Thursday, February 25, 2010
LYRICS again!!! I know it's today ~ Shrek
There’s a princess in a tower oh my gosh, that's just like me! Poor Rapunzel Needs a haircut But the witch won't set her free. She passes time by singing, Like someone else I know, As years go by she sits and waits. As years go by? uh oh A torturous existence? I don’t remember this part! She wishes she were dead? Skip ahead skip ahead... But in the end Rapunzel finds a millionaire The prince is good at climbing and braiding golden hair. So I know he’ll appear cuz there are rules and there are strictures. I believe the storybooks I read by candlelight My white knight, and his steed, will look just like these pictures It won’t be long now, I guarantee Day # 23. I know it's today. I know its today. There’s a princess In a coma Glad its her instead of me. Pretty maiden In a glass box How, I wonder, does she pee? Blah blah blah, poison apple Boring, boring, evil queen Filler filler, been there, read that! Seven shorties on the scene. Skip ahead, skip ahead... But in the end the princess wakes up with a start The prince is good at kissing And melting Snow White’s heart So I know he’ll appear And his armor will be blinding As shining as his perfect teeth And manly hose He’ll propose On one knee And our prenup will be binding About time we set the wedding date Day number…nine hundred and fifty eight. I know it's today He’ll show up today.... ...ay... There’s a princess Any princess Take your pick, they’re all like me Not exactly, I’m still waiting they’re living happily Ever after better get here I want love in seconds flat No one needs these middle bits Oops, did I do that? Cut the villains, cut the vamping Cut this fairytale Cut the peril and the pitfalls Cut the puppet and the whale Cut the monsters, cut the curses Keep the intro, cut the verses And the waiting, the waiting, the waiting, the waiting The waiting! But I know he’ll appear Though I seem a bit bipolar And I’m a vandal now as well, hope he won’t mind I’m a find, I’m a catch And a very gifted bowler! It won’t be long now, I guarantee! Day number… Are you there God? It’s me, Fiona… It’s me, Fiona! Now I know, he’ll appear 'Cause there are rules and there are strictures I believe the storybooks I read by candlelight My white knight My knight and his steed Will look just like these pictures It won’t be long now, I guarantee Day # 23 Day # 958 Day # 8423 I know its today, oo I know its today, oo I know its today, oo I know its today, oo I know its today, oo I Know it's today I know it's today!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Okay, FYI
So some of the posts didn't get published for some reason, so here is what happened on the day of the Unpublished Post:
I'd had an early release that day, but it didn't feel like an early release because I was in the DMV for two hours, waiting to do my learner's permit test, for driving. I passed, with only one question wrong.
This was from a while ago. It was the day before the Second Coming of the Snowpocalypse happened, which was kind of annoying.
Anyway, on Valentine's Day, I learned how to drive for the first time, and on this past Sunday, I had another driving lesson. Now I can say I have officially graduated from "parking lot driver" to "Street driver," even if the "Street Driving" was only at ten miles an hour. But it was cool.
Anyway, I'm pretty much done here, with this post. I will write again later, if I feel need of announcing something to the world.
For now, goodbye.
I'd had an early release that day, but it didn't feel like an early release because I was in the DMV for two hours, waiting to do my learner's permit test, for driving. I passed, with only one question wrong.
This was from a while ago. It was the day before the Second Coming of the Snowpocalypse happened, which was kind of annoying.
Anyway, on Valentine's Day, I learned how to drive for the first time, and on this past Sunday, I had another driving lesson. Now I can say I have officially graduated from "parking lot driver" to "Street driver," even if the "Street Driving" was only at ten miles an hour. But it was cool.
Anyway, I'm pretty much done here, with this post. I will write again later, if I feel need of announcing something to the world.
For now, goodbye.
story (full)
Cinderella update. Yes, I know it's like the Hilary Duff movie. But I don't care.
For some reason, my parents decided to call me Nemesis. Why they decided I would be named after a word usually meaning “enemy,” I don’t know. My dad is the Greek Mythology professor at American University, so that’s probably got something to do with it. My dad said that Nemesis is the Goddess of Divine Retribution and Moderation of All Things Stupid and Excessive (okay, it’s really just Divine Retribution and Proper Apportioning of Stuff to Maintain the Equilibrium of Humanity), and was very cool, but I didn’t believe him. Nemesis apparently had to yell at Tyche a lot, the god of Fortune and Luck, because apparently he gave out undeserved favors even when he wasn’t in a good mood. Nemesis had to make sure that excessive pride, evil intent, and too much happiness were reined in. This was in no way applicable to my life.
When I was twelve, my mother died; my dad remarried two years later. I wasn’t mad about it, but I wasn’t terribly happy, either. Helga was nice enough to me when Dad was home, as were her daughters, Ophelia and Kitty, but when he wasn’t around, which was often, they were quite nasty. Ophelia and Kitty were twins in the year ahead of me, and my only consolation as I entered 11th grade was that soon they would be in college, out of the house and out of my life.
I knew that my junior year was probably going to be the worst, because I was going to be having more work than ever with the million pounds of research rumored to be assigned that year, and with my own college search; in addition, the twins would certainly insist that I write their college essays for them. They made me write every essay for them, as well as complete every single assignment, worksheet, and write-up, so they could spend their afternoons putting on their hundredth layer of makeup and doing their nails in a different shade of pink.
I only had two friends- Zack had been my friend since sixth grade, when he’d needed a fellow nerd to hang out with, and Natasha was one of the managers at the 24-hour Diner where I worked. She was also my mom’s sister, and did more mothering to me than Helga did. The Diner was the hangout of everyone from the night-shift policemen to the Prep Crowd at school who were “too cool” to actually get a job.
Whenever I wasn’t working or staying up until two in the morning with homework, I was with Zack, and he often hung out at the diner while I was working. He’s very happy-go-lucky. If I were the actual goddess Nemesis, he’d be Tyche- he’s very optimistic and I yell at him when he gets too ambitious.
One day in mid-October, the date of the Halloween dance was announced-October 24th, the Saturday before Halloween. I’d have liked to go, except for the part where I had the five-to-ten shift at the Diner, so by the time I would have gotten to school the dance would have been practically over.
“Can’t you trade shifts with somebody?” Zack wanted to know upon hearing this news. He was sitting at the counter at the Diner on a Sunday afternoon while I darted back and forth between serving other customers and discussing the dance, which was the coming Saturday.
“Not likely,” I said glumly as I passed him a Sprite.
“Come on, Nemesis,” Zack argued, taking a huge swallow of his soda, and then choked from the sudden brain freeze. Once he recovered, he said, “You’re the only girl I’m friends with who looks good in a dress.”
“I’m the only girl you’re friends with,” I told him, handing over a check to an elderly man. “So why don’t you go to the dance and have a great time, and hook up with Allie, and tell me about it on Monday?”
“Not a chance,” Zack said. “And I’m friends with Meghan, and she doesn’t look good in a dress.”
“Well, as I don’t have a costume-” I began, taking the check back from the man to put the cash in the register.
“That’s fixable,” Zack told me on the way back to the man with his change.
“Or a mask-” I started again, putting my tip in my apron pocket.
“Like a Phantom of the Opera mask?” Zack wondered. “Why?”
“It’s obviously because of my secret ambition to become a deranged murdering genius and to prove such by arriving at the dance in the proper décor- a mask over my face and a dead body over my shoulder,” I said sarcastically.
“So you’re going then?” Zack asked.
“No,” I sighed.
“But why would you want the mask if you went?” he wondered.
“Well maybe it would be because I wouldn’t want the Doom Twins to see me and report me to the Villainess of the Universe, who would then fire me, evict me, and kill me, at which point she’d have more use for the Phantom mask than I would. But as I’m not going, neither of us will need it. There’s also the fact that it’s a costume party.”
“I have a Phantom mask,” Zack suggested. “You could borrow it if you want to.”
“However, I don’t need to,” I repeated.
“Is this about that dance on Saturday?” Natasha asked, having overheard the debate.
“Yes,” I told her glumly. “But I’m not going.”
“Why not?” Natasha demanded.
“Well, maybe it’s because I’ve got the night shift and ten college essays to write,” I told her shortly.
“Nem, what about that boy?” Natasha asked. “Is he going to be there?”
“That’s irrelevant,” I said. I didn’t want to discuss my crush on the captain of the basketball team.
“Oh, so it all stems from fact that you don’t want Luke to know that it’s you he’s rocking out with, is that it?” Zack asked.
“No, it’s that I don’t want to get fired,” I shot back. “Or disowned, or both.”
“You’re not going to get disowned for going to a dance,” Zack said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I can’t, because I’m staying here all night and nobody can take my shift because everyone who potentially could will be at the dance,” I said. “I’m not going, all right?”
“We’ll work something out,” Natasha said confidently. If Zack was Tyche, then Natasha was Athena, goddess of battle strategy, among other things.
As the day of the dance loomed, I knew I was going to be looking forward to a night serving policemen on the night shift, while in my off-time I would be wishing I were somewhere else.
On the 23rd I was in the diner once again, serving a team of overexcited six-year-old soccer players and attempting to have another argument with Zack about the dance. I wondered whether the parents of the little monsters were regretting their decision to let their children order soda, because by the time the food arrived, they had managed to dump out the entire contents of three ketchup bottles and made enough noise to bring around an earthquake.
By the time I’d given the Beast Children some new bottles of ketchup and refilled the coach’s coffee cup for the fourth time, I was ready to call it quits, but my shift wasn’t over until nine. I thought, dimly, that the last thing I needed was for the Doom Twins and Queen Prissy and her posse- the cheerleaders, and the Varsity Capitan, Casey- to come in.
However, Nemesis the Goddess appeared not to be as fair as she was supposed to be, because just as I had completed the thought, Queen Prissy herself flounced in, accompanied by two Miss Prissy contestants- Casey’s best “friends,” Kayla and Chloe, and their boyfriends- Luke, Jack, and Ben, stars of Varsity Basketball. Just as they slipped into a booth in the corner, where I could see Casey scan the menu haughtily before shutting it with a snap, Ophelia and Kitty pranced in as well and slipped into the next booth.
“Nem, can you get those kids in the corner?” Natasha asked. “Josie hasn’t shown up for her shift yet.”
I sighed. Natasha had recognized Luke. Although this was probably her idea of setting me up with him, it was my idea of a disaster. I was a nerd who hung out with another nerd, so Casey insisted on never talking to me if she could help it. I didn’t mind; I found her just as gross as she found me.
Grabbing a pad, I slipped out from behind the counter and dragged my feet to the booth.
“Can I start you with some drinks?” I asked, trying not to show my nerves.
“What do you have that hasn’t got any sugar, calories, carbs, or fat, Elf Girl?” Casey wanted to know. I ignored her comment. I was a classic nerd- Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, speaking Elvish as a second language, stuff like that. I put up with watching Phantom of the Opera for the twentieth time with Zack and his musical-ness, and the next weekend Zack would consent to seeing Return of the King for the tenth time. I didn’t ask questions about theater; he didn’t ask why I wrote in the Dwarvish Runes all the time.
“Water,” I said.
“I’ll get that,” chorused everyone except Luke.
“I’ll have a coke,” Luke said, grinning easily and ignoring Casey’s death glare.
Luke didn’t actually laugh, but he had a way of smiling with his eyes. I grinned and wrote down the drink orders. However, as I turned back to the counter to fill some glasses, still glowing inside, I heard Casey say, “You know, if Elf Girl’s going to be serving, I’m not entirely sure I want to eat here.”
“Shut it, Casey,” Luke said.
I almost radiated as I went back to the drink fountain.
However, when I got back to the Prissy Posse and Entourage ten minutes later with the drinks, Luke was sitting there alone.
“They left?” I asked stupidly. They couldn’t possibly cover up murders in that amount of time without someone noticing.
“Yeah,” Luke said. “I was left both single and with the check.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, and turned to go. Single? Luke? I often wondered what happened to people who lived on the popular end of society. It was far more appealing than working constantly.
“No, seriously,” Luke insisted, and handed me thirty dollars as he rose to leave-my biggest tip ever. “Keep the change. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” I said as I tucked the bills into my apron pocket, momentarily forgetting why Natasha and Zack had been bugging me for the last week between the extremity of the tip and the fact that I was actually talking to the guy of my dreams.
“The dance,” Luke reminded me.
“I’m not going,” I told him.
“No date?” he asked.
“No time,” I replied. “I got the late shift. I think they do it on purpose.”
“Bummer,” Luke replied, smiling slightly. “See you later, then.”
“Bye,” I said feebly.
“He’s single now, apparently,” I told Natasha as I set down the tray behind the counter and started pouring the drinks into the sink. “And he brought up the dance. But I’m still not going,” I added.
“If he ditched his girlfriend, stuck around, paid you extra, and brought up the dance, he likes you,” Natasha told me, as only a mom could.
“Besides, I already got your ticket,” Zack said. “Sorry if I said we were dates. It was cheaper.” I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, we’re going to go and get you something tomorrow at 10:00 am, all right?” Natasha told me at the end of the night. “You, me, and Zack. Becky will take your shift tomorrow night, and you can take on hours on Sunday.”
“I’ll be giving you a ride,” Zack told me. “And you’ll be getting your own Phantom mask, don’t worry,” he added. “Even though Arwen doesn’t ever wear one.”
“If I had a choice, it would be Eowyn,” I shot back. “And it would have to be a helmet, but I’m not showing up in full armor just so I can avoid being recognized by the Doom Twins.”
“Suit yourself,” he muttered.
“What are you going as?” I demanded in Natasha’s car on the way to the costume store. “A Pirate of Penzance?”
“Nope,” he said. “Zorro.”
“Suit yourself,” I muttered back.
I ended up getting a pair of fairy wings, a strapless black-and-red dress, and a Zorro mask, and called myself a Dark Fairy.
“You could be Miss Zorro,” Zack suggested.
“You wish,” I grumbled.
Even though Helga knew that I had switched shifts with Becky, she thought I was going to be at home writing essays, so I had to get myself home by 11:45, which was before any of the Doom Trio would be home.
When Zack and I arrived at the school gym that night and got into the dance, Zack said, “Okay, set your phone alarm for 11:40 so we can get you home in time, all right?” I obeyed. When I was done, Zack told me in an annoying-mother type voice, “Okay, now, have a good time, don’t get drunk, all the usual.” I laughed.
We split up after that, Zack to go join the dancing and I to go check out what was happening from the walls. I knew that I had sacrificed a lot to be here, but at the same time, the dancing made me uncomfortable. I could have sworn the Doom Twins saw me at one point, but I tried not to let it bother me. When I found a good spot on the wall, I was immediately found by Luke, in a tailcoat and black pants- Prince Charming.
“I’ve been looking for someone to talk to,” he said. I looked at him. He didn’t seem to be drunk, high, or in any other way inebriated, but with some people, you just couldn’t tell. “I don’t like this sort of dancing that much,” he said. “Do you?”
“Not really,” I said.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked.
“Okay,” I said slowly.
So that’s what we did. We walked around the lighted back garden and grounds of the school, and talked about nothing in particular, but the first thing he asked me was my name.
“I’m not saying,” I told him. “Ten questions to guess who I am, though,” I added.
“Okay,” he said slowly, grinning. “I like the mystery. So… Is brown your natural hair color?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the first letter of your name?”
“N,” I said, uncertain if that would give me away. I decided it wouldn’t.
“Ninjas or pirates?”
That one made me think.
“Elves,” I said.
“I see,” he said slowly, as if he’d just guessed who I was.
So we went on like that, talking. When we wandered back to the gym, Luke stopped, one ear cocked. It was a slow song playing- that was the only reason I could think of for his sudden halt.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked.
“Sure,” I replied. I was more comfortable around him now, more so than I had ever been around any guy, except Zack, and especially not Luke.
So that’s what we did, right there in the cold October night.
The end of the song came, and just as Luke was about to lift up my mask to maybe kiss me, my alarm went off.
“Great,” I muttered. “I have to go. I’m sorry. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Wait-” Luke began, but it was too late. For some reason, he hadn’t let go of my mask, and the cheap elastic string broke as I pulled away. In my rush, I barely noticed its absence. I just hurried to find Zack and get home.
I first noticed the mask’s absence when Zack pointed it out.
“Oh, great,” I muttered. “It must have come off when I was leaving.”
Natasha had wanted me write my full name and address on the inside of the mask in silver Sharpie, but I’d just put “N. C. Cooper” and the address of the diner.
It was a rush to get back home, and I could have sworn that the Doom Twins (okay, Vampire Twins, as the case may be) had caught sight of me on the way out the door, but I was in too big a rush to stop and chat, not that I wanted to. We were able to pull in right at 11:45, and I called Natasha to tell her that I was home. I rushed to get on my pajamas and wash my hair, and jumped into my desk chair and opened a Word Document on my laptop to pretend that I had just finished another essay. At midnight, the front door opened, and I heard the Doom Trio having an argument. Kitty seemed to be ranting about someone, and I heard Luke’s name come up, but I didn’t care. I was tired, and I wanted to go to sleep. I was very glad that I’d worked on the essays that afternoon after the costume shopping, and had already gotten most of them done.
On Sunday afternoon, I was found in the diner once again, this time behind the counter. The Doom Twins were sitting on the two seats farthest from the door; the Prissy Posse was sitting nearby. Zack was sitting in the chair nearest the door, and talking nonstop about some girl whose number he’d gotten. I had just given out the tenth round of water when Luke entered. Apparently, all the girls known that he’d come; otherwise they wouldn’t have stuck around the Diner for an hour and a half and not ordered anything to eat, although that was normal for the Prissy Posse. They, like I, relished the thought of Luke, and Casey had obviously come to try and get him back; however, they all were far more open about their affections than I was.
When Luke had entered, he glanced around, saw the gaggle of girls sitting in a row at the counter, and immediately took a seat by Zack.
“Can I get you something?” I asked.
“I have a question,” he said. “Do you know anyone called N. C. Cooper?”
“N. C. Cooper?” I asked. He actually wanted to see me again?
“Yeah, I found her mask,” Luke said. “And I would like to talk to her again, but I don’t know her actual name. The address on the inside of the mask led me here.”
Before I could respond, Kitty called out, “Oh, that’s me! My first name is Natalie, and Kitty is actually spelled with a C. Our mom owns the Diner.”
“Shut up, Kitty,” Ophelia snapped. “You want me- Nellie Catarina Cooper.”
“Your name is Ophelia, doofus,” Kitty snapped back.
“It’s me you want,” Casey said immediately. “My first name is Narnia, you see.”
“You’re named after a kid’s book?” I asked jokingly. “Oh, I get it: your parents didn’t want you to read books, so they named you after a series instead.” Zack and Luke laughed, and Casey looked murderous.
“Well, I have a better chance with him than you, Elf Girl,” Casey retorted. “And my name isn’t Narnia.”
“At least she has a brain,” Luke said. “Hang on…” He stared at me for a moment; I saw the wheels click into place in his brain. “Your starts with an N, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Nemesis Caitlyn Cooper. It was my mask.”
“Your name is Nemesis?” he asked, surprised.
“Greek goddess,” I said. “Long story. Mom got my dad to add the Caitlyn, but only as a middle name.”
“Right,” he said, smiling.
“Don’t believe her,” Ophelia cried.
“Shut it, Shakespeare,” I told her, and Zack laughed again.
“Shakespeare?” Ophelia demanded.
“Hamlet,” Zack said simply, grinning at me. “Kitty is from Pride and Prejudice, Luke is from the Bible, and Nem’s really a Greek Goddess. What does that make me?”
“The goddess’ best friend,” I told him.
“Um… Nemesis?” Luke said. “Are you free on Friday?”
“Even if she were, you’re not,” Casey declared. “You and I have a date, remember?”
“That was called off when broke up,” Luke said. “So what do you say, Nemesis?”
“You know what?” I said. “I believe I am.”
“Don’t you have to be here?” Kitty demanded.
“Nope,” I said. “I quit.”
“You can’t quit,” Ophelia said. “Mom will kill you!”
“Well, she can come live with me,” Natasha said, coming out from the kitchen, and everyone stared. “What? We’re blood relatives. We’ll be able to work something out. I can talk to her dad; it’ll work.”
And that’s what happened.
Zack and I are still best friends. He didn’t seem at all pissed that I was dating Luke; in fact, he seemed quite relieved that he didn’t have to see another sci-fi/ fantasy movie quite so soon, enabling him to watch musicals every night instead. Luke and I are still going out. I’m at every basketball game, and he proved to be quite a Trekkie at heart, so we were able to argue about whether or not Captain Kirk was secretly gay, among other things. Natasha was able to talk to my dad about Helga and the Doom Twins. The divorce is still in progress. The Doom Twins are going to Harvard and Yale (no thanks to me, of course), and I dearly hope they get kicked out, just for mercy’s sake.
After the Doom Trio moved out, I was able to move back in with my dad, who had realized his mistake about leaving a bunch of teenage girls in a house together when they didn’t like each other, and he’s now working part time. I think that also had something to do with my having a boyfriend, and his doubt of my trustworthiness.
I still haven’t found a new job yet, but I had worked at the Diner long enough to be able to pay for a lot of my own stuff for a while, as well as Zack’s and Luke’s. Zack did get a girlfriend. The girl he’d met at the dance turned out to be just as big a drama nerd as he was, and they went to see each other’s shows all the time.
And yes, I did get my mask back.
So I guess this is the end.
Hooray!
The end. :)
For some reason, my parents decided to call me Nemesis. Why they decided I would be named after a word usually meaning “enemy,” I don’t know. My dad is the Greek Mythology professor at American University, so that’s probably got something to do with it. My dad said that Nemesis is the Goddess of Divine Retribution and Moderation of All Things Stupid and Excessive (okay, it’s really just Divine Retribution and Proper Apportioning of Stuff to Maintain the Equilibrium of Humanity), and was very cool, but I didn’t believe him. Nemesis apparently had to yell at Tyche a lot, the god of Fortune and Luck, because apparently he gave out undeserved favors even when he wasn’t in a good mood. Nemesis had to make sure that excessive pride, evil intent, and too much happiness were reined in. This was in no way applicable to my life.
When I was twelve, my mother died; my dad remarried two years later. I wasn’t mad about it, but I wasn’t terribly happy, either. Helga was nice enough to me when Dad was home, as were her daughters, Ophelia and Kitty, but when he wasn’t around, which was often, they were quite nasty. Ophelia and Kitty were twins in the year ahead of me, and my only consolation as I entered 11th grade was that soon they would be in college, out of the house and out of my life.
I knew that my junior year was probably going to be the worst, because I was going to be having more work than ever with the million pounds of research rumored to be assigned that year, and with my own college search; in addition, the twins would certainly insist that I write their college essays for them. They made me write every essay for them, as well as complete every single assignment, worksheet, and write-up, so they could spend their afternoons putting on their hundredth layer of makeup and doing their nails in a different shade of pink.
I only had two friends- Zack had been my friend since sixth grade, when he’d needed a fellow nerd to hang out with, and Natasha was one of the managers at the 24-hour Diner where I worked. She was also my mom’s sister, and did more mothering to me than Helga did. The Diner was the hangout of everyone from the night-shift policemen to the Prep Crowd at school who were “too cool” to actually get a job.
Whenever I wasn’t working or staying up until two in the morning with homework, I was with Zack, and he often hung out at the diner while I was working. He’s very happy-go-lucky. If I were the actual goddess Nemesis, he’d be Tyche- he’s very optimistic and I yell at him when he gets too ambitious.
One day in mid-October, the date of the Halloween dance was announced-October 24th, the Saturday before Halloween. I’d have liked to go, except for the part where I had the five-to-ten shift at the Diner, so by the time I would have gotten to school the dance would have been practically over.
“Can’t you trade shifts with somebody?” Zack wanted to know upon hearing this news. He was sitting at the counter at the Diner on a Sunday afternoon while I darted back and forth between serving other customers and discussing the dance, which was the coming Saturday.
“Not likely,” I said glumly as I passed him a Sprite.
“Come on, Nemesis,” Zack argued, taking a huge swallow of his soda, and then choked from the sudden brain freeze. Once he recovered, he said, “You’re the only girl I’m friends with who looks good in a dress.”
“I’m the only girl you’re friends with,” I told him, handing over a check to an elderly man. “So why don’t you go to the dance and have a great time, and hook up with Allie, and tell me about it on Monday?”
“Not a chance,” Zack said. “And I’m friends with Meghan, and she doesn’t look good in a dress.”
“Well, as I don’t have a costume-” I began, taking the check back from the man to put the cash in the register.
“That’s fixable,” Zack told me on the way back to the man with his change.
“Or a mask-” I started again, putting my tip in my apron pocket.
“Like a Phantom of the Opera mask?” Zack wondered. “Why?”
“It’s obviously because of my secret ambition to become a deranged murdering genius and to prove such by arriving at the dance in the proper décor- a mask over my face and a dead body over my shoulder,” I said sarcastically.
“So you’re going then?” Zack asked.
“No,” I sighed.
“But why would you want the mask if you went?” he wondered.
“Well maybe it would be because I wouldn’t want the Doom Twins to see me and report me to the Villainess of the Universe, who would then fire me, evict me, and kill me, at which point she’d have more use for the Phantom mask than I would. But as I’m not going, neither of us will need it. There’s also the fact that it’s a costume party.”
“I have a Phantom mask,” Zack suggested. “You could borrow it if you want to.”
“However, I don’t need to,” I repeated.
“Is this about that dance on Saturday?” Natasha asked, having overheard the debate.
“Yes,” I told her glumly. “But I’m not going.”
“Why not?” Natasha demanded.
“Well, maybe it’s because I’ve got the night shift and ten college essays to write,” I told her shortly.
“Nem, what about that boy?” Natasha asked. “Is he going to be there?”
“That’s irrelevant,” I said. I didn’t want to discuss my crush on the captain of the basketball team.
“Oh, so it all stems from fact that you don’t want Luke to know that it’s you he’s rocking out with, is that it?” Zack asked.
“No, it’s that I don’t want to get fired,” I shot back. “Or disowned, or both.”
“You’re not going to get disowned for going to a dance,” Zack said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I can’t, because I’m staying here all night and nobody can take my shift because everyone who potentially could will be at the dance,” I said. “I’m not going, all right?”
“We’ll work something out,” Natasha said confidently. If Zack was Tyche, then Natasha was Athena, goddess of battle strategy, among other things.
As the day of the dance loomed, I knew I was going to be looking forward to a night serving policemen on the night shift, while in my off-time I would be wishing I were somewhere else.
On the 23rd I was in the diner once again, serving a team of overexcited six-year-old soccer players and attempting to have another argument with Zack about the dance. I wondered whether the parents of the little monsters were regretting their decision to let their children order soda, because by the time the food arrived, they had managed to dump out the entire contents of three ketchup bottles and made enough noise to bring around an earthquake.
By the time I’d given the Beast Children some new bottles of ketchup and refilled the coach’s coffee cup for the fourth time, I was ready to call it quits, but my shift wasn’t over until nine. I thought, dimly, that the last thing I needed was for the Doom Twins and Queen Prissy and her posse- the cheerleaders, and the Varsity Capitan, Casey- to come in.
However, Nemesis the Goddess appeared not to be as fair as she was supposed to be, because just as I had completed the thought, Queen Prissy herself flounced in, accompanied by two Miss Prissy contestants- Casey’s best “friends,” Kayla and Chloe, and their boyfriends- Luke, Jack, and Ben, stars of Varsity Basketball. Just as they slipped into a booth in the corner, where I could see Casey scan the menu haughtily before shutting it with a snap, Ophelia and Kitty pranced in as well and slipped into the next booth.
“Nem, can you get those kids in the corner?” Natasha asked. “Josie hasn’t shown up for her shift yet.”
I sighed. Natasha had recognized Luke. Although this was probably her idea of setting me up with him, it was my idea of a disaster. I was a nerd who hung out with another nerd, so Casey insisted on never talking to me if she could help it. I didn’t mind; I found her just as gross as she found me.
Grabbing a pad, I slipped out from behind the counter and dragged my feet to the booth.
“Can I start you with some drinks?” I asked, trying not to show my nerves.
“What do you have that hasn’t got any sugar, calories, carbs, or fat, Elf Girl?” Casey wanted to know. I ignored her comment. I was a classic nerd- Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, speaking Elvish as a second language, stuff like that. I put up with watching Phantom of the Opera for the twentieth time with Zack and his musical-ness, and the next weekend Zack would consent to seeing Return of the King for the tenth time. I didn’t ask questions about theater; he didn’t ask why I wrote in the Dwarvish Runes all the time.
“Water,” I said.
“I’ll get that,” chorused everyone except Luke.
“I’ll have a coke,” Luke said, grinning easily and ignoring Casey’s death glare.
Luke didn’t actually laugh, but he had a way of smiling with his eyes. I grinned and wrote down the drink orders. However, as I turned back to the counter to fill some glasses, still glowing inside, I heard Casey say, “You know, if Elf Girl’s going to be serving, I’m not entirely sure I want to eat here.”
“Shut it, Casey,” Luke said.
I almost radiated as I went back to the drink fountain.
However, when I got back to the Prissy Posse and Entourage ten minutes later with the drinks, Luke was sitting there alone.
“They left?” I asked stupidly. They couldn’t possibly cover up murders in that amount of time without someone noticing.
“Yeah,” Luke said. “I was left both single and with the check.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, and turned to go. Single? Luke? I often wondered what happened to people who lived on the popular end of society. It was far more appealing than working constantly.
“No, seriously,” Luke insisted, and handed me thirty dollars as he rose to leave-my biggest tip ever. “Keep the change. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” I said as I tucked the bills into my apron pocket, momentarily forgetting why Natasha and Zack had been bugging me for the last week between the extremity of the tip and the fact that I was actually talking to the guy of my dreams.
“The dance,” Luke reminded me.
“I’m not going,” I told him.
“No date?” he asked.
“No time,” I replied. “I got the late shift. I think they do it on purpose.”
“Bummer,” Luke replied, smiling slightly. “See you later, then.”
“Bye,” I said feebly.
“He’s single now, apparently,” I told Natasha as I set down the tray behind the counter and started pouring the drinks into the sink. “And he brought up the dance. But I’m still not going,” I added.
“If he ditched his girlfriend, stuck around, paid you extra, and brought up the dance, he likes you,” Natasha told me, as only a mom could.
“Besides, I already got your ticket,” Zack said. “Sorry if I said we were dates. It was cheaper.” I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, we’re going to go and get you something tomorrow at 10:00 am, all right?” Natasha told me at the end of the night. “You, me, and Zack. Becky will take your shift tomorrow night, and you can take on hours on Sunday.”
“I’ll be giving you a ride,” Zack told me. “And you’ll be getting your own Phantom mask, don’t worry,” he added. “Even though Arwen doesn’t ever wear one.”
“If I had a choice, it would be Eowyn,” I shot back. “And it would have to be a helmet, but I’m not showing up in full armor just so I can avoid being recognized by the Doom Twins.”
“Suit yourself,” he muttered.
“What are you going as?” I demanded in Natasha’s car on the way to the costume store. “A Pirate of Penzance?”
“Nope,” he said. “Zorro.”
“Suit yourself,” I muttered back.
I ended up getting a pair of fairy wings, a strapless black-and-red dress, and a Zorro mask, and called myself a Dark Fairy.
“You could be Miss Zorro,” Zack suggested.
“You wish,” I grumbled.
Even though Helga knew that I had switched shifts with Becky, she thought I was going to be at home writing essays, so I had to get myself home by 11:45, which was before any of the Doom Trio would be home.
When Zack and I arrived at the school gym that night and got into the dance, Zack said, “Okay, set your phone alarm for 11:40 so we can get you home in time, all right?” I obeyed. When I was done, Zack told me in an annoying-mother type voice, “Okay, now, have a good time, don’t get drunk, all the usual.” I laughed.
We split up after that, Zack to go join the dancing and I to go check out what was happening from the walls. I knew that I had sacrificed a lot to be here, but at the same time, the dancing made me uncomfortable. I could have sworn the Doom Twins saw me at one point, but I tried not to let it bother me. When I found a good spot on the wall, I was immediately found by Luke, in a tailcoat and black pants- Prince Charming.
“I’ve been looking for someone to talk to,” he said. I looked at him. He didn’t seem to be drunk, high, or in any other way inebriated, but with some people, you just couldn’t tell. “I don’t like this sort of dancing that much,” he said. “Do you?”
“Not really,” I said.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked.
“Okay,” I said slowly.
So that’s what we did. We walked around the lighted back garden and grounds of the school, and talked about nothing in particular, but the first thing he asked me was my name.
“I’m not saying,” I told him. “Ten questions to guess who I am, though,” I added.
“Okay,” he said slowly, grinning. “I like the mystery. So… Is brown your natural hair color?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the first letter of your name?”
“N,” I said, uncertain if that would give me away. I decided it wouldn’t.
“Ninjas or pirates?”
That one made me think.
“Elves,” I said.
“I see,” he said slowly, as if he’d just guessed who I was.
So we went on like that, talking. When we wandered back to the gym, Luke stopped, one ear cocked. It was a slow song playing- that was the only reason I could think of for his sudden halt.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked.
“Sure,” I replied. I was more comfortable around him now, more so than I had ever been around any guy, except Zack, and especially not Luke.
So that’s what we did, right there in the cold October night.
The end of the song came, and just as Luke was about to lift up my mask to maybe kiss me, my alarm went off.
“Great,” I muttered. “I have to go. I’m sorry. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Wait-” Luke began, but it was too late. For some reason, he hadn’t let go of my mask, and the cheap elastic string broke as I pulled away. In my rush, I barely noticed its absence. I just hurried to find Zack and get home.
I first noticed the mask’s absence when Zack pointed it out.
“Oh, great,” I muttered. “It must have come off when I was leaving.”
Natasha had wanted me write my full name and address on the inside of the mask in silver Sharpie, but I’d just put “N. C. Cooper” and the address of the diner.
It was a rush to get back home, and I could have sworn that the Doom Twins (okay, Vampire Twins, as the case may be) had caught sight of me on the way out the door, but I was in too big a rush to stop and chat, not that I wanted to. We were able to pull in right at 11:45, and I called Natasha to tell her that I was home. I rushed to get on my pajamas and wash my hair, and jumped into my desk chair and opened a Word Document on my laptop to pretend that I had just finished another essay. At midnight, the front door opened, and I heard the Doom Trio having an argument. Kitty seemed to be ranting about someone, and I heard Luke’s name come up, but I didn’t care. I was tired, and I wanted to go to sleep. I was very glad that I’d worked on the essays that afternoon after the costume shopping, and had already gotten most of them done.
On Sunday afternoon, I was found in the diner once again, this time behind the counter. The Doom Twins were sitting on the two seats farthest from the door; the Prissy Posse was sitting nearby. Zack was sitting in the chair nearest the door, and talking nonstop about some girl whose number he’d gotten. I had just given out the tenth round of water when Luke entered. Apparently, all the girls known that he’d come; otherwise they wouldn’t have stuck around the Diner for an hour and a half and not ordered anything to eat, although that was normal for the Prissy Posse. They, like I, relished the thought of Luke, and Casey had obviously come to try and get him back; however, they all were far more open about their affections than I was.
When Luke had entered, he glanced around, saw the gaggle of girls sitting in a row at the counter, and immediately took a seat by Zack.
“Can I get you something?” I asked.
“I have a question,” he said. “Do you know anyone called N. C. Cooper?”
“N. C. Cooper?” I asked. He actually wanted to see me again?
“Yeah, I found her mask,” Luke said. “And I would like to talk to her again, but I don’t know her actual name. The address on the inside of the mask led me here.”
Before I could respond, Kitty called out, “Oh, that’s me! My first name is Natalie, and Kitty is actually spelled with a C. Our mom owns the Diner.”
“Shut up, Kitty,” Ophelia snapped. “You want me- Nellie Catarina Cooper.”
“Your name is Ophelia, doofus,” Kitty snapped back.
“It’s me you want,” Casey said immediately. “My first name is Narnia, you see.”
“You’re named after a kid’s book?” I asked jokingly. “Oh, I get it: your parents didn’t want you to read books, so they named you after a series instead.” Zack and Luke laughed, and Casey looked murderous.
“Well, I have a better chance with him than you, Elf Girl,” Casey retorted. “And my name isn’t Narnia.”
“At least she has a brain,” Luke said. “Hang on…” He stared at me for a moment; I saw the wheels click into place in his brain. “Your starts with an N, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Nemesis Caitlyn Cooper. It was my mask.”
“Your name is Nemesis?” he asked, surprised.
“Greek goddess,” I said. “Long story. Mom got my dad to add the Caitlyn, but only as a middle name.”
“Right,” he said, smiling.
“Don’t believe her,” Ophelia cried.
“Shut it, Shakespeare,” I told her, and Zack laughed again.
“Shakespeare?” Ophelia demanded.
“Hamlet,” Zack said simply, grinning at me. “Kitty is from Pride and Prejudice, Luke is from the Bible, and Nem’s really a Greek Goddess. What does that make me?”
“The goddess’ best friend,” I told him.
“Um… Nemesis?” Luke said. “Are you free on Friday?”
“Even if she were, you’re not,” Casey declared. “You and I have a date, remember?”
“That was called off when broke up,” Luke said. “So what do you say, Nemesis?”
“You know what?” I said. “I believe I am.”
“Don’t you have to be here?” Kitty demanded.
“Nope,” I said. “I quit.”
“You can’t quit,” Ophelia said. “Mom will kill you!”
“Well, she can come live with me,” Natasha said, coming out from the kitchen, and everyone stared. “What? We’re blood relatives. We’ll be able to work something out. I can talk to her dad; it’ll work.”
And that’s what happened.
Zack and I are still best friends. He didn’t seem at all pissed that I was dating Luke; in fact, he seemed quite relieved that he didn’t have to see another sci-fi/ fantasy movie quite so soon, enabling him to watch musicals every night instead. Luke and I are still going out. I’m at every basketball game, and he proved to be quite a Trekkie at heart, so we were able to argue about whether or not Captain Kirk was secretly gay, among other things. Natasha was able to talk to my dad about Helga and the Doom Twins. The divorce is still in progress. The Doom Twins are going to Harvard and Yale (no thanks to me, of course), and I dearly hope they get kicked out, just for mercy’s sake.
After the Doom Trio moved out, I was able to move back in with my dad, who had realized his mistake about leaving a bunch of teenage girls in a house together when they didn’t like each other, and he’s now working part time. I think that also had something to do with my having a boyfriend, and his doubt of my trustworthiness.
I still haven’t found a new job yet, but I had worked at the Diner long enough to be able to pay for a lot of my own stuff for a while, as well as Zack’s and Luke’s. Zack did get a girlfriend. The girl he’d met at the dance turned out to be just as big a drama nerd as he was, and they went to see each other’s shows all the time.
And yes, I did get my mask back.
So I guess this is the end.
Hooray!
The end. :)
yeah...
Well, I don't really know what to say, because I'm journaling and blogging at the same time. So.......................... yeah.
hooray!
I will post the full version of the story in the next post. I'm officially done with it. Hooray!
hooray!
I will post the full version of the story in the next post. I'm officially done with it. Hooray!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Taking chances- Glee
Okay, this is one of my new favorite songs. FYI. From Glee, originally by Celine Dion, I think.
Don't know much about your life.
Don't know much about your world, but
Don't want to be alone tonight
On this planet they call earth.
You don't know about my past, and
I don't have a future figured out.
And maybe this is going too fast.
And maybe it's not meant to last,
But what do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge,
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay?
What do you say?
What do you say?
I just want to start again,
And maybe you could show me how to try.
And maybe you could take me in,
Somewhere underneath your skin?
What do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge,
Never knowing if there's solid ground below,
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay?
What do you say?
What do you say?
And I had my heart beaten down,
But I always come back for more, yeah.
There's nothing like love to pull you up,
When you're lying down on the floor there.
So talk to me,
Talk to me,
Like lovers do.
Yeah walk with me,
Walk with me,
Like lovers do,
Like lovers do.
What do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge,
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay?
What do you say?
What do you say?
Don't know much about your life
Don't know much about your world
Don't know much about your life.
Don't know much about your world, but
Don't want to be alone tonight
On this planet they call earth.
You don't know about my past, and
I don't have a future figured out.
And maybe this is going too fast.
And maybe it's not meant to last,
But what do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge,
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay?
What do you say?
What do you say?
I just want to start again,
And maybe you could show me how to try.
And maybe you could take me in,
Somewhere underneath your skin?
What do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge,
Never knowing if there's solid ground below,
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay?
What do you say?
What do you say?
And I had my heart beaten down,
But I always come back for more, yeah.
There's nothing like love to pull you up,
When you're lying down on the floor there.
So talk to me,
Talk to me,
Like lovers do.
Yeah walk with me,
Walk with me,
Like lovers do,
Like lovers do.
What do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge,
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay?
What do you say?
What do you say?
Don't know much about your life
Don't know much about your world
school. why?
ARGH! School's starting to bug me. It doesn't bug me a whole ton. Yet. But I can't wait for summer break. I think it was at this time last year that I started wanting to go on summer break, too. Well, no, it was later in the year. But you know how a lot of people are totally ready for a break when school lets out, and by the time the break is over, they're (usually) ready to go back to school again? Well, for me, it was just the opposite: at the beginning of the Second Coming of the Snowpocalypse, I really wanted to go to school because for some reason, I was under the impression that I was the only one who was missing school, and I wanted to get back pronto so I could make up work, but by the end of the week, I was ready to get back to civilization, but I wasn't ready to start thinking again. Well, I kind of was. Okay, I really was. But I wanted to think about things like Sudoku and such, not chemistry. But I still kind of wanted to study on my own time, you know? It would have bee a whole lot easier, and more fun, except for the part where I wouldn't be able to talk to anyone because I would be at home all the time. And for the part where I wouldn't get any work done because I would be watching TV all the time. But still. It was weird. And now I'm totally ready for the weekend, and we just got out of a weekend. This is so annoying.
My story
Okay, so we have to write stories for English. The updated fairy tale thing. This is my third round of an attempt it, and I actually like it. It is an update of Cinderella, and it's not that great. But here it is anyway, even though it's not done yet.
For some reason, my parents decided to call me Nemesis. Why they decided I would be named after a word commonly associated with people you hate is still a mystery to me. Maybe it was a subliminal reference to the never-said fact that they didn’t want me. That’s my guess.
My dad said that Nemesis was Zeus’ right-hand girl, Goddess of Divine Retribution and Moderation of All Things Stupid and Excessive that Nobody Really Wants Anyway (okay, okay, it’s really just Divine Retribution and Proper Apportioning of Stuff to Maintain the Equilibrium of Human-ness, but whatever). She had to balance out Tyche, the god of Fortune and Luck, because apparently he gave out undeserved favors a bit too often. Nemesis had to make sure that excessive pride, evil deeds, undeserved happiness, and the lack of moderation were not left unattended. My dad is the Greek Mythology professor at American University, so that's how he knows all of this.
Well, if that’s what my parents had wanted from me, I have to say, for two years, I failed miserably. Let me explain.
I was twelve when my mother died of leukemia. When I was fourteen, my dad got married again. I wasn’t too miffed about it, although I regularly wrote letters to my birth mother in my journal whenever I was depressed. After my dad’s second marriage, that happened a lot. The lady he married, Helga, was nice enough to me when my father was home, as were her daughters, Ophelia and Kitty, but when he wasn’t around, which happened quite often due to his long hours at work, they got quite nasty. Ophelia and Kitty were twins in the year ahead of me, and my only consolation as I entered my junior year of high school was that soon they would be in college and would probably be halfway across the country and torturing someone else. I swear, someone should have decided to call one of them Nemesis, not me, because they’re straight out evil.
I knew that my junior year was probably going to be the worst yet, because I was probably going to be having more work than ever with the million pounds of research rumored to be assigned in junior year, and with my own college search; in addition, the twins would almost certainly insist that I write their college essays for them. They were resolute that I should write every essay for them, as well as complete every single math assignment, chemistry worksheet, history paper, and grammar sheet, so they could spend their afternoons putting on their hundredth layer of mascara and lip gloss and doing their nails in a different shade of pink or yellow. It was unfair to say the least.
I only had a few friends- Zack and Mollie at school, and Natasha, Miguel, and Becky, who were the manager, cook, and a fellow waitress, respectively, at the diner I at which I worked during the summers, on the weekends, and whenever I could slip in some time. Again, people don’t really want to associate themselves with someone called Nemesis unless they’re educated in Greek Mythology and the Ways in Which Parents’ Minds Work. The diner was owned by my dearly beloved stepmother. Whenever I wasn’t working, doing homework, or staying up until half past twelve finishing my stepsisters’ homework, I was with Zack and Mollie.
One day in mid-October, the date of homecoming was announced-October 11th, a Saturday. I would have liked to go, except for the part where I had the six-to-ten shift at the diner that day, meaning that by the time I got to the dance, it would have been practically over.
“Can’t you trade shifts with somebody?” Mollie wanted to know, her hazel eyes narrowed in disapproval. She and Zack were sitting at the bar at the diner on a Sunday afternoon while I darted back and forth between serving other customers and arguing with them about my attendance at the dance, or lack thereof.
“Not likely,” I said glumly as I gave them each their soda-Sprite for Zack, Cherry Coke for Mollie.
“Come on, Nem,” Zack argued, taking a huge swallow of his Sprite, and then choking from the sudden brain freeze. Once he had recovered, he said, “You’re the only one of us who can look good in a dress.”
“Hey!” Mollie said indignantly.
“Like you’ve ever tried, Zack,” I told him, handing over a check to an elderly man. “And Mollie looks way better than I ever would in a dress, so why don’t you two go together and have a great time, and not let me be the third leg, and then you can tell me all about it that Monday. How about that?”
“No way,” both of them said together.
“Well, as I don’t have a dress-” I began, taking the check back to put the cash in the register.
“That’s fixable,” Mollie told me on the way back to the man with his change.
“Or a mask-” I started again, putting my tip in my apron pocket.
“Like a Phantom of the Opera mask?” Mollie asked. “Why would you want that?”
“I don’t know,” I said sarcastically. “Maybe I don’t want the Queens of All That Sucks to see me there and recognize me and report back to the Villainess of the Universe.” I was referring, of course, to the twins and Helga.
“I have one,” Zack suggested. “You could borrow it if you want to.”
“I would like to, yes,” I told him. “However, I don’t need to, because I’m not going.”
“Is this about that dance that’s going on this weekend?” Natasha asked, having apparently overheard the conversation.
“Yes,” I told her glumly. “But I’m not going.”
“And why not?” Natasha demanded.
“Well, maybe it’s because I’ve got the last shift of the day and about twenty applications to write for colleges I’m never going to,” I told her a bit shortly. This wasn’t going the way I wanted it to.
“Nem, what about that boy you like?” Natasha wondered. “Is he going to be there?”
“That’s irrelevant,” I snapped. I didn’t want to discuss the fact that I had a crush on the captain of the basketball team.
“Oh, so it all stems down to the fact that you don’t want Cody to know it’s you, is that it?” Mollie wanted to know.
“No, it’s that I don’t want to get fired,” I shot back. “Or disowned, or evicted, or all three at once.”
“You’re not going to get disowned for going to a dance,” Mollie said. “So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I can’t, because I'm going to be here all night instead,” I said. “I’m not going, all right?”
“We’ll work something out,” Natasha said confidently.
As the day of the dance loomed, I was almost certain that I was going to be looking forward to a night serving grumpy workers getting coffee before the night shift and eager dates looking forward to a night of partying, while in my off-time I would be penning college essays.
So that's all I have so far. Hope you like it. And it's partially on here so I can copy and paste when I get home. But that's irrelevant.
Goodbye.
I have to go eat lunch now.
Dang, i think this is the longest post that I've done in a while.
For some reason, my parents decided to call me Nemesis. Why they decided I would be named after a word commonly associated with people you hate is still a mystery to me. Maybe it was a subliminal reference to the never-said fact that they didn’t want me. That’s my guess.
My dad said that Nemesis was Zeus’ right-hand girl, Goddess of Divine Retribution and Moderation of All Things Stupid and Excessive that Nobody Really Wants Anyway (okay, okay, it’s really just Divine Retribution and Proper Apportioning of Stuff to Maintain the Equilibrium of Human-ness, but whatever). She had to balance out Tyche, the god of Fortune and Luck, because apparently he gave out undeserved favors a bit too often. Nemesis had to make sure that excessive pride, evil deeds, undeserved happiness, and the lack of moderation were not left unattended. My dad is the Greek Mythology professor at American University, so that's how he knows all of this.
Well, if that’s what my parents had wanted from me, I have to say, for two years, I failed miserably. Let me explain.
I was twelve when my mother died of leukemia. When I was fourteen, my dad got married again. I wasn’t too miffed about it, although I regularly wrote letters to my birth mother in my journal whenever I was depressed. After my dad’s second marriage, that happened a lot. The lady he married, Helga, was nice enough to me when my father was home, as were her daughters, Ophelia and Kitty, but when he wasn’t around, which happened quite often due to his long hours at work, they got quite nasty. Ophelia and Kitty were twins in the year ahead of me, and my only consolation as I entered my junior year of high school was that soon they would be in college and would probably be halfway across the country and torturing someone else. I swear, someone should have decided to call one of them Nemesis, not me, because they’re straight out evil.
I knew that my junior year was probably going to be the worst yet, because I was probably going to be having more work than ever with the million pounds of research rumored to be assigned in junior year, and with my own college search; in addition, the twins would almost certainly insist that I write their college essays for them. They were resolute that I should write every essay for them, as well as complete every single math assignment, chemistry worksheet, history paper, and grammar sheet, so they could spend their afternoons putting on their hundredth layer of mascara and lip gloss and doing their nails in a different shade of pink or yellow. It was unfair to say the least.
I only had a few friends- Zack and Mollie at school, and Natasha, Miguel, and Becky, who were the manager, cook, and a fellow waitress, respectively, at the diner I at which I worked during the summers, on the weekends, and whenever I could slip in some time. Again, people don’t really want to associate themselves with someone called Nemesis unless they’re educated in Greek Mythology and the Ways in Which Parents’ Minds Work. The diner was owned by my dearly beloved stepmother. Whenever I wasn’t working, doing homework, or staying up until half past twelve finishing my stepsisters’ homework, I was with Zack and Mollie.
One day in mid-October, the date of homecoming was announced-October 11th, a Saturday. I would have liked to go, except for the part where I had the six-to-ten shift at the diner that day, meaning that by the time I got to the dance, it would have been practically over.
“Can’t you trade shifts with somebody?” Mollie wanted to know, her hazel eyes narrowed in disapproval. She and Zack were sitting at the bar at the diner on a Sunday afternoon while I darted back and forth between serving other customers and arguing with them about my attendance at the dance, or lack thereof.
“Not likely,” I said glumly as I gave them each their soda-Sprite for Zack, Cherry Coke for Mollie.
“Come on, Nem,” Zack argued, taking a huge swallow of his Sprite, and then choking from the sudden brain freeze. Once he had recovered, he said, “You’re the only one of us who can look good in a dress.”
“Hey!” Mollie said indignantly.
“Like you’ve ever tried, Zack,” I told him, handing over a check to an elderly man. “And Mollie looks way better than I ever would in a dress, so why don’t you two go together and have a great time, and not let me be the third leg, and then you can tell me all about it that Monday. How about that?”
“No way,” both of them said together.
“Well, as I don’t have a dress-” I began, taking the check back to put the cash in the register.
“That’s fixable,” Mollie told me on the way back to the man with his change.
“Or a mask-” I started again, putting my tip in my apron pocket.
“Like a Phantom of the Opera mask?” Mollie asked. “Why would you want that?”
“I don’t know,” I said sarcastically. “Maybe I don’t want the Queens of All That Sucks to see me there and recognize me and report back to the Villainess of the Universe.” I was referring, of course, to the twins and Helga.
“I have one,” Zack suggested. “You could borrow it if you want to.”
“I would like to, yes,” I told him. “However, I don’t need to, because I’m not going.”
“Is this about that dance that’s going on this weekend?” Natasha asked, having apparently overheard the conversation.
“Yes,” I told her glumly. “But I’m not going.”
“And why not?” Natasha demanded.
“Well, maybe it’s because I’ve got the last shift of the day and about twenty applications to write for colleges I’m never going to,” I told her a bit shortly. This wasn’t going the way I wanted it to.
“Nem, what about that boy you like?” Natasha wondered. “Is he going to be there?”
“That’s irrelevant,” I snapped. I didn’t want to discuss the fact that I had a crush on the captain of the basketball team.
“Oh, so it all stems down to the fact that you don’t want Cody to know it’s you, is that it?” Mollie wanted to know.
“No, it’s that I don’t want to get fired,” I shot back. “Or disowned, or evicted, or all three at once.”
“You’re not going to get disowned for going to a dance,” Mollie said. “So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I can’t, because I'm going to be here all night instead,” I said. “I’m not going, all right?”
“We’ll work something out,” Natasha said confidently.
As the day of the dance loomed, I was almost certain that I was going to be looking forward to a night serving grumpy workers getting coffee before the night shift and eager dates looking forward to a night of partying, while in my off-time I would be penning college essays.
So that's all I have so far. Hope you like it. And it's partially on here so I can copy and paste when I get home. But that's irrelevant.
Goodbye.
I have to go eat lunch now.
Dang, i think this is the longest post that I've done in a while.
Friday, February 19, 2010
The quest begins
Well, the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things: of shoes, of ships, of sealing, wax, of cabbages and kings, of why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings, of colleges and quests and decisions, and teenagers who get totally freaked about stuff like that. Why yes, I did just randomly make up that last bit. The original poem is by Lewis Carrol from "Alice in Wonderland." I like it.
Anyhoo, colleges have consistently been emailing me, but now they are actually MAILING me. Like, in the mailbox type mail. I like getting letters, it's true. No, I LOVE getting letters. But if this is going to be anything like what my brother had, by the time the school year is out, 82% of the things in the mail will be college spam. There'll be even more once I take the SATs. I don't know what I want in a college, aside from a liberal arts college that's not in-state. I love living where I do, but I want to try living somewhere else for a change, you know? It's either that or the college that's about ten minutes from my house so I can continue with tae kwon do. It's one of those two. See, I love tae kwon do, and I'll probably graduate with my second degree. But at the same time, sometimes Olympic fantasies remain fantasies, and I don't want to give up one dream for another. The thing is, I have about twenty dreams for my future.
GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this normal?
Anyhoo, colleges have consistently been emailing me, but now they are actually MAILING me. Like, in the mailbox type mail. I like getting letters, it's true. No, I LOVE getting letters. But if this is going to be anything like what my brother had, by the time the school year is out, 82% of the things in the mail will be college spam. There'll be even more once I take the SATs. I don't know what I want in a college, aside from a liberal arts college that's not in-state. I love living where I do, but I want to try living somewhere else for a change, you know? It's either that or the college that's about ten minutes from my house so I can continue with tae kwon do. It's one of those two. See, I love tae kwon do, and I'll probably graduate with my second degree. But at the same time, sometimes Olympic fantasies remain fantasies, and I don't want to give up one dream for another. The thing is, I have about twenty dreams for my future.
GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this normal?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
LENT!!!
By the way, in case you were wondering, I'm giving up soda for Lent. And I'm going to try to do at least 50 push-ups a day. And sleep more. And eat healthier. That's a lot of goals for a month and a half, but I DON'T CARE. I'm doing it anyway.
I feel trapped.
Well, here I am again. For some reason, I can't think of anything to write about. Um... I like pie!
Anyway, as of Day Two of The Return To School From The Second Coming Of The Snowpocalypse And Winter Break, I'm still not psyched to be back at school. Sure, I get to see my friends and all, but it's SCHOOL. I need something big to happen. And I DON'T mean a big snow. I'm DONE with snow. I mean something big like, I don't know, Jackie Chan moving in next door or something. That was totally random. But that would be cool. But something new. It doesn't even have to be a celebrity coming into town. It could just be a new kid in school or something. I'm just ready for something unrelated to school, scouts, or snow.
What I need is for summer to be here RIGHT NOW. I'm TIRED of not being able to go anywhere because there's too much snow on the ground. What I need is warmer weather and my learner's permit somehow managing to turn magically into my license, and all the experience necessary just jumping into my head so I can go somewhere. Well, not that there's anywhere to go around here, except for the library and Starbucks.
Well, and the hike to the river. But it's too cold for that, and there's probably still snow. There'll probably be snow on the trail in April.
But I need the snow to melt. That would be best. No, what would be best is if the sun came out and the temperature suddenly jumped up to about sixty degrees, and for it to stay like that until the time of year where that would have happened anyway, and then for nature to proceed as usual. That would both make a lot of people happier AND it would melt the snow. AND I would be able to go places. AND I would be able to hike to the river. That would be SO awesome.
I need exercise. That's what I need. I need to get off my butt and out of the house and actually doing something. The only problem? I can't.
Anyway, as of Day Two of The Return To School From The Second Coming Of The Snowpocalypse And Winter Break, I'm still not psyched to be back at school. Sure, I get to see my friends and all, but it's SCHOOL. I need something big to happen. And I DON'T mean a big snow. I'm DONE with snow. I mean something big like, I don't know, Jackie Chan moving in next door or something. That was totally random. But that would be cool. But something new. It doesn't even have to be a celebrity coming into town. It could just be a new kid in school or something. I'm just ready for something unrelated to school, scouts, or snow.
What I need is for summer to be here RIGHT NOW. I'm TIRED of not being able to go anywhere because there's too much snow on the ground. What I need is warmer weather and my learner's permit somehow managing to turn magically into my license, and all the experience necessary just jumping into my head so I can go somewhere. Well, not that there's anywhere to go around here, except for the library and Starbucks.
Well, and the hike to the river. But it's too cold for that, and there's probably still snow. There'll probably be snow on the trail in April.
But I need the snow to melt. That would be best. No, what would be best is if the sun came out and the temperature suddenly jumped up to about sixty degrees, and for it to stay like that until the time of year where that would have happened anyway, and then for nature to proceed as usual. That would both make a lot of people happier AND it would melt the snow. AND I would be able to go places. AND I would be able to hike to the river. That would be SO awesome.
I need exercise. That's what I need. I need to get off my butt and out of the house and actually doing something. The only problem? I can't.
writing for homework? holy cow!
Yes, amazingly, I actually get to write a half-fantasy (okay, realistic fiction) story for my English homework.
I have to update "The Princess and the Frog," that's the fantasy part, even though I am allowed to put in a little bit of "The Elf in the Rose," which is a very good story. It's actually a bit like a fantasy murder mystery, except you know who killed the guy and it's more about the revenge of the Jasmine Spirits on the life of the murderer. So it's kind of cool. However, I have no idea to update either of those in a way that I like without it sounding like Cinderella. Since I picked Cinderella for one of my fairy tales, I'm hoping that my English teacher will let me put that element in the story, because it's going in that direction. It would be kind of lame, but I'm going to ask. In the meantime, I'm going to continue with my story. It's really bad. So far, the two characters have met and become friends.
That's it. I'm not kidding.
And the main character has a crush on the friend. That's it.
So I'm probably going to have a Cinderella moment at homecoming, and that will be when the frog turns into a prince (or princess, in this case), so to speak, and then they go dance and it's awesome. And then the girl's older brother, who is friends with the dude, disowns the dude for kissing his sister and then stuff happens and then the girl whips her brother's butt and then the guy and the brother go off to college. The end.
So I'm going to go do that.
Hooray!
I have to update "The Princess and the Frog," that's the fantasy part, even though I am allowed to put in a little bit of "The Elf in the Rose," which is a very good story. It's actually a bit like a fantasy murder mystery, except you know who killed the guy and it's more about the revenge of the Jasmine Spirits on the life of the murderer. So it's kind of cool. However, I have no idea to update either of those in a way that I like without it sounding like Cinderella. Since I picked Cinderella for one of my fairy tales, I'm hoping that my English teacher will let me put that element in the story, because it's going in that direction. It would be kind of lame, but I'm going to ask. In the meantime, I'm going to continue with my story. It's really bad. So far, the two characters have met and become friends.
That's it. I'm not kidding.
And the main character has a crush on the friend. That's it.
So I'm probably going to have a Cinderella moment at homecoming, and that will be when the frog turns into a prince (or princess, in this case), so to speak, and then they go dance and it's awesome. And then the girl's older brother, who is friends with the dude, disowns the dude for kissing his sister and then stuff happens and then the girl whips her brother's butt and then the guy and the brother go off to college. The end.
So I'm going to go do that.
Hooray!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
back at school
Well, I am back at school, and I am not entirely happy about it. The only thing I'm annoyed about is that I forgot to bring to my knitting. Seriously, that's the only thing. It is really nice to be back in civilization. I'm not kidding. However, civilization is calling, in the form of class. but at least it's creative writing, which is my favorite class. Okay, goodbye.
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