5:20 P.M.

Mom and Jack just came home a few minutes ago. They both look drunk. They came through the door laughing. I’m glad they had a lot of fun…wherever they went. Jack bought a plasma TV and a new refrigerator because our old one didn’t cool things up. I guess where he works at he gets paid well.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
September 14th, 2008-1:28 P.M.

Today, I went to Sunday school with Carlos. I got to help him with the little kids because he teaches them. They did a lot of activities. It was fun watching them dog pile on Carlos. He’s real fun and energetic around kids. I like that.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
September 5th, 2008-9:58 A.M.

The strangest thing happened on my way to school. This morning Jack offered me a ride. So, I agreed since I didn’t want to be late. We got into the car and he drove off. It was very quiet until Jack broke the silent.

“So, is Carlos your boyfriend?” he asks me. I was very surprised by this question. I didn’t think he would ever ask me that. So, I replied, “No, he’s just a friend.”

“That’s good.” He said looking at me and then at the road. I looked at him confused. What does he mean good? Silence filled the car again. Jack turned to me and said, “What I meant to say was that’s good because you’re too young to have a boyfriend.”

Don’t you think I know that already? And if I wanted to have a boyfriend, I didn’t need his permission anyways.

“It’s always good to put your studies first,” he said concentrating in the road. I nodded and looked out the window.

Suddenly, I felt a hand brush my shoulders. Startled, I turned quickly to find Jack staring at me.

“You had something on your shoulders,” he said quickly turning away. Right at that moment, I started to get this uncomfortable feeling. The way he looked at me brought chills to my spine.

When he dropped me off school, I quickly got out of the car and closed the door behind me, without saying a goodbye or a thank you. I just headed towards the building and hoped to forget about what just happened.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X

11:51 A.M.

In second block, I met this really cute boy. His name is Joshua Jordan and he has dirty blonder hair and blue eyes. Even though he was a white boy, he wore hip-hop clothes. He’s pretty cool. He’s 3 yearsolder than me and he’s a junior. We talked through the whole period and he made me laugh with all his funny jokes. He’s taking me out for dinner. Not in as a date. Just as friends. I’m really happy that I now have two friends. Hey, I’ll even ask him if he’d like to go to church with me and Carlos on Friday. Gotta go meet Carlos and tell him…Yay!

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
2:55 P.M.

Carlos told me he couldn’t wait to meet Josh and that I should invite him to church. I told him that I was gonna ask him after school.

I invited Carlos to dine with us. He said yes so he’s gonna meet us after school. Carlos went to the nurse. He said he has to take his medications.

Ow! I just got hit with a basketball. When I looked up, I saw Samantha, Brianna, and Darcy laughing. Those girls never stop bugging me. On my way to third block Darcy tripped me. And then when I was listening to my MP3 they kept throwing paper at me. I hate them.

Gotta go…bell rang.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
“Hey, Maddy. You ready to go,” asked Josh as I exited the school building.

“Hold on. I want you to meet my friend Carlos. He’s coming with us,” I said. Josh nodded and we both waited.

30 minutes later

“Where is he?” I asked myself. A few kids were coming out of the building but there still was no sign of Carlos. “I told him to meet me here after school.”

“Screw him,” said Josh shrugging his shoulders. I spun around and said, “I can’t just leave him. I invited him to come with us.”

“Maybe he forgot,” Josh suggested. “I could meet him some other time.”

“But…”

“Maddy, I’m sure he’s busy,” he said. I shrugged and nodded my head. Maybe he did forget. So, we left Carlos behind and walked to the car. Then Josh drove off.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
6:23 P.M.

Josh took me to a Taco Bell in Brooklyn. My first time tasting a taco…and it was great. After eating, we walked around and he bought me a hot dog. We talked a lot about school, food, and cars. He ask me if I’d like to go to Pennsylvania with him tomorrow. At first, I thought he was only kidding. But when I asked why he said, he wanted to take me to Downey Park. Of course, I asked him if I could bring Carlos along. He said no because he wanted to spend alone time with me.

Guess what? He actually told me that he likes me. Wow.
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
September 17th, 2008-1:50 P.M.

I thought I lost this notebook. I couldn’t find it anywhere. Anyways, let me tell you about my most wonderful day at Downey Park yesterday. After school, we drove straight to Pennsylvania. We talked and laugh all the way their. When we arrived at the park, we first got onto the bumper cars. It was really funny because this old lady kept bumping Josh’s car. We also got on this ride that goes upside down. When it went upside down Josh’s hat fell off. But he retrieved it after the ride was over. Next, we got onto this roller coaster. It was going so fast I felt like my heart was gonna jump to my feet. When the ride was over Josh bought the pictures of us with funny faces during the ride. Then he bought us ice cream and we got onto the Ferris wheel. While licking, his ice cream he accidentally dropped it on the back of some guy’s neck that was below us. When he looked up at us we hid and then burst out laughing.

Then…he kissed me. My first kiss. I saw fireworks. Not literally, but you know what I mean. I was a long kiss. Then he stopped kissing me, got bright red, and said sorry. I didn’t even know what to say because my cheeks were hurting of how much I was smiling. I couldn’t stop smiling. I think I was blushing too. So, you know what I did next? I kissed him back. This time he put his arms around me and both watched the sunset. It was beautiful.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
September 18th, 2008-3:51 P.M.

Carlos didn’t come to school today. I wonder what’s up.

Josh asked me is I’d like to be his girl. I know I just met him two days ago but I never had a boyfriend before. Plus I never had so much fun with anyone in my whole entire life. He likes me a lot. I like him a lot. So, I said yes.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
September 19th, 2008-11:31 A.M.

The ride to school was more uncomfortably stranger that ever. Today, with out thinking, I decided to wear a gray shirt and my baggy jean pants that was ripped with a hole above me left knee. Big mistake.

While in the car with Jack who was driving, I felt something tickled the skin of my leg where the hole was at. Thinking it was a bug or something I ignored. But when the tickling continued I looked up and saw that it was Jack putting his finger through the hole. Startled I pushed it away and looked up at him. He gave me the same stare that brought chills up my spine.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_ X_X_X_X_X_X_X
“You should really wear tighter clothes,” he said using a weird voice. He turned to the road and said, “You’ll look more…sexy.”

The sound of his voice just disgusted me. I just wanted to get out of the car. Why is he doing this to me? Why is he making me feel so uncomfortable? I tried to ignore him and looked out the window. Then he started to message my hair. Hell no!

“Stop the car,” I demanded. When he stopped the car, I quickly got out and walked to school. I swear than when I turned to look at him through the car window of the car, I saw him staring straight at my butt. Even more disgusted I walked faster to school. I was quiet through out the whole day. Carlos tried to talk to me but I wrote him a note saying that I didn’t feel like talking. Josh tried talking to me to and I wrote him the same note. He wrote back:

I know what can make you feel better.

I looked at him confused and he wrote:

Come spend time with me at the park. We can feed the birds together.

I smiled and wrote: Okay.

I didn’t want to go home to Jack because there was no knowing what he was gonna do to me. He did change…a lot. But in a way that I didn’t like.

Then I remember that I promised Carlos I’d go to church with him. So, I wrote Josh:

Wait, I cant. I promised Carlos to go to church with him. Do you wanna come?

He wrote:

Forget church. It’s a waste of time. Do you really believe in God? If there was a God there wouldn’t be so many problems in the world. So, I’m out.

I nodded and wrote:

Ok. We can spend time together tomorrow. I can’t break a friends promise.

He nodded and wrote back:

I respect your decision. But, I’ll wait at the park just incase you change your mind.