Well, two days have passed since everything went to hell in a handbasket. I still don't know what Milton's issue is regarding his sister, but I need to do something now or else I'm going to lose a friend.

Speaking of friends, Clayton and I will have to go it alone for the next few days. He's totally ticked at Barbara for controlling her brother and not letting him have any friends. At least Jem doesn't do the same thing to me, I wanted to say aloud, but I wisely held my tongue. There's no need for me to make it worse for myself.

Well, since I'm 13 years old, mom and dad have been letting me watch more “grown-up” movies as opposed to the cartoons they say that are suitable for children. (I did tell you that mom didn't let me watch TV until recently, right?) So Clayton, Claire, the twins, and I ditched seventh period computer class (which is just S&N, or snooze and cruise) and watched "Sleepy Hollow" in theaters. If I had paid more attention in English class last year, I would have realized that the movie was based on Washington Irving's classic tale "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Well, that's what happens when you have to scream at Kathryn Hahn for kicking your seat every five freaking seconds (until the teacher thankfully switched her seat).

Plus, I envy Johnny Depp. That guy can do EVERYTHING!!! Why can't I be a great actor like him? This is so unfair!

Anyway, with that day seemingly wasted, we all go to Claire's house, where she lives with her guardians, Anthony Roberts and David Gilliam. They tell us that Claire had been living with them since she was two years old; her real name and the names of her parents are unknown. (That's the only thing Claire herself doesn't know about, yet she knows the names of everyone living in Lochland. That just isn't right, nor is it fair to her.) Why do I have to be the only person in my circle of friends (next to Clayton) who's secure enough in my own life?

Well, I'll leave that for later.

Anyway, when I get home from Claire's house, mom tells me that Milton had called earlier; he says his parents are sending him to Clatskanie Middle/High School for the rest of the school year. I grew slightly ill, knowing that that school was a dumping place for kids who can't function in a normal class setting, kids who messed up in other schools. I knew Milton wouldn't be able to last a second in that terrible place, not if people keep beating him up for calling himself "Milton" while he was a student at Lochland Middle School.

But I had no time to protest that decision, as I spent nearly two hours on the phone with Mariah Bruce, who never comes to school unless she has someone available to bring her to and from school. (She goes to school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.) I don't know what's wrong with her parents and why they can't let her go to school like everyone else. I guess she has mental problems or something like that.

(Which brings me to my next problem: why is it that Jem can hang out with the popular kids, but I'm stuck with kids with mental problems? It's like I have this sign on my head that says "people with mental problems welcomed here". I haven't voiced that concern to my parents, knowing that Jem will overhear and launch some sort of tirade about me not being her sister or something stupid like that.

Good golly God, can anyone just let me be myself, for crying out loud!)

OK, as I'm talking to Mariah about the assignments that we had in class, Timothy Dudley calls me up, asking if I had the answers to tonight's science assignment. I told him quite rudely that if he thinks I'm giving him the answers to the assignment, I will gladly inform Mr. Alinejad where he's really getting his answers from. Jem overhears and yells at me to "help that poor boy with his homework, why don't you", but I yell at her to shut up and that I'm tired of people picking at my brain because they don't want to use their own brains. I'm not an information supermarket, in case you forgot.

Of course, he overhears that part and swears to beat me up at school tomorrow, but Jem says if he goes near me, she would gladly tell his girlfriend that he's been seeing another boy behind her back. He says, "Jemima, you would dare!" But I know Jem would do that just to piss him off. It didn't matter if I was an actual part of Jem's revenge plan, just as long as she gets to hurt someone. (Later on, I'll deal with her and her situation.)

After I get off the phone with Mariah, Jem really lets me have it. She says that I'm stupid and useless and "why can't you do anything right? That boy needed your help and you turned him down! What the hell is wrong with you".

Of course, I reply, "I'm sick and tired of people coming to me asking to copy my notes or if I got the answers to last night's science assignment. My name is Jedidiah Hamilton, NOT Hermione Granger! It's time people used their own brains instead of wanting to borrow mine!"

Well, that most certainly shut her up for the rest of the night, if nothing else did. (Of course, mom and dad sat her down and explained to her that I could fight my own battles and she needs to give me some space. I'm sure Jem's going to let me have it when we got to school tomorrow.)

Of course, do you remember the people who got in trouble for keeping Claire isolated from the rest of the school? Well, at lunch today, the student council voted to ban them from attending the Washington D.C. trip as well as the end-of-middle-school party. The student president is currently asking the principal to deny those students the right to march in the promotion ceremony with the rest of the class; the severity of that crime should at least warrant some sort of harsh punishment for those offending students. I'm sure their parents will be ashamed to learn that their children won't be going to Lochland High School next year.

Anyway, that part of the story is not over, as Emilia Butler is calling for a student trial next week; apparently, there was more than enough evidence to have a trial. I don't know if Claire is ready to face her tormentors, but I know that the parents of the 17 students and the student aide who the group had beaten up for getting too close to Claire would want to see some justice being served.

Too bad the American justice system is messed up; in California, the parents of a disabled girl isolated and abused by several of her classmates lost custody of her and the girl had to go to a mental hospital until she turned 25 years old. None of her abusers were punished for their crime against her. I know for sure that people all over the country are protesting the judge's decision; the jury foreman decided to hand down a "not guilty" verdict on the grounds of "children will be children" and the girl should have given up on imaginary friends and her imaginary world years ago.

In short, nobody cared about the sad fate of Blaine Doyle, but EVERYONE cares about those evil kids who destroyed her life. I hope that Hollywood has enough sense not to allow those kids to cash in on their crime, and possibly make a movie that paints them as the villains they truly are.

But I know that's not going to happen here, because EVERYONE in Lochland knows about what happened to Claire. Although she was not physically abused, emotional, and verbal abuse has killed more people more than beatings have.

But enough about that.

As I laid in bed that night, I chanced to overhear dad talking on the phone to someone. I bet he was talking to Aunt Carmen Thomas, who married an African-American (much to everyone's shock) and lives in British Columbia, Canada. I knew Aunt Carmen's been asking me to come to Victoria for a while just to get me out of the United States. Mom isn't too keen on sending me somewhere without Jem, but dad insists that we need to live our own lives. Well, I can't blame mom for being upset that Jem and I aren't the twins she wanted us to be, but even twins have to separate from each other and live their own lives. That's just how it is.

But when mom comes to speak to dad, I realized that he wasn't talking to Aunt Carmen, nor was he planning to send me to Victoria. Instead, he had been talking to Uncle Jesse and his cousins Shane Zilberman and Sheryl Minkus. Was he planning to send Jem or me to one of them for the summer?

Well, before I could ask that question, I see Kieran coming down the hall, begging for a bedtime story. Mom tells Jem to read one of his Bernstein bears books to him, but she forces Reginald to do it, saying that he needs to "do his part, because if he's going to stay with us, you're going to do your part".

Sure Reginald complains, but he does what he's told. He can't complain, not if he doesn't have anywhere else to go. Plus, mom won't let him live in a homeless shelter or a foster family, not if she could take care of him.

But why the phone call so late at night? I finally asked what's going on, but dad refuses to say anything. Leave it to mom to solve that problem, why don't you?

Of course, mom stares at the floor for a long time before she breaks the news.

Uncle Zach had died over the weekend.