Always, Abigail (7 page)

Make a list of interesting things to say to the seventh- and eighth-grade poms.

1.
I'm
so
sick of their inside jokes I'm ready to puke. This morning on the bus, they were doing some sort of sign language thing—hand signals and shrugging their shoulders at each other. Then doubling over in fits of laughter. I didn't know
what
they were doing.

“C'mon, you guys, cut it out!” I said.

But they wouldn't stop.

“Oh, Abigail, just chill out! We're only goofing around,” Alli said as both of them broke down in another fit of laughter. I was hoping they'd laugh so hard they'd pee their pants.

When they headed off to homeroom, I felt like giving
them
a hand signal that I'd get grounded for if anyone saw it.

2.
AlliCam kept talking about how great it was to practice with Jackie and McKenzie at lunchtime. They know I don't have anyone to practice with at lunch. The only girls in my homeroom who are trying out are Jeannie and Marcy. And for obvious reasons, they're not exactly pom-pom girl material. You'd think AlliCam would be a little more loyal. I mean, after all, we're supposed to be best friends and sisters.

3.
But the biggest reason I'm furious with AlliCam is because of what happened at my house. They slept over Friday night, and we'd stayed up really late doing makeovers, making a list of all the cute boys in middle school, watching TV, baking cookies, and painting each other's toenails.

About four a.m., we finally crawled into our sleeping bags. We whispered to each other for a few minutes in the dark, and eventually AlliCam started talking about stuff that happened in homeroom, so I just lay quietly listening. I was quiet for so long, I guess they thought I was asleep because pretty soon they started talking about
me
.

“Do you wish we'd gone to McKenzie's house tonight instead of coming here?” Alli asked.

“I don't know,” Cami answered. “Do you?”

“I don't know,” Alli said. “I'm
dying
to see her house. Jackie says it's like a mansion…but this was fun too.”

“Jackie told me they were going to practice the pom routine with McKenzie's older sister. She's on varsity poms at Westdale High.”

“I know. That would've been great,” Alli said.

“I just can't believe how supercool and fun McKenzie and Jackie are,” Cami said, yawning. “We're so lucky the four of us ended up in the same homeroom. Sixth grade is turning out to be awesome.”

“Totally,” agreed Alli. “When the four of us make poms, it's going to be great.”

“You mean the five of us.” Cami sighed. “Don't forget about Abigail.”

“Oh, yeah, Abigail too,” Alli mumbled, as they both rolled over and said, “G'night,” to each other.

Don't forget Abigail?! How could they forget me? We were SPF. I squeezed my eyes shut really tight hoping to keep the tears from coming out.

Tears slid sideways onto my pillow until I had to turn it over because it was so wet.

Took me out for doughnuts, just him and me, even though I wouldn't tell him what was wrong.

Alli called to tell me that her dad had gotten three movie passes from one of his golfing buddies. The passes were about to expire, and the guy couldn't use them. Alli's dad said he'd drive us if we wanted to go see something. Cami's mom had already said yes, and I knew my mom would say yes too.

The only thing I didn't know was whether Alli would've called me if her dad had gotten
four
movie passes instead of
three
.

When I went out to the lobby to use the bathroom before the movie started, I saw Jackson Dawber standing in the popcorn line with his older brother Max and one of Max's friends.

Everyone knew Max had just gotten back from a summer at some boot camp for bad kids. Last year he was only a freshman, but already he'd threatened the school secretary when she gave him a detention for his tenth tardy, gotten suspended for starting a food fight in the cafeteria, and gotten kicked off the baseball team for swearing at his coach during a game. The principal told his parents if he didn't go to the boot camp, he couldn't come back to high school. But from what I saw, camping out with the bad kids hadn't done much good. Max and his friend were pelting Jackson with pennies and kind of shoving him around. They thought they were being funny, but I could tell by the look on Jackson's face that he wasn't having any fun. I ducked into the bathroom before Jackson saw me.

I would've forgotten the whole thing except on Monday morning, when I got on the bus, Jackson was throwing goldfish crackers at a little second-grader sitting in the seat across from him. What a jerk! Why would he pick on someone when he knew what it felt like to be teased like that? Jackson was an even bigger jerk than I thought.

Dear Abby (oh, sorry, I mean Abigail),

We should give Old Hawk a break. So what if she makes us decorate mailboxes? It beats diagramming sentences. I think it would be fun to secretly make a mailbox for her. Then write letters to her anonymously and stick them inside. What do you think?

Tree climbing is NOT an extreme sport. It's a job. My brother would be a senior this year, but he dropped out of school to work. He climbs trees and cuts them down for people. It's a dangerous job, but he's really good at it. He says he loves climbing around in the tree branches like a raccoon.

As for baseball, I think I've seen your brother play. He's the pitcher, right? That's why he says you throw like a girl. He probably thinks anyone who doesn't throw the ball a hundred miles an hour throws like a girl. I bet if he tried to climb a tree, my brother would tell him he climbs like a girl.

Talk to you later,

Gabby

1.
On my way to science class today I saw Cami, Alli, Jackie, and McKenzie practicing the pom-pom routine. They might as well start calling themselves the Laker Girls. All four of them were shaking their hips faster than a hula girl at a luau.

2.
Jeannie and Marcy asked me to practice with them at lunch. I couldn't really say no since I sit with them every day, so I said yes. That was a big mistake. I spent the entire lunch period trying to show them what beat of the music the routine starts on. They think
I'm
really good. The problem is Old Hawk shaking the feather duster she uses to clean her bookshelves would be better than Jeannie and Marcy. (Okay, that's an exaggeration.) But these girls have no idea what we're up against. They should be scared,
very scared
. Instead, they're all gah-gah over the fact that I can actually
remember
the whole routine.

3.
THE POM-POM PRINCESS Alicia NEVER practices. She doesn't have to. Because of her sister, she's a legend in her own time. All she has to do is show up to tryouts. And she knows it. Her overwhelming confidence is causing me to hyperventilate with hopelessness.