Then Michael said, “Play nice with the other kids, girls,” and shut the door. And Lilly turned to me and said, “He’s such an ass.”
“He totally moved when you asked him to,” I pointed out.
“Not because of that,” Lilly said fiercely. “Because of this stupid Japan thing.”
“If his model works, he’ll end up saving thousands of lives and making millions of dollars,” I said. My hot chocolate was too hot to sip so I blew on it. Only the whipped cream was in the way.
Lilly looked at me, her eyes all big. “Oh my God,” she said. “Are you going to be reasonable about this?”
“I don’t have a choice,” I said. “Do I?”
“I bet if you threw a big enough fit,” Lilly said, “he wouldn’t go.”
“I already did,” I assured her. “There was crying and snot and everything. It didn’t change his mind.”
Lilly just grunted upon hearing this.
“The thing is,” I said. Because I had given this a lot of thought. Like all night long. “He has to go. I don’t want him to, but it’s, like, a thing with him. He feels like he has to prove himself so Us Weekly stops saying I should be dating James Franco instead. Which is stupid, but what can I do about it?”
“James Franco!” Lilly burst out. “Well. Whatever. James Franco is pretty cute.”
“Not as cute as Michael,” I said.
“Ew,” Lilly said, but only because she routinely says ew to any reference to her brother being cute.
Then, since she was feeling so bad for me and all, I figured I might as well take advantage of the situation. So I went, “Did you and J.P. sleep together this summer, or what?”
But Lilly just laughed.
“Nice try, POG,” she said. “But I don’t feel THAT sorry for you.”
Dang.
Wednesday, September 8, Intro to Creative Writing
Describe a scene outside your window:
The young girl sits on the swing, her heart heavy, her eyes swollen with tears. The world as she’s known it has ceased to exist. She will never again know what it is to laugh with childish abandon, because her childhood is behind her. Crushed hopes and disappointed dreams will be her constant companions now that the love of her life has flown. She raises her eyes to watch a plane as it soars across the brilliantly lit sky, the sun sinking in the west. Is that the plane carrying away her love? Probably. It disappears into the crimson sunset.
F–
Mia, when I said describe a scene outside your window, I meant for you to describe something you actually see outside your window, such as a Dumpster or bodega. I did not want you to make up some scene. And I know you made up the scene above because there is no way you could have known what the girl on the swing (if you can even see swings from your window, which I doubt, since I happen to know you live in NoHo and there are no swings there that I am aware of ) was thinking unless that girl happened to be you, in which case you could not have seen her because you cannot see yourself, except in mirrors. Please redo this, actually following the assignment this time. I make these assignments for a reason, and I expect you to complete them AS WRITTEN.
—C. Martinez
Wednesday, September 8, English
Mia!!! I heard. Are you all right????
Honestly, T. I just don’t know.
But you realize it’s a GOOD thing. I mean, for Michael.
I know.
And you can always go visit him! I mean, you have your own jet!!!
Oh, right. That’ll happen.