Past and Present

I am six years old. My teacher has just told my class that we are going to write short stories. She gives us a topic, and we get out our paper and pencils and start writing.
My story is about a plain girl who goes to school and nobody notices her because she is plain. However, I don't know how to spell the word 'plain,' so I go ask the teacher.
"Mrs E, how do you spell 'plain?'"
"P-l-a-y-i-n-g, dear."
"No, plain."
"Isn't that what I just spelt for you?"
"No, you spelt playing. How do you spell plain?"
"I'm sorry dear, I don't know what you are asking."
I sigh loudly. I hope she knows that she has failed me. I'll never ask her for anything so important again. Next time, I'll just wait until I see David or Juli or Mommy, and they'll tell me. They'll know. And if they don't, Daddy will. Daddy knows everything. I love Daddy.

I am seven years old. My class is in the computer lab, learning how to type. I hate this class. I hate Mr R. So does David, and Juli. David and Juli are right about him. I hate him.
"Look Shayna, I can type! And I never once had to look at the screen."
"Isn't that bad? I thought you weren't supposed to look at the keys.."
Maybe Shayna is right. Maybe not. After all, she is in Mr R's class. He could be rubbing off on her. I heard Daddy saying something like that yesterday. I keep typing. Sometimes I look at the screen, but most of my concentration is on my fingers.

I am eight years old. I am playing Wall Ball with my friends at recess, a group game where people basically try to throw the ball at the wall. I'm having a lot of fun.
Oh no, here comes Shane. He is stupid. Don't play with us! No, please leave!
He's playing. Oh great, just hand him the ball, Karlee. Thanks for being my friend, but I'd rather not be friends with someone who gives up the ball to Shane.
OW! That hurt! Shane just threw the ball at my nose! I am going to kick him so hard he'll feel it for years!
Stupid recess teacher. I was this close to kicking him! I at least stained his shirt with the blood from my nose. Serves him right. Too bad I couldn't stain Karlee, too.
"Stay off the sidewalk. We don't want to stain it."
So the sidewalk is more important than me getting to the nurse's office? How kind of you, Mrs R. I'll show you stains on the sidewalk.

I am eight years old. There is a new girl in class. The teacher asked me to show her around! I show her the story corner, the quiet zone, everything. We go back to the quiet zone to sit down, there is nothing else to do in the few minutes before recess. Just as we sit down, Karlee comes over to us.
"Hi Kristy! Do you want to play with me at recess?"
"Sure! What'll we do?" Just then, the bell rings. The two link arms and leave me sitting there, alone.
Karlee, I thought you were my best friend. How can you take away my new friend like that? I'll never talk to you again. Just see what happens then, Karlee. When the new girl finds someone better, and you crawl back to me, I will just Look at you, and then walk away, without saying a word. You'll know then, Karlee, who is the better friend.

I am nine years old. It is recess, but I can't play right now. Not at a time like this. My best friend ever is playing tetherball with Lilia and some other people. I could beat them in my sleep, I am the best, but not right now. I can't play right now.
Not while my parents are inside, right now, talking to the principle about me skipping a grade. I might not be a fourth grader anymore! My entire life depends on what happens right now. This is big! Sorry Alicia, but I can't play tetherball. I can't play house, either. I need to walk right now, okay? Please let me walk. I'll play tetherball al you want tomorrow, I promise. Just let me walk.
I'm walking. Alicia is such a good friend. I'll never forget her. I really love her. What an amazing friend. She's walking next to me, quiet, just like I did for her when she thought her parents were going to get divorced. What a friend.

I am nine years old. I am sitting in class, holding my pink and purple colored pencils, writing Alicia's name over and over. They are her favorite colors. I miss her. I can't wait until today is over, because tomorrow is when I get to spend the night at her house! Dealing with Tina and Isaac I can handle, as long as I get to see her again. She's my best friend, and it's my first day in my new fifth grade class, and I miss her so much.
We don't have recess or lunch together anymore, you see. Fifth graders have second lunch, and we don't have third or first recess because they want us to gradually get used to less and less recess. We only have recess after lunch. Alicia and the fourth graders have first lunch, all of the recesses, and her after lunch recess is an hour before mine.
I miss Alicia. I like Samantha and Ashley and Megan and Kristi, but Samantha and Ashley and Megan are in the other fifth grade class, and Kristi isn't as fun as they are.
I am quiet. I don't want to talk. I don't have Alicia or Lilia or Christina or Kevin to talk to. So I don't talk at all.

I am ten years old. Ellen and Thao are fighting again. I am good friends with both of them, but neither likes the other much. They only like me, I think, because I am such a good listener. I've always been a good listener, but I'm better now, because I'm quiet more. I don't like to talk as much.
Ellen is telling me about what Thao told everyone about her. I don't think Thao would have done that, but I'm not about to say that to Ellen. I tell her that's Thao is mean to have done that, and then just listen some more, while nodding my head at the right times.
Ellen left. She's complaining to some of her better friends now. Thao came over, glared at Ellen, and asked me to talk.
Now Thao is telling me what happened. She is crying. Her group is following behind, like body guards, but I put my arm around her shoulder and listen. She says that Ellen has been spreading rumors about her spreading rumors about Ellen, but she hasn't done anything like that! All she's ever tried to do, Thao says, is to be friends with Ellen. I knew Thao would never tell stories. Ellen would, though. Ellen has always been like that.

I am eleven years old. I can't wait until this day is over. Online I've been telling Samantha, my best friend from my old school, that my best friend so far here is Amy. But the truth is, I don't have any friends.
My job in the group of friends used to be the listener, the problem-solver, the one who you could tell anything to, and when you needed to laugh, I could make you laugh. But nobody wants to talk to me here. They won't let me show how good I am at listening, because they don't tell me anything at all.
Sign Language. I don't know how I got roped into this class. It's always the same. The only exciting thing about it is that the teacher is pregnant. I wonder what the baby will look like.
A project? A group project? Oh no. Nobody likes me, how am I going to get a group? Um, excuse me, would you mind if I joined your group? I don't have one yet, and.. oh, thank you! Thank you so much.
Um, can I sit with you at lunch? I don't really have anywhere to sit, and we could talk about the project or something..
I am so relieved when Larissa says yes. If she had said no, I would've had to sit alone again. Normally I go to the library and read during lunch, but on Tuesdays the library isn't open during second lunch.

I am eleven years old. I just found this great forum online, the SimFreaks Forum. There are so many people there! They are a lot of fun. I hope they like me, because so far, only Larissa and Inna, my group-mates in sign language, like me at school. I need somebody to talk to.

I am thirteen years old. My best online friend Rich and I are having a fight. We actually just posted about it a couple of times in a thread in the Flower Pot. We stopped, though, when someone said that we fought like a married couple.

I am fifteen years old. My brother and I just finished watching a couple episodes of season one of 24, an ultra-dramatic TV show where a ton of things happen in a 24 hour period. The entire time, we kept having the same thoughts, kept saying the same things. I would say that something someone did was completely insane, and he would respond that I took the words right out of his mouth. At one point, we both looked at each other and said, "Interesting.."
Our connection is so weird, but so comforting. Sometimes I feel like David has been.. I don't know. But since Juli left semi-permanently (she comes back for four months in between terms from Dec to Apr), we have gotten really close. He has been almost more of a friend to me this year than anyone else. I really do love my brother.