SO-Janette+T.

** Introduction:**
My name is Janette. I absolutely //love// music. It's practically my life. My all-time favorite bands are Hinder and My Chemical Romance. I always listen to the song "You Are The Moon" by The Hush Sound. It was one of Andrew's favorite songs. :( Everything I do involves listening to music. All of Hinder's introductions to their songs are always awesome! My hair is a light brown, short, and curly. I have blue eyes and all of my friends say that I'm "Special" or "Unique" but they always mean it in a good way. In my free time, I like to hang out with my friends, or go outside to the soccer field in my yard, and practice soccer. I would have to say that I am an athletic person, but I'm not very competitive. But I can be competetive if I want to be and when I //am//, I can get really agressive. My birthday is October 29th, 1996. My two older sisters would always say I was adopted by aliens, and I would believe them. They would say things like "Yeah, we're just watching you until your real parents come for you." One last thing. I like to make funny noises, dance randomly, make weird facial expressions, and at times I will break out singing. (:

Life in the Eyes of a 12 Year Old By Janette Turner As I looked up at the light blue sky from my bus seat, I felt a slight, cool breeze coming out of the window in front of me. All I could hear was the music on my iPod and small voices from the other students in the back of the bus that sounded like whispers. I was always the last person off the bus, so I had a lot of time to think about things were bothering me. I started to think about was things that are going on at school. The first thing that popped into my mind when I thought about that was how my relationships with my friends are going. I started to think about Ava, Jamie, Bryan, Kevin, and Henry. Let’s start with Ava… Ava was my best friend in the whole world. Even though we had just met this year, I know that our friendship is going to last for an //extremely// long time. She has short, shoulder-high, sleek, black hair that would shine so bright in the sun. Her eyes were the lightest shade of green and whenever you looked her directly into her eyes, it was like you were in a trance and couldn’t look away. Every guy in the school was dying to go out with her, or to at least get her attention and all the girls were so jealous of her. I have to admit, I was jealous at times, too. Jamie is also my best friend, too. We act like total morons and people still talk to us, surprisingly. We met in the beginning of the year, when we all first came to middle school. She has long, shining, blonde hair and the prettiest brown eyes in the world. At school, we don’t go anywhere without each other. No matter what you do, you can’t pull us away from each other. Well, of course that is, if you tell her something like Andrew wants to see her. Then she will be gone in a flash. Henry wasn’t that popular but Jamie had been crushing on him since she first saw him. He wasn’t that cute, either. He had short, brown hair, with brown eyes. Pretty dull, if you ask me. But he was all Jamie could think about and I had to understand that and respect it. The only good quality that I liked about him was his voice. It had this scratchy edge to it, and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. He wasn’t really part of our “group” of friends, like Jamie, Ava, Bryan, Kevin, and me, but he was still pretty cool, I guess. Kevin was one of the coolest people I have ever met. He has short, blonde hair, with the //brightest// blue eyes you would have //ever//, possibly seen before in your entire lifetime. He wasn’t the tallest, but he had a lot of girls drooling over him, anyways. Ava started to like him when I introduced them. She would always say things like she couldn’t get over how cute he is, or how much she likes him. It could get annoying at times but other times, I thought it was pretty cute. Bryan was //best// friends with Kevin. Bryan had shortish, longish, hair that almost looked black. He had hazel eyes, that looked glazed over most of the time. All of the girls would try to talk to him, but he was just so intimidating, that they always got scared. I was even scared, the first time I saw him. But after you talk to him for the first time, you learn how to accept how he makes you feel, and you get used to it. To be honest, I have liked him since the first day I saw him at school. I looked out the window again and saw all of the trees, and then we drove out into the open where all the cows grazed. The terrible smell of manure came into my nose. I gagged then started to think of other things to get it off my mind. After thinking for a bit, I thought about my family. I was the only girl in the family besides my mom. Sometimes it was fun to have all boys in the family, but at other times, it was just plain annoying. The oldest boy was Christopher. I would call him Christy to bug him but most people called him Chris. He was thirteen, so just one year older than me. His hair was a dark brown, and he had blue eyes, just like me. Anthony was thirteen too, he was twins with Chris, of course, and he was //always// bugging me, saying so many things in one sentence. All he did was go on and on about one small thing like a girl he liked. He was pretty tall for being thirteen. He had extremely short, brown hair, with blue eyes. Justin was five. He was my favorite brother. The only annoying thing that he would do was to follow me around when I had friends over. Sometimes I wouldn’t even realize he was there since he is so short. Of course he had blue eyes, but the weird thing about him was that he had blonde hair. I had light brown, curly hair, with light blue eyes that had a gold ring in the middle of each of them. I was a bit taller than some people in my grade but not really tall. A lot of people would make fun of me since I was so skinny, but I had //no// clue what they were talking about. When I looked in the mirror, I just saw this average looking person who wasn’t pretty at all. Whenever I would say I was ugly, my friends would start to yell at me. Things like, “Gosh, Natalie. You’re gorgeous. I’m jealous!” But this //really// confused me. I had //no// idea who they were seeing. Because I was almost 100% sure that they weren’t talking about me. Anyways, my family had been going through a tough time, lately. All my parents do is fight, and fight, and //fight//. Sometimes it got so bad, my mom would have us pack bags for overnight, and we left the house to a hotel and spent the night there. Other times, it wasn’t so bad. When they had a fight, my dad would normally sleep on the couch that night. Their fights usually consist of yelling, sometimes crying from my mom, and occasionally things break. After their fight last night, I went into my parent’s room where I found my mom crying and sitting on the bed. I went to her side, and lightly placed my hand on her shoulder. I hated seeing her like this. “Natalie, I’m so sorry.” She whispered. I didn’t understand. “Mom, what’s going on?” There was a long pause from my mom breathing heavy. “Your father and I have been fighting a lot lately, as you can tell. But tonight…Natalie…I can’t take this for much longer.” “//What?!?// Mom, what are you saying? I don’t get it.” I said, while shaking my head no. This made her start crying even harder. “Honey, please. I feel guilty enough. It’s just, your father and I have our differences and we just now realized it.” I couldn’t take it anymore. So I ran out of her room, crying as hard as I had ever cried before in my life and I could barely breathe. This was all too much. How could this be happening? I ran straight into my room and locked the door behind me. My thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling my name. “Natalie, it’s your stop.” It was my bus driver. I got up quick, and got off the bus, heading towards my house, up the hill. That gave me a little more time to think, but my mind was too foggy to do that anymore. So I just put on my favorite song on my iPod and walked up the hill, slowly. The minute I got into my house, I went into my room and locked the door for the second time in two days. The first thing I did was walk over to my bed and fall right into it, hoping that maybe it would bring me some sort of comfort. As I laid there looking at my ceiling, I started to cry. It was all too overwhelming, painful, depressing, and I couldn’t take it. I hadn’t realized how long I was crying but when I looked at the clock, it was already 7:48 P.M. I came out of my room, and went to the stairs where I heard whispering. It was my mom and Chris talking. “Mom, I’m worried about her. She hasn’t been talking to anyone here at home, and she barely leaves her room to leave or even go to the bathroom!” Chris whispered quietly, but loud enough for me to hear. My mom sighed. “I know, I’m worried, too. I’m afraid that she isn’t eating again. I want to talk to her, but since last night, she won’t even look at me.” Both of those statements were somewhat true. I would look at my mom occasionally but when she wasn’t looking. The other statement, well, that’s not entirely true. I was eating, just not as often as I should be. Chris just looked down at his feet as he said, “Should I talk to her?” “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, but you can try.” I ran back to my room, and shut the door again. It was quiet for a minute until I heard the sound of footsteps coming up the creaking floorboards of the stairs. Another minute passed and I assumed Chris was standing by the door debating on whether or not he should knock or just leave while he could. Finally there was a knocking sound on my door. I took my time getting up from my bed, and went over to the door to let him in. The second my fingertips barely touched the door knob, I changed my mind, and went into the closet and started crying again. “Natalie,” Chris said. “You can’t stay in there forever.” I didn’t reply. “Fine, be that way. I’m coming in.” he said as he turned the knob on the door. I started to scoot back further into my closet, but a hand grabbed my arm. The next thing I knew, I was being pulled out of the closet and into the open space of the middle of my room. Chris just held me as I cried, and after a few minute, he whispered in my ear, “I know this is tough for you. It’s tough for everyone, but we need to be strong. Think about how mom and dad are feeling right now.” It took me a minute to get the strength to find my voice, but when I spoke, the words came out all scratchy and hoarse. “Why does this have to be happening?” “I’m not sure. They might have just realized that maybe this wasn’t how things should’ve ended up as. But we just have to think positive thoughts, and maybe things will turn around.” He paused. “One quick question… Have you been eating lately?” “Yes.” I whispered. “What have you been eating?” he questioned. “Food,” I said. “I mean specifics…” he said, in a more stern voice this time. I knew that if I lied to him, he would instantly know. “Just normal food like you.” I took a small pause and then said, “And I’ve been eating when I need to.” “When, exactly, is that?” I sighed, “Every now and then. Why does it matter?” “Natalie, you //need// to keep eating regularly. It’s not healthy if you don’t.” he said in an angry voice. “Fine, I will. Now can you leave? I want to go to bed.” I said, annoyed. “Sure, just //promise// me you’ll keep eating?” he said, this time, in a more concerned and worried tone. “Okay.” I promised. “I will. Goodnight.” “Night.” And then he left. The next morning, I woke up, got ready, went downstairs, grabbed a granola bar, took a bite out of it just to show Chris I’m eating, and then went to the bus stop. The bus ride was long, like always, and when I got to school, I went inside quickly to get away from the chilly breeze blowing up against my face. Right as I walked in the door, Jamie and Ava practically ambushed me, almost knocking me down. When I got balanced again, we started to walk in the direction of where my locker is. As we walked up to my locker, I saw Bryan and Kevin waiting there for me. This made me smile. “Hey.” Bryan said, casually. When I heard his velvety voice, it made my insides melt away. It’s just everything about him is perfect. “Hi.” I said, shyly. There was a small silence, but it was soon broken when Henry walked by us and Jamie squealed. She does this //every// time Henry passes us, or we pass him. “Wow, Jamie. If you like him so much, just //ask him out//!” I said. “//NO!//” she said quickly then moved closer to me and whispered in my ear, “Well, I could say the same thing to you only about Bryan.” Instantly, I stomped on her foot, making her jump up and yelp. But then she just walked away, laughing. //She has some issues.// I thought to myself. “So anyways,” Ava said. “Natalie and I were wondering if maybe you two would wanna come to the YMCA after school tomorrow.” She said to Kevin and Bryan. They just looked at each other for a quick second, shrugged their shoulders and said, “Sure, that’d be fun.” Then the bell rang and we all went to class. By the end of the day, I was back to being depressed and disappointed. The bus ride home was the same, as always, but when I got home, something was wrong. Something happened. “What’s going on?” I asked as I set down my backpack on the floor. I noticed something different as I did this. I didn’t see my mom. Normally when something’s wrong, my mom is the first person I see. “Where’s mom?” I asked, after no one answered my first question. That’s when Justin started crying and jumped into my dad’s lap. Just the mention of my mom made him do this, and I knew that the situation was big. “Natalie, um, well, I don’t exactly know how to say this, but…” Anthony said, trailing off. Chris interrupted him, “Mom left us.” He said quickly. I kept shaking my head, “No, she wouldn’t do that.” “This morning after you left, she took each and every one of us in a room one at a time and told us what was going on. Dad didn’t find out until he read the note she left on the counter.” Chris continued. Anthony started crying, too. This was different because I would never see him cry. No one ever does, because he was thirteen and he always acted like he was too cool for that kind of thing. “Where’s the note?” I asked while I looked through my blurred vision caused by my tears. My voice was all scratchy and hoarse again and I could feel this tight knot in my throat from holding back the tears. My dad started talking, “Right here, sweets.” It looked like he was about to cry. But I knew he was too much of a “man” to do that in front of his kids. I took the note from him and read: // I am truly sorry for what I did and I hope that one day you will all forgive me, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. My life was not what I had hoped for. I do // not //regret ever having the beautiful children we have now, and I hope to see them again someday, but for now, I am praying that you forgive me for this terrible thing I have done.// // Extremely Sorry, // // Cynthia Hepburn // // A.k.a. Mom // As I read this, I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. They all came pouring out of my eyes, with the warm, salty, wet streaks of left on my cheeks. That was it, she left. And she wasn’t coming back. That night, right as I was about to go to bed, I heard a knock at the door. Everyone else was already sleeping, so I got out of bed and went to the door. The minute I opened it, I regretted ever getting our of bed. “Hi, honey.” It was my mom. “What do you want?” I asked in an unforgiving voice. She looked down as she said, “I just wanted to tell you goodbye. I thought that it wasn’t fair how your brothers got to say goodbye and you didn’t.” “Well, I don’t think it’s fair that you’re leaving dad with four kids to finish raising all by himself. But life isn’t fair, now is it?” I said, in a stubborn tone. “Honey, I understand if you won’t forgive me, but I just need to know that you still love me. I am your mother, after all.” “You are…//not//…my mother.” I said, with clenched teeth. “If you were my mother, you would stay here with us, and try to hold it out a little longer. You wouldn’t leave us alone.” She had a hurt and shocked expression on her face when I said this. “Oh… I…I…I understand. Well…” she started to say while crying. “I guess I will leave then.” I just looked at her. “Okay,” she said, beginning to cry hard. “Goodbye honey. I love you. Now get some sleep.” “Bye.” I said, holding back tears, yet again. “I’m sorry.” I whispered. My mom started to smile and cry even harder. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I am so deeply sorry. I will try to visit…but for now I will stay away until you all cool down a bit. I love you dearly and I will miss you with all my heart. Goodnight.” She kissed me on the forehead and left. “Goodnight.” I whispered softly as I closed my eyes. “What’s the matter?” Ava questioned the next day at school. I just closed my eyes as a tear slid down along the outline of my cheekbone. Finally I answered her question, “My mom left us last night.” I whispered. After I said this, it seemed as if everything stopped in its place. No one was talking except for the faint sounds of other students in the hallways. All that Ava and Jamie did was continue walking down the hallway with me, as I silently wept. “Are you okay?” A soft, gentle voice broke into my thoughts… it was Bryan. I quickly wiped away the tears left on my cheeks and tried to smile, but ended up crying even harder than before. That’s when Bryan pulled me in and let me cry on his shoulder. It had felt like forever until finally I pulled away and started walking again. “You know if you wanna talk about it… I’m here.” He said, quietly. I shook my head ‘no’ and then finally spoke. “I don’t need to.” He looked down at his feet and slowly began to speak. “Well…maybe to get your mind off of things, you could come to a movie with me or something.” “Yeah, that would be nice.” I said, beginning to smile.

**Questions for Peer Reviewers**
(Think in terms of questions you would like to ask the author.)

1. Think of plot—is it original? (If an adaptation, is it creative or interesting to you?) What suggestions do you have for the author(s)?

2. Think about problems that the characters face. Are there complications that add enough suspense, tension, or interest? Is there a climax that satisfies you? Is the resolution satisfying? What could be added or changed?

3. Think of characterization—are the characters life-like? Are characters likable and enjoyable? Do we get a good sense of character from many of these: description, dialogue, narrator's opinion, discussion from other characters, the character’s own actions?

4. Think of imagery and details. Do they help you //see// and //hear// and //experience// the story? What details would you like to see in the next revision of the story?

5. What areas of the story need the most improvement? What suggestions do you have for the author? haha janette, awesome story! :p