September 22, 2018
Tomorrow’s the first day of middle school. I’m nervous, excited and worried! I’m nerworrited! Everyone says Mrs. Grag is mean, and guess what? She’s my teacher!!! I once heard my older sister, Lacey, talking to her friends about how mean Mrs. Grag is. They were saying she gave lots of homework, gave detention easily, and gave at least two tests a week! That doesn’t sound like a nice teacher to me, you?
Another thing I’m disappointed about is both of my best friends are not in my class. This is the first year that they haven’t been in my class, and I don’t know how I am going to get through the year. My best friend Sabina is disappointed about it too. She tried to reassure me about it.
She said, “It’s okay, we can see each other after school,” but it didn’t help. I haven’t talked to my other best friend, Helena, about it yet, but I’m sure she’s not happy about it aeither.
Although, the thing I’m most worried about is the basketball team. I really love basketball, and I hope I can get on the middle school team, but I’m not sure. I know the competition is pretty tough, and there are some pretty good players who are also trying out. I tried to convince Helena and Sabina to try out for the team, but they don’t have any interest in basketball.
Now I have to go to the store to get new books and binders.
Later,
Beatrice (Bea) Malcery
September 23, 2018
Today when I woke up, I was still feeling nerworrited. I forgot to set my alarm last night, and it was 8:30 A.M.. I had to be at school in 20 minutes! So, I quickly jumped out of bed, got my clothes on, and shoved my toothbrush into my mouth. I started to run down the stairs, but halfway down I fell.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” I screamed. “What is wrong with me this morning?!” My leg was bleeding like crazy, and it hurt like I had just fallen down the stairs. Oh wait — I did.
I quickly bandaged up my leg and gulped down my cereal. Finally, I was ready to go. I put my lucky basketball shoes on and grabbed my bike from the garage, put my basketball, binders, and books in the basket, and started riding to school.
When I finally reached school, I was panting and felt nauseous. I walked through the crowded halls of middle school hoping to find my locker, but I was having trouble finding it.
Crash!
I had just bumped into Charlie and dropped my books, my basketball, and my binder. Charlie helped me pick up my stuff and helped me up. Charlie had been in my class since kindergarten, but I had never really talked to him.
RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG.
“Oh my goodness, that was the second bell!” I said. “I’m late for my first class. UGGGGGGGGGG!”
I rushed to my English class, but I was late — not a surprise. My English teacher, Mrs. Johnson, gave me detention at 12:30. Luckily, the basketball tryouts were at 11:30. Geometry passed really slowly. It felt like it went on for hours. I started to not listen to Mrs. Johnson, but then she asked me a question, and I didn’t know the answer.
“Beatrice!” said Mrs. Johnson. “I want you to listen to what I’m saying.”
I wasn’t listening because I was thinking so much about the basketball tryouts. I told her I would listen from now on.
When geometry class was finally over, I took my backpack from under my chair and rushed to tryouts. As I arrived at the basketball tryouts, my heart was beating faster than it ever had before. It was finally my turn, and I was shaking all over. I dribbled up to the three-point line, and I shot. As the ball flew through the air, I double crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
“You made it!” I suddenly heard someone shout.
I had been closing my eyes and not looking. The coach told me I had made the team. Thanks to my lucky basketball shoes, I would be playing actual five on five basketball games! There were fifteen people competing, and I was one of the top ten. Yay!
As I left the gym, my heart was filled with joy. This had been my dream since kindergarten. The rest of the day at school went by very quickly. I didn’t even mind that Mrs. Grag (yep, that’s right, my mean homeroom teacher) gave us extra homework. I retrieved my bike from the bike rack outside of the school and started to ride home. I couldn’t believe I had made the basketball team! I was thinking about how proud I was of myself for making the team, but I wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of me.
“AHHHHHH!” I screamed. I had just bumped into a tree. My Band-Aids had fallen off from earlier, and I was super annoyed. “Twice in one day!” Suddenly, Charlie came over to help me up. He told me he had been in the store next door, and he had heard me fall. I told him thank you, and I rode the rest of the way home peacefully. As I was riding home, I started to think that maybe Charlie and I could become friends. I decided tomorrow I would invite him over.
As I opened the door to my house, my parents asked me how my day went.
“I made the basketball team!” I exclaimed.
“Let’s go out for ice cream to celebrate!” my parents said.
“Yay!” I said “Can we play basketball after?”
“Sure!” they responded.
See you,
Bea
September 24, 2018
Last night, I made sure to set my alarm so I didn’t have to rush getting out of the house. I got dressed in my most athletic clothes, ready for my first basketball practice. As I walked down the stairs, I made sure not to fall by holding onto the railing. My cut from yesterday was still healing.
I started to eat breakfast, but I heard the back door click open. Both of my parents were still asleep, so I decided to go check it out.
“Lacey, what are you doing?” Lacey was entering the house looking like she had been up all night. She had bags under her eyes, and she looked half asleep.
“Shhhhhhhhhhhh!” Lacey said, and she dragged me up to her room.
“I have been up all night partying with my friends,” Lacey whispered, “but you can’t tell anyone!”
“Mom, Dad!” I started to yell, but Lacey wasn’t taking chances.
“Shut up, Bea!” Lacey was whispering again. “I told you not to tell!”
Lacey said she would get me for this, so at this point I knew she wasn’t kidding, I decided not to tell Mom or Dad. I ran out of her room because I saw she had a jump rope. I wasn’t about to get choked.
While I was eating breakfast, I was thinking when I should invite Charlie over. A few minutes later, my parents woke up. I decided to ask them.
“Mom, Dad,” I said. “I’m inviting a boy over today. What time should I invite him over?”
“Honey, you’re inviting a boy over?” my mom said.
“What’s wrong with that, Marissa?” my dad said to her. “I like that idea. I think it’s good for her to not just be friends with girls.”
“I guess you’re right,” my mom said. “Bea, you can invite him over at five.”
When I got to school, I opened my locker to find a surprise. I had an invitation. It was a blue envelope with white stars, and it said my name on it. I opened it up, and I found a note to me. Here’s what it looked like:
Dear Bea,
Would you like to come over to my house for dinner at 5? I would really like to hang out with you and maybe we can play basketball after. If you like this idea, tell me in history.
– Charlie
I decided to tell him that I love the idea. I emailed my parents to tell them that Charlie wasn’t coming over after all, and that I was going to his house after school.
Today in math, we got a result on the quiz that we took before school. This quiz was to determine the class and level that we would be put in. I looked at my results, and I found out that I got put in the gifted and talented class. Yay! For the rest of the class, we did fractions and decimals. Boring!!!
When the class was finally over, I headed to history, determined to tell Charlie I would love to come over! Once I reached the class, I steered myself towards Charlie’s desk. I calmed myself down and told myself not to worry. Charlie was sitting at his desk drawing. “Hey, Charlie. I saw the note, and I’d really like to hang out with — ”
“What are you talking about,” Charlie said.
“I thought you invited — ”
Suddenly, Charlie P. walked over. “Hey, I’m the one who gave you that invitation!”
“With the white stars?” I asked.
“Yep!” he responded.
I mean, Charlie P. was a nice guy, but he thought so much of himself. He bragged to everyone at school that he had more than 100 trophies. Such a lie, right?
I could feel my cheeks getting hot. I tried to tell myself everything would turn out fine. How could I have assumed it was that Charlie. It didn’t have to be the Charlie that helped me up from my fall. How could I have been so dumb!!!
“So Beatrice, do you want to come over?” Charlie P. asked.
“Um — ” I started to say something, but Charlie P. interrupted me.
“So, you do want to come over?” he asked.
“I — ”
“It’s settled, you will come over at five,” Charlie P. said.
“Class, class, in your seats!” the history teacher said. “This is history, not playtime!”
“Yes, Mr. Williams,” the class said.
“A long, long time ago bla bla bla bla bla.”
I stopped listening to Mr. Williams because I was too busy thinking about Charlie P.’s house. I was thinking about how miserable I would be there.
“Beatrice!” yelled Mr. Williams. “I want you to listen to me!”
I had not realized it, but I had been daydreaming for 40 minutes. The class was almost over! I was just losing it today!
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Williams,” I said.
“You know what, Beatrice! I’ve heard from your other teachers that you haven’t been listening to them either,” said Mr. Williams. “I’m going to need to talk to your parents about this!”
I was very disappointed about this because I knew my parents would be very mad at me. They might even tell me I couldn’t be on the basketball team anymore. I guess I’ll find out soon.
As I was walking to the cafeteria, I saw Sabina.
“Hey, Sabina,” I said. “How are you doing?”
She looked at me like I was crazy and then walked away. I wondered what that was about. I thought we were really good friends. During lunch, I thought and thought about all the things that had gone wrong with me today. First the incident with the letter, then Mr. Williams getting mad at me, and then Sabina acting weird about me. Was it a coincidence, or were they all connected?
I tried to not think about going to Charlie P.’s house and pretend like it wasn’t going to happen, but eventually it did. Charlie P.’s chauffeur drove us to their house. They had a white limo with a personalized license plate that said, I RICH. I wondered how much fancier this car could get, but I didn’t have to wonder anymore when I got inside. The leather seats had no trace of dirt on them, and they had cupholders on either side. The seats could unfold into a bed, and there were extra pillows in the back. In the back, I also spotted a mini fridge and a mini basketball hoop. I asked the chauffeur if I could use the basketball hoop, and he said yes.
The ride to Charlie P.’s house was a long one, and when I got there, I figured out why. His house was a mansion in a grassy field with a perfectly neat garden in the next town over. This explained why Charlie P. was sometimes late to school.
As I stepped inside the house, I made sure my shoes weren’t muddy. I looked up from the floor and gasped.
“Your house is so beautiful!” I said to Charlie P.
“I know,” he replied.
“Would you like a snack, Beatrice?” Charlie’s mom asked.
“Sure!” I replied. “What do you have?”
“Follow me,” she said. I walked into the beautifully decorated kitchen with a marble floor and white walls. In the middle of the kitchen was an island, and it had two sinks and a bowl of fruit. The fridge was about as big as my bathroom. I opened it and found snacks galore. There were Goldfish, pretzels, cookies, crackers, and all kinds of juice. “That’s not it!” She led me into the bar. I sat down on one of the leather stools of the bar and ordered seltzer with a lemon and crackers from the butler. I wasn’t very hungry. But before I could take my first bite, Charlie pulled me off the stool and led me upstairs.
We entered a room labeled, Charlie’s trophy room. I wondered if the trophy rumor was true.
“C’mon Beatrice!” Charlie said. “I need to show you all my trophies.”
“Call me Bea,” I said.
“Whatever,” he responded.
Charlie’s trophy room was decorated in the most lovely red carpet. Glass cases filled with tons of trophies bordered the room. I started to look at one, but Charlie stopped me.
“Those are the off-limits ones,” stammered Charlie.
“Okay,” I replied. I never realized Charlie P. was this spoiled! As I looked at the trophies, I figured out that most of them were for horseback riding, but occasionally there were some for checkers.
“Sometimes, I stare at these all day!” Charlie said. “I just love looking at what I have accomplished!” I think I heard a bit of sarcasm in his voice, but I’m not sure.
“Yeah… sure… I could look at them all day, too,” I mumbled.
“So, Beatrice, do you want to look at my other trophy room, or do you want to do something else?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, trying to sound excited. “We can look at your other trophy room.”
This was the most boring experience that I’ve had in my life. Maybe if I was with someone else, like the other Charlie, then this would be so much fun! This house was super cool.
We headed into Charlie’s other trophy room and looked through all the trophies. I checked my watch to see when this would end.
“We could see my other eight trophy rooms if you want,” Charlie said. “But there’s still the medal rooms.”
We hadn’t even finished through the third medal room when Charlie P.’s mom called us for dinner.
“Charlie! Beatrice! Time for dinner!”
Charlie and I headed down the stairs for dinner. Meanwhile, I had a plan. When we got downstairs, we sat in the dining room. The table was the size of my bedroom, and the ceilings were high, decorated with a giant diamond chandelier that hung over the center of the table. The tablecloth just nearly covered the whole table. I don’t have any idea where they found that big of a tablecloth!
“Beatrice, we’re having Scandinavian steak and potatoes, do you like that?” Charlie’s mom said.
“I’ve never had it, but I’m sure I will,” I responded.
“Great, go ahead and sit at the table,” she said. Before I could take my first bite, I heard loud stomping footsteps. The footsteps were Charlie’s dad walking in. I hadn’t realized it before, that Charlie had a dad. I guess I was just too busy thinking about other things, like whether this was going to go well, or whether they were going to have good food for dinner. I just didn’t realize.
As Charlie’s dad sat down at the table, my mind was rushing. Was Charlie’s dad mean, was he nice, or just an average person? I soon learned what he was like. He sat down at the table and banged the table with his fork and knife.
“Where’s dinner?” he exclaimed, frustrated.
“The dinner’s coming, honey,” Charlie’s mom responded, sounding quite annoyed and tired.
Suddenly, I remembered my plan.
“Mrs. Pellock? May I go to the bathroom?” I asked Charlie’s mom.
“Sure!” she said. I wasn’t really going to the bathroom. I was just going up to the trophy room to look at his “off-limits” trophies. I quietly walked up the stairs and entered the trophy room. The trophy room was still as beautiful as before. I guess their maid had cleaned it since we had last been in. I walked to the back of the room to see the off-limits trophies. There they were.
I unlocked the case with my hair clip and took one of the trophies out. Under it, there was a Post-it Note.
It read, Trophy for horseback riding. Reminder: I cheated this one.
“Oh my goodness!” I exclaimed. “He cheated!” But then I guess someone heard me, and booming footsteps came up the stairs. It was Charlie’s dad.
“Beatrice, what are you doing, looking at my son’s off-limits trophies?” he said.
“I just wanted, ummm, to see how amazing — ” I started to say.
“Beatrice, get back down to the table. I want you to eat dinner peacefully, and I’ll send you home after dinner.”
I had made a mistake, and I knew it. Now I was an enemy of the Pellock house. Mrs. Pellock and Mr. Pellock will probably call my parents. I will be in huge trouble. The teachers will call my parents, too. I’ll be in double trouble.
Mr. Pellock took my hand firmly as we walked down the stairs to the dining room.
“Look who I found,” he exclaimed. “Beatrice was up there looking at Charlie’s off-limits trophies.”
“Well, did she see anything? Like, the thing?” Charlie asked.
“I didn’t see anything,” I quickly stammered. “Just trophies.”
I’m just so frustrated, I can’t write anymore. I’ll just have to tell you what happened tomorrow after a good night’s sleep.
See you,
Bea