Always, Abigail (5 page)

1.
Work on making up some inside jokes about things that happen on the bus with AlliCam.

2.
Practice poms an extra hour at home to make up for AlliCam's lunch practice.

3.
Pray that Old Hawk gets a student teacher second quarter—hopefully a supercute “guy” student teacher who will persuade Old Hawk to end the friendly letter assignment once and for all. (Even though I didn't see this ever happening, I prayed for it anyway.)

There's a new sixth-grader who just transferred to Crestdale Heights. She's not just any new student; she's Alicia Brenton.
The
Alicia Brenton. Her older sister is practically the pom-pom poster girl from one of our rival schools. But thanks to rezoning, Alicia's now in our district. This could mean trouble for me. BIG trouble.

There are six spots on the sixth-grade squad. Here's the breakdown: Alicia Brenton will make it. (She has to. Her DNA is programmed for a long life of pom-poms.) I know Cami and Alli will make it. Then there're the other two girls from AlliCam's homeroom, Jackie Swanson and McKenzie Sanford. They're the kind of girls who have their picture in the dictionary next to the definition of pom-pom girls with their perfect hair, skinny jeans, and toothpaste-commercial-white teeth.

That leaves the sixth spot for me, BUT:

A) What if I have an off day? (There are at least ten other girls trying out. They could all be having an “on” day.)

B) What if one of the other girls trying out is better than me?

Big Fat C) What if I don't make it?!!!!

Dear Abigail,

Your vocabulary sentences lack the following: creativity, proper punctuation, proper grammar, and most of all, effort. Not too many years ago, your mother was an outstanding student for me. I am expecting the same from you this year! Please rewrite this assignment.

Miss Hendrick

1.
Up until now, my perfect handwriting and neat, on-time assignments helped me get okay grades. Maybe even grades that were better than I deserved, but it didn't look like this was going to work with Old Hawk. I guess even the neatest paper wasn't going to fool her.

2.
Sixth-grade LA was going to be hard.

Dear Miss H,

Do you have any idea what my life will be lacking if I don't make pom-poms? How about purpose? How about popularity? How about a reason to live?

I'm putting forth LOTS of effort, but I can't waste it on vocabulary assignments. All you adults think being a kid is so easy, but you should try it. Sixth grade is a lot more stressful than it looks: pom-pom tryouts getting closer by the minute, a friendly letter partner who's the school's biggest outcast, a homeroom teacher who's notorious for being strict (no offense, Miss H, but it's true), and my two best friends in a different homeroom.

Now can you understand why my vocabulary assignment wasn't more important?

Your stressed-out, struggling student,

Abigail

Old Hawk told us to go home tonight and turn an old shoebox into a mailbox to use when we exchange letters. Where am I? Kindergarten?

The only explanation: Old Hawk regrets never having taught kindergarten and wants to experience it before she dies.

1.
Rewrite my vocab sentences. (Note to self: this time actually find out what the vocab words mean before writing the sentences.)

2.
Make a shoebox-mailbox. (Note to self: look for the craft box full of glue, glitter, sequins, and scissors I used to take with me when I babysat.)

1.
Old Hawk didn't assign any new LA homework in order to give us time to make our mailboxes.

2.
I kind of had fun making my mailbox. My mom even helped, and it turned out supercute.

What
is
that thing?

Just some lame-o thing Old Hawk had us make for LA.

Only the coolest shoebox-mailbox ever.

1.
Old Hawk finally tore down the bulletin board paper covering the bookshelves in the back of her classroom. Kids had been making jokes about the bones of overworked sixth-graders being hidden behind that paper, but everyone knew that wasn't true. What
was
behind the paper were hundreds of books, and they didn't look like the books in other classroom libraries, all torn and tattered—the ones we knew teachers bought at garage sales and used bookstores. These books looked new. They were labeled with tags like humor, adventure, mystery, and historical fiction, and they were so organized it looked like a real library shelf. On the bottom shelves all the way across the back of the classroom were different colored baskets. Each of us saw our name printed on one of them and in each basket was a book. One that Old Hawk said she'd chosen just for us.

2.
After letting each of us go get our basket—mine had
Newfangled
Fairy
Tales: Modern Day Fractured Fairy Tales For Teens
in it—Old Hawk explained that we would get silent reading time every day.

All summer, AlliCam and I had been looking at magazines like
Makeover
Mania
,
Fashion Hits
, and
Team
Spirit
, taking personality and fashion quizzes, reading up on the latest accessories, and finding out the best ways to get middle school boys to notice us. I didn't realize how much I had missed reading a really good book.

(Right after “My Math Book” and Right before “My Science Book”)

Newfangled
Fairy
Tales: Modern Day Fractured Fairy Tales for Teens.
(Even though Old Hawk didn't tell us we had to bring it home.)