Chad 'Reef' Kennedy
Quotes
1. He’d tried to tell Owen about her a couple nights ago, tried to tell him who she was, what she was like. But Owen had looked at him like he’d suddenly grown an extra head, and he’d felt like a moron even bring it up. Changed the subject. Because he really didn’t understand it himself. Had never felt like this before. ( Aker 185)
· This quote is talking about Reef wanting to tell Owen about the new girl in his life that he met at the hospital named Leeza. He wants to tell him about her but he doesn’t to show the guys that he has a soft spot. He still wants to be the tough guy. If he shows Own that a girl is starting to have an effect on him, then Owen and the guys will look at Reef differently because Reef is known as the tough guy you don’t want to mess around with. Also it shows that Reef himself doesn’t quite know how or what he is feeling for Leeza because he hasn’t encountered someone like that in his life.
2. “Jesus, Scar, whaddya want me to do? Visit her? Hold her hand? What’s done is done … Ain’t nothin’ I can do about it now. Even if I wanted to. Which I don’t.” (Aker 36)
· When Reef tells Scar this, he is kind of hiding his true feelings about what he did to the girl in the car. He is once again being the tough guy who doesn’t give two cents about anyone else but himself. He doesn’t care that he has caused someone very serious injuries. That’s the type of person he is showing off to everyone. Deep down, Reef does care. He does want to go visit her and tell her that he is sorry for putting her in the situation that she now has to get used to for a long period of time. If he were to show people that soft side of him that he has covered up very well, then people can say a lot of things about him without having to worry about getting hurt after saying them.
3. That person had never known his father, a boy not much older than himself who had gotten his mother pregnant and then run off. Nor had that person known his mother, a deaf girl whose shyness had kept her prisoner within herself until the boys attentions had drawn her out and then betrayed her. She’d wasted away barely pushing the scrawny baby out of her body before leaving it herself. That baby became the focus of his grandfather’s anger: the reason for their poverty, the justification for every drink, the root of every rage. That baby became the frightened, angry boy who lost his grandmother to a disease he couldn’t see, the boy who was then shunted from one foster home to another, one school to another. (Aker 222)
· This basically sums why Reef is the person he was before meeting Leeza. He never had a father, nor did he know his mother. His grandfather wasn’t a male role model for him to grow up the right way. The only one Reef truly had been his grandmother, whom he had lost to a disease (cancer). Having only one supportive person in your life when you’re younger makes it even harder for you to choose the right paths in life. Clearly after his grandmother died, that’s when things started to go downhill for him.
Reporter for D.A.K News
Hello Toronto!
Sophia Fagan here on the D.A.K News, In tonights discussion, I will be telling you about a teen with whom I had a private conversation with. His story starts off a bit sad, goes into some confusion and finishes with a fairly good end.
Today i met with the one and only biggest bad boy in town, Chad “Reef” Kennedy. Reef is 17 year old teenage who has not had the best a teen could possibly have. He thought his life was pretty sweet at the time. Not having anyone running after you or telling you what to do and what not to do, and getting away with crimes. But little did Reef know once you are caught, you have to pay for the consequences. In his situation, the consequences were not to his liking. He has found himself in court numerous times and had gotten away with whatever he has done, but this time, what he has done was too big of a crime to let it just go away.
Reef is a very angry boy. Not only is he angry, but he is also scared, kind and caring guy; though he won’t admit it to anyone. Not even him. He wants to be known as someone who you can’t break. He always has to be the tough guy in every situation no matter what. He thinks that if he shows any act of kindness, then he is being a, as he phrases it “Pussy.” If anyone is that, then they aren’t a man. Reef wants to be a man. He is his own man and no one can tell him what to do or how to do it.
From what Reef tells me, he is a very changed man. There has been a lot of changes made in his life all because of this one particular girl named Leeza. She is the main reason why Reed if the type of man he is now. His goal was to become a better person. And he achieved his goal. He reached his goal by learning from his mistakes. Leeza helped him learn by not talking to him again. You may be wondering how not talking to someone again can help one learn from their mistakes. Well, if there is someone in your life that you care very much about, and you told them that the reason why they are in that bad spot right now is because of you, how do you think they would react? Not in a positive manner, I can tell you that! They will stop talking to you depending on what you did and the type of person they are. But, if they were to ignore you, how would you feel if you know that nothing you can say, no matter how many times you said sorry, can change their mind? What if you were never able to talk to the one that had the most impact on your life? That would be learning from your mistakes. You would definitely not want to lose someone that special to you a second time.
Now, that Reef has had that whole life changing experience, he is a new man. He has changed for the better, and is choosing the right paths in life. Now, he is going around in grade school’s telling kids about his story. Informing them on how he made a wrong mistake in his life, and how they can avoid that mistake and choose the right way in life. I know for a fact that he has a great future ahead of him. All the best to you Reef!
Elizabeth 'Leeza' Hemming
Quotes
1. "Besides, i suddenly realized that I've spent the last three weeks thinking about nothing else. I want to put it behind me and move on. No sense dwelling on something you can't change, is there?" (Aker 182).
- Leeza is telling Brett that with the last three weeks that she has spent with Reed, she feels that there isn’t much of a need to tell Reef how she came into the hospital and why. She thinks that it isn’t as important to tell him anymore since what happened to her was in the past she can’t change the past.
2. But something had stopped her, some part of her that couldn’t forget the rock and the windshield and the cars that slammed into her, sounds that she still heard sometimes at night, still made when the nightmares came too close, got too real. (Aker 223)
- Leeza wanted to call Reef and see how things were doing with him but just remembering that he was the reason as to why she in that rehabilitation center made her not want to call him anymore. She only remembered the bad things that he had done. The mistake he had made. She didn’t think about who was the one that made her forget about the accident, or the person who made her feel like there was still hope, the person who made her see outside of her disabilities. She never thought of Reef as that person. She only thought of him as “He’s the reason why I’m in here.”
News reporter James Franco
James Franco: This just in, a young women named Elizabeth Hemming, also known as Leeza was just witnessed in a horrible car crash. Witnesses say that they saw a young man on top of a bridge that threw what seemed to have been a rock, into her windshield causing her to lose control of her vehicle and causing other cars to crash into hers. Reporter Dave Singh on the scene says that she will be suffering major injuries. Some people think that she is dead. All we can do is hope for the best. Let’s get a better look at the accident with Dave on scene, Dave.
Dave: Thank you James, we are now here on scene with the parents of Elizabeth. Mrs. Hemming, how do you feel about your daughter getting in this accident? Do you worry about her health?
Mrs. Hemming: I’m frightened for my daughter! I don’t know what to think! What idiot would throw a rock at moving cars! Why would someone do that! Especially to my baby girl, the only one I have left!
Dave: What about you Mr. hemming?
Jack Hemming: I am terrified. I really hope that she will be well. Whoever is the reason for her injuries will pay for this in court. She does not deserve this. My wife doesn’t deserve to lose another daughter.
Dave: Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Hemming, we will get back to you later on when she is doing better.
*Months later – Leeza in Rehab*
Dave: So Mrs. Hemming we are back, here to check on the health of your daughter Leeza. How is she doing?
Mrs. Hemming: Thank you for coming Leeza is doing just fine thanks for asking, she is healing slowly but well. She is in a lot of pain but before you know it she won’t be feeling a thing.
Dave: That is great. So what can you tell us about Leeza? How is she doing here?
Mrs. Hemming: Leeza is a great child, she is now my only daughter, she lost her younger sister at a young age. She didn’t grow up with a father. Her dad and I separated when they were young. I tried to make her have everything she wanted. I wanted he to go in the right direction in life. She is very smart and independent. In this rehab center, she is doing just fine. It was hard for her to get used to things in the beginning. Getting used to all the moving around was really hard for her because of all the pain she was in but everything seems to be all better now according to her. She has met this boy named Reef who seems to have taken her mind off of all her pain. Until she found out that this Reef character was the cause of her accident and the reason for her being in the rehab center. She was very upset when I told her that he was the reason why she was in here. She hasn’t talked to him since. I know that a part of her wants to forget about what he’s done, but she can’t. All of her injuries are his fault; I made it very clear to her. She is a nice forgiving person but this is the one time she can’t forgive him. I don’t blame her either.
