Hi, I am Logan Flores. I came up with this piece by using an app called "Groovepad" which has some sounds preloaded but we have to put it together. I created it because it is one of the hobbies I partake in and I haven't been able to do all of mine due to a surgery I am still recovering from. But I am almost done with it, and I know the music will always be there for me and will keep using it even after I am fully cleared. I hope to expand my talents in it and to eventually be able to create a song in full. With words, passion, timing, and complexity.

The Law [" The law has been going downhill. Most people see it but do nothing about it. Most people have been telling their stories lately. So I will combine both and tell my story about the law and how it has gone. My experience with the law has never been good. I don't remember a time when it was ever in favor of me. I have had to deal with the law since I was a kid. But my first experience with it was the worst one out of all of them. I remember being in 1st grade and just being a kid and wanting to have fun like every other kid. I was goofing off and wanted to hide under the desk. But when the teacher directed me to get out from under it, I wouldn't. She called down the principal to see if she could get me out. She did, but... not exactly in the nicest way. After she directed a few more times but I remember her dragging me out quite literally for hiding under a desk. And when we got to her office I hid under her desk. Now I was officially frightened. She tried grabbing onto me again but I stayed latched onto it this time. But when she got me, I cleared her desk so I could get back under. And she called my parents to come and get me angrily. However, my parents were furious, just not at me. They told her that I should never be touched under any circumstances and if she ever had a problem to call them first. I don't know the reason except maybe because I was smacked around a lot as a kid. But my principal was not having it. She wanted me to go straight into juvie. As a first-grader! But my parents had to fight hard to get that lowered. I eventually wound up in a pre-juvie place called "Lion's Pride" and this place was NOT friendly. I was put in there for "anger issues, ADHD, and ODD" and was sent to a pharmacist to give me medication. Now, reminder this was for hiding under a desk. But let me just describe this place. This place had no color, no one smiled, had rats, bullies, corrupt teachers, an isolated room where you would be monitored, even had to be checked for weapons DAILY. I had to grow up quickly there and that was noticed. The study where if an animal is thrown into a chaotic home makes them hostile is true and I proved that. When I was in there it was the worst part of my life so far. I was put into a class where we were not allowed to speak, get up, or even go to the restroom unsupervised. There was a fight just about every day, and me being the new kid, taking a fight daily, making me grow up. So I did. I quickly became one of the top and was getting respect from even some of the teachers. The fights started to go down because I was winning. I was put in there longer because of me fighting but if I didn't, I don't know if I would be alive. And I was not a kid to be messed with at that time because even some teachers were scared of me. Even if I didn't want to be scary. I was thrown into there for some uncalled reason and it was called "the law" and no one cared or fought for me. No one helped me with the abuse either. My father used to be an abusive drunk and would hit me just for fun and would come into my room just to hit me. My mother was a physiological abuser and would tell me that I deserved it when I would just be doing something like offering to mop the floors. It would be an almost daily thing to happen. And child protection services did not help. I have been through it about 6 times before and I just gave up on them. I have scars to prove why they should have. And when I wasn't there, I was in Lions Pride. I eventually scammed my way out into another school and was working my way up through them. I was in these schools and kept switching them throughout my life. Not only because of the way they were but also because of my parents and how they were. But it wasn't until my Sophomore year that I woke up. My sophomore year I was done. I was done being the scared kid, I was done moping around about my parents and was done taking it. I made friends, joined clubs, did sports, put my father in line, dealt with my mother, and started to call out my high school for being rigged. My school is corrupt in an average way and not like Lion Pride. Red Lion High is where the jocks and pretty girls get away with anything and the ones who go against it are always in trouble. I remember freshman year, almost being suspended for breathing incorrectly. And that is not a joke. So I started to observe what was wrong. My vice-principals were cocky, did not care what was happening, and took pleasure from students in trouble while believing anything the teachers said. The teachers said anything and everything. And the principal was never there to see this. And the super intendant was even further away. So even now, I have to be careful. But notice how during all of that, I never mentioned the law helping me out. That is because it has never helped me out, so I want to become part of the law and fight for those who can or will not fight for themselves and try until I cannot try anymore because no one deserves to deal with what I heard and what I have been through."]

Mental health is everywhere but nowhere at the same time. I am still currently in high school but I see someone struggling with it every day and more than normal. When you look deeper at people, more than just looks, you can sometimes see how they are feeling. Everyone has most likely had to deal with this in their life at some point or another, but not everyone knows how to deal with it. But we can help those who do not know how to. For instance, here is a story and there is this girl. It was her first year even with high school and Covid, she was smiling all day every day for her first year. That is until someone noticed that it started to fade away. So that someone tries becoming friends with her and asked her what was wrong. But it turns out her grandfather was dying. And because of Covid, she couldn't go and see him, and her parents wouldn't just drive her there. Now before I say more, this girl is one of the toughest in the story, even does soccer, will take insults from others, and be fine. But her grandfather was like this for almost a full year and it kept going downhill. And the friend has experience in this. After that, her knee starting bothering her, but she hated the doctors. So naturally, she just shook it off. But then one day as she was waking up, she felt a pain so bad it put her into tears and she could barely even walk. She had to use a hybrid day. And that's when the friend had to text her "What's wrong?". Because she hated hybrid days with a passion. Living in the middle of nowhere, with slow internet, little siblings she had to babysit while in pain and dealing with a dying relative. She responds in tears trying to ask for advice and the friend goes, you need to go to the doctor now, but she still pushed it off and just went and got a knee brace... However, the pain did not go away and the friend did not get upset. Because the friend knew, she had to come to it, herself. So after a few days, she came back and with a brace on her leg. But two weeks after she got called down into the office. She was told to go home because she was around someone who had Covid. She had to go home, but she lives with her grandmother. (Separate sides of the family from grandfather) And she was was worried because she didn't want to get her sick. But she did it anyway and injured her knee again by hitting something on it and fell. She still came back with a bit of a smile... but a fake one. The friend continues to help her and support her while advising because the friend had shoulder surgery and knew little things to help her. But she kept going to practice and kept feeling worse but still with a smile because she loved playing soccer. And practically every week she had a new injury, from falling and getting a concussion, to tripping and getting a nose bleed. And the more she kept getting into accidents the more her friends disliked her. The friends wouldn't say why but it was for getting attention in their minds. So now she was being bullied and so much that people were trying to fight her daily. This kept going and going until she hurt her knee for the final time and scheduled a doctor appointment to get it checked out. And it turns out, she just needed to do some exercises, but maybe about a month before the school year ends, the friend asked her " How are you?" And she gets completely baffled. No one has asked her that. She just goes on talking about how she never got any privacy and never was able to have fun and always was working on something. But the conversations slowly became about boys and how she wants a boyfriend, and the friend being male, ask him. But the friend ends up respectfully saying no, which could not have helped. But they both continue as friends and the friend makes her laugh and smile daily and they became even better friends. But one day she sees one of the friends, best friends. She tries speaking to him but only gets nervous and red. This was the one possible thing she could have at this moment. So she talked to her friend and asked a couple of questions. The friend picks up on her hints and knows the best friend wants a girlfriend and has been wanting one. The best friend is smart and doesn't mind helping out. So the original friend helps them both and they both said yes. Now they are a couple. So she has that smile back on her face and wants to smile every day, but the brace is still there and so is her mental health with it. All 3 of them start hanging out and soon she forgets about it all. Now, what if I told you that wasn't a story at all and that was me and a girl I know and my best friend. Because that is what that was all about. My friend was struggling with a lot of things and it not being my first year, I try and help her out with anything I could. I have been around a lot of Mental Health issues with being in Avidium. (A club that raises mental awareness) and have prevented 3 suicides. My friend was inching closer and closer to it but I couldn't let her do that to herself and kept saying it will be worth it. And it ended up, being more than what she could've ever wanted. Mental health is a serious thing and deserves to be treated seriously.