The Journal of Annabelle Bartley
Chapter 1
Dear Darling brother,
I know I can’t ever see you or mom or dad again. I wish I knew where you were. Why did you have to go? Why did you not stop mom and dad from dying and save me? Why!
“Annabelle!” Beatrice, my guardian, called. “You have a call from someone.” Why do I always have visitors? Why can’t it be someone else who is trying to get adopted! Ugh! It’s always like this! Every time! Why? Just between you and me, I’m a 13 year old who looks like a 10 year old. I get people telling me how cute I look and ask how old I am thinking I’m 9 but when I answer with my real age, they are shocked.
Dear Sophia,
I’m getting so many adoption calls its’ embarrassing. And each new adopter is crazier then the one before. It’s scary. Where are you now? In Alabama? Connecticut? Well got to go to another adoption interview. Bye!
I knew it was about time I got downstairs. I had to run down flight after flight of stairs in the hotel sized orphanage just to get to a bathroom that was on the 3rd floor. I have to sleep in the attic because there’s no more room in any other room. I like it this way. Same old room, smell, clothes, and most importantly no learning how to be a proper lady! It sickens me to even lay my eyes on a ‘proper’ lady. I’m an adventurous girl who likes to get dirty and not wear dresses.
I get a good work out getting down the stairs to the bottom floor for dinner and every other food of the day. I’m very skinny and puny. I’m an ordinary girl, so I thought. When I got to the bottom floor, after running all those flights of stairs, I was shocked to see two girls who looked like they must have been pampered for two weeks to look like that. Their mother was the most ghastly thing I’ve ever seen. She had on all pink satin, which made her look like a fat birthday cake.
When I sat down the, two girls started looking past me as if I wasn’t there. “Mummy-kens, where’s the girl we adopted?” The mother shot the girls a don’t-mess-this-up look. The lady came over to me and said “Hello dear. You’ll be living with us now. How about you get your stuff and come with us” I looked at her puzzled. Suddenly, Beatrice dashed in and had a suitcase in her hands. “Here’s her bag ma’am. It only has a few trinkets and one nightgown and a dress. That’s all she has.” The birthday cake lady looked sympathetically at me and said to me “What is your name and what are your sizes?” I could tell she was trying to look calm but deep inside she was frightened because she must have never seen a girl with such little birthday cake looking clothes, shockers. She has never seen a girl so improper in her life, I bet.
Suddenly, the birthday cake sprouted arms! She grabbed my arm gently, threw 10 U.S. dollars to Beatrice, and whisked me away to shops with her two daughters. I found out that their names were Sophie and Megan, as they tagged along and started to tell me all about their house where I would be living, and something that caught my attention, “If your wondering why my mother doesn’t drive the car,” Sophie stated, “She got caught trying to get out of the front seat, while she was wearing THAT dress. Thus the Birthday Cake Dress was born.” with them and what they do there and a lot more stuff that made me feel like I was a mere puppy that just needed taming. I hate feeling like that.
When the carriage stopped it was in front of a large building that said:
Le’ Shamuk de’ ala shop.
It looked so big and expensive. Well Mrs. Camille, The person who adopted me, didn’t waste a second. She grabbed my arm and traversed into the shop. She took me to a big wooden thing that she told me was a counter. “Mr. Morris, I just adopted a girl who only has one dress and it is to small for her to wear. We must get her fitted and get her new clothes and a new look. Also school clothes.” The man looked at me a minute and said “You’re a summer, darling.” I put on a blank face. The man beamed. He made me feel all fluttery inside.
He brought me over to a dress rack and said, “Stand here” I did so and he got out this long thing of yellow string. He put it around my arm and leg and head a few times he would mumble “Interesting. Very interesting indeed. Sophie whispered stuff to me like “You’ll love the dresses he has for summers.” And “ Because you’re a brunette you’ll have a large variety of dresses and skirts and blouses for you to wear.” Well she was right. I did have a lot of stuff that looked good on me. Mrs. Camille thought so too, I guess. I looked out the window and saw this boy. He wasn’t just an ordinary boy. He had kind of blond kind of brown hair. He suddenly looked over and I panicked. I suddenly see this dress that was purple with purple roses and purple string sticking out of the back. “Mr. Morris, can I try that on please?” I asked. Sophie and Megan stared at the dress and then at me. Both girls nodded to each other and then Mr. Morris nodded at them and then at me. He got it down off of the rack at the very top and brought it down to me.
I went into the dressing room and put it on. The dress was to big for a second and then it shrunk. It suddenly became my size. I came out of the dressing room with my hair down and feeling embarrassed. When I looked up the boy who was there was looking through the window at me. Suddenly another boy came up to him and pulled him away from the store. Mrs. Camille came over and gasped in delight. “Oh Annabelle! You look adorable! We need to buy you that and a lot of shoes and get you a hair cut and get you shirts and jeans!” Mr. Morris looked at me with a look of accomplishment. He came over to said “Mrs. Annabelle if I may call you that, would you please let me escort you to the shoe department.” I let him take me to the shoe department and he asked, “What kind of shoe do your wear?” Mrs. Camille answered for me with “She wears high heel shoes.”
Mr. Morris, seeing as how he couldn’t say no to Mrs. Camille, got down a lot of high heel shoes for me to try on. I got out a box of Shania rays. I put them on and automatically loved them. The next pair of shoes was the same feeling. Pair after pair was the same feeling. The last pair I tried on were the most comfy shoes I had ever worn.
I stood up and could walk fine. I felt like improper princess (that is, not afraid to get in the mud) of the world!
After a very long day of shopping I finally got to go to my new house. When we got I knew why I had the impression that the girls were rich. Now my point was proven. Their house looked like a mansion, they had butlers and maids and well almost everything I could think of. “Do you like my house? Oh! Let me show you your room! You will wear your new shirt that says:
And you thought I couldn’t get cuter.
I shrugged and said “Maybe.” Megan had her own room while Sophie and I shared a room. It was the best. Out of both Megan and Sophie, Sophie is more of my friend. We stayed up all night and talked about school and what I should wear tomorrow. And there was something that shot through me like sparks. “Tomorrow there will be a dance and they will pick a prince and a princess.” I thought for a second and finally said, “Do you think I could come and try for princess?” If I were the old me I would be telling myself “What are you saying! Your not a girly girl!” But now my new side has well either gotten softer or something. Sophie laughed and said “Oh honey you’ll go tomorrow and you’ll win without a doubt. You’ll be the center of attention. You’ll have so much fun and maybe fall in love.”
I fell asleep a few minutes after that conversation and I suddenly woke up at 9:00 a.m. and got dressed. Sophie woke up as I was changing and said very sleepily “Good Morning” with a yawn she was up. “So what shirt are you going to wear to school today?” I hesitated and finally said, “The one you wanted me to wear.” Sophie smiled.
At 10:00 a.m. we were off to this new place I’ve never been to called school. Sophie said I would have a lot of fun there, and I was thinking so too. Well Sophie was right. When I got to school we went to the front office and said “Hi, this is Annabelle, a new student here that was just adopted a few days ago by my mom.” Well the lady had a nice smile and it made me smile as well. After a few seconds the lady pulled out a long piece of paper. It said:
Annabelle Kendra.
Age: 13
Class: Mrs. Thomas Maria
The lady handed Sophie the paper and her face lit up. “Oh Annabelle! You’re so lucky! You get to be in the class with one of the nicest boys I’ve ever met. Here follow me to your class room.” I followed Sophie to the classroom and was astonished to see so many people and eyes on me. When I turned around Sophie was gone. When I looked at the class there was a lot of desks and a whole corner of books. Someone grabbed my shoulder and made me jump. When I turned around there was a tall lady behind me.
“Hello, I’m Mrs. Emma. Are you Annabelle Kendra?” the lady asked.
I nodded and said shyly “My last name was Bantey but now I guess its Kendra.” The teacher turned around and said to the whole class “Class this is Annabelle Kendra. Can anyone offer a seat for Annabelle to sit at?”
Three boys raised their hands and four girls raised their hands. “First, Annabelle, why don’t you tell the class about yourself first? Don’t be shy.” I felt like I was a turtle and I would go into my shell and stay there for the rest of the day. I finally raised up enough courage and said “I’m Annabelle Kendra. I like gymnastics, cheerleading, and a lot of other stuff. I like having a lot of friends. And I’m happy to make all of your acquaintances.” The teacher laughed for a second and said to the whole class “So, who wants Annabelle to sit next to them?” Suddenly I was surprised to see most of the people here’s hands up. I smiled to myself and maybe out loud too.
Dear Sarah,
I got adopted as you might have heard. I got a new family that is very nice. I look different and act different as well but I’ll always be Miss Improper Princess Of The World. So don’t go getting any ideas of me being a sissy or girly-girl.
-Annabelle
Suddenly a huge hand came out of nowhere. “Annabelle what’s that you’re writing?” Mrs. Sakura asked. She looked at it and read it over and over again. “Annabelle did you write this?” Who else could have? Only the great and powerful Miss Improper could have! “Yes I did Mrs. Sakura. Can I please have it back now?” Mrs. Sakura gave it back to me when the bell rang.
I went to my locker. I tried to open it five times and only the sixth time it opened. I put my books in there and got out my planner and suddenly three letters came out of it. “What are these?” I wondered. I picked them up and put them back in my planner to look at them with Sophie.
When I closed my locker I was surprised to see a boy leaning on the other locker right next to mine. His face got red when I closed my locker and he pretended to be looking in the locker next to mine. “Wait” I thought. “Hey, um, is your locker next to mine?” I asked the boy. He looked at me embarrassed. He nodded and looked up and looked at the ceiling.
The last bell rang and I went to the stairs and sat down. A few minutes later, Sophie came out to the stairs. She was startled to see me. “Oh! Annabelle, you’re here! Come on lets go home.” I nodded and smiled. We got a ride back to Sophie’s house. My house.
When we got back to the house and got settled in our room I said suddenly I startled both Sophie and myself. “Sophie! I got three letters from I don’t know because I didn’t want to open them without you there to read them to.”
“Well why didn’t you say so, Annabelle! Lets open those letters!” Sophie said. I got out the letters and was surprised to see seven envelopes instead of three. I opened one and it said:
Dear Annabelle,
I’m in your class and was wondering if you wanted to come to the dance with me tonight.
-Sander
Sophie giggled. I opened the next one. It said:
Dear Annabelle,
Hi. I know you’re new and I was wondering if you had a date for the dance tonight.
Sophie read thoroughly and carefully as I read the next one:
Dear Annabelle,
You have been voted for a finalist of the show that will determine the princess and prince of the year. Please wear fancy dresses. Thank you.
Sophie didn’t let me read anymore of the notes because she advised that I needed to work on my look. She got a straightening iron and called my personal hair designer. He took the straightening iron and put it on my hair and got my hair to a long straight bunch of hair down to my elbows. It was very smooth and silky with the purple dress and dress shoes.
It was time to go to the dance and I was so embarrassed about my look. Sophie kept on telling me stuff like “You look fine” and Megan would say “You look so hot” We finally got there and Megan, Sophie, and I walked in. A man about to where my hair was came up to me and asked, “Are you Miss Annabelle?” I nodded and he told me about the contest and what to do. I nodded. And he went away. I sighed. And I walked into the crowd of school students. A lot of boys came up to me and asked me if I would dance with them. I said no to all of them and said sorry to all of them to.
I went to the couch and sat down. Suddenly a boy sat down next to me and said quietly and shyly “Did you get my letter?” I looked at him and suddenly remembered where I saw him before. “You remember me right? I was the one at the store looking through the window.” I blushed and told myself “No! Don’t act stupid in front of him, me!” I looked at him and said quietly “Yeah I remember you clearly. You were the one looking through the window.”
There was silence between the two of us “No! I acted like an idiot in front of him! No!” I thought to myself. “ Hey um, Annabelle right? Do you um, want to dance maybe?” I could tell he was blushing and I was to. “Sure. But first can you tell me your name?”
I know I can’t ever see you or mom or dad again. I wish I knew where you were. Why did you have to go? Why did you not stop mom and dad from dying and save me? Why!
“Annabelle!” Beatrice, my guardian, called. “You have a call from someone.” Why do I always have visitors? Why can’t it be someone else who is trying to get adopted! Ugh! It’s always like this! Every time! Why? Just between you and me, I’m a 13 year old who looks like a 10 year old. I get people telling me how cute I look and ask how old I am thinking I’m 9 but when I answer with my real age, they are shocked.
Dear Sophia,
I’m getting so many adoption calls its’ embarrassing. And each new adopter is crazier then the one before. It’s scary. Where are you now? In Alabama? Connecticut? Well got to go to another adoption interview. Bye!
I knew it was about time I got downstairs. I had to run down flight after flight of stairs in the hotel sized orphanage just to get to a bathroom that was on the 3rd floor. I have to sleep in the attic because there’s no more room in any other room. I like it this way. Same old room, smell, clothes, and most importantly no learning how to be a proper lady! It sickens me to even lay my eyes on a ‘proper’ lady. I’m an adventurous girl who likes to get dirty and not wear dresses.
I get a good work out getting down the stairs to the bottom floor for dinner and every other food of the day. I’m very skinny and puny. I’m an ordinary girl, so I thought. When I got to the bottom floor, after running all those flights of stairs, I was shocked to see two girls who looked like they must have been pampered for two weeks to look like that. Their mother was the most ghastly thing I’ve ever seen. She had on all pink satin, which made her look like a fat birthday cake.
When I sat down the, two girls started looking past me as if I wasn’t there. “Mummy-kens, where’s the girl we adopted?” The mother shot the girls a don’t-mess-this-up look. The lady came over to me and said “Hello dear. You’ll be living with us now. How about you get your stuff and come with us” I looked at her puzzled. Suddenly, Beatrice dashed in and had a suitcase in her hands. “Here’s her bag ma’am. It only has a few trinkets and one nightgown and a dress. That’s all she has.” The birthday cake lady looked sympathetically at me and said to me “What is your name and what are your sizes?” I could tell she was trying to look calm but deep inside she was frightened because she must have never seen a girl with such little birthday cake looking clothes, shockers. She has never seen a girl so improper in her life, I bet.
Suddenly, the birthday cake sprouted arms! She grabbed my arm gently, threw 10 U.S. dollars to Beatrice, and whisked me away to shops with her two daughters. I found out that their names were Sophie and Megan, as they tagged along and started to tell me all about their house where I would be living, and something that caught my attention, “If your wondering why my mother doesn’t drive the car,” Sophie stated, “She got caught trying to get out of the front seat, while she was wearing THAT dress. Thus the Birthday Cake Dress was born.” with them and what they do there and a lot more stuff that made me feel like I was a mere puppy that just needed taming. I hate feeling like that.
When the carriage stopped it was in front of a large building that said:
Le’ Shamuk de’ ala shop.
It looked so big and expensive. Well Mrs. Camille, The person who adopted me, didn’t waste a second. She grabbed my arm and traversed into the shop. She took me to a big wooden thing that she told me was a counter. “Mr. Morris, I just adopted a girl who only has one dress and it is to small for her to wear. We must get her fitted and get her new clothes and a new look. Also school clothes.” The man looked at me a minute and said “You’re a summer, darling.” I put on a blank face. The man beamed. He made me feel all fluttery inside.
He brought me over to a dress rack and said, “Stand here” I did so and he got out this long thing of yellow string. He put it around my arm and leg and head a few times he would mumble “Interesting. Very interesting indeed. Sophie whispered stuff to me like “You’ll love the dresses he has for summers.” And “ Because you’re a brunette you’ll have a large variety of dresses and skirts and blouses for you to wear.” Well she was right. I did have a lot of stuff that looked good on me. Mrs. Camille thought so too, I guess. I looked out the window and saw this boy. He wasn’t just an ordinary boy. He had kind of blond kind of brown hair. He suddenly looked over and I panicked. I suddenly see this dress that was purple with purple roses and purple string sticking out of the back. “Mr. Morris, can I try that on please?” I asked. Sophie and Megan stared at the dress and then at me. Both girls nodded to each other and then Mr. Morris nodded at them and then at me. He got it down off of the rack at the very top and brought it down to me.
I went into the dressing room and put it on. The dress was to big for a second and then it shrunk. It suddenly became my size. I came out of the dressing room with my hair down and feeling embarrassed. When I looked up the boy who was there was looking through the window at me. Suddenly another boy came up to him and pulled him away from the store. Mrs. Camille came over and gasped in delight. “Oh Annabelle! You look adorable! We need to buy you that and a lot of shoes and get you a hair cut and get you shirts and jeans!” Mr. Morris looked at me with a look of accomplishment. He came over to said “Mrs. Annabelle if I may call you that, would you please let me escort you to the shoe department.” I let him take me to the shoe department and he asked, “What kind of shoe do your wear?” Mrs. Camille answered for me with “She wears high heel shoes.”
Mr. Morris, seeing as how he couldn’t say no to Mrs. Camille, got down a lot of high heel shoes for me to try on. I got out a box of Shania rays. I put them on and automatically loved them. The next pair of shoes was the same feeling. Pair after pair was the same feeling. The last pair I tried on were the most comfy shoes I had ever worn.
I stood up and could walk fine. I felt like improper princess (that is, not afraid to get in the mud) of the world!
After a very long day of shopping I finally got to go to my new house. When we got I knew why I had the impression that the girls were rich. Now my point was proven. Their house looked like a mansion, they had butlers and maids and well almost everything I could think of. “Do you like my house? Oh! Let me show you your room! You will wear your new shirt that says:
And you thought I couldn’t get cuter.
I shrugged and said “Maybe.” Megan had her own room while Sophie and I shared a room. It was the best. Out of both Megan and Sophie, Sophie is more of my friend. We stayed up all night and talked about school and what I should wear tomorrow. And there was something that shot through me like sparks. “Tomorrow there will be a dance and they will pick a prince and a princess.” I thought for a second and finally said, “Do you think I could come and try for princess?” If I were the old me I would be telling myself “What are you saying! Your not a girly girl!” But now my new side has well either gotten softer or something. Sophie laughed and said “Oh honey you’ll go tomorrow and you’ll win without a doubt. You’ll be the center of attention. You’ll have so much fun and maybe fall in love.”
I fell asleep a few minutes after that conversation and I suddenly woke up at 9:00 a.m. and got dressed. Sophie woke up as I was changing and said very sleepily “Good Morning” with a yawn she was up. “So what shirt are you going to wear to school today?” I hesitated and finally said, “The one you wanted me to wear.” Sophie smiled.
At 10:00 a.m. we were off to this new place I’ve never been to called school. Sophie said I would have a lot of fun there, and I was thinking so too. Well Sophie was right. When I got to school we went to the front office and said “Hi, this is Annabelle, a new student here that was just adopted a few days ago by my mom.” Well the lady had a nice smile and it made me smile as well. After a few seconds the lady pulled out a long piece of paper. It said:
Annabelle Kendra.
Age: 13
Class: Mrs. Thomas Maria
The lady handed Sophie the paper and her face lit up. “Oh Annabelle! You’re so lucky! You get to be in the class with one of the nicest boys I’ve ever met. Here follow me to your class room.” I followed Sophie to the classroom and was astonished to see so many people and eyes on me. When I turned around Sophie was gone. When I looked at the class there was a lot of desks and a whole corner of books. Someone grabbed my shoulder and made me jump. When I turned around there was a tall lady behind me.
“Hello, I’m Mrs. Emma. Are you Annabelle Kendra?” the lady asked.
I nodded and said shyly “My last name was Bantey but now I guess its Kendra.” The teacher turned around and said to the whole class “Class this is Annabelle Kendra. Can anyone offer a seat for Annabelle to sit at?”
Three boys raised their hands and four girls raised their hands. “First, Annabelle, why don’t you tell the class about yourself first? Don’t be shy.” I felt like I was a turtle and I would go into my shell and stay there for the rest of the day. I finally raised up enough courage and said “I’m Annabelle Kendra. I like gymnastics, cheerleading, and a lot of other stuff. I like having a lot of friends. And I’m happy to make all of your acquaintances.” The teacher laughed for a second and said to the whole class “So, who wants Annabelle to sit next to them?” Suddenly I was surprised to see most of the people here’s hands up. I smiled to myself and maybe out loud too.
Dear Sarah,
I got adopted as you might have heard. I got a new family that is very nice. I look different and act different as well but I’ll always be Miss Improper Princess Of The World. So don’t go getting any ideas of me being a sissy or girly-girl.
-Annabelle
Suddenly a huge hand came out of nowhere. “Annabelle what’s that you’re writing?” Mrs. Sakura asked. She looked at it and read it over and over again. “Annabelle did you write this?” Who else could have? Only the great and powerful Miss Improper could have! “Yes I did Mrs. Sakura. Can I please have it back now?” Mrs. Sakura gave it back to me when the bell rang.
I went to my locker. I tried to open it five times and only the sixth time it opened. I put my books in there and got out my planner and suddenly three letters came out of it. “What are these?” I wondered. I picked them up and put them back in my planner to look at them with Sophie.
When I closed my locker I was surprised to see a boy leaning on the other locker right next to mine. His face got red when I closed my locker and he pretended to be looking in the locker next to mine. “Wait” I thought. “Hey, um, is your locker next to mine?” I asked the boy. He looked at me embarrassed. He nodded and looked up and looked at the ceiling.
The last bell rang and I went to the stairs and sat down. A few minutes later, Sophie came out to the stairs. She was startled to see me. “Oh! Annabelle, you’re here! Come on lets go home.” I nodded and smiled. We got a ride back to Sophie’s house. My house.
When we got back to the house and got settled in our room I said suddenly I startled both Sophie and myself. “Sophie! I got three letters from I don’t know because I didn’t want to open them without you there to read them to.”
“Well why didn’t you say so, Annabelle! Lets open those letters!” Sophie said. I got out the letters and was surprised to see seven envelopes instead of three. I opened one and it said:
Dear Annabelle,
I’m in your class and was wondering if you wanted to come to the dance with me tonight.
-Sander
Sophie giggled. I opened the next one. It said:
Dear Annabelle,
Hi. I know you’re new and I was wondering if you had a date for the dance tonight.
Sophie read thoroughly and carefully as I read the next one:
Dear Annabelle,
You have been voted for a finalist of the show that will determine the princess and prince of the year. Please wear fancy dresses. Thank you.
Sophie didn’t let me read anymore of the notes because she advised that I needed to work on my look. She got a straightening iron and called my personal hair designer. He took the straightening iron and put it on my hair and got my hair to a long straight bunch of hair down to my elbows. It was very smooth and silky with the purple dress and dress shoes.
It was time to go to the dance and I was so embarrassed about my look. Sophie kept on telling me stuff like “You look fine” and Megan would say “You look so hot” We finally got there and Megan, Sophie, and I walked in. A man about to where my hair was came up to me and asked, “Are you Miss Annabelle?” I nodded and he told me about the contest and what to do. I nodded. And he went away. I sighed. And I walked into the crowd of school students. A lot of boys came up to me and asked me if I would dance with them. I said no to all of them and said sorry to all of them to.
I went to the couch and sat down. Suddenly a boy sat down next to me and said quietly and shyly “Did you get my letter?” I looked at him and suddenly remembered where I saw him before. “You remember me right? I was the one at the store looking through the window.” I blushed and told myself “No! Don’t act stupid in front of him, me!” I looked at him and said quietly “Yeah I remember you clearly. You were the one looking through the window.”
There was silence between the two of us “No! I acted like an idiot in front of him! No!” I thought to myself. “ Hey um, Annabelle right? Do you um, want to dance maybe?” I could tell he was blushing and I was to. “Sure. But first can you tell me your name?”
♠ ♠ ♠
This is the first chapter, I hope you like it!