Phillip

One thing that’s important to me is my dog. Her name is Holly.

We got her from Romania. An organisation rescued her and managed to save her, my Mum spoke to them and she came home with us. When we got her, she was tiny but now she's old-old.

My favourite thing to do with Holly is playing tug of war - she once dragged me off the sofa. And, her zoomies are madness.

I think the really special thing about Holly is probably just how young she acts, because she still acts like she's a puppy, even though now she is old-old and half my size.

Phillip

My wrestling alter-ego is called Zero.

For his entrance he wears a cloak. His personality is quite cocky and his logo has hair like mine - nice and fluffy, with a skull right underneath.

I learn to wrestle in Tamworth and I have a championship match coming up soon. Whoever wins gets these very big, thick, detailed belts that they can keep until someone takes it from them.

Wrestling is quite stressful, but it is SO much fun. To prepare for a match I just keep myself relaxed, but as soon as I get into the ring I'm just ready to play my part.

Being Zero is different from being Phillip - it gives me a lot more chances to be ruder!

Scarlett

I’m a bit scared of heights.

I was walking with my friends in the woods and then we found this rope hanging from a tree and I just swung on it. So I was already on it, and the ground disappeared. I swung right out over this massive cliff.

I'm not scared of like two inches off the floor, but when it's like a giant cliff, that makes me scared. All I could think was, Please don’t snap!

I don’t think something like that could happen again.

I probably wouldn't go on it. Just in case.

Karol

I write stories.

I have been thinking about drawing the sun every now and then. And then when I heard this soundtrack that I found on YouTube, then that made me very interested. It gave me a great idea for a film.

The idea was to create a story about everyone being in huge danger because of the sun dying and the sun would have a face and be talking. Someone decided to go into space and save the sun so the world wouldn't get wiped out.

When I write, I do it on paper, but I really hope to turn this story into a film. An animation film. It’s going to have a happy ending.

Karol

I have made a cartoon in my head. I've made most of the episodes on paper, and when I go to college, I'm going to take all of those episodes and what I've done - and I'm hoping that they will help me make this.

It's a cartoon, a story for children, about a man on his farm with nine animals. A man with a hat. And in every episode different events happen on the farm. I think it would make a good children’s bedtime story. One time I told my little brother about a bit of it and he fell asleep.

What inspired it? I don’t read many books, but I look at a lot of animations. For this story, I saw an advert for a game that you needed to download, and it was about this other land. That gave me a lot of interest. I'm looking forward to seeing my work finished, but I'm going to need a bit of help.

Jonathon

I learnt to ride a bike when I was seven, self-taught. But I started biking about three years ago. It was like, very cool, so I started doing it more and more. I started getting better and better and getting different sorts of bikes until I ended up buying this really expensive bike and getting into proper races.

Aside from trick races, it's mainly all about speed. I'll look around online, see what races are on and see what's happening.

The favourite bikes I have are the Polygon Colossus, the Mondraker Summum, the YT Cupra and the Nukeproof Dissent.

There is one bike that I really, really, really want and that is the Specialized P3 Dirt Jumper, but in pink.

Jonathan

To race competitively you've got to be very focused. If you're not focused, you could end up accidentally crashing and that's not very fun.

Have I crashed before? ...oh yes!

In my most recent accident I broke my collarbone. Before that I broke my arm, leg, I got concussion about four times, I’ve broke seven toes, my foot three times, my nose, a couple of ribs. When an accident happens on the track everybody stops and they try to help you as much as they can. There are ambulances and first aid, but it literally depends on whether they can get to you in time. It’s quite scary.

What makes me get back up and on my bike is the fun of it.

It’s the only thing that keeps me moving.

Scarlett

My Dog is a Cockapoo - a Cocker Spaniel mixed with a Poodle.

When we got her in the car, I wanted to pick Dolly, but then we searched up dog names and we just went with Bonnie, the first one that popped up.

I love that she's so playful. She has this ball and if you put it under a cover, she'll start digging at it.

Bonnie’s my dog. She sleeps in my bed and I feed her, I have to do everything for her actually. I walk her and I have to give her baths.

The reason why I have to do all that is because I was the one that begged for a dog. So now I have to do everything for her whilst everyone else just plays with her!

Phillip

I love wrestling.

I started watching it when I was six years old, back in 2019, with my Dad. The main thing that basically got me hooked was just the amount of fame that they get and all the fans, but now the theatrical side is my favourite part about it.

My favourite wrestler has got to be Bray Wyatt, just for the amount of gimmicks he has. He gives off the vibe of some guy who puts curses on people just so they become his allies. When he was playing his first supernatural character, he always had a lantern that he blew out.

Jessica

My favourite songs are: ‘Hey Jessie’ and ‘This Girl is on Fire’.

What do I love to do? DANCE!

What kind of dancing? Tik-tok dancing!

Who do I dance with? My sister.

The dancing is mostly with hands and arms. They go with songs like Lush Life, or Big Guy from Spongebob.

Dancing is fun and gymnastics is also fun.

I started gymnastics about two years ago and have so many medals they fill the house.

I keep trying to get Mum to do the splits, which she says nearly killed her last time.

Jessica

Like entire generations of Coventry kids, I went with school on a trip to Plas Dol-y-Moch. It’s a big house in the Meadow of the Pigs, an outdoor activity centre in North Wales.

Every night was a pyjama party with my friends.

What activities did I do? Well my favourite outdoor activity of the trip was zip-wire! It was scary and exciting - because fear and excitement go together really, don’t they?

We also did climbing. Yes! Hiking.

Do I like doing long walks up mountains? No. No, I do not.

A better high point was pizza.

At Dol-y-Moch, I had to cook dinner with my classmates.

Harry

Next week, I’m going to walk Hadrian’s Wall.

It will take five days and four nights.

We’re going with school and we’ll be walking fifteen kilometres every day. Some teachers will be walking with us and we’ll walk the whole wall. Hadrian’s wall was built by the Romans and it is between Scotland and England. We aren’t going for any lesson, just an adventure.

This is a big challenge and I’m extremely excited about!

Note: this text was written at a Teenvine session a few weeks ago. Harry has since conquered Hadrian’s Wall.

Harry

I love musicals and I sing songs from musicals when I think no one can hear me - and sometimes when I know they can.

The last two musicals I went to see were Paddington - my new favourite - and Avenue Q.

I haven’t seen Hamilton and I’m not very bothered about that, but I would like to see Annie.

My favourite song from a musical, it's from Wicked - Defying Gravity.

Musicals make you defy gravity, too.

Harry

We won’t talk about the naughtiest thing I’ve done, because it was way too naughty.

Instead let’s talk about every day naughtiness - cheekiness, if you like.

I am the king of pranks and jokes. I throw pretend spiders at people. They never believe I’ve really done it, but it’s too late because they’ve already flinched! Just last week I pranked my friend. I told him there was a bee behind him on his head. He totally panicked but in the end he laughed with me about it. He said it was a very good prank.

Being naughty is important and I like being naughty because it makes people laugh.

Here’s a joke to end on:

Why was the bike broken?

Because it was too tyre-d.

Scarlett

I'm not a fan of school, but the new school I’ve started is OK.

When they were showing me around I looked into a window and there was a bunch of cages with guinea pigs. It was a good sign.

Now I walk to school my friends there because they live on the same street. My favourite lesson is PE, because we just mess around.

Before this school, I was home-schooling. It was fun because you get to go out places during school days and then you get to show off to your sisters, but it’s also lonely. It was mostly online, and just the main three subjects: English, Maths and Science.

It was a bit boring.

Harley

What makes me really happy is a cup of tea and a biscuit.

At Teenvine they took some pictures of me with my tea and biscuits and everyone said I looked really excited about it and cute, so they gave me the nickname: Grandad.

I have my tea with milk and at least two or three sugars, and my favourite biscuits are custard creams. Sometimes I just eat them like they are, or sometimes I take one of the biscuits off then eat that, then have the cream filling, then the other biscuit.

Why are tea and biscuits important?

Well... they create a nice gentle mood.

Harley

I love Ice Hockey. It is fun, amazing and lovely. I first went with my Mum.

I have a season ticket now and I reckon I’ve been to about a hundred games. So many games. It's so cool.

I support Coventry Blaze and my favourite player is Zayn McKenzie. At a Blaze quiz night last year, he sat on my table and he was really fun to talk to. In my favourite ever game, Blaze ended up winning 12-0. Even one of the defenders got a hat-trick.

Ice hockey is a sport where people will say that it's bad, but that’s because they have never been to a game. I would say, just buy a ticket for Ice Hockey, just for one game and see if you will like it.

It will give you a new sport to go to.

Harley

Two things that are special about Ice Hockey are the mascots and the pucks. The puck is the thing that Hockey Players score with. Sometimes players will give you a puck or one will shoot into the crowd and if you find it, you can keep it. I don't know how many pucks I've got. Too many to count! The most important one to me is the remembrance puck for the past season.

I really want to go to Glasgow, just to see their mascot. It's a Highland cow and her name is Clangus. She always wins mascot of the year.

Blaze has a mascot called Scorch - it's a dragon but it looks more like a crocodile. One time I was just standing there, then the next minute Scorch grabbed me and took me across the ice!

I'd never been kidnapped before... especially by a dragon. It was so funny.

Harley

When I was eleven, I nearly drowned.

I was doing like some canoeing and then my boat ended up tipping over. The boat was on top of me. Two people ended up having to help me get out of the water.

I got straight back in the boat and ended up continuing, but I don't really go near water that much now. Only if it's like for a shower or bath.

Going in the ocean, I stay near the shore. I wouldn't go swimming.

It was scary!

Emese

I was born here, but technically I'm a Hungarian citizen and a British citizen. Because of how the UK law works, if your parents migrate or aren't from the UK, they have to be here for four years before you’re born so that you automatically have British Citizenship. I was one year away.

So I had to wait to get British citizenship when I was ten. I was automatically Hungarian as both my parents are both from Hungary.

Dual citizenship, honestly, is kind of an advantage since Brexit, because we don't have to pay for visas. We go out with the Hungarian passport and come back in with the British passport. Just like that.

Emese

I'm not sure where it ranks, but I know that Hungarian is one of the hardest languages, so just being able to speak it is just impressive. I don’t dream in Hungarian, but I do sometimes think in Hungarian.

Being bilingual, you'll be with someone and you’ll be speaking English, then suddenly, ah! no! - all your English is gone and you are thinking in Hungarian.

We mix and match English and Hungarian at home.

So I'm basically... Hunglish.

Emese

I think one of the biggest things which I tell people that gets them talking is like how we celebrate Easter.

I always forget if it's Easter Monday or Easter Sunday, there's a Hungarian tradition where the boys get a glass of water or a bucket of water and just chuck it at the girls.

The guys, they're basically saying that women are like flowers and they need to be sprinkled. The boys come over to the girls, they say a poem. I don't know what the poem's called and I don't know off by heart. But they say the poem and then they throw the bucket of water at the girl and then they're like:

“Here's an easter egg!”

Emese

In Hungary, football isn’t their best sport. I'd say it's more water polo. Water polo is very big. There are no sticks, or horses (or even sea-horses). It’s a bit like handball in the water, but with two goals at either end.

When you go to Hungary, they're really good at water polo. The Hungarian national team is amazing. You might wonder if Hungary is near the sea? No, it’s not. But there's a bunch of lakes.

I’ve never played Water Polo, but My Dad used to play it after school when he was young. It is really exciting to watch.

Scarlett

I used to be really afraid on the Pirate ship ride. I would go on, but I wouldn’t sit at the end.

Those rides feel like they're going to fall at any moment.

Once we were on a pirate boat and then there were these two kids singing ‘If you’re Happy And You Know It’. So, because of the song, everyone clapped their hands and stopped holding the bar, including me. Now - I'm not as scared as I was of rides.

Not long ago, I went on a really scary one that I wouldn't have gone on before and it was actually way funnier than I thought. So, I guess you should just try things that scare you.

Caitlyn

Hi I’m Caitlyn. I’ve got four brothers a sister and a niece. I’m obsessed with anything star related, like starfish. I find them cool, how they can just sit there and just relax the whole day. I have never touched one sadly, but I really want to.

I also wear stars on my face. I’ve worn them for two years now. People think it’s a style thing, but they help with my spots, they're spot stickers!

Actual stars in the sky, I've liked them pretty much my whole life. When it was lock-down, my sister was always sat in the kitchen with us, teaching us stars and stuff. So ever since then, all my family usually go out in the evenings in the summer and we just watch the stars.

Caitlyn

There was a day when I was out because I wanted to ride my skateboard, and there was a really steep hill. I rode down it perfectly fine and then I went across a straight path, literally it was so straight, no rocks or anything and I fell off.

It’s fun to do tricks on the skateboard and I’m trying to learn some. I can do the one where the top of the board is on my feet and I can flip it over and stand on it. I can also do one where I can jump and spin. I'm currently learning how to do an ollie where you jump in the air with your board.

I don't know anyone else who knows how to skate, so I just teach myself. And then I’ll try to teach someone else, just so they can come with me.

Caitlyn

I can play quite a few instruments; an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a piano, drums and clarinet. My favourite instrument to play is the electric guitar.

My family is very musical. I was around eight when my Dad taught me a mini guitar. And then I learnt the keyboard from my sister. And for the clarinet, I have a teacher. I’m learning because in the future I want to be a music artist.

I can learn different songs and how to make tunes and every song could be a bit different with different kinds of instruments and stuff.

I currently write rap songs, just about life in general.

Caitlyn

I don't know how many poems I’ve written. I can't count, but they're spread between different devices, I know it’s quite a lot. I have a favourite poem, it's one about my Nan. It says how nothing's the same: ‘I walk into the house and you're not sat in your chair’.

If a poem is happy, I think it can bring people joy. But if it’s a sad poem, I feel like people could understand and be affected by it, because they can relate to it.

I write poetry because that's how I let out all my emotions.

Sometimes when I'm like sat in my room and things come to mind that I'm trying to process, I try to describe it in a poem and then I can focus on it properly.