Dancing in the Rain: 7. A turn for the better...

I lie awake in my hospital bed, around about 2:35 in the morning, because I couldn't sleep. I thought about the horrible things I did, not just to myself, but to even my old friends. I broke Tim's arm, Lexie got a good beating in her foot, and I broke my femur. Surprisingly, Kota didn't get hurt. But I knew it was my fault that I messed up. 'God, why couldn't you have warned me earlier?' I thought. 'I guess Maine wasn't worth its fifteen hours of driving.' I picked up the Taylor Swift, 'Fearless' CD that Drew gave me and my CD player with my pink ear buds. I decided to listen to the CD for a bit to help me fall asleep. The first four songs were interesting. But then, I stopped at 'White Horse' to listen to the lyrics. I thought the chorus related to me quite a bit:



'I'm not a princess,
this ain't a fairytale,
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet,
lead her up the stairwell.
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town,
I was a dreamer before you went,
and let me down...'



As these words started to make a heart on my stain, I felt tears building up in my eyes. It was only true. I fell for a horrible lie, I went along with the populars, and I broke three bones. Nice one, Jackie. I repeated the song over and over until I finally wore out the batteries. I looked into my stepmom's purse that she left here, and found some AA batteries. I placed the in the battery pack in the CD player, and listened to song over and over...Again. All the sudden, I saw two women approaching my hospital room. I felt frightened a bit, but then, one of the women turned the lights on. It was Diane, my stepmom, and someone else who looked spitefully familiar to me. "Hey, dear," Diane said. "How ya 'doin?" "Fine, I guess," I replied, trying to hold more tears back. "This is someone I think you might know." I canvassed her for a while. Soon, the tears finally set free. "Mom?" I whispered. "Hello, Jacklyn." She implied. I hopped out of my bed and limped over to throw my arms around her. All this time, I thought God was trying to take something away from me. "I thought you died," I added. "That's what the doctor said." "Yes," she said. "But somehow, I survived overnight. I came here because mister grumpy was already married to Diane, so I took a flight here to live where you were born." "So why did the doctor say that you died?" "Well, I did for about an hour." "So...did you see heaven?" "Oh, yes, but sadly, it was replaced with a very painful recovery." "What was it like?" "I can't describe it in words, it's so beautiful." Then Diane added, "I thought you might want to see her because of what you've been through. And I thought I'd apologize. I'm sorry if I've been rough on the edges. I just didn't want you to go through my school year." "Wait till Whitney sees you!" I exclaimed. "How is Whitney doing these days?" Mom asked me. "Fine, just fine." I replied. "So, also, I heard you broke your femur." Mom added. "Yeah," I said. "...And Tim's arm, and Lexie's foot. It's my fault I'm here. I tried to save Lexie from falling twelve feet from the ground, but I ended up messing up everything. I know both of them are mad at me. They were before I broke their bones, just because I was so stubborn and I wanted to fit in. I will never get them to forgive me." "I'm not so sure about that," Mom said. "I talked to Lexie, and she wanted me to tell you that she apologizes for being rude, and forgives you for messing things up. Tim is still a bit stubborn in his opinion..." "...But I roughed him up a bit!" Diane added. We all laughed. "Yeah, but now, everyone at school's gonna hate me." I implied. "Y'know, my mom always had this saying: 'Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning how to dance in the rain.'" Mom said. I gave her a confused look. She sighed. "As in, you should celebrate and praise God, even when you're depressed. Have you prayed lately?" "No," I added. "It makes me uncomfortable when I do pray." "How about we pray, right now?" Diane replied. We all got in a circle, and one by one, we all prayed a different prayer. It made me cry to see how much Diane and my mom care about me. When Diane finally said 'Amen,' Mom advised, "Now wipe those tears out of your eyes and love life while you still have it." She kissed me on the forehead, and walked out of my hospital room with Diane. I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders, and went right back to sleep.

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After about a month and a week, the doctor let me out of the hospital without a cast. I felt a better spring in my step. Although once I got to school, everyone made fun of me. Life went back to 'braniac' and 'klutz' with me. I kinda wished I was back with the populars, but then I remembered how much they tricked me. I forgot to tell you, I dumped them after getting out of the hospital. All of the notes passed to me were threats and random mean words, and I wanted to run out of school, crying. Lunch wasn't any better. I sat down with a few girls, and they got up and walked away. I spotted Tim, Drew, and his crew coming my way, so I decided to slip under the table and eat there, like I used to. Tim never knew that I ate under his table. No one does, actually, but that changed. One of his friends, Hunter, hit his foot against my face. "You're foot's pretty firm Drew." He said. "That's not my foot." "Then who's foot is it?" Hunter asked. Tim looked under the table. Here comes trouble. "You hit Jackie!" Tim exclaimed. All of them looked under the table. I tried to cower away, but Drew grabbed my sweater, dragged me out from under the table, and yanked me to a corner. "What on earth are you doing under our table!" He exclaimed. "Can't you just sit with Lexie and Kota, like usual?" "No," I replied. "After breaking Lexie's foot and being such a brat for the past month and a half probably means that they hate me now." Yeah. although mom said that she forgave me, Lexie tried to avoid me all day. Same with Kota. "What would make you think-" Drew stopped for a moment. "So, does anyone know that you eat lunch under a boys' table?" "He asked me. "Well, it's too embarrassing to show my face in lunch," I answered,. "Because I've already been made fun of one too many times here. I hate Maine!" "You think I feel any better!" Drew replied. "I think you should just apologize to Tim quick-" "Oh yeah, right after he calls me a selfish brat. That'll make me feel happier!" I shouted. "Even you admitted that he's just plain rude!" I walked away, ready to cry, and I didn't want anything to do with apologizing to Tim. All the sudden, someone grabbed my arm. I tried to keep walking, but whoever got me had a tight grip. I kept yanking and yanking, but it wouldn't buge. I turned around, and it was Tim. "You really thought that I would hate you for the rest of my life?" he said. "Ya think?" I replied. "If I remember well,you called me a selfish, conceited, self-centered brat, and said that I'm lucky that anyone came to the hospital to encourage me because of how annoying I am." "Uh...I get my anger from dad," he explained. "Like father, like son?" I raised an eyebrow. "Look, I can't leave you in your misery here, a'ight? So, forgive and forget?" Tim held out his hand to shake mine. "Sure," I responded, shaking his hand. "Forgive and forget. So, what about Lexie and Kota?" "I already invited them over here. Lex can't wait to see you again." There was a moment of silence. "So how about that cheese and chicken flatbread sandwich, eh?" "Don't change the subject so quickly, Tim." "Right. So how about David Beckam!" "Tim!" "I know, I know, I know." Hey, I don't really care. At least every thing's back to normal." *

Woo! Done already! The next book's comin' soon!! God bless!

YSIC,
Rachel.T

Dancing in the Rain: 6. If I just didn't turn around...

Well, life in popularity is great. Kyla and Sierra respect me much more than Lexie or Kota ever treated me. I like being noticed, since all of the populars call me "The Braniac" which is nice to have a title. Although I don't talk to them much, because I'm often carrying books, I still like the fact that I'm respected, whether I'm from Pennsylvania or not. I like the fact that they don't bug me about Skylar, which is awesome!! So, yeah. Life was going wonderfully. Until some things happened.


~~~~~~~~

I was leaning up against my locker, talking to Kyla about Kota's ugly sweater. While talking, I didn't realize that she was behind my back. "Oh," I said as I turned around. "Hello, Kota Coyote." "Well, Hello Jackie the Jackal." She replied. Surprisingly, she didn't look offended. "Are you here to tell me how horrible Skylar is?" "Actually, I'm here to prove it." She pointed to him, who was talking to the cheer captain, Sally. I stomped up to him and whispered in his ear, "Hello, Sky." "One second," he said. "What are yo doing here?" "Well, I thought you were hanging out with me." "Well, I was, until you joined my sis' group. I guess I just had to move on in life." I gasped. "You are so...Rude!!" I exclaimed, stomping away. "Drama queen of the meanbees." I heard Kota mumble. I pretended not to her her as I strutted away. But it kinda made me die on the inside a bit. Not because I just got insulted, but the fact that I got tricked by such a Rattlesnake with Blue eyes. Ouch.

`````````

After all that, I was playing Soccer with the girls at the park, and soon, I spotted Tim and Lexie, also playing soccer together. "Don't those two dorks make a great couple?" Sierra said. "Oh yeah," I replied, trying not to pay attention to them. "I bet they're probably planning to go to the Fall Prom together." We all giggled, but I felt as if some little kid was tugging on my heart. I tried to ignore the feeling, but it couldn't go away. Soon, Sierra's mom brought lunch for us--Subway. Not fancy, but better that potato salad sandwiches. Ick. It felt like for some reason, Tim and Lexie were like, following me around, because I saw 'em at Subway, too. "I'll be right back, girls," I snickered, walking up them. "Shouldn't you two losers be like...Carrying on, or something like that?" "Jackie, this isn't you, and all four of us know it!" Lexie blurted. "Four?" I queried. I bumped into someone behind me, and it was Kota. "Hey there." She said. "You should just leave me alone. I'm perfectly fine where I am. And they're much more polite then all three of you combined. Plus, they said that I'll be oh-so popular in no time." "How's that working out for ya?" Kota interrupted. I just strutted off.

````````````

(This is Kota's Point of View, or POV)

Man, Jack's been stuck up lately. I don't get that girl sometimes. I decided to look at Sky's site to see what bad things he's said about me this time. Strangely, it wasn't on me. It was on Jackie. I read this:

THIS WEEK'S WORD: JACKLYN THOMPSON.

Man, her life stinks! Her own parents could just put her up to a foster home, her stepbrothers are both mute and the other can't shut up! She's also quite the klutz. And she's got a big head, so she'll let you cheat off her tests. She'll fall for anything, so manipulating her won't be as hard as usual.

CHANCES 4 U 2 B HER FRIEND: 11 outta 10!! HAHA!!

Oh. I think I lost my eyesight. This is the worst post ever!! Why? Well, not to be rude, but it's kinda true. She is a klutz and doesn't know any better here. I thought before telling her. She won't listen, I thought. She'll be better off to learn. Lexie finally arrived at our house. She more likely played with Tim, so I just stayed in my room, typing a post on my computer. About ten minutes in, I hear, "Help me!!" I ran downstairs and outside, realizing that Lexie was hanging on for her life on a tree or she'd take a 15-foot drop. I saw Jackie about three seconds. "What's wrong?" She asked me. I pointed to Lexie, who was in a panic attack. Jack immediately ran up to the tree and climbed right to the branch she was on. Of course, then something bad happened. The branch snapped and Tim, Lexie, and Jackie landed right on top of me. Strangely, I felt fine, but I knew the others weren't. "Mom" I shrieked at the top of my lungs--Twice. She ran outside, asking, "What's wrong, Dakota?" I pointed to the huge pile of three people. She gasped. "I'll call 911," She replied. "In the meantime, get them inside! Now!" Getting Tim inside wasn't hard. It was Jackie and Lexie that was hard. Lexie's foot hurt, and Jackie was knocked out! It didn't take too long to get the ambulance truck here and the three in the ambulance. I was worried-almost sick watching them in their beds as we arrived at the hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oi Vei . The results are no good. Tim's arm is broken, Lexie's foot is smashed, but Jack's was the worst--her femur snapped. Ouch. "She'll be out for a while," the doctor told us. "So we'll keep an eye on her." Right at that moment, she woke up.

(Alright, back to Jackie)

"Huh,? Where am I? and what happened?" I asked blatantly. "Well, uhh," Kota started. "Your femur kinda...snapped in half while trying to save Lexie." I thumped her head on the wall behind me. "Well, you should be angry," Tim added. "I mean, what can you expect from a selfish, conceited, self-centered-" "-Shut up!" she interrupted as my eyes turned red. "I think for the past month, she's had enough to go through. Oh, and your family and some other random people are here." I saw my brother, Drew, peeking through the window, along with Josh, Zeke, Hunter, Gary, Lucas, and Sierra. "They can come in, y'know." I told the doctor. He let everyone in, and they all went in single-file line. "Diane wanted me to give this to you," He said. "We heard about the new just a bit ago. And Diane was going to give you this for your birthday, but she though now was a better time." He handed three CDs, all of them Taylor Swift, and and a CD player with pink earbuds. His eyes started to look bloodshot as he walked away. Next up was Josh. Oh boy. But when he said, "hi," his eyes looked a bit past bloodshot. "I have that American Girl doll that I stole in the third grade." After that, he ran so I wouldn't see him cry. I held the doll in my hand thinking, Man, I must have messed up. After that was Sierra. "Why isn't Kyla or Skylar here?" I asked. She started, "Well, Kyla said she didn't want to waist her time with such a loser like you." I wanted her to stop right there. But she kept going. "What?" I exclaimed. "Yeah," She said. "She, like, wanted to make a total loser out of you, but I didn't like the idea. Oh, and Skylar bashed you on his bog. He said that you were easy to control and stuff like that." My tears just started flooding my face. "Are you alright?" She asked. "Just go!" I exclaimed. "But-" "-Just go!!" She backed away slowly. I heard Tim mumble, "Drama Queen," and I tried to ignore it, but it just tugged at me. "Y'know, it's surprising that anyone would come to see you," he said out loud as Drew walked up to him. " I thought that since you've been such a brat for the whole September that no one would come because of your annoying attitude. Your stuck up, annoying-" "-Stop that!" Drew shouted. "For your information, jerk, she is by far the best sister any thirteen-year-old could have!" I could see him struggle to speak because of tears. "She just wants to fit in! And if you don't believe that--then you're heartless! You hear me?! Heartless!" My jaw dropped in disbelief.I never heard, actually, anyone say that about me. Especially since Drew is really close to Tim. Drew was so dramatic, one of the doctors had to take him out of the room. I felt horrible. I really messed up this time. Guess this means I can't do anything right. I thought. My world felt like it was falling apart, right in front of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dancing in the Rain: 5. Goodbye, Lexie, hello popularity!

It's been a good four school days since school started, and so far, I still have Kota and Lexie as friends, and I still have a crush on Skylar. I dunno, he's cute! Anyway, yesterday, he wrote the address to his blog on the back of my hand, so I decided to check it out on Saturday night after finishing my homework. Of course, I'd bring the PC upstairs so I wouldn't hear another, "Jackie's got a boyfriend-" from Josh's routine. I typed in the address, and got this really professionally-designed blog with a header that wrote, "Simply Skylar--Who says there's no freedom in speech in America?" I thought the subtitle was weird, but just decided to read the first post. It read:

"UPDATE!!

Live chat with blogkeeper Skylar at 5:30 PM. See ya there!!

Simply,
Skylar."

Ooh, it's 5:28, I thought. But it'll be worth the wait. I scrolled down to find the chat box, and it was a sidebar feature. Looked cool, too. All the sudden, I saw a message pop up:

Sky: Yoohoo. Anyone here?!

I typed in my name and replied:

Jackie: I'm here. :D
Sky: oh great. Nice to see you here Jackie...Or should I say, Jacklyn.

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch, and giggled.

Jackie: yeah. im lucky to be here without josh's "Jackie's got a boyfriend" routine.
Sky: Josh? /:)
Jackie: My little stepbro. he's REALLY annoying.
Sky: Whew! im relieved! So, you like it here so far?
Jackie: I dunno how 2 say this...ur blog is SICKKK!!
Sky: thx...I guess. /:)

All the sudden, someone else joined the conversation:

Tim: helo?
Sky: wat r u doin here, tim????? I thought I blocked U!!
Tim: I never said I was signed in. And this is a PUBLIC blog.
Sky: darn. >(
Jackie: Uhh...
Tim: ur on, Jack??
Jackie: yesss...and dont call me jack!!
Tim: get offa here!!
Jackie: WAT???
Tim: just go to [link] and i'll explain.

I decided to take his advice and go to Tim's blog. It wasn't as nice as Skylar's, but it was exceptional.

Jackie: okaaaay...wat now??
Tim: oh good, you're here. wat were you doin on his blog??
Jackie: he invited me and I said yes. simple as that.
Tim: Do you even KNOW wat he's done to the world???
Jackie: no...I just moved here.
Tim: K...
Jackie: why does everyone hate Skylar???? >(
Tim: cuz hes a TRAITOR!! u see me? A TRAITORRRRR!!!!
Jackie: no he isnt! hes the nicest person ive met since i moved here. :)
Tim: thats what YOU think!
Jackie: shut it Tim!! like ur any bettr!!
Tim: hayyyy! I resent that!!!
Jackie: the feelings mutual.

There was a long pause before the next message came up.

Tim: Can U just listen?? once he betrays you--
Jackie: betrays?? hed NEVER do that!!
Tim: JUST LISTEN!!!!!!! at some point, hes goin to betray you in an unpredictable way. then if u still hate him, he'll bash u on his blog!!
Jackie: WAT???!!! he would NEVER do that! R U al OUT OF UR MINDS!!!
Tim: UGH!! im sick and tired of talking to someone who wont listen!!!!
Jackie: then get off and never see me AGAIN!!!!
Tim: fine!!!!!!
Jackie: fine!!!!!!! >( urgh, i HATE UUUUUUUUUU!!!
Tim: the feelings mutual.

I slammed the computer shut and jumped on my bed. I buried my face in my pillow as I started to cry. Whitney interrupted me and said. "Hey Jackie, where's the computer? I need to do my--What's wrong, Jackie?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And for some reason, everyone hates him," I explained, trying to clear up my voice. "But he's the nicest kid in the world." "I guess it's your choice to like him or not," Whitney replied. "But be careful. Your friends might be right. Just...Do what God wants." She got up from my bed, took the computer and left the bedroom. I stuffed my face in my pillow and cried again. Listen to GOD??? I thought. But I can't hear Him!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was awkward sitting next to Tim on the bus, because I agreed on his blog never to see his face again. At lunch, I sat alone because Kota and Lexie were so mad that I wouldn't listen to them. I just sat under the table and tried my hardest not to cry. As I walked to the bathroom to cry some more, Kota stopped me and pointed at me. "Did you just come out of-" "Long story," I said. "Can't talk." I ran to the bathroom as fast as I could, and locked myself in a bathroom stall to cry. All the sudden, I heard two girls walking up to my stall. "Hello?" A girly voice said. "Anyone in here?" "I'll get out." I whimpered. I opened the stall to show them the train wreck I was. One of the girls grabbed my hand. It was the girl next to my locker. "Are you alright?" she asked me. "No," I replied. "Everyone hates me because I like this boy, Skylar. And now, I have no friends." "Well, I'm his sister," She added. "And I know that he'd never be such a jerk." "Really?" I asked. "Yeah," She said. "Your friends are just being dumb, like the rest of this school is. How about you join me and my friends in the popular club?" "Th-th-the popular club?" I said. "The name's Kyla," she implied. "And my friend here is Sierra." "Hi." Sierra said. "So, whaddya say?" Kyla said. "I'll do it!"I replied, shaking her hand.

Next chapter won't be long!

Luv,
Rach <3