Grace's Evolution

Dear Diary, 13/7/90

Today Mom is going to let me bring Amity along when we go to visit Daddy. You know, the visit that we do once every summer because he does not live with us anymore? My eighth birthday just passed, I had an amazing party and all the girls from school came and told me that I was the prettiest girl they had ever seen! Now, me, Amity and Mom get to go up by Daddy so that he can give me his gift! Amity Allen is my best friend, and I begged Mom to let her come along, and she said yes! I'll update you later!

Now, it's later, and that trip could not have gone worse. My half sister, Amanda Rosalie Zhang, would not stop showing all of her toys to Amity. She has mountains of stuffed animals, shelves upon shelves of porcelain dolls and all of the newest board games. Amity's eyes were as big as saucers! Worse of all, when Daddy gave me my present, all he handed me was an envelope that didn't even have my name on it. I opened it and it was only ten bucks! Girls like Amity and Mandie would never get such an awful present for their birthday's. I demanded that we leave early, lying that I had a lot to study before I started the fourth grade in September. And so we left.

Dear Diary, 15/7/91

Now that I'm nine, Mom has decided that we no longer need to visit Dad and his new family. I'm not quite sure why, all I know is that Daddy sent her a letter with two photographs. She would not let me see the second one, but the first one was a picture of Mandie in a really cute pink outfit, and she had blonde hair! I was so surprised, how had her hair gone from black to blonde? When I asked Mom, she would not explain it to me. Maybe it is because her mother is blonde?

Amity and I are still best friends. We spent the first two weeks of summer redecorating our rooms, now hers is a deeper shade of pink and mine is just more and more black. We study at her house every Friday, and take design lessons from Mom on Saturdays. I thought I would care about not visiting Dad, but I don't. In fact, I hardly missed him at all.

Dear Diary, 17/7/92

I've cut my hair for the first time in forever! On the morning of my tenth birthday, Mom drove us all the way to the Asian-American salon just so I could get my bob cut! It is the best thing I've ever seen. I don't think I will ever let my hair grow past my shoulders again!

Amity didn't quite like it at first. You see, she likes to make it a challenge to braid my hair and see if it will last the day. It never does. Now, she can't do that because it's too short. "You should have asked me first," she said. "It's not your hair," I had replied. She's didn't talk to me for two days, but after I told her that she can pick out what headbands I wear, we're alright again.

Designing with my Mom is so fun. She's the best fashion designer I know, even though a lot of people don't think so. I cannot wait to grow up and be the best fashion designer ever known, and then I can buy as a big house, even bigger than the one that Mandie and Daddy live in. I already made my own dress for the first day of fifth grade!

Dear Diary, 19/10/93

Everything is awful.

This new girl, Richelle Azalia Palmer,( but everyone calls her Richie), has moved to Roselle and now she wants to replace me as Amity's best friend! Amity keeps insisting she doesn't, but I know better. I'm eleven now, I can't be fooled by simple lies.

Richie is all big smiles and pretty eyes and she always has something completely un lady like planned for her and Amity to do. Amity is the most lady like girl I know. She likes pleasing others, wearing pretty dresses and behaving all the time. Richie and all her 'out of this world' ideas are trying to convince Amity that she's not the girl I know she is. Richie wears ugly floral dresses, and always has her blonde curls springing free, completely unbrushed. She wants to be a stupid Gardiner when she grows up, I mean seriously, what does Amity see in her?

Dear Diary, 21/1/94

You will not believe it. Amity came to school today in pants and a sweater vest. Pants! As if that were not bad enough, I could feel my blood boil when I saw Richie grin at her and kiss her on the cheek. Of course the outfit was Richie's idea, Amity would never make such a horrendous decision on her own accord.

Amity and I don't hang out much anymore. No more study play dates, or reorganizing bedrooms. No more sleepovers, where we would snuggle close and giggle when our noses touched. No more design lessons with Mom. Amity dropped out of design club last month. I made it a point to act like that didn't bother me.

If you could not already guess, Richie is still as awful as ever. Even though she's as dumb as a rock, she somehow beat both Amity and I in the science test we had last week. Instead of fuming around like she would normally do, Amity gave Richie a big hug and sat her down between her legs so that she could braid her hair. You heard that right. Braid. Her. Hair. She just sat there braiding away as if she didn't just crush my heart with one simple action. But who cares? If Amity doesn't want me anymore, then I don't want her anymore.

Dear Diary, 23/7/94

It's the summer before I go off to boarding school. I got a scholarship to this very prestigious school called 'Mrs. Buffett's Boarding School for Girls.' There's one major problem though. Both Amity and Richie's parents paid for them to go there as well.

Amity and I are officially no longer friends. I watch from my back porch as she and Richie play all kinds of ridiculous games across the road in Amity's yard. Amity now wears pants regularly. I haven't seen her wear a dress for months. She also no longer straightens her hair, probably Richie's doing again. Now her curls are always up in a unsophisticated messy bun.

When Amity's not around I make sure I let Richie know how much she's ruined everything, not just for me, but for Amity too. Amity was perfect before, and now she didn't even know who she was. Richie always responds with a tight and smile and "Okay Grace. Whatever you say." It's so annoying.

Despite the loss of my best friend I still thrive at school. Every girl still wants to be me because they think my life is glamorous. Every teacher loves me because I get good grades and behave all the time. Amity and Richie are outcasts. Amity now has a horrible temper and Richie has a tendency to do EVERYTHING against the social norms.

I'm confident in who I am though, so in the end I'll be alright. I don't have to think about what will happen if I don't get a scholarship for college, or those weird feelings I used to feel for Amity. Those thoughts can wait for another day.

Grace.