How can I be happier?

I'm in middle school and my parents won't get off my back about my high school application. I started on it about two weeks before break and I'm very satisfied with it, but my parents don't seem to think it's all that great. They keep telling me what I should write and what I should leave out so it doesn't "seem" as if they wrote it themselves. Eventually, they just told me to re-write the entire 500 word essay. They've been asking me about it all winter break (including through Christmas) and it's bad enough that I have a science project also due the same day. Every time they ask me it always brings me down and bummed out and it's also pretty annoying. I end up staying bummed out the entire day. The first time they asked me to re-write it while my dad was "coaching me" I got fed up and irritated with all of his "suggestions" and said a smart-@$$ comment that probably came out the wrong way in the wrong tone. I spent the rest of that day in my room working only writing about a sentence every hour or so.

Most days have been like that ever since, and I can't seem to find any happiness in it. It seems that I can't have a good day without them reminding me about my essay. The school I'm applying to is a center for Information Technology and I try to work on my game project and learn Java in my freetime as much as I can and avoid my parents. My parents can't afford to go on vacation as a family so I mostly do house-work and go on the internet during the break. My friends have all been out of town, and I feel really lonely. I do go out and ride my bike occasionally but only to return to my nagging parents. I can't really find the fun in my life anymore, and I wonder if going to this school (or even college) is really worth losing my happiness just to write a paper where I've already done my best and forced to do better. I've tried talking to them about it but it seems that they completely ignored me. Any suggestions on how I can temporarily regain some bit of joy in my life while I suffer through this?