Sincerely, Me – By Gabrielle Galatea

“Dear Diary,” The young girl wrote in big fancy letters.

“I decided to make up a diary. Well, I’m not sure what to write but I guess I’ll start by talking about my life. I just turned thirteen years old about…a month ago. It isn’t all that great. I always dreamed of being ‘The big 13!’ but it’s definitely disappointing. School is horrible. Especially being it’s my third year and I HAD to start a new school. It’s definitely bad when you’re the new girl. I liked my old middle school, I was just fine there. Dad had to get that darn job. SIGH that stupid, stupid job.” She continued.

“Well, I have 3 older brothers, 1 younger. I’m surrounded by FOUR boys! And I know what you’re thinking: ‘That must behorrible!’ That’s exactly what I thought when we found out Jacob, my younger brother, was going to be a boy. Actually, it’s not that bad. I’m OK with it because I hate girly-giggle-girls, as me and Jacob like to call ‘em. Jacob and I are really good together, even though he just turned five and I’m, well, thirteen. My oldest brother is named Andrew, and he’s seventeen. The next oldest brother is Aedan, who’s sixteen. The next one is A.J, or Aaron James, and he’s fourteen. (Weird, they all start with ‘A’s.) And finally, there’s me. Seventeen, sixteen, fourteen, thirteen and five! A.J is pretty cool with me, he skateboards and he teaches me. Aedan is the most annoying of the four. Mom says he’s ‘just going through a stage’. Gosh, is that stage lasting his whole life!? Andrew just kind of stays out of my way and plays on his computer in his room all day. Get a job, buddy! He was home-schooled, so he graduated this year. Lucky. He didn’t have to deal with all this junk like I do.”

“But I think I’ve made friends pretty quick. I have this one friend, her name is Lilly, and she just turned 13 like me. She is growing up in a house of two boys, so she knows how it feels. It’s a lot different, let me tell you. People just don’t understand. I’ve even heard some people say ‘Don’t hang out with that girl, she’s different. She’s like a boy.’ That really hurts when people say that. They really don’t understand how different it is. SIGH”

“Well, for now, I guess that’s it…” She ended.

“Sincerely, Me” The girl closed up the book and put it behind the pillow of her bed. She rested her chin on her hand and sighed. She closed her eyes. It was actually a relaxing, peaceful time.

“NA-NA-NA BOO-BOO!” A little boy screamed, running in the room with a black cell phone in his hand. “You can’t catch me!” He teased. That ended her peaceful moment.

“Jacob! Give it to me!” A.J yelled. “Give it!”

“No!” Jacob yelled back, spitting with his tongue against his lips. He held up the cell phone to his ear. “Are you Aary’s girly-friend?” He asked into the receiver. ‘Aary’ was Jacobs way of teasing A.J (Aaron).

“Jacob quit it!” A.J screamed at the top of his lungs. “Uh, hello!?” He yelled to me. “Help me here!” She stuck out her tongue at him but then decided she’d like the screaming to stop.

“Jake, give me the phone.” She said softly. She knew he’d do it. He smiled.

“OK!” He yelled, handing me the phone and running out. A.J sighed in relief. She handed him the phone.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” She rolled her eyes.

“By now, you owe me about a thousand.” She said nodded sarcastically.

“Whatever, just…thanks.” He said, walking out. She pulled out her diary again. She was just so bored, she had nothing to do but write.

“Dear Diary,”She wrote.

“Jacob can be annoying. But he’s five, so I like to give him a break.” She stopped. But started again.

“I’ve decided I’ll describe what I look like now. I have wavy blonde hair. I don’t like it. It’s short, above my shoulders. I’ve used conditioner & shampoo to try and straighten it. It doesn’t work. And it smells pretty funky. I have blue eyes and glasses. People always comment on my skin, for some weird reason. ‘Oh, your daughter’s skin is beautiful!’ They’ll say. I just sort of smile as if I said ‘thank you’. I don’t know what else to say. It leaves me in an awkward position. I’m mostly German, so I don’t tan. At all. Period. I burn, and that’s it. Simple as that.” She sighed.

“Tomorrow’s Friday. I’m so happy about that. Lilly & I decided we’re going to hang out tomorrow. Meet up at the corner of fifth street near Kroger’s. We live pretty close to each other, but we’re going to go bike riding.”

“I’m sort of glad it’s 8:00 pm, which is weird.

I just want to go to sleep…pause Night.”

“Sincerely, Me” She wrote. Again, she stuck it under her pillow. She changed into her pajamas and lay down. She flipped on the T.V and turned the volume on ‘low’. Turned off the light, turned to her side and closed her eyes.