Homework Free

Splash! My name is Maise. When I was sixteen years old, I loved science. My friends were Stacy, Sisi, VV, Olivia, and Gracie. I made a potion so we don’t have to do homework! Exciting, right? My friends helped me to find the ingredients and bring them to the lab. For our first test, we put carrots, water, and some wood chips. But that didn’t work, so we tried again and again and kept trying, but nothing was right.

Four years later, I was 20 years old. I was taking a walk around my big neighborhood. It was windy and a piece of paper flew into my face. I carefully grabbed it and it said, “How to Make Your Teacher Not Give You Homework.” It said that it needs paper, pencils, woodchips, and spinach. At the bottom, it said it can only be made on the full moon. Good thing tonight is a full moon, I thought. I was jumping with excitement. I said to myself, “This has been my dream ’cause we already learn so much in class that I don’t think we even need to do any homework.”

I ran as fast as I could to all of my friends’ houses and said, “Meet me at the science lab!” I was out of breath, so I walked home and skateboarded to the lab. I told them quickly but clearly so they could hear it. They went to get the supplies. We waited ’til it was night and, like I thought, it was a full moon. We quickly put all the supplies in and when we made it the juice in an apple and the next day we gave it to the teacher.

I asked the teacher if it was sweet so she would eat it, and then I could see if the potion worked. At the end of the day, the teacher didn’t give us any homework. When I got back home, I was homework free! The best part is I can do it each year and it lasts forever. I was so happy that I screamed and jumped with joy.

826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students from under-resourced communities in San Francisco with their writing skills.