I looked down at the newspaper ad. Somebody needed a babysitter in the next town over, and I needed a job. Sure, I wasn’t big on little kids being that I had two siblings of my own to deal with, but I needed the money and my only other option was working at the local amusement park where you had to wear a uniform. I shuddered just thinking about it.
Sighing, I picked up the phone and punched in the number. It rang twice before someone finally picked up. It was a little boy, probably around my sister’s age.
“Hello?”
“Hi, my name’s Libby and I was calling about the babysitting advertisement in the newspaper-“
“Yea, hang on.” The kid said. I heard him yell to his mom and another phone was picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi, my name’s Libby and I was just calling about the babysitting advertisement in the newspaper.”
“Oh right. Frankie. You know, you’re the first person to call us back about that. I figured that there would be a ton of teenagers without jobs this summer.”
“Yea, that’s me.” I said awkwardly. I hated talking to adults on the phone.
“Well, uh, I would like to meet you in person to fully discuss the job but for now why don’t you tell me your name, age, and phone number.”
“Right, well I’m Elizabeth, or LibbyFletcher I’m 14 and my house phone number is 555-2729.”
“Alright Elizabeth, is your mother available so I can give her my information and plan a day to meet you?”
“Yea, of course. Hang on.” I said, hitting the mute button. I walked over to my mom who was on the couch reading. “It’s the lady who needs a babysitter. She wants to talk to you. It’s on mute.” I put the phone in her lap and walked back into the kitchen.
I looked down at the newspaper again and noticed something. There was an ad about my school in the newspaper. ‘The small New Jersey high school in Westerly made a big announcement yesterday at the town hall. Apparently, it would not be opening its doors to all freshmen. Instead, they would all be shipped over to Wyckoff’s high school. Due to fire regulations the school couldn’t hold all of the students it was due to hold in September, but would have enough room for all 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. The freshman would only be shipped over to Wyckoff for one year, and then be transferred back.’
“Oh come on.” I said out loud crumpling up the newspaper. I was due to go to Westerly High as a freshman in the fall. I had one or two friends over in Wyckoff, but most of the kids over there were rich and stuck up, the upper-class type. I hated those kids. I had no problem with anyone who didn’t try to be someone they’re not. If you tried to be someone you weren’t though, I seriously had a problem with you. That was those kids’ problem though. Just because they could dress and ride around in cars like Paris Hilton, didn’t make them her. They thought it did though. They really believed their own lies.
I sighed, throwing away the newspaper that was now crumpled into a ball. Walking past the living room, I headed towards the stairs, hearing my mother still on the phone. “Yes, of course.” She said, “I’ll see you then. Thank you.”
My mother hung up the phone and I pretended not to notice. Of course, I didn’t want a summer job but she was no longer giving me allowance as of my 14th birthday, the day it was legal for me to get a job. I climbed up the stairs and walked past my brother’s room into my own. I stood in the doorway a moment, taking in the view. We were relatively new here in Westerly; it’d be a year in August. I remember vividly hearing my father complain as we painted the walls about how he would never see them again underneath all of my posters. I had just smiled and flicked some paint at him. It was true though. As I looked around now, less than a year later the walls were punctured all over with holes, and re-covered up by more and more posters. I had this disorder, as I liked to call it, where I couldn’t stand anything being the same for more then about a month. It wasn’t really a medical thing, more of me just being slightly on the odd side, but still, it bothered me. Every time I got a new magazine with posters, I had to take all of the current ones down and re-organize them. That’s what accounted for all of the holes, all of the thumbtacks being taken in and out.
I walked all the way into my room, shutting the door behind me. Living with two younger siblings, the one thing I wanted most in life was a lock, to keep the little boogers out of my room and my stuff. But of course, I would never get it. My parents wouldn’t allow me to get a lock, afraid that they would never see me again. I wasn’t very social at family gatherings, and usually my mother would have to come into my room and drag me downstairs. She knew that if I had a lock that would never be able to happen. Also, she knew that she would not see me for days after the seventh HarryPotter book came out. I was kind of a nerd. I loved to read, and even more, write. A whole wall in my room was bookshelves, covered from floor to ceiling with books that I had all read. Only one shelf was left for board games and school books.
I walked over to my computer and sat down pushing both the button on the monitor and the machine itself. Then, I stood up and turned the knob on the speakers, turning up the volume. I hadn’t checked my e-mail in a few days- I’d been searching for a decent job non stop- and Nicole was bound to have e-mailed me.
Finally, the word WINDOWS appeared on the screen, the computer had loaded. I punched in my password-my initials- and my wallpaper loaded. My wallpaper changed daily, along with my mood. It was still orange, from yesterday, when I had been very happy. There had been no reason for my joy, but I had still felt it, so my background had been orange. Not just orange though, for that would have been too simple. It was a collection of orange 100 pixels by 100 pixel avatars, all cropped together in Paint and posted as my wallpaper. It wasn’t too dizzying, but it still had excitement. A lot of my wallpapers were like that.
Today my wallpaper would be black and white tiled avatars. It felt right. Today I had been very happy to get a job, and then very somber to find out that I wouldn’t be going to Westerly High as I had expected. Definitely a black and white wallpaper day.
After changing my wallpaper I opened up Microsoft Outlook, the default e-mail program on my computer. As I waited for the new emails to load I looked through the titles of the old ones. I had had one continuous email with Nicole for over three months now, most of our replies only a line or two long. The subject of course had changed many times, for she like I, couldn’t deal with things being the same too long. At the present moment however it read Re: Hairspray. We had been discussing going to see this Broadway play for a while now, and of course going to see the movie. We were both big ZacEffron fans and being that he had gotten the role of Link, the leading man, we were dying to see it.
I opened up the new message from Nicole. Surprisingly, the subject had stayed the same.
Dear Libby,
I can’t wait till it comes out!!!
Love Nicole
I laughed. Like I said, not much of an e-mail, but still worth reading. Nicole was like my other half, my sister. We had been best friends since 5th grade, but had known each other since second. Seven years later, we were close as ever, but had another sister thrown into the mix. A small girl, going into 8th grade named Lexi had gone to elementary school with us, but being a year younger, we had never known her. Finally, in seventh grade, while she was in sixth, we met in Drama club. She had gotten the lead in the play Annie, while I stage managed. We became fast friends, and I quickly introduced her to Nicole. When I moved, the three of us vowed never to separate at heart.
Closing out of my email I spun around in my desk chair. I missed them, a lot. I had made new friends in Westerly in the last year, but none of them could ever take the place of the kids from back in New York. I had grown up there in that school, and had known most people since first grade. Starting over in a new town was not easy but it was worth it. My dad had gotten a new job, and he was happy now. We had a bigger house, and the school district was nice.
I got up out of my chair and sat down on my bed. Today was a ‘crash’ day as I liked to call them. I had nothing else to do, but just crash. I would sit on my bed for hours at a time, reading, watching TV, playing video games, or just staring at the ceiling. Unfortunately, this summer had been a long succession of crash days. Most of my new friends were away for the summer or went to the camp at the local lake. Being alone had really gotten to me. I started a lot of new hobbies like playing my dad’s old electric guitar and writing songs. They weren’t very good, but they occupied me. I had turned to music a lot, and started praying for the first time in a long while. We used to go to our old church every Sunday, but our new parish just wasn’t the same. The priests at our old church were like old friends, and it was too hard to get used to the new fathers.
I kicked my legs up onto the bed and hugged my knees thinking. This summer was not at all how I had expected it. I grabbed the remote to my stereo and turned it on.
“We don’t have time left to regret,” came blasting out through the speakers. I smiled, mouthing the words. I forgot that I had put the JonasBrothers in there last night. Of course, their new album had yet to come out, but I had gotten a bunch of the songs off the internet and burned them onto a CD so I could play it. They were also all on my IpodNano. I leaned back on my headrest as the music played, memories flooding back.
The first time I had ever seen or heard the JonasBrothers was in the seventh grade when Nicole and I were at an Aly and AJ concert. We loved Aly and AJ in the sixth grade, but had started to outgrow them by seventh. When our parents gave us tickets for our birthdays a month apart, we tried our best to be thankful, and we were. They had great music, but it was kind of childish. When the day had come we weren’t over-excited but we appreciated our gift. We walked into the theatre, B5 already on. We grabbed our seats when my mom pulled out a picture and pencil she had gotten for free off of one of the merchandise tables outside. Handing it to me, my mother barely glanced at it, and neither did I, until the next act came on. Three boys, none of which looked much older then Nicole and I, stepped onto the stage. They all played their own music, and had pleasant voices. Finally, I looked down onto the page my mother had handed me. “The JonasBrothers,”
Of course, since then we have become much bigger fans. The day their first CD came out we both had gotten it. We’d seen them in concert three more times since, and met them twice. They were great guys, or so they seemed to be. Nicole and I knew every word to every song by heart, and had turned Lexi into their biggest fan. She knew everything about them, whether she should or not. It was funny though and useful at times. She could tell you their favorite band, and when they’d be on HannahMontana again within two seconds flat.
I laughed out loud, disturbing the silence. My brother walked in, and I paused the music. “Knock much?” I asked.
“No.” He said. “Mom wants you.”
“Coming,” I mumbled, swinging my legs off of the bed.
“She’s coming.” He yelled down the stairs at the top of his lungs.
“Shut your trap and get out of my room.” I said, pushing him with one arm closing the door behind me with the other.
“Hey don’t push me.” He said. “I know ka-ra-te.” He karate chopped the air.
“Got it JackieChan.” I mumbled, side stepping him and taking the stairs two at a time. Even though he was four years younger then me we both knew he was totally capable of kicking my butt. “What’s up mom?” I asked when I got to the living room.
“Denise wants to meet you tomorrow morning. I told her that was fine.”
“Well, seeing as I have nothing better to do with my summer, why not?”
“Don’t you take that tone with me, and you better be more respectful with Denise. Don’t call her Denise by the way unless she tells you to. She’s an adult so you call her Mrs.Jonas.”
“Yuppers.” I said dryly.
My mother glared at me, and turned away.
“Is that all? Can I go now?”
“Please.” My mother said, not bothering to look at me. I rolled my eyes and headed back upstairs to waste away the rest of my day.