Zhane’a Williams, 17, describes a fake Louis Vuitton handbag. “It feels like plastic. Cheap material,” says Williams, from Dorchester. Real: Sharp and clear. Soft. If it’s stiff? Toss it! Funky stitching? You already lost it. Lower than seven hunna — 700 dollars? Not real! Dust bag — which the LV comes in — isn’t high quality? It’s a dust rag. Many teens are influenced by the material things they wear. “Status,” says Williams. “It shows or makes it seem like you have money and are well-off compared to others around you.” You won’t find teens in big box discount stores looking for something real to get their status up. It’ll only bring them down. “I think a name-brand bag will last longer,” says Nijkah Morris, now 20, from Dorchester. “It’s durable, and overall a better investment rather than buying a bunch of normal bags every couple months when they fall apart.” Morris says she would like a real one but, for now, has to settle for the imitation knockoff that can be had for $45. Tatianna Marie, 19, from Dorchester, goes for a pretty bag, real or fake. “Honestly, it really doesn’t matter as long as the bag’s cute,” says Marie. “I’ll take it name brand or not.”

For a movie star, Matt Damon has a very down-to-earth entry on his bucket list. “If I had a bucket list, I’d say raising my four girls to be strong, good women would be number one,” Damon was quoted as saying in Parade magazine. It may be surprising to hear that celebrities have their own bucket lists, since they seem to get whatever they want on a regular basis. However, child star Lil’ Romeo — who now goes by the more grown-up name “Romeo” — was quoted on SI.com as saying that going to the Super Bowl was on his bucket list. He explained that he was too busy with school and other things to attend. As for me, my bucket list is filled with adventure. Before I die, I would like to go diving -- skydiving, cliff diving, and scuba diving.

Tiffanie Ortiz, 17, loves to wear urban fashion because she gets to express herself through her clothing. “I’ve been wearing it since I was 14,” says Ortiz, from Urban Science Academy. Urban fashion is a style born of the street. It’s a look that emerges from neighborhoods as opposed to being ripped from the pages of fashion magazines. Yet it still has a classy appeal to it. Think J.Lo -- now a glamour girl but originally from the Bronx. Ortiz is known for her unique way of wearing highwasted pants and blazers to her place of employment -- a sneaker shop. Briannally Ortiz, 15, from Boston Latin Academy, likes urban fashion because it is spontaneous and fresh. She was in the South End recently when she saw a young woman walk by in a fall skirt with flower patterns. She asked the woman where she got it: Forever 21. Briannally Ortiz went and bought one for herself.

A group of students crowds the door to a Brighton convenience store in frustration, urgently waiting for the owner to let them in. Kenshey Johnson, 16, from Boston Community Leadership Academy, says he tried to enter but there were other teens already there. “I felt confused when he kicked me out, when all I just wanted to do was buy some chips and a juice,” says Johnson about the incident last year. “I was also mad because I really wanted to eat some snacks and I was forced to wait outside until the kids were done.” As another school year starts, many teens again don’t feel trusted, in part due to unwritten rules -- and sometimes written signs -- that only allow a certain number of them in a business at one time. Just because some young people shoplift doesn’t mean all of them should be branded as troublemakers, teens say. “It’s stereotypical and judgmental because before you go into a store they already have an assumption of how you are and it’s not right,” says 16-year-old Markiyah Bullard, from BCLA. Bullard suggests that storeowners use cameras instead of their own critical eyes to capture the offenders. Clerk Bao Tran, at the Fields Corner Store, in Dorchester, says he uses cameras but they can only do so much to protect a shop’s livelihood. “When I feel like there are too many kids in the store and they’re too loud I ask them nicely to leave,” he says. “A lot of kids steal. I would catch them and they would be embarrassed and not come back.” MD. Mainul Islam, a clerk at the Fields Corner Supermarket, says he has had to call police several times a month to report stealing by large groups of youth. “I don’t want troublemakers in my store,” says Islam. “The parents and the community should take care of the children and teach them better, to not steal and make good decisions.”

As a sophomore at Boston Community Leadership Academy, I have noticed that high school comes with so much responsibility. It’s not always easy waking up early in the morning, having to make it to all your classes on time, writing notes as fast as you can and still being able to understand them, and then staying up late doing homework and studying for upcoming tests. Still, my short time in high school has taught me a lot. You have to be prepared for all this because things will only get harder. I learned that you can’t just give up in the middle. I always thought going into high school was going to be like it was in the movies; everything was just chill and not so complicated. But my perspective has changed. Now I know what I have to do: work hard and never stop trying. There will always be circumstances scheming to bring you down, but that’s another thing I learned from high school. Life won’t give you what you can’t handle.