Saturdays are my days.

I want to wake up and be able to go for a run. To curl up with my cat in front of a fire on a cold day. To snuggle under a blanket and watch a movie I’ve seen a thousand times. To relax and text my friends. I want to go to parties and dance until midnight.

But instead I’m home. Reading a book. Writing an essay.

Sundays are my days.

I want to sleep in. To go to church and sing. To stay home and watch Netflix. To smell the flowers that bloom in my yard. To take a bike ride or walk on a beach. To play in the snow and drink hot chocolate. I want to write a story.

But instead I’m home. Solving arithmetic problems. Memorizing formulas.

All I ask for are those two days to relax and enjoy myself away from school. There’s a reason I don’t have school those two days, and it’s to rejuvenate from the previous week that has murdered my self esteem. The week that has morally beaten me and stressed me out so much that my hair is falling out. It’s my time away from the people who can be my best friend one minute and my worst the next. The ones who are two-faced and stab me in the back. The one who I think the world of and can’t get out of my head while they dream of someone else.

When all we do when we’re not in school is more school, there must be something wrong.

Don’t listen to your history teachers. Freedom of speech has its limits, and do you know what they are? Speaking out about how you want to live your life and what you think is too much.

School and teachers are just like a tyranny. We could be like the founding fathers though. Create our own appeals against this unjust treatment that beats us so hard some of us can’t take it anymore.

We, the kids of the United States, in order to live better lives, wish to cut back our workload.

We understand that you are “preparing us for college,” but sometimes you have to cut us a break. We have lives, too, and if we’re always home writing a paper or reading a stupid book that was written 40 years ago, we might miss out on it.

We miss out on memories and time with friends. Opportunities and special moments with our families. We miss out on sleep.

Time is not on our side because while we’re stuck inside all day doing work, it stops for nobody. Once the hourglass is flipped, you can’t reposition it.

Let my freedom of speech be heard when I say:

Let me have my time, my life, before it’s gone. Don’t make me do 12 hours of schoolwork when I don’t even have school.