Season 1, episode 22
It is the end of the school year for Imani and many others. She shouts “See you later!” to those she meets in the hallway. But what about her friends and others who won’t be back in the fall? Will she have to say goodbye? This simple story is told in the present tense and focuses on the words “says”, “responds”, “likes”, “goes”, and “goodbye”.
See You Later!
It is the end of May and for Imani Reyes it is the end of school. Imani goes to high school. Her school is called Lincoln High. Imani walks in the school. She sees a lot of classmates. Not all the students in the school are her friends, so she isn’t going to talk to them during vacation. But Imani is a nice girl. She sees her classmates and says, “See you later!”
“See you later, Imani!” her classmates respond. Everyone is very excited that it is summer and they don’t have more school. They don’t have more exams or projects. It is the end! All the students smile when they say see you later.
Imani goes to the music room. Imani plays the trumpet in the band. She plays very well. Imani likes band class a lot. She likes the concerts and she likes to play at the football games.
Imani enters the music room. The band teacher is named Ms. Richardson. She is Imani’s favorite teacher. Ms. Richardson gives Imani music to practice during vacation.
“Thank you, Ms. Richardson,” Imani says with a smile. “See you later!”
“See you in September, Imani!” Ms. Richardson responds.
Then another student enters the music room. It is one of her bandmates. His name is Jacob. He plays the tuba. Jacob is graduating. Jacob passes his instrument and music to Ms. Richardson. She smiles, but it is a little sad.
“Goodbye, Ms. Richardson,” Jacob tells her.
“Good luck in the future, Jacob,” Ms. Richardson responds.
Then Imani goes to the library. She needs to return some books. The librarian looks at Imani when she enters. The librarian is very kind and smiles at Imani.
“Hello, Imani, how are you?” she asks.
“I’m well, thank you. I need to return some books,” Imani responds. Imana passes three books to the librarian. “See you later!”
“See you later, Imani!” the librarian says.
Then a student enters the library. Her name is Caris. Caris reads a lot of books and is always in the library. Caris is graduating. It is her last day in the library. Caris passes a book to the librarian. She seems really sad and says, “goodbye.”
“Good luck, Caris,” the librarian responds sadly.
After the library, Imani goes to social studies class. The teacher in the class is Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson is physically big and intimidating, but he has an excellent personality. He is caring and very patient. Imani likes Mr. Anderson a lot, even though she doesn’t always like social studies. In class, the teacher announces that he is not going to be at Lincoln High next year. Mr. Anderson and his family are moving to a different city to be closer to family.
Imani is sad. She doesn’t want to say goodbye to Mr. Anderson because he is an excellent teacher. When class ends, Imani goes to Mr. Anderson.
“Goodbye, Mr. Anderson,” Imani says in a small voice.
“Take care, Imani,” Mr. Anderson responds with a sad smile.
After social studies class, Imani goes to the cafeteria. In the cafeteria Imani sits with her friends. Some of her friends are finishing school and graduating. Imani realizes that it is her last lunch with those friends.
Imani thinks about all her friends and other classmates that are graduating. She thinks about Mr. Anderson and other teachers that are leaving to other schools or other jobs. Now Imani is sad.
“Imani, what’s wrong?” her friend Birdie asks.
“I’m sad Birdie,” Imani responds. “I don’t like to say goodbye.”
“So, don’t say goodbye,” Birdie says. “There are a lot of other options. You can say see you soon, take care, good luck, or my favorite, see you later!”
Imani smiles at her friend, but she is still sad. “I can’t say ‘see you later’ or ‘see you soon’ because I’m not going to see them.”
Birdie smiles too.
“That’s life, friend. People come and people go. You are also going to leave school one day. But you can always ‘see’ everyone in photos,” Birdie touches Imani’s cell phone, “and in your memories,” Birdie touches Imani’s head.
Imani listens to Birdie. She is right: saying goodbye is part of life. It’s sad, but it can also be happy. People are going on a new adventure.
After school, Imani looks at her friends that are graduation. She looks at Mr. Anderson. “See you later!” Imani yells.
The end.
You can also watch a video of this story on YouTube!
I really enjoy creating and sharing simple, comprehensible stories. I work hard to provide tools and supports for those who want to learn. Please, consider buying me a taco to support my work!
You can download a printer-friendly PDF of this story.
