Saturday, January 31, 2009
Sleepover!
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Inauguration and other things
Then I heard another voice, I was surprised to hear it. It was Mia's. Mia had been in the room but seldom spoke. "What about a winter pageant?" she asked. "Mix in snowflakes with the Valentine decorations." Hilary seemed to like it, but I wasn't sure, since it is a Valentine's dance. I felt like in hearing out Mia's suggestion I was giving in to Meredith. But I had to admit, Mia did have a point. Then again, Mia is biased. She's a competitive figure skater and still plays ice hockey.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Back to Business
The three of us talked, waiting for Meredith to come in. For those of you new to my blog, she ran against me for class president, and when the vote came in, the two of us got the same number of votes. The election was eventually decided in a school assembly, with someone drawing a name out of a hat. The winner became class president, the loser vice president.
"This meeting started ten minutes ago," I told her.
Flicking her hair, Meredith replied, "So? What's it to you?"
"As president of the sixth grade, I can tell you that the meetings start at three o'clock and I expect everyone to be here. You think there are special rules just for you?"
"Tell me why I should care about your stupid meeting."
"Well, because we're planning the Valentines' Day dance."
Meredith shook her head. "When's the dance? Oh, that's right, Friday the thirteenth. How exciting for you. You see, I'm not going to be at your stupid little dance. It's the night of my parents' big dinner party. The next day I'll be leaving to compete in the Miss Louisiana American Girl pageant. The winner goes to nationals, and, well, I'm going to nationals. So, your dorky little dance means nothing to me." She bobbed her blond head as she whizzed past me. I wanted to cry but I straightened my skirt.
I know I shouldn't care whether or not she shows up at the dance, but since she's on the student council, I'd like to have her pull her weight in planning it.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Whoops, forgot to mention...
I can't say I know Hilary that well. I do know she's got long blond hair (but yellow blond, not like Meredith's white blond) and blue eyes and is a bit on the chubby side. She's not as thin as Meredith. And she seems to have similar taste in clothes as I do. And I can't say I have an idea where she stands in the class war, either. I don't know if she'll be open to me befriending her or not.
Harriet's told me a little more, though. Hilary's father is Dr. Tom Lang, who's very important in our town. Hilary had been attending the local private school, but she transferred to Adams after the holiday. I wonder why.
Friday, January 9, 2009
I saw the Chrissa movie (some spoilers)
"Haley, since you're class president, I'd like you and Megan to do the presentation."
Megan, of course, is Megan Ryder, editor-in-chief of pretty much every school publication at Adams -- newspaper AND yearbook. She says she's wanted to be a journalist pretty much forever, since her dad travels all over as an international correspondent. We're acquaintances, we work with each other, but we're not friends. Megan has goalpost-straight red hair and green eyes.
"Well, today the school has called this assembly, so that we can talk about bullying." I told them that bullying was a very serious problem all over the country, and that surveys showed that a lot of kids had been bullied while in school. I didn't tell them, though, that I'd been one of them. Maybe I should have.
While I'm watching the movie, Harriet gives me a nudge. "Haley, she kinda looks like you."
Okay, about the movie.... there's this girl named Chrissa Maxwell who moves to Minnesota to stay with her grandma after her grandpa dies. When she starts school she's bullied by three girls -- Tara, Jaden, and Sonali. Sonali is Indian, which I found interesting. Tara is the queen bee and the worst of the bunch, kind of like Meredith -- the other two are just followers. And Chrissa isn't the only victim. These girls also pick on another girl, shy and quiet Gwen, who turns out to be a talented violinist. Well, Chrissa wants to try to make friends with Gwen but Gwen has a secret. Chrissa's bullies seem to stop at nothing to make her miserable. When Chrissa joins the swim team, Tara's cruelty seems to get worse.
Chrissa to me seemed a little desperate for making friends -- it was like, she had made that her only goal upon getting to that new school. It was a little annoying, cause she kept saying 'hi' to the girls and the girls wouldn't say 'hi' back -- but then I got to like Chrissa, because she's willing to stand up for herself and what she believes in. Gwen really reminds me a lot of Katarina, so quiet and doesn't say much at all, keeps to herself. Sonali, I'm not sure who she is. I think she wanted to be friends with Chrissa from the beginning, but she was afraid of losing Tara's friendship because of it.
After the assembly, Kristy wanted to watch the basketball team practice, so Harriet and I stayed in the gym awhile before we left. "What did you think about the movie?" I asked them.
"I wanted Chrissa to beat those girls silly," Kristy said. "Especially that Tara, she deserved it." Kristy then told me that back in fourth grade, she did just that to a girl who picked on her for being a tomboy. The girl has since moved away.
"I didn't get Sonali," Harriet said. "I mean, she's Indian, right, and she's following behind those girls like a lost puppy dog."
"That's only in the beginning," I reminded her. "But Sonali starts to come to her senses I think around the time she signs up to do the ceramics thing. I don't think they made a big deal over the fact that she's Indian."
I have to admit, Sophie was right, it does kind of remind me of what happened to me when I first came to Adams. For those new to my blog, I'll crosslink the post so you can read about it. http://aghaleysblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-first-day-of-school.html I heard Meredith and her gang talking and laughing pretty much throughout the whole movie, till finally the teacher told them to leave. They were only too glad to.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
IM with Nicki
So, Nicki comes on IM tonight to tell me... that she's SEEN the Chrissa movie!
Whaaa??
"Yeah, I've seen it. Pretty good, actually." She said her school showed it yesterday, on their first day back.
Since I told her my school's supposed to show the movie sometime this week, she didn't want to give out any spoilers. Drat! That Nicki...she's my cousin and all, but sometimes I just don't know how to deal with her.
She went on to talk about the twins and about her brother's progress in math and all the pigs and dogs and horses that populate their ranch.
I can't imagine living with all those animals. I'd sneeze so much.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Back to School Shockers
Meredith and her minions continue to make life miserable for everyone at Adams. The girl on the left is Madisyn Baker and in many ways she's as bad as Meredith. The girl on the right is Natasha Ivanova, she's Russian. Meredith's hair always smells like strawberry conditioner and the scent makes me sneeze.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Random Thoughts
Doesn't she look happy? Why come back to Louisiana when you can look outside the window and see THAT???
It hasn't been all bad at Adams, though, I must admit. I was elected sixth grade class president in the fall, and it's been very hard work, much harder than I thought it'd be when I ran. I also joined the school newspaper staff. This past semester I made the honor roll and my goal is to get straight A's.
I also managed to make some friends. Harriet Jones, I consider my best friend. She's African American and now has what I consider a gorgeous head of curls. Even though she's quiet, she's a good listener and seems to know everything about everyone at Adams. I don't know how she does it. She turned some heads when she showed up with her new hairdo. I give her credit, she's willing to take some risks.
Kristy Van Dyke was Harriet's friend but she's becoming mine as well. Her hair is long and brown and even straighter than mine, and most of the time she wears it under a cap, with a ponytail. She hates wearing dresses and is very adventurous. In fact, she missed two weeks of school because she fractured her hand in 2 different places from a scooter accident! And another thing -- it's quite possible Kristy hates Meredith even more than I do.
There's also Katarina Engel. I can't say I know her that well, I do know she's shy and quiet. I do know, though, that she was born in Germany and sent here to live with her aunt when she was eight. She looks like Kristy except that she's chubbier. The only time I see her is when we're at the newspaper.
It's almost as if we've formed sort of a "Team of Misfits" at Adams.
I don't want to go back to school on Monday. But I've got no choice.