Fan Fiction & Writing
My Not So Secret Life [A Story]
Started by Dark Rukario July 20th, 2007 11:59 PM- 460 views
- 0 replies
Here's a story I wrote for one of my english classes... I got a top mark for it, so I guess it must be ok... I've made it a spoiler because it's a little bit long. In MS Word it's 16 pages (8,305 words)... enjoy!!!
Present Day, 2014
“I guess I never was the most popular kid in high school. In fact, I don’t think three quarters of the other students at Oaktree High even knew my name, or that I existed. But then again, I guess I was a bit of a nobody. I was the exact opposite of Oaktree’s resident beauty at that time, Kari Wilson. I can’t believe I’m even mentioning her name here! Kari Wilson… well since I’ve already mentioned her name I guess I’ll tell you a story from high school that involves Kari, and me. Well, if you consider my popularity status at that time, you’d only really want to know about Kari… Kari Wilson.”
Summer 2007, 4th of February
“We’re here!” I heard my mum happily call from the front passenger’s seat. I looked up from my book and out of the car window. There it was, our new house. A dilapidated house that should have been knocked down years ago, or as my professional renovator parents would call it, ‘a renovator’s dream’. Ok, so it was a lot better than some of the previous houses I’d had the ‘pleasure’ to live in, as I could see it there were no obvious holes in the roof and it actually had a front door. It seemed that there was a small chance I would actually enjoy living at 72 Maple Drive. I slowly opened the car door, and it squeaked as I pushed it open fully to step out. I carried only my backpack and pillow, as everything else was in the removalist’s van, which hadn’t arrived yet. My dad climbed out of the driver’s seat and my mum followed. Together, we all approached the front door of our new house. It was a deep mahogany colour, and didn’t fit in with the rest of the house at all, especially the stained glass window. My dad pulled the house key out of his pocket. It was a long, thin silver key that looked as if it had teeth. As my dad turned it in the keyhole, it made a small clicking noise and the door swung open. Unlike most of the houses my parent’s renovated there was hardly any dust to start with, and the previous owners had left some furniture. However, the thing that amazed me most was that one of the things they had left was a computer! My family had never had an actual computer before. Sure, my dad had his laptop, but that was strictly for his renovation jobs for things like safety reports and to keep track of possible future jobs and it didn’t even have the internet. The computer was white, and an old model. It was nothing like the flat-screened models most people have now, it was really bulky and all the power and extension cords took up most of the room the computer was in, but I was excited none the less.
First Day at Oaktree, 15th of February 2007
During the days after was arrived at 72 Maple Drive it was a frenzy of unpacking and moving in. Now, it was to be my first day at my new school, Oaktree High. It looked like a good enough school; it was large with many red brick buildings, unlike my previous school, Hawkesbury High, which had had the one, large, dull grey building. I was to be in class 8F with a teacher called Ms. Drenched. My parents had had a bit of a laugh at this, especially because her given name was Gotabee. Gotabee Drenched. I would have hated myself for life if y parents had given me a name like that!
Anyway, when I first arrived at the admin block of Oaktree I was greeted by the principal, Mr. Sustan. He had two other new students with him, Clarice Norfolk in the ninth grade and Mick Towers in eighth grade. Clarice was tall with heaps of freckles and ginger hair, while Mick was about average height with pale skin and jet black hair. He also had a spider’s web earring in one ear.
“Welcome students,” Said Mr Sustan, addressing Clarice, Mick and I.
“Hi Mr. Sustan,” I replied nervously.
“Morning sir,” Clarice responded. I noticed she had an English accent.
“Yo, Sustano,” Mick murmured, almost to himself.
Mr. Sustan looked us over, his eyes like bright blue scanning beams.
“Clarice, you will be in class 9B with Mr. Bacon. Mick and…” he trailed off. “Sorry, what’s your name again?”
“I’m Amanda, sir, Amanda Green.” I said.
“Well Amanda. Mick and yourself are in class 8F with Ms. Drenched.”
I heard Mick stifle some laughter.
“Something funny, Mick?” Mr. Sustan asked.
“Nope, not anymore!” Mick laughed.
Mr. Sustan ignored him and glanced at Clarice and me.
“Follow me, students, and I’ll lead you to your new home classes.”
“Welcome to class 8F for 2007!”
Ms. Drenched’s voice rang out over the classroom. I was seated right at the back at a desk next to a girl with mousy brown hair. She was passing notes with the blond-haired boy in front of her.
“Sera Simpson,” Ms. Drenched glared through her half-rim glasses at the girl with the mousy brown hair. She then turned her gaze to the blond-haired boy. “And Blaine Yellowfield! Are you already breaking the class code?”
Sera sighed, trailing one of her fingers through her mousy brown curls. “Sorry Ms. Drenched.” She sighed.
Ms. Drenched glanced in my direction. “Ah. In that case, everyone please welcome our new class members, Amanda and Mick.”
I could hear some muttered ‘hellos’ but one voice rang out over the others, and it came from a blond-haired girl in the front row. “Welcome, I’m Kari. Kari Wilson.”
She smiled in my direction.
“Kari,” Ms. Drenched smiled at Kari, “I was going to ask Sera to show Amanda around, but would you do it for me instead?”
“Sure, Ms. Drenched! Anything for the school, you know that!” Kari replied happily, then waving in my direction. “I’ll meet you at the admin block at recess, ok?”
Kari didn’t wait for my response before turning to the boy sitting next to her. Ms. Drenched began to speak again.
“Corey Ravenstyre,” she was speaking to the boy sitting next to Kari, “you will show Mick around. Class dismissed, it’s time for first block.”
First block maths with Mr. Bacon went pretty quickly, he basically welcomed everyone to the new school year and told us a little about what we would be doing for the year. At recess Kari showed me all the buildings and what subjects were in each. It turned out I was doing all the same subjects as Kari, so she was going to help me get around. She glanced at her timetable.
“Looks like we have english in second block Amanda! The humanities block is that one over there,” she pointed at a building that was next to the admin block. “I’ll see you there in a minute. I’m just going to the toilets.”
Kari raced off before I could say anything back, and before I knew it the bell had gone. I slowly walked toward the building Kari had told me was the humanities building, looking around myself. People were milling around me, heading towards the same building, but I didn’t recognise any of them, and my English class was basically the same as my home class. I pushed through the large doors of the building and glanced inside. There was a hallway, leading off into about ten rooms and a staircase. I looked at my timetable. My English class was in room H09. I walked down the hallway, looking at the numbers on each door. Finally I reached room number nine. I turned the handle and opened the door, but when I looked inside I saw a science room!
“Sorry,” I muttered, closing the door.
I looked through the windows on each door and realised each room was the same. This was the science building, not the humanities building! I raced out the door and looked around. A groundsman was picking up litter outside the admin block, so I approached him. No students were left on the grounds at all; they were all in class by now.
“Excuse me,” I said to the groundsman, “Would you be able to tell me which building is the humanities building?”
The groundsman nodded. “I sure can. It’s that one,” he pointed to the building furthest away from the admin block. “New here, are you?”
Now it was my turn to nod. “Thankyou,” I said, running in the direction of the real humanities building.
I walked into room H09 almost half an hour late. A hush fell over the class as I entered and sat down at the only free desk next to a boy named Hedor Pazguato, a real nerd with Spanish parents. Plus, he had really bad breath as well, and no-one sat with him for long once they knew him. At that time, I didn’t know him.
“Ms. Green, so nice of you to join us at last.” My English teacher, Mrs. Roberts said to me, leaning on the desk.
“I’m sorry… I got lost.” I responded, my face red with embarrassment.
“Ah, but Kari here informed me that she told you exactly which building to come to for English.”
I felt the anger rise inside of me. Kari had told me the absolutely wrong building to go to!
“Maybe she misunderstood me when I said furthest from the admin block, Mrs. Roberts. Don’t be so hard on her.” I couldn’t believe it. I thought Kari had purposely told me the wrong building, but now she was sticking up for me! Maybe I had misunderstood her…
“Fine, but if it happens again, you’ll get a detention, Amanda.” Mrs. Roberts explained.
At lunch I was left to my own devices. Kari had a meeting for her chosen sport of volleyball. For some reason, she hadn’t invited me along. I sat under a large oak tree eating my chilli crackers when Clarice approached me.
“Hi Clarice,” I muttered, still a little confused from English. I still couldn’t believe Mrs. Roberts had made us do work on the first day!
“Hello Amanda, would you like to come to the library with me? We can use the computers there to check e-mails and blogs.” Clarice asked.
I looked at her. “I don’t have an e-mail address… and what’s a blog?”
Clarice laughed. “Come to the library and I’ll help you set up your own e-mail account, and show you what a blog is!”
I nodded. “Ok then.”
Then library was one of the smaller buildings. It sat between the maths and humanities buildings and had a sign out the front showing a list of upcoming school events. The doors were automatic, nothing like Hawkesbury, I thought to myself. Clarice walked in the doors in front of me.
“Welcome!” said a cheerful voice. It was Ms. Dante, the library lady.
“Hello Ms. Dante!” replied Clarice, “May we please use some computers?”
Ms. Dante nodded. “Here at Oaktree we use a sign-on system. Here is a form you have to fill out before you use a computer for the first time, and here is the register where you can book computers for lunch and after-school.”
Ms. Dante passed a form to me. “Clarice, you got one just before, didn’t you? Have you filled it out?”
Clarice nodded. “I filled it out when Xylia showed me around the library at recess. Here it is.”
Clarice passed Ms. Dante her form.
“Great. Feel free to use one of the computers on the back wall, Clarice.” Ms. Dante pointed to a row of computers, and then passed me a pencil. “Amanda, is it?”
“Yes, Amanda Green.” I took the pencil and filled out the form.
I handed my form back to Ms. Dante. “Oh, you forgot to sign the agreement of safe internet usage at the bottom, here.”
I signed the page.
“Great, now you can go use a computer with Clarice. Have a good time!”
I walked over to the computers. They were all flat-screened and black, nothing like the one I had at home. I sat down on the computer next to Clarice.
“So, what’s a blog then?” I asked, looking at the website she was using.
“A blog is like an online journal entry. The cool thing is, you can write whatever you want and choose to be anonymous, and you get to choose who reads it too!” Clarice pointed to the web address.
“Just go to this site and sign-up, oh wait! You need an e-mail address first! I’ll set you up one! What do you want your username to be?”
“Uh… how about Amanda?” I suggested.
“No, that’s too common! Someone’s bound to already have that name, think of something more original.”
“Umm… how about Amanda Green then?”
Clarice sighed. “I guess it’s not very original, but it’s less likely to be taken!”
Clarice typed in my name. “It’s not taken! I’ll add you to my contacts and you can add me! I’m princessapple77!”
I typed in Clarice’s e-mail address and added her to my new contact book.
“Wow, you sure do catch on fast! Now back to the blog website to sign-up!”
I typed in the address for the blog website and saw heaps of colours jump over the screen.
“Click on that rainbow button there that says ‘Join’,” instructed Clarice. “You have to type in your e-mail address and what name you want to have at the bottom of your blog entries to sign-up. My blog entries are signed off with ‘Princess Apple’. What are you going to be?”
“I’m going to be ‘Anonymous Stranger’ until I think of something better,” I replied, and began typing my first blog entry.
A week later, 22nd of February 2007
All week Clarice and I had been visiting the library to write on our blogs. It was true, I’d become obsessed with ‘blogging’. I enjoyed the freedom of speech and being able to say what I wanted, and only Clarice knew who ‘Anonymous Stranger’ was. In fact, half of the time when I typed I wasn’t even sure myself! The confidence my blog gave me made me seem like a different person, and now even Mrs. Roberts didn’t seem to be as mean as she was. So far, my parents hadn’t been able to get the computer working at home yet, but they had started working on the house. They had replaced most of the windows and were now starting on the living room, which was a pain because it meant I couldn’t watch television.
So it was at lunch time today that I decided to do a ‘blog search’ on the blog site for all blogs containing the phrase ‘Oaktree High School’. The first entry that came up was two years old, so I ignored it. I searched through two pages, each containing the titles and brief description of journal entries, plus the dates they were posted until I found a recent one. It was from the week before, and the title was ‘The New Kid’. I was curious, so I opened it to full screen.
The New Kid
Posted at 9:05pm on 15/2/07
Hello my loyal blog readers!
Today two new kids arrived to start the year at my school, Oaktree High. The guy, Jessie*, is a real hottie even though he’s a Goth. I even considered leaving my current boyfriend for him, but I couldn’t do it. That’s right, Turbo*, I’m still with you. Anyway, the girl, (we’ll call her anon) Anon* is really annoying. She has the ugliest blond hair ever, and it’s all wavy. Anyway, my home class teacher made ME show her around! She was going to make Tessa* do it, but then Tessa* and Toby* got caught passing notes, so I was asked to show Anon* around and Turbo* was asked to show Jessie* around. At recess, I was showing Anon* around and when I realised it was almost time for the bell, I pointed at the science building, when we had english, and told her that was the humanities building! She ended up half and hour late for English, and Mrs. Clover* was sooooo mad! She is the most temperamental teacher at our school, and if I hadn’t told Mrs. Clover* that it was an accident she would have given Anon* a detention!
I’ll write again soon!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
I gasped. The story was so familiar to me, and I knew that the name Kari meant ‘pure’. Kari Wilson must have written this blog! I clicked on the link at the bottom. I was now determined to find more proof that ‘The Pure One’ was Kari Wilson.
The next day, 23rd of February 2007
The next morning, my dad woke me up earlier than usual.
“I’ve got a surprise for you Amanda! I’ve finally fixed the computer and connected it to the internet!”
His words sprung me wide awake. It was only 4:47am, but I was now so excited I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, even if I was tired.
“Can… can I test it?” I asked.
“You sure can, but not until I’m sure you’re ready for school!”
I dashed into the bathroom, had the quickest shower I’d ever had before and got dressed. I brushed my teeth as fast as possible and brushed my hair.
“Can I please use the computer now?” I asked my dad.
“Ok, but only if your bed is made!” he replied.
I ran into my room and made my bed, then ran into the computer room. A green light flickered underneath the screen and the speakers buzzed. I slowly typed in the blog address and typed in ‘The Pure One’.
The screen read: “’The Pure One’ has posted one new blog.”
It was titled ‘What Happens Next’ and was ‘The Pure One’s latest blog.
What Happens Next
Posted at 10:56pm on 22/2/07
Hey everyone,
I’m really sorry I’ve taken so long to post a new blog! I’ve been really busy since school started again, especially with English work. Mrs. Clover* works us really hard. At the moment we’re writing stories and the topics Mrs. Clover* gives us are really hard to write stories about. Anyway, Anon* has been hanging around the library a lot lately. I’m guessing she’s a bit of a nerd! However, I don’t think she reads a lot though, she uses the computers mainly. Maybe she has a blog? Nah, I doubt it. She doesn’t seem to know a lot about technology, I can’t believe she doesn’t even have her own mobile phone! Basically everyone has a phone here. I do know she has an e-mail address though; she gave it to that new ninth grader and she dropped it. I picked it up, and now I’m thinking of pulling the ‘nice girl’ trick on Anon* again, comment on this blog with your thoughts on this, especially you Turbo*!
Bye!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
“Amanda, it’s time for school!” I heard my mum call from the front door.
“I’m coming mum!” I called in return, turning the computer off as I hurried out.
At lunchtime, Clarice met me at the library. “Why haven’t you posted a new blog yet, Amanda?” she asked.
“I guess I’ve been too busy reading other people’s blogs.” I replied. “I found an interesting one by typing in ‘Oaktree High’, do you want to see it?”
Clarice nodded. “You do know most people change the names of places and people in their entries, don’t you? It might not even really be from our school!”
I clicked onto ‘The Pure One’s blog entries and clicked on ‘The New Kid’.
“I’m pretty sure this one is from Oaktree. See, where it says Oaktree there’s no astricts!” I said, pointing at the sentence that read; “Today two new kids arrived to start the year at my school, Oaktree High.”
“Yeah, you’re right! And it sounds like your first day!” Clarice whispered, because there were others on either side of us. “Do you think you know who it is?”
I nodded. “I think its Kari Wilson.”
“Kari Wilson!” Clarice gasped, “But she’s ultra popular and nice! She’s been nothing but nice to me.”
“Did you know that the name Kari means ‘pure’?” I asked Clarice.
She shook her head. “What’s that got to do with this?”
I pointed at the sign-off name. “The sign-off name is ‘The Pure One’!”
I heard Clarice gasp. “You’re right! That has to be a sign that this could be Kari.”
I pointed at one of ‘The Pure One’s past blogs. “Look at this blog! It mentions several names of teachers that work here at Oaktree. She must have been really careless writing that one.”
Clarice glanced at the blog and looked back at her own computer screen. “Hmmm. But how can we stop her?”
“Well… I’ve got an idea.” I clicked on the ‘post a new blog’ icon on the computer screen.
“You do? But what could we possibly do? Kari is the most popular girl at Oaktree, who’s gonna believe us, a couple of newbies, over her?”
“It’s complicated, but if it works, it could be the downfall of Kari Wilson and her gang.”
Saturday, 24th of February 2007
It was finally the weekend and my parents were out all day at a conference in the next city over, so I had the house all to myself. I invited Clarice over, and we set to planning Kari’s downfall. Our home computer was much slower than the ones at school, and it took us quite a long time to realise ‘The Pure One’ had posted a new blog.
“Look Clarice! ‘The Pure One’ has a new blog! Should we read it?”
Clarice nodded. “We should see what she says this time.”
I clicked on the link, and it took about nine minutes to load.
Par-tay!
Posted at 7:16am on 24/2/07
Hey there party goers!
I’m going to have a killer party next weekend. I’m going to invite all the kids from school, including Anon*, so I can begin part two of my nice girl approach. Some other people I’m gonna invite include Turbo*, Jessie*, Tessa*, Toby*, Max* and Joanne*. So if you’re reading this, you’ve got a head start on choosing your ultra-awesome outfits to wear! It’s gonna be at my dad’s house, the big white one with the pool out back, so you can bring your bathers too if you want. The back garage is empty, so I’ll be able to serve food and drink from in there. If you’re reading this, I know you and you haven’t already been listed post a comment on this blog to get an invite! I’ll be sure to keep you all up to date on changes during the week!
Siya all on Monday!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
There was one comment on the blog so far.
There is 1 comment on this blog. Click here to add your own!
Comment #1
Posted by ‘Turbo the Speedster’ at 8:03am on 24/2/07
Hey Pure*. I’ll be glad to hang at your party, as long as you don’t invite Jessie*. If you do, I won’t go.
“Hmmm. Who do you think Turbo is?” Clarice asked, still reading the screen.
“I’m pretty sure it’s Corey Ravenstyre, Kari’s boyfriend. I also think Jessie is the codename Kari uses for Mick Towers.” I replied, reading the blog again.
“Ah. Yes, I see. In the first blog she mentions a new boy that is a Goth, so it has to be Mick.” Clarice was catching on quickly.
The screen blinked. Another comment had been added to the blog.
There are 2 comments on this blog. Click here to add your own!
Comment #2
Posted by ‘My Name Isn’t Tessa’ at 9:51am on 24/2/07
Pure*, I know Turbo* doesn’t want you to invite Jessie* but he’s so cool! Oh well. It would be tons better if you didn’t have to invite Anon*, she’ll probably ask you to invite that ninth grader.
“I think Tessa is Sera Simpson, because if we look at the first blog again it says that Tessa and Toby were caught passing notes. That was Sera and Blaine.” I said after reading the comment.
“Should we comment on it?” Clarice suggested. “If we use my account, Kari won’t know who it is.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think we should. Besides, what would we say?”
Clarice sighed. “I guess that’s a good point. What time do you parents get back?”
“Not until ten pm. We should be right until then. Want something to eat?”
It was 2pm. So far no one else had commented on the blog, so Clarice and I had set to planning. First we drew up a grid of the information we had basically figured out from the blogs.
Real Name Blog Name Party Status/Other Info
Kari Wilson ‘The Pure One’ / Pure Holding party.
Corey Ravenstyre ‘Turbo the Speedster’ / Turbo Going if Mick isn’t invited.
Sera Simpson ‘My Name Isn’t Tessa’ / Tessa Invited.
Blaine Yellowfield Toby Invited.
Amanda Green ‘Anonymous Stranger’ / Anon Invited.
?? Max Invited.
?? Joanne Invited.
Mick Towers Jessie Invited.
“Isn’t it freaky how in her blogs Kari calls you Anon when your blog name is ‘Anonymous Stranger’?” Clarice asked, pointing at my name in the table.
“Yeah. Maybe she’s seen my blogs and figured it out that it’s me!” I exclaimed. I hadn’t really considered the similarities. At least I didn’t say anything mean about others in my blogs.
“I wonder who Max and Joanne are.” Clarice thought aloud.
“Max might be Ash Smith, Corey’s best friend, but I have no idea who Joanne could be, Kari has so many cronies!” I replied.
Clarice laughed. “Well, Xylia who showed me around the school is one of Kari’s ninth grader friends, so it could be her.”
I nodded, thinking about it. “But it could also be Mariah Newman, Cassie Hill or Day Sid. There are others too. Joanne might even be one of her friends who go to the other high school, Dale Heights.”
“You’re right. There are also plenty of possibilities for Max too, but I don’t know any names.”
“I think our best bet is to wait until she posts a new blog. It won’t be tomorrow, she has volleyball all day, so I’ll check again on Monday.”
Monday, 26th of February 2007
Sure enough, on Monday Kari had posted a new blog, most of it a report on her volleyball round robin. I heard Clarice snort in laughter. She was using a computer next to me; we were in the school library and it was lunchtime.
“Look at this!” she laughed.
Party & Volleyball Report
Posted at 6:34am on 26/2/07
Hello friends and enemies!
The volleyball round robin on the weekend was great, my team, Sphinx*, won all our games! Joanne* and I are partners in doubles this year and she can do some awesome spikes! She’s a year older than me, but I’m taller by a tiny bit! My partner last year, Caitlin*, quit volleyball which is a real shame. Then she moved to a different town, and I don’t even have her address to send an invite to my party! It’s too bad, we were pretty close. In our first game Joanne* and I won really easily, but I split a hole in my volleyball pants, which was so embarrassing! I called time out and the whole crowd was laughing at me, including Max*, Turbo*, Par*, Jessie* and the opposing team. I’m pretty sure Joanne* was stifling laughter too. I still can’t believe that nearly every volleyball team there saw my butt.
Oh well, back to party business! So far Tessa*, Turbo* and Joanne* have accepted my invites, while Jessie* has declined. I’m giving an invite to Anon* today, but I’ve decided I’m not inviting Par*.
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
“Sounds like Kari had a ton of fun on Sunday!” I laughed, but only quietly. Corey was using a computer down the other end of the room, but so far hadn’t noticed anything.
“Clarice, look! Corey is on the blog site!”
Clarice glanced in Corey’s direction. “I’m going to bet he’s reading this blog too, look at him! He’s giggling!”
I agreed after looking at Corey. He was definitely trying not to laugh too hard, recalling the game, I bet.
“He must be recalling memories from yesterday! So, what was I going to do when Kari gave me the invite again?”
“Kari wants her plans to go perfectly, so if you don’t go her plans won’t work. So, you’re going to say you’re unable to come because I’m staying at your house. Hopefully Kari will then ask you to ask me if I want to come. Then, our plans come into action!”
In third block I had science. Kari was in my science class, so it was of high chance that it was at this time she would give me the invite. Ever since my first day I’d hated the science building, but I had to face it. I slowly pushed open the door to the building. I had science in room S18, which was up the stairs at the end of the corridor. My steps echoed around me, I was early. The bell hadn’t even gone yet, but I knew it would go in a few minutes. I began to go up the stairs as quietly as possible, placing one foot in front of the other slowly. Suddenly the bell went and I could hear voices below me. I hurried up the rest of the stairs and waited patiently outside the door to the eighteenth science room. We weren’t allowed to enter without teacher permission. Mick was the next up the stairs, followed by Day Sid.
“Hey, you, new kid, have you seen Kari? She was looking for you.” Day said in a sneering sort of way.
“No, I haven’t seen her at all today, she was absent from home class.” I replied, trying to sound calm.
“Well, she should be in your science class, so make sure you see her. Bye.”
Day stalked down the corridor then opened the door to her science class.
“Where is Mr. Steven?” I heard Hedor ask Mick.
“I dunno. He might be away today.” Mick replied.
Kari walked up to Mick, flanked by Corey, Sera and Blaine. “I just so happen to know Mr. Steven’s wife went into labour early this morning, so we will be having a relief teacher for science today.” She said.
“Yeah, so everyone better be angels, ‘cause Mr. Wilson will be taking us.” Sera backed up Kari.
I heard groans from around us. Not only was Mr. Wilson one of the few relief teachers that could actually control a class, he was also Kari’s father. He walked up the stairs wearing matching coat and pants, looking more like a lawyer than a relief teacher.
“Hello father.” I heard Kari say to her dad.
“Hello Kari. Here are the keys; can you please open the door?”
Kari opened the door to the science room and everyone followed her in.
“Amanda, sit next to me!” she called as I closed the door, being the last one in. I sighed and walked on in.
Kari sat furthest from the door, but right at the front. As I placed my books down I felt myself trip over something and drop all my things everywhere.
“Ooops, sorry Amanda! I forgot to tell you I brought my bag to class. Here, I’ll move it.” Kari moved her bag to the other side of the desk, but left me to pick up all of my belongings on my own. Mr. Wilson was looking at me from underneath the rims of his half-glasses.
“Excuse me, miss, but I do believe you are disturbing the whole class.”
“But I’m picking up all my stuff!”
“Do it on your own time! I’ll give you an after-school detention if you keep this up!”
I pulled myself up to the table, leaving my pens, pencils and science books all over the floor.
“Don’t worry Amanda, he’s hard on everyone.” Kari whispered in my ear.
“Kari! Don’t think just because you’re my daughter you can get away with talking during class!” Mr. Wilson shouted from the teacher’s desk.
Kari glanced at me ask if to say, “I told you so!”
Kari began to scrawl on a piece of scrap paper. Mr. Wilson was set to drawing a diagram of an atom on the whiteboard. She handed the paper to me, and I read it slowly, pretending to listen to Mr. Wilson droning on about protons and electrons.
Hey Amanda, I’m having a party on Sunday ‘cause I’ve got no volleyball on, wanna come? It’s gonna be at my dad’s house, which is HUGE. There’s a pool in the backyard, with a diving board, and I’m going to use an empty shed to serve food and drinks in, so we don’t have to disturb my dad. Oh, and I saw your blog on the net, you’re ‘Anonymous Stranger’ right? I’m ‘Princess Kari’ if you want to look me up sometime. Add me to your friends list, ok?
I tried to think of something to write back as quick as possible, but it took about five minutes for the words to form in my head.
Sure, I’ll come to your party, it sounds like heaps of fun! I’ll bring my bathers too, and I might be able to bring some food too if my parents will let me. Can Clarice come too? She’s staying at my house.
Oh, and yeah, I’m ‘Anonymous Stranger’. I’ll add you to my friends list tonight if I have some time; our computer is really old and takes ages to load.
“You’re Amanda, right?” I heard Mr. Wilson ask just after I passed the note back to Kari.
“Yes, I am.” I replied.
“Well, you can pick up your belongings now, but be careful not to disturb the rest of the class; we’re copying notes off the board.”
I crawled onto the floor and tidied up my belongings. The contents of my pencil case were splayed about underneath Mr. Wilson’s desk, so I had to climb underneath it to get them out. I collected all my belongings before returning to the desk. Kari passed me the note back straight away.
It would be great if you could bring some food, cookies, chocolate, whatever as long as it isn’t celery sticks or something! It starts at 7pm, don’t be late! Oh, and the ninth grader can come. Whatever.
The bell went. “Class dismissed!” Announced Mr. Wilson.
Wednesday, 28th of February 2007
That following Wednesday I caught the flu, so my mum let me stay home. However, she wouldn’t let me use the computer. “You’ll get germs all over it!” she had said.
My dad was out for the day doing minor building work on a house four blocks away.
At 6pm that night my mum went out to get dinner, so I snuck onto the computer to check Kari’s blogs. After typing in ‘The Pure One’ one new blog appeared, it was posted yesterday.
“So Kari, what did happen in science?” I muttered to myself, looking at the blog’s title.
What happened in Science…?
Posted at 5:39pm on 27/2/07
Hello everybody that is actually reading this…!
Third block yesterday I finally managed to get around to talking to Anon* about the party on Sunday. I told her my fake blog site username, ‘Princess Kari’ so I could write some interesting things that she could actually see! You can go view that one too if you want to see my fake blogs, but otherwise just stay here.
Oh, and at the start of science Anon* tripped over my bag, sending all of her stuff all of the room! It was so funny, especially when her pencil case burst open! I reckon the zip broke.
Updated party attendance list – Turbo*, Tessa*, Joanne*, Max*, Anon* + her ninth grader friend, Sizzle*, Sausage*, Toby*.
Peeps who aren’t coming – Jessie*, Par*
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
There were no comments on the blog, which was very unusual for one of Kari’s blogs, which usually ended up with whole conversations of comments. Now there were even more people I couldn’t identify, Clarice and I still hadn’t figured out who Max was, but we knew Joanne had to be Day Sid, since she is Kari’s volleyball partner. Now we also had to figure out who Sizzle and Sausage were. I glanced through the journal again, looking for any clues of what Kari wanted to happen to me. I couldn’t find anything, but I decided it might be worthwhile looking at Kari’s fake account, so I typed in ‘Princess Kari’. Two blogs appeared, each with only 4 views each. One was posted a month ago, while the second was from about one hour after ‘The Pure One’s latest blog. I clicked on the second one.
I’m Excited!
Posted at 6:42m on 27/2/07
Hello my friends!
It’s Kari here! I deleted almost all of my old blogs because they were just that, old. I can’t wait for my party on the weekend; it’s going to be a blast! So far I have nine people confirmed as coming, with one declined, and one person scratched from my list! Amanda, the new girl, is bringing her ninth grader friend (sorry, I forgot her name), and Brody Maxwell said he might bring along his girlfriend who goes to Dale Heights, Clyde Evergreen, one of my ex-boyfriends (who is more commonly known as Sizzle) will be coming with Day, and of coarse Corey, Sera, Blaine and Coyote will be coming.
See you there!
Posted by ‘Princess Kari’
Click here to view ‘Princess Kari’s other blogs!
I heard a key turning in the door. I quickly printed ‘Princess Kari’s blog and turned the computer off. There was so much revealing information in this blog, and it would be crucial to Clarice and my plans. I ran to my bedroom and sat down at my desk. My table of people’s names and blog names was there, so I grabbed a pen to fill the rest of it in.
Real Name Blog Name Party Status/Other Info
Kari Wilson ‘The Pure One’ / Pure
‘Princess Kari’ (Fake/Cover-up) Holding party at her dad’s house. There will be a pool.
Corey Ravenstyre
‘Turbo the Speedster’ / Turbo Attending.
Sera Simpson ‘My Name Isn’t Tessa’ / Tessa Attending.
Blaine Yellowfield Toby Attending.
Amanda Green ‘Anonymous Stranger’ / Anon I will be bringing Clarice.
Brody Maxwell Sausage or Max Attending.
Day Sid Joanne Attending.
Mick Towers Jessie Not attending.
Clyde Evergreen Sizzle Coming with Day.
Coyote?? Sausage or Max Attending.
Clarice Norfolk ‘Princess Apple’ Coming with me.
I picked up the house phone and considered ringing Clarice. I had some important information to pass on to her, but I had no idea whether I was even allowed to go yet, I hadn’t asked my mum. I feigned hanging up the phone as my mum walked into the room.
“Who was that?” she asked, placing some cough medicine on my desk.
“A girl in my home class. She’s invited me to a party on Sunday.” I replied, the words coming easy.
“Oh, ok. It’s good to know you’re already making friends! We don’t have anything on Sunday, so I think you should go! It sounds like great fun! Plus, it’ll give your father and me extra time to work on the house.”
“Thanks mum! Can I call Clarice, she’s invited too.”
“Oh, ok, but don’t be too long, I need the internet.”
With that she walked out the door.
“And don’t forget to take your medicine!
Clarice was eager for the information as I relayed it over the phone. “And you’re invited!” I finished.
“That’s great! So far our plan is rolling into action! We’ve got all the information we need! So when do you need the goods?”
“Wait. We haven’t quite got all the information we need. We still don’t know what Kari has planned for me.”
I heard Clarice sigh distantly into the phone. “Well, we’ll soon find out. We’ve only got Thursday, Friday and Saturday to go. I’ll get the goods tomorrow from my parent’s salon. Bye.”
Saturday, 2nd of March 2007
I couldn’t believe I was already planning something this big when I hadn’t even lived in this new town for a month even! I must admit, I was scared, but I soon got over it. Clarice came over again on that Saturday to plan. She was a little frightened too, but when I saw the goods we just laughed at the thought of what was going to happen.
“Invisible Dye,” I read on the cans, “Dissolves in water, goes on clear, turns your hair blue!”
“So Amanda, what are we actually going to do with all these cans of Invisible Dye? They cost me most of my savings!”
“And mine too,” I reminded her, “Believe me, what happens in the end will be worth it.”
The computer beeped from next to us. ‘The Pure One’ had posted a new blog.
“Wanna see what is says?” Clarice asked.
“Well duh!” I replied, clicking on the blog title.
The Party is TOMORROW!
Posted at 12:03pm on 2/3/07
Yup it’s that time again… party time!
My party is tomorrow, and I’m pretty excited! Finally everyone who I invited (except Jessie*) has accepted my invites, so there will be about 30 or so people there if everyone turns up! It’s going to be even better when we embarrass Anon* so much she moves away! It’s going to be great, and 10 of us are all in on it so far, including me. I don’t want everyone to be in on it, because then it will be worse for Anon*! She hasn’t even been here for a month yet, and unfortunately she’s bringing her ninth grader friend. I know Flower* gets on pretty well with the ninth grader that is Anon*’s friend, so we won’t be taking her out too as originally planned.
Hope to see you there!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
“Oh really Kari, is the party really tomorrow?” Clarice said, putting on a mocking voice, which sounded funnier with her accent.
“Who is Flower? Someone who gets on well with you…” I thought allowed.
“It must be Xylia. She showed me around on the first day and since then we’ve got on pretty well.”
“Lucky you,” I muttered, almost jealous, “So, where’s our diagram?”
“Here it is,” said Clarice, smoothing out a piece of paper from her bag. “This is Kari’s dad’s house,” she pointed to a roughly drawn house. “This is the shed where the food and drink will be, and this rectangle is the pool. Now, we’re going to arrive early and say that our watches must have been wrong. Everyone who has arrived by then should still be inside. You’ll take the bags of dye with you outside, saying you’re taking the food you brought to the shed. I’ll keep everyone sidetracked while you tip the dye in the pool, and if the spa is on, save a can for the spa. Then, when they ask if we’ll be swimming, we’ll pretend to have forgotten our bathers.”
“And then when everyone is swimming, I complain of a headache and leave, then you come after me, case closed.” I closed.
It was a tough plan but we were sure of it.
The big day, 6:00pm on 3rd of March 2007
“This is it,” I breathed, “this is the big day.”
Clarice and I were standing outside the huge oak doors of Kari’s dad’s house. It was more like a mansion than a house, but I said nothing as I knocked on the door. Kari answered, opening a slot on the door.
“Oh, you’re early Amanda.” She said, opening the door.
“Oh, I am?” I could hear music from inside.
“Come on in. I see you brought some food. Would you like me to take it to the shed?”
“No thanks, I’ll take it.” I replied quickly.
“Ok then. Clarice is it? Pleased to meet you.” Kari shook Clarice’s hand. “The shed is just across from the spa. Go through that gate over there to get into the backyard, Amanda.”
I opened the gate, careful not to let any of the cans of dye fall from my bag. The backyard was huge, but I could easily see the pool. It was about half the length of an Olympic pool, but it had its own diving board at the deeper end and there was a short water slide on one side. The shed was just behind the pool, across from the spa as Kari had said. I opened the shed door slowly. Inside there were two neat tables and several chairs. The tables were laden with all sorts of snack foods and fizzy drinks. I placed the three packets of biscuits I’d brought with me on the closest tables and snuck back outside. I opened one can of invisible dye and tipped it down the water-slide. I watched it slosh down slowly and laughed. We easily had enough dye to fill the pool. I looked at the side of one can.
“Mix half a can with one litre of water to make a litre of dye. For salon use only. May take up to 24 hours to turn full-blue”
I continued to empty the cans, careful not to get any on myself. The spa was not running, but I tipped one can in it anyway. Better to be safe then sorry. The empty cans jingled in my bag. Where could I dispose them? I bit my lip. I hadn’t thought of that! I looked over the western fence of the backyard and saw one of those huge dumpsters. Perfect!
“Amanda, Clarice, would you like some Coke?” Kari asked, pouring drinks for everyone.
“No thanks, I prefer lemonade.” I replied, trying to be difficult. It was getting darker outside, but Kari’s backyard was full of light.
Kari passed me a glass of lemonade. “Here you go Amanda.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
Clarice shook her head. “I can’t have fizzy drink, do you have any water?”
“Uh, sure. I’ll be right back.” Kari dashed over to a sink.
“What sort of shed has a sink in it?” Clarice muttered in my ear.
“I know!” I muttered back.
“When do you think people will start swimming?” Clarice asked Kari, as she passed her a glass of water.
“I dunno, soon I guess. Everyone else has bathers, do you?”
“Sorry, I’m allergic to chlorine.” Clarice replied, easily handling the lie.
“Oh, there’s no chlorine in the spa if you want to use that. What about you Amanda?”
“I don’t really like swimming that much.” I said, trying not to think about the thirteen swimming trophies and medals I had at home.
“Please! It’ll be great fun!” Kari pleaded.
“Sorry, but no.” I kept a steady face.
“Fine, but don’t walk too close to the pool if you don’t want to be pushed in! I’m going to get changed into my bikini.” Kari dashed off.
Clarice and I were the only people left in the shed. I looked out the door and gasped.
“Corey is already swimming!” I laughed. “I think it’s about time I got that headache.”
“But you can’t leave! Not yet!” Kari squealed from in the pool.
“I’m sorry, but I get migraines all the time. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, bye.” I tried to keep a straight face as I thought about what Kari and all the other people in the pool would look like with blue hair. Only eight of the twenty-seven guests weren’t swimming.
“Whatever then! But don’t expect me to be your friend anymore!” I heard Kari shout at Clarice and I as we walked from the party.
“Goodbye Kari Wilson,” I called over my shoulder, “It’s your loss!”
Back to Present Day, 2014
“And so that’s my most successful moment. However, two days later when Kari turned up at school with blue hair, after the initial laughter people thought of it as a fashion statement, which sucked. So, Clarice and I never really became heroes, but in a way we did introduce the blue-hair craze to Oaktree High. The End.”
I heard a groan from somewhere in front of me. “Something wrong, Luce?”
“Cousin, that story was way to long! I don’t care what day it is today but that was a waste of time.” A teenage boy moaned from a table in the corner.
“Well Luce, I don’t think you’ll be telling any better stories at your twenty-first. Now, who wants to hear another story?”
A little girl sitting next to Luce pushed her little hand into the air. “I wanna hear another story cousin Amanda!”
“Well Lira… when I was your age I broke my arm and…”
“No cousin, I don’t want to hear another story about you, I wanna hear another story about Kari, Kari Wilson.”
Also, I'm writing a new story (untitled at this time) so if you enoyed this one, watch out for my next post! Oh, and you can also view this story on deviantART, my username is limlenny.
Spoiler:
Present Day, 2014
“I guess I never was the most popular kid in high school. In fact, I don’t think three quarters of the other students at Oaktree High even knew my name, or that I existed. But then again, I guess I was a bit of a nobody. I was the exact opposite of Oaktree’s resident beauty at that time, Kari Wilson. I can’t believe I’m even mentioning her name here! Kari Wilson… well since I’ve already mentioned her name I guess I’ll tell you a story from high school that involves Kari, and me. Well, if you consider my popularity status at that time, you’d only really want to know about Kari… Kari Wilson.”
Summer 2007, 4th of February
“We’re here!” I heard my mum happily call from the front passenger’s seat. I looked up from my book and out of the car window. There it was, our new house. A dilapidated house that should have been knocked down years ago, or as my professional renovator parents would call it, ‘a renovator’s dream’. Ok, so it was a lot better than some of the previous houses I’d had the ‘pleasure’ to live in, as I could see it there were no obvious holes in the roof and it actually had a front door. It seemed that there was a small chance I would actually enjoy living at 72 Maple Drive. I slowly opened the car door, and it squeaked as I pushed it open fully to step out. I carried only my backpack and pillow, as everything else was in the removalist’s van, which hadn’t arrived yet. My dad climbed out of the driver’s seat and my mum followed. Together, we all approached the front door of our new house. It was a deep mahogany colour, and didn’t fit in with the rest of the house at all, especially the stained glass window. My dad pulled the house key out of his pocket. It was a long, thin silver key that looked as if it had teeth. As my dad turned it in the keyhole, it made a small clicking noise and the door swung open. Unlike most of the houses my parent’s renovated there was hardly any dust to start with, and the previous owners had left some furniture. However, the thing that amazed me most was that one of the things they had left was a computer! My family had never had an actual computer before. Sure, my dad had his laptop, but that was strictly for his renovation jobs for things like safety reports and to keep track of possible future jobs and it didn’t even have the internet. The computer was white, and an old model. It was nothing like the flat-screened models most people have now, it was really bulky and all the power and extension cords took up most of the room the computer was in, but I was excited none the less.
First Day at Oaktree, 15th of February 2007
During the days after was arrived at 72 Maple Drive it was a frenzy of unpacking and moving in. Now, it was to be my first day at my new school, Oaktree High. It looked like a good enough school; it was large with many red brick buildings, unlike my previous school, Hawkesbury High, which had had the one, large, dull grey building. I was to be in class 8F with a teacher called Ms. Drenched. My parents had had a bit of a laugh at this, especially because her given name was Gotabee. Gotabee Drenched. I would have hated myself for life if y parents had given me a name like that!
Anyway, when I first arrived at the admin block of Oaktree I was greeted by the principal, Mr. Sustan. He had two other new students with him, Clarice Norfolk in the ninth grade and Mick Towers in eighth grade. Clarice was tall with heaps of freckles and ginger hair, while Mick was about average height with pale skin and jet black hair. He also had a spider’s web earring in one ear.
“Welcome students,” Said Mr Sustan, addressing Clarice, Mick and I.
“Hi Mr. Sustan,” I replied nervously.
“Morning sir,” Clarice responded. I noticed she had an English accent.
“Yo, Sustano,” Mick murmured, almost to himself.
Mr. Sustan looked us over, his eyes like bright blue scanning beams.
“Clarice, you will be in class 9B with Mr. Bacon. Mick and…” he trailed off. “Sorry, what’s your name again?”
“I’m Amanda, sir, Amanda Green.” I said.
“Well Amanda. Mick and yourself are in class 8F with Ms. Drenched.”
I heard Mick stifle some laughter.
“Something funny, Mick?” Mr. Sustan asked.
“Nope, not anymore!” Mick laughed.
Mr. Sustan ignored him and glanced at Clarice and me.
“Follow me, students, and I’ll lead you to your new home classes.”
“Welcome to class 8F for 2007!”
Ms. Drenched’s voice rang out over the classroom. I was seated right at the back at a desk next to a girl with mousy brown hair. She was passing notes with the blond-haired boy in front of her.
“Sera Simpson,” Ms. Drenched glared through her half-rim glasses at the girl with the mousy brown hair. She then turned her gaze to the blond-haired boy. “And Blaine Yellowfield! Are you already breaking the class code?”
Sera sighed, trailing one of her fingers through her mousy brown curls. “Sorry Ms. Drenched.” She sighed.
Ms. Drenched glanced in my direction. “Ah. In that case, everyone please welcome our new class members, Amanda and Mick.”
I could hear some muttered ‘hellos’ but one voice rang out over the others, and it came from a blond-haired girl in the front row. “Welcome, I’m Kari. Kari Wilson.”
She smiled in my direction.
“Kari,” Ms. Drenched smiled at Kari, “I was going to ask Sera to show Amanda around, but would you do it for me instead?”
“Sure, Ms. Drenched! Anything for the school, you know that!” Kari replied happily, then waving in my direction. “I’ll meet you at the admin block at recess, ok?”
Kari didn’t wait for my response before turning to the boy sitting next to her. Ms. Drenched began to speak again.
“Corey Ravenstyre,” she was speaking to the boy sitting next to Kari, “you will show Mick around. Class dismissed, it’s time for first block.”
First block maths with Mr. Bacon went pretty quickly, he basically welcomed everyone to the new school year and told us a little about what we would be doing for the year. At recess Kari showed me all the buildings and what subjects were in each. It turned out I was doing all the same subjects as Kari, so she was going to help me get around. She glanced at her timetable.
“Looks like we have english in second block Amanda! The humanities block is that one over there,” she pointed at a building that was next to the admin block. “I’ll see you there in a minute. I’m just going to the toilets.”
Kari raced off before I could say anything back, and before I knew it the bell had gone. I slowly walked toward the building Kari had told me was the humanities building, looking around myself. People were milling around me, heading towards the same building, but I didn’t recognise any of them, and my English class was basically the same as my home class. I pushed through the large doors of the building and glanced inside. There was a hallway, leading off into about ten rooms and a staircase. I looked at my timetable. My English class was in room H09. I walked down the hallway, looking at the numbers on each door. Finally I reached room number nine. I turned the handle and opened the door, but when I looked inside I saw a science room!
“Sorry,” I muttered, closing the door.
I looked through the windows on each door and realised each room was the same. This was the science building, not the humanities building! I raced out the door and looked around. A groundsman was picking up litter outside the admin block, so I approached him. No students were left on the grounds at all; they were all in class by now.
“Excuse me,” I said to the groundsman, “Would you be able to tell me which building is the humanities building?”
The groundsman nodded. “I sure can. It’s that one,” he pointed to the building furthest away from the admin block. “New here, are you?”
Now it was my turn to nod. “Thankyou,” I said, running in the direction of the real humanities building.
I walked into room H09 almost half an hour late. A hush fell over the class as I entered and sat down at the only free desk next to a boy named Hedor Pazguato, a real nerd with Spanish parents. Plus, he had really bad breath as well, and no-one sat with him for long once they knew him. At that time, I didn’t know him.
“Ms. Green, so nice of you to join us at last.” My English teacher, Mrs. Roberts said to me, leaning on the desk.
“I’m sorry… I got lost.” I responded, my face red with embarrassment.
“Ah, but Kari here informed me that she told you exactly which building to come to for English.”
I felt the anger rise inside of me. Kari had told me the absolutely wrong building to go to!
“Maybe she misunderstood me when I said furthest from the admin block, Mrs. Roberts. Don’t be so hard on her.” I couldn’t believe it. I thought Kari had purposely told me the wrong building, but now she was sticking up for me! Maybe I had misunderstood her…
“Fine, but if it happens again, you’ll get a detention, Amanda.” Mrs. Roberts explained.
At lunch I was left to my own devices. Kari had a meeting for her chosen sport of volleyball. For some reason, she hadn’t invited me along. I sat under a large oak tree eating my chilli crackers when Clarice approached me.
“Hi Clarice,” I muttered, still a little confused from English. I still couldn’t believe Mrs. Roberts had made us do work on the first day!
“Hello Amanda, would you like to come to the library with me? We can use the computers there to check e-mails and blogs.” Clarice asked.
I looked at her. “I don’t have an e-mail address… and what’s a blog?”
Clarice laughed. “Come to the library and I’ll help you set up your own e-mail account, and show you what a blog is!”
I nodded. “Ok then.”
Then library was one of the smaller buildings. It sat between the maths and humanities buildings and had a sign out the front showing a list of upcoming school events. The doors were automatic, nothing like Hawkesbury, I thought to myself. Clarice walked in the doors in front of me.
“Welcome!” said a cheerful voice. It was Ms. Dante, the library lady.
“Hello Ms. Dante!” replied Clarice, “May we please use some computers?”
Ms. Dante nodded. “Here at Oaktree we use a sign-on system. Here is a form you have to fill out before you use a computer for the first time, and here is the register where you can book computers for lunch and after-school.”
Ms. Dante passed a form to me. “Clarice, you got one just before, didn’t you? Have you filled it out?”
Clarice nodded. “I filled it out when Xylia showed me around the library at recess. Here it is.”
Clarice passed Ms. Dante her form.
“Great. Feel free to use one of the computers on the back wall, Clarice.” Ms. Dante pointed to a row of computers, and then passed me a pencil. “Amanda, is it?”
“Yes, Amanda Green.” I took the pencil and filled out the form.
I handed my form back to Ms. Dante. “Oh, you forgot to sign the agreement of safe internet usage at the bottom, here.”
I signed the page.
“Great, now you can go use a computer with Clarice. Have a good time!”
I walked over to the computers. They were all flat-screened and black, nothing like the one I had at home. I sat down on the computer next to Clarice.
“So, what’s a blog then?” I asked, looking at the website she was using.
“A blog is like an online journal entry. The cool thing is, you can write whatever you want and choose to be anonymous, and you get to choose who reads it too!” Clarice pointed to the web address.
“Just go to this site and sign-up, oh wait! You need an e-mail address first! I’ll set you up one! What do you want your username to be?”
“Uh… how about Amanda?” I suggested.
“No, that’s too common! Someone’s bound to already have that name, think of something more original.”
“Umm… how about Amanda Green then?”
Clarice sighed. “I guess it’s not very original, but it’s less likely to be taken!”
Clarice typed in my name. “It’s not taken! I’ll add you to my contacts and you can add me! I’m princessapple77!”
I typed in Clarice’s e-mail address and added her to my new contact book.
“Wow, you sure do catch on fast! Now back to the blog website to sign-up!”
I typed in the address for the blog website and saw heaps of colours jump over the screen.
“Click on that rainbow button there that says ‘Join’,” instructed Clarice. “You have to type in your e-mail address and what name you want to have at the bottom of your blog entries to sign-up. My blog entries are signed off with ‘Princess Apple’. What are you going to be?”
“I’m going to be ‘Anonymous Stranger’ until I think of something better,” I replied, and began typing my first blog entry.
A week later, 22nd of February 2007
All week Clarice and I had been visiting the library to write on our blogs. It was true, I’d become obsessed with ‘blogging’. I enjoyed the freedom of speech and being able to say what I wanted, and only Clarice knew who ‘Anonymous Stranger’ was. In fact, half of the time when I typed I wasn’t even sure myself! The confidence my blog gave me made me seem like a different person, and now even Mrs. Roberts didn’t seem to be as mean as she was. So far, my parents hadn’t been able to get the computer working at home yet, but they had started working on the house. They had replaced most of the windows and were now starting on the living room, which was a pain because it meant I couldn’t watch television.
So it was at lunch time today that I decided to do a ‘blog search’ on the blog site for all blogs containing the phrase ‘Oaktree High School’. The first entry that came up was two years old, so I ignored it. I searched through two pages, each containing the titles and brief description of journal entries, plus the dates they were posted until I found a recent one. It was from the week before, and the title was ‘The New Kid’. I was curious, so I opened it to full screen.
The New Kid
Posted at 9:05pm on 15/2/07
Hello my loyal blog readers!
Today two new kids arrived to start the year at my school, Oaktree High. The guy, Jessie*, is a real hottie even though he’s a Goth. I even considered leaving my current boyfriend for him, but I couldn’t do it. That’s right, Turbo*, I’m still with you. Anyway, the girl, (we’ll call her anon) Anon* is really annoying. She has the ugliest blond hair ever, and it’s all wavy. Anyway, my home class teacher made ME show her around! She was going to make Tessa* do it, but then Tessa* and Toby* got caught passing notes, so I was asked to show Anon* around and Turbo* was asked to show Jessie* around. At recess, I was showing Anon* around and when I realised it was almost time for the bell, I pointed at the science building, when we had english, and told her that was the humanities building! She ended up half and hour late for English, and Mrs. Clover* was sooooo mad! She is the most temperamental teacher at our school, and if I hadn’t told Mrs. Clover* that it was an accident she would have given Anon* a detention!
I’ll write again soon!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
I gasped. The story was so familiar to me, and I knew that the name Kari meant ‘pure’. Kari Wilson must have written this blog! I clicked on the link at the bottom. I was now determined to find more proof that ‘The Pure One’ was Kari Wilson.
The next day, 23rd of February 2007
The next morning, my dad woke me up earlier than usual.
“I’ve got a surprise for you Amanda! I’ve finally fixed the computer and connected it to the internet!”
His words sprung me wide awake. It was only 4:47am, but I was now so excited I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, even if I was tired.
“Can… can I test it?” I asked.
“You sure can, but not until I’m sure you’re ready for school!”
I dashed into the bathroom, had the quickest shower I’d ever had before and got dressed. I brushed my teeth as fast as possible and brushed my hair.
“Can I please use the computer now?” I asked my dad.
“Ok, but only if your bed is made!” he replied.
I ran into my room and made my bed, then ran into the computer room. A green light flickered underneath the screen and the speakers buzzed. I slowly typed in the blog address and typed in ‘The Pure One’.
The screen read: “’The Pure One’ has posted one new blog.”
It was titled ‘What Happens Next’ and was ‘The Pure One’s latest blog.
What Happens Next
Posted at 10:56pm on 22/2/07
Hey everyone,
I’m really sorry I’ve taken so long to post a new blog! I’ve been really busy since school started again, especially with English work. Mrs. Clover* works us really hard. At the moment we’re writing stories and the topics Mrs. Clover* gives us are really hard to write stories about. Anyway, Anon* has been hanging around the library a lot lately. I’m guessing she’s a bit of a nerd! However, I don’t think she reads a lot though, she uses the computers mainly. Maybe she has a blog? Nah, I doubt it. She doesn’t seem to know a lot about technology, I can’t believe she doesn’t even have her own mobile phone! Basically everyone has a phone here. I do know she has an e-mail address though; she gave it to that new ninth grader and she dropped it. I picked it up, and now I’m thinking of pulling the ‘nice girl’ trick on Anon* again, comment on this blog with your thoughts on this, especially you Turbo*!
Bye!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
“Amanda, it’s time for school!” I heard my mum call from the front door.
“I’m coming mum!” I called in return, turning the computer off as I hurried out.
At lunchtime, Clarice met me at the library. “Why haven’t you posted a new blog yet, Amanda?” she asked.
“I guess I’ve been too busy reading other people’s blogs.” I replied. “I found an interesting one by typing in ‘Oaktree High’, do you want to see it?”
Clarice nodded. “You do know most people change the names of places and people in their entries, don’t you? It might not even really be from our school!”
I clicked onto ‘The Pure One’s blog entries and clicked on ‘The New Kid’.
“I’m pretty sure this one is from Oaktree. See, where it says Oaktree there’s no astricts!” I said, pointing at the sentence that read; “Today two new kids arrived to start the year at my school, Oaktree High.”
“Yeah, you’re right! And it sounds like your first day!” Clarice whispered, because there were others on either side of us. “Do you think you know who it is?”
I nodded. “I think its Kari Wilson.”
“Kari Wilson!” Clarice gasped, “But she’s ultra popular and nice! She’s been nothing but nice to me.”
“Did you know that the name Kari means ‘pure’?” I asked Clarice.
She shook her head. “What’s that got to do with this?”
I pointed at the sign-off name. “The sign-off name is ‘The Pure One’!”
I heard Clarice gasp. “You’re right! That has to be a sign that this could be Kari.”
I pointed at one of ‘The Pure One’s past blogs. “Look at this blog! It mentions several names of teachers that work here at Oaktree. She must have been really careless writing that one.”
Clarice glanced at the blog and looked back at her own computer screen. “Hmmm. But how can we stop her?”
“Well… I’ve got an idea.” I clicked on the ‘post a new blog’ icon on the computer screen.
“You do? But what could we possibly do? Kari is the most popular girl at Oaktree, who’s gonna believe us, a couple of newbies, over her?”
“It’s complicated, but if it works, it could be the downfall of Kari Wilson and her gang.”
Saturday, 24th of February 2007
It was finally the weekend and my parents were out all day at a conference in the next city over, so I had the house all to myself. I invited Clarice over, and we set to planning Kari’s downfall. Our home computer was much slower than the ones at school, and it took us quite a long time to realise ‘The Pure One’ had posted a new blog.
“Look Clarice! ‘The Pure One’ has a new blog! Should we read it?”
Clarice nodded. “We should see what she says this time.”
I clicked on the link, and it took about nine minutes to load.
Par-tay!
Posted at 7:16am on 24/2/07
Hey there party goers!
I’m going to have a killer party next weekend. I’m going to invite all the kids from school, including Anon*, so I can begin part two of my nice girl approach. Some other people I’m gonna invite include Turbo*, Jessie*, Tessa*, Toby*, Max* and Joanne*. So if you’re reading this, you’ve got a head start on choosing your ultra-awesome outfits to wear! It’s gonna be at my dad’s house, the big white one with the pool out back, so you can bring your bathers too if you want. The back garage is empty, so I’ll be able to serve food and drink from in there. If you’re reading this, I know you and you haven’t already been listed post a comment on this blog to get an invite! I’ll be sure to keep you all up to date on changes during the week!
Siya all on Monday!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
There was one comment on the blog so far.
There is 1 comment on this blog. Click here to add your own!
Comment #1
Posted by ‘Turbo the Speedster’ at 8:03am on 24/2/07
Hey Pure*. I’ll be glad to hang at your party, as long as you don’t invite Jessie*. If you do, I won’t go.
“Hmmm. Who do you think Turbo is?” Clarice asked, still reading the screen.
“I’m pretty sure it’s Corey Ravenstyre, Kari’s boyfriend. I also think Jessie is the codename Kari uses for Mick Towers.” I replied, reading the blog again.
“Ah. Yes, I see. In the first blog she mentions a new boy that is a Goth, so it has to be Mick.” Clarice was catching on quickly.
The screen blinked. Another comment had been added to the blog.
There are 2 comments on this blog. Click here to add your own!
Comment #2
Posted by ‘My Name Isn’t Tessa’ at 9:51am on 24/2/07
Pure*, I know Turbo* doesn’t want you to invite Jessie* but he’s so cool! Oh well. It would be tons better if you didn’t have to invite Anon*, she’ll probably ask you to invite that ninth grader.
“I think Tessa is Sera Simpson, because if we look at the first blog again it says that Tessa and Toby were caught passing notes. That was Sera and Blaine.” I said after reading the comment.
“Should we comment on it?” Clarice suggested. “If we use my account, Kari won’t know who it is.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think we should. Besides, what would we say?”
Clarice sighed. “I guess that’s a good point. What time do you parents get back?”
“Not until ten pm. We should be right until then. Want something to eat?”
It was 2pm. So far no one else had commented on the blog, so Clarice and I had set to planning. First we drew up a grid of the information we had basically figured out from the blogs.
Real Name Blog Name Party Status/Other Info
Kari Wilson ‘The Pure One’ / Pure Holding party.
Corey Ravenstyre ‘Turbo the Speedster’ / Turbo Going if Mick isn’t invited.
Sera Simpson ‘My Name Isn’t Tessa’ / Tessa Invited.
Blaine Yellowfield Toby Invited.
Amanda Green ‘Anonymous Stranger’ / Anon Invited.
?? Max Invited.
?? Joanne Invited.
Mick Towers Jessie Invited.
“Isn’t it freaky how in her blogs Kari calls you Anon when your blog name is ‘Anonymous Stranger’?” Clarice asked, pointing at my name in the table.
“Yeah. Maybe she’s seen my blogs and figured it out that it’s me!” I exclaimed. I hadn’t really considered the similarities. At least I didn’t say anything mean about others in my blogs.
“I wonder who Max and Joanne are.” Clarice thought aloud.
“Max might be Ash Smith, Corey’s best friend, but I have no idea who Joanne could be, Kari has so many cronies!” I replied.
Clarice laughed. “Well, Xylia who showed me around the school is one of Kari’s ninth grader friends, so it could be her.”
I nodded, thinking about it. “But it could also be Mariah Newman, Cassie Hill or Day Sid. There are others too. Joanne might even be one of her friends who go to the other high school, Dale Heights.”
“You’re right. There are also plenty of possibilities for Max too, but I don’t know any names.”
“I think our best bet is to wait until she posts a new blog. It won’t be tomorrow, she has volleyball all day, so I’ll check again on Monday.”
Monday, 26th of February 2007
Sure enough, on Monday Kari had posted a new blog, most of it a report on her volleyball round robin. I heard Clarice snort in laughter. She was using a computer next to me; we were in the school library and it was lunchtime.
“Look at this!” she laughed.
Party & Volleyball Report
Posted at 6:34am on 26/2/07
Hello friends and enemies!
The volleyball round robin on the weekend was great, my team, Sphinx*, won all our games! Joanne* and I are partners in doubles this year and she can do some awesome spikes! She’s a year older than me, but I’m taller by a tiny bit! My partner last year, Caitlin*, quit volleyball which is a real shame. Then she moved to a different town, and I don’t even have her address to send an invite to my party! It’s too bad, we were pretty close. In our first game Joanne* and I won really easily, but I split a hole in my volleyball pants, which was so embarrassing! I called time out and the whole crowd was laughing at me, including Max*, Turbo*, Par*, Jessie* and the opposing team. I’m pretty sure Joanne* was stifling laughter too. I still can’t believe that nearly every volleyball team there saw my butt.
Oh well, back to party business! So far Tessa*, Turbo* and Joanne* have accepted my invites, while Jessie* has declined. I’m giving an invite to Anon* today, but I’ve decided I’m not inviting Par*.
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
“Sounds like Kari had a ton of fun on Sunday!” I laughed, but only quietly. Corey was using a computer down the other end of the room, but so far hadn’t noticed anything.
“Clarice, look! Corey is on the blog site!”
Clarice glanced in Corey’s direction. “I’m going to bet he’s reading this blog too, look at him! He’s giggling!”
I agreed after looking at Corey. He was definitely trying not to laugh too hard, recalling the game, I bet.
“He must be recalling memories from yesterday! So, what was I going to do when Kari gave me the invite again?”
“Kari wants her plans to go perfectly, so if you don’t go her plans won’t work. So, you’re going to say you’re unable to come because I’m staying at your house. Hopefully Kari will then ask you to ask me if I want to come. Then, our plans come into action!”
In third block I had science. Kari was in my science class, so it was of high chance that it was at this time she would give me the invite. Ever since my first day I’d hated the science building, but I had to face it. I slowly pushed open the door to the building. I had science in room S18, which was up the stairs at the end of the corridor. My steps echoed around me, I was early. The bell hadn’t even gone yet, but I knew it would go in a few minutes. I began to go up the stairs as quietly as possible, placing one foot in front of the other slowly. Suddenly the bell went and I could hear voices below me. I hurried up the rest of the stairs and waited patiently outside the door to the eighteenth science room. We weren’t allowed to enter without teacher permission. Mick was the next up the stairs, followed by Day Sid.
“Hey, you, new kid, have you seen Kari? She was looking for you.” Day said in a sneering sort of way.
“No, I haven’t seen her at all today, she was absent from home class.” I replied, trying to sound calm.
“Well, she should be in your science class, so make sure you see her. Bye.”
Day stalked down the corridor then opened the door to her science class.
“Where is Mr. Steven?” I heard Hedor ask Mick.
“I dunno. He might be away today.” Mick replied.
Kari walked up to Mick, flanked by Corey, Sera and Blaine. “I just so happen to know Mr. Steven’s wife went into labour early this morning, so we will be having a relief teacher for science today.” She said.
“Yeah, so everyone better be angels, ‘cause Mr. Wilson will be taking us.” Sera backed up Kari.
I heard groans from around us. Not only was Mr. Wilson one of the few relief teachers that could actually control a class, he was also Kari’s father. He walked up the stairs wearing matching coat and pants, looking more like a lawyer than a relief teacher.
“Hello father.” I heard Kari say to her dad.
“Hello Kari. Here are the keys; can you please open the door?”
Kari opened the door to the science room and everyone followed her in.
“Amanda, sit next to me!” she called as I closed the door, being the last one in. I sighed and walked on in.
Kari sat furthest from the door, but right at the front. As I placed my books down I felt myself trip over something and drop all my things everywhere.
“Ooops, sorry Amanda! I forgot to tell you I brought my bag to class. Here, I’ll move it.” Kari moved her bag to the other side of the desk, but left me to pick up all of my belongings on my own. Mr. Wilson was looking at me from underneath the rims of his half-glasses.
“Excuse me, miss, but I do believe you are disturbing the whole class.”
“But I’m picking up all my stuff!”
“Do it on your own time! I’ll give you an after-school detention if you keep this up!”
I pulled myself up to the table, leaving my pens, pencils and science books all over the floor.
“Don’t worry Amanda, he’s hard on everyone.” Kari whispered in my ear.
“Kari! Don’t think just because you’re my daughter you can get away with talking during class!” Mr. Wilson shouted from the teacher’s desk.
Kari glanced at me ask if to say, “I told you so!”
Kari began to scrawl on a piece of scrap paper. Mr. Wilson was set to drawing a diagram of an atom on the whiteboard. She handed the paper to me, and I read it slowly, pretending to listen to Mr. Wilson droning on about protons and electrons.
Hey Amanda, I’m having a party on Sunday ‘cause I’ve got no volleyball on, wanna come? It’s gonna be at my dad’s house, which is HUGE. There’s a pool in the backyard, with a diving board, and I’m going to use an empty shed to serve food and drinks in, so we don’t have to disturb my dad. Oh, and I saw your blog on the net, you’re ‘Anonymous Stranger’ right? I’m ‘Princess Kari’ if you want to look me up sometime. Add me to your friends list, ok?
I tried to think of something to write back as quick as possible, but it took about five minutes for the words to form in my head.
Sure, I’ll come to your party, it sounds like heaps of fun! I’ll bring my bathers too, and I might be able to bring some food too if my parents will let me. Can Clarice come too? She’s staying at my house.
Oh, and yeah, I’m ‘Anonymous Stranger’. I’ll add you to my friends list tonight if I have some time; our computer is really old and takes ages to load.
“You’re Amanda, right?” I heard Mr. Wilson ask just after I passed the note back to Kari.
“Yes, I am.” I replied.
“Well, you can pick up your belongings now, but be careful not to disturb the rest of the class; we’re copying notes off the board.”
I crawled onto the floor and tidied up my belongings. The contents of my pencil case were splayed about underneath Mr. Wilson’s desk, so I had to climb underneath it to get them out. I collected all my belongings before returning to the desk. Kari passed me the note back straight away.
It would be great if you could bring some food, cookies, chocolate, whatever as long as it isn’t celery sticks or something! It starts at 7pm, don’t be late! Oh, and the ninth grader can come. Whatever.
The bell went. “Class dismissed!” Announced Mr. Wilson.
Wednesday, 28th of February 2007
That following Wednesday I caught the flu, so my mum let me stay home. However, she wouldn’t let me use the computer. “You’ll get germs all over it!” she had said.
My dad was out for the day doing minor building work on a house four blocks away.
At 6pm that night my mum went out to get dinner, so I snuck onto the computer to check Kari’s blogs. After typing in ‘The Pure One’ one new blog appeared, it was posted yesterday.
“So Kari, what did happen in science?” I muttered to myself, looking at the blog’s title.
What happened in Science…?
Posted at 5:39pm on 27/2/07
Hello everybody that is actually reading this…!
Third block yesterday I finally managed to get around to talking to Anon* about the party on Sunday. I told her my fake blog site username, ‘Princess Kari’ so I could write some interesting things that she could actually see! You can go view that one too if you want to see my fake blogs, but otherwise just stay here.
Oh, and at the start of science Anon* tripped over my bag, sending all of her stuff all of the room! It was so funny, especially when her pencil case burst open! I reckon the zip broke.
Updated party attendance list – Turbo*, Tessa*, Joanne*, Max*, Anon* + her ninth grader friend, Sizzle*, Sausage*, Toby*.
Peeps who aren’t coming – Jessie*, Par*
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
There were no comments on the blog, which was very unusual for one of Kari’s blogs, which usually ended up with whole conversations of comments. Now there were even more people I couldn’t identify, Clarice and I still hadn’t figured out who Max was, but we knew Joanne had to be Day Sid, since she is Kari’s volleyball partner. Now we also had to figure out who Sizzle and Sausage were. I glanced through the journal again, looking for any clues of what Kari wanted to happen to me. I couldn’t find anything, but I decided it might be worthwhile looking at Kari’s fake account, so I typed in ‘Princess Kari’. Two blogs appeared, each with only 4 views each. One was posted a month ago, while the second was from about one hour after ‘The Pure One’s latest blog. I clicked on the second one.
I’m Excited!
Posted at 6:42m on 27/2/07
Hello my friends!
It’s Kari here! I deleted almost all of my old blogs because they were just that, old. I can’t wait for my party on the weekend; it’s going to be a blast! So far I have nine people confirmed as coming, with one declined, and one person scratched from my list! Amanda, the new girl, is bringing her ninth grader friend (sorry, I forgot her name), and Brody Maxwell said he might bring along his girlfriend who goes to Dale Heights, Clyde Evergreen, one of my ex-boyfriends (who is more commonly known as Sizzle) will be coming with Day, and of coarse Corey, Sera, Blaine and Coyote will be coming.
See you there!
Posted by ‘Princess Kari’
Click here to view ‘Princess Kari’s other blogs!
I heard a key turning in the door. I quickly printed ‘Princess Kari’s blog and turned the computer off. There was so much revealing information in this blog, and it would be crucial to Clarice and my plans. I ran to my bedroom and sat down at my desk. My table of people’s names and blog names was there, so I grabbed a pen to fill the rest of it in.
Real Name Blog Name Party Status/Other Info
Kari Wilson ‘The Pure One’ / Pure
‘Princess Kari’ (Fake/Cover-up) Holding party at her dad’s house. There will be a pool.
Corey Ravenstyre
‘Turbo the Speedster’ / Turbo Attending.
Sera Simpson ‘My Name Isn’t Tessa’ / Tessa Attending.
Blaine Yellowfield Toby Attending.
Amanda Green ‘Anonymous Stranger’ / Anon I will be bringing Clarice.
Brody Maxwell Sausage or Max Attending.
Day Sid Joanne Attending.
Mick Towers Jessie Not attending.
Clyde Evergreen Sizzle Coming with Day.
Coyote?? Sausage or Max Attending.
Clarice Norfolk ‘Princess Apple’ Coming with me.
I picked up the house phone and considered ringing Clarice. I had some important information to pass on to her, but I had no idea whether I was even allowed to go yet, I hadn’t asked my mum. I feigned hanging up the phone as my mum walked into the room.
“Who was that?” she asked, placing some cough medicine on my desk.
“A girl in my home class. She’s invited me to a party on Sunday.” I replied, the words coming easy.
“Oh, ok. It’s good to know you’re already making friends! We don’t have anything on Sunday, so I think you should go! It sounds like great fun! Plus, it’ll give your father and me extra time to work on the house.”
“Thanks mum! Can I call Clarice, she’s invited too.”
“Oh, ok, but don’t be too long, I need the internet.”
With that she walked out the door.
“And don’t forget to take your medicine!
Clarice was eager for the information as I relayed it over the phone. “And you’re invited!” I finished.
“That’s great! So far our plan is rolling into action! We’ve got all the information we need! So when do you need the goods?”
“Wait. We haven’t quite got all the information we need. We still don’t know what Kari has planned for me.”
I heard Clarice sigh distantly into the phone. “Well, we’ll soon find out. We’ve only got Thursday, Friday and Saturday to go. I’ll get the goods tomorrow from my parent’s salon. Bye.”
Saturday, 2nd of March 2007
I couldn’t believe I was already planning something this big when I hadn’t even lived in this new town for a month even! I must admit, I was scared, but I soon got over it. Clarice came over again on that Saturday to plan. She was a little frightened too, but when I saw the goods we just laughed at the thought of what was going to happen.
“Invisible Dye,” I read on the cans, “Dissolves in water, goes on clear, turns your hair blue!”
“So Amanda, what are we actually going to do with all these cans of Invisible Dye? They cost me most of my savings!”
“And mine too,” I reminded her, “Believe me, what happens in the end will be worth it.”
The computer beeped from next to us. ‘The Pure One’ had posted a new blog.
“Wanna see what is says?” Clarice asked.
“Well duh!” I replied, clicking on the blog title.
The Party is TOMORROW!
Posted at 12:03pm on 2/3/07
Yup it’s that time again… party time!
My party is tomorrow, and I’m pretty excited! Finally everyone who I invited (except Jessie*) has accepted my invites, so there will be about 30 or so people there if everyone turns up! It’s going to be even better when we embarrass Anon* so much she moves away! It’s going to be great, and 10 of us are all in on it so far, including me. I don’t want everyone to be in on it, because then it will be worse for Anon*! She hasn’t even been here for a month yet, and unfortunately she’s bringing her ninth grader friend. I know Flower* gets on pretty well with the ninth grader that is Anon*’s friend, so we won’t be taking her out too as originally planned.
Hope to see you there!
*Name(s) have been changed.
Posted by ‘The Pure One’
Click here to view ‘The Pure One’s other blogs!
“Oh really Kari, is the party really tomorrow?” Clarice said, putting on a mocking voice, which sounded funnier with her accent.
“Who is Flower? Someone who gets on well with you…” I thought allowed.
“It must be Xylia. She showed me around on the first day and since then we’ve got on pretty well.”
“Lucky you,” I muttered, almost jealous, “So, where’s our diagram?”
“Here it is,” said Clarice, smoothing out a piece of paper from her bag. “This is Kari’s dad’s house,” she pointed to a roughly drawn house. “This is the shed where the food and drink will be, and this rectangle is the pool. Now, we’re going to arrive early and say that our watches must have been wrong. Everyone who has arrived by then should still be inside. You’ll take the bags of dye with you outside, saying you’re taking the food you brought to the shed. I’ll keep everyone sidetracked while you tip the dye in the pool, and if the spa is on, save a can for the spa. Then, when they ask if we’ll be swimming, we’ll pretend to have forgotten our bathers.”
“And then when everyone is swimming, I complain of a headache and leave, then you come after me, case closed.” I closed.
It was a tough plan but we were sure of it.
The big day, 6:00pm on 3rd of March 2007
“This is it,” I breathed, “this is the big day.”
Clarice and I were standing outside the huge oak doors of Kari’s dad’s house. It was more like a mansion than a house, but I said nothing as I knocked on the door. Kari answered, opening a slot on the door.
“Oh, you’re early Amanda.” She said, opening the door.
“Oh, I am?” I could hear music from inside.
“Come on in. I see you brought some food. Would you like me to take it to the shed?”
“No thanks, I’ll take it.” I replied quickly.
“Ok then. Clarice is it? Pleased to meet you.” Kari shook Clarice’s hand. “The shed is just across from the spa. Go through that gate over there to get into the backyard, Amanda.”
I opened the gate, careful not to let any of the cans of dye fall from my bag. The backyard was huge, but I could easily see the pool. It was about half the length of an Olympic pool, but it had its own diving board at the deeper end and there was a short water slide on one side. The shed was just behind the pool, across from the spa as Kari had said. I opened the shed door slowly. Inside there were two neat tables and several chairs. The tables were laden with all sorts of snack foods and fizzy drinks. I placed the three packets of biscuits I’d brought with me on the closest tables and snuck back outside. I opened one can of invisible dye and tipped it down the water-slide. I watched it slosh down slowly and laughed. We easily had enough dye to fill the pool. I looked at the side of one can.
“Mix half a can with one litre of water to make a litre of dye. For salon use only. May take up to 24 hours to turn full-blue”
I continued to empty the cans, careful not to get any on myself. The spa was not running, but I tipped one can in it anyway. Better to be safe then sorry. The empty cans jingled in my bag. Where could I dispose them? I bit my lip. I hadn’t thought of that! I looked over the western fence of the backyard and saw one of those huge dumpsters. Perfect!
“Amanda, Clarice, would you like some Coke?” Kari asked, pouring drinks for everyone.
“No thanks, I prefer lemonade.” I replied, trying to be difficult. It was getting darker outside, but Kari’s backyard was full of light.
Kari passed me a glass of lemonade. “Here you go Amanda.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
Clarice shook her head. “I can’t have fizzy drink, do you have any water?”
“Uh, sure. I’ll be right back.” Kari dashed over to a sink.
“What sort of shed has a sink in it?” Clarice muttered in my ear.
“I know!” I muttered back.
“When do you think people will start swimming?” Clarice asked Kari, as she passed her a glass of water.
“I dunno, soon I guess. Everyone else has bathers, do you?”
“Sorry, I’m allergic to chlorine.” Clarice replied, easily handling the lie.
“Oh, there’s no chlorine in the spa if you want to use that. What about you Amanda?”
“I don’t really like swimming that much.” I said, trying not to think about the thirteen swimming trophies and medals I had at home.
“Please! It’ll be great fun!” Kari pleaded.
“Sorry, but no.” I kept a steady face.
“Fine, but don’t walk too close to the pool if you don’t want to be pushed in! I’m going to get changed into my bikini.” Kari dashed off.
Clarice and I were the only people left in the shed. I looked out the door and gasped.
“Corey is already swimming!” I laughed. “I think it’s about time I got that headache.”
“But you can’t leave! Not yet!” Kari squealed from in the pool.
“I’m sorry, but I get migraines all the time. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, bye.” I tried to keep a straight face as I thought about what Kari and all the other people in the pool would look like with blue hair. Only eight of the twenty-seven guests weren’t swimming.
“Whatever then! But don’t expect me to be your friend anymore!” I heard Kari shout at Clarice and I as we walked from the party.
“Goodbye Kari Wilson,” I called over my shoulder, “It’s your loss!”
Back to Present Day, 2014
“And so that’s my most successful moment. However, two days later when Kari turned up at school with blue hair, after the initial laughter people thought of it as a fashion statement, which sucked. So, Clarice and I never really became heroes, but in a way we did introduce the blue-hair craze to Oaktree High. The End.”
I heard a groan from somewhere in front of me. “Something wrong, Luce?”
“Cousin, that story was way to long! I don’t care what day it is today but that was a waste of time.” A teenage boy moaned from a table in the corner.
“Well Luce, I don’t think you’ll be telling any better stories at your twenty-first. Now, who wants to hear another story?”
A little girl sitting next to Luce pushed her little hand into the air. “I wanna hear another story cousin Amanda!”
“Well Lira… when I was your age I broke my arm and…”
“No cousin, I don’t want to hear another story about you, I wanna hear another story about Kari, Kari Wilson.”
Also, I'm writing a new story (untitled at this time) so if you enoyed this one, watch out for my next post! Oh, and you can also view this story on deviantART, my username is limlenny.