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all around my room on hooks.
    Something about talking to Julian and seeing his finished mural really inspired me. This exciting creative energy has been building up all day. I couldn’t wait to get home and work on my mobile. It’s cool how Julian’s artwork is inspiring my own. I wonder if I’ll ever have the courage to tell him about it.

four
wednesday, april 13
(47 days left)
    I had a dream that there was this new section of the SATs where you had to fall backward out of a plane. A bungee cord was supposed to pull you back up. Except sometimes the bungee cord didn’t work.
    I wonder what it means.

    Here’s a secret about me:
    I’m a vampire.
    Just kidding.
    Here’s the real secret:
    I still ride the bus.
    Technically, it’s not a secret. If you’re like every other junior orsenior at my school driving your shiny new car that your mommy and daddy bought you for your seventeenth birthday and you get stuck behind the school bus, you might see me when you finally get impatient enough to pass the bus even though you’re not supposed to. You won’t find me in the back. That’s where the sophomores sit. And the freshmen who make fun of everyone else and throw things at us. No, I sit in the front. Usually next to Jasmine. Who is in sixth grade.
    That’s right. I ride the bus with sixth graders. We’re dropped off at the high school first. Then the bus drives to the middle school, which is even farther away and starts later.
    I am the oldest kid riding the bus.
    If Sherae didn’t have a car, I’d be totally trapped. She would give me rides to school if she didn’t live in the opposite direction. But at least we can go wherever we want after school.
    My bus stop is right down the street in front of the realty office. The office doesn’t open until nine. When the bus drops me off after school, I usually notice one or two people who’ve come to look at houses. There’s a whole new development way back in the woods. Apparently, some people actually want to live in Middle of Nowhere. I don’t get it. I mean, yeah, there’s lots of space and woods and it’s super quiet. So raising kids here might sound like a good idea. But as one of those kids, I could assure them that this town takes boring to a whole other level.
    One of the middle school boys comes running down the street just as the bus is pulling up. He’s always late. I can’t ever be late. If I miss the bus, I have to take the train to school. Which meansI end up missing first period because I have to walk to the train station and wait for the next train and then walk to school from that station. Missing physics is a drag. If you miss one day, you’re totally lost.
    Everyone piles on the bus. I take my usual seat next to Jasmine. Her bag is way nicer than mine.

    Carly is waiting for me when I get off the bus.
    I don’t know why she’s so obsessed with bullying me. We used to have the same bus stop. That was the worst. Every morning would be a new adventure in mortification. One time Carly grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pulled her fist back like she was going to punch me. I forget why. She was probably just extra bored that day. A car drove by the bus stop as we were posed like that, Carly threatening to punch me, me frozen like a deer in the headlights. I could see the woman who was driving look at us. She was your typical mom type. She totally saw us. But she drove right by.
    “Good morning, Rotten Egg,” Carly trills when she sees me. It’s her typical greeting.
    I brush past Carly, ignoring her. There’s no way I could intimidate her. If you put Carly next to a monster truck, the resemblance would be remarkable. She hangs out with the other kids no one wants to mess with. I’ve heard rumors that she beats up her little brothers. They say that if you ignore a bully, she’ll move on to harass someone else. I’ve been ignoring Carly for three years. She hasn’t moved on yet.
    “Didn’t you hear me?” Carly yells after me. “I