*The Story of Leslie Shean

The Story of Leslie Shean

 

Wednesday

“Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!!!!” That’s what I wake up to every morning. The most annoying sound ever. It means I have to roll out of bed and get ready for school

          My name is Leslie Shean, and welcome to my life. I’m 15 and have a little sister, Anna who is 8 years old. She just started ballet. She’s not so great at it though, She’s always whining and complaining that the teacher never picks her. My mom is now single, and is obsessed with bananas. I, on the other hand, hate bananas. I think they’re disgusting. She keeps on persisting on making me like them. I think my mom is a little weird, but my friends like her, so I think she’s ok. Now may dad, he ran away 2 years ago, and we haven’t heard from him since.

          “Leslie! Come down for breakfast!”

          “Coming!” I yelled. My mom always wants me to eat breakfast. She says it’s the most important meal of the day.

          Ugh. Of course. Fruit with a lot of banana slices for breakfast. “Mom, can I just have a pop-tart instead?”

          “Not until you eat all your fruit” Great.

~ ~ ~

          At school, all my friends were by my locker waiting for me. “Hey Leslie!”

          “Hey Steph,” I said back. Okay, so Stephanie is one of my best friends. She is sort of a ditz and blonde, but she makes me laugh all the time.

          “Briiiiiiing!” went the bell.

          “Bye guys,” I said.

~ ~ ~

          First period for me was English. Only two of my friends were in there with me; Shannon and Natalie. Most of the rest were dummies, and really preppy cheerleaders. My friends and I all played soccer except Stephanie and Kaley. The last time they played soccer they broke a nail, so they said they would never play again.

          “Leslie!”

          “Yes Mr.Chuckmer.” He pointed to the whiteboard.

          “What are the Nouns?”

          “Ah….Dog, Ball, and Frisbee.”

          “Good job,” He said. English was really easy. The school accidentally put me in the low class, and they said it was too late to put me in a better class.

          “Psst, Leslie!” whispered Natalie. “Give this to Jake.” Natalie was Jake’s girlfriend and has obsessed over him way too much. Except he was really cute.

          “Jake. Here. It’s from Natalie,” I said as handing him the note.

          “Thanks.”

          “Briiiiiiing!” Yes, class was finally over!

          “Remember to study for the test tomorrow kids!” yelled Mr.Chuckmer.

          “Shannon, Natalie, Jake, wait up!!” I yelled.

~ ~ ~

          “Kelly, Lisa, over here.” It was time for lunch.

          “Ew!!” That was definitely Kaley. “What is that stuff?” she asked disgusted.

          “Mystery meat,” said Shannon in a scaryish voice. “No one knows what is in it.”

          “It looks like its moving!!” screeched Kelly. The entire lunch was kind of like that.

          “Leslie, can you go to Driver’s Ed today?” asked Lisa

          “Yeah, I guess.”

          “Sweet! I think we are doing parallel parking today!”

~ ~ ~

          When my mom picked me up from Driver’s Ed, we had to go to Anna’s ballet practice to pick her up.

          “Mommy, Mommy! Guess what? The teacher said I did really good today, so she said I could be in the show!”

          “Good for you honey. I think we should celebrate. Who’s up for ice cream?”

          “Yay!” yelled Anna.

~ ~ ~

          We ended up going to Culvers. I got vanilla and Reese’s pieces.

          “Mommy, can I get a banana split?”

          “Of course sweetie. Whatever for my little dancer and you know I love bananas.”

          “Thanks mom,” I said.

          We sat in a booth by a window. Anna kept on babbling on how excited and nervous she was about the show. Well at least she won’t complain about how the teacher never picks her.

~ ~ ~

          When we got home, I called Shannon to tell the coach that I couldn’t make practice tomorrow because I had to go to Anna’s rehearsal for the show. Ever since we got home, all she has been doing is practicing ballet moves. She’s actually really cute when she does ballet.

          “Leslie! Can you come feed Gunner?” yelled mom. Gunner was our mini chocolate lab puppy, and he was the cutest thing ever. He was special because he wasn’t going to get any bigger than a couch pillow. He was soooo cute!

          “Yipp, yipp, yipp!” barked Gunner when I poured his food into his bowl. He sure ate a lot for such a little puppy.

~ ~ ~

          At eight o’clock that night, I had to read a book to Anna. I had to read to her at least twice a week, or I had to go to three of her ballet classes every two weeks. I already have to go to one.

          “Okay Anna. What do you want to read?”

          “I want to read one of your books! Like the big ones you read. Then I can tell everyone that I read a big kid book.”

          “Really?” I said in an astonished voice. “They’re kind of confusing.”

          “I’ll be okay. Please?” she said with puppy eyes.

          “Okay.”

          We ended up reading Harry Potter 5, and she fell asleep right away. She must have thought that it was too confusing, or it was too boring. She must not like big kid books. Oh well, now I don’t have to read to her anymore.

~ ~ ~

          My mom and I stayed up until eleven watching the news. Apparently this kid’s parents illegally moved to America from Mexico and got arrested.

Now the teenage boy is staying at his aunt’s house in Springfield Illinois, which is where we live, and he’s going to our school starting tomorrow. The news didn’t show a picture of him, so I won’t know who he is if I see him tomorrow at school, but a Mexican guy coming to our school tomorrow is pretty neat.                                          Thursday

         

The next day I was in math class and I saw a new kid across the room. Then Mr.Machow said, “Hello kids. Please welcome our new student from Mexico, Sean Lamiquita. He speaks English really well for only being in America for two weeks. Hi Sean.” He looked at Sean. “Hope you like America.”

          “Hi,” everyone said in unison.

          He was a dream boat. I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so that I could go talk to him in the hall. He was so handsome with that golden blonde hair and that dark tan. I think he was the guy on the news.

          Once the bell rang, I ran out in the hallway to go get Sean before he went to his next class. I wasn’t one of those girls that can’t talk when they are talking to a cute guy. I wasn’t that shy.

          “Hi. I’m Leslie Shean. Were you the guy on the news last night?”

          “Yeah,” He had a really cute accent.

          “I’m sorry.”

          “It’s okay. My aunt is really nice. She makes the best cookies.” He said. I laughed. “Well I have to go,” he said.

          “Okay. I’ll see you around?” I sort of asked.

          “Yeah,” He said.  From there on I had a great day. At lunch I introduced Sean to all of my friends, and Haley thought he was really cute. Then Anna did this ballet move she has been trying to do for three weeks, so we got to have Pizza Hut for dinner. Then Sean called me to talk. I gave him my number at lunch, and my favorite show was on; Kyle XY.

Friday

          The next day I was in a really good mood. I paid close attention in Spanish class so I could impress Sean, and history class was kind of fun. Plus today was a Friday, and Fridays are always good. Also there was a football game tonight, and afterward all my friends and I are going to my house for a sleepover.

~ ~ ~

          “Leslie, c’mon!” yelled Natalie. It was soccer practice and we were scrimmaging.  I always loved soccer and I was having such a good day, that I thought I would do really well.

          “Jessie pass!!!” I had a perfect shot. She passed, and yes!! I made the shot. Then I saw Sean sitting in the bleachers watching me. HE was so cute, and he saw my amazing shot!

          We lined up again and pretty soon our team had the ball. Shannon passed to me, and I passed it to Mackenzie, and she headed it in! It was a perfect shot.

          I was sweating like a dog at the end of practice. “Nice shot Leslie,” Lisa said.

          “Great defense,” I said back.

          “I can’t wait for the game!” said Lisa.

          “The football game or soccer game?”

          “The football game.”

          “I know! It’s going to be so much fun.”

~ ~ ~

          That night at the football game, Natalie showed up first with Jake and saved some good seats for us. I called Sean to see if he could be there. He said yes, so as you can imagine, I was thrilled.

          Then Stephanie and Kaley came together and they showed up with not warm enough clothes for a football game in October. Only jeans and a light sweatshirt. It was supposed to be only 30 degrees outside! Oh well, that’s just them.

          Sean showed up 15 minutes into the game. All the girls just huddled together and all the guys were yelling at the football players and refs. At nine the game was over. We were all really cold. We all then filed into my van and went to my house.

          When we got there, we all ran downstairs and huddled under some blankets. Then Kaley started calling all the guys, and then they called Sean and asked him if he wanted to be my boyfriend. He said “yes” like he didn’t really care.

          Well I guess I was Sean’s girlfriend. It was exciting and scary at the same time. The rest of the night we talked, ate pop-corn and watched some movies. Anna came downstairs once, with Gunner following her to see what we were doing.

          “Hey Anna. Want to stay downstairs for a while so we can do your nails and your hair?” asked Kelly.

          “Sure!” she practically yelled.

          All my friends thought that Anna was really cute. We did her hair in a cute bun thing, and painted her nails a pretty pink. She was really happy. It was kind of funny. Anna went upstairs, and we watched some more movies and we fell asleep around two a.m. It was a really good Friday.

Saturday

          “Mom! Have you seen my socks? I need them for the game!” It was Saturday and we were going to play the best team in the city today. We were the third best, so we had an okay chance of winning, but not a great one.

          “Here you go honey. They were in the drier.”

          “Thanks mom.”

          I was the last to show up to practice before the game. We ran a lot and stretched. I didn’t want to pull a muscle.

          The game started a couple minutes later. Then ten minutes into the game, Kelly had to get a really bad bloody nose. The other team kicked the ball and it hit her smack in the face. Of course our fastest runner had to get hurt. Then the other team scored a goal.

~ ~ ~

 

          By the second half we were down 3-1. Whenever we are losing Shannon gets really revved up. She really gets in the game. She becomes really good when she’s mad.

          Shannon pretty made every goal we had. We ended up tying 5-5 which is really good for us. I made one, and Lilly made one, and Shannon made three. Our team went to Dairy Queen to celebrate. We all shared a really big ice-cream sundae.

2 days later – Monday

          On Monday Sean gave me a big hello. Then the ball rang and we both went to English class. He just signed up for it. I didn’t really pay attention to Mr.Chuckmer as usual, but this time I was distracted by Sean. I wrote a note that said, “meet me in the hallway after class.”

          “Natalie!” I whispered kind of loud. At least Mr.Chuckmer didn’t hear me.

          “What?”

          “Give this to Sean.”

          “Fine,” she said exasperated.

          Sean got the note and looked back at me and smiled. I think that means yes.

          When English class was over I was walking out the door and smack! Sean was waiting right there ready for a kiss right on the lips. I sorta ran into him, but I wasn’t expecting it. I can’t say it wasn’t great, but it was so surprising. Now that I think of it, it was kind of romantic. My first kiss was in the hallway, right outside the door. Sort of like the movies.

          “Wow Sean. I wasn’t expecting that. You caught me by surprise.”

          “Ah. Yeah.” His cheeks were turning bright red. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

          “Bye,” I said. Mine were also kind of hot too.

~ ~ ~

          I told all of my friends about it at soccer practice at the end of the day. They kept on saying things like, “Did you like it?” or “Oh my gosh, Leslie. Your first kiss!” and “Wow. Lucky. He is so cute.”  It was really awkward.

          When my mom picked me up from soccer we went home and had hamburgers for dinner. That was my favorite meal.

          “So Leslie. What happened at school today?” mom asked.

          “Nothing,” I said a little too quickly.

          “Oh,” she said. At least she ignores me when I don’t want to talk. “Anna, what did you do at school today?”

          “Jenna got me these really cool sunglasses. They’re red and are really cool!”

          “Did you bring them home?”

          “Yes. I’ll go get them now!” Anna got up and ran upstairs as fast as she could. She came downstairs with really big sunglasses that were fire truck red. They were really weird, but she would look cute in them. Mom took a picture with them on, and then we all laughed. It was a funny dinner.

          Later that night I emailed Sean and he answered right away. I told him about dinner and then he asked me some questions about math, except he accidentally wrote it in Spanish. I could understand some of the words, but not all of them. I told him, and he translated them. I helped him with the questions and then went to bed.

          I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept on thinking about the kiss. It would probably be better not to think about it though, even though it was my first kiss! It’s kind of weird though.

9 days Later – Wednesday

          Sean and I have been together for over a week now and he is always by my side. Lunch, in the hallway, at soccer (well he was in the bleachers, but I guess that counts.) You know what I mean.

          “Les come on!” yelled Kelly. We were all going to gym and we always had ten minutes in between our classes before gym. We always waited outside in the hallway before class. All of our friends were in this gym class, so it was a great meeting time.

          “Well guys,” started Sean. “My parents are out of jail, and I’m going back to Mexico on Friday.”

          “What?” I asked astonished.

          “What?” repeated Lisa.

          “I’m sorry guys, but the police said that my parents can be released if they go back to Mexico. I miss them too.”

          “It’s okay Sean. That’s great, but I’ll definitely miss you,” I said.

          “I’ll miss you all too, but we still have today and tomorrow.”

          “I know,” we all said.

          “Well let’s not have this ruin our day,” said Kaley. She was always trying to find the bright side of things. “Let’s all go to my house to have a farewell party.”

          “Yeah,” said Jake. “We can have a great time with movies and friends. Is Thursday okay with everyone?”

          “Okay, we can all miss practice tomorrow. It’s no big deal,” said Shannon.

 

~ ~ ~

 

          At Driver’s Ed Shannon, Kelly, and me were all in the same car. Shannon was the first to drive. First she ran into a poster with a woman and baby. Then she ran into three cones.

          “Whoa there Shannon,” Mrs.Kedler said. She was really nice. “Let’s give Leslie a try.”

          I did even worse. I ran over a dog poster, three little kid posters, and five cones.

          “I guess this was just not your day girls,” she said. “Well class is over. See you on Sunday.”

          “Hi Leslie. How was your day?” Mom asked me when she picked me up.

          “Sean is moving back to Mexico. His parents got out of jail.”

          “Well that’s great. Oh, you’re going to miss him, aren’t you?”

          “Yeah. He was so nice.”

          “I’m sorry honey.”

          “I know, but at least he gets to see his family again. I bet he missed them a lot.”

~ ~ ~

          That night I called Sean and could feel tears sting my eyes as I was talking to him. I was going to miss him so much. I was so sad, but I was happy for him. We just talked about his family and my family and things that bothered him and me. We talked until three a.m. and I fell asleep as soon as I hung up.

Thursday

          I woke up that day knowing that I probably wasn’t going to Sean ever again after tonight. I was sad, but I can email and call him whenever I want.

          At school Stephanie and Lisa made a good-bye poster and hung it on Sean’s locker. All of our friends signed it and put pictures of each other on it.

          We all waited by Sean’s locker for him to show up. When he came, his jaw dropped and a huge smile crept up his face.

          “Surprise!” we all yelled.

          “Thanks guys. This is amazing,” he said with is cute accent.

          “We’re all going to miss you,” said Stephanie. “Especially Leslie.” Everyone laughed.

          “I don’t want you to go, even though I know you probably can’t wait to be with your family. I’m still going to miss you a lot though,” I said about to cry.

          “Well you know I’m going to miss you too,” he said.

          “Briiiiiiing!” went the bell. Sean and I were headed off to English again with Shannon and Natalie, but this time it was Sean’s last time.

~ ~ ~

          At Kaley’s party, every one of our friends were there. We all had a great time. We were in her family room listening to music, watching movies, and eating popcorn. There were lots of balloons and some little presents for Sean.

          “Hey guys,” Sean said. “Thanks for all of this. It was really nice, but it wasn’t necessary.”

          “Of course it is,” said Kaley. “We’re going to miss you so much. You deserve all of it.”

          “Maybe I deserve it, but it’s not necessary,” he said with a big emphasis on necessary. “I have really good news.”

          “What, what, what?” I asked excitedly.

          “My parents went to an American citizenship council before the party. I went with them, and now we are all Americans! My parents bought an apartment house by my Aunt’s.” My mind went blank when I heard it. I started crying I was so happy.

          “Are you okay Leslie?” asked Lisa.

          “Aren’t you happy?” asked Kelly.

          “Yes,” I said crying. “I’m so happy I’m crying. It won’t stop!” Everyone laughed and hugged Sean.

          The rest of the party was even better. Everyone was really happy. The farewell party ended up being a celebration party that Sean didn’t have to leave. I was so happy, that I kissed him. Just like that. I guess I reeeeeally would have missed him. He’s here now, and I don’t know what I am going to do next.

THE END!!!

               

         

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Friends 

Stephanie-ditz, blond, funny

Kelly-on soccer team, outgoing

Shannon-on soccer team, in English class

Natalie-on soccer team, Jake’s girlfriend, in English class

Kaley-always on the bright side, girly girl

Lisa-on soccer team, kind of shy

Sean-Leslie’s boyfriend, in English class, in math class

Jake-Natalie’s boyfriend, loves football

 

Other Characters

Mrs.Shean or Mom-Leslie’s mom

Mr.Chuckmer-English teacher

Mr.Machow-Math teacher

Mrs.Kedler-Drivers Ed teacher 

Anna-Leslie’s sister

Jenna-Anna’s best friend

Gunner-mini chocolate lab puppy, Leslie’s dog

 

Soccer team

Danielle

Mackenzie

Janice

Lilly

Taylor

Jessie

Kelly

Shannon

Natalie

Lisa