The Thirteenth Year of Emily John- December

It's the last day of school before Christmas break, and I am thrilled! I wasn't paying attention much today, mainly because I was excited! I already knew what I was going to get for all my friends and family. What? I go shopping for presents on December 24. It's my tradition. This way, I have all month to think of gifts. I know, I'm clever.
We are in the cafeteria, me, Greg, and Layla have lunch together. For the past I don't know how many years Greg has been bugging me to tell him my ideas for gifts, and I never cave in. Last year though, he caught me off guard and I told him what I was getting him. That angered me. So, right now, he is sitting next to me with his knee shaking. He keeps opening his mouth like he wants to say something, but then closes it. Layla turns her head and looks out the window, then her eyes bug out.
"Um, Emily, I don't know what your going to do about gifts this year."
I follow her gaze, expecting something big to be there, but it is just snowing. And not even that much either, just a little flutter.
"It's just snow. If it were coming down in bucket fulls then I'd be worried, but I'm not." She looked at me. "It's going to be a White Christmas," I told her, then watched her relax, but only slightly.
We went on through our day, like that incident at lunch never happened. But I kept seeing Layla, and even Greg, peek at the window for the rest of the day. Although I never would have admitted it, the snow was piling up; and it was getting heavier, not lighter. We had about two hours left of school when the principal came on the loudspeaker.
"Attention, attention students and staff, I have an announcement."
No duh.
"The superintendent has informed all public schools that the students will be leaving the schools in 15 minutes. Please gather all the belongings you will need for the week, report to your homerooms, and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season."
Great. A blizzard. Greg looked at me and laughed. I almost had a panic attack. There was a blizzard, and now I couldn't even get Christmas presents. I could make them, but it was December 23, and who can make Christmas presents for their mom, dad, brother, grandma, grandpa, three best friends, godmother,godfather, and anyone else I'm forgetting in just two days. And to boot, I could only use what was in my house because there was no way I am getting out of my house in a blizzard. Greg and I hopped on the bus and didn't talk the whole ride home. When we got to our stop, I wished him a Merry Christmas and told him I would call him. I stomped into my house and right up to my room, trying to figure out what to do. Sam came into my room and laughed at me.
"I hope that you have already gotten gifts for us."
He smirked at me.
"Get out of here!" I yelled at him. Then I closed my door and locked it.
I started digging around in my room, trying to find anything. Maybe I could re gift, I thought. Half of the stuff I own I have bought on my own; and even so, half of that I haven't even used. I opened up my closet and started digging through. I found a candle in there that my mom would like, but its moldy. Oh well, she won't notice. Hopefully. I sighed and put that in the garbage. Why did I even have a candle? I shook my head and continued through. After about two hours, I had also found a video of my brother when he was five, and its really embarrassing. He would murder me if I let on that there was still a copy of that video, so I'm just going to keep that for a while. That could be helpful in the future. Mwahaha. I have also found my really really old iPod with Hannah Montana songs, that wouldn't be so helpful in my hunt right now. I have also found a few things that I have been looking for. Like, a few years ago, I couldn't find Layla's birthday present to save my life. And, it was really awesome, in my opinion. Well, guess what came tumbling out of my closet? Yep, her gift. Such an organized person I am. Well, I could just re-wrap it in Christams wrapping paper and then she's done. Sigh. But, that was the last I remember before slowly laying down on my fuzzy teal rug and closing my eyes.
I woke up laying on my floor of my closet. I looked at the clock and saw it was 7:00 p.m. That doesn't make much sense, but in the condition I was in, nothing made much sense. When I went to my desk, I saw a slice of microwave pizza on a plate. I bit into it and sat on my bed. So its almost Christmas Eve and I have made no improvement, except for the fact that I threw away a broken Rubiks cube and fuzzy pink purse along with the candle. I went to turn on my computer to try and look up ideas when I found it wouldn't turn on. Great, so we lost power. I turned my phone on and saw that it was actually 3:00 a.m. That made much more sense. It is Christmas Eve! Of course, my phone started beeping, then turned itself off. Marvelous, it was out of battery. I took a deep breath and continued through my room. But I didn't make much improvement before curling into another ball. When I woke up, my mom was knocking on my door. I opened it slowly. She was standing there with a plate and a sandwich on it. I opened the door wider so she could come in.
"I thought that you would be hungry. There hasn't been much to eat since we lost power, but it has been flickering on and off, so that has to mean something."
She sighed and looked around my room.
"Some Christmas presents you guys are going to get," I said, no enthusiasm whatsoever in my voice.
My mom chuckled a little.
"Just remember sweetie, its the thought that counts."
And with that, my mom left. I ate my sandwich slowly, had a glass of water, and continued on my hunt. Within an hour, I had found gifts for my parents, brother, and grandparents. But, its not like I'd be seeing any of my extended family or friends tomorrow, so I didn't worry that much anymore.
I woke up again to hear Christmas music blasting from the sound speakers downstairs and hear the snow plows out on the streets. I ran to the other side of my room and saw snow plows plowing the streets. I grabbed my wrapped gifts and fluttered down the stairs. My mom and dad were sitting on the couch and my brother was on the love seat across from them. They all had a hot chocolate mug in their hands.
"Well, here's sleeping beauty," my dad said, laughing to himself.
I put my gifts underneath the tree and poured myself a mug of hot chocolate as well.
"I guess the snow has finally stopped," I said.
My brother smiled and said, "Yea."
With that, we all started opening our gifts. My brother loved the stuffed alligator I gave him, and my dad really seemed to enjoy the Donald Trump bobble head. Don't ask why I had one of those. My mom also liked the cookie cutters I found. I was so worried that they would be like, Hooray. Yahoo. No emotion and throw it to the side. But they didn't, and they understood my situation.
"I think these are the best presents ever," my dad said.
I blushed and shrunk down in my seat. When the doorbell rang, I jumped to answer it.
"I wonder who could be at our house today of all days," my brother said as he gathered his loot.
I opened the door and saw Greg standing there, with a small, nicely wrapped gift box in his hand.
"I uh, couldn't wait any longer to give this to you," he said, sticking out his hand awkwardly.
"Come in, come in. We have hot chocolate on the stove," I said, opening the door wider.
We walked down the hall that opened up to our living room with the tree in the middle. My parents all wished Greg a Merry Christmas, then left. Sam poured him a mug of hot chocolate then he left as well.
"Well, uh, Merry Christmas," Greg said.
I opened my gift, expecting a gift card or something, but I lost my breath when I saw what was inside the box. It was a gorgeous locket with a picture of him and me inside.
"Thank you," I managed to murmur. Then, I ran upstairs and grabbed his gift.
As he opened it, I said, "It's not as great as a locket, but I hope you like it."
Greg opened his gift, then smiled at what was inside. I had put a picture of him and me wearing our football jerseys inside a frame. We had our arms around each others shoulders holding up fists to each other.
Greg opened his mouth, then shut it, enjoying the moment.
"Well, I should get going. Thank you, and Merry Christmas."
"Wait, Greg," I called,"Can you help me put on my locket?"
He laughed and clasped it around my neck. I let my hair drop, then turned around to face him. I threw my arms around him, and he wrapped his around me.
"Merry Christmas Greg," I said.
"Merry Christmas," he replied, not letting go.
He finally did, smiled at me, then walked down the hall. I watched him walk down the sidewalk, and just when he thought I wasn't looking, pump his fist into the air.
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Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year too! Hope you enjoyed this posting, check back soon.

The Thirteenth Year of Emily John- November

Greg sighed, I sighed, and my dog sighed. We were helping my mom make the pies for Thanksgiving, which is next week. She said that she wants to be prepared. My godmother was sitting on the couch with Sam, who was home from college for Thanksgiving. She was telling him some story about how she met my godfather at a Thanksgiving bash, but I guess he was bored. He kept trying to get up and go to the gym, but my godmother would pull him back down and say, "But we're not even at the best part yet!" I laughed. He was dressed in his Florida Gators shirt, or should I say, one of them. He plays basketball for the University of Florida, and the coach told them to keep practicing, even if they had a few days off. Poor Sam, not getting his practicing in.
Greg reached for some more jam at the same time I did and our hands bumped. He immediately turned bright red, looked at the clock, and said he had to go. He ran out the door before he could even get his coat on.
"Greg, wait up!" I called after him.
He turned around and apologized, though I didn't know what for. We walked in silence to his house. You know, he has been acting strangely towards me lately. I don't know what it is but I'm starting to wonder. We weren't that far from his house when I realized I had forgotten to ask him if he could come with me and my dad to go get our turkey next week.
"Hey Greg," I said, "do you wanna come help us get our turkey next week?"
He stuttered before getting the answer out clearly, which was unlike him.
"Uh, yea, sure, I'd love to. Bye Emily!"
And he was off.
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It was Thursday, the day of Thanksgiving. My dad and I woke up early to go catch us some turkey! I called Greg and he met us at my house. We walked out to the back of the forest before finding a really good turkey, probably 30 pounds or so. It would work. My dad gets ready to shoot at it. When he was younger, him and his dad would go out and catch their turkey on Thanksgiving Day, so he insists on doing that with me. I feel kind of neutral about the whole idea, I mean, I know that for the turkey to end up on my plate, it has  to be killed, but to be there when it's killed, I don't really like. But, I do enjoy spending time with my dad. Greg was quiet the entire way up, it looked like he was thinking, about what? Don't ask me.
So here we are, in a way face to face with the turkey. My dad was preparing himself, making sure to be right on target. If he shot and missed, it would scare away all the birds within a 50 mile radius; my dad's gun was loud. I blocked my ears, and Greg did the same. I closed my eyes, but Greg kept his open. We stood behind my dad. And he shot. And missed. When I unplugged my ears, I expected to see the turkey waiting there, but instead I heard 'Gobble Gobble' and saw the tail end feathers of the turkey that should have been ours running for its life. My dad sighed and started leading the way to another sight. And we experienced the same preparation and results.
"Geez, what is up with this today?" my dad said.
"I have no clue," I said.
Greg stayed silent.
Well, third time is the charm, I guess. It took almost an hour to find the next one, and that is not including the time it took us to migrate to a new area. At that point, my dad just shot the turkey. When we got home and weighed it, we found it was only 15 pounds. So I guess we were only allowed to eat seconds of the stuffing because there was plenty of that. Greg stayed while my mom feathered it and put the turkey in the oven. We watched football; the Cowboys vs. the Jets. Good game, what I saw of it. Jets were winning, yahoo! Greg and I were battling over which quarterback was better, Mark Sanchez or Tony Romo, since he is a Cowboys fan. In the middle of all that, we heard a scream coming from the kitchen. Greg and I left the den in a nano second, just to find my mom standing by the oven trying to put out the fire. The alarm was going mad. Once the fire was all gone, we all stood there, breathless, staring at our turkey ashes.
When the guests came, we had a store bought turkey on our table, and that did not make my dad happy. But as I looked around the table at all the happy faces, I realized that sure, the tradition wasn't carried out for each year, but there was plenty more I could be grateful for; like the fact that my family had the ability to be here with us on Thanksgiving under a roof with food on our plates. I was also thankful for finally being off crutches. I smiled as I dug into my turkey, grateful for so much more than I could realize at that moment.
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That was the fourth chapter of my blog. Sorry it took a while for it to get posted! I hope your Thanksgiving is better than Emily John's! Haha. Come back to justbeingmegan.blogspot.com to see what will happen to her for the rest of her "Thirteenth Year!" Leave your comments in the comment box and don't be afraid to become a follower!

The Thirteenth Year of Emily John- October

I just absolutely love Halloween! I have no clue as to why, but there's just something about it that makes me happy. Of course though, nothing is done in middle school, except for the fact that they play "Ghost Busters" over and over on the speakers. I loved elementary school because then we would have a party and a parade and it was just so much fun! But now they think we are old and mature and there is no way we would be caught trick or treating, or parading around the school in our costumes for that matter! And of course, they think we don't have costumes, we middle schoolers just sit around at home in pajama bottoms and a tee shirt watching horror movies eating the candy that is supposed to be going out to the kids who come to our houses. Wrong!
My best boy friend Greg has a party at his house every year now that we can't have one in school. The deal at his place is we all come in our costumes around 7:00 and we group up. There are about 20 or 25 of us that end up showing at Greg's house, so there are typically 4-5 groups of teenagers walking around his neighborhood. To top it off, Greg lives in the best neighborhood for trick or treating, there's a gazillion houses and some of them give out those mambo size candy bars! After the trick or treating is over, we go back to his house and just hang around, and have a Halloween Party! Woohoo!
During school, I was super excited for the night, and its a Friday, so we don't even have to worry about getting up early tomorrow! But, let me just fill you in on what has happened over the past few weeks. I got off my crutches last week, or should I say, crutch. That's right, I ended up with only one crutch. During the stupid musical rehearsals, I was bopping and weaving around all over the place, and my crutch broke. So, for two weeks, I was hobbling around on just one crutch. But Greg was nice enough to help me. That was pretty much the highlight of this in between time. Sigh.
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I showed up at Greg's house around 6:50. People were already there, so it wasn't like I was super early. Once everyone arrived, we got into groups and started walking around the neighborhood. Me, Greg, and my friends Layla and Tom were a group. We were making good time and getting lots of candy, but as we got to the greatest house of all, the house that gave out TWO mambo size candy bars, that's when the action started.
The door was wide open, but no one knew why. All the other trick or treaters hadn't come near this house, they said some weird stuff was going on. But with the group I was in, uh uh, we were going to that house. And especially with me in the group, the girl who had made an attempt to climb The Tree. We walked up to the front steps, peered in the house, calling, "Is anyone home?" It was silent, we just stood there, but then I heard the sound.
Meow.
I turned around, I guess the owner of this house, Mrs. Green, had decided it was time to get a few cats. But as I looked around, I realized it wasn't a few cats, it was a lot of cats, and they were surrounding us. I could feel my throat starting to tickle. We had to get out of there. Greg noticed what was going on, because he was the one that said, "In the house!" So we all ran into Mrs. Green's house, up the stairs, around the hallway, through doors that maybe we weren't supposed to open. Until finally, we found ourselves lost in the middle of her house. Layla looked at the time. "It's 8:15 guys, we should be heading back to the house now."
"Well, how are we gonna do that with The Invasion of the Cats!" I said.
"Yea," Tom agreed,"we're also lost, in some lady's house, with a girl allergic to cats."
Tom and Layla started battling about who knows what while me and Greg tried to find the door out of here. Did I mention that Mrs. Green should get some light switches? It was pitch black in that house. All there was was a window.
"How did we get in here if we can't get out," Greg said, and I could hear the agitation in his voice. Poor Greg, he was missing his own Halloween party. But then I started to feel my throat tickle again.
"Um, guys, there's a cat in here, and he's getting closer!" I screeched.
"Oh how do you know?" Tom asked.
"Well, lets see, my throat is tickling, and that only happens when there's a cat around!" I replied, eager to get out of this house.
"But," Layla said,"the only way out that we can find is the window."
"The window it is!" Greg said, pushing us all towards it.
So that was how we found our selves having to leap out of the window that just so happened to be on the top floor of Mrs. Green's house. Luckily, there was a trampoline below us, so when Greg, Layla, and Tom jumped out, they weren't hurt as badly as they would have been without the trampoline. But me, I'm afraid of heights. So I screamed at the top of my lungs when I jumped out the window, but of course, my angling was off, and I wasn't gonna land on the trampoline.
"Emily!" Greg screamed, grabbing Tom and pulling him out of the trampoline. 
"We have to catch her!" he screamed.
And there I was, falling down, and landing in the arms of Tom and Greg, barely able to catch my breath. That, was the scariest feeling ever.
"Are you O.K.?" Tom asked.
"Yea, I'm fine," I said, "But of course, I forgot my candy."
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That was the third chapter of The Thirteenth Year of Emily John, my work in progress on this blog. Please leave your comments in the comment box, and keep checking back at justbeingmegan.blogspot.com to find out what will happen to Emily John.

The Thirteenth Year of Emily John- September

The first day of school, I walk in on crutches. And a finger split. And a whole bunch of bandaids. How wonderful. What a great way to start a new school year. Everyone was asking what had happened, I just said I fell off a tree, not The Tree. No one has attempted to climb it in so long, I would just look like a fool. I would be another one of those people who fell off The Tree.
I walk into my homeroom class, room 243, Mr. Long. Surprisingly, he isn't that tall, maybe about 5, 7". He gave us these packets that had our schedules and locker number and combination. So, I lugged my heavy backpack to locker number 205. We don't have full length lockers, so when I got over there, Samantha Garcia, my neighbor, was organizing her locker. Right below me. So, I waited for a little bit, shifting my bookbag from shoulder to shoulder. Finally, she got up. I had five minutes until the warning bell. I pulled out the paper with my combination on it and put in 17-08-42. It didn't open. So, I tried a little slower. Still didn't work. After a few attempts at it, I was gonna give up, but Mr. Long walked by me.
"Having trouble Emily?"
"Um, yea, actually, I am. You see, I am putting in my combination, but it isn't working. Can you help me?" I said to him.
So, he took my card, looked at the number on the locker, then put the combination in. The warning bell was going to ring soon. I kept looking up.
"Ahh, Emily, I see what your problem is. This is locker 205A. Your locker is 205B. It's on the other side of the school. Only sixth graders have lockers with A in them."
He walked away and left me to go hobbling towards locker 205B with my heavy bookbag. At least it was my second year here and I knew my way around. But, now I know why Samantha Garcia was over there. I went as fast as I could towards my locker, knowing that this time and the afternoon were my only chances to test it out. As soon as I got there, the warning bell rang. Everyone rushed to their first class. But, there was no way I would be carrying my bookbag around on crutches. So, of course, I opened my locker as fast as possible, and it worked. I would decorate it later. Right now, I was more concerned about getting to class before the late bell rang. Looking at my schedule, I realized that I would have to carry around stuff for math, science, music, and lunch before I could come here again. After lunch I would come, drop off my stuff, and get my things for social studies and language arts. Then, the day was done. That was Monday. 
I walked into my math class, late of course. I had one warning. After three, it becomes a detention. I guess the day just went bad from the start. But the worst was music. We had to sing a song and the teacher was walking around the room, I guess trying to find people for musicals and such. Now, I am a horrible singer. But when she got to me, she made everyone stop singing.
"Miss John, you have such a wonderful voice! You would be wonderful for our school musical this year. It is Beauty and The Beast. I think you should be Beauty."
"Um, Mrs. Morris, I'm kind of on crutches, I don't think that trying out for a musical would be the best thing for me, you know?"
"Oh sweetheart," she said,"You don't have to try out, you already have the part of Beauty. The show is in May. You will be healed by then. Congratulations to our new Beauty!"
And that was how my first day of seventh grade went.
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That was the second chapter to my story. I want to hear from all of you out there, I can only make it better by hearing from you. I hope it is enjoyable for you! Come back to justbeingmegan.blogspot.com to keep reading my creations!

The 13th Year of Emily John- August

The story really starts here because August is my birthday. I turned twelve this morning, at 9:07 sharp. No seconds, no milliseconds, soon as the clock struck 9:07 a.m. I was born. And I was now in my thirteenth year of being alive.
Twelve is a big number in our house- don't ask why. So, my mom invited all the grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, second and third and fourth cousins, neighbors, family friends; you name them, they were at our party. I didn't find twelve to be all that important, I like thirteen. I wasn't even going to participate in this shindig but when I realized that when the clock struck 9:07 a.m., I was officially in my thirteenth year. It's my last year of being a child, so I was definitely going to celebrate that. Who wouldn't? My godmother and godfather arrived last night, so they are already here. They are in their late 50's, so when I told my godmother why I was only going along with this idea, she was like, "Now Emily dear, when you're my age, you will be regretting celebrating the fact that it is your last year as being a child. Live every day to its fullest, because there will never be another August 29, 2009 again. Do any childish thing that comes to mind in the next year, because you will be embarrassed buying happy meals at McDonald's in a year."
By the way, I didn't even get happy meals anymore. I stopped getting them when I turned 7. They just didn't fill up my stomach anymore. Anyway, at about noon time everyone started showing up. Honestly, I thought it was pretty lame to combine your family party and friend party together, but my dog gets pretty wild with other people coming over, so my mom just wants to deal with that once, not twice. I'm allergic to cats, so that's why we have a dog.
The party was pretty boring after a while because my mom only let my friends stay for a little while. She wanted me to spend more time with my family. I didn't mind spending time with them, its just that all they did was talk. I think my godmother noticed me getting bored after a while because when she walked by me she whispered, "This is what non-childhood is like. You enjoying it? I think not!" She had a tone of horror in her voice. Sometimes I think age is getting to her head.
I spent some time thinking about what my godmother said over dinner (my favorite, pasta in pesto sauce) and then I got an idea. I stood up and banged my knife against my glass, like I'd seen in movies to get attention.
"Attention everyone. Um, I...have uh, been looking forward to this party for quite some time."
My godmother was apparently drinking her iced tea at that moment because once I spoke, she spit it all out laughing. It landed on the dog, who went wild.
"Anyway, I was, er, working on a... trick! Yes, a trick to show you guys! So, if you'll all come into the back yard, we can uh, get started with the show!"
I honestly had no idea what I was going to do. Maybe a cartwheel or a handstand, I have gotten pretty good at those. But, I all of a sudden changed my mind when I saw "The Tree."
The Tree is legendary in this town. No one is able to climb it and get back down safely. But I am the champion tree climber. So, I lead the crowd towards The Tree.
My brother started humming scary music. He is 17 and is always picking on me. But Samuel (Sam) was not going to stop me from climbing this tree. Besides, it looked pretty easy to climb. But as we got closer, more and more whispering came form the crowd and my stomach started churning more and more.
"Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls. I, Emily John, will not only attempt in climbing The Tree, but I will be the first to succeed."
And then I started. I was going up the tree, moving like a monkey. I don't know what the big deal about this was. I reached the top and I heard gasps. Excited murmuring rung in my ears. Then, I started going down. This is where most people messed up, so I was going to take it slow. I heard my dad preparing to take another picture. He took one when I reached the top, and he was going to take another one. I was about five feet from the bottom and I started smiling. Here I go. Once I reach the next branch, I will be able to jump. I put my left foot down, then grabbed the above branch with my left hand. My right foot went down, and slipped. I was falling, five feet onto a hard, rocky, ground. I landed with a thud. My parents came over first. I didn't stick around long enough to hear the details about going to the emergency room, but I did mumble, "Happy twelfth birthday Emily John."
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That was the first chapter of my first story. Please leave comments in the comment section. I really want to hear from you guys!

My First Post

Hola future followers of my blog! I am so excited to be starting this! So, this first post is just going to be a short little run down of what will be happening with my blog. As you can probably see on the side, I want to be a Rockette someday and I am working very hard towards it. After I am done with being a Rockette, I want to open a dance studio for children with disabilities. After the studio has been open for a few years, I want to write a book about my experiences. I love to dance and I love to write, so I will be using this blog to write stories. Some will all be in one posting, and others will have multiple postings per story. Either way, I want to hear your feedback on my writing. How can I make it better, and what do you think of it? Leave your comments in the comment section of my blog. I hope you all check back often to read and rate my newest creation! You can come back to justbeingmegan.blogspot.com