5

Dad gave me money to buy something from the vending machine. He was probably just trying to get rid of me for a little while, so he wasn't too happy when I came back a minute later with a box of jawbreaker's. Dad told me he really needed to finish what he was doing, so he asked me to find somewhere else to sit while he wrapped things up. He must've been really distracted that day, though, because he went home and left me behind. I might've being stuck there all night if the janitor hadn't found me.

Anyway, Dad is pretty annoyed that Uncle Gary doesn't have any money and has been mooching off him. Mom has actually started giving Uncle Gary and allowance even though he doesn't have to do any chores for it, which feels wrong to me. I just hope Uncle Gary uses some of his allowance to pay for his own bubble bath. He used up all of mine on the second day he was here, and it's really not the same when the water is crystal clear.

Tuesday I really wish I didn't have to throw my jeans out a few weeks ago, because today at school I needed to look sharp. We're starting a ballroom dancing unit in Phys Ed, and Mrs. Moretta said each of us needed to find a partner. So it wasn't a good day to be wearying corduroy pants that are 3 inches too short. Mrs. Moretta said we were gonna choose partners by writing down the name of the person we wanted to dance with on a little slip of paper. Then she'd go

through the pieces of paper and pair us up the best she could. That was the same system she used LAST year for the square dancing unit, though, and I totally got burned. I wrote down the name of the prettiest girl in my class, Baylee Anthony. But she didn't write down MY name. She wrote down Bryce Anderson, just like every other girl in the class. Briye ended up picking McKenzie Pollard, and Mrs. Moretta assigned Baylee to be my dance partner because I picked her. At first I was really excited I got Baylee as a partner. But then I had to deal with THIS kind of nonsense for three weeks-

I guess Baylee didn't want a repeat of last year, either, because today she went around to all the guys who didn't have a chance with her and let them know. To be honest with you, I don't really care who I get paired up with as long as it isn't Ruby Bird. As far as I know, Ruby is the only girl who has ever been suspended from our school, and that was for

biting a teacher. In fact, the reason Ruby only has one front tooth is because the other one ended up in Mr. Underwood's elbow. I try to be pretty nice to Ruby whenever I come across her in the hallway, because she terrifies me. But today I got worried that maybe I've been TOO nice and she might think that I actually LIKE her. The last thing I need is for Ruby to write my name