“Once upon a time, there was a girl named Emily and her younger brother named Henry. They were the children of Mrs. and Mr. Gorr. Mrs. and Mr. Gorr were the most evil of the most evil of them all. Emily and her brother went to a normal school, but lived an abnormal life.”
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Emily and her younger brother named Henry. They were the children of Mrs. and Mr. Gorr. Mrs. and Mr. Gorr were the most evil of the most evil of them all. Emily and her brother went to a normal school, but lived an abnormal life.
Dear Diary,
Today was a lot like yesterday. I went to school, got an A+ on my test, and when I came home, my parents didn’t care, like always. I live an abnormal life because, well, my parents get a lot of calls from the agent about something or somewhere they have to be, and it feels like they don’t even care. Instead of calling the cable company to talk about how our T.V.is broken, that is what a normal family would do.
Good night, Diary.
Ding-Dong!
“We are home!” yelled Mr.Gorr.
“Mom and Dad, errr… I mean, Mrs. Gorr and Mr. Gorr, I got an A+ on my test…” Emily said. I am kind of worried about what they will say, she thought.
“That’s great.” Mr. Gorr said calmly.
“So you don’t care. Good night, thanks for talking,” Emily said.
“Honey, I mean Emily, did you finish the chores?” Mrs. Gorr said.
“Yes, I did. I cleaned up the kitchen, the bathroom, and the all the rooms,” said Emily.
The next morning, Emily woke up to the sound of her parents practicing their welcome speech for the agents. Emily walked downstairs to get herself a banana. In this house, there was barely any food, so fruit was the way to go.
Bring Bring.
“Ms. and Mr. Gorr, the school bus is here. Come on, Henry. We don’t have all day!!” Emily yelled.
On the bus, Emily flipped to a blank page of her diary. She stared at her diary and wrote…
Dear Diary,
I am on the bus. What should I do? I really hate how my parents are evil. You might think that is cool, but no, it gets annoying. Here is a secret that I have not told anyone, but I will tell you… my parents are evil, right? I am scared that if my parents get caught and end up in jail, that I would then have to take care of Henry, and I would have to try and save them. Also, today Mr. Burk is giving us a piece of paper, and we have to write about our main goals in life. Since we are in sixth grade, we need to know our lifetime goals.
Thanks for listening, Diary!
“We are at school,” yelled the bus driver.
“Today, class, I want you to write down what is your goal in life. I know this is a strong question, but I know you can do it!” said Mr. Burk. “Here is your piece of paper, and here is your piece of paper, Emily. You can start, class.”
Okay, Emily, what do you want most? I don’t want people to know my parents are evil, but I really want to tell the class. I have an idea.
“Okay class, time to share. First up… Emily!” said Mr. Burk.
“Okay, uhm… so… my goal is to make my parents not be on their… um… phones?!” Emily said.
She ran back to her seat and sat and slumped down.
That night, Emily did her usual diary entry:
Dear Diary,
Okay, so today at school was the worst day at school: 1. We did what we always do. 2. Then it happened. I had to tell the class about what my main goal in life is. That is when bad things happened. I just don’t want to talk about it, okay!
Good night, Diary.
“Emily!” yelled Mrs. Gorr.
“Yes?” Emily yelled back.
“We have a family meeting. Henry, come on. Let’s go. Family meeting,” said Mrs. Gorr.
“Okay, so me and Mr. Gorr have been getting phone calls from the… um… the agent?” spoke Mrs. Gorr.
Uggggghhh, Emily thought to herself.
“Um… well… there is a mission in New York.” muttered Mrs. Gorr.
“WE ARE MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY!!!” yelled Mr. Gorr.
***
“Flight 19675 leaving San Francisco, the beautiful great bay and going to New York,” said the pilot. When they got on the plane, Emily sat with her brother. Mr. and Mrs. Gorr sat behind them. A couple hours later, the flight attendant came by and said the food was coming. The plane had a weird smell, a mixture of new chair smell and fresh sandwiches. When they got their food, Emily got a Coke and a bag of chips, and Henry had a ginger ale and pretzels.
“Hello everyone. We are about to land in New York City. If you’re coming home, welcome home, but if you’re just staying here, then enjoy your trip!” yelled the pilot.
When they got to the new house, it was so much better then the house they used to have. The house was brownstone, had marble countertops and brown cupboards, and in the living room ,there were light gray chairs with a gray couch, and big windows to let in the sunlight. In Emily’s bedroom, there were blue walls to match the baby blue bed covers. She had a white desk with pens, pencils, and paper on it. Emily was a neat person, so everything on the desk was neat. In the backyard, there was a grill for Mr. Gorr and a garden for Mrs. Gorr.
“Mrs. Gorr can I take a walk around the neighborhood?”
“Sure, but grab your phone just in case of emergency.”
On her walk, Emily was listening to her favorite song: Classic by MKTO. While she was walking, she saw a girl on her house steps. She took out her earbuds and walked over to her, and said:
“Hi, my name is Emily and I just moved here.”
“Nice to meet you, Emily. My name is Katie. I just moved here too, from California.”
“Wow, I just moved here too, from California. Do you know where you lived?”
“Los Angeles.”
“Oh, do you know what school you’re going to?”
“Well, I’m going to St. Mark’s Elementary and I’m going into seventh grade.”
“Oh same, I’m going into seventh grade at St. Mark’s Elementary too! Do you know what class you’re in?”
“I’m in Mrs. Patterson’s class.”
“Oh, so am I!”
Katie’s mom came out of the house. “It’s time for dinner, honey! Oh hi, and who are you?”
“I’m Emily and I just moved here from San Francisco.”
“Wow, we just moved here from LA!”
“Mom, she knows!
“Well it was nice to meet you, Emily.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“EMILY, IT’S TIME FOR DINNER!” Emily heard her mom shout from down the block.
“I’m sorry, I have to go. My mom’s calling me for dinner.” Emily ran back home.
“Honey, who were you talking to?” Emily’s mom said.
“Oh, a girl named Katie. She’s going to the same school as me and we’ll be in the same class.”
At school the next day, they gave her her locker number, number 23. 25… 24… 23.
“Oh, found it!” Emily saw Katie in the distance, who was panting.
“Finally, I caught up to you! Guess what? I’m locker 22.”
“I’m locker 23!”
The bell rang. It was time for class. Emily went to science class and so did Katie. They sat next to each other, not really listening to the teacher that well. “Remember class, we have a science fair coming up. The theme is outer space! Remember, it is on May 23rd from twelve o’clock till two,” the teacher said.
After science class, it was time for assembly. They all gathered up in the gym. While everyone was walking in, the gym was crowded and hot. Everyone was packed in the gym like sardines. All of a sudden, there was a big noise. It was the principal, Ms. James. Ms. James said through the loudspeaker:
“More information about the science fair! It’s going to be on a Friday so you should probably pack a lunch because the cafeteria won’t be open. You guys should be there at 11:30 to set up. You can invite parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and friends. The judges will decide who has the best outer space themed science project and will win the first place prize: a blue ribbon.”
On the bus ride home, Emily felt kind of nervous asking her parents to come to the science fair. Would they be available or would they be on a mission?
“Emily Gorr, Emily Gorr, this is your stop!” the bus driver shouted.
At home, she decided right then and there to ask her parents.
“Hey Mrs. Gorr and Mr. Gorr, our school is having a science fair and parents are allowed to come. Will you guys be able to come? It’s on May 23rd from twelve o’clock until two.”
“Well, let me go check my calendar. I’ll be right back. Start your homework,” Mrs. Gorr said.
When Mrs. Gorr came back downstairs, she sounded suspicious. “Well sweetheart, we can’t make it. That’s the day of our mission and that’s why me moved to New York.”
“Well, do you know if Uncle Sharron and Aunt Mia can come?”
“I’m sorry sweetheart, but they can’t come either. They are about to move to California. Maybe Katie’s parents can come to your station.”
“Sure, but it won’t be as nice.”
Emily went upstairs and started working on her science project. She decided to do a model of the Big Bang. Emily felt disappointed, so she decided to write in her diary.
Dear Diary,
Today Ms. James announced that the science fair would be on May 23rd, and of course my parents can’t come. I’m not surprised. Why can’t they come to any of my projects? I guess the missions are much more important. I remember when I was younger, when my parents did not have the mission job. We went to movies a lot, they hung out with me, and I got to call them mom and dad. I guess my parents’ job is just like the big bang because before the earth happened, there was just a galaxy and before my parents got the job, it was just us. Thanks for listening, Diary. Goodnight.
The next couple of days were not as bad as I thought they would be. The night before the science fair was a hard night. Emily was working really hard. On the morning of the science fair, her parents started putting on all of their gear to go to the mission. They loaded up the car and drove away without saying goodbye or “Have a good day” or “Wish you luck”. She waited for Katie’s parents to come down the block and take Henry and Emily. In the car, Katie, Henry, and Emily were talking about our summer plans. Katie was going to sleepaway camp and Emily was staying home like usual.
At the science fair, the judges were coming around and looking at all of their projects. When the judges spoke into the microphone about who won first, second and third place, Emily started listening.
“In third place is… Madeline Star. In second place is… Chelsea Super. And we have a tie for first place! In first place is… Emily Gorr and Katie Blue!”
“Yay! We both won and got a blue ribbon!” They screamed.
At dinner, Emily’s parents were not really congratulating her on the big win. They were more focused on their mission.
“So Mr. Gorr and Mrs. Gorr, I won first place on my science project!”
“We aced the mission! Everything went smoothly and gracefully.”
“Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Gorr, I can show you some pictures!”
“Before we go into those pictures, let me tell you some stuff about the mission. The new agent is terrible! We need to fire her.”
“Emily and Henry, go straight upstairs and go to bed!”
“But it’s only 7:45 and I want to talk about my science fair.”
“No! I know you want to talk about the science fair but there’s always morning. End of discussion.”
At the next day of school, Principal James started talking about the art fair. Emily had an idea, a really good one. She decided to take a canvas, balloons, paints, and darts. She would fill the balloons up with paint and blow them up, then attach them to the canvas and when she hung up the canvas, you could throw darts at the balloons and paint would come out and splatter everywhere! It was on June 2nd from twelve o’clock to two o’clock. On the bus ride home, she thought about the art fair. She knew her parents would not come. She didn’t even bother to ask but her parents knew all about it from an e-mail.
“Hey Emily, there’s a new art fair coming up, but I’m sorry we can’t make it. We have a meeting with her new agent.”
“Great, again two times in a row you can’t make it. You probably think the missions are more important than me.” She stormed upstairs, slammed her door, and locked it.
“Emily!” shouted Mrs. Gorr. Emily didn’t respond.
“Emily please, I know we haven’t been to any of your school things but we’ll make it up to you in the summer time. I’m really sorry, honey.”
Then Mr. Gorr came in. “Where’s Emily?”
“She’s upstairs pouting in her room.”
“How come?”
“Because we’re not coming to her art fair, and we didn’t go to her science fair.”
The day of the art fair, Emily won first place, no ties. But that night at dinner, when her parents asked her how the art fair was, she didn’t respond. She just went up to her room and said, “I’m going to finish my homework.”
The next morning when Emily came downstairs her parents yelled “SURPRISE!!!”
“But is is not my birthday!?” Emily said, very confused.
“We felt very bad that we didn’t come to your art and science fair and these two things hopefully will make it up: 1. You can call us mom and dad and 2. We are quitting our jobs and now will be high school teachers at the Chapin School!” said Emily’s mom. “We love you so much, Emily.”
THE END
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