Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Friends Come...and Go?


Wow, judging by the comments here, I notice Antoinette has gotten everyone talking! I had so many questions for her, I couldn't ask them all!
But, I have to tell you, sometimes I don't get her.
Today she officially joined the newspaper staff when Megan created a 'special correspondent' post for her. She doesn't usually do that kind of thing, except it was Ms. Baldwin's idea and it's not every year a bona fide French exchange student attends your junior high school.
We were talking on our way to class when out of the blue she said in her French accent, "Pardon, I did not know you and Meredith did not get along."
I let out a deep groan, wondering what Meredith had told her. "You obviously have not been here," I told her. "You do not know her at all."
"Pourquoi?" she asked.
I was tempted to go through the laundry list of the things Meredith had done. But I didn't. I'm hoping Antoinette sees soon enough what kind of person she is. When I told Nicki about this, she said Meredith may actually be on her best behavior re: Antoinette because she doesn't want her to see her 'bad side.' And she also said something else too -- that Antoinette may actually be torn between me and Meredith. An odd place to be, for sure.
I decided to try to change the subject by doing what Abby suggested and asking her about her hometown of Nice. "It's a very beautiful place in the south of France," she said, making me even more jealous. "There are a lot of historical landmarks there, and since the weather is great, a lot of tourists come to visit."
"Have you been to Paris?" I asked.
"Un certain nombre de fois," she said. "A few times." She also joked that she tries to avoid a lot of the famous French cuisine but can't resist partaking of a few crepes every now and again.
At the same time, I do think Harriet is somewhat jealous of my activities & other friends -- I've been trying to talk her into joining the newspaper, that if nothing else she'll meet some new and interesting people -- and she insists that she'll have nothing to do on the staff. When I mentioned Antoinette to her, she was like, "why are you trying to befriend her?" I explained that I'm curious about her since she's new and different and seems cool. She didn't behave this way when I introduced her to Kit & Lindsey. Matter of fact, she's friends with them, too.
Oh, neither Hilary nor Kristy have returned. I'm wondering about Hilary's parents. I know they were getting a divorce this summer and she was back and forth. I also know Kristy was going through a time of it too -- she ended up in West Virginia (where she's from). Seems some relative claimed her out of nowhere, that's what Harriet said. I don't know if Kristy'll stay in WV or if she'll return.
All in all, I think I may be on my way to making a new friend, at the same time I may be losing at least one of my old ones. I'm hoping she and I will keep in touch even when she returns to France after Christmas.

Some staffers posed for this pic while we're working on the back-to-school issue, which'll probably be in the yearbook. Megan (seated) is still editor-in-chief. I'm the first four-eyed fool (lol) on the left, Kit's next to me, Marie-Antoinette (I actually just wanted to type that, lol) is next to her, and Alison is wearing the hockey shirt. Missing is Lindsey (who also joined today) and Katarina Engel. Having the new staffers around certainly helps; I remember at some points last year we were so stressed out because there were so few people. I hope these newbies stick around for the whole year. It's much more fun with them around now.

6 comments:

Avery Voisin said...

I hope Antoinette doesn't ditch you to be with Meredith! If she only knew what Meredith has done to you and your friends, Antoinette probably wouldn't ever want to talk to her again!
You have a lot of new people for the paper! That will help out a lot.
I can see why Harriet would be kind of jealous. Maybe you should spend some one-on-one time with her.
I hope Kristy and Hilary come back!

Becky Rachel said...

Hi Haley! It's Maura. Thanks for commenting on my blog, although I'm actually not sure I like wordpress much. Anya gave me her only username/password, so I set up my blog where hers used to be. She wasn't too interested in blogging.

Antoinette sounds fascinating. Foreign exchange students usually are.

-Maura

Haley Hotchkiss said...

Hi Avery & Maura,
Just some quickies here. Avery, I'm not sure what's going on with Antoinette, if it is as Nicki says, that she's torn between me and Meredith, it's a tough place to be, lol! I had the chance to tell her all that's gone on on but I didn't, maybe I should have -or at least directed her to this blog! I dunno if her English is THAT good, lol.
As for Harriet, her behavior is strange to say the least. If I am guessing right and she's a bit jealous, something I could do with JUST her might be a good idea.
Maura, I read your entry and I tried leaving a message on your blog but I couldn't. I hope you get that fixed soon. :(

XOXO
Haley

Cali Hazelwood said...

Antoinette does seem pretty interesting! I think once she knows Meredith's "true" personality she'll stop hanging around her and be friends with you. After all, Antoinette doesn't seem ANYTHING like Meredith.
I agree with Avery, you should do something alone with Harriet to let her know she's still your friend. :-)

Cali***

OldFashionGirl said...

Sorry, I posted a comment, then deleted when I saw you had answered it in Avery's question. I just wanted to know if Marie might be swayed for the worse by Meredith. It seems we will have to wait and see. *sigh* We wish you the best of luck in 7th grade! Have fun!

Haley Hotchkiss said...

Hi Cali and OFD!
Just a quick note while I'm at the computer in the newspaper office.
Yeah, that's kind of what I'm afraid of. Antoinette seems too cool and sweet a person to fall under Meredith's spell, and I'm trying not to let that happen. She really has NO idea what has gone on, she was on another continent when it happened, after all! Maybe I should ask her if she's seen the Chrissa movie -- which I doubt, given that she was in France, lol.

XOXO
Haley