And the best part was, it was all based on a true story.
For a while, there on my mom's bed, it was almost like old times. You know, before my mom met Mr Gianini and I found out
I was a princess.
Except, of course, not really, because she's pregnant and I'm suspended.
But why quibble?
Friday; December 11, 8 p.m., the Loft
Oh my God, I just checked my e-mail. I am being inundated with supportive messages from my friends!
They all want to congratulate me on my decisive handling of Lana Weinberger. They sympathize with my suspension and encourage me to stay firm in my refusal to back down from my stand against the administration (what stand against the administration? All I did was destroy a mobile phone. It has nothing to do with the administration). Lilly went so far as to compare me to Mary Queen of Scots, who was imprisoned and then beheaded by Elizabeth the First.
I wonder if Lilly would still think that if she knew that the reason I smashed Lana's mobile was because she was threatening
to spill the beans about my having pulled the fire alarm that ruined Lilly's walkout.
Lilly says it's all a matter of principle - that I was banished from the school for refusing to back down from my beliefs. But actually, I was banished from school for destroying someone else's private property - and I only did it to cover up for another crime that I committed.
No one knows that but me, though. Well, me and Lana. And even she doesn't know for sure why I did it. I mean, it could
have been just one of those random acts of violence that are going around.
Everyone else, however, is seeing it as this great political act. Tomorrow, at the first meeting of the Students Against the Corporatization of Albert Einstein High School, my case is going to be held up as an example of one of the many unjust decisions of the Gupta administration.
I think tomorrow I might develop a case of weekend strep throat.
Anyway, I wrote back to everyone, telling them how much I appreciate their support but not to make a bigger deal out of this than it actually is. I mean, I'm not proud of what I did. I would much rather have NOT done it and stayed in school.
One bright note: Michael is definitely getting the cards I've been sending him. Tina walked by his locker today after PE and
saw him take the latest one out and put it in his backpack! Unfortunately, according to Tina, he did not wear an expression of dazed passion as he slipped the card into his bag, nor did he gaze at it tenderly. He did not even put it away very carefully. Tina regretted to inform me that he slipped his Imac laptop into his backpack next, undoubtedly squashing the card.
But he wouldn't, Tina hastened to assure me, have done that if he'd known it was from you, Mia! Maybe if you'd signed it...
But if I signed it, he'd know I like him! More than that, he'd know I love him, since I do believe the L word was mentioned in
at least one card. And what if he doesn't feel the same way about me? How embarrassing! Way worse than being suspended.
Oh, no! As I was writing this, I got Instant Messaged by, of all people, Michael himself! I freaked out so bad that I shrieked and scared Fat Louie, who was sleeping on my lap as I wrote. He sank all of his claws into me, and now I have little puncture marks all over my thighs.
Michael wrote:
CracKing: Hey, Thermopolis, what's this I hear about you getting suspended?
I wrote back:
FtLouie: Just for one day.
CracKing: What'd you do?
FtLouie: crushed a cheerleader's mobile phone.
CracKing: Your parents must be so proud.
FtLouie: If so, they've done a pretty good job of disguising it so far.
CracKing: So, are you grounded?
FtLouie: Surprisingly, no. I told them the attack on the phone was provoked.
CracKing: So you'll still be going to the Carnival next week?
FtLouie: AS secretary to the Students Against the Corporatization of Albert Einstein High. I believe my attendance is required. Your sister is planning for us to have a booth.
CracKing: That Lilly. She's always looking out for the good of mankind.
FtLouie: That's one way of putting it.
Winter Carnival. What is up with that?
Friday, December 11, 9 p.m., the Loft
Now we know why Mr. G was'so late getting home:
He stopped along the way to buy a Christmas tree.
Not just any Christmas tree, either, but a twelve-footer that must be at least six feet wide at the base.
I didn't say anything negative, of course, because my mom was so happy and excited about it and immediately lugged out all
of her Dead Celebrity Christmas ornaments (my mom doesn't use pretty glass balls or tinsel on her Christmas tree, like normal people. Instead, she paints pieces of tin with the likenesses of celebrities that have died that year and hangs those on the tree. (Which is why we probably have the only tree in North America with ornaments commemorating Richard and Pat Nixon, Elvis, Audrey Hepburn, Kurt Cobain, Jim Henson, John Belushi, Rock Hudson, Alec Guiness, Divine, John Lennon and many, many more.)
Mr. Gianini kept looking over at me, to see if I was happy too. He got the tree, he said, because he knew what a bad day I'd had and he didn't want it to be a total loss.
Mr. G, of course, has no idea what my English term paper topic is.
What was I supposed to say? I mean, he'd already gone out and bought it, and you know a tree that size had to have cost a
lot of money. And he'd meant to do a nice thing. He really had.
Still, I wish the people around here would consult me about things before just going out and doing them. Like the whole pregnancy thing, and now this tree. If Mr G had asked me, I would have been like, Let's go to the Big K Mart on Astor Place and get a nice fake tree so we don't contribute to the destruction of the polar bear's natural habitat, OK?
Only he didn't ask me.
And the truth is, even if he did, my mom would never have gone for it. Her favourite part of Christmas is lying on the floor with her head under the tree, gazing up through the branches and inhaling the sweet tangy smell of pine sap. She says it's the only memory of her Indiana childhood she actually likes.
It's hard to think about the polar bears when your mom says something like that.
Saturday, December 12, 2 p.m., Lilly's Apartment
Well, the first meeting of the Students Against the Corporatization of Albert Einstein High School is a complete bust.
That's because nobody showed up but me and Boris Pelkowski. I am a little miffed that Kenny didn't come. You would think that if he really loves me as much as he says he does, he would take any opportunity whatsoever to be near me, even a boring meeting of the Students Against the Corporatization of Albert Einstein High School.