Your Life, but Cooler

by Crystal Velasquez

  QUIZ TIME!

  Come on, you don’t really need a quiz to tell you where you should go next, do you? Get over to Chapter 20 and prepare to be blown away!

  Your glass is definitely half empty. It’s great that you are realistic enough to know that bad things happen sometimes. After all, if you are prepared for the bumps and bruises of the world, they won’t come as such a shock. The problem is that you seem to always think the worst. And whether you realize it or not, walking around with a storm cloud over your head only serves to block the sun. Try looking on the bright side now and then. If you expect good things to happen, they just might.

  “Don’t make me drag you in there,” Jessie threatens, both of her fists on her hips. “You know I’ll do it.”

  You look over at Lena but find no help there either.

  “Don’t look at me,” Lena says evenly. “I’m with Jessie. If you don’t audition, you’re going to ruin our blog’s big finale.”

  Charlie leans in sympathetically. “I’d let you off the hook, but the story is really good so far, if I do say so myself.” He and Lena nod at each other and shake hands like lifelong business partners.

  “And helllooo,” Jessie insists. “There’s the little matter of getting to go to New York City and sing in Carnegie Hall! Do you have any idea how many celebrities are walking around all over the place there?” Jessie throws up her hands in frustration and paces up and down the hallway. “I actually convinced kids who are usually too shy to speak let alone sing to come audition, but you won’t? Jeez, even I’m gonna do it and I don’t have an amazing voice like yours. I just can’t believe you’re giving up without bothering to try!”

  You have been sitting on the floor next to the row of lockers just outside the auditorium, your arms wrapped around your knees, while Jessie, Lena, and Charlie stand over you looking like giants. You know how much they want you to go in there, but it’s like they didn’t hear you when you told them the situation.

  “Guys, did you forget about Lizette’s text already? Mona stole my song! And she’s going on before me so I’ll look like an idiot if I sing the same thing she did. Plus half her friends are judges. I don’t have a chance! I’m not going through with it, all right?” You know that you’re whining. But you can’t help it. You had such high hopes this morning. It figures that everything would go wrong.

  Before Jessie has a chance to lay into you any more, Jasmine Viera comes speeding down the hall toward the auditorium, her long black hair flying out behind her. You can hear her humming a scale in C major. Her forehead is covered in a thin sheen of sweat and she keeps biting her bottom lip. Know-it-all Jasmine is always so pulled together and totally in control—sweating and biting her lip is not like her. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say she was scared.

  “Hey, Jas,” Charlie calls to her just as she is reaching for the auditorium door. (Charlie and Jasmine have been friends since the summer, when they both tried and failed to win tickets to Shawna’s birthday party. Being a fellow overachiever, Charlie is one of the few who is allowed to call her Jas.) “Are you going in there?”

  Jasmine glances down at her hand on the doorknob, then back at Charlie. Duh, her look says.

  Jessie rolls her eyes. “He means…are you going in there to audition?”

  “That’s the idea.” Jasmine peeks into the crowded auditorium and sees the long table of judges. “Yep, that’s the scary, nerve-wracking idea.…”

  “See?” Jessie whirls around to face you again, standing between you and Jasmine. “She’s scared, but she’s still going in.”

  Jasmine leans over to peek around Jessie. “You’re auditioning too?”

  You open your mouth to answer but Lena’s voice comes out instead. “She was.”

  “But now she’s backing out because she’s afraid to compete with Mona,” Jessie finishes, shaking her head.

  “I am not!” you say before Charlie has a chance to add his two cents. “I just don’t see the point of entering a standoff with Mona if I’m only going to lose, all right?”

  You figure Jasmine, at least, will understand. She hates to lose too. Without even taking her hand off the doorknob, Jasmine straightens her back. She’s about to let them have it, you think. She’ll come to your defense.

  “Your attitude stinks,” Jasmine says, looking directly at…you! Okay, not quite the defense you were hoping for.

  “Huh?”

  “You heard me.” Jasmine takes another peek into the auditorium, then turns back to you. “I don’t know if I can beat Mona either—and I really don’t want to face all of them.” She points a thumb over her shoulder at the gathering crowd. “But at least I’m willing to go for it.”

  “Easy for you to say,” you gripe. “You’re so used to winning everything.”

  “Not everything,” Jasmine says pointedly. You know she’s probably thinking of when she blew the question that would have scored her a ticket to Shawna’s party. “And anyway, the reason I win so often is that I try more often. I don’t always come out on top; I just think I will.”

  Huh. Maybe Jasmine really does know it all. You have absolutely no comeback for what she said.

  “Anyway,” she goes on, suddenly looking bored with the loser vibe you’ve got going on in the hall, “I’ve gotta get in there. I think I’m up next.” She swings open the door and marches toward her doom. She must be nuts.

  “See?” Jessie says, gesturing toward the door Jasmine just disappeared through. “She’s not gonna let mean ol’ Mona scare her away.”

  You shrug your shoulders miserably. You know your friends are right, but you’re still unable to face the stage. “It’s her funeral.”

  Jessie throws up her hands again in disgust. “Ugh! I’ve had it! Come on, guys,” she says, motioning Lena and Charlie inside. “Some of us have to get ready to sing.”

  It doesn’t take long for you to realize that even if you don’t plan to audition, you should at least go in and support Jessie. Especially since she only signed up so that you wouldn’t have to go through it alone.

  You sneak into the back of the auditorium and spot two empty seats next to Lena and Charlie. One is obviously for Jessie, who is hovering near the stage awaiting her turn. But they saved a seat for you too, in case you changed your mind. Nice. Even when you’ve had a fight (usually because you’re being a bonehead), your friends are still there for you. The sight of the saved seat makes you feel extra bad for letting them down. You slip into it and see they both have their BlackBerrys on their laps, trying to figure out the ending for today’s blog. Jasmine is just finishing up. She’s singing “Apologize” by One Republic and she sounds really amazing. When she sings the last note, everyone starts clapping wildly—popular kids and nerds alike.

  It’s a tough act to follow, but Jessie hits the stage next. You realize you haven’t even asked her what she’ll be singing, you were so wrapped up in your own freak-out. You are pleasantly surprised when Jess breaks into that Jason Mraz song “I’m Yours.” She doesn’t have the greatest voice on earth, but it doesn’t even matter. The song is so cute and Jessie is dancing around the stage, clearly having fun. Before long, the whole audience is singing along with her and rocking from side to side. By the time she gets to the last line, her single voice has turned into a hundred. Again, the place erupts in cheers.

  You catch Mona giving her friends a dirty look, and they stop clapping immediately, as if they’ve been caught doing something wrong. She is still staring them down as she makes her way to the stage. But as soon as her hand touches the mike, she breaks into a radiant (and superfake) smile.

  “Name and song choice,” Mr. Parker says formally into his own microphone.

  “Mona Winston, and I’ll be singing ‘You Belong with Me’ by Taylor Swift.”

  She scans the crowd before she starts singing, and when she notices you her smile grows even wider. Then she winks at you. She actually winks! Infuriating.

  “That little troll,” Jessie says bitterly
, having slipped into her seat next to yours following her big success. “She has some nerve.”

  You can only nod in agreement since you’re too angry to speak. The worst part is, Mona wasn’t all talk either. She’s not half bad. Not as good as you might have been, and not as good as Jasmine, but not bad.

  Lena rests a comforting hand over yours and looks at you with sincere brown eyes. “Hey, I know you think the odds are stacked against you, but are you sure you don’t want to give it a shot? I think you might regret it if you don’t at least try.”

  “Yeah,” Jessie says, squeezing your left shoulder, her voice no longer bearing a hint of anger. “Besides, I know you would blow the judges away. And even if you don’t, who cares? It would still mean you stood up to Mona, and how good would that feel?”

  “Dang it, you guys,” you start, looking from one to the other. “I just hate it when you make sense.” You all smile at one another, and they each take turns hugging you.

  When Mr. Parker clears his throat and says into the microphone, “Oh, wait…according to my list we have one more person who would like to audition, correct?” He scans the audience before finally resting his eyes on you.

  Gulp. Here goes nothing. You stand with your knees shaking like crazy. “I would.”

  Mona looks appalled. It’s so on!

  Today has been absolutely crazy so far. For the first time ever, you were sent to the principal’s office. You had your phone taken away. You were forced to grovel to Ms. Krell to get it back. You had your song choice stolen. And you got into a fight with your two BFFs after you single-handedly foiled Jessie’s plan to topple the power cliques and ruined Lena’s blog. And that’s in addition to giving up on your rock-star dreams. What did all these negative events have in common (besides you)? Mona Winston. You hate to admit it, but she totally got to you and had you thinking there was no way you could win, so you might as well not even try. Thank goodness your friends care enough to rally around you and encourage you to give it a shot, even though victory is uncertain—to put it mildly. But now that you’ve finally come around, can you control your anger at Mona long enough to knock the audition out of the park? Only the quiz knows.

  QUIZ TIME!

  Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.

  When you were really little and your folks refused to buy you some toy you wanted in the store, you would:

  kick and scream and cry until your face was all red and blotchy. Hey, how else were you supposed to react? You really wanted that toy!

  pout and refuse to speak to your mom for the rest of the day. Throwing a tantrum would have only gotten you into trouble. But the silent treatment definitely let your mom know you were ticked off.

  beg and beg until your dad would get really annoyed. Eventually you’d give up and do your best to forget about the toy. (It must have worked, since you can’t remember now what toy you wanted that long ago!)

  accept it and play with the toys you already had. You were momentarily disappointed, but not getting a new toy is really no big deal.

  You just got your English paper back and the teacher gave you a C-minus. You are:

  outraged! How could she give you a C-minus? You worked so hard on that paper! As soon as you see the grade, you tear the paper to shreds and storm out of the classroom. Take that!

  pretty mad. You really thought that was quality work. But since jumping down your teacher’s throat will land you in the principal’s office, you settle for going on an angry tirade about it in your blog. You’ve gotta let your irritation out somewhere!

  disappointed. It seems the teacher didn’t quite get where you were coming from. You vow to talk to her about it after class and find out what you can do better next time.

  concerned. If you thought you deserved an A on that paper, maybe you didn’t understand the work as well as you thought. You’ll sign up for an English tutor ASAP.

  Your best friend knows all about your secret crush on her brother Paul. When she accidentally spills the beans in front of him one day, you:

  scream at her for five minutes straight and tell her your friendship is donezo! How could she do that to you?

  are extremely annoyed. Now you’ll never be able to face Paul again! You leave without a word. But you’ll hash it out with your friend later. If she ever wants you to confide in her again, she’ll have to learn to keep her big mouth shut!

  are a little upset and spend a day not speaking to your pal. You know it was an accident, and she would never do anything to hurt you on purpose. But you need some time to cool down.

  are embarrassed. You guess your secret is out! You’re sure your friend didn’t mean to let it slip. So the only real question is: Does Paul like you back?

  Even though you’ve told her not to a gazillion times, your sister wore your favorite white sweater to her friend’s pizza party and now there’s a huge marinara-sauce stain right on the front. What do you do when she confesses?

  March into her room and destroy her favorite music box. An eye for an eye! That might seem harsh, but you warned her not to take your stuff and she did it anyway—now it’s payback time!

  Tell your parents what she did and let them hand out her punishment, then spend the rest of the day locked in your room so that your sis can’t get in. You wouldn’t normally snitch, but you’re sick of her ruining your stuff.

  You freak out for a while. (That was the best sweater ever, and now it smells like spaghetti!) You’re mad at your sister for a long time but eventually just let it go. She’s family after all, even if she does sometimes get on your nerves.

  You tell her it’s okay. Yes, you did love that sweater. But your sister’s apology is sincere, and she’s way more important to you than any piece of clothing. To teach her to respect your things, though, she’ll have to make your bed for a week.

  Your status updates on Facebook tend to be all about:

  whatever made you angry that day. Most things get a rise out of you, so there’s no end to the number of things you can rage about!

  little things that annoy you. It seems like every time your day is going well, something happens to ruin it—you get a tear in your tights, your teacher springs a pop quiz on you, you step in gum…. Sometimes it’s hard to keep your cool.

  whatever happened to you in the past few hours, good or bad. Some days are pretty crummy, but some days are awesome. Your Facebook family is a part of all your ups and downs.

  anything positive that’s happened that day. You can usually even make a joke about bad stuff too. (It was pretty hilarious when you fell on your butt while you were iceskating.)

  Give yourself 1 point for every time you answered 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 19.

  —If you scored between 13 and 20, go to Chapter 18.

  From Chapters 12 or 13: Your side of the street is always sunny—even in the shade! When your friends are feeling down, you can usually cheer them up, since you have the uncanny ability to look on the bright side. And because you expect great things to happen, you aren’t surprised when they do. Having such a positive attitude is awesome. Make sure you aren’t always viewing the world through rose-colored glasses, though. Life can be tough and sometimes the worst-case scenarios come true. But since you’re such an optimist, dealing with the occasional downer is a breeze: You know that things can always change for the better.

  From Chapter 17: Congratulations! When you get upset, you know how to keep it in check. In fact, you’re so even-tempered that your loved ones sometimes think you’re a saint! Hardly anything gets you riled and you can always come up with a better way to handle an aggravating situation than to throw a tantrum or resort to violence. One word of caution: If you really are boiling over inside and simply not letting it out, you might explode one day and it won’t be pretty. As long as you express your emotions—whatever they might be—in a healthy way, you’ll be just fine.

&n
bsp; After the little pep talk from your friends, you stroll up to the stage fully believing you can do this and that you’re going to do a great job. You can’t lie; it did bother you to hear Mona sing the song you were planning to use. (Even though Mona’s deviance isn’t too surprising, you’re amazed that she would sink so low.) You could waste time being angry with Mona, but you’d rather take her attempt at sabotage as an enormous confidence booster. After all, she wouldn’t feel the need to do something so underhanded if she didn’t consider you a legitimate threat, right? Right.

  There is one teensy problem, though: What are you gonna sing? Mona’s plan, while evil, was also genius. Stealing your song has thrown you off your game a little. But you refuse to let her get to you. You’ll just have to move on to plan B.

  Since Jessie did so much to be your moral support today—even going so far as to audition in order to keep you company—you figure a great way to repay her would be to sing a song you know she’ll love.

  “Name and song choice, please,” Mr. Parker says from the judges’ table.

  You state your name and then look directly at Jessie when you say, “I’ll be singing ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus.”

  Jessie’s face automatically lights up. You know that she’s a huge Miley fan, and “The Climb” is one of her all-time favorite songs. Lena smiles at you and then furiously taps away at her BlackBerry. Not only have you made Jessie’s day with your song choice, but you’re about to give Lena and Charlie the perfect ending for their blog.