Day One: Lori
Dear Diary,
The whole world seemed like it ended today. It was horrible. That stupid Courtney always makes fun of me and bullies me. She thinks she’s so cool, but she’s NOT! She’s just plain mean.
Here’s what happened.
"Get out of my way," Courtney said smugly, as she walked down the school halls. Her arm was linked around John's (of course!), and she was obviously proud of it. She tossed her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder and posed for anyone who might have a camera in hand, though nobody did. John smiled at her and stared at her with his soft dark eyes, but I could tell that his smile was faked. John and I are very good friends, and I can always tell what John is feeling. Right now, as usual, John was in a mix of emotions. He and Courtney have been dating for two years now, and I can’t help but wonder if John is even aware that he has been dating Courtney, of all people.
“I said get out of my way, idiots! That includes you, Lori.” Courtney pointed a skinny, red polished fingernail straight at me. I cowered in front of her, and my fear was so obvious that she laughed. “You’ll never have him,” she told me confidently. “John is mine forever.”
I was surprised that I had any courage to talk. “I only want his friendship.” I told the truth, but I knew that the most popular girl in school wouldn’t believe me. It’s true that I don’t want John as a boyfriend; I only want him as a friend to talk to, since I don’t have many of those.
Unfortunately, Courtney didn’t seem to understand the difference between those two things. She laughed and stalked off after saying, “You’re such a wimp. You have no friends, and you never will.” Which really stung, of course. I can’t believe that she was so mean to me. As I said, the whole world ended.
Courtney can be very, very annoying - and mean. Truthfully, I’m a little jealous of her, like any other girl. She’s got everything – good looks, a perfect smile and body, and, of course, she’s popular. Everybody in school knows who she is. I, on the other hand, am short, shy, and am not even close to being popular. If I could have anything I wanted, I would choose to be her for a day. It’s not like I don’t hate the way she acts, but being popular would mean everything to me.
Dear Diary,

I wish that people could look at me the way they look at Courtney.

Day Two: Courtney
Dear Diary,
I so wish that John would like me more. I mean, I know that we’re together and everything, but I just don’t think that John loves me as much as I love him. And I mean that I LOVE him, the REAL kind of love. I’m going to marry him someday, that’s a definite plan for me. Once I marry John, everything will go according to plan. Marrying him will be SO exciting!
I know for sure that he likes me at least a little. John is so cute, and he’s funny, but he’s awfully shy. The worst thing about him is that he always wants to hang out with that wimp of a girl Lori. She’s so weird and dumb! I mean, she’s like, really dumb. There was a rumor one day that she got an F on a test. AN F. If I ever got an F, I would scream and run down the halls. (With John, of course. He’d be running right with me.)
That Lori girl is getting in the way of my plans to marry my beloved. She always wants to be with him, and I’m afraid that John is falling into whatever trap she has for him to like her more. I think I’ll text him tomorrow night to ask him if he really loves me. Then we can get into business. After all, what could go wrong? He is my boyfriend and I know that he wouldn’t break up with me. Ever.
Dear Diary,

I wish that John would love me as much as I love him.

Day Three: John
Dear Diary,
Wow. This sounds really dumb. I don’t even know why I’m writing in a diary, or even why I’m calling it a diary. I barely have time to write in one, anyway. I just know that I need to get my feelings out. And my dad suggested a diary, so here I am.
I’m not sure about dating Courtney anymore. She’s been acting really mean to Lori, and Lori is one of my best friends. Whenever I try to tell Courtney to leave her alone, though, she screams at me and insists that I don’t like her.
Yesterday, Lori and I were talking when Courtney suddenly swooped in and grabbed my arm, taking me away just so that she could say hi. Pretty dumb, right? She bosses me around all the time, and I’m starting to get sick of it. But I know that if I break up with her, she’ll be really mad, and I don’t want to disappoint her too much. I wish that I could tell Lori that I’d never neglect our friendship, but Courtney always drags me away before I can.
Maybe I really do need to break up with her. Maybe it won’t really matter if she gets mad, because I won’t be with her anymore, right? And that way, I can hang out with Lori a lot more.
Courtney just texted me. “Do you really love me?” Typical for her to ask.
“No,” I replied, almost instantly. (Is that a bad thing?)
“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO LIKE ME AND NOT THAT STUPID GIRL LORI!!!!!”
I’m taking a deep breath now. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to break up with her. But… Dad has mentioned that I really need to start standing up for myself…
Dear Diary,

I wish that I was confident enough to do anything.

Day Four: Lori
Dear Diary,

Courtney came over to my house just a few minutes ago, looking a huge mess.
“I hate you!” she screamed, as soon as I opened the front door. Her hair wasn’t brushed, her eyes were red, and her breath smelt horrible. “You ruined my life!”
I was more confused with Courtney than I had ever been before.
“What’s going on?” I brought up the courage to say.
“You know exactly what’s going on.” She pointed a finger that now had green nail polish on it. “How could you do this to me?” she demanded. “I’m prettier than you. Smarter than you. And I wear real clothes,” she said, eyeing my sweatshirt and sweatpants in a disgusted way. “Plus, I have John, and he always gets me presents. I have rings from him –“ She splayed her fingers for me to see. “- and they cost a lot of money. So why did this happen? It’s all your fault! And I can’t even have the marriage that I had dreamed about!”
I decided that she’d officially gone crazy.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I eyed her warily, ready to jump to the side in defense. She looked like she wanted to strangle me.
But instead, she started to sob, which completely took me by surprise. “Everything was perfect,” she said, staring at me with rather desperate eyes. “And you just got in the way of everything! And now I’m not popular anymore! Nobody will talk to me!” She sniffed. “Ugh. Now I’m popular for being ‘the girl who is now single’.”
Everything suddenly clicked in my brain. John had broken up with her.
Dear Diary,

Thank you for showing me that being popular doesn’t last, and that it’s not the best thing to be.

Day Five: John
Dear Diary,
I did it. I broke up with Courtney. I can’t believe that I actually broke up with her. So today I hung out with Lori for all of my free time. Hey, I don’t like her or anything, but I really like her as a friend. Since we’ve both known each other for so long, she’s really the only one who I can tell what’s on my mind, and it’s nice to open up to her every once in a while.
Courtney has been trying to get my attention so much ever since the break up, and it’s hard to ignore her. But when I see Lori walking by I remind myself that I don’t want to be pulled away from talking to my friends. So I walk away from Courtney, and she walks in the opposite direction, having no one to talk to. I kinda feel bad for her because she doesn’t really have any friends anymore. But I also know that she sorta deserves it ‘cause she’s been mean to everybody for so long.
But really, it’s a huge relief not to have to avoid her. Now I can roam free like wild stallions do. I can do whatever I want.
Dear Diary,

Thank you for helping me to stand up for myself.

Day Six: Courtney
Dear Diary,

I am officially unpopular, and it officially sucks. It’s the worst thing that could ever happen to me. That Lori girl is now even more popular than me. I hated her. I really did. But she made up for it. A lot. And I know it’s weird for me to say this, but I really appreciate what she did for me.
She came up to me when I was sitting at a lunch table – by myself – feeling gloomy and like my world has come to an end. Naturally, I ignored her – and continued on eating and texting at the same time – it’s a great skill to have. You should try it.
“Hey.”
I didn’t say anything. I was sitting on the table of shame. There was no reason for her to be talking to me or even acknowledging me. She didn’t need to make the effort.
“Hey,” she repeated. “I just wanted to let you know… that…” She took a deep breath. “You wanna hang out together sometime?”
I looked at her in surprise, and she said quickly, “It’s okay – I was just making a suggestion.” She leapt off the table and started to walk away.
“Wait!” I called after her. She turned to face me.
I smiled faintly and, with great effort, put away all of those feelings that expressed hatred towards her. “That would be great.”
We both knew that those words represented a peace treaty for us.
I know that it will take a little time for me to get used to hanging out with the girl who I absolutely hated before. But since it’ll definitely be hard for her, too (I might’ve been a little mean to her before), it was a big step for her to do this for me. And it shows how much she made an effort.
Dear Diary,



Thank you for granting me friendship.