| abstract
| - The words that are in bold and in parentheses are the translations to English. In Room 287, a proud Lynette Bousquet was holding her new baby daughter with her husband Harry standing next to the hospital bed. "She's lovely. What will we name her?" asked Harry in a sweet, calm voice. "Juliette, after my grandmother," Lynette replied as she looked lovingly at her baby daughter. "Absolutly, that's a wonderful name," Harry said as the nurse walked in. "Have you decided what to name her?" the nurse asked. Lynette nodded. "Yes, Juliette Bousquet." Lynette looked at the nurse, a big smile was on her face. The nurse smiled back. "A beautiful name for the most beautiful baby in all of France. You're lucky parents," she said as she wrote down the name and walked out. "Happy birthday, Juliette," the nurse whispered as she walked out, leaving the two happy parents alone. "Mommy, I don't wanna go," I whined as Mommy was urging me to get out of the car and into the preschool. "Julie," Mommy began. "You have to. What's the worst that's gonna happen?" I had a long, thinking look on her face. Then I spoke. "What if a warge metetwor cwashes into da school?" I said making a large explosion, imitating the crash with my hands. Mommy sighed. "That won't happen, sunshine," she said. "Now just go to school." I sighed as I unbuckled my seat belt. "Fine. Bye, Mommy; I wove you," I said, giving Mommy a kiss on the cheek, and got out of the car. As Mommy drove away, I looked at the school. "Anodder day, anodder new nickname," I said as I trudged in the school doors with her stuffed rabbit in hand. Once in the class room, it was play hour and I was sitting in a corner next to the bookself, watching the kids play. I'll never have a friend. Look, everyone has a friend here, but me. I thought. Then they approached me. "Hey, Booger Bousqet!" yelled Oscar, the leader of the bully pack that terrorizes me. "What?" I asked, clenching my toy rabbit with both hands. I was always scared when they came to me. "What'cha got there?" Oscar asked taking the rabbit from my small hands. I got wide-eyed. "Hey, give me her back!" I yelled. I jumped as the much taller Oscar held it up high where I couldn't reach it. "Why should we, Bunny-lover Loser?" asked Rebecca. She was the one who always gave me the nicknames. "Because see's mine!" I said. Fury was bubbling up inside me. I could just punch something. Or someone. I got a smirk on my always sweet face. I raised a clenched fist and punched Oscar in the gut, making him fall to the ground and let go of my bunny. I smiled in success as I snatched my bunny from the ground. I watched Rebecca, Jane, and Thomas run away. I wouldn't be bullied by them anymore. I felt a warm feeling for the in my life. It was success. At nap time I had a cool, yet weird dream. I was standing on a cloud as a little boy walked up to me. He looked Indian, but I wasn't quite sure. We were standing there for a while in silence, until the boy spoke. "You will find a friend, Juliette," he said. I was confused. I had never had a friend before. "Who?" I asked the dream boy. I was overjoyed. I would have a friend! The boy sighed. "I cannot tell you. But you won't find a true friend here," he said, walking away. I raced after the boy, calling him to wait. "Where will I find a frwend!?" I gasped as I woke. I looked at the clock. The big hand was on the 6; nap time wasn't over until the big hand was on the 9. I sighed as I turned on my back, clenching my stuffed bunny in both of my hands, thinking about my dream. The boy looked so nice, but I had no idea who he was. I sighed, dozing off again. Before I knew it, I felt someone poking me. I opened one eye, seeing Rebecca. "Hey, I'm sorwy." she said. My eyes suddenly grew to the size of tennis balls. I wasn't expecting an apology from one of the kids who torture me. I sat up. "For what?" I asked, completely taken back by her apology. Rebecca looked down, her black hair covering her face. "You know, for buwying you and cawing you names," she muttered, just loud enough for me to hear her. I felt suspicious. "Did Oscar put you up to dis?" I asked Rebecca as she shook her head. "No. I just wanna say, I'm sorwy," she said and walked over to the play area to play with the blocks. What was that about? I shrugged it off, continuing with my school day until Mommy came to pick me up. I could tell by the way she looked that something wasn't right. When we were in the car, we passed our cute yellow house. "Mommy, where are we gowing?" I asked her. I heard her swallow. Did she have gum in her mouth? "The hospital," she answered. My eyes got huge again. I hated the hospital. "W-why?" I asked her, gulping down a mouthful of air. Mommy looked upset. She was shaking her head like she had a bad thought in it. "Because Daddy's very sick, so we're gonna visit him." I saw Mommy had tears down her cheeks. I didn't understand; Daddy was always healthy. "How? He was healfy yesterday," I said. I then realized I had tears of my own sliding down my cheeks. Mommy shook her head again. "No, no he wasn't. He's been sick for a while, it's just gotten worse. Much, much worse." I looked at Mommy. "Does he have da ticken poxs?" I asked. Again, Mommy shook her head. "No, Julie; Daddy has cancer." I didn't know what cancer was, but I didn't ask anymore questions. It looked like it hurt Mommy. *** I lay on my bed, drawing pictures of my Daddy. He just passed away last week. On my fifth birthday too. The whole family was sad. Mommy, Grammy, Pappy, Nana, Uncle William, Aunt Maria, all twenty-six of my cousins, and me. Today was his funeral, and I was going to put the picture that I'm drawing in the coffin with him. I tried very hard not to cry so tears wouldn't get on the picture. As Mommy drove us to the cemetery, I looked out the window as I was fighting back tears and I remembering how when I was four, we would go get ice cream every day at noon and would occasionly see rainbows in the sky. We pulled onto Forever Road where we were having Daddy's funeral. I wrote a little speech that I would say. I walked up to Daddy's grave. I was the first to say the speeches. I took a breath. "Harry Bousquet was a great husband, son, and daddy. I remember when I was four, onwy a year ago, my Mommy picked me up fwom school and as we passed our house, I asked her where we were going. I felt tears flwow out of my eyes when she told me Daddy was very sick. And on the day he passed away, November 17, on my birthday, he took me to the side of the hospital bed to say happy birthday to me and to promise him that I would never give up and be the best I could be. As he said this my eyes were pouring out tears as I knew his minutes were limited. I promised him, I will keep my promise until I reunite with him with our Great Lord." I took out the drawing from my black coat. "So I will give this to him to keep in the afterlife. I love you Daddy; rest in peace," I said, crying as I laid the picture inside the coffin. I listened to everone's speeches and later that night, Daddy walked into my dreams. He said to promise him again, so I did, and I will stand by that forever. A lot changed since Daddy died. I rarely spoke now and I only spoke French, just like my Daddy did. We would sing songs in French and he would say old sayings to me in French. Now I only called Daddy "Daddy"; I didn't call Mother "Mommy" anymore. Grandma lived with my aunt Clarince because she couldn't take the pain of her son dying. I became less girly and I didn't talk to my mother a lot, considering she was always working now that her husband is dead. I sighed, drawing like I always did, when I decided it was early enough to go get some breakfast. I had stayed up all night, thinking, muttering French, and drawing. I got up off of my bed and headed lazily to the kitchen. When I got there, my mother was siting at the table. "Julie, I have got a surprise for you," my mother said cheerfully. I perked my litle ears up as I got a chair to get to the cereal and bowls. "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" (What is it?)I asked concerned. Please don't let it be something too girly. "Here," she said, handing me a brocure. On the cover it read "Lil'Cheer Group!: My jaw dropped. It was a stupid Cheer Squad! That was for mean girly-girls! I rolled my eyes mentally, but because I didn't want to hurt my mother's feelings, I put on a fake enthusiastic smile on my face. "C'est la grande mere. Je vais avoir tellement de plaisir!" I lied. (That's great, Mother! I'll have so much fun!) My mother squealed in excitement. "Oh parfait!" she got her bag that was sitting next to the table and started rummaging through it. "Okay, today is the first day of practice. I want you to put this on and get ready," she said, setting a blue, red, and white cheer uniform on the table handing it to me. "Puis-je prendre le petit dejeuner en premier?" I asked, my stomach screaming for a bowl of French Toasties. (Can I have breakfast first?) My mother shoved the outfit to my arms, pushing me toward the stairs. "No time, hurry! We have to go in thirty minutes!" my mother called as I walked reluctantly up the stairs. I rolled my eyes. "Quand vais-je etre en mesure de faire quelque chose que je veux faire?" I asked myelf as I changed into the cheer uniform. (When will I be able to do something I want to do?) I sighed. "Pourquoi dois-je faire cela? Je suis parfaitement heureux comme je suis. Solitaire. Pourquoi dois-je changer? Ma mere ne m'aime pas comme je le suis maintenant?" I asked as I sat at my desk, over looking over all my drawings.(Why do I have to do this? I'm perfectly happy the way I am. Alone. Why do I have to change? Does my mother not like me the way I am now?) I sighed, looking at the mirror. I didn't like what I saw. I wasn't the cute, bubbly four-year-old my Daddy loved me as. I was an isolated, almost emotion-free five-year-old. "Papa ne serait pas fier de moi." (Daddy wouldn't be proud of me) I muttered. "Peut-etre que je devrais essayer d'etre plus comme mon ancien moi. Je dois donner a cette chose encourager une chance. Il peut etre amusant." (Maybe I should try to be more like my old self. I should give this cheer thing a chance. It might be fun.) I got up and walked out of my room. "Mere, je suis pret!" I called, walking down the stairs. "Oh, good, let's get going. And Julie?" I lifted my head and looked at her face. "Oui?" "Please speak English there." I sulked. "Mais--" My mother put her index fingure to my mouth. "No buts. Now come on." I sighed and trudged to the car, following my mother. I hoped into the back seat of the car, buckling my seatbelt. I hope this was going to be decent, but who knows, this might be fun. I hopped out of the car reluctantly. "Okay, Julie, now remember, have fun, smile, and speak English." I rolled my eyes, plastering a big ole fake smile on my face. "There, are you happy now, mother?" I asked through smiling, gritted teeth. My mother gave me the "death stare," as I call it. "Haha, now please have fun. And be nice." "Yes, Mother," I remarked. As we walked in, I saw many girls and one boy. The girls looked nice, but there was this one girl who stared at me. "Goodbye, Mother. I love you," I said, giving her a kiss as she leaned down to my eye level. I skipped--yes, I know it's weird--toward the group. "Aw, Juliette, welcome. Class, say hello to Juliette." the coach-instructor-person said. She seamed more like a teacher then a cheer coach. "Hello, Juliette," chorused the class. I took a seat on the ground next to a girl with short brown hair. "Bonjour." She had a sloppy French accent, but a sweet voice. "Bonjour," I replied, giving her a shy smile. "Okay, class, first we're going to go around and say our names. I'll go first. I'm Miss Elizabeth." As we all went around, saying our names and something about us, I found out the boy's name. It was Mason Stillings, and he liked jumping on his trampoline, playing with friends, and sitting outside thinking. That last one was quite odd for a six-year-old. When it was finally my turn, I stood up. "My name is Juliette Bousquet. I speak English, but I prefer to speak French. I desire to have a cat, preferably a Norwegian Forest cat; my favorite color is lime green; and my favorite color combination is lime green and pink. I'm intrapersonal which means I know myself rather well; I am very intelligent for the average five-year-old, and I have a rather extended vocabulary; I can draw very well and sing even better. I enjoy soccer and the theatre; I play the flute; I love to sing and write songs and stories. My favorite holiday is Etoile D'argent Day which means Silver Star Day in English; that day is not known by many people. I am destined to find a friend beacuse 1. I don't and never have had one, and 2. I had dream where someone told me that I would find one. I am considered a nerd and if you call me that, you will soon find that you were horribly wrong and that I am me. I like the stars at night and I desire to have a room on the highest floor and prefer a balcony to gaze out to the stars. I believe in aliens. My favorie animal is either a penguin or a lion. I hate oceans and beaches and I will only swim in pools. I will be attending Rooswell Elementery next school year, but at the moment I attend Lorent Preschool. I wish to travel to India, Italy, England, Japan, and America. I love my national heritage, but my heart screams for travel and adventure. I am considered nocturnal and I only allow myself only three hours of sleep a night. I do not enjoy 'girly' things and am very strict with myself and have many rules and scold myself if I break them. I hate potatoes but I love American French fries and American hash browns. I love America's strange foods and I love to read on America's culture and would do anything to live there even for the slightest amount of time." I finally stopped, everyone was looking at me with their jaws opened wide. "Well, class, looks like we have a prodigy on our hands. Hopefully she's just as good in cheer." I sat down without another word. After everyone said their names and something about them, Mrs. Elizabeth spoke. "Okay, now we're gonna do some flips on the barr. Pair up!" I sat where I was while everyone found a partner and whispered, looking at me. I could only catch on one conversation, the one closest to me. "Would you look at that new girl?" one of the girls whispered. "Yeah, she's just sitting there, expecting someone to approach her," I heard the girl next to her say. Then a new voice cut into the conversation. "I'll be her partner." I automatically knew who it was. "Mason, why?" the first girl asked. "Because she looks nice and lonely. As if she needs a friend. She did say she's never had a friend." The conversation stopped and I made it look believable that I hadn't heard a single word. "Hi," I heard Mason say to me. I turned around to face him. "I-I mea,n bonjour," he stuttered. I giggled at the way he spoke French, as if I didn't understand English. "Bonjour, mon nom est Juliette." I said. We walked to the barrs and began excersising. "Alors, qu'est-ce que j'entends sur vous de ne pas avoir un ami?" He asked, making sure I didn't fall off the barr." (So, what's this I hear about you not having a friend?)' I shrugged, "Personne ne m'aime vraiment. Les gens disent que je suis un nerd et un weirdo qui je ne desaccord considerant la facon dont j'ai agi depuis que mon papa est mort." (No one really likes me. People say I'm a nerd and a weirdo, which I wouldn't disagree condsidering how I've acted ever since my daddy died.) I could tell Mason was shocked. I didn't blame him. I never mentioned my not having a father in my long description of myself. I just thought that wasn't the type of thing you just said to strangers. "Your father died? I'm so sorry," he said, sorrowfully. I just shook the memory of my daddy off of my mind. "It's okay," I muttered, trying to get off of the uncomfortable subject. Mason and I didn't say another word throughout the whole practice. After cheerleading practice, my mother came through the door. "Bonjour, Mere," I said greetingly, but she only gave me a stern look, so I corrected myself. "Hello, Mother." She instantly got a smile on her face. "Did you like cheerleading?" she asked. I shrugged. "It was okay." We began to head out the door. "I'm looking forward to coming back next week." My mother stopped me. "What? Are you okay? Are you the real Julie?" she asked in a playful tone. I simply rolled my eyes. "Yes." I smiled as we walked to our car and drove away. ~Chapter 5~
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)