Meg Cabot - Third Time Lucky

And then things got even more depressing. That's because some little Chinese-American girls came up to me as I was opening my fortune cookie and wanted to know if they could have my autograph. Then they handed me pens and the advertising supplement that had appeared in that day's Times for me to sign.

I seriously thought about killing myself, only I couldn't think how I'd do it, except for maybe stabbing myself through the heart with a chopstick.

Instead, I just signed the stupid thing for them and tried to smile. But inside, of course, I was FREAKING OUT, especially when I saw how happy the little girls were to have met me. And why? No, not because of my tireless work on behalf of the polar bears or the whales or starving kids. Which I haven't actually done yet, but I fully intend to do.

No, because I'd been in a magazine in a bunch of pretty dresses, and I'm tall and skinny like a model.

Which is no accomplishment at all!

After that, my headache came back and I said I had to go home.

Nobody protested very much - I think because everybody realized all of a sudden how much time we'd wasted and how

much studying we all had left to do. So we left, and now I am home again and my mom says that while I was gone Sebastiano called four times AND he had this dress delivered.

Not just any dress, either. It is a dress Sebastiano designed just for me. To wear to the Non-Denominational Winter Dance.

It isn't sexy at all. It is dark green velvet with long sleeves and a wide square-shaped neckline.

But when I put it on and looked at my reflection in the mirror in my room, something funny happened:

I looked good. Really good.

There was a note attached to the dress that said:

Please forgive me.

I promise this dress will not make him think of you as his little sister's best friend.

S.

Which is very sweet. Sad, but sweet. Sebastiano can't know, of course, that the Michael situation is completely hopeless and that no dress is going to make any difference, no matter how nice I look in it.

But, hey, at least Sebastiano apologized. That's a lot more, I've noticed, than Grandmere has done.

Of course I forgive Sebastiano. I mean, none of it his fault, really.

And I guess someday I'll probably forgive Grandmere since she's too old to know any better.

But the person I will never, ever forgive is myself for getting into this situation in the first place. I totally should have known better. I should have told Sebastiano 'No photos, please'.

Only I was so carried away, looking at myself in all those beautiful dresses, that I forgot being a princess is more than just wearing pretty dresses: it's being an example to a lot of people . . . people you don't even know and may not ever even meet.

Which is why if I don't pass this Algebra test, I am dead.

Monday, December 14, Homeroom

Here are the number of students at Albert Einstein High School who (so far) have felt compelled to make comments to me about my smashing Lana Weinberger's mobile phone last Friday:

37

Here are the number of students at Albert Einstein High School who (so far) have felt compelled to mention my suspension last Friday:

59

Here are the number of students at Albert Einstein High School who (so far) have felt compelled to make comments to me about my appearance in an advertising supplement to the New York Times over the weekend:

74

Total number of comments made to me so far today by students at Albert Einstein High School:

170

Oddly, after wading through all of this negativity, when I got to my locker I found something that seemed extremely out of place: a single yellow rose, sticking out of the door.

What can this mean? Can there be someone in this school who does not despise me?

Apparently so. But when I looked around, wondering who my one supporter could be, I saw only Justin Baxendale, being stalked (as usual) by a horde of worshipful girls.

I suppose my anonymous rose-leaver must be Kenny, trying to cheer me up. He will not admit it, but who else could it be?

It is Reading Day today, which means we are supposed to spend the whole day - except for lunch - sitting in Homeroom, studying for Finals, which begin tomorrow. This is fine by me, since at least this way there's no chance I'll run into Lana. Her homeroom is on a whole other floor.

The only problem is that Kenny's in this class. We have to sit alphabetically, so he's way up at the front of this row, but he keeps passing notes back to me. Notes that say things like, Keep on smilin! and Hang in there, sunshine!

He won't fess up to the rose thing, though.

By the way, want to know the total number of comments made to me so far today by Michael Moscovitz?

1

And it wasn't even really a comment. He told me in the hallway that my combat boot had come untied.

And it had.

My life is so over.

Five days until the Non-Denominational Winter Dance, and still no date.

Distance formula: d-10xrt

r=10

t=2

d=10 + (10)(2)

= 10 + 20= 30

Variables are place holders for numbers (letters)

Distributive law

5x + 5y - 5

5(x + y- 1)

2a - 2b + 2c

2(-l)-2(-2) + 2(5)

-2 + 4+ 10= 12

| Four times a number is added to three, the result is five times the number.

Find the number.

x = the number

4x + 3 = 5x

-4x -4x

3 = x

Regardez les oiseaux stupides.

Cartesian coordinate system divides the plane into four parts called quadrants

Quadrant 1 (positive, positive)

Quadrant 2 (negative, positive)

Quadrant 3 (negative, negative)

Quadrant 4 (positive, negative)

Slope: slope of a line is line denoted m

Find slope

negative slopes

positive slopes

zero slope

vertical line has no slope

horizontal line has 0 slope

Collinear - points that lie on the same line parallel lines have the same slope

4x + 2y = 6

2y = -4x + 6 y

= -2x + 3

active voice indicates that the subject of the verb is acting passive voice indicates that the subject of the verb is being acted upon

Tuesday, December 15

Algebra and English finals completed. Only three more, plus term paper, to go.

76 comments today, 53 of them negative:

'Sellout' = 29 times

I-Must-Think-I'm-All-That = 14 times

Here Comes Miss Thang = 6 times

Lilly says, 'Who cares what people are saying? You know the truth, right? And that's all that matters.'

That's easy for Lilly to say. Lilly's not the one who people are saying all those mean things about. I am.

Somebody left another yellow rose in my locker. What is up with that? I asked Kenny again if it was him, but he denied it. Strangely, he seemed to get very red in the face about it. But this might have been because Justin Baxendale, who was

walking by at the time, stepped on Kenny's foot. Kenny has very large feet - larger even than mine.

Four more days until the Non-Denominational Winter Dance, and nada on the date front.

Wednesday, December 16

World Civ. exam finis.

Two more, plus term paper, to go.

62 comments, 34 negative: '

Don't give up your day job' = 12 times

'Sellout' = 5 times

'If I was flat-chested like you, Mia, I could be a model too' = 6 times

1 rose, yellow, still no indication who left it. Perhaps someone is mistaking my locker for Lana's. She is, after all, always hanging out in that area, waiting for Josh Richter whose locker is next door to mine, so that the two of them can suck face.

It is possible that someone thinks he is leaving roses for her.