The Diary of Jamie Castrino

The apartment was small, and I had to share a room with Ace. I didn't like that. Ace snores loud. Really loud. She probably woke up the whole building in the middle of the night. Maybe I'll sneak off and sleep on the couch instead, but I don't think that would make much of a difference.

I'm sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Jamie Castrino. I'm 13 years old and in 7th grade. Ace is my 14 year old older sister and she's in 8th grade. Her real name is Macey but she hates that name, so one of her ex boyfriends nicknamed her Ace.

My mom, Ace and I just moved here in New York and now were renting an apartment until we can find a house to buy. The apartment complex is called "Sunshine Smiles." But I don't feel like smiling in this place much.

I blame all of this on my father. Henry Castrino. We all used to live together as a happy family in Missouri until my dad ran off with a super model to Las Vegas. He just left like that. My mother always said he never spent time with her much.

Anyway, I pretty much H A T E my dad now. He has a webpage on the internet with a bunch of pictures of him and his new super model wife. He doesn't even have anything about ME or MOM or ACE on there at all!

I used to have a picture of him and I smiling and hugging. But then when he left us, I knew that his smile was fake. So I tore it up and threw it in the garbage can.

Ace didn't really seem to care that dad left us. She was too busy with all of her boyfriends to care. She was with her friends practicably 23/6 and she was with us, her family, not even 1/1! When Ace found out that dad left (she wasn't there when it happened) she just shrugged, pulled out her cell and said, "I'll be in my room. Don't bother me!"

My mother wasn't too happy with dad. A few days after he left, he called us and told my mom that he doesn't know her anymore and that she can't call him or he'll call the cops. My mom said some pretty nasty things into the phone, but then he hung up and she threw the phone at the wall.

How did I take it, you ask? Well, I don't really know. I actually ran away from home for a few hours. I was hiding in the park. But then I got hungry and decided to go back home... my mom didn't even notice I was gone.

I didn't go to school for the rest of the week. I stayed home and cried and screamed and broke all my toys. Then finally Ace told me to shut up and move on, so I decided to forget about my dad. But sometimes I still wish of going over to LV and kicking him in the face.

Three months after my dad left, we moved here, in New York. I hated my mom for making us move. Because now I don't have any friends. And I have to go to a new school.... also I'm not too happy about the apartment, either.

Ace basically died. She told our mom that she wanted to kill her. Also she broke a bunch of our fine china, messed up my mom's bedroom, and she started saying very rude words to us. She was so angry because all of her friends and boyfriends were back in Missouri, and she was here in New York.

She's still mad, of course, but she's stopped saying rude words and she's talking to us again... sort of.

School starts on August 20th and I'll be going to Edward Soo Middle School; the biggest middle school here in New York. I'm not too fond of this.

Being the new kid is a very bad thing if you're in middle school. And I already have a horrible rep, but lucky for me, no one in New York knows that. Back in Missouri I'm known as the "Perfect Goody Good Girl" because my grades were really really really really... really high. And also I was always obeying the rules and doing everything perfectly. I still had many friends, but everybody else would make fun of me.

This year, that is going to change. I'm going to get all B's and maybe an F every so often. I'll chew gum in the halls and maybe even flood the girl's bathroom. I'll raise my hand and say a stupid and funny answer to make everyone laugh, even if it's wrong. I won't be the "new kid." I'll be the "cool kid."

Ace doesn't need to worry about being the "new kid." She carry's her rep around with her everywhere and you know it just by looking at her. Her clothes are tight and hot, her hair is black and silky, her lips are red and shiny, and her figure is perfect. Her grades are okay and she only breaks the rules if she needs to. She's always chewing gum, so the teacher's better get used to it.

Anyway, on the first day of school she'll already have 100 new friends and 101 new boy friends, so she doesn't need to worry about that, too.

I'm extremely jealous of her. Not of her friends, but of her boyfriends and perfect body. Boys are always going for her instead of me. They look at her and then at me and know that it's obvious. I've never had a boy friend before, but one time I remember this boy really liked me. He carried my books, called me pretty, and put his arm around me. But he ended up becoming Ace's boy friend.

Maybe this year I'll be lucky and have a boy friend. Maybe I'll grow into a super hot body, like her, and show her up. That would be the day. When I have the hot cloths and all the boy friends and she has nothing...

But for now, I'm just the small little 7th grader that has to take notes from Ace on how to be her.

New York is okay. My mom, Ace and I went on a tour of New York on Wednesday. It has a lot of parks, and museums, and restaurants, and stuff. There is also a lot of people here. Missouri was big... New York is bigger.

I plan to run away when I turn 15, and I've already found the perfect place to live. There is this old, abandoned three story house on a street not too far from this apartment. It has bean bag chairs, pool tables, funky decor and a very comfy bed... and a lot of other junk. Everything is gray and dusty but I'll just call a cleanup crew to clean it for me.

I thought about it for a while and decided I can't run away if I don't have money. So maybe I'll get a job or something. I don't think they let 13 year olds get jobs, but it's worth a try...



I know what job I'll get. I met this guy named Eddy, the local New York hot dog seller. He said I can help him sell some hot dogs and he'll pay me five bucks an hour. It's not much, but hey, I have to start somewhere, right?

I start tomorrow. I'm supposed to meet him at Butterfly Park at 2:00 and help him sell hot dogs for two hours. I'll tell mom I'm going for a walk. A 2 hour walk... I won't tell her it'll be 2 hours.

Ace just bought a new wardrobe. She says she has to look cute on the first day of school or she'll die. I pictured her in my head. She was wearing gray hand-me-downs and crying. All her clothes were stuffed in a giant toilet. I laughed to myself.

My mom just asked me if I wanted to buy new clothes, too. I laughed and told her I was broke. Then she pulled out a fifty dollar bill and I stopped laughing.

Her and I are going to go shopping now. I thought that maybe Ace would want to come a long and tell me what clothes to buy so I could look cute. But she's too selfish. So she's staying home.

Wow!!!

VERY good!

Thanks Molly. XD




I have a new wardrobe, just like Ace. I was thinking of going emo... but cutting myself didn't seem too fun. And being a preppy pinky person just isn't me. I decided to go with red and black. Sort of a goth thing, but not really.

My favorite new outfit that I bought is a black and red tank top and black skinny jeans. I also bought red converse sneakers and red hoop ear rings. I'm going to wear them on the first day of school.

I was thinking about getting blond highlights to match my wavy brown hair, but my mom didn't like that idea. So instead I got two black hair clips.

Yesterday I helped Eddy sell hot dogs for two hours and he gave me ten dollars cash. Selling hot dogs was pretty fun. I was thinking about being a hot dog sells-woman when I grew up, but then I asked Eddy why he was one and he answered, "I never went to college."

That ended my hot dog career.

Right now I have $12:13. My mom gave me two dollars when we went shopping and I found a dime and three pennies on the street when walking back home from the hot dog selling. Maybe I'll sneak into Ace's wallet (which she keeps under her pillow) when she's not home and steal some of her quarters. She'll never know.

When I got home yesterday from my hot dog selling, Ace was doing jumping jacks (she exercises every so often so she can stay skinny) and my mom was watching a soap opera on our small TV in the living room. She had tears in her eyes and she was muttering, "How could Stacey do that to him?!"

When she spotted me, I gulped. I knew I was in big trouble.

"Where were you?!" She demanded, turning off the TV and standing up to face me.

I told her I took a walk, and she laughed sarcastically and said, "A two hour walk!?"

It didn't end well. I was grounded for the rest of the day and I was locked up in my room, listening to Ace text on her cell phone. It was very boring. I crawled under my bed and ate the cookies that I had hid under there in a box a few days ago. They were old and rotten, but I ate them anyway.

After an hour or two I had to listen Ace complain to me about her life. All of her friends were busy so I was her only option.

"And then he broke up with me! Right after I said I loved him!!! I mean, he was so darn hot!!! I wish he were dead right now!!! Because I found out he was cheating on me- with Carly!!! Can you believe it??!??! I tried all month to get her hurt, but all my schemes never worked. He always protected her!!!" She started crying halfway, and I just yawned and dug my head under my pillow. I didn't have a clue on what she was talking about.



Mom locked Ace and I out of the house because we had been watching TV for six hours straight. So Ace and I walked to the park and she bought us ice creams on the way. I was surprised at her generosity, but I'm sure she just wanted me to get fat so I could never be as pretty as her, because she bought me three scoops, and she only had one scoop.

We went to Acornway Park and I saw Eddy there. I said hi to him, and then Ace shoved me forward and said, "Don't talk to strangers, idiot!"

While Ace was chatting with two guys that looked two or three years older then her, I was climbing a tree nearby. I was almost to the top of the tree when I heard one of the guy's Ace was talking to said, "Look at the little girl in that tree. What a looser!" and then Ace said, "Yeah I know. I feel bad for who ever is related to that dummy!" The two guys laughed, and I sighed.

It was just like Ace to pretend she wasn't related to me.

Later on when Ace and the two guys came back by the tree I was still climbing from their little walk, the two guys' arms were around Ace's shoulder and Ace's mini skirt looked like it had grown even shorter.

The two guys started talking about me again so I picked up a rock that was sitting on a branch of the tree, and I tried to throw it at them. I ended up throwing at past them, and then I fell to the ground and ripped my new gray T shirt. Everybody nearby laughed. Including Ace and her two new boy friends. I ran back to the apartment, crying. I met up with Eddy a long the way and he tried to calm me down and give me a free hot dog. I rejected it kindly and then said bye.

Eddy is such a good friend, even though he's probably 26... he's defiantly a lot nicer then Ace.

When I got back to our apartment, mom asked me why my new gray T shirt was ripped and why I was bleeding on my arm, where i had fallen. I told her I tripped. If I had told her I fell off a tree, she would have told me it was my fault for climbing the tree in the first place.

She told me to wash up, so I took a shower. Right now I'm in my bed. My mom is yelling at Ace, who just walked in the door, about how she should have walked me home instead of making me walk home by myself.

I know Ace is going to get back at me for making mom yell at her. I'll just hide under my bed behind all the boxes. I still haven't unpacked my things. Only my pillow, blankets, clothes (which are in my dresser drawers) and my hairbrush.

It's been two days since Ace got yelled at by mom and she still hasn't got me back. At first I thought she had decided to be nice to me, but then I remembered she threw five eggs at my face when I was six, just because I had accidentally tripped on her jacket.

She's planning something. And I know it. She's going to wait a looooong long time until I forget about it, and then attack me by surprise. She always does that. And it always works. But not this time!

Because this time, I'm going to get her before she gets me. I don't know what I'm going to do yet... but I know that her weak spot is getting embarrassed in front a bunch of people (including cute guys); so I'll have to do it during school.

Maybe I'll spill Big Red on her in her favorite outfit. Big Red stains, so that will defiantly work.

Sunday was pretty boring, except one weird and particular part. Mom took us to this really stupid History museum; where all there is are "Interesting facts about history!" and "Really educational things your kids will enjoy!", or at least that's what it said on a big poster by the check in counter.

Besides, we only really stayed in one place for the whole time: the "Presidents Corner" where there is just a bunch of pictures of past presidents and posters of boring facts about them that nobody cares about.

The reason we stayed there the whole time is because mom seemed really interested in talking with one of the tour guides named Carlton Steve. He's really sorry with gray hair (and a bald spot!) and he's sort of fat. Also, he had broken black glasses with tape in the middle. I don't know what they were talking about because I was too busy trying to annoy Ace.

She was, yet again, texting with her friends on her cell phone. I was looking at her texts and reading them behind her back. Then I would say (scaring Ace half to death) something about the text like,

"Does Andy really have a pimple on her lip?"

After a while I retreated to the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I have brown wavy hair, a normal nose, dark goldish/brown eyes, white skin, and three or four freckles. I put on some shiny pink lip gloss that I stole from Ace and sighed.

I was really depressed when I was staring at myself. But I don't really know why.

Then the weird and particular happened. I saw a really fat guy with dried ketchup all over his shirt and short white shorts on walk out of one of the stalls. There was three other people in here: someone in the stall at the very end of the bathroom, a lady with red hair washing her hands at the sink next to me, and a 16 year old girl with bright yellow sneakers talking loudly onto a cell phone.


All of us stopped and stared at the fat guy. The fat guy stared back at us and said, "Uhhh... water yuu doon in deh mens bathroom?"

Then the lady with the red hair started screaming and beating the guy up with her purse. The 16 year old dialed 911 and yelled into her cell phone, "HELP! A FATTY GUY IS WITHIN TEN FEET OF ME!!!!!!!"

I didn't really know what to do so I started running towards the door but the fat guy tripped on his legs and fell on top of me!!! I started screaming so loud I think I broke one of the mirrors. I never found out, because under his weight, (a long with sudden panic) I fainted.


When I woke up I was in the museum's infirmary. My mom, Ace, Carlton Steve, and a guy in a white coat (the doctor) were standing in front of me. I was on a small bed and I had a bag of cold ice on my forehead. I took it and threw it across the room, where it hit somebody's head.

The doctor got mad at me and started saying, "Young lady! These things are very expensive! You will have to pay,"

But I ignored him and listened to what my mom was yelling,

"-can't believe you would do that! When we get home, you and I will have a little talk about,"

Moving on to Ace (who was talking into her cell),

"-yeah cause when I left he was totally checking me out,"

and Carlton Steve was just standing there, next to my mom, and whistling. I suddenly noticed that he had bags under his eyes and wrinkles all of over his hands. Then I knew that this guy was really old.

I don't know why, but I burst out saying, "Mom, are you going to get married to this guy? Cause he looks really really too old for you."

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Nice Aly!

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(continued)

Everybody stopped talking at once. My mom sort of gasped and froze at the same time. She was staring straight ahead. Then she said, so quietly I could barely hear, "Jamie, Ace... we are leaving... now." and with that she stormed out of the infirmary. Ace followed her and I jumped out of bed to catch up with them.

It was pretty awkward during the way home. Ace, instead of texting, was staring at mom with a worried expression on her face. I was looking out the window at the darkened sky.

As soon as we got home, mom ran into her room and slammed the door. Ace and I just sneaked into our bedroom and hopped on our beds.

Ace had said, "You're so stupid, Jamie. Of course mom isn't going to get married to that old hag! She was just talking with him, and she was smiling, too; something she hasn't been doing that often. Now you've ruined it!"

I really wish I could have exploded.



It's 10:00 at night. Mom was in bed the whole day and she didn't come out at all. Not even to eat.

Ace is watching TV in the tiny living room. I'm in my bed; sulking for no reason.

This morning was very weird. When Ace and I woke up, and after we had gotten dressed and ready for the day, we found mom in the kitchen. Smiling. Singing. The table was set and there was a pan of french toast there; a long with butter and syrup. Mom was putting up picture frames of flowers and gardens. She hadn't put up any pictures at all when we moved here. I wondered why she was doing it now... and why she was so happy.

Ace and I sat down and started grabbing french toast. After a few seconds, Ace cleared her throat and said a loud, "Thanks mom. This taste great! Aren't you going to have any?"

Mom stared at us like she didn't even know we had walked in. "Oh! Hello, dears. I didn't hear you come in. How are you?" She smiled again and hummed a nice little tune; nailing a picture of a woman with a white twirly dress and gold blond hair on the wall.

"Um, alright, thanks." Ace answered awkwardly. She gave me a push and mouthed, "Tell her you're sorry!"

I glared at her, and then sighed. "Er, hey- mom? About the other day, I-"

"Sunday was absolutely perfect! I'm glad you're doing okay." mom interrupted with a wide grin. Her eyes were sparkling turquoise and her hair waved freely in the air. She continued to hum loudly and nail pictures to the wall.

Ace stared at me with her mouth open. I knew she had expected me to get in trouble. She was mad and jealous that I had gotten off the hook so easily.

"Isn't today such a beautiful day?" said mom suddenly. Ace and I stared at her and smiled shyly.

"Sure, yeah,"

"Of course, mom, yes..."

We ate our french toast quickly and then ran to our room and slam the door.

"What's wrong with mom?" I asked worryingly, as if she were badly sick.

"I have no idea! Usually she would be all grumpy and annoyed!" Ace answered.

"Maybe she's in love with Carlton-"

"Oh please! Saying mom is in love with Carlton Steve would be like saying I'm not hot!"

I agreed with her.

"Well then why is mom so happy?" I asked again. "Do you think maybe dad called her last night and said he wanted to be back together?"

Ace looked disgusted at the mention of our father. She ignored me and said, "Maybe mom saw a guy at the museum that winked at her or something.... well, I don't know!" she yelled at the look on my face.


"Well- what are we going to do!?!" I cried.

Ace groaned. "Well, I dunno- she is happy and all, I s'pose maybe we should just..."

We stared at each other.

"Let her be?" I finished.

Ace nodded slowly.

Suddenly, I felt foolish. Was I actually trying to get rid of the smile on mom's face? Sure, it was unusual, but... she was happy.

"Okay... yeah... she's happy." I said slowly and quietly.



I after breakfast I met Eddy at another one of New York's giant parks. This time he was feeding seeds to the birds.

Eddy has short, dark brown, straight hair. He's skinny, too tall, has tan skin and bright hazel eyes.

"Hi Eddy." I said.

He turned around and smiled. "Good evening, Jamie. Whatchya doing here in the park so early?"

I shrugged. The truth was, I wanted to get out of the house and get away from super-happy-mom and dramatic-and-perfect-Ace.

Eddy and I walked down a dirt path towards a small stream by a ditch. He was still throwing seeds out into the grass; where birds fluttered with excitement and pecked with all their might.

"So, what grade are you in?" Eddy asked curiously.

"I'm going to be in 7th grade." I answered dully.

"Ah! I remember 7th grade," he said with a little laugh. "kids would always beat me up- and my nickname was Ed-duck.... good times, good times..."

He was smiling.

"You got beat up? Kids called you Ed-duck? Ouch!" I said sympathetically.

"Yeah, but don't worry, everything got settled in 8th grade." he said with another chuckle.

"What do you mean?"

There was silence. Eddy chucked a rock into the stream. It landed with a splash.

"So, was she your sister? That girl who shoved you forward when I said hi to you the other day?" Eddy asked unexpectedly.

Please carry on with this story like loads!
I love reading your stories!

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