Caitlyn

It was a sunny day down at the pool. My 6 year old cousin, Ryan and I, also 6 were on the side just laying down looking at the amazingly blue sky. The birds were flying above, the sky was gray-less, and the sun brightened up the whole city. “Have you ever wondered who your first kiss would be?” Ryan asked. I turned to him as his brown eyes sparkled from the sun, wet dark tan skin shimmered, and tiny drops of water dripping from his hair. “No, but now I am.” There was a moment of silence, the two of us just stared at eachother, then we looked back at the sky. I had never thought of that, but now that he’s mentioned it I couldn’t get it off my head. Suddenly I closed my eyes and imagined how it would be like. There was me and a boy, the rain was pouring hard like the sound of thunder, a sweet melody of song played, it was only me and him the whole place, and he whispered to me “You’re the reason why I believe in love,” then he kissed me so softly… I opened my eyes then back to reality, and knew that was how I would want my first kiss. “Caitlyn, come here! We’re about to eat!” Ryan bellowed. I skipped over there and boy there was a bunch of food on the table. “Yumm, I wish I could have all this to myself,” I whispered to myself. There were rice, chicken adobo, corn, beef, ect. Strait to desert. I grabbed my paper plate along with Ryan, we too a little bit from each and everyone of them food. My plate was extremely full, but hey, I do LOVE to eat. We sat next to my two aunts, Michelle, and one who we like to call “Bambam”. Aunt Michelle has black hair, her lips were a little bit bigger than usual but still stunning, her skin not too tan, and as she smiled her eyes chinked up. Bambam had curly black hair which was usually tied into a bun or a ponytail, she had chinky eyes as well when she smiled, and she always loved to have a fun time. Before I go on I should explain: how I lived in the Cebu, Philippines my whole life, until I moved here in Juneau, Alaska when I was 8 years old, I was 6 years old in this story, and was living with my mom, dad, sister, grandma, grandpa, my aunt and her daughter who lives with us so we could help them pay, and our 2 maids. It was summer then and usually Ryan comes and stays with us until summers over, so I see he everyday. Now back to the story: I was sitting there eating my food. As I looked at my two aunts and Ryan, I couldn’t help myself but to think about what Ryan said and what I had thought about how my first kiss would be. I was wondering if he was tall, short, dark, white, hefty, skinny, chubby, ect. Or if he was nice, rude, funny, boring, cocky, shy, outgoing, ect. And most of all I wondered if he had blue eyes. Ever since the first time I’ve layed my eyes on a guy in this t.v. show who had gorgeous blue eyes. I fell in love with em, ha, and until now I'm a big sucker for them. "Hey, lets go to the pool," Ryan said walking back while looking at me with his brown eyes. "Kay, hold on," I murmured, as I quickly shoved all the food in my mouth. We raced towards the edge of the pool and jumped as we made a pose. SPLASH! I opened my eyes, still under water, I looked around, there were thousands of bubbles roaming around, the sun shone through, and I saw wiggling legs around the corner; turning to my right there Ryan was. He swam towards me then our eyes locked at each other for about 20 seconds, I knew something was going to happen, my heart beat faster and faster, my stomach felt like it was getting tighter and tighter, it felt like the inside of my tummy flipped and flopped. He leaned close and closer. "Oh, I wonder what he's going to do," I thought to myself. And suddenly I felt this soft, chocolate taste like on my lips. It was Ryan's lips touching mine. We stopped for a second and then not knowing what was going on we kissed again. We went above water after, and saw this old woman with her towel around her and her bag just staring at us totally confused, shocked, and had that "what the heck" look on her face all at once. We looked at each other and decided to swim away, while the old lady just kept staring at us. It was almost time to go, so we packed all our stuff and enjoyed the rest of the day like noting ever happened. Right now I am the at the age of 14. And thinking about this just makes me laugh and realize how my mom didn't do a very good job telling me, never to kiss your cousins. Now, me and Ryan still act the same way, nothing changed between us because of that, but now we aren't as close as we used to be before I moved here. We knew we were little and we didn't know any better, but I know that this is always a memory I will never forget. If you were wondering, I have never gotten my "dream kiss" yet, but I guess I have to wait until that happens.

**__What is the historical setting for this story?__** I've set this story in the 1930’s, the time when the Filipinos migrated to Alaska. It was very difficult for them because they had to work hard in the cannery for very little money, experience discrimination, and they also had to live in cramped apartments. There, in the cannery they had to furnish their own work clothing such as uniforms, aprons, and hair coverings. In my story the main character, Amelia wanted to go to college to have a better future no matter how hard it will be, but then she ends up falling for a guy. **__What is true in this story?__** It’s true that it was difficult for them because they had to go though discrimation and live in those cramped apartments. Also in the story it tells you how it was in the restaurants, how they had their own tables for the immigrants and how they were treated differently. It’s true that they were called “Alaskeros”. They also had to work super hard for very little money. Some of the things they did there in the cannery was make cans, unloading the food, and assemble crates until the salmon arrived. **__What is fictional in this story?__** It’s fictional what the Amelia faced in the story with the boy and how she felt and her life. All though it could have been true… maybe. Her mother and all the characters are fictional as well. It’s mostly all fiction except for the ones I have mentioned in the “what is true in this story” **__In this story, you will read about__** A girl named Amelia. She very much wanted to go to college for a better life in the future. As she traveled from the Philippines to Alaska she ends up meeting this boy named Philip, and starts to fall for him. But as time goes by she experiences that it is hard to be in Alaska mostly because of discrimination. And wants to go back home. **If you want to read MORE about these topics, I used these sources for my story:** [|www.smccd.net/accounts/skylib/oralhis/David/david.htm]

[|www.historylink,org/index,cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfmandFile-ID=411]

[|www.depts.washington.edu/civilr/cwflu.htm]

http:/www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/articlepdf?artID=181