Carly
XI
“Wake up Carly! Carly, Carly, Carly! Wake u-.” Groaning, I switched off my alarm clock. It was a gift from papa’s company O-CoolTech. He was their number three inventor.
I made my way to the dining room. Eirik had made another traditional Norwegian cuisine, that consisted of open sandwiches and homemade cloudberry smoothies. I wolfed down the food and got ready for the day. Today was report card day! The week went by so slowly, but finally it was here!
I was so happy! I had worked really hard this year! Last year I had gotten an acceptable B. But the University of Washington Cheerleaders excepted only a GPA of 3.5. And unlike most schools it started in eighth grade. I was so pumped out!
I literally flipped through the day. At the end of the day I told Coach Irene that I had sprained my ankle, and put on a fake limp, favoring my left leg.
Once I was out of sight, I sprinted home. I yanked the door open and raced to Papa’s office. He was sitting reading a letter.. A big smile sat on his face. “Here. Read it!” He said. I took it from his hands. It read:
Report Card for STUDENT: MARTINSEN, Carly Anne
MATH:
Teacher: Mr Wharton Grade: A- Percent: 90 Position: 5th
ENGLISH:
Teacher: Ms Murph Grade: A- Percent: 90 Position: 4th
HISTORY:
Teacher: Mr Lin Grade: A Percent: 95 Position: 2nd
GEOGRAPHY:
Teacher: Ms Roberts Grade: A+ Percent: 101 Position: 1st
PHYSICS:
Teacher: Mr Tibbs Grade: A- Percent:92 Position: 4th
BIOLOGY:
Teacher: Mr Yamin Grade: A Percent: 95 Position: 1st
HEALTH:
Teacher: Mr. Carter Grade: A+ Percent: 102 Position: 1st
MODERN LANGUAGES SECTION FOR QUARTER 3:
GERMAN:
Teacher: Mrs Abbing Grade:A+ Percent: 100 Position: 1st
PERFORMING ARTS:
BAND:
Teacher: Ms. Chang Grade: A+ Position: 2nd
PHYSICAL EDUCATION:
Teacher: Mrs. Breedlove Grade: B+ Position: 9th
OVERALL ACADEMIC SCORE: 96%
OTHER SUBJECTS: 90%
GPA: 3.74 GRADE: A
Congratulations! Your child has been promoted to honors class! This is active at the start of the new academic year!
Yours sincerely:
SKamininski DougTurn
Middle School Principal: Superintendent:
Shari Kaminski Douglas Turner
Northview Academy
Filii hodie, et imperantes cras!
Children today, Leaders tomorrow!
I screamed.
“Bravo! Carly you earned a treat! You can invite four of your friends to a pizza party. Here’s a hundred dollars! Keep the change!” He smiled his wide-tooth smile as I squealed and hugged him and kissed him.
Then, I raced to the room I shared with Hilde. I found her on her bed. She jumped up when I came in.
“You’ll never guess what happened! I was promoted to an Honor’s Class!” We yelled in sync.
We screamed. Holding hands, we jumped around. I then performed a series of flips, while Hilde did a series of cartwheels around the room, ending in a splits. When we were finishing our routine, papa walked in.
“Hi Papa! Heh heh!” I said pathetically.
“Hi onkel Andreas!” Hilde said.
“Hi girls. Anyways, Have you guys invited your friends yet?”
“Just doing it.” We replied.
We both grabbed our phones and texted our friends. I invited my best friend Alex- she hates the name Alexandra- Jake, Darryl and Harrison.
Two hours later, though it seemed like longer, happened at The Pizza Place. As kids everyone always had parties at The Pizza Place. It was so much fun!
Darryl arrived first, then Alex, followed by Harrison and Jake. As soon as they walked in, I waved over a waiter. The guy had shiny black hair and dark deep eyes. He also had a stud earring. Alex practically fell over him. I rolled my eyes.
“Hi! Can we have five glasses of Sprite and two large pepperoni pizzas?” I asked, putting on my best fake smile.
“Anything for two beautiful ladies!” He said in a fake Italian accent.
Alex blushed and flipped her dark hair. She gazed adoringly at him, batting her large green eyes. Her tan skin turned pink, as she smiled and giggled at him.
“OMG! He’s so cute!” Alex squealed, as he left the table. We all rolled our eyes and sighed. Alex was like this a lot. It was a wonder that she hated drama.
Ten minutes later, we were digging into the greasy, unhealthy, oily, delicious pizza. We devoured it in less than eight minutes. Darryl would probably say something smarty-pants. Like, we consumed it in seven minutes and forty-eight seconds. Then, he would go on to say that the probability of us eating brownies and ice cream was one hundred percent.
Alex and I had strawberry, Jake had rocky road and Harrison and Darryl had chocolate.
Darryl wiped his mouth and cleared his throat before asking, “So, Carly, what’s the special event?”
“We got our grades back and I got a three point seven four!” I replied, excitedly.
“Neat! I got a four point o.” Darryl said, with no show-offy tone in his voice.
I couldn’t help but feel envious at his natural smartness. I brushed my hair out of my face and stared at the floor for a while, before I composed myself.
“So, you guys, how did you do?” I asked the rest.
“Okay, I got a three point three” Harrison said.
“I got a three point two!” Alex said, enviously.
We looked at Jake expectantly. “Oh. Uh...I got a two point nine! heh...heh…” He trailed off slowly.
I immediately sensed he was lying, and judging by the looks on Harrison’s and Darryl’s faces, I guessed they knew to. I quickly changed the subject to sports. Alex launched into a full description of her gymnastics performance. I tried to pay attention, but my thoughts kept wandering to Jake. In the end I gave up and just nodded occasionally.
I pushed him against the wall and stared at him accusingly. “Why did you lie?”
“What are you talking about?” Jake asked, so innocently I almost believed him. Almost.
“You know what I’m talking about!” I said furiously.
“Okay, fine!” He surrendered.
“So, what did you get?”
“A 0.12” He said meekly.
“What!!”
“Could you say that a bit louder please? I don’t think Chile heard you that well!”
“Oh. Sorry.” I apologized, lamely. “But are you serious?”
“No Carly, I’m a giant clam!” He said, frustrated.
“Be serious!” I yelled.
“Yes, I got a 0.12! Are you happy now?”
“OMG! I’m so, so sorry Jake!”
“It’s okay! I’ll be fine. Harrison’s tutoring me in math!”
“If you’re sure.” I said, uncertainly.
“I am!” He replied, a huge fake smile plastered on his face.
I glanced at him uncertainly. “Okay. If you say so.”
“Let’s go back to the others!”
“Okay.”
We walked back to the others just as Darryl was explaining the habitats of brown bears.
“You see, scientists do suspect that some grizzly bears still roam around in Washington. However, there is no proof of brown bears inhabiting Washington. So, unless you were visiting the zoo, you wouldn’t see a brown bear in it’s natural habitat. Or in any other habitat.” Darryl said, finishing his lecture on brown bears.
Alex looked at me, like ‘please save me! I’ll do anything for you.’ I smiled cruelly at her
From what I gathered, I guessed Harrison had tried to impress Alex with talk abou
t seeing a brown bear in the woods. Then, Darryl scoffed at him, proceeding into a ten minute long lecture about the habitats of brown bears. I stifled a laugh, as I remembered the look on Alex’s face.
“What are you smiling at, Carly?” Alex asked me.
“Hmmm?” I asked, before realizing that I must of succeeded in not laughing but failed in not smiling. “Oh, nothing.”
“If you say so.” She said. We were sitting on my bed talking. “By the way, you know that cute guy we met at the pizza place?”
“You mean the one you blatantly flirted with?” I asked, sarcastically.
“Yeah! That’s the one! So, anyways, he asked me out! Like, on a date!”
“Alexandra Grace Stevens! He’s like, nineteen! You’re like, fourteen! Five years difference!” I shouted.
“So? We like each other! Besides, my Dad is like nine years younger than my mum.” She said, angrily.
“Older or younger?” I asked.
“Older! You know what I mean! You’re just trying to change the subject, ‘cause you’re jealous!”
“I’m not jealous! Why would I be jealous?”
“Because I have a boyfriend and you don’t!” She said, sticking out her tongue, like a six-year-old. How immature.
“Uh...buh...Argh!” I said, angry that I couldn’t think of anything to say.
“You’ve just been chasing Jake around since fourth grade! And by the way dummy that’s the year you came to this school!” She said.
“Well, don’t come crying to me when it doesn’t work out!” I retorted.
“Don’t expect me to. And by the way, this little best friend thing is over!” Alex said, her eyes shining with either anger or tears, I couldn’t decide. Maybe both.
“Fine!”
“Fine. And don’t bother trying to make up! This isn’t some little fight! I have my life! Don’t try to be some queen, lording everyone about!” Yep, definitely anger.
“I don’t lord everyone about!” I said, furiously.
“Do too!”
“Do not!”
We fought for a while.
Alex pulled my hair and I yanked on her ear. We rolled over and clawed at each other.
Soon, blood was drawn. But we didn’t stop.
We were still fighting half an hour later when a knock came at the door.
Alex immediately jumped up and brushed herself down. She took of her hair ribbon and put her bloody nails behind her back. I did the same, but also grabbed a brush and began doing, my hair.
“Come in!” I called.
Papa’s red hair poked through the door. “You girls okay?” He asked.
“We’re fine dad!” I answered.
“All good, Mr Martinsen!” Alex said, putting on a fake smile.
“Okay. Alex your Dad is here to pick you up.”
“Okay, thanks.” She said, leaving the room.
“Bye.” I said, fighting to make my voice as neutral as possible.
“Bye.” She responded.
“Carly, aren’t you going to show your guest to the door?” He asked.
“Okay, Papa.”
I walked with Alex to her car. Her dad, Mr. Stevens, worked for O-CoolTech too. There was some bad blood between him and papa, because they were both tied for the third position.
I looked at papa. His face was drawn into a snarl. I looked at Mr. Stevens. He looked relaxed, but in his eyes I saw a deep hatred. I rolled my eyes, at their silly duel. They were even! Why are they fighting? To prove who’s the better man? This was like cats versus dogs. In the end the dog wins. But who’s the dog?
I pondered over this, while Alex got into her car and her Dad drove away. I was still standing on the curb, when a door slamming knocked me back into the real world. I turned around and saw the bright flash of red from the small window on the door.
I wondered how come he hadn’t told me to come in. Then I realized that he probably thought I was waving goodbye to Alex, as I’d done for four years.
Well not anymore! I walked into the house with my head held high. I went to my room, opened a page in my diary, and wrote:
Dear Diary-