All About Antoinette

The majority of comments from my last post were about Antoinette, the French exchange student who's at Adams for the semester, and with good reason. Naturally everybody's curious about her. So imagine my surprise when Megan approached me with an idea to do a profile article on her for the back-to-school issue due out this week. I asked her, "How am I going to interview her? Especially with Meredith in the way?"

So, today when I approached Antoinette, Meredith looked at me like I was crazy. "What are you gonna do with her?"

"It's for the paper, you doofus," I shot back. "You don't own her!" I've decided I'm not going to take another year of abuse from her. We're never gonna be friends, and I can live with that.

I'm still not sure about the format to use for the article, but back in February I did do a 15 things about me post on my blog, so I suppose I may use that.

This afternoon I managed to get Antoinette in the newspaper office, and here's what I know about her now that I didn't know this morning. One thing I know about her is that even with her glasses, she's very pretty, and another thing I know is that she's very thin. She's even thinner than I am.

• Her full name is Marie-Antoinette (one name) Anais Boucher, and she gets teased a lot back home because Marie Antoinette was a French queen who was beheaded.
• Instead of using her full name, she chooses to go by Antoinette.
• Her mother is Italian, her father is French.
• She speaks three languages (French, Italian, English) and is learning Spanish and German.
• She's in seventh grade, like me.
• I have two classes with her.
• She was born in a town called Versailles (she pronounces it vur-SY) and was raised in another town called Nice (pronounced like niece instead of nice). I'm sure Avery or Sophie may be much better at writing out the pronouncing of these names, though.
• Her birthday is May 2.
• She admires France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, a former model who has also launched a music career.
• Her family in France is fairly well-off.
• She is an only child.
• Her favorite artist is someone called Lady GaGa, and like me she doesn't get the obsession with Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana. "It's not that I don't like Mi-lee or Anna," she says in her cutely accented English, "it's just that they are not my favorite."
• She wants to write for the paper. Knowing Megan, I'm sure that could be arranged.
• She loves Harry Potter, admits to having a crush on Daniel Radcliffe (the guy that played him in the movies), and fantasized about being a Hogwarts student.
• She loves fashion and is interested in the AG couture scene.

The cool thing about having her around now is we actually get to practice the French we're learning in class. I actually think she's okay. If I could rescue her from the clutches of the evil Meredith...

And the other cool thing about having access to the computers in the newspaper office is, they're connected to the internet... ;-)

Queen Bees and Wanna-Bees

So, Sophie asked in her comments to my last post if Meredith (aka our class' queen bee) was still around, and my answer now, as then, is she is... and in my opinion, she's worse than ever. I heard she entered a couple modeling contests over the summer, and she sure has gotten her head swollen like a balloon.

And on top of that, she's got a new accessory -- er, companion, in the form of a French exchange student named Antoinette Boucher (right), who's staying with the family next door to the Hopkins' for the semester. She's very exotic looking, with long dark hair (almost as dark as Victoria's) and bright blue eyes. She wears glasses most of the time but she wasn't wearing them there. And to think, she could have been staying at MY place for the semester, bummer.

Nicki doesn't return to Colorado to start seventh grade there till next month, so she wanted to see what had changed at Adams since she last attended last year (which isn't much, btw). Harriet & I gave her a grand tour, and we showed her the newly-remodeled newspaper office. BTW, I'm totally digging Harriet's new outfit, it suits her. It's from Carpatina.

Speaking of the new newspaper office, I'm happy they got new computers in there, and we welcomed Kathryn "Kit" Kittredge as our newest staff member. (Megan plans to ask Lindsey to join on Monday, and I've told Kit not to tell her.) And just in time, too. We have to get the back-to-school issue printed by next week. I'm trying to convince Harriet to join us at the paper, but she refuses to budge, saying she'll have nothing to do.

As for those sixth-grade 'wanna-bees' Kylee, Zoe, and Victoria -- I'm not bothered with them -- except when they bother my friends, and Kit and Lindsey are my friends now, though they're not in the same grade as I am. Besides, I do suspect someone will put them in their place soon enough, and I actually would be very happy when that happens. Funny how that works, huh?

Seventh Grade!!!

Welp, started school this week, and hadn't had a moment to start recording everything. Until now.

Most of the usual suspects are back in action for another year, but a couple people still aren't back yet from whatever they were doing this summer, and I'm kinda worried. Kristy hasn't returned, neither has Hilary. I'm kinda bummed about it, actually. On the other hand, there are a whole lot of new faces around here.

Kit and Lindsey were telling me about some of their new classmates. "There are these three girls," they told me, "that you gotta stay away from at all costs."

Uh-oh. Are they the sixth-grade version of Meredith's crew?

I got a look at these girls. They sure did look like meanies. From left to right, they're Victoria Vaccaro (the dark haired one), Kylee Phillips (the blond), and Zoe Fishers (the brunette). Kit and Lindsey say Kylee is the definite queen bee of the group and has treated them like crap since kindergarten.

Speaking of Kylee, I'm actually stuck with her -- for the foreseeable future. That's because my student council sponsor matched us up for the seventh grade-sixth grade buddy program that I started last year. She reminds me of Meredith except, in my opinion she's actually even prettier. I was kinda hoping I'd get either Kit or Lindsey as I already knew them from Girl Scouts. Harriet's partner is Jess McConnell (I'm jealous as Jess seems far more interesting). I don't know who Hilary or Kristy have. Kit likes her partner as hers is into sports and they can talk baseball all day and all night. Lindsey's partner is Sasha Moore, one of Meredith's pals. I asked my teacher what made her make the matches she did, and she said they were totally random. I bet.

My classes -- I've only got one class with Harriet and three with Hilary. Hil and I have honors classes, plus French and TAG (talented and gifted) enrichment. Megan Ryder is still editor of the newspaper, although the newspaper sponsor, Ms. Baldwin, named me assistant editor now, so I'm gonna be spending more time with that. This means Megan and I have the task of picking new staffers. Kit and Lindsey have already submitted their stories, and I hope I don't have to tell one or both of them that they didn't make the staff, especially since they talked about it before all this happened.

I got into Parkington. I tried on my uniform, even paid the dorm fee... but then realized I couldn't go there. I didn't really belong there. It wasn't for me, at least not right now.

I'm BAAAAACK! (cue evil maniacal laugh here)

Welp, the title says it all.
And to celebrate my return, Linds redid my blog banner with one of the pics from my stay.
My post is gonna be brief, because I've got to get ready to go to SCHOOL today! Oh yes, the reason I came back so soon is because school starts today. I'm a seventh grader now.

Here are the two albums from my travels. The first is from California, where Wendy is. Wendy and I had a blast, along with her other friends. What's funny is she's got a friend with the same name as my cousin. And they kinda look alike too. Weird, huh?

http://picasaweb.google.com/BuckinghamAlice57/TravelingHaleySStay#5350396789094269186


The second one is from the other side of the country, in Massachusetts. I had a blast with those girls, too, seeing all the sights. It's very pretty up there. I'd never been to Massachusetts, even though I'm from PA.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rocknrollamy/Haley1?authkey=Gv1sRgCOTDhtPlspXanQE#

More later! Byeeee,
Haley

Guest post #2: Harriet!

Yo! Harriet here. Y'all have probably heard a lot about me, cause I'm sure Haley's had a lot to say about me. But y'all have never heard FROM me. So, now, here I am.

For starters, Haley came back last week, but she's resting, so she'll be back posting next week sometime. I'm sure y'all probably will be glad to hear from her again.

My full name is Harriet Louisa Jones. I know it sounds like an old fashioned name, and it was given to me by my mom. I'm named after my two grandmothers, Harriet and Louisa. Louisa's dead, and Harriet is the one who's raising me. I don't have any siblings, but I have a whole lot of cousins and other relatives, so there's always somebody around.

I know Haley's not so much into music, but I love it. Mostly I like hip hop and R&B, but I like some pop. I have to admit I LURVE the Jonas Bros and some Miley Cyrus...but I'm not so into Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. I've also found grandma's old Jackson Five records and have been listening to those, ever since Michael Jackson died.

Sometimes I wonder why Haley and I are friends, we're so different. I'm a couch potato and like watching TV and listening to music, she's much more active and would prefer reading to the tube. I barely read what I have to read at school, and writing for this??? I don't know how she does it.

Ok, where was I? Oh yeah, I was in summer school most of the summer, which is a total bummer. And I had some very long talks with Haley's cousin, Nicki Fleming. Nicki came down to visit Haley for the summer, only to have her up and leave on this traveling doll thing. I never understood it, myself. Nicki being Nicki, was dissapointed by Haley leaving, but she and I actually got close, in part because of it.

Last year, when Haley came to Adams, she was this girl that didn't seem to know where she was, and I've watched her grow and change just in the past year. I've mostly been along for the ride. We start seventh grade next week, so I can't wait to find out what else is in store!

Peace and love, Harriet

Guest post: Kathryn "Kit" Kittredge speaks out!

Hi! I'm Kathryn Margaret Kittredge, better known to family and friends as Kit. I got the nickname because it was the nickname of my great-grandmother, the famous Margaret Mildred Kittredge who has been immortalized in books and even a movie. I also got the nickname because my father said I look like she did when she was my age.

I made 11 in May, and I'll be starting at Adams Junior High in 2 weeks. I can't wait, I'm actually excited.

Haven't done much this summer. I went to Ohio for 2 weeks to visit my family up there. I went to a few Reds games while I was up there, too, so that made me happy. I love baseball and I'm gonna try to get on the school softball team next spring.

The other thing I like is writing. As soon as I get to Adams I'm gonna try out for the newspaper staff. I've got the articles I've written already put together in a neat little folder to present to the editor. Haley says she's nice so I'm sure she'll like them. I figure if I'm gonna be a reporter when I grow up, then I'd better start now.

Speaking of Haley, I'm a little ticked at her for not writing as much as she'd promised. I'm sure she's busy but she could put five words on a postcard and tell us as much as hello or something.

Well, I gotta go. Catch everybody soon!

-- Kit

Bye for now!

To all my readers (except Wendy of course),

By the time you read this I will more than likely already be on a plane headed for sunny southern California. This came about suddenly and surprisingly. Thinking about becoming a traveling doll is one thing, actually doing it is quite another.

The other day after classes ended I walked into Vee's living room and found all my friends gathered together -- even Kit and Lindsey, who are fifth graders and I only really know from Girl Scouts. I was wondering what was going on. What happened was that they'd decided to surprise me with a goodbye party. Chips, drinks, dip, the Jonas Brothers playing in the background (that had to have been Hilary's idea) even pizza. The last time I ate pizza I broke out in hives.

It finally hit me that this would be the last time all of us would be together for the entire summer. We would all be scattered in all sorts of different directions. Hilary was going to be with her father and to try to keep her divorcing family together. Kristy was going to basketball camp and summer camp with her girls' home. Katarina was going to Germany. Kit was going to do her newspaper stuff and visit relatives in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Lindsey was going to finish her documentary, read the new Rebecca Rubin stories, and try to keep herself out of trouble. Nicki was going to volunteer at the local animal shelter and visit her grandmother. Harriet, I think she's just gonna try and hold it together until I come back.

I realized that each one of my friends is unique, different, and special in their own ways. Nicki's situation is a little different because we're actually family. But the standard still applies. Kristy (btw, she did make good on her promise to cut her hair, though not as much as I was afraid of) gave me a high-five, Hilary squeezed me so tight I could barely breathe, and Nicki let out these huge sobs.

I tried to spend a little extra time with each of my friends individually before going to the airport. I'm gonna try not to cry, I thought to myself. I'm not gonna cry...

That didn't work. I doled out hugs to everyone and then found myself in a big group hug. By the time I got to Harriet the waterworks was on. Before I knew it I was bawling like a baby. "I'll miss you so much," Harriet whispered in my ear. I whispered the same right back to her.

I've never had a best friend, so to feel this way is strange to me.

Some of them wanted to ride with me to the airport but I told them never mind, that I was good. In reality, I was going to cry again and I didn't want to take the risk.

Well, that's it everybody. Goodbye for now! And hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,

Haley E. Hotchkiss

P. S. I may check in on here every once in awhile while I'm gone, but Harriet and some others will do the lions' share of the posting. See you soon!