Julia Jones' Diary - Boxed Set - Books 2 to 6

by Kahler, Katrina

  “Girls, this is an incredible effort! I’m extremely proud of all of you. Now, Amy and Julia just go and do your best!” Mr. Thompson was beaming at us and I was overjoyed to be given the chance to run again.

  A short while later, Amy and I lined up and waited for the signal to move towards the starting line, from where I could see Blake and the others standing expectantly at the finish.

  “Good luck, Julia!” he had said earlier. “You’ll kill it!” And he’d given me a quick hug of encouragement before going to join the others. Then I had taken my place in the line.

  In those few moments before the gun went off, the scene around me felt surreal. I had pictured it so many times in my mind, but I found it difficult to believe that it was actually happening.

  Looking around in wonder, I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I was in fact actually standing at the start of the final race. But the loud blast from the gun ensured me that it was definitely real and then, almost as if I had no control whatsoever, my legs began to move.

  Racing along the track, side by side with the other runners, I could feel the blood pumping through my veins while my shoes pounded the ground beneath me. Thump! Thump! Thump!

  The wind whipped my hair back and my legs ran on and on. With every step, I could feel the hammering of my heart and it became more intense with every stride.

  The screaming from the crowd was deafening, but I blocked everything from my senses. Everything except the pound of my legs and arms and the feel of the track under my feet, as I pushed myself forwards. Nothing existed except that moment, and rounding the last bend, I saw the finish line come clearly into view.

  There were two competitors slightly ahead of me, their pace steady and fast. With the finish line dead ahead, within my sights and within reach, it was my last chance. If only I could just push a little harder.

  On and on I ran, with my lungs about to burst. Then, with a millisecond to spare, I grasped desperately to my last reserve of energy. Striding forward with a rush of speed, it was as though my legs had wings. And as I raised my arms in triumph, I sped across the finish line in first place.

  On impulse, I glanced to my right and there looking directly at me, was the most beautiful smile in the whole universe. It was the proudest moment of my life and the best part was that I had him to share it with at the end. More grateful than ever, I ran towards him, my heart bursting with pride and joy.

  “Julia! Julia! You did it!!!” And as I watched him speak those words and open his arms wide in a huge embrace, I realized it was his smile that was the best part of all.

  ***

  Book 5 - My life is Great!

  Screaming…

  I watched helplessly as the scene in front of me took place. It was as though I were floating in space and looking down from above. The girl had my face and she was wearing my clothes but the look of fear, and the screams that burst forth, were too unfamiliar to call my own. Then, as the spine chilling sounds continued, I was suddenly shaken into reality.

  A hand gripped my shoulder. And the uncontrollable screams took on a life of their own. I was helpless to stop them as the firm grasp dug deeper into my skin.

  “Julia! Julia! Julia!”

  The words ever so slowly filtered into my subconscious.

  “Julia! It’s ok! It’s me, Julia! Julia!”

  I could hear the voice. It came from a distant place but it took the rough shaking of his strong hands to bring me back into awareness. I looked around bewildered, trying to focus on the face in front of me.

  “Julia! You were having a nightmare! You were screaming and we couldn’t wake you!” My dad looked at me with concern as he stood by my bed, too stunned to move.

  “That must have been an epic dream, sis! I could hear you from down the hall! I never knew you could scream so loudly!” Of course Matt had to make a joke of it all, but at least that helped to break the tension.

  “What were you dreaming about?” Mom asked worriedly. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone scream like that before, not in real life, anyway!”

  “I was in this darkened room,” I began to explain, “and, and…”

  For some reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to continue. The images were too gruesome and I struggled to recall the dream I’d been having.

  “It was probably because you watched that horror movie last night,” Matt said with sudden realization. “That movie was enough to give anyone the creeps!”

  The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself and the look of guilt on his face as I glared at him, showed that he knew full well the reaction that would follow.

  “Julia, you know I don’t like you watching movies like that!” Mom said with a stern frown. “They’re given a rating for a reason and the nightmare you just had is proof that movie wasn’t suitable.”

  “And where did you get it, anyway?” she continued crossly.

  My glance in Matt’s direction was a dead give-away and it was him that she turned to next.

  Matt had borrowed the movie from a friend at school. It had been perfect timing because our parents had gone out so we had the opportunity to watch it while they weren’t around.

  I must admit though, it was pretty scary. I even had to move next to Matt on the sofa because I was too scared to sit on my own. Without realizing it, I’d edged right up close to him, and grabbed hold of his arm for some security. I’d never normally do something like that, especially with my own brother, but last night I hadn’t been able to help it.

  Finally, after checking and double checking that I was ok, they had all left my room and I was able to turn off my bedside lamp and close my eyes in an attempt to get back to sleep. Within a few seconds though, I found myself sitting back up and switching on the light again. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d needed a night light, but I knew that was the only way I’d be able to close my eyes and get some rest.

  Just as I began to drift off, it occurred to me that maybe my parents were right after all and I promised myself to avoid horror movies in the future.

  Maybe I’ll watch them when I’m older, I thought briefly. But then again, maybe not!

  Can’t wait….

  As I bounced into my seat next to Millie on Monday morning, I exclaimed firmly, “I am never watching horror movies again! I had the freakiest nightmare on Saturday night. Apparently I wouldn’t stop screaming until Dad shook me awake!”

  “No way!” Millie exclaimed. “What was the movie?”

  “You don’t want to know!” I replied. “And besides, I really don’t think you should watch it!”

  “It has made me start thinking about Halloween, though.” I continued in a rush. “Do you realize it’s coming up in a few weeks’ time? And remember that we volunteered to plan the Halloween disco. I’ve got some really cool ideas for decorations but we need to start getting organized!”

  “I know!” Millie responded in a worried tone. “I was thinking about the disco myself on the weekend. Perhaps we should call a student council meeting so we can start planning.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said. “Let’s talk about it some more at morning tea time.” And I looked towards Miss Watson who had begun speaking and was frowning in our direction. That clearly indicated that we needed to be quiet. So I forced myself to stop talking and concentrate on what she was saying.

  As usual there was Math on the board that we needed to complete. With a sigh, I resigned myself to getting it done, all the while looking at the clock in the hopes that it might be morning tea time and we could escape outside. Millie and I had important things to discuss and I wanted the morning session to end.

  As well as that, I couldn’t wait to catch up with Blake. He’d been away on a family holiday for a week and I had missed him so much. Glancing towards the back of the room, he immediately looked in my direction and smiled. It was as if we were completely in sync and knew exactly what the other was thinking. I felt the familiar flutter in my stomach, the one I always
felt when he gave me that beautiful smile of his. Then, taking a sideways scan of the clock, I turned back towards the board.

  Still another hour to go! With a deep sigh, I put my head down and tried to focus on calculating the addition problem in front of me. But images of Halloween pumpkins kept popping into my head. I made a mental note to ask everyone to start collecting pumpkins so we could carve them and scatter them around the hall at the disco. I pictured dozens of pumpkins, glowing with candlelight and started to shiver with excitement. This disco was going to be the best one we’d ever had and I couldn’t wait until our morning break so we could start planning it!

  I took another glance towards the back of the room and instantly his eyes met mine. With a deep sigh of anticipation, I thought once more about our morning break.

  “Maybe the disco planning can wait till tomorrow,” I thought to myself with a grin.

  The meeting…

  We’d called a special student council meeting to discuss the arrangements for the disco. All the student leaders usually met once every two weeks with Miss Brown, who was the teacher in charge of the group. She listened to ideas that we put forward such as possible fund raisers for the school.

  She was actually a pretty cool teacher who was open to all kinds of suggestions. At first, Millie and I had expected her to be boring because of the way she looked. Although she was fairly young, she didn’t have much fashion sense when it came to clothes and she had this wild red hair that frizzed out at the sides.

  But it had only taken one meeting to find out how cool she was. She had this great sense of humor and was really supportive of all our ideas. We always looked forward to our meetings as she made them so much fun. She even brought in treats for us and these usually consisted of a surprise bowl of sweets. Each time we’d wonder what would be waiting for us when we walked into the room.

  She said that because we willingly took part in the meetings and had to give up our free time, we should be rewarded in some way. But even without the treats, I think we would still look forward to the meetings.

  Once again I realized that you really can’t judge a book by its cover!

  At a previous meeting, Millie and I had come up with the idea of having a Halloween disco this semester and Miss Brown, as well as all the other kids on the student council had thought it was a wonderful idea. Except for Sara that was! At the time, she had criticized it and tried to come up with reasons why we should choose a different theme. But I was sure that was because she was jealous of the excited reactions from everyone else and most importantly that it hadn’t been her idea!

  Anyway, Miss Brown suggested that we all take a vote and apart from Sara, it ended up being completely unanimous. So, much to Sara’s disgust, it was decided that the Halloween disco would go ahead. But time had flown by and we really needed to start getting organized.

  We used our time during the meeting to work out what we would need for decorations and made detailed lists of everything that needed to be done. The problem was that we only had a small budget which meant there wasn’t much money available for us to spend.

  “The whole idea is to raise money for the school,” Miss Brown reminded us with a smile, “So it’s best to spend as little as possible. That way most of the money made, will actually go towards new resources that the school needs, such as some new computers in the computer lab, or a set of iPads that different classes can have access to.”

  She looked at each of us to ensure that we understood. It was our first fund raiser as student leaders and she knew that we were keen for it to be a success. Ultimately our aim was to raise as much as we could, so that was what we needed to focus on. By the end of the previous year, the student leaders had raised enough funds to resurface the basketball courts as well as provide four new portable hoops and a heap of basketballs. This was hugely popular and encouraged many kids to start playing in their lunch break.

  There were so many keen players that Mr. Thompson, our physical education teacher, had organized a lunchtime basketball tournament where two different teams competed each day. And even a year later, this was still a very popular activity.

  We desperately wanted to outdo the efforts of the previous student council and were even hoping to break the record so we’d be known as the leaders who raised the most funds ever. That would be amazing!

  So we decided that because the disco was our major fund raiser for the year, it was important that we all helped to make it a success.

  Once the meeting was underway, everyone started talking at once and there were a heap of great suggestions. Millie took notes and jotted down the names of the people responsible for each. Our main goal was to approach local businesses and try to get food and decorations donated. That way all the money we made would go to our school.

  Blake was sure that his dad could help out with the music and lighting. As he was a professional musician, he had access to some really cool effects such as a huge mirror ball and a variety of colored lights that flashed on and off to the beat of the music. We also wanted some cool music, which was probably the most important thing and decided to leave that to Blake and his dad to organize. Blake was sure that his dad would volunteer to be the DJ as well, which we were all really excited about. He was an awesome DJ and we knew that having him would make our disco a massive hit.

  We were still coming up with ideas when the bell went and Miss Brown suggested that we continue our meeting during the lunch break. Everyone was more than happy to do that. Everyone except Sara, that was.

  “I’ve already been asked by Mrs. Harding to help out in the office at lunch time today. So you’ll have to go ahead without me. That’s if you think you can manage it?” she queried, glaring in my direction.

  Then turning to Mitch, who was the school vice-captain, she smiled and said in the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard her use, “You’ll fill me in on any details that I miss, won’t you, Mitch?”

  “Aah, yeah sure, Sara!” Mitch replied, looking around uneasily. He was clearly embarrassed by her sudden interest in him but she gave him another of her innocent smiles before leaving the room to head back to class.

  “Hey, Mitch, you’ll fill her in on any details she misses, won’t you?” Millie’s sarcastic reply was followed by a burst of laughter, which then caused us all to crack up.

  She had mimicked Sara brilliantly and we could not help but laugh at the joke.

  When I realized that Mitch’s face had turned a bright shade of red, I tried to manage a serious expression but just couldn’t do it. Then even he began to see the funny side and burst into laughter, himself.

  “Maybe you should ask Sara to go to the disco with you,” suggested Blake, grinning widely. “I’m sure she’d say yes!” And we all began laughing once more.

  Mitch just shook his head but I had a funny feeling that maybe he thought it was not such a bad idea. There were several other boys who had asked girls to go with them and it was almost as if everyone thought they should have a date.

  It was just then, that an interesting idea popped suddenly into my head. Talking about dates for the disco had made me think of Millie and I wondered if I could arrange a date for her. I knew that she liked Blake’s friend, Jack and even though she would never admit it to me, I was sure that she’d be thrilled if he asked her to go with him.

  It would be so cool, because we could go on a double date; Millie and Jack and Blake and I. My thoughts running away with me, I pictured the four of us hanging out together. I knew how much fun that would be and I was determined to make it happen. Deep in thought, I headed back to class, all the while devising a plan.

  “This is going to be good!” I thought to myself, feeling more excited by the minute. “Yes, the disco is the perfect opportunity. But I might need Blake’s help.”

  Then, grinning mischievously, I sat down at my desk and pretended to focus on the next lesson.

  Feeling happy…

  The weeks passed by and the disco drew closer. We’d been very succ
essful so far in getting everything organized and had managed to stock pile a wide variety of really cool Halloween decorations. The storeroom floor was covered in pumpkins that had been carved in preparation for candles to be placed inside. All we had left to do was arrive early on Saturday morning to get the hall decorated.

  It was all anyone could talk about and the level of excitement had reached an all-time high. The local shops had completely sold out of Halloween costumes and we’d heard of some kids making trips to the city in order to get a cool outfit to wear.

  As well, we had achieved record ticket sales. In fact, the disco was so popular that the office had to get more tickets printed. There was only one issue remaining. Blake and I still hadn’t convinced Jack to ask Millie to go as his date.

  “What’s his problem?” I had asked Blake on the phone the previous night, when I had called him to check on any updates.

  Blake had caught the bus home with Jack that afternoon and it was his perfect chance to suggest once more that he should ask Millie.

  “He said he doesn’t want to,” answered Blake. “He just wants to go on his own.”

  “Not fair!” I replied, my disappointment evident. “I’m sure Millie would love it if he asked her. She’s always talking about him and today she even admitted that she thinks he’s good looking!”

  “Well I’m sorry, Julia but I can’t make him ask her!”

  I could tell that Blake was getting annoyed because I kept going on about it, so I decided to just let it drop. Maybe Jack was just too shy or maybe it was not meant to be.

  “But it would be so cool," I thought once more, as I sat in a group with Millie and some other friends during our lunch break. Glancing at Millie, I imagined how cute she and Jack would look together and I pictured the two of them, dressed up in their outfits and dancing as a pair.