What about your janitor friend? I know he can’t be at school with you, but he might be someone that you could talk to. And are your siblings helping you out, or are they just making fun of you too?
I hope things get better. I would hate it if people threw food at me.
Sincerely,
Glory
February 21, 2007
Dear Glory,
People at school are still bullying me, but I’m trying to ignore them. We have a choir concert at the end of the year, and I’m really not looking forward to it. I liked your idea about working out, so my brother Patrick has been letting me borrow his dumbbells. He's actually been really nice to me for the past few months, which is a big change. He’s started working at a pizza place after school so he can save up money to buy a car. He brings food home from work a lot, so we’ve been eating a ton of pizza. At first it was awesome, but now it kind of makes me sick. Is there any food you think you couldeat forever and never get sick of? Maybe toast. Toast would be alright.
The janitor, Rick, doesn’t work at our apartments anymore. He decided to marry his girlfriend, so he told me he had to go get a better job so he could take care of his new family. He showed me pictures of his baby girl. She’s really adorable. It would be so weird to have a baby.
Thanks for not making fun of me for being the only guy in choir. I wish more people here were like you.
Bye,
Collin
April 19, 2007
Dear Collin,
I would probably get sick of pizza if I ate it all the time too. But I think I could eat Corn Chex cereal forever. I never get tired of eating that.
I’m glad Rick decided to take responsibility and marry his girlfriend. But I agree, having a baby would be super weird. I’m definitely not going to have any babies until I’m really old. Like, at least 23.
I’ve been doing a lot of stuff with the girls from the volleyball team lately. We have a lot of swim parties and go to movies, it’s been really fun. A couple weeks ago we went to the mall and started dancing by the fountains in front of the entrance. People were looking at us like we were crazy. We only did it for a couple minutes, and then we ran away and couldn’t stop laughing about it for hours. I go over to my friend Allie’s house a lot too to work on science projects or just to hang out.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Sincerely,
Glory
P.S. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m sending you a shirt that I found on Amazon. I had some extra allowance, and when I saw it, I thought of you. It’ll probably get there in a few days.
May 17, 2007
Dear Glory,
Thanks so much for the shirt, I love it! But I think if I wore something that says: “Real Men Sing in Choirs” at school, people would probably make fun of me even more. But it made me laugh, and I’ll definitely wear it for pajamas. Actually, things aren’t so bad anymore. We had the choir concert, and one of the songs we did was Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. I sang the solo while all the girls sang back up. Everyone thought it was pretty cool, so they’re not making fun of me anymore. I guess it turned out alright, but I’m still never going to do choir again.
I would have loved to see you and your friends dancing in front of the mall. I love when random things like that happen. It actually sounds like a flash mob. I think it would be fun to be in one of those.
I haven’t really done many crazy things. My mom always says that I’m her calmest child. She means it as a compliment, but to me it just makes it sound like I’m boring. I’ve always wanted to jump off a bridge into the Chicago River, so maybe one day I’ll do that and that will be the craziest thing I’ve ever done.
Are you going on any vacations this summer? You should come to Chicago sometime.
Bye,
Collin
Chapter Six: Ninth Grade
July 29, 2007
