Juliette - Melissa Amondo (the reading list .txt) 📗

SMASH! Perfect. I dropped the huge box of CD’s and DVD’s. I’ve always been known to be a klutz. I just hope I didn’t break any of my CD’s. As I bent down to pick them up, I felt someone standing over me. “Juliette, when are you going to stop being so clumsy?” I did not even look up at my mom because I knew the exact facial expression she had. I really did not feel like dealing with her looks and her nagging. I had too much going through my mind for that. “I got it mommy, don’t worry.” I replied. “I’m not worried, but we are going to be late. You have so many things that you haven’t put in the car yet and your dad is waiting.” She said kneeling down grabbing the last few DVD’s and CD’s. “Give me the box. I will bring it to the car. Hurry up and go get the rest of the stuff from your room.” My mother said as she walked down the stairs.
I walked into my room and felt different. It was halfway empty, but my bed was still made nicely. I was leaving all my teddy bears behind. It was time to really let those go. I will be a college girl now. What would people think if they saw me walking around campus holding a teddy bear? I’m a grown up now. Although I refuse to throw them away, I also refuse to take them with me. They will be safe here. I walked over to my dresser and looked at the pictures on the mirror that I would be leaving behind. It was a picture a me and friends. Who am I kidding? These were people who felt sorry for me because I didn’t have any friends. I got to hang out with these people from time to time, we were in chorus together. I thought they really were my friends until I found out what they really thought of me. Now I looked at the picture with disgust. I looked horrible. I was fat. Senior year of high school, I was 5’7 and I weighed 237 pounds. I really hated myself then. I looked at myself in the mirror and cracked a light smile. I now weighed 160 pounds. Too bad my hair was ugly and I did not have a dress code. But that was all going to change.
“Juliette!” I jumped to see the reflection of my mom in the mirror with me. “What are you doing? We have to go!” My parents always had to be on time to everything. Orientation was starting at 6pm and it was 9:30am. She was starting to annoy me even though I knew she was right since it was a seven hour drive. She walked over a grabbed my luggage. “Are you ready?” She asked. I was surprised that she was so ready to go. Almost like she flipped the script. I was the one who could not wait to get out of this house and now I was starting to think it was a bad idea. Why is she acting like it is easy for her. I know she doesn’t want me to go and I bet she cries. “Yeah I am ready mom.” I said. I picked up the last box of stuff, glanced at my room one last time before I headed to the car.
I got in the back of the car and put my seat belt on. I reached in my back pack beside me and grabbed my note pad, my cute fuzzy pencil, and my seventeen magazine. I’m not sure if I should still be reading seventeen magazines since I am now eighteen, but whatever. The advice they give in this magazine is amazing. My mom loaded everything in the trunk and got into the passenger side of the car and put her seat belt on. We were ready to head out. My dad in the driver seat turned around and gave me the biggest smile. “Are you ready kiddo?” I cringed a little. I did not want him to call me kiddo anymore, especially not when we got to campus. “Yes dad. Remember what we talked about?” His smile faded, “Yes Jules, I remember.” I gave him a nod and he turned around in his seat, started the car up and began to drive away. I looked back at my house, I felt sad. I was going to miss it, but I would be back. I smiled and turned around in my seat. This ride was going to be long; it is going to be the time to write my goals and plans for this first semester of college.
I read a few articles in the magazine about dating and laughed about some of the embarrassing stories girls shared. Those embarrassing stories reminded me of the time in middle school, where I wrote a letter to my crush and it somehow landed in my teachers’ hands and she read it to the whole class. That was humiliating. To make matters worse, he looked at me and screamed “Ewwwww!” I cried for days after that. Kids were mean. College boys should be a lot more mature than that. I was now ready to start writing down my goals. I know what I wanted to accomplish for the first semester of school.


Jewels Goal’s for Fall 2012 Semester

1. Good Grades
2. Good GPA
3. Make some friends
4. Get a Job
5. Be more fashionable
6. Learn to do makeup
7. Lose 20 more pounds
8. Go on a date
9. Get a boyfriend
10. Stand your ground (Have more attitude)
11. Have FUN!!!

As I looked more and more at this list, the more frighten I got. I never knew how to make friends. I always got nervous when I talked to a boy, and it might be hard for me to lose 20 pounds without my personal trainer. This was a fantasy. The only thing on this list I knew I could do was keep my grades up. Not only am I a klutz, but I am also a big nerd. I am a straight A student with a 4.0 GPA. I was not valedictorian or anything like that, thank goodness. There were geekier kids there at my school then me. I started to feel sick and my palms started to get sweaty. At least I had my parents there when kids teased me at school, but now I will have nobody. Who will make me feel better after a bad day of school? I had to stop thinking about it before I made my parents turn the car around and head back home. We were already an hour into the drive. I couldn’t read and write anymore either because I started to feel carsick. I grabbed my IPod and closed my eyes. I had to tune out my thoughts and fall asleep. Hopefully when I wake up, we will be there.

I cried for two hours after my parents left. Orientation went well, and my dad kept his word and did not call me kiddo. My mom teared up a little, but I try to avoid it. I did not want to cry. I was trying to be strong and show them that I would be fine, but inside I was terrified and screaming for them to take me back with them. I gave them the biggest hug and they left. After they left the room was so quiet. I then started to feel empty. My roommate was not even here yet. My parents helped me put away all my things, so there was nothing left for me to do. I looked through the orientation packets they gave us. On the cover there were multiple pictures of students and activities. There were pictures of the cheerleaders and football team. I begin to wonder if there would be try outs for the cheerleading team. I always wanted to be a cheerleader; I just never was comfortable enough with my body to try out. An extracurricular activity would be good for me too, to keep the weight off, and hopefully make some new friends. I took a post-it and wrote, Find out more info for cheerleading. I took the post-it and stuck it on my desk next to my new lap top. The lap top was a graduation present from my parents. It would have been nice for them to give me a car, but I have not received my driving license yet. I’m a little scared to drive. It would be cool though. I would be a freshman with a really cute car. I’ve always imagined myself in one of those beetle looking cars. I started to browse the web and look for cute girly cars when suddenly I heard a SLAM!
I jumped when a heard the slam and looked around the room a noticed a person standing right in front of the door. She looked angry and it made me really nervous. Why did she slam the door like that? “Freshman? I cannot believe this! They put me in a room with a freshman!” the unfamiliar girl said. I was speechless. I did not know what to say. She was already unhappy with me, and I didn’t even tell her my name. “How did you know that I didn’t want the bed by the window? That is so not roommate etiquette honey.” She continued. “I’m sorry. I will move my things. I don’t really care to be by the window.” I replied nervously. I wanted to kick myself. Already this girl knew that I was weak and could not stand up for myself. Number ten in my goals list said for me to stand my ground and have attitude. I needed to work on that because I was miserably failing at it. “It’s too late for that. I have places to go. Just forget it.” She said as she threw her things down on the bed by the wall. She then walked to the mirror, brushed up her makeup and walked towards the door. She then turned and looked at me, smiled and said “And it doesn’t really even matter because you won’t be here for long anyway.” She then walked out of the door and slammed it behind her. I just wanted to cry. This is not the relationship I imagined me and my roommate to have. Right now it was far from what I imagined. My very first shot of making a friend and that turned out horribly.
I was so bored. There was nothing for me to do and there was no one for me to talk to. I took a shower and changed into my pajamas and got ready to go to bed. It was only 10:30pm but I was so ready for this day to be over and start a fresh new day tomorrow. I grabbed my goal list from my backpack, looked at it and said, “I got to do this