Chapter 1:
Simply Me, My Friends and My Life
This is me, Jenny Small. I am not an only child but sometimes I wish I was. My family is five people, soon to be six, which will definitely be too many, especially if it's another boy. It might not be but I've got a feeling it will be. I don't really see my dad much as he and my mum split up some time ago. And all my step-dad cares about is mum. Mum works in a nursery, but only part time, so her relationship with my step-dad is kind of important to the five, soon to be six, of us. Otherwise, without him, our family is officially bankrupt. I am the youngest in my family, for now. I wouldn't mind except I am the youngest to two older brothers. My oldest brother Duncan is a nut. He may be 17 but he acts like a 5 year old. Whereas, my slightly younger, older brother is completely different. James, is one of those people who likes practically everything to be perfect. He's not posh or anything; he just doesn't like things in a mess or 'out of line', as he puts it.
With a family like mine, you might think it's like going to heaven when I go to school. But if you're thinking that, you'd be very wrong indeed. Because me, well I'm just the quiet one everyone calls a weirdo because I like to sit in small corners or cupboards and read books. The two worst people in my class are by far my teacher Mrs Woodstone (Goodness knows who would want to marry her), and our official class show off, Susie Stuck-up. Her surname isn't really 'Stuck-up' that's just what everyone calls her.
At school I would simply say that I'm definitely not one of the dumb ones, in fact, not trying to sound snooty or anything, but I am one of the geeky smart ones with hardly any sense of fashion. But to be honest, just like the other kids (apart from Susie), I simply hate Mrs Woodstone. She is so boring, and her voice simply doesn't change pitch. The only time it changes volume is when she is shouting at Jonathan. Mrs Woodstone thinks I'm weird as well. Personally I think she's jealous. But that's enough about old Mrs Woodstone.
There's only one person who really understands me, and that's my best friend Katelyn. Katelyn and I have been best friends ever since I can remember. It all began when our mothers went to one of these 'mother and new born child' things that people organise. Now we're both ten and a half and we're simply the best buddies in the whole wide world.