Okay, here is the second chapter of the story. Hope you enjoy! If you forgot or are just starting to read, HG is Carlisle. Just a reminder. ENJOY!

My Life Isn't Always Perfect, But Sometimes, It Can Seem Like It

Chapter Two

Beth and I waited at the bus stop, still out of breath. For three long blocks we lugged: our lunches with Mom's special meat loaf, schoolbooks, a three-pound tin of Ginger Doodles for Mimi the crossing guard, and Beth's giant science project. When the bus pulled up, Beth jumped on, leaving me to carry everything.

"I'll run on and get us good seats, Esme." She called over her shoulder.

I loaded up like a pack mule while others crowded into the bus. I was the last one on, staggering, my armpits itchy with sweat. Beth waved her pinky at me as I lumbered down the aisle. "Sorry, May. There weren't any seats left together."

Of course, she'd found one for herself right next to her best friend, Philomena Finch. They were already busy putting on the makeup Beth smuggled out of the house. Philomena Finch's little brother, Carlisle, sat in the seat behind then, his nose in the Bible. You never saw him without it. He had his Notre Dame baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. He was in my fourth-grade class. Not that you'd ever notice though. He was so quiet you could forget he was there. Everybody called him Holy Ghost, or HG for short-except in front of the teachers. I tried to remember to call him Carlisle to his face, but he was always HG in my head.

He looked up at me when I passed and gave me a small smile. I was the only kid in class he paid much attention to. I guess because our sisters are best friends. I was always friendly back, but he kinda spooked me.

There was only one seat left on the bus, as always, next to Charles Evanson, the most famous boy in the class in the sixth grade. He made a living at school doing weird stuff for money and was trying to see how long he could grow his toenails. Most kids were too grossed out to sit by him. This week he'd been working on a booger collection, which was stuck to the outside of his lunchbox. He'd let you see it for fifty cents.

"Hey, May." He said as I sat down. "Check it out." He knocked on the outside of his lunchbox, which was now wrapped in a heavy plastic bag. To protect his collection, I guessed. "I've got about forty of 'em now. And you know that kid with the big neck, Buzz? He said if I brought him some cupcakes today, he's give me a booger. Cool, huh?"

"Swell." I said, scooching to the far side of my seat. From the aisle, I could see Beth tossing her hair back in a way that she thinks makes her look really glamorous. I gave my seatmate a long look. "Charles, did you know my big sister, Beth, has a crazy, mad crush on you?"

He raised his eyebrows, definitely interested. "Yeah?"

I looked down a moment at his lunchbox, feeling my breakfast threaten to come up. "Mmm-hmm. And I bet if you go sit by her at lunch, she might have a little something too add to your collection."

At ten minutes to eight, we arrived at St. Dominic's. I let Charles carry Beth's science project off the bus. It was a model of a human heart she made with papier-mache and spray paint. She'd labeled all the little valves with little banners on toothpicks. Mom mounted it on our old Candyland game board spray painted green. And she lent Beth a real stethoscope so people could listen to the lub-dub sound of the heart valves opening and closing. For someone who didn't' actually have a heart, my sister was pretty smart about them.

Beth and Philomena looked like they might faint when Charles and I walked up to them. Charles handed the heart over to Beth and smiled as he sauntered off. "See you at lunch, eh, Beth?"

She shoved the project back at me and spat, "Carry it. I am not touching anything Booger Boy touched."

"Beth! I'm not carrying this all day!"

"Don't be such a baby, Esme. It's just to my class." She pulled her jacket off, even though it was cold. I noticed she was wearing her best dress-up blouse, which is meant for church and not for school. It was some slinky kind of material and scoopy in the front. Beth was using a "free dress" coupon she earned for collecting the most canned goods for the missions. That meant she didn't have to wear our black and green plaid uniforms for one whole day. Carlisle said St. Dominic's uniforms were ugly enough to make a dog sick. I hated them because they made my backside itch after sitting in class all day.

Beth pulled a blue jay feather out of the pocket of her blouse, which was purple and matched the eye shadow she was wearing. "I have to carry this for Mr. Constantino, and I don't want to muss it."

Mr. Constantino was her science teacher, and Beth had plans to marry him. I once called Mrs. Constantino and warned her. She thanked me for my call and said she'd keep that in mind.

I was late when I finally reached my homeroom class with Mr. Giles, who grew hair out of his ears instead of on his head. I always tried to speak nice and loud in case he couldn't hear me.

"SORRY I'M LATE MR. GILES. I HAD TO STAY AND HELP MY BIG SISTER, ELIZABETH PLATT." Then I dropped my voice so only those in North America could hear. "She WET HER PANTS on the bus."

Mr. Giles looked at me over the top of his glasses and cleared his throat. That was his special signal for boys and girls to stop talking and sit down. I tiptoed down the aisle to my seat, my special signal for "sorry to be late." After I sat down, I noticed he was still staring at me. He crossed his arms over his chest. That could mean anything, but mostly meant he was waiting for me to do something else. What?

"Your hat, Esme, please. We don't use umbrellas or hats indoors, do we?"

I slid six inches lower in my seat as I pulled my hat off. My hair was stiff and gummy, and now smashed flat against my skull. I had something that felt like a dead squirrel hanging off the back of my neck, which I was hoping was just a big wad of my gooped-up hair. (And not actually a dead squirrel.) Mr. Giles turned his back to the board, but the rest of the class kept staring at me.

"Esme!" whispered Naomi from across the aisle. "What ya got all over your hair?"

I sighed and pulled a tablet out of my desk. I printed big letters with my thick black marker.

It's a deep condishioner because I might be going to a very fancy dinner party with a lot of rich people and my mother said I had to have it in case there are a lot of pictures being taken she doesn't want me with dry hare.

My note said, "might be going" so it wasn't an official lie. I might be going to the White House for dinner tonight. You just never know in life what could happen next. I held up my note to Naomi while she read it, and held it up a little longer to make sure everyone else around me had read it too.

HG gave my hair a long look and then turned away. Emmy Triboni turned around in her seat and read my note. Then she shook her head, "You spelled 'hair' wrong." She whispered.

HG whipped back around. "No she didn't." he whispered back. "She used the Old English version of 'hair' which can also be spelled h-a-r-e. You're just used to seeing the new version." His cheeks got very red and then he buried his head back into his Bible, which was hidden inside his math book. Carlisle didn't talk too much, so when he did, I think it kinda got his blood pressure up.

Emmy cocked her eyebrow up a notch and shrugged. And then she turned away. Like she couldn't be bothered with this whole boring scene one more second. Not exactly a great start for two new maybe-best friends.

This was all Beth's fault, I thought, steaming. She ruined everything. I wrote her name in big black letters across the bottom of my tablet, ELIZABETH, almost tearing through the paper. I underlined LI and then E. Figured that anyone who's name can have the word LIE in it would be hateful. I scribbled through it with sharp lines like lightning bolts and ripped out the page. I balled it up and threw it inside my desk.

HG stole a peek at me over his shoulder, then tried to act like he didn't.

On a clean sheet of paper, in my very best handwriting, I spelled out E-m-m-y. Then I wrote my name right next to hers. I drew a big circle around us with a line of tiny stars. We belonged together. I just knew it. And by the time Science Olympics was over, I vowed, nothing-not even Beth-would be able to get between us.