Jane made up her mind to stick to her rules. After making a list of her dream goals, she made it her life mission to cross each one of them.
But the hard part was crossing them.
She felt a sense of optimism, almost excitement flooding through her. She was also slightly overwhelmed by the things she had to commit to. Things that were mostly her least favorite things, like studying instead of watching her TV shows or hanging out with Emily.
But she believed that every great man and woman had to sacrifice a lot to reach their goals, so no more whining. She would have to do the same or die trying. That was how serious she was.
Jane had been shooting baskets from five until seven. She only made 30 baskets out of 100. Compared to her usual
The bell rang. Jane was stuffingATale of Two Citiesinto her backpack when she heard Lucy's voice beside her."You're readingDickens?"Jane nodded warily."Oh, IloveDickens. Have you readDavid Copperfield? OrOliver Twist?Olive Twistis my favorite. I've read it twice. I cried both times. I can't believe someone else in our class is reading Dickens."To her dismay, Jane found herself walking down the hall to English with Lucy by her side, still talking, talking, talking."I didn't know you were such a big reader, Jane," Lucy said, smiling at her. "I guess because yo
Jane wondered exactly how the others had found out that Lucy liked her. Mary had probably told them. She was the kind of girl who loved to know a secret about somebody that she could sell to somebody else for free. Now Mary had Jane's secret. She only hoped that no one would buy it.Jane remembered how Mary had snatched back the poem she had shown her the other week, most likely so she could have the pleasure of showing it around. Not that Lucy ever tried to hide any of her poems. She scribbled in her Moleskine notebook in full view of the whole world. More than once, Jane had seen Mary standing right behind Lucy, reading over her shoulder.One thing was clear, though. If Lucy's crush had been a secret before, it was a secret no longer. It seemed everywhere she turned, people looked at Jane weirdly. And when Jane walked into science cla
Charlie and Jonas had agreed to make the flyers for the poetry contest on Mary's computer. Jane looked for them as she walked to school on a Tuesday morning. Sure enough, they were there, prominently displayed on the big bulletin board by the main office and on the Book News Bulletin board outside the library.There was a school rule against posting any unauthorized notices on bulletin boards, but these flyers looked amazingly professional. No one could have guessed that they were made by a bunch of high-school pranksters.Would Lucy see them? Did anyone ever actually look at a school bulletin board? Until this morning, Jane never had. It was a flaw in the plan that none of them had considered. Jane looked around and when she saw no one there, she ripped the flyer off the board and threw it into the bin. She decided she'd better mention
Jane had collected ten different balls to test, and she had found a library book on balls in the children's section at the public library. It was actually a book for little kids, full of pictures, but it had lots of information on balls.AfterA Tale of Two Cities, it was a relief to be reading a book with only 64 pages and a lot of pictures. She was still reading her daily quota of Dickens. She would be finished easily by the time she had to give her book report on Monday, though she still had to come up with something to say in front of the class. Jane didn't feel comfortable to stand up there and speak, but Ms. Reeds would expect more than just reading books, she wanted people totalkabout them, and she would not accept just, "I read this whole book. It has 422 pages."Somewhere in her report, Jane w
Monday, February 10.The bulletin board outside the gym had two enormous pictures of Caroline Waleski on it from Friday's basketball game. In gym class, Coach Jim picked six girls to go to a special weekend basketball camp. Jane was not one of them.Monday, February 10.Whoever invented alphabetical order? Every single time every single teacher starts with the last names and ends with Z ones. Is it just a coincidence that the vice president and president of Loser Club both have last names from the end of the alphabet?Jane was sitting in Ms. Reeds' English class, waiting for the stragglers to come in from study hall and scribbling a couple of quick entries in theUnfair Life. Jane had been so busy lately bouncing and reading Dickens that she had gotten behind in her record keepin
Friday would be Valentine's Day. Jane spent the rest of the week dreading its arrival. In elementary school, Valentine's Day had been no big deal. Everybody gave valentines to everybody else because all the mothers made sure they did. There was a party at school, with pink-frosted cupcakes and red punch. Jane threw away her valentines as soon as she got home, first taking off any candy that was glued to them. Then she ate the candy. End of Valentine's Day.Jane didn't know what to expect from Valentine's Day now. There wouldn't be a party this year. She knew that much. But this year there would be Lucy. Jane had never before had someone in love with her on Valentine's Day. The day was bound to call forth from her some loveress-like impulses.And this year there was Grace. Jane had never before been in love on Valentine's Day, either. Sh
Jane met Emily outside in the hall."Well?" Emily said. Jane didn't know if Emily had heard the conversation or not. Ms. Anderson's voice was always so soft and low."She just wanted to ask me about one answer I put down on yesterday's homework," Jane decided to lie instead. It was better than telling the truth:she was just praising me for being a hero.But Jane knew she had deserved only the first part of Ms. Anderson's praise, not the second. Shewasn'tbeing particularly kind to Lucy. She was as deeply involved in the contest scam as anyone. Even more deeply. She was the one who had told her about it in the first place.Right then, halfway to art class, Jane made a solemn vow. She would tell Lucy t
"How was school, girls?" Jane's mother asked at dinner."Fine," Caroline said."Fine," Jane said, but today the lie was too much for her. "Except that, it was Valentine's Day," she added.Her father looked over at her sympathetically. Jane had never seen her father give her mother a valentine. But it was clear that they loved each other. They showed it in other ways – like looking proud when the other one was dressed up or holding hands when they took a walk."Did you both get some valentines from any boy...or girl?" her mother asked, hopefully.Caroline nodded but didn't volunteer any more information. Jane knew that a couple of guys at school liked Caroline because they calle