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You know it practically the minute you walk into class. You see how they interact with you and their respective subject and you can be sure. You think "This teacher will be ... " and an adjective lands in your brain -- "easy," "hard," "fun," "scary," "mean," "boring" or many other possible words.

But the best moment is when the word that comes is short and simple. This teacher will be "great."

I received my copy of "The Fault in Our Stars" on Jan. 10, six months after my parents pre-ordered it for my 17th birthday.

After discovering the package in my mailbox, I quickly cast aside my English homework and raced through the book. Back when I asked my parents for the gift, I knew I would have quite a wait until the January release date, but having read each of the author's other novels, I knew it would be worthwhile. I can now say, with certainty, that John Green's new novel was well worth the six-month wait, as it was the best belated birthday present I have ever received.

Without giving away too much of the plot, "The Fault in Our Stars" (Dutton Juvenile, $17.99) tells the story of Hazel Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl living with thyroid cancer. When Hazel's parents force her to attend a cancer kids support group, she meets and falls in love with Augustus Waters, a boy with osteosarcoma.

Have you ever met anyone who's never eaten pizza, tried ice cream, or even eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

For many Top of Utah teens, one or more of the above food items can make them extremely sick.

Teens who have food allergies or food intolerances find keeping track of everything they eat is a way of life. Most of them are used to intensely searching for the nutrition facts on a candy bar, asking for the ingredients of the dessert at birthday parties, or just plain bringing their own special food to events.

Romance runs high during the holidays

Dating during the holidays -- what's so great about it?

If not just the joy of the holiday season, there are certainly other things to think about. There is a certain feel in the air during this season that is felt at no other time of the year.

"Dating during the holidays is more romantic than any other dating," said Bailey Maxfield, a Fremont High sophomore. "It's fun, and just more romantic."

Our group gathered in our adviser's art room. Our mission was to create the perfect tree to donate to the annual Christmas Tree Jubilee.

We went into the back room and pulled the boxed artificial tree down. We set up the tree, and then tried to get the lights plugged in. After staring at the instructionless picture, we struggled some more. Finally with some ingenuity and a teacher's help, the lights were on and the whole entire tree lit up.

Now we were ready to decorate it for the fundraiser held on Thanksgiving weekend to benefit the Weber School District Foundation. The red and gold decorations and ornaments were pulled out of the various bags and boxes that they had come from. At the same time we debated the name of our tree.

I set out to make the topper for the tree. The snacks arrived and everyone ate and talked while they worked. As each decoration was wired on, sprays were created. I gathered up some sparkly gold leaf branches and a few poinsettia blossoms and set to work. I arranged a small two-sided topper, and asked the group about it. The two-sided look was observed and the unanimous decision was to make the topper more three-dimensional.

When I had gathered the sufficient number of branches and blossoms, I wired them together. To ensure maximum stability I then hot glued the pieces together. Then I pulled up a chair and set about wiring my creation to the top of the tree.

When I finished, I began wiring one poinsettia blossom to one leaf, creating sprays that were dispersed and wired on to the tree. People were constantly arranging and analyzing and debating. The conversations were laced with laughter, and no one sat around. We worked hard to get the tree completely filled up. The red and gold ornaments continued to be added to the tree, and the effect grew.

Cassie told Alex, who told Hannah to tell Sarah, that Morgan told Kylie, that Kailey told Angie, that Hailey had actually lied to Aspen, because Hailey told Kendra something that she told Aspen she wouldn't tell anyone.

Sound familiar? This pattern comes up a lot when you're around a group of teenage girls. Does it get old after hearing it oh, about 10 times a day? I would say yes, extremely old. Not only old but tiring, stressful, annoying, unreasonable, stupid, pointless, and I could go on describing it in countless negative ways.