Lilliette Grace Taylor

Dear Jewel,                                                            4/16/2018

 

Today (which is one day after getting poop in my hair) I watched Frozen! YAY! It was the awesomest (that’s not a word), bestest (I know that’s not a word but you get the point) movie ever!! I have to go; it’s already 12:00 AM. We came home around 10:45.         

 

Bye!

   

Alicia

 

Dear Jewel,                                                        4/18/2018

 

I had a weird day today, but I’ll tell you the story about what happened.

 

 

 

        I woke up on Monday morning to find Giana sitting on my bed. “What are you doing here?” I snarled. “School is starting three hours late, and I usually go to morning hours so my mom can go to work,” Giana explained. “My mom couldn’t drop me off at Caradine’s, like she usually does, because Caradine’s sick.”

                           “Oh,” I said. I didn’t feel sorry for Caradine at all. I turned away, pretending to be asleep, when my iPad mini suddenly buzzed. I knew the noise: Google Hangouts. I ignored it. But when a ringing noise started, I couldn’t resist. I got up. The only person who video-called was Jessie.

     I turned on my iPad mini and pressed the ‘ANSWER’ button. “HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI!!!!!!!!” yelled Jessie. “Hi.” I yawned and closed my eyes. “Who’s that?” Jessie eyed Giana suspiciously. Then her face darkened. “Giana.”

                        I nodded. “What is she doing there?” I shrugged. “Well, her mom usually drops her off at Caradine’s so they can go to morning hours, but Caradine is sick.” “Oh,” said Jessie. She grinned. “I feel so ‘sorry’ for her.” We giggled. “So… Whatcha doin’?” said Jessie. “Somethin’,” I replied. When I can’t think of anything to say, I usually just say, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” or “Something.” “Can I talk to Giana for a sec?” asked Jessie. “Okay,” I said.

                       Giana looked surprised to be mentioned, but took the iPad mini. “You pieface!!!!!!!” screamed Jessie. I started laughing uncontrollably. “You’re a stupid geek, you—” Jessie wrote down some swears on a piece of paper and held it up for Giana to see. She screamed and I roared with laughter. “Hand the iPad over,” I said. “It’s an iPad mini,” Giana corrected. “Whatever,” I said. “Now hand it over.” “Wait,” said Jessie. She blew the biggest spit bubble ever and pulled her eyelids down, scrunched up her nose, and pulled her mouth really wide. Giana shrieked.

     Grinning, I swiped the iPad mini away from her and quickly stuck my tongue out at Giana. “Girls, what is going on up there?” called Mother. “Nothing,” we said together, even Jessie. I grinned. Okay, I’ll bring you down.” I went downstairs and handed Mother the iPad mini. “Hi, Mrs. Tang!” said Jessie. “Oh! Hi,” said Mother. “Hi Jessie. How are you doing?” “Great,” replied Jessie.  

     I went back upstairs. “Can I talk to Giana again?” asked Jessie. “Okay,” I said. I handed Giana the iPad mini. “Hey, G,” said Jessie, waving her hand like none of the mean words had happened. “Sooo….. I heard ya have a liddle crush on Adamo.” I covered my mouth, trying to control my laughter. “I DO NOT!” snapped Giana.

                Her face was really red. Then it lightened. “Who told you that?” she asked. “I overheard Caradane with a couple o’ friends talkin’ abou’ it,” said Jessie. “Bye, Jessica Kaden Sanders!” yelled Giana. “Wait who told you my full name?” asked Jessie. “Someone,” said Giana. She pressed the ‘DECLINE’ button. “Hey!” I yelled. I emailed Jessie that I was sorry what happened, but I had to go or else Giana would do something. Also, I didn’t tell Giana her full name; I didn’t even know. Jessie said it was okay. “Can I log into my account?” begged Giana. “Please please please?” And without my answer, Giana pressed the ‘Sing out’ button.

 

Okay, so my account is a musical account. See, Father just opened a store called ‘The Musician’s Chopin Lizt,’ instead of ‘The Musician’s Shopping List.’ He designed email accounts called ‘Beethoven’s Musical Pledge,’ and I have that type of account. So ‘Inbox’ is called ‘In Bach’ and ‘Sign out’ is ‘Sing out.’

Father hasn’t done anything for ‘Video Call’ or ‘Answer’ or ‘Decline,’ but he says he’ll figure it out. Anyway, back to the story, or whatever it’s called.

 

                               “Fine,” I muttered.  “Caradine’s on!” yelled Giana. I didn’t know if it was good or bad. Giana called Caradine immediately. Caradine’s nose was really red and runny, and her eyes had tears of sickness rolling down her cheeks. Her hair was tousled and stringy, and she looked really sick. “Hi,” she said. She coughed and leaned over the side of her bed, probably to throw up. “Where are you? Why is Alicia over there?” “HOW COULD YOU TALK ABOUT ME CRUSHING ON ADAM?!” screamed Giana. “I DON’T EVEN LIKE HIM! HOW COULD YOU SAY I HAD A CRUSH ON HIM AFTER WHAT HE DID TO ME? ARE YOU EVEN MY FRIEND?!”

        “Sorry.” Caradine’s voice was very small.

          “Sorry?! Excuse me, but you are the worst friend I’ve ever had. You know what? I don’t want to be stuck in Caradine World anymore. I don’t want to be stuck in your world. I want to be back to my old self, where I can have an actual life. Good bye, Caradine Marissa Stonyfield.” And with that, Giana ended the call angrily. She jabbed the ‘DECLINE’ button. As soon as she hung up, Giana got a call from Caradine. Giana ignored her. Caradine sent a million sad faces, but Giana wouldn’t reply.

 

An hour later, Giana and I left for school, not talking to each other.  Finally I realized how Giana was actually one of my best friends, not realizing it before in the past. I decided to make my first move. “Are you mad at Caradine?” I shifted uncomfortably. “I said, ARE YOU MAD AT CARADINE?!” I said, a little louder, feeling even more uncomfortable. “Very mad,” said Giana. “I’m sorry that I was so mean to you. I feel terrible for being so snobby and again, I’m sorry.”

       I smiled a little. “It’s okay.”

       “Friends again?”

       “Best friends forever.”

       We linked pinkies and hugged.

 

Right now, I cannot tell you how happy I am to be friends with Giana again. Back to the story or whatever it’s called. I know I said that already, but still, BACK TO THE STORY! (Or whatever it’s called.)

         

The bus soon came. I was surprised when Julia came racing up and said, “I’m coming. Mother said that I no longer needed a tutor to help me out. I can finally do what normal kids do.” I was so proud of her.

       “Then, why do we still need to be in the hospital? I miss home. I forgot what it looks like.” Julia said, “Because my leg hasn’t completely healed yet, and I still forgot about some of my life.

Like what was my favorite color? What was the fight for?”

                                       I smiled. “Well, I’m working on a book about it,” I said.  “Okay,” said Julia. Giana and I helped Julia onto the bus, and then went on ourselves. “Julia,” I called, as Julia hurried to the 6th grade seats, “you’re in 2nd grade, so you’re supposed to be in the 2nd grade seats. Sorry about that,” I told my bus driver, Janice. “My sister’s new to the bus; she doesn’t know where to go.” Janice was kind about the whole thing and said it was okay.  “Why don’t I sit with you?” I suggested.

        “Okay,” said Julia. “I’m coming too!” said Giana. “Hey, by the way, my birthday is on Friday! I can’t wait! I’m having a party and you’re invited!” I felt so excited. “Yay!” I yelled.

 

I didn’t yell exactly. The rule is, no yelling on the bus! I just yelled quietly, like talking with a big excitement in my voice. Even though Janice is nice (Her name has the word nice in it), she still says we have to follow the rules, just like everyone else in Boston. I was sad that in less than a year, I would be leaving to go back home, leaving all my friends here.

                             I felt down, now knowing that this afternoon Father had given me the date we were going back: October 19, 2018. Sorry, I just like being formal and exact. I still feel kind of unhappy. I don’t like my writing. Maybe I should try to use/turn it into a different font.

         I’m going to try my best! Starting from when I’m ten, I’ll use a different font. Whoa; that feels like a long way to go.

 

“Caradine was coming, but I’m replacing her with you.” “Cool,” I said, but deep down inside I felt a little bad to be replacing Caradine, even though she was such a mean girl. “So, what are we exactly going to do for your party?” I asked. “Oh, surprise,” said Giana. “No gives.” I sighed. Julia looked out the window until the bus arrived at Merriam Elementary School. “Julia,” I said. “Time to go!”

           We went off the bus. “So,” I said, “what teacher do you have?” “Mrs. McLean,” said Julia. “I hope she’s ni—” “You’re SO unlucky,” I told Julia. “Same teacher as me, super-duper mean and strict. But at least I can give you a tour around the school and show you where her class is.” Me and Giana showed Julia where the cafeteria/auditorium (auditeria) was, the gym, the water fountains, the bathrooms, and finally Mrs. McLean’s classroom.

                                           “Well, well, well,” said Mrs. McLean. “Look who we have here.” She looked at me. “Who have you brought today?” “My little sister, Julia,” I said firmly. “And she is going to and assigned to your class, so no matter what, LINDA MCLEAN, YOU HAVE TO SHOW HER SOME RESPECT AND TREAT HER VERY NICELY! NOT AT ALL LIKE THE WAY YOU TREATED ME!

          “AND SECOND OF ALL, IF YOU’RE MEAN TO HER, YOU’RE SENT TO THE PRINCIPAL’S! UNDERSTAND?! ‘CAUSE YOU ARE A DISRESPECTFUL TEACHER AND SHOULD BE PUNISHED, YOUNG LADY!”

                               I couldn’t believe I actually said that. Mrs. McLean smiled innocently and sweetly. She put one arm around Julia. “Why would I do such a thing to a sweet, little girl?” asked Mrs. McLean, pinching Julia’s cheeks. She guided Julia to the classroom as I waved good-bye. A few days later Julia came up to me and told me I was totally wrong about Mrs. McLean. She was really nice, Julia protested. I felt hurt; knowing who the real Mrs. McLean was, not the one seen from Julia’s side. I felt mad and I wanted to punch Mrs. McLean in the face. The next time I saw Mrs. McLean, she was pinching Julia’s cheeks again and saying how nice of a student she was.

     I was like oh, great and Julia said to me, “See? Told ya she was nice. She’s the best. Teacher. Ever!”

  I rolled my eyes but I was really mad. “Bye bye, loser!” yelled Julia. How could she do that to me?

 

“Alicia! Alicia! Time to go!” A faint voice grew stronger and I realized I had had a bad dream and was still on the bus. We had arrived at Merriam Elementary. Julia was halfway off the bus and Giana shook me awake. “Oh! Sorry!” My cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment. I ran off the bus and was glad to see in the paper Julia was holding, she had gotten Karen Jelinsky. But on the bottom of the page, it said the teacher was switched. Please not Mrs. McLean, I begged.

   “Hey Julia, can I take a look at that sheet of paper?” I asked. “Sure.” Julia handed it to me. I turned it over. The new teacher was Kaitlen McKenzie. Whew. No Mrs. McLean. I showed Julia everything.

   I had trouble looking for Ms. McKenzie’s room, but found it. When I got to my classroom, with Giana leaping behind, I was already 10 minutes late. I seated myself and listened to what Ms. Dart was saying.

        It was some boring mathematics thing. I was not interested at all. Through the lesson, I sat with Hannah, talking. Nobody got us in trouble, because none of my classmates that were my enemies were here.