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On Jett’s first day in Needles’ care team, he avoided Needles as much as he could. “Ew! Get off me, you slimy creature!” Jett exclaimed everytime the innocent reptile rubbed its neck against Jett’s ankle.

Viewing Needles comfort towards Jett made Brooklynne awestruck but Grace was more. “Needles is growing towards Jett,” Grace wondered . “I have never seen Needles caring for an animal-hater.”

Though not enjoying his first day, Jett kept on coming to take care of Needles. Needles had made him feel home. He wanted to enjoy the ecstasy of someone — or rather something — caring for him and not the people despising him like before. In return for Needles' selfless act, he wanted to also show care to the tiny reptile. Feeding, running at the park, lying under the starry night was a daily affair for both of them. From time to time, Brooklynne and Grace didn’t have to watch over Needles. The care team thought Jett was the closest towards Needles, but Grace was skeptical.

One day, when Jett, Needles, and Brooklynne were eating bagels spread with chocolate spread at Grace’s house, Grace demolished Needles’ large pet house which was specially made by Brooklynne in her backyard. She charged into the house and framed Jett for destroying Needles’ house. Brooklynne was in shock. Jett tried to defend himself but was unsuccessful. He bolted out of the house, sobbing.

The departure of Jett affected Needles daily life. It was like the joyous reptile turned into a spiritless, dull creature. It also made Grace more guilty day by day. She had to tell the truth. She confronted Jett the truth that Sunday.

“Even though he was closer to me, he still cares for you too,” said Jett. Grace burst into tears and asked him to rejoin. He smiled in agreement.

300 words exactly.
Please mind my unfinished version. Thank you!

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Jett is a spoilt rich kid who always gets his own way. He does not care what others think. When he finds out that Grace and Brooklynne have a secret pet, he is curious. They reluctantly let him help take care of their little lizard, Needles. In no more than 300 words, write your own version of how this story will end. You MUST include the word "care" in your story.

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Take note of the following guidelines:

- In your post, include your name as the title, along with your class.

- Use accurate English language and no usage of internet slang and emojis. Be CLEAR in your writing. Check for G.P.S errors (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling). Indicate the number of words at the end of your story.

- Posts that do not follow the stated guidelines will be deleted.

- Stick to one post only. To avoid plagiarism, posts will only be visible on 16 April 2022.

- Contest deadline is 15 April 2022. Best posts will be submitted to What's Up newspaper on your behalf. Submission will close on the padlet wall by noon on 15 April.

- All the best! You could win a copy of Unplugged!

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Jett adored the little creature.He laughed as he saw the adorable little lizard running around with the wire in his mouth.He thought “Is this why Grace did not giving me Needles?”.He quickly put Needles on his phone and took his never touched sketch book and started sketching.Needles didn’t know what was happening in the bright room of Jett’s and felt excited so it started running round and round coiling the wire.Jett was so shocked that the wire was still firmly lodged between his jaws.”You are the best creature I'v ever had in my life!Actually Jett had about 50 pets! Now that adored Needles a lot that he brought him a big cage which was a replica of his 20 story house.
He understood that money can’t buy happiness but Needles could.After the week he gave back Needles to Grace and gave her the cage too.She was surprised “A 20 storey cage , ok?” She thought and went off.Jett met Needles everyday and donated and shared his things with other people.

The end!

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To keep him quiet , the girls lied to him saying uh, “nothing,we’re just taking care of this normal lizard.”but jett did not believe them. He pushed through them to find that they we’re feeding a lizard  called needles. He said to them “why were you keeping that as such a secret?”then the girls replied “because the lizard was dying and we know you care for them so we decided to hide him,but since you know, we might as well let you take care of it” they handed it to jett . He  said to the lizard “boy , you are an active one .”  Soon, Jett introduced  needles to his house and they became the best of friends

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“Well, what am I supposed to do with you? I suppose I will take care of you.” Jett wispered softly to Needles on the table. Needles replied with a small tug on Jett’s phone charger and walked to the kitchen. Jett’s aunt saw the lizard and frightenedly squished Needles. Grace and Brooklynne suddenly knocked on the door and Jett scrambled up to his room and looked outside. “They are outside!” Jett exclaimed. Grace and Brooklynne opened the door and saw that Needles was squished on the floor. They both stomped heavily upstairs and slammed Jett’s door open and reprimanded Jett. Grace and Brooklynne never will make Jett a care giver for animals again.

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The following day ,Jett went to Needles temporary house where Grace and Brooklynne had been waiting for him .Jett was eagerly excited to take of Needles .Once he reached Needles temporary house ,he spotted both of the girls waiting for him .Grace and Brooklynne had to go run errands and instructed Jett what to do while they were away .Jett grumbled under his breath.

A few moments later,Grace and Brooklynne had left,leaving Jett with Needles alone.Jett thought this was going to be a piece of cake so he decided to take a nap since he was confident no trouble was going to occur."Boom!Boom!"In a sudden,Jett woke up to a alarming sound.He glanced at the room.It was a rats's nest!He immediately went to check the commotion and wanted to see who was behind this mess.To his horror,it was needles!As quick as a cheetah,  he tried to calm Needles down.Looking at the mess,Jett got worried.He cleaned up the mess as fast as he could as he did not want to hang his head in embarrasment.

After what felt like an eternity,Jett was done and sat down.He started thinking whether he cared for Needles and if he was capablle enough to be a pet owner.As soon as Grace and Brooklynne came back,he took of without saying a word.Going back home,Jett exclaimed,"Great things come with great responsiblities!"After all cleaning up Needles mess means that Jett was looking out for him and did not want him to get in trouble.In the end,Jett cared a lot about Needles.

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The girls told him that they could take turns taking care of the lizard. Jett took a second to think about it and agreed with no hesitation. After weeks of taking care of the lizard Jett learnt that even something small can bring a smile on ones face and to appreciate what u have . Jett also decided to turn over a new leaf

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“Are you hungry?” Jett exclaimed to Needles,his pet lizard.It was shocking to find out how Jett changed since he started taking care of Needles.From being lazy and arrogant,Jett is now more responsible and helpful.It all started on the day he got Needles. “Please!” Jett begged Grace and Brooklynne.After taking one glance at Needles, Jett started adoring him. Both Grace and Brooklynne were familiar with Jett’s incorrigible personality of being lazy and irresponsible. After thinking deeply,they made a decision that everyone thought was horrible, letting Jett take care of Needles. As soon as Jett heard their decision he punched the air in jubilation.Excitement coursed through his veins. He thanked them vehemently and strutted back home with Needles.Little did he know how the experience of taking care of Needles would change him forever.

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“Hello little guy!” Jett said to the Needles as he held it with care in his hands. Grace and Brooklynne watch in a corner, carefully cleaning Needles cage, smiling. Ever since, Jett has started taking care Needles, his spoilt personality has changed by a long way. Grace and Brooklynne finish cleaning the cage and walk over. “See! I told you we could change him!” Grace whispers to Brooklynn as they watch.
A few days later, the familiar sound of a jet plane wakes Jett up from a deep slumber. “Wait is that…?” Jett questions as the plane lands. He gasps in shock as his parents walk out. Jett exclaims happily and literally jumps out of his dorms window to meet them, burying his face in his mothers chest while crying happy tears.

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As soon as Jett saw the little lizard, he was in awe as he now knew why Grace and Brooklynne had kept it a secret all this while.
The lizard had special stripes on its back and yellow eyes that glow in the dark! It was as if it was an alien lizard!
Seeing Jett speechless, Grace and Brooklynne could not help but break the silence. "Our dad is a scientist and he was studying Needles for a while" Brooklynne said. "It is a very rare species and Needles is one of the last on earth" Grace continued, "Experimenting on Needles might kill it and we just could not bear watching it die and so when our parents were sleeping we sneaked into the lab and kept it in hiding until today".
Jett was speechless! He never knew that animals were endangered. Grace and Brooklynne discussed and agreed to let Jett take care of it for a week.
During that one precious week, Jett did everything he could to spend time with the little lizard. And that was how they became best of friends...

181 words(punctuation not included).

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The tiny lizard makes Jetty’s life hard and Jett is annoyed at him.Jett wants to kill the lizard but knows that his friend is sad and angry as they trust him.Jett eventually finds out that the lizard can talk and is astonished.The lizard who calls himself ‘blues’ tells him that he should be hardworking instead.In the end,Jett becomes a good boy and a hard working one.

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At first,Grace and Brooklynne did not want to let Jett take care of their secret pet.No matter how Jett insists,Grace and Brooklynne  insist on not letting Jett take care of their pet as they don’t trust him.Dejected,Jett walks away sadly.Seeing Jett so sad,the  duo  came up with an idea.”I know! We can let  Jett take care of a caterpillar,and if he does a great job,  it means we can trust him.How about that?”Grace suggested.”Great idea Grace!”Brooklynne exclaimed.Then,the duo skidded away to the garden and found a silkworm.they carefully placed it in a container and placed fresh leaves in it.They caught up with Jett,and said:”Jett,we decided to give you a shot at taking care of our pet.But first,you need to pass a test.” “What test?”Jett asked  enthusiastically.”you will take care of this little guy,”said Brooklynne, handing Jett the silkworm.”Jett,you must feed it regularly,you need not feed it water.One week later,we will check on you. If you do a great job,we will let you take care of our pet. But you must keep it a secret Okay?””Ok!”agreed Jett.One week later,the girls were delighted to find out that the silkworm had turned into a ,moth and flew  away.
They decided to let Jet take care of their lizard.The girls learnt not to judge a book by its cover,if not they will not realise someone’s hidden potential.

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Grace suggested that they could take turns to take care of Needles. Brooklynne agreed. “ Hm.. Fine,” Jett said grumpily.
Jett didn’t feel too excited to take care of a lizard. Soon after two days, it was Jett’s turn to take care of Needles. He was sulking as he found that lizards were disgusting reptiles. While Needles sat on his table, Jett was busy fiddling with his phone cord. “ This is boring. I can’t play with my phone,” he whispered to himself. Needles knew that Jett wasn’t paying attention so he grabbed the phone cord with his jaws. “ Are you hungry?” he asked. He got some food for Needles and fed him. “ Maybe lizards aren’t so bad,” he chuckled to himself. He soon turned over a new leaf.

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”This is better than just playing computer games.” Jett said with a smile. He looked at Needles who was holding the wire he took out from Jett's mobile phone. Needles tilted his head. Jett just smiled and stroked Needles head. Jett realised that all this time he had not cared about what other people thought when he asked them to do something for him. He had asked for things that he didn’t need. Jett vowed not to be spoilt anymore and decided to give his friends his spare devices that he never used.
91 words

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On Jett’s first day of taking care of Needles, he tried to avoid  the slim reptile. “Ew! Get off me, you skinnybones!”exclaimed Jett everytime the innocent lizard rubbed its neck against Jett’s ankle. Why do they think it’s cute, Jett thought. A slim reptile is rubbing its slimy neck against me. That is totally weird!
Meanwhile in the background, Brooklynne was awestruck, but Grace was even more shocked. Needles abhorred her on her first day. She wondered how much else this new rookie kid could do.
Though he did not enjoy his first day, he still came everyday to take care of Needles. He wanted to feel the joy and ecstasy of a pet which adored him. He did not want people despising him like in his last school.

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In the end Jett will lose the lizard and that he will feel really bad and go and help them to find the lizard again and when they do he will realise the power of friendship and being nice to other people and will change his spoiled ways. He will then become a more caring person and strive to do better things in life.

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"Please don't bite that Needles!" exclaimed Jeff in a very desperate tone.
"That is my PS5's charger! You do know what that is right? Never mind, I shouldn't be asking a lizard whether it knows what a PS5 is anyway." Jeff sighed and sat down on a side chair that was placed next to his bed.
Matt had gone out to run an errand so Jeff was alone. He was ment to be looking after Needles as Grace and Brooklynne had gone to explore the area. Jeff still did not like the welcome retreat even though he was having a whale of a time. Needles was giving Jeff a hard time. Jeff was very tired so he gave one more shot at making needles listen.
This time he said it in a firm but nice manner. Suddenly, Needles automatically dropped the wire. Jeff couldn't believe it he had finally gotten Needles to behave with him.
Suddenly, Jeff heard Matt come into their tiny cottage. Jeff quickly placed Needles gently in a small wooden box. "Lunch time Jeff!" exclaimed Matt. To Matt's surprise, Jeff did not groan like he usually did. Instead he obediently followed Matt into  the tiny restraunt at the end of the retreat.      After lunch, Grace and Brooklynne came back. Jeff told them everything as they met up in the shed.
As the weeks went by Jeff's bond with Needles and the girls grew stronger.
As the days went by Jeff changed his attitude towards the resort and the food. He became close friends with Grace and Brooklynne. Most of all it was Needles that changed his opinion. Needles was a small and timid animal though his actions has shown Jeff that size does not matter.

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Link for document here-

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FB0wa-YCQD07nT51TUdCdsNYzI8h33xWfLNEXBt_c8Q/edit?usp=sharing

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Matt says I could see the majestic beauty of the American Southeast if I’d bother to glance out the window.So I glance. “Clouds,” I report. “Whoop-de-do.”I’ve got all the majestic beauty I need right here. I’ve got a private plane, cruising at 28,000 feet. I’ve got two flight attendants who bring me snacks and sodas every time they think I look hungry or thirsty. I’ve got superfast internet, even though we’re flying way above any cell network. My phone connects to a system of satellites, thanks to a tiny chip designed by Fuego, the tech company started by my father.Right now, the screen shows the selfie I just took, slightly enhanced using Fuego’s state-of-the-art editing software. I add a caption—Jett on a jet. If that’s not meme-worthy, I don’t know what is. With a swipe, I upload it to the Matt rolls his eyes when the image appears on his screen. He follows all my social media, but he’s not a buddy. Warden might be a better word—or at least babysitter. My father—Matt’s boss—put him in charge of keeping me out of trouble. That might be the hardest job in Silicon Valley right now. Quantum computing is patty-cake compared with trying to make me do something I don’t want to. That’s kind of a point of pride with me.“Jett on a jet?” he challenges. “Really? Sixty grand a year for the finest schools and that’s the best you can come up with?”“It’s insightful commentary on my life,” I insist. “Dad loves this plane more than he loves me. He even named me after it.”“And the extra T stands for trouble,” Matt adds, quoting my father’s often-repeated comment. Yes, the famous Vladimir Baranov, billionaire founder of Fuego, cracks dumb dad jokes like all the other fathers.The plane’s official name is the Del Fuego. Our forty-acre compound in Silicon Valley is known as Casa del Fuego. You get the picture. I’ve named my toilet the Fuego Bowl. Back in December, I set off a bunch of cherry bombs in it to see if I could trigger the Fuego Detector in the hall. Verdict: success. I also found out that our whole house is outfitted with emergency sprinklers. Vlad was pretty ticked off about that. How was I supposed to know? My family’s all about Fuego, not Agua.Come to think of it, that was just about when Matt began spending a lot more time in the company of his boss’s son. Matt Louganis started out as a high-flying young programmer at Fuego. Lately, though, his job seems to be keeper.I feel a little bad about that. Matt signed on with Fuego to change the world, not to ride with me in the limo to school to make sure I actually get there. Or to be an extra chaperone at the Halloween dance to prevent a repeat of the lastHalloween dance, when I hired a local motorcycle gang to ride their Harleys into the gym. There were a lot of tall eighth graders last year, so it took a couple of minutes for the teachers to realize that the newcomers weren’t actually students.Hey, I’m just having fun. Sometimes, you have to work at it. It’s harder than it looks, you know. I have a saying: “Fertilizer, meet fan. . . .” I originally had another word for the first part, but it already got me kicked out of my private school—my third in three years, by the way. My mother flew all the way back from Ulaanbaatar to straighten things out—starting with me. Vlad says what I really need is to find some friends. That’s also harder than it looks. People expect me to be a stuck-up rich kid, so they stay away. Whatever. I’ve gotten pretty good at lone-wolfing it. Too good, some people think. Bay Area Weekly just named me Silicon Valley’s Number One Spoiled Brat. Remember, we’re talking about California. Think of all the other spoiled brats I had to beat out for that title. Vlad always says I should aim for the best.Besides, I’ve always got Matt. He’s twenty-seven, but he still counts as a friend. I mean, I think he’d still hang out with me even if his boss didn’t tell him to. Yeah, right. I’m sure he can think of a million things he’d rather do.The pilot makes an announcement to fasten our seat belts and turn off all electronics.As usual, I ignore both messages.Matt’s exasperated. “Your name may be Baranov, but your head can split open the same as anybody else’s.”So I sigh and fasten my seat belt, but I pull a blanket over my lap so Matt won’t see.When we’re on the tarmac and they open the door to let us out, the blast of heat and humidity nearly knocks me back into the galley.“What is this place—the Amazon jungle?”Matt grins right in my face. “Welcome to Arkansas.”“No, seriously,” I tell him.He’s solemn. “This is Little Rock, Arkansas. We’ve still got a three-hour drive ahead of us from here.”“To where—the moon?”He reaches back and pulls me down the stairs to the tarmac. “Listen, Jett. The sprinkler thing was bad enough. When the floors warped, your poor father had to get the replacement wood imported from specials cedars in Lebanon.”“My science teacher says a cherry bomb has more than a gram of flash powder,” I explain. “Sue me for being curious.”Matt’s not done yet. “Was it curiosity that made you drive that go-kart off Fisherman’s Wharf? Lucky for you I was able to kill the story before it went viral on Twitter. But when you pulled that little stunt with the drone—”Well, you can’t blame me for that. I was just trying to get a few aerial shots of Emma Loudermilk’s pool party. The problem was that sitting between my house and hers is San Francisco Airport. Fertilizer, meet fan.“That wasn’t my fault,” I defend myself. “How was I supposed to know the air force was going to scramble fighter planes to shoot down one little drone? Or that the pieces were going to break so many windshields in that parking lot?”“Don’t act so surprised,” Matt tells me firmly, steering me toward the terminal building. “This isn’t the first time your antics got you a little too much attention and you had to lie low for a while.”“Yeah,” I agree. “But lying low is a couple of weeks on the Riviera or maybe Bali. Not Arizona.”“Arkansas,” he corrects me.“So who’s going to know if the two of us get back on the plane, fuel up, and fly someplace decent? Remember that private surf island off Australia where everybody gets their own chef?”He cuts me off. “Forget it, Jett. Your dad’s right on top of this. The place we’re going has a waiting list—he had to pull a lot of strings to get us in this summer.”“Waiting list, huh? I like the sound of that.” In Silicon Valley, if you don’t have to pull strings to get into something, it probably isn’t worth getting into. “What is it—some sick new resort? And they put it in Arkansas to scare away the uncool people?”He smiles. “Something like that. Come on, the Range Rover’s waiting for us.”I’m encouraged. But something about his cake-eating grin makes me uneasy. Especially when I see the car, which is splashed with mud and pockmarked in a dozen places. This isn’t the kind of Range Rover from the rap songs. It’s the kind you ship to Africa to drive over the elephant poop.It’s ten times hotter inside the car than outside it. The air-conditioning isn’t broken; it just doesn’t exist.The driver is either named Buddy or wants us to consider him our buddy—I’m not sure which. He assures us we don’t need air-conditioning. “A certain amount of sweating is good for you,” he calls over the engine’s roar. “It’s part of the program—keeps your skin pores open. You’re cooler in the long run.”“Program?” I ask Matt suspiciously.He just shrugs.The breeze feels like it’s coming from a hair dryer set on fricassee. But after an hour on the road, I don’t even care that I’m sweat-drenched from head to toe.“Where are we?” I hiss. “How much worse is this going to get?”“We’re on our way,” he insists, “to the—uh—resort.” But he doesn’t look too happy either. Maybe the bumpy two-lane road is messing with his stomach. No resort I ever went to had an approach like this.“Couldn’t we have gone by helicopter? Or float plane?”He shakes his head. “This place is really remote.”Tell me about it. We haven’t seen a solitary soul in twenty miles that didn’t have feathers or four legs. This resort has a waiting list? I’d hate to see the one nobody wants to go to.Another hour goes by. The scenery doesn’t change. Standing by the side of the road, a deer looks at me as we pass by. I swear there’s pity in its eyes.There are signs that talk about towns, but we never see any. By this time, I’m not just physically miserable and bored out of my mind; I’m also starving. I’d give a thousand preferred shares of Fuego stock for a bag of Doritos. The luxury of the Gulfstream feels like it happened in another lifetime—a way better one.Finally, three hours in, we get there. I look around for the trappings of a vacation hot spot. Palm trees, towering waterslides, gleaming hotel buildings. Nothing. There’s a small sign by the main entrance: THE OASIS OF MIND AND BODY WELLNESS I turn to Matt. “Wellness?”“This is the place,” he confirms. “Your dad set the whole thing up.”How do I even describe it? A lot of words come to mind, none of them resort. It’s decently large, surrounded by woods, with small neat cottages dotted all over the property. There are a few bigger buildings too, but none higher than a single story. It isn’t a dump. Nothing is falling apart, and it’s all freshly painted and well maintained. It isn’t totally un-fun. There’s a pool at least—the kind any crummy motel would have. No waterslides or anything cool like that. There are people on bikes and, in the distance, kayaking and pedal boating on a lake. What can I say? It’s sort of okay, but it’s definitely not the kind of high-end destination where you get your own chef. My father picked this place? No way!The driver takes us to the welcome center so we can check in.I tug on Matt’s arm. “I don’t get it. Why would Vlad send me clear across the country and hours into the wilderness to a place that doesn’t have anything half as good as the stuff at our own house?”“Take it easy—”“And what’s this whole ‘wellness’ thing? I’m not sick!”“We’re all sick,” comes a rich female voice, smooth as melted caramel, from behind the counter. “In fact, the moment we’re born, we immediately begin dying.”Picture the most intimidating woman you’ve ever seen—like a supermodel on the body of one of those female wrestlers in WWE. The figure who stands up from her chair must be six foot four, yet she carries herself with a catlike ease and grace. She has huge pale gray eyes that are closer to silver. Her hair is almost silver too—what there is of it. It’s close cropped—I swear it’s shorter than mine. I’m so tempted to stare at her that I have to look away.“Uh—hi,” Matt says, clearly thrown. “I’m Matt Louganis and this is Jett Baranov. Checking in.”“I envy you,” the lady informs us in that almost musical tone. “No part of the journey is ever quite so eye-opening as the first step. I’m Ivory Novis. I’m in charge of meditation here.”“Meditation?” I echo.“This is the Oasis of Mind and Body Wellness. We heal the body through diet and exercise. The mind, on the other hand, is a more complicated instrument. The valves of a trumpet can be oiled. Only meditation can tune the mind.”Huh? “I’ve heard of math teachers and English teachers,” I tell her. “But meditation teachers? That’s a new one.”“Here at the Oasis we say ‘pathfinder,’ not ‘teacher.’ I cannot plant information inside your head. I can merely show you the path to understanding.”Every time Ivory Novis opens her mouth, a lot of serious weirdness comes out. I blurt, “You know that waiting list? Is it to get in, or get out?”Ivory laughs and then holds out her hand. Matt moves to shake it, but that’s not what she has in mind.“Your phones, gentlemen,” she tells us.A great fear clutches at my heart. “What about them?”“You have to turn them in,” Ivory explains like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s the one strict rule of the Oasis—no electronics. On the path to wellness, the only screen you need is the vast blank slate of your imagination.”I’m psyched. Finally we come to the part where Matt tells this Wonder Woman on steroids where she can stick her Oasis. So it’s a blow when I see him hand over his beloved F-phone like it’s nothing.“You knew about this?” I accuse him.He nods grimly. “And so did your father.”That’s when it dawns on me. “Vlad didn’t send me here to lie low. He sent me here for revenge! Just because he had to pay back the air force for scrambling those fighter planes.”Matt shakes his head solemnly. “Your father loves you. He sent you here because you need this. Silicon Valley’s Number One Spoiled Brat—that looks cute in a magazine. But these stunts of yours are getting out of hand. What if a piece of that drone had gone through somebody’s skull instead of just their windshield? One of these days, you’re going to do something that your father can’t buy you out of. He’s trying to save your life, Jett. And so am I.” And he plucks my phone out of my pocket and hands it to Ms. Meditation.I fold my arms across my chest. “I’m not staying.”In answer, he reaches into my bag and pulls out my F-pad and my laptop and surrenders those too. Then he takes the smartwatch right off my wrist and tosses it across the counter.“You’re fired,” I snarl.He’s patient. “Remember Liam Reardon?”A kid in my school. His dad owns, like, half of Google. “What about him?”“He was a zombie. He never looked away from a screen long enough to make eye contact with a real human. He was hostile. Antisocial. He’d gone through every therapist in the Bay Area and half of the ones in LA. Then his parents sent him here.”Ms. Meditation nods. “Liam. Wonderful boy. The Oasis made such a difference for him. As it will for you.” The silver eyes bore into me at high intensity until I have to study my sneakers to avoid the onslaught. “The coming weeks will be the turning point of your spiritual life.”“I don’t have a spiritual life,” I reply stubbornly. “Some crazy lady stole it along with my phone.”If Ivory is offended by that, she doesn’t let on. “Hostility is the byproduct of a mind out of balance,” she says understandingly.“At least I have a mind,” I mumble under my breath.“Don’t be rude.” Matt puts an arm around my shoulders in an attempt to calm me down. “Take it easy, kid. You’re not in California anymore.”I shrug him off violently. “Yeah, really? What tipped you off? The swamp gas? The possum BO? The fact that we haven’t seen an In-N-Out Burger for two hundred miles?”“You must be starving,” Ivory says smoothly. “I’ve got some good news for you there. Early dinner is being served right now. You have to try our burgers. They’re world renowned.”I struggle to get my whirling mind under control. If this was San Francisco, I’d tell everybody to stick it and Uber home. But I don’t know if Uber comes way out to the sticks. And even if they do, I no longer have a phone to call them on. It goes without saying that I’m not spending the next six weeks of my life in this freak-show wellness camp. But for right now, I accept the fact that I’m stuck. The Range Rover belongs to the Oasis, not me, so there’s no way back to Little Rock and the Gulfstream if Ms. Meditation doesn’t approve. For all I know, the plane isn’t there anymore. Vlad probably had them fly it back to California, so he can go all over the place. I can tell you where he won’t go, that’s for sure. To a wellness oasis.First thing tomorrow, I’m out of here if I have to walk. But right now, if I don’t get some food, I’m going to face-plant in the pine needles. I might as well check out these famous burgers Ivory’s hyping.She points through the double doors. “The dining hall is the larger building at the center of the cluster of cottages. Leave your bags—I’ll have them brought to your cottage. Bon appétit. And be whole.”“Hole?” What now?“Whole,” she amends, emphasizing the wh sound. “As in entire. Your mind, body, and spirit. Be your whole self.”Like I could be anybody else. The only hole I want is a place to crawl into until this nightmare is over.So Matt and I go to the dining hall. The sign over the entrance reads NOURISHMENT FOR THE BODY. There’s another building close by with a NOURISHMENT FOR THE SOUL sign. That must be where Ivory and her meditation hang out. I’m definitely history before anybody makes me go there.The dining hall is nicer than a school cafeteria, but it’s basically a school cafeteria. They give you a tray; you pick out what you want; you go find a seat at one of the long communal tables. The private chefs from the good resort would probably drop dead if they had to work here.They won’t let me take two burgers. The server explains—like she’s talking to a five-year-old—that if I’m still hungry after I finish the first one, I can come back for seconds.“Oh, I’ll be hungry enough,” I assure her. I’m so hungry I can barely focus on what a downer it is to be here.Because it’s still early, there are only a few diners scattered around the big room. I wonder how long it took them to get to the top of the waiting list. No offense, but I have zero respect for anybody who comes here on purpose instead of being tricked into it by their dad.Matt waves me over to a spot by a big picture window. It has a view of the lake, which I can now see is a side pool of a long river.“Pretty, isn’t it?” he offers.I don’t answer. On an empty stomach, I can’t muster enough sarcasm to come up with the vicious reply he deserves.I plop myself in the chair, grab my burger with both hands, take a gigantic bite . . .. . . and spit it out so hard that it decorates the picture window.“That’s not a burger!” I choke.“Sure it is,” Matt replies airily. “A veggie burger.”“A what?”“The Oasis is one hundred percent vegetarian,” he informs me like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.I reach for my pocket, determined to call Vlad and demand to be taken out of this backwoods torture chamber or else.That when I remember: my phone and all my electronics are locked away at the welcome center.All this wellness is going to kill me.

# data[].attributes.subject
Matt says I could see the majestic beauty of the American Southeast if I’d bother to glance out the window.So I glance. “Clouds,” I report. “Whoop-de-do.”I’ve got all the majestic beauty I need right here. I’ve got a private plane, cruising at 28,000 feet. I’ve got two flight attendants who bring me snacks and sodas every time they think I look hungry or thirsty. I’ve got superfast internet, even though we’re flying way above any cell network. My phone connects to a system of satellites, thanks to a tiny chip designed by Fuego, the tech company started by my father.Right now, the screen shows the selfie I just took, slightly enhanced using Fuego’s state-of-the-art editing software. I add a caption—Jett on a jet. If that’s not meme-worthy, I don’t know what is. With a swipe, I upload it to the Matt rolls his eyes when the image appears on his screen. He follows all my social media, but he’s not a buddy. Warden might be a better word—or at least babysitter. My father—Matt’s boss—put him in charge of keeping me out of trouble. That might be the hardest job in Silicon Valley right now. Quantum computing is patty-cake compared with trying to make me do something I don’t want to. That’s kind of a point of pride with me.“Jett on a jet?” he challenges. “Really? Sixty grand a year for the finest schools and that’s the best you can come up with?”“It’s insightful commentary on my life,” I insist. “Dad loves this plane more than he loves me. He even named me after it.”“And the extra T stands for trouble,” Matt adds, quoting my father’s often-repeated comment. Yes, the famous Vladimir Baranov, billionaire founder of Fuego, cracks dumb dad jokes like all the other fathers.The plane’s official name is the Del Fuego. Our forty-acre compound in Silicon Valley is known as Casa del Fuego. You get the picture. I’ve named my toilet the Fuego Bowl. Back in December, I set off a bunch of cherry bombs in it to see if I could trigger the Fuego Detector in the hall. Verdict: success. I also found out that our whole house is outfitted with emergency sprinklers. Vlad was pretty ticked off about that. How was I supposed to know? My family’s all about Fuego, not Agua.Come to think of it, that was just about when Matt began spending a lot more time in the company of his boss’s son. Matt Louganis started out as a high-flying young programmer at Fuego. Lately, though, his job seems to be keeper.I feel a little bad about that. Matt signed on with Fuego to change the world, not to ride with me in the limo to school to make sure I actually get there. Or to be an extra chaperone at the Halloween dance to prevent a repeat of the lastHalloween dance, when I hired a local motorcycle gang to ride their Harleys into the gym. There were a lot of tall eighth graders last year, so it took a couple of minutes for the teachers to realize that the newcomers weren’t actually students.Hey, I’m just having fun. Sometimes, you have to work at it. It’s harder than it looks, you know. I have a saying: “Fertilizer, meet fan. . . .” I originally had another word for the first part, but it already got me kicked out of my private school—my third in three years, by the way. My mother flew all the way back from Ulaanbaatar to straighten things out—starting with me. Vlad says what I really need is to find some friends. That’s also harder than it looks. People expect me to be a stuck-up rich kid, so they stay away. Whatever. I’ve gotten pretty good at lone-wolfing it. Too good, some people think. Bay Area Weekly just named me Silicon Valley’s Number One Spoiled Brat. Remember, we’re talking about California. Think of all the other spoiled brats I had to beat out for that title. Vlad always says I should aim for the best.Besides, I’ve always got Matt. He’s twenty-seven, but he still counts as a friend. I mean, I think he’d still hang out with me even if his boss didn’t tell him to. Yeah, right. I’m sure he can think of a million things he’d rather do.The pilot makes an announcement to fasten our seat belts and turn off all electronics.As usual, I ignore both messages.Matt’s exasperated. “Your name may be Baranov, but your head can split open the same as anybody else’s.”So I sigh and fasten my seat belt, but I pull a blanket over my lap so Matt won’t see.When we’re on the tarmac and they open the door to let us out, the blast of heat and humidity nearly knocks me back into the galley.“What is this place—the Amazon jungle?”Matt grins right in my face. “Welcome to Arkansas.”“No, seriously,” I tell him.He’s solemn. “This is Little Rock, Arkansas. We’ve still got a three-hour drive ahead of us from here.”“To where—the moon?”He reaches back and pulls me down the stairs to the tarmac. “Listen, Jett. The sprinkler thing was bad enough. When the floors warped, your poor father had to get the replacement wood imported from specials cedars in Lebanon.”“My science teacher says a cherry bomb has more than a gram of flash powder,” I explain. “Sue me for being curious.”Matt’s not done yet. “Was it curiosity that made you drive that go-kart off Fisherman’s Wharf? Lucky for you I was able to kill the story before it went viral on Twitter. But when you pulled that little stunt with the drone—”Well, you can’t blame me for that. I was just trying to get a few aerial shots of Emma Loudermilk’s pool party. The problem was that sitting between my house and hers is San Francisco Airport. Fertilizer, meet fan.“That wasn’t my fault,” I defend myself. “How was I supposed to know the air force was going to scramble fighter planes to shoot down one little drone? Or that the pieces were going to break so many windshields in that parking lot?”“Don’t act so surprised,” Matt tells me firmly, steering me toward the terminal building. “This isn’t the first time your antics got you a little too much attention and you had to lie low for a while.”“Yeah,” I agree. “But lying low is a couple of weeks on the Riviera or maybe Bali. Not Arizona.”“Arkansas,” he corrects me.“So who’s going to know if the two of us get back on the plane, fuel up, and fly someplace decent? Remember that private surf island off Australia where everybody gets their own chef?”He cuts me off. “Forget it, Jett. Your dad’s right on top of this. The place we’re going has a waiting list—he had to pull a lot of strings to get us in this summer.”“Waiting list, huh? I like the sound of that.” In Silicon Valley, if you don’t have to pull strings to get into something, it probably isn’t worth getting into. “What is it—some sick new resort? And they put it in Arkansas to scare away the uncool people?”He smiles. “Something like that. Come on, the Range Rover’s waiting for us.”I’m encouraged. But something about his cake-eating grin makes me uneasy. Especially when I see the car, which is splashed with mud and pockmarked in a dozen places. This isn’t the kind of Range Rover from the rap songs. It’s the kind you ship to Africa to drive over the elephant poop.It’s ten times hotter inside the car than outside it. The air-conditioning isn’t broken; it just doesn’t exist.The driver is either named Buddy or wants us to consider him our buddy—I’m not sure which. He assures us we don’t need air-conditioning. “A certain amount of sweating is good for you,” he calls over the engine’s roar. “It’s part of the program—keeps your skin pores open. You’re cooler in the long run.”“Program?” I ask Matt suspiciously.He just shrugs.The breeze feels like it’s coming from a hair dryer set on fricassee. But after an hour on the road, I don’t even care that I’m sweat-drenched from head to toe.“Where are we?” I hiss. “How much worse is this going to get?”“We’re on our way,” he insists, “to the—uh—resort.” But he doesn’t look too happy either. Maybe the bumpy two-lane road is messing with his stomach. No resort I ever went to had an approach like this.“Couldn’t we have gone by helicopter? Or float plane?”He shakes his head. “This place is really remote.”Tell me about it. We haven’t seen a solitary soul in twenty miles that didn’t have feathers or four legs. This resort has a waiting list? I’d hate to see the one nobody wants to go to.Another hour goes by. The scenery doesn’t change. Standing by the side of the road, a deer looks at me as we pass by. I swear there’s pity in its eyes.There are signs that talk about towns, but we never see any. By this time, I’m not just physically miserable and bored out of my mind; I’m also starving. I’d give a thousand preferred shares of Fuego stock for a bag of Doritos. The luxury of the Gulfstream feels like it happened in another lifetime—a way better one.Finally, three hours in, we get there. I look around for the trappings of a vacation hot spot. Palm trees, towering waterslides, gleaming hotel buildings. Nothing. There’s a small sign by the main entrance: THE OASIS OF MIND AND BODY WELLNESS I turn to Matt. “Wellness?”“This is the place,” he confirms. “Your dad set the whole thing up.”How do I even describe it? A lot of words come to mind, none of them resort. It’s decently large, surrounded by woods, with small neat cottages dotted all over the property. There are a few bigger buildings too, but none higher than a single story. It isn’t a dump. Nothing is falling apart, and it’s all freshly painted and well maintained. It isn’t totally un-fun. There’s a pool at least—the kind any crummy motel would have. No waterslides or anything cool like that. There are people on bikes and, in the distance, kayaking and pedal boating on a lake. What can I say? It’s sort of okay, but it’s definitely not the kind of high-end destination where you get your own chef. My father picked this place? No way!The driver takes us to the welcome center so we can check in.I tug on Matt’s arm. “I don’t get it. Why would Vlad send me clear across the country and hours into the wilderness to a place that doesn’t have anything half as good as the stuff at our own house?”“Take it easy—”“And what’s this whole ‘wellness’ thing? I’m not sick!”“We’re all sick,” comes a rich female voice, smooth as melted caramel, from behind the counter. “In fact, the moment we’re born, we immediately begin dying.”Picture the most intimidating woman you’ve ever seen—like a supermodel on the body of one of those female wrestlers in WWE. The figure who stands up from her chair must be six foot four, yet she carries herself with a catlike ease and grace. She has huge pale gray eyes that are closer to silver. Her hair is almost silver too—what there is of it. It’s close cropped—I swear it’s shorter than mine. I’m so tempted to stare at her that I have to look away.“Uh—hi,” Matt says, clearly thrown. “I’m Matt Louganis and this is Jett Baranov. Checking in.”“I envy you,” the lady informs us in that almost musical tone. “No part of the journey is ever quite so eye-opening as the first step. I’m Ivory Novis. I’m in charge of meditation here.”“Meditation?” I echo.“This is the Oasis of Mind and Body Wellness. We heal the body through diet and exercise. The mind, on the other hand, is a more complicated instrument. The valves of a trumpet can be oiled. Only meditation can tune the mind.”Huh? “I’ve heard of math teachers and English teachers,” I tell her. “But meditation teachers? That’s a new one.”“Here at the Oasis we say ‘pathfinder,’ not ‘teacher.’ I cannot plant information inside your head. I can merely show you the path to understanding.”Every time Ivory Novis opens her mouth, a lot of serious weirdness comes out. I blurt, “You know that waiting list? Is it to get in, or get out?”Ivory laughs and then holds out her hand. Matt moves to shake it, but that’s not what she has in mind.“Your phones, gentlemen,” she tells us.A great fear clutches at my heart. “What about them?”“You have to turn them in,” Ivory explains like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s the one strict rule of the Oasis—no electronics. On the path to wellness, the only screen you need is the vast blank slate of your imagination.”I’m psyched. Finally we come to the part where Matt tells this Wonder Woman on steroids where she can stick her Oasis. So it’s a blow when I see him hand over his beloved F-phone like it’s nothing.“You knew about this?” I accuse him.He nods grimly. “And so did your father.”That’s when it dawns on me. “Vlad didn’t send me here to lie low. He sent me here for revenge! Just because he had to pay back the air force for scrambling those fighter planes.”Matt shakes his head solemnly. “Your father loves you. He sent you here because you need this. Silicon Valley’s Number One Spoiled Brat—that looks cute in a magazine. But these stunts of yours are getting out of hand. What if a piece of that drone had gone through somebody’s skull instead of just their windshield? One of these days, you’re going to do something that your father can’t buy you out of. He’s trying to save your life, Jett. And so am I.” And he plucks my phone out of my pocket and hands it to Ms. Meditation.I fold my arms across my chest. “I’m not staying.”In answer, he reaches into my bag and pulls out my F-pad and my laptop and surrenders those too. Then he takes the smartwatch right off my wrist and tosses it across the counter.“You’re fired,” I snarl.He’s patient. “Remember Liam Reardon?”A kid in my school. His dad owns, like, half of Google. “What about him?”“He was a zombie. He never looked away from a screen long enough to make eye contact with a real human. He was hostile. Antisocial. He’d gone through every therapist in the Bay Area and half of the ones in LA. Then his parents sent him here.”Ms. Meditation nods. “Liam. Wonderful boy. The Oasis made such a difference for him. As it will for you.” The silver eyes bore into me at high intensity until I have to study my sneakers to avoid the onslaught. “The coming weeks will be the turning point of your spiritual life.”“I don’t have a spiritual life,” I reply stubbornly. “Some crazy lady stole it along with my phone.”If Ivory is offended by that, she doesn’t let on. “Hostility is the byproduct of a mind out of balance,” she says understandingly.“At least I have a mind,” I mumble under my breath.“Don’t be rude.” Matt puts an arm around my shoulders in an attempt to calm me down. “Take it easy, kid. You’re not in California anymore.”I shrug him off violently. “Yeah, really? What tipped you off? The swamp gas? The possum BO? The fact that we haven’t seen an In-N-Out Burger for two hundred miles?”“You must be starving,” Ivory says smoothly. “I’ve got some good news for you there. Early dinner is being served right now. You have to try our burgers. They’re world renowned.”I struggle to get my whirling mind under control. If this was San Francisco, I’d tell everybody to stick it and Uber home. But I don’t know if Uber comes way out to the sticks. And even if they do, I no longer have a phone to call them on. It goes without saying that I’m not spending the next six weeks of my life in this freak-show wellness camp. But for right now, I accept the fact that I’m stuck. The Range Rover belongs to the Oasis, not me, so there’s no way back to Little Rock and the Gulfstream if Ms. Meditation doesn’t approve. For all I know, the plane isn’t there anymore. Vlad probably had them fly it back to California, so he can go all over the place. I can tell you where he won’t go, that’s for sure. To a wellness oasis.First thing tomorrow, I’m out of here if I have to walk. But right now, if I don’t get some food, I’m going to face-plant in the pine needles. I might as well check out these famous burgers Ivory’s hyping.She points through the double doors. “The dining hall is the larger building at the center of the cluster of cottages. Leave your bags—I’ll have them brought to your cottage. Bon appétit. And be whole.”“Hole?” What now?“Whole,” she amends, emphasizing the wh sound. “As in entire. Your mind, body, and spirit. Be your whole self.”Like I could be anybody else. The only hole I want is a place to crawl into until this nightmare is over.So Matt and I go to the dining hall. The sign over the entrance reads NOURISHMENT FOR THE BODY. There’s another building close by with a NOURISHMENT FOR THE SOUL sign. That must be where Ivory and her meditation hang out. I’m definitely history before anybody makes me go there.The dining hall is nicer than a school cafeteria, but it’s basically a school cafeteria. They give you a tray; you pick out what you want; you go find a seat at one of the long communal tables. The private chefs from the good resort would probably drop dead if they had to work here.They won’t let me take two burgers. The server explains—like she’s talking to a five-year-old—that if I’m still hungry after I finish the first one, I can come back for seconds.“Oh, I’ll be hungry enough,” I assure her. I’m so hungry I can barely focus on what a downer it is to be here.Because it’s still early, there are only a few diners scattered around the big room. I wonder how long it took them to get to the top of the waiting list. No offense, but I have zero respect for anybody who comes here on purpose instead of being tricked into it by their dad.Matt waves me over to a spot by a big picture window. It has a view of the lake, which I can now see is a side pool of a long river.“Pretty, isn’t it?” he offers.I don’t answer. On an empty stomach, I can’t muster enough sarcasm to come up with the vicious reply he deserves.I plop myself in the chair, grab my burger with both hands, take a gigantic bite . . .. . . and spit it out so hard that it decorates the picture window.“That’s not a burger!” I choke.“Sure it is,” Matt replies airily. “A veggie burger.”“A what?”“The Oasis is one hundred percent vegetarian,” he informs me like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.I reach for my pocket, determined to call Vlad and demand to be taken out of this backwoods torture chamber or else.That when I remember: my phone and all my electronics are locked away at the welcome center.All this wellness is going to kill me.

# data[].attributes.body
Jett hung out out with the friends he made at camp instead of hanging out with his normal bratty friends.Wow!He really was putting effort to prove he was no longer a spoilt brat!Jett also is not so snobbish about people and does not judge people."Hmm...I think I'm starting to like this stuff!" he mumbled with some tasteless oatmeal in his mouth as he took in some fresh air."Hey!Jett!Let's go!We gotta get the other team's flag!"Grace yelled as Jett stumbled out of the bench to play capture the flag.WOW!He really turned over his leaf.

# data[].attributes.headline
Unplugged by Gordon Korman . Tanmayi (6Caring)

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Unplugged by Gordon Korman . Tanmayi (6Caring)

# data[].attributes.body
"You are one feisty creature, aren't you?" Jett said to the tiny reptile as he held it carefully in his hands.

Needles responded with a slow blink...with a computer wire still firmly lodged between its jaws. Jett chuckled as he gently removed the computer wire from the lizards hand , Needles .

"Goodnight Needles! It's time for me to go to bed,'' I whispered a soft goodnight as I scooped him in my hands and gently placed him in his cage which was filled with sand , some small logs and lots of plants .

"WHAT! WE TRUSTED YOU ! "Grace screamed . Something terrible happened the night before ... Absent minded Jett had forgotten to close the door of Needles cage and Needles ended up escaping .

"I am so sorry .I will buy you another one ," Jett whimpered . Everyone in the schools hallway was staring at this commotion .Just than Brooklynne came .Grace grabbed her arm and walked away. Brooklynne was so confused but followed her anyway .What I did not know as that Needles was in my school bag the entire time .

"Ahh! " I yelled. The little lizard was curled around my pen in my pencil case .Hearing the loud scream Needles jumped in shock .Just then Grace turned behind and saw Needles .

"Needles !' Grace sang with joy . Hearing his name looked up excited to see who was calling him . She scooped up up Needles and bought him back to his desk .

After this incident Jett learned to care for his or his friends items .He also became friends with Grace and Brooklynne .

He also learnt to be responsible with his or his friends thing .

Words :290

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On the way to his yoga class, which he was already late for, a mischievous grin spread across Jett's face. He had a plan; he would tell the entire Oasis that Grace and Brooklyne were keeping Needles! Yoga class was as boring as usual, but that was the time Jett could sit back and think about his plan. He was silent throughout the class. This caught the attention of his classmates, including Grace and Brooklyne. On regular days, the class was loud and noisy, but today it was quiet. Quiet enough to hear someone scream from five hundred kilometres away. "Jett, is anything bothering you?" the teacher asked, snapping him out of his daydream. "Grace and Brooklyne are keeping a pet lizard!" he replied loudly. Unfortunately, no one believed him. As he left the yoga classroom, Grace was wearing a smirk on her face. Jett quickly asked when he would be able to feed needles. "Um, I haven't really thought about it. How about today?" she said, reluctantly shoving some food for Needles and walking away sulkily. Jett knew that Grace didn't want him to feed it, and he wanted revenge. But when he saw Needles, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It was just so cute! Jett fed Needles the food and rubbed its tiny little head. After that day, Jett paid daily visits to Needles and fed him food scrapes left over from his lunch. Jett really cared about Needles, and that was the truth. He cared for it in a different way he cared for people. Everyone thought Jett did not care about anything, but that was not true. At least, not to animals.
(280 words)

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After adding Jett to the care team, they did not know if they should trust him. They told him that he has to take proper car of Needles as he was a sensitive pet. Jett nodded his head and excitedly went towards Needles to interact with it. Needles was scared of Jett and ran away. He tried to bond with Needles in the next few days. Soon enough, Needles got used to Jett and they shared a very close bond. When Needles was bored, Jett would give him expensive toys to play with. But Needles would just ignore the toys and cuddle up to Jett. That was when Jett realized that money is not everything and that friendship is more important that money. THE END.

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Needles held the cord in his mouth. Jett worriedly ordered one last time, “Boy, let it go…” But it was to late. Needles had pulled the cord providing the world’s internet.

# data[].attributes.body
turn to Matt. “Wellness?”

“This is the place,” he confirms. “Your dad set the whole thing up.”

How do I even describe it? A lot of words come to mind, none of them resort. It’s decently large, surrounded by woods, with small neat cottages dotted all over the property. There are a few bigger buildings too, but none higher than a single story. It isn’t a dump. Nothing is falling apart, and it’s all freshly painted and well maintained. It isn’t totally un-fun. There’s a pool at least—the kind any crummy motel would have. No waterslides or anything cool like that. There are people on bikes and, in the distance, kayaking and pedal boating on a lake. What can I say? It’s sort of okay, but it’s definitely not the kind of high-end destination where you get your own chef. My father picked this place? No way!

The driver takes us to the welcome center so we can check in.

I tug on Matt’s arm. “I don’t get it. Why would Vlad send me clear across the country and hours into the wilderness to a place that doesn’t have anything half as good as the stuff at our own house?”

“Take it easy—”

“And what’s this whole ‘wellness’ thing? I’m not sick!”

“We’re all sick,” comes a rich female voice, smooth as melted caramel, from behind the counter. “In fact, the moment we’re born, we immediately begin dying.”

Picture the most intimidating woman you’ve ever seen—like a supermodel on the body of one of those female wrestlers in WWE. The figure who stands up from her chair must be six foot four, yet she carries herself with a catlike ease and grace. She has huge pale gray eyes that are closer to silver. Her hair is almost silver too—what there is of it. It’s close cropped—I swear it’s shorter than mine. I’m so tempted to stare at her that I have to look away.

“Uh—hi,” Matt says, clearly thrown. “I’m Matt Louganis and this is Jett Baranov. Checking in.”

“I envy you,” the lady informs us in that almost musical tone. “No part of the journey is ever quite so eye-opening as the first step. I’m Ivory Novis. I’m in charge of meditation here.”

“Meditation?” I echo.

“This is the Oasis of Mind and Body Wellness. We heal the body through diet and exercise. The mind, on the other hand, is a more complicated instrument. The valves of a trumpet can be oiled. Only meditation can tune the mind.”

Huh? “I’ve heard of math teachers and English teachers,” I tell her. “But meditation teachers? That’s a new one.”

“Here at the Oasis we say ‘pathfinder,’ not ‘teacher.’ I cannot plant information inside your head. I can merely show you the path to understanding.”

Every time Ivory Novis opens her mouth, a lot of serious weirdness comes out. I blurt, “You know that waiting list? Is it to get in, or get out?”

Ivory laughs and then holds out her hand. Matt moves to shake it, but that’s not what she has in mind.

“Your phones, gentlemen,” she tells us.

A great fear clutches at my heart. “What about them?”

“You have to turn them in,” Ivory explains like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s the one strict rule of the Oasis—no electronics. On the path to wellness, the only screen you need is the vast blank slate of your imagination.”

I’m psyched. Finally we come to the part where Matt tells this Wonder Woman on steroids where she can stick her Oasis. So it’s a blow when I see him hand over his beloved F-phone like it’s nothing.

“You knew about this?” I accuse him.

He nods grimly. “And so did your father.”

That’s when it dawns on me. “Vlad didn’t send me here to lie low. He sent me here for revenge! Just because he had to pay back the air force for scrambling those fighter planes.”

Matt shakes his head solemnly. “Your father loves you. He sent you here because you need this. Silicon Valley’s Number One Spoiled Brat—that looks cute in a magazine. But these stunts of yours are getting out of hand. What if a piece of that drone had gone through somebody’s skull instead of just their windshield? One of these days, you’re going to do something that your father can’t buy you out of. He’s trying to save your life, Jett. And so am I.” And he plucks my phone out of my pocket and hands it to Ms. Meditation.

I fold my arms across my chest. “I’m not staying.”

In answer, he reaches into my bag and pulls out my F-pad and my laptop and surrenders those too. Then he takes the smartwatch right off my wrist and tosses it across the counter.

“You’re fired,” I snarl.

He’s patient. “Remember Liam Reardon?”

A kid in my school. His dad owns, like, half of Google. “What about him?”

“He was a zombie. He never looked away from a screen long enough to make eye contact with a real human. He was hostile. Antisocial. He’d gone through every therapist in the Bay Area and half of the ones in LA. Then his parents sent him here.”

Ms. Meditation nods. “Liam. Wonderful boy. The Oasis made such a difference for him. As it will for you.” The silver eyes bore into me at high intensity until I have to study my sneakers to avoid the onslaught. “The coming weeks will be the turning point of your spiritual life.”

“I don’t have a spiritual life,” I reply stubbornly. “Some crazy lady stole it along with my phone.”

If Ivory is offended by that, she doesn’t let on. “Hostility is the byproduct of a mind out of balance,” she says understandingly.

“At least I have a mind,” I mumble under my breath.

“Don’t be rude.” Matt puts an arm around my shoulders in an attempt to calm me down. “Take it easy, kid. You’re not in California anymore.”

I shrug him off violently. “Yeah, really? What tipped you off? The swamp gas? The possum BO? The fact that we haven’t seen an In-N-Out Burger for two hundred miles?”

“You must be starving,” Ivory says smoothly. “I’ve got some good news for you there. Early dinner is being served right now. You have to try our burgers. They’re world renowned.”

I struggle to get my whirling mind under control. If this was San Francisco, I’d tell everybody to stick it and Uber home. But I don’t know if Uber comes way out to the sticks. And even if they do, I no longer have a phone to call them on. It goes without saying that I’m not spending the next six weeks of my life in this freak-show wellness camp. But for right now, I accept the fact that I’m stuck. The Range Rover belongs to the Oasis, not me, so there’s no way back to Little Rock and the Gulfstream if Ms. Meditation doesn’t approve. For all I know, the plane isn’t there anymore. Vlad probably had them fly it back to California, so he can go all over the place. I can tell you where he won’t go, that’s for sure. To a wellness oasis.

First thing tomorrow, I’m out of here if I have to walk. But right now, if I don’t get some food, I’m going to face-plant in the pine needles. I might as well check out these famous burgers Ivory’s hyping.

She points through the double doors. “The dining hall is the larger building at the center of the cluster of cottages. Leave your bags—I’ll have them brought to your cottage. Bon appétit. And be whole.”

“Hole?” What now?

“Whole,” she amends, emphasizing the wh sound. “As in entire. Your mind, body, and spirit. Be your whole self.”

Like I could be anybody else. The only hole I want is a place to crawl into until this nightmare is over.

So Matt and I go to the dining hall. The sign over the entrance reads NOURISHMENT FOR THE BODY. There’s another building close by with a NOURISHMENT FOR THE SOUL sign. That must be where Ivory and her meditation hang out. I’m definitely history before anybody makes me go there.

The dining hall is nicer than a school cafeteria, but it’s basically a school cafeteria. They give you a tray; you pick out what you want; you go find a seat at one of the long communal tables. The private chefs from the good resort would probably drop dead if they had to work here.

They won’t let me take two burgers. The server explains—like she’s talking to a five-year-old—that if I’m still hungry after I finish the first one, I can come back for seconds.

“Oh, I’ll be hungry enough,” I assure her. I’m so hungry I can barely focus on what a downer it is to be here.

Because it’s still early, there are only a few diners scattered around the big room. I wonder how long it took them to get to the top of the waiting list. No offense, but I have zero respect for anybody who comes here on purpose instead of being tricked into it by their dad.

Matt waves me over to a spot by a big picture window. It has a view of the lake, which I can now see is a side pool of a long river.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” he offers.

I don’t answer. On an empty stomach, I can’t muster enough sarcasm to come up with the vicious reply he deserves.

I plop myself in the chair, grab my burger with both hands, take a gigantic bite . . .

. . . and spit it out so hard that it decorates the picture window.

“That’s not a burger!” I choke.

“Sure it is,” Matt replies airily. “A veggie burger.”

“A what?”

“The Oasis is one hundred percent vegetarian,” he informs me like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

I reach for my pocket, determined to call Vlad and demand to be taken out of this backwoods torture chamber or else.

That when I remember: my phone and all my electronics are locked away at the welcome center.

All this wellness is going to kill me.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that that Needle the little lizard will go to Jett’s house and Jett will forget about Needle.Then Needle will make a mess and Jett will get scolded.After a few days, Needle will unplug the wifi and Jett cannot play his games and he will be bored. Without anything to do, he looks for Needles, but could not find him.After searching for a while, Jett found him behind a bookshelf in his living room. Needle then ran around the house and Jett started chasing him, causing a mess. When Jett catches Needle, he laughs. And from that day onwards, Jett took care of Needle until Grace and Brooklynne came and take back Needle. After that, Jett became a better person.

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''Jett, please don't tell Ivory about Needles
!''Grace and Brooklynne  pleads .Jett smirks ''no!''.
" Fine .",Grace replies, getting agitated ."We will let you take care  of Needles if you don't tell anybody ." Jett agrees to their terms and conditions. Now, everyday they take turns to bring leftovers from their dinner to Needles .
One day after dinner , while Grace was feeding Needles , Needles saw a light in Ivory's room . It darted from its hiding spot and sped to Ivory's hut . Before Grace could stop him , it slid under the door . "Oh God !"Grace muttered. Suddenly  a scream came from inside of the hut and Ivory came running out of it, shouting , '' there is a lizard in my hut !"
Grace  bolted  into the hut and grabbed Needles. Right  at that moment , the door flew  open and Ivory burst in. Seeing Grace holding Needles ,Ivory's jaw dropped in awe . There was an awkward silence  before Ivory stated , "somebody has some explaining to do ! "
After  what happened last night , Jett , Brooklynne and Grace  figured it was time to clear the air . Upon hearing their confession , Ivory let out a groan , " why didn't you ask us for help , we would have loved to help you guys take care  of this cute little lizard."
"Hold on a minute , so we are not in a lot of trouble ?"Brooklynne asked , looking confused."Yup ,you are doing a good deed . " Ivory replied .
From then on Jett , Grace and Brooklynne became the best of friends .

(242 word)

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“That’s it, I’m telling Ivory about you two keeping a pet. It’s against the rules!” Jett said angrily to the girls. Jett had already known something fishy was going on and when the girls told him, he finally knew what was going on. He did not like Needles as every time he tried to pet Needles, Needles would bite him. If only Jett had his phone to search what creature Needles is. Jett tried numerous ways to try and get his phone back but he would always get caught.

But one night he tried to get his phone and he saw Ivory googling what creatures can be found in the area and to Jett’s surprise he saw a picture of Needles on Google. Soon Ivory pressed on the link and Jett read the paragraph about Needles from his hiding spot just out of Ivory’s sight. Jett’s eyes widened in horror as it turns out that Needles is a baby crocodile and the girls are in danger cause if Needles grows bigger, he could bite their heads off! “I better go warn the girls”, Jett said to himself as he ran back to the girls room.

The girls laughed at him and continued grooming Needles. Jett tried to convince them but they didn’t care and would not believe him. Jett chose to give up.

A few months had past and one morning, Jett heard a blood curdling scream coming from the girls room. He immediately rushed there and found blood on the floor and Brooklynne with a huge wound on her arm and Grace comforting her. After that incident the girls finally decided to release Needles into the wild, after all Needles is a wild animal.

(286 words)

# data[].attributes.body
Jett is a spoilt rich kid who is used to getting his own way. He always get called "the spoiled brat". He was allowed to take care of Grace and Brooklynne's little lizard , needles. Grace and Brooklynne was curious if Jett will care about their little lizard.

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“Jett! Jett! Where is needles?” Brooklynne questioned Jett. Both Grace and Brooklynne had requested Jett to help look after Needles as they went to the bathroom.

“I don’t know! I left Needles for a second and when I turned around, he was gone!” Exclaimed Jett, full of panic.

Grace heaved in exasperation, she knew she could not trust Jett in the beginning. After hours of nagging at Jett, Brooklynne noticed that Needles’s cage was wide open. Jett had forgotten to lock the cage! They searched every nook and cranny for needles. Unfortunately, no sign of Needles.

“ It is time for bed, let’s search for Needles tomorrow.” Grace informed Brooklynne and Jett. They agreed and went to bed.

Te sun rose into the horizon as they search for needles. They trudged through the oasis, searching and combing every nook and cranny that they can find hollering for Needles but Needles was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, Grace stopped dead on her tracks. Her head was churning with ideas, not good ones, terrible terrible ones.

“What if, what if, Jett took him!” exclaimed Grace all of a sudden.

Brooklynne’s head whipped to face Grace. Her eyes went wide with horror. She understood the accusation. Jett has been complaining about the vegetarian food throughout his stay. What if he actually kidnapped Needles slaughter him and cooked him just for meat?

They quickly scrambled and ran all he way looking for Jett. The moment they found him crouched under a bush, they jumped on him and Grace grabbed his collar. She then started scolding Jett.

“ You took him, didn’t you. You took him just for meat!” accused Grace

Jett was too stunned to speak.

“Ewwww! I would never do that! That is disgusting!” Hollered Jett.

Suddenly, in the corner, they heard something rustling in the bushes. Jett peeped through the bushes and whipped out a penknife when he spotted Needles was tangled. Grace’s head hung Low in shame and apologised to Jett. The truth was, Jett was the 1st person to feed Needles but he forgot to lock the cage.

Jett realised, his actions made people think the worst of him after this incident. Jett promised to be a better person

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Jett stared at Needles adoringly while stroking the top of his head, he put Needles down on the floor as he reached out for his phone, which was being charged. He wanted to take one last picture of him and Needles together before it was time to say goodbye. Those past few months had been like no other. Compared to having people take care of him back in Silicon Valley, he'd much rather take care of Needles. Jett was just about to reach out for his phone when he saw a tiny blue lizard standing on his foot.

" Oh Needles," he chuckled as he gently lifted him up. He had already unplugged  Jett's phone for him. Needles loved chewing on charging wires. Everyday he would crawl into the box of devices and start chewing on different charging wires. He loved chewing on Jett's charger. After Jett snapped one last picture of him and Needles, he whispered something to Needles with a soft smile. A tiny little tear rolled down his face as he carefully placed him in Grace's palms. Grace, Brooklynne, Jett and Needles slowly make their way into a taxi. Off to the airport they went.

Upon reaching the airport, Grace and Brooklynne helped Jett unload his suitcases into a trolley.
"So, I guess this is it." Brooklynne said, sighing. Saying goodbye was always the hardest part. Both Jett and Grace stared at each other. Grace embraced Jett in her arms and squeaked "So you really do care about this place after all." Jett nodded his head sadly. Did he really have to leave so soon?

Just then, Matt approached Jett and signaled that it was time to go. Jett yelled a 'goodbye' and waved at the 3 of them. He tried staring at his feet while entering the airport gates. But he could not resist the urge to look back at his three best friends. Tears streaked down his cheeks and he quietly started sobbing.

Jett sat on the leather seat of his family's private plane. His eyes were red from crying. As the plane slowly set off into the sunset, Jett mumbled " Goodbye, everyone."

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Grace was'nt sure. Jett was really a spoiled kid. So Grace did'nt want him to join the Needles' care team. She did'nt trust Jett. Jett realised his mistakes and was ashamed that Grace had told the girls. He apologised to them and ran out of the house. Grace was shocked. She always thought it was never easy to make someone change. Grace ask one of them, Samy and the others to take care of Needles while Grace went to find Jett.

Jett was accually upset of himself. She could hear cries of terror and sounded like on top of her but how can Jett be crying on top of her head. Few minuetes later, Grace saw Jett's legs and slowly sliding down. Jett shouted that he was going down Jett was on the roof and hanging his legs. Grace was full of thoughts. How did Jett go up there? Grace did'nt know. Without wasting time she took a ladder in the garrage behind the house and started climbing up to the roof. Grace knew she would be in deep trouble if she got caught and scolded.

Just on the dot, Grace tried to hold Jett back, preventing him from falling, and  Jett was crying so hard that he could create a pond. She bought Jett back to the house by getting in the attic. There is a window that leads to the attic. Grace went down by climbing the ladder and swiftly put it back in the garrage. Jett wiped his tears and get something to eat to make him calmer.

Since then Jett changed. Jett wanted to give away the things that is not needed and give to other people. Mr and Mrs Baranov is happy to see that Jett had really changed just because of Grace. Jett also thank Grace for helping him change.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that the ending of the book unplugged is that Jett will secretly visit the pet without Grace and Brooklynne knowing as he felt embarrassed about caring for the secret pet. I think that the pet helped Jett have a friend until one day when the owners of the place found out about the secret pet and force them to abandon the poor animal. Jett becomes very sad but he also now had new friends, Grace and Brooklynne. One day on his last day at the place, the lizard comes to visit them- fully healed! (96 Words)

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Grace and Brooklynne might do something that Jett does not like in CARE of the lizard(Needles).Jett may either tell on Grace and Brooklynne or do something to Needles! I think the story will end with Jett learning his lesson and be giving and kind.Not some spoilt stuck up rich kid who does not know anything about the hardships of the real world.

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The next day when the girls went to check on Needles they saw two men just beside the place where they had hidden him. They quickly realised that it was Matt speaking to a stranger.  Seeing this they assumed that Jett had told on them. After the two men left, they checked if Needles was still there; but, unfortunately he was not to be seen! The girls quickly went to confront Jett.

When they reached they asked Jett about Needles. Jett was dumbstruck and shocked! He hurriedly told them that he had hidden Needles in a safer place. He led the girls in to a secret passage. When they saw Needles, they jumped with joy and apologised profusely to Jett. From that day onwards the three became close friends.

Then on May 20th, there was a newspaper that they found outside Jett's hut. Inside it was an article about the most endangered lizard species. Their eyes widened when they saw a lizard that looked like Needles and indeed it was! They called the animal conservationists and told them what happened. They came in as fast as lightning and confirmed that Needles was an endangered species. The conservationists took Needles away and thanked the children for their contributions.

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"Ugh!" shrieked Jett. "What a nasty creature!" Needles replied with a slow blink. The wire still stuck beetween his sharp jaws. "I can't believe my eyes!" "I must show this to my aunt!" Jett yelled.
He reached into his pocket realising that the Oasis did not allow phones . "Can we trust you not to tell anyone and to love and care for him?" Grace said with a smile. "Yeah I guess" Jett said in a low voice.
"Okay so you have to bring Needles food everyday" Brooklyn said in a slow voice. "We will help you."
Days passed and Jett started to enjoy his time at the Oasis especially sneaking food for Needles.
When it was time for him to leave, he quickly said his goodbyes. Before he could leave,Brooklyne told Jett to keep Needles. "Why!?" screamed Jett in shock. "I thought Grace was going to keep him!"
"We want you to keep him because my mother does not allow pets in the house" Grace told him.
Jett agreed to keep Needles.He made a lot of new friends and he got a new pet!

# data[].attributes.headline
Aakash (my ending for the book unplugged)

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Aakash (my ending for the book unplugged)

# data[].attributes.body
The past several weeks of hiding Needles from the adults of the Oasis and the other kids who were nosy was really stressful for Jett. He continuously reassured himself that no one would be able to find out about Needles but did not keep his guard down.

He was so busy trying to feed Needles with Grace that he did not even realise Brooklynne shouting at them a warning to run. Jett realised what she was trying to say but by the time he started to react it was too late.

“Stop right there!” called a voice from behind them. Devastated, Jett reluctantly turned around and found himself face to face with the manager of the Oasis. “Now”, he said with a misleading smile “Where are you keeping that lizard of yours?”

“Err, what lizard?” Jett said, feigning a quizzical look on his face.

“Well, Brooklynne told me that you guys have been keeping a pet, which, if you didn’t know, is against the rules in the Oasis,” said the manager calmly.

Jett looked back, expecting to see Brooklynne glaring daggers at him and arguing, but instead she smiled cruelly.

“I joined Needles’ care team for a reason,” Brooklynne explained.”I  wanted to invite as many people as possible and  get them all into trouble. Unfortunately, when I tried to ask people to join, they went straight to the manager and  reported me. Before he could say anything, I decided two people were good enough and reported you guys.”

“You mean you, Brooklynne, my friend, co-founder of Needles’ care team, betrayed us?” Grace said incredulously, her expression changing in a matter of seconds from disbelief, despair to outrage.

“Wait what?” the manager said, taken by surprise.”you were the co-founder, Brooklynne? Oh, you are in so much trouble.”

It is 300 words

# data[].attributes.body
As Jett cradled the little lizard, he wondered if it knew secrets. But he knew that it would not. He took care of it every day. But one gloomy afternoon, Jett had lost the little lizard

He did not want to be reprimanded by Grace and Brooklyn so he searched everywhere. "Where are you, Needles?" Jett repeated. He felt that all hope was lost until he remembered about the computer room. He dashed there and opened the door and he saw that the computer was on. That did not seem right. Who would leave their computer on? Jett thought. Then, he saw the little lizard stand in front of the computer with a charging wire dangling from its mouth.

Jett heaved a sigh of relief and went to get him but Needles crawled towards the back of the computer. He peered over the computer to find Needles standing on top of a glowing hole in the computer. "Zip, zip!" sounded the computer as Needles started glitching and vanished. Jett's jaw dropped as touched the hole in the computer if Needles had entered into the circuit board. Instead, he also glitched and vanished from the room and ended up inside the computer screen too. His jaws dropped as he stared out from the glass screen.

Jett paced around. Would I be stranded in a virtual land forever? He turned around to see Needles on top of the 'Photos' icon with a glowing charging wire. An idea popped into his head. Maybe if they touched the charging wire, they would transfer back into the real world. It indeed did! They both transferred into the real world. Jett was shocked about the computer portal. He carried Needles to his ear and whispered, "Giving care to a lizard that knows secrets is an adventure"
(300 words)

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Jett sobbed in his dorm, having cared for the lizard for so long, leaving him in the wild was like missing a part of him. However something had changed.Though while at the start he couldn't wait to get home, meeting the other two and befriending them had changed him. Now he found himself enjoying his days at the retreat.