Diary,

The coach of the soccer team finally let me on the team! And the school finally got enough money to make a co-ed volleyball team, too! Tryouts are in a week. My spirits feel more uplifted ever since I asked Mark not to show me any more of Bobby's journals. They had a negative effect on me, and now I'm smart enough to live my own life without anyone traveling to weird territories and saving all of Halla or whatever. I like my old life. I don't mean the life with Bobby; I mean the life without. There. I said it. Wow. I guess I was trying to hide that fact for a long time, and finally I let it out. I liked life a lot more without Bobby. Now it feels strange, in a good way. I feel like I'm debt free. Heh. Life is starting to look good.

I also came upon an awesome coincidence. A few days ago everyone received flyers about these guitar lessons, and I decided to try it. Lo and behold, I saw Frankie signing up as well! I made sure I signed up for the class right after him. Life couldn't have gotten any better. Well, maybe.

Courtney

There's nothing much to write about. Well, there is this volleyball team, co-ed. That should be interesting. Well anyways, there's this girl that keeps staring at me in Bio. Courtney, I think her name is. If she was one of those preppy girls that fail all their classes and run away every time a ball comes their way, I would've stayed as far away from her as possible. But she's okay, I guess. Maybe I should try to talk to her or something.

Signed,

Frankie

The Next Day

Diary,

You cannot imagine what happened today. In Bio, as I rested my head on the palm of my hand, tapping my pencil on my notebook, Frankie turned around and handed me a pen. As I took it, he smiled. I looked at the pen in confusion, then I noticed a small piece of paper rolled up inside! I dissected the pen, unrolled the piece of paper, and on it was written, "Hi." My hand shaking and mind racing, I hastily picked up my own pen and wrote, "Hi." But my hand was shaking so hard that I accidentally wrote the "i" really big and the "h" really small. I scribbled it out, and then realized I scribbled what he wrote as well! Frustrated with myself, I tore out a new piece of paper and wrote "Hi" slowly and neatly. As I went to roll it back inside the pen, Mr. Braunsdorf noticed. "Having trouble with something, Miss Chetwynde?" he inquired.

"N-no," I stuttered.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"N-no, sir," I replied. I could feel my face growing warm.

"Next time, do not forget to address me as 'sir'," Mr. Braunsdorf said harshly as the other students snickered. "Meet me for after school detention today, Miss Chetwynde." I slunk down in my seat, ashamed. I am horrible at making first impressions.

After class, I tried to escape from the classroom as quickly as possible to avoid any excess embarrassment. Despite my attempts, I still managed to bump into Frankie. I looked down in shame.

"Well, that didn't go well, did it," Frankie looked down as well. I didn't say a word. "But cheer up. I'm staying after school today too for Peer Tutoring. Maybe I can walk you home and we can talk."

I looked up and met his eyes. "That'd be nice," I grinned. With a quick smile, Frankie ran to meet his friends.

Detention was not fun. You know those paintings with the eyes that always follow you wherever you go? That's what Mr. Braunsdorf reminded me of. Even though my head was down, writing my 2-page essay about how passing notes is wrong, I could still feel his eyes studying me, watching my every move. But after each word I wrote, I knew I was getting closer and closer to when Frankie and I will walk home together.

I kept thinking that way, and soon it was just Frankie and me. We began to make fun of the teachers and cracking up hilariously. We began to cross the street…

And that's when it all happened.

He didn't see the drunk driver, barreling our way.