Because I’m on the quiet side, people
always assume I’m nice. I mean, I guess I’m nice, compared some kids. I don’t
mouth off my teachers or anything. Mostly I do what I’m supposed to. But I
definitely have a wild side. Me and my friend Holly like to prank people, for
instance. You know, on the phone. We say dumb stuff, like we’re calling from
the IRS or something. It’s so funny. Adults get all fired up when they hear
“IRS.” They can’t tell we’re kids? For real? Neither of us sounds like a
grownup.
Sometimes I yell at my mom, especially
when she criticizes my sister. I feel bad. My mom gets so upset. But I can’t
help it. It makes me crazy when she says stuff about Leah. My sister bends the
rules, but it doesn’t make her a bad person. She wants to be independent. I
don’t always agree with how she behaves, but I respect her. My parents should
respect her, too. They shouldn’t always be jumping all over her.
Anyway, my point is, I’m not always nice.
I don’t like everyone, either. But I do give people a chance. Usually, I’m
pretty accepting. I mean, I don’t make fun of other kids or anything. There’s
this kid in my bio class. He picks his nose and wipes his finger on his pants.
It so gross! The other kids all pick on him. One time, they were teasing him so
bad, he started to cry. That just made it worse. At lunch, I sat with him. I’m
not looking for a medal or anything. I mean, it was sort of cool, sitting with
him. He’s really interesting. His dad’s a pilot and their family has traveled
all over the world.
One thing I won’t tolerate, though –
people talking trash about my family. When I hear people saying things about my
sister, judging her, I want to punch them out. KIA-AH. Left, right, uppercut.
Pow, pow! Ha! Knock some sense into their peanut-size brain.
She has a big heart, my sister. A few
months ago, this boy at school called me a monkey. I had the hugest crush on
him. One afternoon, he sat next to me on the bus. He likes me, I thought. He
likes me. All of a sudden, he points at my arm and starts saying how hairy I
am. “You look like a monkey,” he said. I wanted to die. I don’t know what I
would have done if I didn’t have my sister. She just listened and she rubbed my
back and she said he probably did like me. “That’s how boys your age act,” she
said. “They’re just immature.”
Same with that boy, Mike, who picks his
nose. He ended up being a really great friend. For midterms, he made this
intense study booklet, with all the important information we’d learned so far.
I’m sure it took him hours to put it together. And he
gave me a copy.
If you give people a chance, you might be
surprised to find that under their weirdness or rebellion there’s a really good
person. When that happens, it’s like the coolest thing ever.
People surprise you. Looks are often
deceiving. The worst person in the world, or the person you think the worst,
turns out to have a good side. That’s what I like about people.
Who is Justine Tyler? She is 12 years old,
an eighth grader at Cortland Middle School
About the author
Terri Giuliano Long is the bestselling
author of the novel In Leah’s Wake. Her life outside of books is devoted to her
family. In her free time, she enjoys walking, traveling, and listening to
music. True to her Italian-American heritage, she’s an enthusiastic cook. In an
alternate reality, she might be an international food writer. She lives with
her family on the East Coast and teaches at Boston College
Website: www.tglong.com
Blog: www.tglong.com/blog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tglong
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