Today, I woke up this morning, and could barely move. You hit me before I could even check the time. I winced, I can�t believe you. Ugh, leave me alone!

I forced myself to get up, to shove your memory as far from me as I could.

I had concession stand today, and I dressed nicely and bought myself a cappuccino at the gas station, and I worked, hard. Today we had the biggest crowd we�ve had all year. I worked with Julia and Kyle. (The wrestler) It was lots of fun, and I barley even thought about you. Mostly we just took people�s orders and when we had time off, we talked about Tissue and how she dumped Kyle for a looser, and now Kyle�s beating himself up about it, �cause he really likes Tissue, still.

Then we talked for a bit about random awkward things, and I said �Want to know what�s really awkward? When Stephanie Mouse comes up to you when you�re in the bathroom and says �Could you help me here, I�m having a slight problem; I can�t get my pants zipped. Could you zip these for me?��

Julia fell over she was laughing so hard, and Kyle, cracking up, said �Are you serious? Who did she do that to?�

�Shelby, the poor girl!� I choke out. Julia hit her head on the counter and fell over again. Then I told them about how Shelby�s got Oscar dotting after her, and how really, she only likes him as a friend, but the other day, they went to a movie together- a movie rated G, for free, (which, in my book, means purely platonic.) but then Oscar kissed her! Then, on Friday, he got ticked off because Levi and Shelby did a friends hug, and Oscar took it to mean a �special friends� hug. Got en himel.

�Yeah, well, he�s got to accept that he looks like a lizard.� Kyle said.

�I know, right!?� I asked. Wow, this is the first time anyone has openly shared that they, too thought Oscar looks like a lizard, which is something I�ve been thinking for a long time.

�And also that he comes on way too strong.� Julia added wisely.

We all nodded, and then it was halftime and about a million people flooded the stand, so we didn�t have time to talk anymore.

Perhaps Cody and I were not meant to be: he doesn�t like popcorn.

So that�s one down and one up.

Next, we ran off to the next city over to the library while Mom went to a funeral. I picked up this great book, (among others) called �Echo�, by Kate Morgenroth. It is a Must-read. So go find yourself a copy and read it. seriously.

Then I went to my Gramma and Grandpa�s house. Ugh, it is so depressing there. Grandpa is dying of Alzheimer�s, and it�s really, really sad.

Then, when we were driving home, Mom and I were talking about the above-mentioned book, Echo, and suddenly, Mom pointed out the car window and said �That�s where Cody lives.�

It took a second for the words to hit me, and then it hurt. So bad. I felt my chest stinging and my throat closing. I couldn�t breath. It disgusts me that you still are doing this to me. We haven�t said more then fifteen words to each other for a month now. I should be okay!

Here�s a selection from �Echo� that I really liked. First I�ll fill you in a bit. The main character, Justin, 16, had a little brother, Mark, 12. Last year, they were messing around, watching TV, and play-fighting over the remote for the TV they were watching in their parents bedroom. Then, Mark gets mad, rolls off the bed, and says to Justin, who�s not paying attention:

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With a mouth full of chips Justin said, �See, I always win. You should write that down somewhere: Justin always wins.�

�Not this time,� Mark said.

Justin glanced over to see Mark standing by the bed. Mark was grinning, and he had a gun pointed at Justin�s chest. Putting on a tough-guy accent Mark said, �You might want to think about changing that channel.�

�You might want to put Dad�s gun back or you�ll be in serious trouble,� Justin retorted.

Mark changed position, resting the gun on one forearm and closing one eye. �Go ahead,� he said. �Make my day, punk.

�You shouldn�t be playing with that thing,� Justin said.

Deciding to change tactics, Mark pointed the gun at his own head. �If you don�t change the channel, I�m going to kill the kid,� he said in a gruff voice.

�Be my guest,� Justin replied.

For the rest of his life, Justin would never hear anything louder then the sound of the gun going off.

~From Echo, By Kate Morgenroth

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So a year later, Justin�s lost everything. his friends, his brother, and his girlfriend. Here is the selection that really spoke to me, in which Megan, his ex- confronts him, and I wanted to write it down.

Quote of the Day:
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��She looked down again, and bit her lip. But she valiantly tried again. �Thanks for coming to meet me.�

�Yeah.� He hesitated. �What do you want?�

His words were rude, but he somehow managed to say them in a milder tone.

She looked pathetically grateful for that little consideration.

�I�well�I mean, I remembered that today�that today�� She faltered and trailed off, looking down at her feet again.

She looked so sad. And upset. And pretty at the same time. Without even thinking, Justin took two steps forward and kissed her. And it made him think of the time when he thought kissing could make up for everything that could possibly go wrong. He wanted that to be true again. He tried to make it true by kissing her harder, by holding her tighter, but Megan finally struggled and pushed him away.

She tried to make a joke out of it, saying, �So you missed me too?�

�Sure,� he said, trying to pull her back to him.

But she fended him off with her words. �Cause you were really awful to me. Don�t you want to say you�re sorry?�

Justin drew back. �You want ME to say I�m sorry?�

�Yeah. I didn�t do anything. YOU�RE the one who changed. You didn�t even bother to break up with me. You just stopped speaking to me. Do you know how hard that was?�

�How hard that was?� he repeated, not quite believing what he was hearing.

�I know I can�t compare it to what you went through-�

�You�re damn right you can�t,� he said.

�-but I think you should know you�re not the only one with feelings. You weren�t the only one who got hurt. I got hurt too.�

�You didn�t get hurt,� he retorted. �You didn�t lose a brother.�

�No. But I lost you,� she pointed out.�

~ From Echo, By Kate Morgenroth

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