Marni by Marni Bates

Author:Marni Bates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9780757395963
Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.
Published: 2010-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

WHEN MY MOM AGREED to let me homeschool, we both knew she wouldn’t be my teacher. I don’t think we ever really considered it. She despised math, didn’t understand science, and had neither the materials nor the time to teach history or English. In the face of all these obstacles, we came up with an excellent solution. I would go to Willow Wind, a homeschooling center not far from my house, for most subjects, and learn American history from my aunt.

It felt like everything I wanted was coming true. I had my chance to start over and completely reinvent myself. No longer regarded as the shy bookish girl with no friends, I became the instigator of excitement. I was outgoing and friendly and instantly had a tight-knit group of friends. Part of me couldn’t help being surprised that my new friends liked me. At the middle school, drop-dead beautiful girls like Genevieve (“Vieve” was willowy, had long, flowing blond hair, and deep blue eyes—your basic Gwyneth Paltrow look-alike) did not occupy the same social circle as me. They also weren’t as genuinely sweet as Vieve . . . they weren’t anywhere close. Suddenly, I was hanging out with kids who were smart, cool, beautiful, talented, and who appreciated my company. Did it get any better than that? Surprisingly, yes.

Natasha and I had stayed best friends, and, since she went to Willow Wind too, we were constantly together. We had the same classes, went to concerts, shopped, had sleepovers . . . we were inseparable, and I thought I’d never feel lonely again. My life was a Disney Channel movie, and I wanted it to last forever. Natasha and I even had our own book club. Since we were both romantics and nerds, we read Pride and Prejudice before throwing a themed party for two. It began with the five-hour BBC movie version, and continued with breaks for tea, talk, and croquet. I thought if that was what life was like in England, the two of us should hop on the nearest plane to London, since we probably had been born in the wrong country (and possibly the wrong century).

I thought of Natasha, Vieve, and myself as the Unstoppable Trio. We were careful not to exclude anyone at Willow Wind, but at the end of the day it was the two of them I was calling on the phone. I had guy friends at Willow Wind too—a major improvement since my awkwardness had prevented this in the past. The boys at Willow Wind were so different that I didn’t worry much about what they thought of me. My friend Eli played the bagpipes, occasionally wore a kilt, was in my tap dancing class, and always spoke his mind. Dash was lanky, tall, gentlemanly, and the perfect candidate for a modern-day knight. To me, they were pretty much perfect.

It wasn’t just my social life that changed. I was getting a college-level education. Dash’s mom taught the Great Books class where we read everything from The Aeneid and Dante’s Inferno to Chinese poetry.

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