Angelina Johnson
Tuesday
Dear diary,
Noah Miller was absolutely horrid today. He wouldn’t leave me alone for a minute. All he could do was insult me. My clothes, my hair, my shoes. I wonder why he hates me so much…
Well, it doesn’t matter. I need to have a bath, and if I delay any longer, Anthony, Chloe, William, Destiny, Jaden, Trinity, Tyler, and Kayla will occupy the bathroom. Phew! Sometimes I wonder how I manage eight siblings.
Love always,
Angelina.
Hi, I’m Angelina Johnson. I live in Texas and I have eight siblings. Eight siblings! And a dog. Yup, my house is like a zoo. I’m sort of in the middle of the family. I’m not baby Anthony, and I’m not school ma’am Kayla. I'm the fifth oldest and the fifth youngest. Not including Chestnut. Mom says that he’s only four, but sometimes I swear, that dog looks older than me.
I don’t know if it’s better to be noticed or not. Sometimes, I think it’s not too bad; when I come home an hour late from football practice, no one says a word. It can get a bit depressing, though. I don’t mind, I’ll take what I have. I wouldn’t trade my family for anything. Or so I thought, till Noah Miller came into my class.
My Pop isn’t poor, he earns enough for all of us. But with nine children, budgets can fall a tad short. We don’t always have the newest clothes or shoes. We each have our own room, but that room is probably half the size of a normal one. We don’t eat out too often.
This never bothered me. I was satisfied with what I had. But when I moved into my new grade, well, that Noah Miller really messed up my utopian life. His enmity began when he bragged to the class, “I bet I’ll beat everyone in the race in track and field,” on the first day of school.
What he didn’t know was that I had been practicing running in the park for an hour each morning in the summer. This was not only due to my interest in athletics. It’s just that, sometimes, eight siblings can get on your nerves a little. That didn’t include my football coaching and gymnastics classes. I’m a sportsy kind of girl, what some people call a tomboy.
That day, in the race, I beat Noah Miller by almost ten seconds. My triumph was short lived, when he came up to me and said, “I won’t forget this, Johnson.” And he didn’t.
Every day after that, he called me out on something of mine that he didn’t like. He was always crowing that because he was an only child, he had more attention than I did.
Certainly, he always had the latest in everything. It seemed to me rather strange, because his parents weren’t very rich. His house was small and plain and his clothes were simple too. Yet, he always had the best gadgets, toys and trinkets, to show off in front of my face.
He held that his parents saved up to buy him nice things, but I didn’t believe that for a moment. Things really came to a headway one gloomy Monday.
I was walking to school, as was my habit. We had a bus, but I preferred not to take it. I liked to have some quiet time alone, to sort out my thoughts, away from all the chaos of home and school. It meant I had to leave ten minutes earlier, but I didn’t mind.
I had a pastime of looking at the shops to see what they had on the shelves. I was doing this when I passed a beautiful sports shop. The thing that really attracted me towards it was the watch in the window. I was enraptured by the list of features it had. It was waterproof, it was digital, it could even record your heart rate. Just out of curiosity, I walked into the shop and asked the shopkeeper about the price of the watch.
I was told, “This watch is imported, so it will cost ********** dollars. (I refuse to mention the price. It was downright robbery) An order will need to be placed beforehand so we can get it delivered from the store house. The watch will be delivered in ten days. It is an absolutely new design. Never seen before.”
I smiled politely and hurried out of the shop.
I reached school just as the class was about to start. Of course Noah Miller was there waiting for me. He smirked, “Well, if it isn’t Miss Goody-goody. Why are you late? Helping an old lady across the road? Or adopting a street puppy?”
His friends (goons) laughed maniacally. I ignored them and took my usual place at the back of the class. Soon he realized that his words weren’t seeming to bother me. He tried a different approach.
“I’m getting many gifts tomorrow; it’s my birthday! I pity people who get only one gift on their birthday.” He gestured to me with a challenging light in his eyes.
Now, it just so happens that I get one gift from each of my siblings and one from my parents. Noah had made a mistake in attacking the number of gifts I get.
I retorted, “How many do you get, Miller? Seven? Six? I get nine.”
The class exploded in giggles. “Good one, Johnson!” someone called.
That day, while walking home from school, I noticed that the watch in the window was gone. The signs were not taken down, neither was the display stand. It almost seemed like someone had just taken off the watch.
At school, Noah was saying, “This is my new watch, one of my many gifts.” He was displaying on his hand the watch I had seen earlier. It didn’t take me long to piece together my suspicions But I said nothing.
“...new watch,” he was saying. I pressed closer to the huddle. “My parents said that I would also get some cool new headphones.”
While walking home, I stopped by every electronics store I knew. At the last one, I saw a pair of shiny red headphones in the display case. A-ha! This was it. I texted my mom saying that I was staying over at a friend’s place. She texted back “OK”
I wasn’t worried that I would be caught. In a house with nine children, you aren’t about to check up on each child’s alibi. I settled down and waited. I put on my red hoodie and sat in the bushes, unseen.
Presently, I dozed off and was awakened by a soft thud. A black clad figure was fumbling with the lock on the door of the shop. I opened my phone and began to film. I didn’t pounce on him yet, I was waiting to catch him in the act.
He felt about the display cases and caught the headphones. Stuffing the, in his pocket, he moved away. Now was the time to act. I jumped out of the bushes and raced towards him.
He didn’t wait to see who it was. He just ran away, me following in hot pursuit. He darted into a small alley. The alley was littered with garbage cans piled high. I paused and backed up. Then running, I vaulted over them.
He glanced back in shock and alarm. I continued my chase. His split second hesitation was all I needed. I closed in on him. I used a plank as a runway and jumped and landed on him. With one hand I dialled 911. Soon, the cops came.
Along with the cops came a woman in a black suit. She looked me up and down keenly and said, “So, there's this school,” And the rest is history.