QUIZ TIME!
Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.
You’ve been invited to two parties on the same night. One is being hosted by Cheyenne, your slightly nerdy but very sweet pal from summer camp. The other is being thrown by Jodi, the cool girl you just met in English class. Your plan is to:
go to Cheyenne’s party, of course. You feel bad saying no to Jodi, but Cheyenne asked you first. There won’t be many people there, and it’ll probably be pretty low-key (we’re talking Monopoly and a Vampire Diaries marathon), but Cheyenne is a good friend, and that’s all you need to have fun.
go to Cheyenne’s party but leave early so that you can make an appearance at Jodi’s place. Cheyenne is great, but you don’t want Jodi to think you would say no if she invited you to her next throwdown.
head to Jodi’s party, dance up a storm, then take off and show up at Cheyenne’s for ice cream. By the time you get there, you’ll have missed all the board games and Netflix videos, but you’re sure Cheyenne will understand.
skip Cheyenne’s place and party it up at Jodi’s house. Your summer camp buddy is nice and all, but getting in good with Jodi could be the key to your entire social life!
It is your first week in a new school and you have a ton of activities to choose from. Whatever you go with will set the tone for your whole school year. You pick:
the book club. It isn’t the most social of clubs (you’ll be spending most of your time as a member reading alone in your room), but you love books and you’d choose a really good novel over a really good party any day.
the chess club. Sure, chess might attract a slightly nerdier crowd (which means your name won’t exactly be the first one on the guest list when it comes to the cool parties), but you think chess can be exciting! Competing against just one other person to see who can outsmart who, who can think several moves ahead to end up with a checkmate…bring it on!
student government. You’ll be involved in making decisions for the whole school, so you’ll meet a ton of people. (Of course, you’ll have to make some tough choices that some kids might not like, which means they might not like you.)
cheerleading. The most popular girls are on the squad, and you’ll get to go to all the football games. Not to mention you’ll get to wear a uniform, so the whole school will know you’re part of an elite group. Definitely where you need to be.
Several weeks ago your best guy friend asked you to go to the spring dance with him and you agreed. But a few days before the dance, Mark, the cutest guy in school, asks you too. What do you do?
Stick with your original date. He asked you first, and you would never back out on a friend. The two of you will have a ton of fun together.
Tell Mark you can’t go with him since you already agreed to go with someone else, but promise to save him a dance.
Stay with your date…at least until you get to the dance. Then sneak away to spend most of your time with Mr. Popular. You’re sure your friend will understand. It isn’t every day that a guy like Mark looks your way.
Break the news to your friend that you got a better offer and go to the dance with Mark. Yes, your original date might be mad at first, but he’ll get over it. He wouldn’t want you to pass up a great opportunity like that, right?
When you grow up, you hope to have a career as:
a veterinarian. You’ll be surrounded by animals every day and get to save tons of furry creatures.
a travel writer. You’ll spend lots of time alone writing, but you’ll also get to travel to exotic places and meet the locals.
an event planner. You’re a social butterfly, so by planning events, you’ll always be at the center of all the action.
a VJ on MTV. You’ll interview all the hottest celebrities and get invited to the coolest parties. Diddy could use a new partner in crime. That could be you!
This year’s school musical is a production of Grease. What part do you go for?
The stage crew. It’s not glamorous, but you’d much rather be behind the scenes than in the spotlight.
Part of the chorus. You won’t stand out much, but you’ll get to appear onstage and your name will be in the playbill. That’s good enough for you!
One of the Pink Ladies—maybe Frenchy. You don’t have that many lines, but the ones you do have are memorable. Plus, you’ll get to hang out with all the leads.
Sandy, of course! She is the star of the show. If you get that part, everyone will know your name.
Give yourself 1 point for every time you chose A, 2 points for every B, 3 points for every C and 4 points for every
—If you scored between 5 and 12, go to Chapter 11.
—If you scored between 13 and 20, go to Chapter 10.
Rules were made to be broken, as far as you’re concerned. Most of them don’t make sense anyway, so whenever possible you try to find a way around them. Some might call you a troublemaker, but you’d prefer to think of yourself as a rebel. What you seem to be missing, though, is that some of the rules you’re rebelling against were made for a reason. Must you learn everything the hard way?
Not that you make a habit of this, but instead of heading to history class, you veer off course and head downstairs toward the art room. You know that it’s always empty during this period. And you also happen to know that the room has great acoustics, so you can practice your little heart out.
Speaking of hearts, yours is beating a mile a minute as you sneak into the quiet room and close the door behind you. You’re pretty sure no one saw you come in. With any luck, your history teacher won’t even notice you’re not in class. What’s important now is that you have time to warm up your pipes.
After you put your backpack down on an empty desk, you try to calm your runaway heart with a few deep breaths, taking in the faint smell of acrylic paint. Then, just as you learned to do in music class last year, you run through a few scales, letting your voice rise and fall: “me, meee, Meee, MEEEE, Meee, meee, me.” Finally, you face the row of easels and big blank canvases, pretending they are the audience for the choir auditions.
Even though you know the easels are not real people, you’re suddenly nervous all the same. You feel your palms get clammy as you launch into the first few bars of “You Belong with Me.” As you run through the song, you make a mental note not to shake any of the judges’ hands. The last thing you want them to remember you as is Ms. Sweaty Palms.
You finish up your first run-through of the Taylor Swift tune, picturing the judges going wild, clapping till their hands are sore. But wait…is your imagination that good, or is that real clapping you hear? It seems to be coming from behind the large canvas on an easel in the back of the room.
“Um…is anybody there?” you venture, hoping the answer is yes. Otherwise, you might be losing your marbles a little bit.
Slowly the clapping stops and someone pokes his head out from behind the canvas. When you see who it is, your heart nearly gallops out of your chest.
Jimmy Morehouse—your friend and ongoing megacrush.
“Oh my God,” you mutter. “Have you been here the whole time?”
He nods shyly, his messy black hair perfectly complementing his plain white T-shirt and ratty-looking flannel button-down. You can feel all the blood in your body rush to your face. Jimmy is in your history class—which is why you never expected him to be working in the art room right now. If it’s possible to die of embarrassment, it might happen right now.
You shove your hands into the back pockets of your jeans to stop them from shaking. “Sorry you had to hear that,” you tell Jimmy. “It was probably terrible. Hope it didn’t kill your creativity or anything.”
Jimmy looks at you with sincere green eyes, shaking his head. “Terrible? Are you kidding? That was…Wow. You can really sing. I didn’t know.”
You notice a look of honest admiration register on his face as he stares at you, his lips parted slightly and his eyebrows raised in surprise.
“Really?” you ask. You
’re not fishing for compliments. You just want to make sure you’re not caught up in some superrealistic daydream.
“Really,” Jimmy confirms, smiling.
You smile back, your heart finally easing up its pace. “Thanks,” you say. “But, um, what are you doing in here anyway? Are you cutting history class too?” Is it possible Jimmy is as much of a rebel as you are?
“Who, me?” Jimmy answers, pointing to himself. “Nah. I got permission from the principal to spend some extra time working on my pieces for the art show this afternoon.”
Oh yeah! You’ve been so caught up in the choir madness that you almost forgot about Jimmy’s big art debut.
“Jeez, that’s right!” you exclaim, slowly walking toward Jimmy and sitting on a stool next to him—right after he throws a cloth over his canvas so that you can’t see what he was working on. “Today’s the big day for you. You must be so excited!”
Jimmy shrugs. “I guess. But…can I tell you a secret?”
“Sure,” you answer, flattered that he would choose you to confide in.
“Well, uh, the truth is, I’m terrified.” He laughs nervously. “This is embarrassing, but when I agreed to be part of the exhibit, it didn’t occur to me that I’d have to show my work to everybody!”
You laugh a little, feeling yourself relax. How great is it to know that you aren’t the only one walking around scared out of your mind? “Yeah, that’s the thing about the word ‘exhibit.’ It usually involves exhibiting stuff.”
“Real funny,” Jimmy answers flatly. “You probably think I’m king of the dorks now, huh?”
“Hey!” you object. “Not true at all! I thought that way before now.” You gently bump his shoulder with your own and give him a big smile to show him you’re kidding. No way could you ever think of Jimmy as a dork.
“If it makes you feel any better,” you continue, “the reason I’m here right now is because I’m terrified too. Like an idiot, I signed up to audition for a choir solo today, and now I have to compete against Mona!”
Jimmy winces. Since he spent a little time with Mona over the summer, he knows how scary she can be, and that she doesn’t like anyone coming between her and something she wants. “Yeah, I can see how that would throw you off,” he says seriously. “But look, you have nothing to worry about. From what I just heard, you’ve got this choir thing in the bag.”
“Thanks, Jimmy. And you shouldn’t worry about the art show. You’re really, really good. Everyone’s going to flip when they see what you can do.”
He smiles gratefully and takes a deep breath. “I hope so. But how about we do something fun to get our minds off all this pressure?” He hands you a paintbrush and reaches for a small spare canvas.
For the next few minutes, Jimmy gives you an art lesson, teaching you how to paint someone’s portrait using each other as models. He shows you how to use the color wheel to mix paint colors and how to get the proportions right, then he leaves you on your own. A few minutes later you are ready to reveal your masterpiece.
“Voilà!” you cry in a horrible French accent. “It eez a work of art.”
Jimmy comes to stand behind you and view your painting. “Well, it’s a work of something,” he says doubtfully. Okay, you’re not exactly van Gogh. You have painted Jimmy as a stick figure with a nest of black hair and two globs of green paint for eyes. And even though his arms and legs are just sticks, they’re crooked, and his legs are about a mile long. You both end up laughing hysterically.
“And what are those?” Jimmy says through tears of laughter, reaching over your shoulder to point at what looks like two bolts.
“Um, I think those are your ears.”
“On my neck?” Jimmy manages to say before doubling over in laughter again.
You can’t even remember the last time you laughed this hard. You still have the jitters about the audition (or maybe you’re shaking because you’re standing so close to Jimmy?), but this art thing is fun…not to mention kind of romantic.
“Here, let me show you where the ears should go, Picasso,” Jimmy says, his fingers brushing against yours as he reaches for the paintbrush in your hand.
But just then, the door swings open and the art teacher, Ms. Darbeau, sweeps into the room. As soon as she sees you, she folds her arms and her lips harden into a tight line. “Well, well, well…,” she says. “I suppose I should be happy that you’re finally discovering art, young lady. But I know that you are not supposed to be in my art room right now. Which means you must be cutting class—perhaps to pursue other interests.” On that last word she raises an eyebrow at Jimmy.
Oh man, you are so busted.
On your way to the principal’s office, Ms. Darbeau informs you that cutting class is a serious offense. Jimmy isn’t in trouble since he had permission to be there, but you have no excuse.
“I must admit, I’m surprised,” Principal Kern says as he folds his hands in front of him on the desk. “According to your schedule, you were supposed to be in history class. And your teacher verified that you didn’t show up at all today. It isn’t like you to cut class to flirt with a boy….”
You’re sure your face just turned ten shades of red. “That isn’t what I—I mean, that’s not why I cut class.”
“Oh no?” the principal says. “Then what was it?”
You stare miserably at your worn-out sneakers. “I wanted to practice my song for the choir audition.”
Hearing it out loud, you know it doesn’t sound like a very good reason.
Principal Kern sighs. “In that case, I won’t send you to detention.”
“You won’t?” you ask hopefully. Is it possible you’re about to get off scot-free thanks to your talent? Could it be that Principal Kern believes in your dream?
“No, I won’t,” he answers. “In light of the fact that you broke the rules and cut class in order to sing, I think a much more fitting consequence would be to ban you from the auditions.”
NOOOOOO!!!!!
As you walk dejectedly to your next class, you sulk over ruining your chance at stardom. You might as well call Jessie to let her know that the mission to upset the social order is all up to her now. After you hit her speed-dial button, Jessie picks up quickly, and you break the horrible news.
You expect her to be upset, or at least nervous, but instead she sounds downright chipper.
“Aw, that’s okay, really,” Jessie chirps.
“It is?” you ask, not quite believing her. “You have to audition solo now. I thought you’d be mad.”
“Well, I might have been, but Lisa and Maria saw that I put my name on the sign-up sheet, and their whole posse has been sooo nice to me ever since. Can you believe it? They even offered to help me with my audition!”
Okay, everything about that last sentence sounds wrong, wrong, wrong. Since when have those girls wanted to help Jessie with anything? And why would they want to start now, when their queen bee, Mona, is also up for the soloist spot? Something seems mighty fishy.
Well, this is a most unfortunate turn of events. You got busted skipping class and as a result, your audition dreams are donezo. Getting in some quality flirting time with Jimmy was almost worth the sacrifice. But now the crushing of the cliques is all up to Jessie. And judging by the last phone call you had with her, it doesn’t sound like she’s your best bet anymore. The popular girls seem to have convinced her that she’s one of them now. If they really do want to help her, that’s great. But you have a feeling there’s more to their sudden friendship than meets the eye. Are you onto something, or is the skeptic in you just being paranoid? Let’s see what the quiz has to say.
QUIZ TIME!
Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.
You get an e-mail that says if you forward it to twenty people, you’ll have good luck for seven years. If you don’t, you’ll have bad luck for life. Do you forward the e-mail?
Totally! The world is tough enough as it is. You really don’t want to bring on a guarantee
d lifetime of bad luck.
Sure. You only forward it to your closest friends, though. You don’t want any bad luck, but who has time to send an e-mail chain to twenty people?
Well, you forward it to your best friend just in case. But you’re not too worried. It probably won’t affect you at all. You hope.
No way. You don’t believe that forwarding e-mails can bring you good luck. As a matter of fact, you’re a firm believer in making your own luck.
A girl you don’t get along with at school gives you a heads-up that there’s going to be a pop quiz in math today. She even offers you her notes. You react by:
thanking her and inviting her to your lunch table so that you can study together. Maybe she’s not so bad after all.
thanking her and gratefully taking her notes. You’re not sure why she’s being so nice, but maybe she’s had a change of heart.
thanking her for the info but telling her you’ll use your own notes. If she’s telling the truth, you appreciate the warning. But what if her notes are full of wrong answers and she’s trying to set you up?
refusing her notes in case she’s feeding you wrong answers, then immediately asking around to see if anyone else has heard about a quiz. Most likely she just lied to see if you would panic.
Your favorite tabloid has a great section that lists all the new gossip—who’s dating who, who’s feuding with who—you know, the good stuff. How much of it do you believe?
Your Life, but Cooler Page 5