(START READING FROM THE BEGINNING)

Dear journal,

All day I’ve been so anxious, waiting and waiting for this moment. Before I went to bed last night I filled up the last few lines of my old notebook. So tonight I am beginning a brand new notebook (blue, of course) and I have a brand new house to do it in.

Well, it isn’t really a brand new house. It is only new for us. Poppa Earnest lived here for at least 60 years before we moved in. It’s only been about a month since he died, but I really think mom and dad were anxious to move out of the yellow house because the landlord was so mean.

At first I thought it would make it would make me uncomfortable living here because it looks like an old farmhouse. No, it IS an old farmhouse, complete with dust and bugs and noises. But now that I have my own room with a door I can lock I think things will be okay.

We only moved 20 miles away from where we lived in Madison so I don’t really feel like we’ve left anything behind. Besides our neighbors. The only thing living next to our new house in Canaan, IN are trees and noisy coyotes. But the great thing is that this house is a lot bigger than our old one and Seth and I no longer have to share a room.

We both live upstairs so he is still close by, but I now have a door to keep him out. It’s not that I don’t like him, but I must have my own space in order to write. And besides, he is a boy so he can’t really understand my feelings, especially about my love for Jeff, although he does seem interested.

But before I get in to all that I have to tell you about my new room. I’m on the second floor of my great-grandfather’s house. Everything is very old and covered in dust because the second floor wasn’t used for many years, I think they shut it off when Momma Leena died.

I got the biggest of the two rooms because I convinced dad that since I am in junior high I need a lot more privacy. And I don’t feel guilty at all because it is true. Anyway, my room has beautiful pink wallpaper and a walk-in closet. I had never seen it before today, but the minute I did I was certain that I was meant to live here.

Well, that’s enough description today so now it is time for me to write about Jeff. Jeff Ball! We were waiting for our parents to pick us up after band rehearsal and I was asking him about the trumped that he is selling because mom and dad want to buy it for Seth. He was showing me how to play it by buzzing on the mouthpiece. When he took it down there was a big ring on his lips. I asked him if that happened everytime he played and he said it did.

“So how do you make it go away?” I asked.

“Like this!” he said and before I knew it he had kissed me on my lips!!!! It wasn’t a big kiss, and right after he did it his mom drove up and he ran to the car. But it doesn’t matter because he kissed me! And just as his car was leaving the parking lot he smiled and waved to me. I don’t know how I’m going to talk to him tomorrow; I’ll be so embarrassed. But I do love him and I think he loves me. So as I write this all down in my new house I realize that I am on my way to becoming a woman.

(GO ON TO PART THREE)