Preston Greens

1. Rosewood Street

Every day I like to sit down in my room to think about my day. Just me, by myself, with no one else around. My name is Carly and I am twelve years old. People always ask me, "What is love?" I cannot answer them. I have not experienced it from anyone else but my parents. I do not try to find someone to love me, I just keep on being patient. I am absolutely not desperate, but want someone else who has an interest in me. I do have some girlfriends, but I want something closer. There is one thing that I always ask myself, "What do I really want?" to dwell on this question, I know that I can't just try to find the answer, but to ask questions that will lead to the answer. I walked down the hallway of my middle school and watch girls gossip and giggle. They are not articulate. I think to myself. I have to admit, I love to hear some gossip occasionally, when I'm in the mood, but not all the time. Don't we have something else to think about besides other people's problems? Other people's relationship status is just a bore, knowing that it is just a mistake. Perhaps they just want to show off to other people that they are capable of having a relationship, but it's really not that important. For some reason, people want other people to know that they are better than them. These people don't understand is that every single person is better than you at something but you are better than them at some other thing. My mom says I am wise beyond my years or something, but maybe she is right. I love to talk to my friends mainly about humor, and some other things, but my best friend, Lisa, is the only friend I tell my secrets to, besides my mom.

After my science class is over, it is time to go home. Mom is in the front in her little Honda. I get inside and tell her about my day, the pointless girls, and what Lisa said about Bobby. She nodded, and she seemed interested. I was an only child, and we lived in a little house in an ancient neighborhood called "Preston Greens". My house is a little three bedroom, two bathroom home that was built in 1990. My parents have owned the house since I was born, and that was twelve years ago. Lisa and I were neighbors, and that was how we became best friends. I went to my room and did some homework. x-4=10. What does x equal? This was easy. 14. I did some more of that and then called Lisa on my cell phone. She wanted me to come over the sneaky way, so I did. When we are supposed to climb to each other's houses the sneaky way, it meant climbing through the window and possibly ripping the seat of your jeans.

I climbed out my window and slid under Lisa's fence. Her window was already open, so I crawled inside. I landed on her bed as usual, and she was there to greet me. "Hey Carly!" She said. Her brother then stormed into the room. "What's up Carla Merriam?" I grit my teeth. "Roger, I already told you, please don't call me by my full name. Thank God you didn't say my last name." Roger then grinned. "Sosabella." "NOOOOO!" I squealed. If there was one thing I hated, it was my last name. My last name was the hardest to spell in the school. Carla Merriam Sosabella was my full name but I wanted something more fun and not so serious. Carly would do the trick. Merriam was just so old fashioned. It was not fun, so if that were my first name, I would make people call me Maria or something.

"ROGER, GET OUT OF HERE!" Lisa yelled at her brother. Her family had been living in this house since her brother was born: ten years ago. Lisa and I met when we were two years old, so our relationship was pretty strong. Her parents were good friends with mine. Her house was small like mine, and it was a tight squeeze. Sometimes I would sleepover and when I had to brush my teeth, I would just get my mom to throw my toothbrush over the fence in a bag.

Mom was the best. I loved both of my parents. My dad was a teacher at an elementary school, so he was the best homework helper. My mom worked at the chamber of commerce, so she dealt with the mayor on some matters. Lisa's mom was a librarian at the Chapin Public Library and her dad fixed air conditioners.

Lisa giggled as her brother left the room. "Guess what?" She asked me. "What?" "Bobby likes me!" She said in delight. She had caught me at the right time because I was in the mood to hear some good gossip. I had always known that she liked Bobby James, a boy in our class. Bobby was my friend, though. "That hurts my feelings." I said quietly. Lisa looked at my face and saw the embarrassment. I was supposed to be happy for her, but I always thought that Bobby liked me. Nope, he liked Lisa instead. Did it really matter? "Lisa, I am so happy for you." There was one big problem. Bobby didn't know that Lisa was my neighbor. Bobby had been to my house before, but I always forgot to tell him that Lisa was right next door. You might be thinking, "Why would this be a problem?" The problem is that Bobby lives in the most expensive neighborhood in the city, and we lived in one of the poorest. I wasn't saying we were poor, but my family liked a small house, because we were humble people. Bobby would be disgusted, like how he was when he went to my house. My parents clean the house a lot and we take pride in our little home, but Bobby thought that 1990 was just a disgrace. Lisa was in for some great disappointment. I approached this subject carefully.