. If you take them away, we will become lazy like you said. So what if it takes up space? This would really help the children not become lazy and fat. So please Mr. Tapene, think about it, it would erally help the kids!

 
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- My favorite sport is Soccer. I've been playing soccer for 3 years. This sport is very difficult to play. You need to practice a lot to actually get the sport. You need to learn how to: pass, dribble, kick, and saving. 

- Passing is very easy, but you need to have great aim and pass it right to your teammate. If you don't pass it right, the other team will get it.
- Dribbling is a very major step in soccer.  You really need to know how to dribble. If you don't know, soccer will be a very very difficult sport for you.  Dribbling looks very good when you play, it shows that you know how to pass your opponent.
- Kicking, is another important step. If you kick wrong, or your aim is wrong the ball will not go the direction you want it to go. It's just like passing. you need good practice for this step.
- Saving is important for the goalie, and for the defenders. You need to stop the ball from going to neat. If it goes in that is a goal and the team is winnung.
Those are basically the steps for soccer. Now, there are many positions in soccer. You got your right and left wing, midfielders,, your defenders, and your golie. Well, that's it. If you think i missed some stuff or if you have a different opinion, comment below. i would really appreciate that ! Thanks.