*Diary! Secret! Mia’s diary!*

Chapter 1: We are Packing

I was sewing in my room. My walls were pink with black and white polka-dots. The curtains in my room were pink with black and white polka-dots too. The covers of my bed were green with orange polka-dots. I was sewing a scarf. I stopped sewing and went to check what Lexi was doing. Lexi was sewing mittens.

“For whom are these mittens?” I asked.

“For me,” Lexi said. “Who did you think I was sewing it for?”

“Don’t know,” I replied.

“Anyway, what were you doing?”

“I was sewing a scarf,” I told Lexi.

“For who?

“For Kira,” I answered.

“Well, okay, get out of my room,” Lexi said. “I’m not mad, but I want my privacy!”

“Don’t be so mean,” I said jokingly as I was going out of Lexi’s room.

I went back to sewing my scarf. My scarf was blue, pink, and yellow. I kept on sewing for half an hour, and finally I was done with the scarf. I went out of the house to give the scarf to Kira. Just then, I remembered that I wanted to wrap it in wrapping paper.

When I went to get wrapping paper, Mom said, “Slow down, girl, where are you going?”

“To get wrapping paper,” I replied.

“For what?” my mom asked.

“For a scarf,” I replied.

“Where did you get a scarf, and who is that scarf for?”

“I sewed a scarf, and the scarf is for Kira.”

“Wait, I want to tell you some news,” my mom said with a smile on her face. “And also call Lexi and Dad to the living room.”

“Fine,” I said.

I was really happy we’d have family news again. Family news was always something good. Like, for example, one time, it was that Grandma Emma was in town, or that we were invited to a birthday party. I skipped happily to Lexi’s room, and told her to go to the living room. Lexi went straight to the living room. I skipped to my dad’s room, and told Dad to go to the living room. Soon, my family was all settled in the living room.

“Lexi and Mia, Dad and I have some news for you,” Mom said.

“What news? What news?” Lexi asked, really happy.

“We… we are going to move!”

“Move? Move… where?” said Lexi. Her voice wasn’t as happy as it had been.

“To New Jersey,” Mom replied.

“Is Kira going to move?” I wondered out loud.

“No, she’s not.”

“Then I’m not going to move!” I yelled.

“Is my best friend going to move?” asked Lexi.

“Did you forget your best friend’s name?”

“No,” Lexi answered. “Her name is Lily. And if Lily’s not going to move, then I’m not going to move.”

“Yes, you are going to move,” said Dad calmly.

“Are we just going to move for fun, or is it because Mom is gonna open a store?” I said.

“Not exactly. Mom’s going to open a new store and my work has a new location,” Dad explained to Lexi and me.

“BUT WE CAN’T MOVE! I’M NOT GOING TO LEAVE KIRA!” I cried.

“Yeah, we can’t move,” Lexi said. I was sure Lexi was on my side.

“But we are going to move,” Mom and Dad said at the same time.

“So I have to give the scarf to Kira right now, right?” I asked Mom.

“Right,” Mom said. “Well, wrong,” Mom corrected herself. “She can visit you and — ”

I interrupted my mom. “It’s a long ride to New Jersey, right?”

“Yes,” my dad answered.

“So, we’re going to end up not visiting each other, right?” I asked.

“We are going to visit Kira, just not so much,” Dad said.

“Is not so much once a week?”
“No,” Dad said. “Not so much means once every two months.”

“No! I have to see her at least once every two weeks!”

“You can use Facetime,” Dad suggested.

“Does she have Facetime?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dad answered.

“Yes,” Mom said, “we Facetimed Kira’s mom.”

“You sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure,” Mom and Dad said at the same time.

“Well, anyway, I got some boxes. Go pack your things,” Mom said. “We leave in two days.”

“Can we leave in three days?” I asked.

“Well… I’ll think about that,” Mom answered, giving Dad a look. “But let me get the boxes first.”

I whispered something to Lexi.

“Lexi, on one two three, let’s chant ‘we’re not moving!’”

Lexi nodded her head.

“One, two, three!”

Lexi and I began chanting, “We’re not moving! We’re not moving! We’re not moving!”

“Yes we are! Yes we are!” Mom began chanting. She motioned for dad to chant with her.

Mom and Dad began to chant, “We are moving! We are moving! We are moving!” Soon the whole family was chanting. Lexi and I were chanting, “We’re not moving! We’re not moving! We’re not moving!” and Mom and Dad were chanting, “We are moving! We are moving! We are moving!”

Soon Mom started chanting:

“Let’s be quiet! Let’s be quiet!”

The Kitaigorodsky family quieted down.

“Start packing already,” Mom suggested to Lexi and me.

“But we don’t have any of the boxes,” Lexi and I complained.

“Oh, I forgot about them. Let me go get some,” Mom said with a sigh. Then she added, “It’s hard to live here with you and Mia screaming that you’re not going to move. We’ll just move, and everything is going to be okay.”

Chapter 2: Moving Party

I forgot all about my scarf! I had to tell Kira that I was moving, and I could not move because I could not leave Kira at New York when I’m in New Jersey. I had to think of a way, and fast, to convince my mother and father that we could not move to New Jersey. I had to think fast, but I couldn’t make up at least one lame idea. I went over to Lexi’s room. Maybe she’d have an idea. I asked Lexi, “What are you doing?”

“What do you think?” Lexi answered.

“Doing nothing,” I answered.

“Well, what are you doing?”

“I was thinking of an idea to convince mom that we could not move,” I said.

“That’s exactly what I was doing!” Lexi seemed surprised.

“Have you thought of anything?” I asked Lexi. “Do you even have one lame idea? Why are you so quiet?”

“Nope, nope, and I’m not quiet.”

“Well, now you’re not, but you were.”

“Can we change the subject?” Lexi asked.

“To what?”

“To getting out of my room.”

“Don’t be so mad at me, girl!”

“I’m not mad! I just need my privacy.”

“Girls, are you packing?” Mom called from the kitchen.

“Um, we’re starting to pack,” I said as I was running into my room. But then I added, “I HAVE NO BOXES!”

“Go get some in the kitchen, Mia,” Mom yelled.

“Okay, okay,” I said as I as was rushing from my room to the kitchen to get some boxes. “You think I can pack all my stuff by myself?”

“Yes,” Mom said.

“Well, I need your help.”

“Okay, okay. Just put your boxes in your room, and I’ll pack them when you’re sleeping or tomorrow morning.”

I ran back to my room with boxes and put them right next to my bed.

“Now what should I do?” I called from my room.

“Now you should get your pajamas, brush your teeth and go to sleep,” Mom said.

“What time is it?” I called.

“8:30.”

“But my bedtime is at 10:00.”

“You know how long you brush your teeth.

“Oh fine.” I quickly changed into pajamas and rushed to the bathroom. There was a clock in the bathroom. I looked at it. It was already 8:45. I started brushing my teeth. Brush brush brush. I thought this was the shortest time I had brushed my teeth! But when I was done, I looked at the clock and it was 9:45. I had taken a whole hour to brush my teeth. Usually, I only took half a hour. This was a record for me! Actually, two records. One record was that I brushed my teeth one hour, not half an hour. And I never make such a big mistake like this. That was already two records! I rushed to the bedroom and plopped on my bed. Then I looked at the clock. it was still 9:45. I had a lot, well, not a lot, of time to read in my bed.

When it was 10:00, my mom called from the kitchen, “Turn the light off!”

“Okay, Mom.” I quickly looked at what page I was on, put my bookmark in, put my book away, and turned off the light.

The next morning, when I woke up, I looked at my bedroom. It was empty, except for boxes. I looked in drawers, but in only one of my drawers, I found some clothes. I quickly put the clothes on, and looked around. Boxes, boxes, and boxes. Boxes, boxes, and boxes. It was like I was a robber, and lots of police officers were surrounding me. I quickly stepped over all of the boxes (a.k.a. police officers). I looked in the boxes, and the boxes were actually, well, huge! Bigger than they were yesterday.

Suddenly the phone rang. I dashed to the kitchen with all my might, and right in time I got the phone. It was from Kira. She had already found out that I was moving from her parents. I didn’t know how they found out, so I asked my parents. You know what they answered? They answered that when they were Facetiming Kira’s mom, they told her. And Kira’s mom told Kira. And then Kira suggested a moving party! I was going to a moving party at Kira’s house! It was just going to be, me, Kira, and her mom. And it was going to start now. I went to Kira’s house and knocked on the door. Kira answered it.

“Welcome to your moving party!” she said.

I looked around her house. It was all decorated with pink, with black and white polka dots, just like my room is! I hugged Kira and said, “I DON’T WANT TO MOVE!”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t want to move either,” Kira said, and then added, “and I mean it.”

“Tell that to my parents,” I suggested to Kira.

“What’s your parents phone number?” Kira asked.

“Why are you asking?” I asked Kira.

“‘Cause then I can call them now,” explained Kira.

“Can’t you just walk to my house?” I asked Kira.

“Fine, I’ll tell your parents after your moving party!”

“Oh yeah, let’s start the moving party!”

I walked into Kira’s house and saw all my friends from school. I was surprised that all of them were here! Rachel, Pamela, Mallory, Areile, Kelly, Talia, Tara, and Nancy. I ran to Rachel, Pamela, Mallory, Areile, Kelly, Talia, Tara, and Nancy to hug all of them. After all, they were all my friends. Kira ran to get something. She came back with a blindfold. She tied it around my eyes. She led me into the dining room and then she took my blindfold off. On the dining room table was a big chocolate cake and in the middle it said with icing: We’ll miss you, Mia! All around the cake were ten cupcakes. One for each of us. Also in the middle of the cake it said:

Mia is nice

Inspiring

Amazing

“Thank you so much!” I yelled with all my might.

We all sat down and I found nine presents under the table. The first one I picked up was from Pamela. I unwrapped it, and inside was six sets of nail polish. There were the colors of the rainbow in each set. “Thank you so much!” I said to Pamela. “My nails will always be painted no matter what.” Next I grabbed Kelly’s present. I unwrapped it. Inside were two twin dolls! “I love them. They’re so cute!” I told Kelly. Next, I grabbed Mallory’s present. It was a picture of Rachel, Pamela, Mallory, Ariele, Talia, Nancy, Kira, Tara, Kelly, and a picture of just me. Next, I grabbed Ariele’s present. It was a gift card to Toys R Us. Ariele told me that inside there was $150. “Oh my gosh! That’s a lot of money! Thank you so much,” I told Ariele. “Now my parents won’t have to spend money. Next I took out Nancy’s present. It was a book and a diary with a pen. I tried to open the diary. I could not. “How do you open this diary?” I asked.

“There’s a password,” Nancy answered.

“What’s the password?” I asked.

“Mia,” Nancy answered. I typed the password Mia, and then I tried to open the diary. It opened! And then I could change the password to whatever I wanted. This was amazing! No one could look in my diary. Also, there was a book. it was Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Next, I opened Tara’s present. It was a cookbook, and things for me to sew. The cookbook was called Cookbook of the Year. I looked at  all the recipes. Amazing! There were recipes for cupcakes and cakes and cookies. Suddenly I got an idea! I could start a cupcake club in New Jersey with my new friends. If I got any friends, that is. We could bake cupcakes for people and get paid for that. They could be $5 a cupcake. So if someone wanted five cupcakes from us, they would pay $25.

Next, I saw two presents left. I picked them up at the same time. I unwrapped them at the same time. One of them was from Rachel, and it was a laptop. One of them was from Talia, and it was earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. I ran to Kira’s room to put on the earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. I came back with the earrings on my ears, the necklaces on my neck, and the bracelets on my wrists. Everyone stared at me with OMG eyes. I stared at them.

“What?” I asked them.Their mouths just dropped open. No one said a word.

”What?” I repeated.No one said a word. I ran into Kira’s room and looked at myself. Oh! I laughed. I was just so, so pretty!!! Then I came back and quickly logged into my laptop. I quickly downloaded things on my laptop. We started playing games on my laptop. Then it was time to eat. Kira’s mom came into the room, and sliced the cake into ten parts. She gave a piece to each of us. The cake was awesome. It was chocolate and vanilla cake, and the icing was half chocolate and half vanilla too. It was yummy! Delicious! I could eat this cake forever. I told Kira’s mom that. And then in my new cookbook, she found the recipe for that cake. it was called “Chocolate Vanilla Cake.” That was even better! I could eat that anywhere. Mom could just bake it, and then tada! We could have it. And I could have this cake for my birthday party. Awesome and amazing!

Then parents started to come to pick their children up. Before they even came into the house, I motioned for all of my friends, including Kira, to come into Kira’s room with me. I wanted to tell them something, and that had to be private without anyone sticking their nose into my business. When we were all in the room with the door closed, and I told them all how I felt.

“I feel very sad that I have to leave you, and I feel nervous that I have to go to a new school, and that I won’t get any new friends,” I said. “I don’t want to move. And I want you all to know that –– I will miss you all the same amount.” I motioned to all of them that I was done talking. We all went out of the room.

While we were going out of the room, Tara said, “Everything will be okay and we can Facetime each other, and I’m sure you’ll find new friends because this is your second time moving.”

“But this is different. The first time I moved, it was from Queens to Staten Island. That was just different boroughs. But I’m going to move to a different state. That’s way farther. And we’re gonna end up never ever visiting each other.”

Suddenly Tara’s mom told her that she had to leave this second because her sister had a ballet lesson. Tara hugged me and said, “Don’t worry. We’ll at least Facetime each other, and I think we’re going to visit each other.”

Tara hugged me, and I hugged her again. Then Tara and her mom left. In five minutes, Mallory’s parents appeared. We hugged each other, and Mallory said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find friends, and even if you don’t, we can Facetime each other and visit.”

“I don’t know about that visiting part,” I said to Mallory. “It’s a long way from New York to New Jersey, or New Jersey to New York.”

“But anyway we will get to Facetime each other.”

“Are you sure you have Facetime?” I asked Mallory.

“I’m sure.”

“You sure?” I asked Mallory, because maybe she made a mistake.

“I’m sure,” Mallory said to me once again.

“Triple sure?” I asked Mallory.

“Triple sure,” Mallory said.

“Then, bye,” I said and then added, “I’ll miss you sooo much!”

“i’ll miss you even more than you’ll miss me,” Mallory said.

“Nuh-uh. I’ll miss you more, and it’ll be more harder for me because I have to go to a new school find new friends, and I have to leave. You just have to let me leave, and you can just keep playing with our other friends. You don’t have to do anything! You don’t have to worry, there’s no nerves for you!”

“Do we have Facetime, mom?” Mallory asked her mom.

“Of course,” Mallory’s mom answered Mallory.

“Gygygaga” Mallory’s little sister said.

“So cute,” I said to Mallory.

“You think so?” Mallory said. “Spend a week with her. Then you’ll find out.”

“I’m not going for that,” I said.

“There you go. You proved my point,” Mallory said. “You don’t want to live with her.”

“We have to go!” Mallory’s mom said.

“Gygygaga,” Mallory’s little sister said.

“Goodbye,” I said to Mallory. Mallory and I hugged again. Then she left. Everyone but Rachel and Talia left because their parents had the wrong time so we played some games until they left. Then it was just me and Kira. Me and Kira talked a little bit and played some games. Then, I left.

I looked at the time when I came home. It was 3:30 p.m. When I came home, I told Mom that my moving party wasn’t a moving party. it was a amazing moving party. And that was true.

Chapter 3: Texting in the Car to New Jersey

I was riding in the car to New Jersey. I didn’t know what to do. I’d already been in the car a half an hour, and the ride to New Jersey was two hours. A whole two hours and I couldn’t do anything! I took out my phone and started texting Kira.

MK: Riding in the car to New Jersey.

KM: What do u see around u?

MK: Nothing. :(

KM: What r u doing?

MK: Riding in the car to NJ.

MK: What r u doing?

KM:Texting u.

MK: What were u doing b4 u started texting me?

KM: Homework.

“Uhhh! This so boring! Am going to ride in the car for two hours doing nothing?” Lexi yelled. I ignored her. I kept on texting Kira.

MK: :p  

KM: For what are u sticking out ur tongue?

MK: U still have to do HW, and I’m riding in a car.

KM: I’m giving u a look through the phone. :/

MK: Well I’m giving u a look through the phone!

KM: I see u have less nerves about the move now. :)  

MK: No I don’t!

MK: I feel WAY more nervous because I know there’s no chance I’m NOT moving now.

KM: Look I know u’ll find a new friend.

KM: U’ll be happy with ur new school, and it’ll be like u never moved.

KM: U’ll just have no me, and new friends!

KM: The first time u moved here, u told us how nervous u were to move.

KM: But u found us! it’ll be the same adventure like last time.

MK: But this is different!

MK: I was moving from a different borough.

MK: Now I’m moving to a different STATE.

KM: Wait, what’s a borough???

MK: it’s like Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten island.

KM: Oh. Wait, then what’s a state??

MK: A state is NY, NJ, illinois, MA, and so on.

KM: Oh. Kk.

MK: So continuing.

MK: I’m moving further than I was this is totally different and it’s a two hour ride and we’re never EVER going to see each other again.

KM: I think we should end texting.

KM: I see ur getting upset, and I have to finish my HW

MK: Maybe we can text again soon? :)

“We’re here!” Dad said.

Chapter 4: The House

Mom had told me that she was going to unpack for me while I was sleeping. I had agreed, because it was good that I didn’t have to unpack. That would be hard. I wouldn’t had known what to put where, and it would take forever. But Mom seems to take only a minute or five when unpacking the family stuff. I looked in all my new drawers and everything. The room was completely empty. It was kind of like I was in jail, because in jail the person gets barely any stuff, and that’s it. There was nothing on the walls, just plain white. I had to remember to paint my room. Suddenly, I felt so sleepy. I lay on the bed.

That was a good nap. I looked all around my room.The walls were pink with black polka-dots. Everything was like my old room! Just my covers weren’t green and orange with green polka-dots. Wait a sec. This wasn’t my room. This was… Mom and Dad’s room. I went into my room. The walls were pink with white and black polka-dots and so were my curtains! Just like my old room! The covers of my bed were green with orange polka-dots. Mom and Dad and maybe Lexi had carried me from my room to Mom and Dad’s room! I took out my phone. I started texting Kira.This is how it went:

MK: at New Jersey

KM: When did u arrive?

MK: 10 minutes ago.                  

KM: exactly 10 minutes ago?

MK: About 10 minutes ago.

KM: U r a weirdo

MK: meanie!

KM: excuse me

MK: just joking

KM: I knew that

KM: u think that I didn’t know that

MK: I knew u knew that

MK: Whatever

MK: C u soon

KM: I want to keep on texting!

MK: fine we’ll say some more words and then we’re done talking

KM: do u not want to be my best friend anymore?

KM: we used to be twinsies.

MK: I want to be your best friend. Wait. let me correct that. I NEED to be your best friend. NEED.NEED.NEED.NEED.NEED.

KM: doesn’t look like it

MK: looks like it and I know it’s true

KM: o well. having fun in New Jersey?

MK: BORiNG

KM: what’s so boring

MK: well I don’t know a lot about this place. By the way, this looks basically like my old home

KM: o well.doing anything

MK: No

KM: I think it’s time that we should stop texting

MK: I think so to.

Hmmm. I think I should probably go out and try to make a new friend.

To be continued…