Freaky Tuesday #17 Read online

  Freaky Tuesday #17

  Melissa J. Morgan

  Grosset Dunlap (2007)

  Rating: ★★★★★

  Tags: Fiction, General, Social Issues, Juvenile Fiction, Performing Arts, Friendship, Schools, Adolescence, Self-Help, Girls Women, School Education, Popularity, Middle Schools, Stress (Psychology), Computers, History Criticism, Voluntarism, Stress Management, Theater, Blogs

  Fictionttt Generalttt Social Issuesttt Juvenile Fictionttt Performing Artsttt Friendshipttt Schoolsttt Adolescencettt Self-Helpttt Girls Womenttt School Educationttt Popularityttt Middle Schoolsttt Stress (Psychology)ttt Computersttt History Criticismttt Voluntarismttt Stress Managementttt Theaterttt Blogsttt

  * * *

  * * *

  Brynn?s just transferred to a brand-new school in a town close by. A town in Bizarro World, that is, where academic excellence is the fast track to popularity and Candace?yes, quiet, seemingly insecure Candace?is the reigning queen bee. Brynn?s not sure how she?ll ever fit in to this parallel universe, until one day she notices Candace crumbling under the weight of some serious self-imposed stress. So Brynn takes Candace under her wing and teaches her the fine art of chilling out before she turns into a complete basket case at the tender age of thirteen.

  About the Author

  Melissa J. Morgan started going to sleep away camp when she was eight years old and didn't stop until her first job after grad school refused her request for eight weeks of summer vacation. She's since quit that job to become a full-time author. The only reason she didn't go back to camp is that her husband refused to join her. Melissa lives in New York with him and Bugle, their Chocolate Lab.

  Freaky Tuesday

  Freaky Tuesday

  by Melissa J. Morgan

  Grosset & Dunlap

  GROSSET & DUNLAP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland

  (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,

  New Delhi - 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Cover designed by Ching N. Chan.

  Front cover image © PhotoAlto Photography/Student Campus/Veer Inc.

  Text copyright © 2007 by Grosset & Dunlap. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Printed in the U.S.A.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2007009630

  ISBN: 978-1-4406-9706-7 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  chapter

  ONE

  Posted by: Brynn

  Subject: Heeelp!!!!

  My whole life has been flipped upside down. No, make that my whole WORLD. And I’m not just being my usual drama girl self. Really. First, I get home from camp and I have a whole different house. My parents moved over the summer. Without telling me. They said they thought it would be a—note the quotes—“fun surprise.” Hello. Surprises are excellent for birthdays, not major life changes.

  Actually, after I got over the shock—Hey, that’s what my parents should have called it. A “fun shock.” Anyway, after I adjusted, I decided the new place is pretty cool. It’s not that far away from where we used to live. And my new room—it has shutters on the inside. Cute white shutters. I LOOOOVE them. They are so much more original than curtains or blinds. And my parents are letting me redecorate. I’m getting one of those beds that has curtains draped all around it. Not a canopy. But like a gauzy tent. And yes, I know I just basically said curtains are uncool. But that’s just on windows. Around a bed—they’re fabulous!

  Anyway, the new house with the new room and the new furniture is only part of the life flipping. I’m also going to a new school. A private one, with uniforms and everything. Confession—I’m scared!!!

  I’ve never been the new girl before. I know I’m not exactly shy or anything, but I have a little case of the wiggins thinking about walking into my first class not knowing anybody. As in ANYbody. Have any of you ever been the new girl? If you have, heeelp! I need survival tips. Who do I sit with at lunch on the all-important Day One? Am I supposed to start up conversations with people before classes start? Or do I wait and let them talk to me first, since I’m the newb? What if I get lost and have to walk into class late? What do I say? Please advise.

  And that advising, I need it fast, fast, fast. ’Cause I have to start at my new school the Tuesday after Labor Day. I always thought private schools started later. So please, please, please answer before then.

  Brynn stared at her computer screen, willing one of her Camp Lakeview buddies to post an answer on the camp’s two-bunk blog. Maybe Grace. She was always so calm and rational. Or Natalie. She’d walked down the red carpet with her dad at actual Hollywood movie premieres. She’d definitely know how to handle a minor social situation like dealing with a new school.

  You were popular at your old school. You’ll be popular at your new school, Brynn told herself. But she still wanted the assist from her friends. Just to be on the safe side.

  She checked her computer to see if any answers had come in during the fourteen seconds since she’d posted her message. Nope. Maybe it was time to shoot Jordan a quick e-mail as well.

  To: [email protected]

  From: [email protected]

  Subject: New Girl Syndrome

  Hey Jordan,

  I’m on the verge of freaking. What if no one at my new school likes me? What’s a (new) girl to do?

  XO Brynn

  Brynn clicked back on the message board. Maybe that would distract her. There was a new message from Gaby Parsons. Gaby wasn’t her favorite Camp Lakeview girl. But Gaby did have a snarky sense of humor. She’d probably have something entertaining to say. Brynn started to read.

  Posted by: Gaby

  Subject: Sainthood

  This goes out to everyone who lives around Philadelphia. I’m going
to be volunteering at the Home Away From Home center near the Children’s Hospital and I wanted to know if any of you would like to volunteer with me. Home Away From Home is a place where the families of sick kids can stay while the kids are in the hospital.

  I decided that this year I want to spend more time thinking about other people. That whole situation at camp where I sort of fibbed to all of you? Okay, I mean I told you big fat lies. That time? The way you were all so nice to me afterward made me think that maybe I should try to be a little nicer. So what do you say? I’ll be in charge and get things organized. Come on, don’t you want to be good like me? From now on, I expect you all to call me Saint Gabrielle.

  Huh, Brynn thought. Good for Gaby. Brynn’s world had been shaken up by her parents’ decision to move and to put Brynn in a private school. But Gaby was shaking up her own life because she wanted to be a better person. That was pretty cool.

  Brynn did a check for new messages again, because now it had been more than a minute since she’d posted her plea for heeelp. And this time there were two—one from Valerie and one from Alex. Brynn read Valerie’s first.

  Posted by: Valerie

  Subject: Chill

  Brynn, don’t be stressing. You HAVE been the new girl once already, and it went great! Think about it—you were the new girl your first year at camp. We all were newbs. We didn’t even know why you shouldn’t eat the meat loaf. And we came away from our first summer with tons of BFFs. Look at us. We’re all hanging out on the blog, keeping in touch. So I repeat, there’s no need for stress!

  P.S. Milo Ventimiglia rocks my socks!

  Good point, Brynn thought. We were all new girls at camp. And camp turned out so fun! Already feeling better about her first day as the New Girl, Brynn moved on to Alex’s post.

  Posted by: Alex

  Subject: Brynn Friends

  I have advice, Brynn. I have the perfect advice. All you have to do is join the drama club. You’re so talented. They’re going to be so happy to have you as soon as they see you do your stuff. I bet after one meeting you’ll have more friends at your new school than you can handle. That’s how it was for me once I started joining sports clubs.

  Good luck! And you better not forget about me when all those new friends of yours are always calling you!

  By the time she finished reading Alex’s message, a post from Grace had popped up on the board. Her camp friends were so coming through for her!

  She used the mouse to click on Grace’s post and started to read.

  Posted by: Grace

  Subject: Drama Queens Rule (tee hee)

  Of course drama club is the answer! We both know how tight drama people are. You’ll have oodles of friends in days.

  I gotta go. It’s garbage night and my mom is yelling for me to take out the trash. If you are still feeling stressed, do what I do—eat twelve purple gummy bears. Yes, they have to be purple or it won’t work.

  Brynn smacked herself on the forehead. Alex and Grace were so right! Brynn already had friends at the new school. Drama friends. They just hadn’t met her yet. And she hadn’t met them. But they were still her friends. Once she met them, they’d introduce her to their non-drama friends, and Wilton Academy popularity, here Brynn came.

  This is SO nothing like the first day of camp, Brynn thought as she stepped through the heavy oak doors that led into the Wilton Academy. At camp, the counselors had get-to-know-you games planned. They made sure all the kids got introduced to one another, and that nobody was left out.

  There were no camp counselor types here. She was on her own. Just remember what Alex and Grace said about drama club, Brynn reminded herself. That will change things.

  She checked her watch. Fifteen minutes before her first class. She couldn’t just stand by her locker looking like the loneliest girl on the planet. The bathroom, she decided. She could brush her hair, do a lip gloss check, and make sure the tie on her blue plaid uniform wasn’t askew. That would keep her busy.

  But first she had to find it. One of the other new-girl things. She didn’t know where anything was. She could ask someone, but everyone seemed to be talking to somebody already, doing the catching up after summer vacay thing.

  Brynn decided to just head down the hall and keep her eyes open. And before she’d reached the corner, there it was—the ladies’ room. She stepped inside and headed over to the sinks. Three girls were already clustered in front of the mirrors, gabbing away.

  She thought about the message Natalie had posted on the blog that morning. She’d said not to worry about who talked first. She’d told Brynn that if she felt like talking, she should just talk. Curtain up! Showtime! she told herself. “Hi,” she said brightly as she searched her purse for her favorite peach lip gloss. “I’m new here. Just moved into the area, even though I’ve always lived around Boston. So what’s the club situation at this school? When do they start up?”

  The tallest girl gave Brynn a friendly smile. “There will be sign-up tables in the caf starting tomorrow at lunch,” she answered. “What club are you thinking of?”

  “Drama,” Brynn answered. “I live for the stage!” she exclaimed, vamping it up for added effect. The tall girl wrinkled her nose a little. Like Brynn had let out a big smelly burp in her face.

  “Do we even have a drama club here?” one of the other girls asked doubtfully, trying to straighten the knot in her tie.

  How could there not be? What kind of school wouldn’t have a drama club? Brynn thought. She ran her fingers through her dark red hair, fluffing it up.

  “There is one. That girl Iris was in it last year,” the first girl said.

  “Oh, right. Icky Iris.” The third girl smoothed down her bangs and stepped away from the mirrors.

  “She was upgraded,” the girl who’d been fiddling with her tie jumped in. “She became Irritating Iris, remember?”

  All three girls laughed. The tall girl turned to Brynn. “There’s definitely a drama club.”

  Brynn nodded. “Thanks.”

  The tall girl turned back to her friends. “How many of the books on the summer reading list did you get through?”

  “All of them, of course,” the girl with the now-perfect tie answered.

  Brynn’s throat went a little dry. “Um, what class had assigned summer reading?”

  “It’s not for a particular class,” the tall girl explained. “Each grade has a reading list. We’re all supposed to read five books from it. Samantha just likes to be better than everybody else.” She gave perfect-tie girl a playful slap on the shoulder.

  “Like you didn’t read them all,” perfect-tie girl Samantha teased her back. “You’re way too competitive not to have. You might end up with an A-minus or something.” She glanced at Brynn. “Didn’t your old school have summer reading?”

  Brynn shook her head.

  “I’m sure you’ll be able to catch up,” the tall girl told her as she and her friends headed out of the bathroom.

  Catch up? It’s only day one, Brynn thought.

  The first bell rang, and she hurried out of the bathroom. After Grace had taken out the trash, she’d posted another message on the blog advising Brynn how to deal if she got lost and ended up being late to class. It was advice Brynn didn’t want to have to use.

  She found her history classroom with a full three minutes to spare. Three minutes to start making some BFFs. Or at least Fs.

  The problem was, everyone in the room was already talking to somebody else. Except one girl who was reading a massive book. Was the book something that had been on that reading list? The one Brynn knew nothing about?

  Slowly, Brynn unloaded her history book, her binder, a pen, and a pencil from her backpack. Carefully, she arranged them on her desk. That had taken—not even an entire minute.

  Now what? Everyone was still talking—or reading. Brynn’s face started to feel like a mask.

  She forced a smile. Then immediately turned the corners of her lips down. What kind of loser sat around smiling into sp
ace? Except frowning into space wasn’t any better. That definitely wouldn’t make her look like somebody it would be fun to be Fs with.

  Brynn pressed her lips together, then tried to hold them in a nice, even line. For some reason the effort made her jaw ache. She wanted to waggle it back and forth, but that would look weird. Looking weird was worse than looking like somebody who wasn’t any fun.

  Finally, the teacher walked in and about fifteen seconds later, the second bell rang. Brynn didn’t think she’d ever been so happy for class to start.

  “Hello, everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Ms. Owen. I know you probably all have a little case of whiplash. Yesterday was vacation. Today, school. So I thought we’d kick things off with something fun. A few rounds of History Bowl.” She clapped her hands. “Volunteers for team captain.”

  Every single hand in the room—except Brynn’s—went up.

  “Okay, let’s go with Eve and Peter,” Ms. Owen said.

  “I get Colin,” a boy Brynn assumed had to be Peter called out.

  “No fair!” the other captain, Eve, shot back. “Colin even sleeps with the History Channel on.”

  “You get the next pick, Eve,” Ms. Owen told her.

  Eve scanned the room quickly. “Maddy.”

  “Good choice,” the guy behind Brynn muttered. “I live next door to Maddy, and she spent all summer making flash cards.”

  You’re kidding me, Brynn thought. All summer? Who does that?

  “I made flashcards, too,” the girl who’d been reading commented.

  I guess that answers my question, Brynn thought.

  Peter and Eve kept calling out names. And suddenly it hit Brynn that she was going to be the last kid picked.

  It doesn’t mean anything, she told herself. How could either of them pick you? They don’t even know your name.