Cilla Lee-Jenkins--Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan

Author:Susan Tan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

* * *

That night, I was quiet and distracted. In fact, I was in a state of general artistic despair, and so not paying attention to anything, which my parents realized right around the time my mom mentioned dessert and I didn’t even notice.

“Cilla,” my mom said, putting down her fork and speaking in her concerned voice. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” I mumbled finally.

“What’s wrong?” my dad said, putting his fork down, in his concerned voice. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes,” I said, putting down my fork, because it seemed to be the thing to do. “Colleen and I were going to be Selena Moon characters for Halloween, but…” I told them about Sasha and all the other kids, and how this meant that everyone would think that Colleen and I were just regular Selena Moon movie fans, instead of special book fans, and everything was AWFUL.

“Um, well, I’m sorry, Cilla,” my dad said. “Maybe we can make you a different costume from Selena Moon, so you don’t look like everyone else.”

“No,” I said. “It won’t be the same. No costume is as good as the real-life book Selena (not the imaginary movie kind). And all the other characters are taken too. I bet even Alien-Face McGee is going to dress up as someone from the Selena Moon movie—”

“Priscilla Lee-Jenkins.” My mom cut me off, and not in a Changing the Subject kind of way. I could tell she was Not Happy. “What have I told you about calling people names?”

“It’s not a mean name, plus I haven’t actually called him that,” I pointed out reasonably. “It’s just a story I made up.”

“Cilla.” My mom sighed, and ran her hands through her hair. “It might be just a story to you, but you still can’t call people names.”

“But the creature calling itself Ben McGee—” I began. Mom glared. “Ben McGee,” I corrected myself, “calls me names too. He calls me Silly Lee-Jenkins and a GIANT book nerd—” I stopped short.

“Well, you’re right,” my mom admitted. “It’s not nice of him to say those things. But that doesn’t mean…” She went on.

But I wasn’t listening anymore.

Suddenly, I’d had an idea.

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