The Mean Girls

I know you guys are tired of me talking about the mean girls in my class, but I think since you've seen them so much you need to know who they are.

On the left is Sasha Moore. She's biracial. Her mom is black and her dad is white, and they're both lawyers. They live next door to Meredith, in the swanky River Forest neighborhood. I hear Sasha is a very good singer, but I've never heard her.

Next, and the worst, is the famous Meredith Hopkins. She's pretty much an eleven-year-old Barbie doll, with the blondest hair I've ever seen. Sometimes I wonder if she dyes her hair, since she has brown eyebrows. Hmmm. Anyway, she's from Florida, and where she was, she did some modeling, beauty pageants, and local TV commercials. I hear she's got designs on a showbiz career.

The third girl is Marisa Perez. Marisa's family came over from Cuba when she was little. Her dad is now a doctor in our town. I hear Jennifer Lopez is her idol.

Not in this pic is Natasha Ivanova. She's from Russia and I hear her parents are some kind of diplomats or something. She's short with wavy auburn hair. The only thing saving her height sometimes, I think, is the way she teases her bangs up in the air. Otherwise, she's a midget.

Also not pictured, there was a fifth girl, Madisyn Baker, also a blue-eyed blond, but her parents took her out of Adams after that big fight with Kristy. I don't like her very much either, and I suspect she egged Kristy on to hit her, and Kristy being Kristy took the bait.

These girls talk alike, dress alike, wear each others' clothes (mostly I've seen Marisa, Madisyn, and Natasha wear Meredith's clothes) and when they walk down the hall they look like they're joined at the hip. Harriet calls them the 'copycat girls.'

Adams' 'Mean Bees' sting again

Today I was given another reminder of the meanness of Meredith and her crowd.

We were on our way to gym class when I spotted Katarina walking down the hall. She was carrying a doll. The way she was holding it, I couldn't tell what kind of doll it was but I could see it had blond hair.

When Katarina walked by, Meredith started pointing at her while the other girls laughed and snickered. "Hey, Fat Kat," she shouted.

Frankly I was surprised that Katarina brought a doll to school at all.

Then, when we got to the gym, Natasha Ivanova, one of Meredith's minions, walked up to Katarina, who was sitting on one of the bleachers. Katarina has asthma so she only does limited activities. "Pretty dolly," Natasha said. I knew from the way she said it she wasn't being nice. "I had one like that -- when I was seven." She let out a laugh and Meredith and Madisyn behind her laughed too.

I didn't say anything, I just walked up to Katarina and gave her an invitation to Harriet's party.

Back to School Shockers

Well, I went back to school yesterday. I didn't want to go but I didn't have a choice.

The first shock I got was that Katarina got new glasses!

She got them over Christmas break and I have to say, she looks a lot like those pictures of Molly McIntire on the books. I also have to say that I feel somewhat better now that I'm not the only girl sporting specs. She's very quiet and keeps mostly to herself, especially that Meredith calls her names like "Fat Kat."

The second thing is there's going to be a school assembly later on this week to talk about bullying and to show the new Chrissa AG movie. I have to say, from what I've read on the subject, it's going to hit pretty darn close to home. There's even a website, set up by AG, to deal with this. http://www.americangirl.com/girloftheyear/

The third shocker was that yesterday, I thought about wearing the new outfit my mom bought me for Christmas back to school, but decided against it. Imagine my surprise when I saw Meredith walking down the hall wearing the exact same one! I was shocked.

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.

When we passed by, I heard them whisper something. "Hey, Van Dyke," Meredith shouted, looking at Kristy's green outfit, "I guess they forgot to tell you Christmas was over." I can't wait to see THEIR reactions to Chrissa's movie. I'm actually looking forward to this assembly.

About Nicki and Natasha

The phone rang last night. It was Nicki.

Nicki had enrolled in the sixth grade at my school, but she wasn't in my homeroom. Somehow, though, she'd heard about my decision to run for class rep.

"Well, all right!" she yelled into the receiver. She also told me her homeroom had already chosen its rep, a Heather someone she didn't like. The way she described Heather, she sounded a heckuva lot like Meredith. "At least you're making it a contest," she said.

She came over, then I introduced her to Harriet and the three of us grabbed a bunch of markers and made more signs.

Today was the first day that actually felt like fall. It was crisp and cool and I even wore my favorite hooded jacket. I walked over to the bus stop and waited for the bus.

When I got off to go to class, I met Harriet and Nicki in the hallway. They were already hanging up signs.

"Wow, you guys are quick," I said.

"Nicki and I said we wanted to get here before Meredith and her gang set up shop."

Hmm, I thought, couldn't blame them there.

We had barely finished when Natasha showed up. Natasha, you may remember, is Meredith's best friend, er, best lackey. She follows her around everywhere, and never does ANYTHING without Meredith knowing about it. That's why I was surprised to see her show up without her other half. And I have to admit, her hair is awesome, it's this lovely auburn shade and it falls in all these waves.

"What's that?" Natasha asked.

"A sign," I answered.

"I know it's a sign, dumbo," she shot back, "what's it doing there?"

"Haven't you heard?" Nicki said, "she's running for class rep."

Natasha burst in laughter. "You?" she asked herself as she shot a mean stare at me. "You mean -- you're -- running against Meredith?"

"Yeah," I said, straightening up.

"It's a free country," Nicki added. "If you're trying to stop her from running, forget it. She got in fair and square."

"You've got no chance. Meredith already has the votes she needs to get elected, and I suggest you either get with the program or get left behind." She tossed her auburn waves in our faces as she left.

A New Friend?

So, I'm sitting at home going over my English homework (like I have anything better to do on a Saturday when the weather is dreary and it keeps looking like it's going to rain but doesn't) when the phone rings.
It's Harriet.
I'm a little surprised by it, but then she invited me over to her place to watch some movies and chill.
So I said, okay, I'm gonna go.
I get there, right, and Harriet's mom has put out the yummiest swiss roll cakes. I tried everything in my power to avoid them, but it was no use. I ate one anyway.
Turns out Harriet's rented a few DVDs, like The Babysitters Club and Harriet the Spy. I think I might have seen "Babysitters" once. It's this group of girls who run a babysitting service. I don't think I'd have the patience. Nicki might though.
Halfway through Harriet the Spy, I realized, the more I looked at it, the more it looked like my life. No, not the running around with a notebook watching people and stuff. I mean, the whole thing with Meredith. She's perfected the art of making people miserable while making herself look good.
You should see the way she looks at me when she walks by. Like she's better than me or something.
And then she's got her little followers watching her every move. Like Natasha. And these two other girls, Maggie Jones and Allyson Morgan. I mean, it's not like she's all that pretty. All she has is the blondest hair I've ever seen. What do they see in her -- besides the fact that she's rich?
Anyway, Harriet was halfway asleep through the FIRST movie. Wuss.
That left me up to clean up those swiss cakes. I forgot to bring my nightclothes so I'm sleeping in my shirt and planned to go back home to change. I'm also using the computer in Harriet's mom's room (shhh)

Back to School

It hasn't gotten any better, either.
I returned to school after the week-long mini vacation forced by Hurricane Gustav. And, let's just say, not much has changed. Except now, I'm riding the school bus instead of going to school with Venus.
I have to say, the school bus was another adventure. All the rowdy boys and cool girls were sitting in the back, which left me to seek a quiet seat somewhere up front.
I buried my face in my hands. I didn't know how I was going to make it through this year.
But for the first sign of progress, I walked unassisted to my home room. I actually remembered where it was.

I saw the girl who sat in front of me again. "My name's Harriet Jones," she said. "I'm named after my grandmother."
I smiled. "I'm Haley Hotchkiss."
She extended her hand. "Guess we're gonna be seeing a lot of each other, huh?"

Just when Harriet and I were talking, in walked Meredith and her crowd. As usual, Meredith showed up in the front of the pack. She wore a shirt with the word 'princess' sprawled on the front. It kind of fits. That's pretty much what she is to the sixth grade.

Harriet ran through them one by one. "Meredith Hopkins, she's the ring leader. Her parents own the mall downtown, and her dad is the grandson of the man that used to be mayor." I had to admit to myself I was impressed.
"The redhead, that's Natasha Ivanova. Her parents are Russian."
Looking at Natasha, copying everything Meredith wore and did, I decided that the only thing worse than being Meredith Hopkins...is WANTING to be Meredith Hopkins.
Harriet added tidbits about every girl and boy who made up Meredith's group, whether they were in our homeroom or not. How did she know all this stuff? I wondered.