Mia St. Clair

So far, the first week of school has been... interesting... to say the least.

Today, while I was in the newspaper office, something interesting happened.

(Excuse the mess, we're still getting moved back in)

We were visited by one Mia St. Clair, who announced that she's running against Meredith Hopkins for student body president! Needless to say, Kate and I were stunned. We didn't think anyone would challenge her. But someone has.

And I emailed Haley about this and she couldn't be happier. She would run herself, but there is the little problem of her being in Massachusetts right now...

Anyone who is running against Meredith Hopkins deserves my support and my kudos. Go Mia!

My First Solo Assignment

The other day at school, I had to turn in a report on the President's speech to Congress. I had to give a bullet list of the main points of his speech. Which was something I didn't mind doing, except I couldn't figure out really what he was saying.
As I told you before, last fall, at the request of my English teacher, I joined the newspaper staff. With my duties as class president I've been very busy with that, so I kinda neglected the newspaper. Then my teacher gave me an assignment. I had to go cover the tryouts for the gymnastics team. Sports aren't my thing, so I groaned at this assignment.

When I got there, there was a girl with a purple jacket and a whole lot of red curls that came up to meet me. "Hi, I'm Bridget O'Shaughnessy," she said. "I'm the captain of the gymnastics team."
"Haley Hotchkiss from the Adams Gazette." She extended her hand, and seemed like she was going to squeeze my fingers off.

For an American Girl, Bridget was incredibly tall and thin. I couldn't believe it. While I scrambled to find a seat, Bridget led the girls through some exercises. I recognized a few familiar faces -- Mia St. Clair, Marisa Perez, and Natasha Ivanova among them -- and wondered openly why they would spend their time tumbling on a mat and doing somersaults and trying to walk on a plank only a few inches wide.

Bridget spent pretty much the entire hour screaming at Mia, saying she needed to lose weight and train harder.

When the session ended, I asked Mia openly why she was going through with it. "As a figure skater," she said, "I needed a sport to keep myself in shape during the summer months, and since gymnastics is mostly flexibility and strength training, it works." I have to admit, I admire her dedication. She is determined to make the 2014 Olympics. I have no doubt she'll get there.

After I'd finished my homework, I spent the rest of my evening trying to write this article. I knew the basics of newswriting, but actually doing it is quite another thing. My thoughts are, should I do this by talking about Bridget? Or do it by profiling the girls trying out for the gymnastics team? How does Megan do this? I wonder.

I've thought myself about becoming a traveling doll, but Vee says if it happens at all it won't be until the summer months and then it would be limited to maybe one or two locations every couple of weeks. And I absolutely would have to return home by time school starts up again. Sucks, but them's the rules.

Speaking of school, I haven't really decided where I'm going to school next fall. Believe it or not, returning to Adams has crossed my mind, a thought that was unthinkable just a few weeks ago. I'm class president and writing for the school paper and yearbook. Then there's the thought of leaving my friends. Yes, I said it. Leaving my friends. I never thought in a million years I'd have a best friend but I do. Even back home I had problems making friends because I'm smart.

I have, however, been considering a couple private schools -- Hanover Academy (an all-girl boarding school for grades 7-12) and Parkview Ladies' College in Virginia. But going to a private school means I'd have to make the 'new girl' adjustment all over again. And who knows how it's going to go this time around.

Busy, busy

Avery's latest blog entry got me to thinking -- about my own schedule. By all accounts I've got a pretty full life.

My school classes first -- I have math first period with Mr. Herbert. You'd think starting off the day with fractions and decimals and basic algebra would frighten me, but as tough as math is, I'm glad I get it out of the way early, it wakes up my brain. He's this old gray-haired guy with thick glasses who's fond of grading us on the highest curve possible. All things considered I'm lucky to be getting a B in his class.

2nd period is spelling, right next door. I'm actually pretty good in spelling, I must admit. My teacher is Ms. Joyce. She says what she means and means what she says.

Third period is reading with Mr. Glenn. He's a young guy, looks like he should still be in school himself, and half the girls have a crush on him.

Fourth period is English with Mrs. Baldwin. She's also in charge of the yearbook and the newspaper, so I see her a lot.

Lunch and recess follow, and fifth period is social studies/history. I have to admit it's my favorite class. And it's not just because I got extra credit in it for my successful campaign for the class presidency. It's because I feel like I learn so much in there.

Sixth period is science with Ms. Evans. She's a hard one to figure out. It doesn't help that science is among my least favorite subjects.

Seventh period is physical education with Ms. Riley. I try with this one, really I do.

Last period is study hall, but honors students have the option of taking French. I'm now taking French classes, and I have to say I'm enjoying them very much. Not that I can speak the language as well as Sophie or Avery, but oh well. D'accord.

After school there's newspaper staff, yearbook staff, student council, plus I tutor some days after school. Many days I don't get home until 7 or 8 at night, and then after that it's homework. I have a strict bedtime of 10 p.m, except on weekends.

Sometimes I wonder if I've given myself too many things to do. But the fact is, if I don't give myself things to do I get bored very easily.

So, today, after I was done tutoring I went over to the gym, where the dance committee was meeting. As of now the dance committee consists of myself, Hilary Lang, Mia St. Clair, and (unfortunately) Meredith Hopkins. And Meredith, as usual, showed up late. But this time she came with a new copycat, a girl named Marisa Perez, who was dressed head to toe exactly like her. "You're late," I said.

"So?" Meredith asked.

"We started talking about the dance ten minutes ago."

"What do I care?" asked Meredith. "I told you I wasn't going to your stupid little dance."

"Then why did you sign up for the dance committee?" I asked her.

"I didn't sign up for that."

I got out my signup sheets and showed her where her name appeared, just below Mia's. "I didn't write that."

"I don't care who wrote it," I said, "what matters is that you signed up, and I expect you to show up to all meetings on time."

Meredith was all in a huff, but she disappeared up the bleachers, with Marisa following her. I tried not to get upset about the whole thing, but every time I thought about it, I fought back tears. Come on, Haley, you're the class president, you can't let her get to you, I was telling myself. I was getting ready to wipe my eyes when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I looked back with some shock when I found it was Mia. She didn't say anything, but the fact that she did that let me know she had my back.

While that was happening, though, Meredith was forcing Hilary to give up her seat on the top bleacher so that she and Marisa could sit there. "This is my seat," she yelled, startling both Mia and me.

"I don't see anyone's name on it," Hilary said.

"You know every time we have a meeting I always sit on this top bleacher." Then I heard Marisa kind of correct Meredith, telling her Hilary's new. Hilary got up anyway, though, and Meredith and Marisa took their seats on the top bleachers. After the meeting I passed both Mia and Hilary invitations to Harriet's party.

The Inauguration and other things

I'm sorry this entry is way late, but that's how busy I've been planning the dance.

Well, it's official, we got a new president. And I like him, a lot. His daughters are our age. Not to mention, Harriet pointed out that he's kind of cute. Definitely not like the old guy that used to be president.

We were at school when it happened, so I caught a little of it on the TV at school. Luckily, Harriet's grandma videotaped it, so she, Kristy, and I watched it there after school. This means a lot for Harriet's grandma. You see, Harriet's grandma grew up in the South where blacks and whites had separate water fountains, separate bathrooms, and went to separate schools. She said she never dreamed all this would happen. I can't imagine not being at the same school with Harriet just because her skin is darker. It would be so weird.

Speaking of being president, I'm finding out that being class president is much harder than I thought it would be. I was checking out some ideas for the Valentine's Day dance... and there was a Chrissa flyer with stuff you could for her cards, and I was thinking about using some of those cut-out decals to decorate the gym. So I decided to suggest my idea to the school dance committee (that I mysteriously found Meredith had put herself on, despite the fact she claimed she didn't care about the dance) and she was, all, "That's so childish!"

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.

Back to Business

The Adams Junior High student council had its first meeting of the new year today. There wasn't much new discussed, except the budget (there's nothing in it) and the upcoming Valentine's Day dance, which has to be planned by .... drum roll please ... yours truly. Any suggestions?

Speaking of Valentine's Day, the only Valentine I'd like to have is Adam Cartwright. I'm telling you, the boy is soooo handsome!

Trouble is, Adam doesn't know I exist. Every girl at Adams, it seems, has a crush on him (he's in the 7th grade) -- including Meredith, who throws herself at him at every opportunity. And I'm not sure a boy like Adam would want a freckled face girl who wears thick glasses.

Now about the dance. Like Halloween, I've got no clue what to do to the gym. The gym at Adams doubles as the school auditorium, as Adams used to be a high school. There's cutting out a bunch of hearts and stringing them all over the gym. And then there's the question of what kind of dance it's going to be. There are different kinds of dances. For example, Harriet was telling me about a type of dance called a Sadie Hawkins, a dance where the girl asks the guy to dance, instead of the usual guy-gets-girl type.

So, the meeting of the reps of the several homerooms of the sixth grade took place in the gym. The new girl, Hilary Lang came, as well as Mia St. Clair, one of the other reps. I don't know Mia well, but she's a driven athlete -- she swears she'll be figure skating in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Mia does figure skating, ice hockey, roller blading, roller hockey -- anything on skates, she'll do. Her style is girly but athletic and comfortable. Harriet told me she has 3 older brothers -- so she can't be a pushover.

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.

You can imagine that I wasn't looking forward to working with Meredith at all.

While Hilary, Mia, and I were talking, who walked into the door but Meredith, followed by her little lackeys. I was angry.

"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.

Rock the Vote (and other things)

Well, got a good bit to say now...

First, this weekend Vee went to this thrift store in the city and found me a Coconut hoodie and cap, and I decided to wear it to school yesterday. Megan assigned me to interview our school's newest student, Mia St. Clair, for the paper. I wasn't exactly looking forward to this interview, but she wasn't bad. She could seem cold, but she's ambitious, that's all. Very focused. She's hellbent on going to the 2014 Olympics. She enjoys ice hockey, roller hockey, roller blading -- anything that keeps her moving. With three older brothers, who could blame her?

Today school was out because of elections. Since Harriet and I are working polls at the local district, we spent the day out at our polling place. The atmosphere was unlike anything else I'd ever experienced. We decided to wear red, white, and blue. And, I'm digging Harriet's new 'do, kinda. It makes her look like a hippie.

I got to check out the new electronic voting machines they put in at my precinct. They're pretty cool, you check your ballots and then when you're done you press this button at the bottom that says "Cast Vote." Harriet and I had a blast talking to everyone who wanted to vote. It was kinda funny, after I'd spent upwards of a month on my class president campaign, I was on the other side of the political process.

And can you believe, I've just gone through an entire blog entry without mentioning you-know-who....

About the new girl...

Well, the rumors are true. The new girl, Mia St. Clair, was introduced in my English class today. And I hate to say it, but Mia is gorgeous. She has strawberry blond hair and hazel green eyes. She said she was from upstate New York, she was a figure skater, and her goal was to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She says she also played ice hockey with her three older brothers. I'd like to know where she could play hockey in Louisiana, where the last time it snowed, I wasn't even living here.

When Mia said she played hockey, I noticed Kristy Van Dyke sitting up straighter in her chair.
I have to say, ever since she lost the election, Meredith is being worse to me than ever! She wrote nasty notes and slipped them in my locker, hid my math book so she thought I couldn't do my homework (I ended up getting it anyway), and purposely makes noises while I'm presiding over student council meetings. My pen pal Robyn says that when karma hits her, it will hit her hard. I keep hoping that would happen, but nothing seems to happen to girls like her.

Worse, she showed up at school today wearing a tiara on her head. Apparently she'd won a pageant over the weekend and wanted to show off her prize. As if she needed her head swollen any more. Ouch! Did that thing hurt?

Then she bragged about having seen High School Musical 3 already. See, supposedly she knows someone who works at the movie theater, so she's already gotten a sneak peek at the movie. It doesn't come out until Friday. Not that I'm interested, anyway. Harriet wants to see it, though. She kinda has a crush on Corbin Bleu, one of the guys that plays in the movie.

Speaking of Robyn, she sent me her old AG Place jammies. They're cute, but a little too, Meredith-ish for my taste. LOL They're a tank top and little boxer shorts.

Harriet and I have been planning a slumber party for her 11th birthday. So far we've got me, her, Kristy Van Dyke, Nicki, and possibly Katarina and Megan on the potential guest list. Kristy's inclusion on this list is obvious. She's been following me and Harriet around school ever since she came back from the hospital. Nicki's on this list because she's my cousin, and Harriet likes her, although they're not what you'd consider friends, but they talk. Katarina was my suggestion. She's quiet and shy and doesn't seem to have many friends. Really, the only time I see her is when I'm with the newspaper. The same with Megan.

I still have no idea what I'm doing for Halloween, or how I'm going to deliver on the Halloween dance. I managed to get a couple people to help with decorations, and we got the teacher to let us use the gym for the haunted house, but nothing else is done. And Halloween is next Friday. Sigh. I'm in a heck of a pickle.