Short Story - Lottie x

Sunday 31st August

Dear Diary,

I've got to be very quiet because everyone else in my dormitory is asleep and I can hear one of the teachers patrolling outside our door. Nevertheless, I thought I had better start recording what happens in my life as who knows what I might forget when I'm older. Adults say your school days are the best of your life. That's a depressing thought. I don't really enjoy school and if it's downhill from here, then I'm snookered. Anyway, I'm Charlotte in case you didn't already know and soon everyone will call me Lottie when I set them straight because that's what I prefer. Charlotte seems awfully long and posh. I'm not either of those things, in fact, the only reason I can come to this prestigious school is because I got a scholarship. I had to audition for the place by performing a dance in front of some daunting teachers because this is a performing arts school and my 'art' is dance. Or if you'd like to be specific, ballet.

I've been doing ballet since I was four years old and I'm eleven now. That means I've just started Year Seven which sounds good until you reflect on the fact that I don't know anyone in this room. That's a worrying thought isn't it? Soon I'll be able to push that worry away though, because I'm going to get to know my dorm over the next year and I'm sure they will all be very nice. Even if they aren't at first, I'm sure I'll be able to win them over. That's the good thing about my personality, people always seem to be nice to me. I hope it's not because they're scared of me. Oh dear, I've started worrying again.

Okay, I'll try and go to sleep now, so that's all for today. Starting from tomorrow though, I will tell you all about what goes on at St Ada's Performing Arts.

With love,

Lottie x

Monday 1st September

Dear Diary,

At St Ada's we have to get up REALLY EARLY! I was just dreaming about pirouetting down the hallway when this terrible ringing sounded in my ears. I looked at my clock and it read 6:30am. I could not believe how soon we had to start our day considering all the learning we were going to have to do later.

There wasn't much I could do about it though, so I hopped out of bed and quickly got ready for breakfast. I wasn't sure what we were supposed to do once we were all set but a girl in our dorm called Lola has an older sister at the school so she took charge and said we had to wait until a teacher came to take us all down to the canteen. I liked the look of Lola until she started ordering us around, pretending she knew all about St Ada's already. I felt it was my duty on behalf of the rest of the dorm to change the subject, so I said I thought it would be nice for us all to get to know each other whilst
we waited. We all sat on the ends of our beds and told the group our name and what our 'art' was.

There's five other people in my dorm and I'm very proud that I've managed to remember all their names. Lola (who I already told you about), Poppy, Martha, Becky and Kat whose real name is Katherine, but like me, isn't fond of her full name. The first two do singing, the next two acting and me and Kat are dancers. I can already feel that Kat and I are going to be best friends.

Breakfast was delicious when the teacher finally came to get us and we didn't do too much learning for the rest of the day which I was pleased about. It was mainly just sorting out timetables, where everyone was going to sit and what we were going to do for the rest of the year.

Each day we will have five lessons which each last an hour. Since my scholarship is for dance, I've got an hour of that every day. I can't wait to get started!

I'll have to say goodbye for now as free period has just ended and we have to go to our after school clubs. Mine is swimming today and I'm really excited to see the pool because my old school was tiny and didn't have anything as fancy as this.

With love,

Lottie x

Tuesday 2nd September

Dear Diary,

Today I had English, Maths, French, Science and Ballet. I was waiting all day for fifth period when I could do the subject I really love. To be honest, I'm not very good at any of the other lessons; dance is my forte. I was very pleased when the ballet teacher, Miss Sharp, complimented my dancing because she seems like the sort of person who can be instantly stern if you don't do what she wants when she wants it. Kat is more academic than me and really shone when we did English and Science, she's going to be a good friend to have when we get loads of homework!

I feel like I'm really starting to settle in here at St Ada's, I haven't missed my parents at all since that first night. My mum told me to text her once a week to let her know that I'm okay but I'm sure she'll relax that rule once the year has properly got going. And if she doesn't, then I will just have to gradually reduce the amount that I text her until I get my way. She won't be any the wiser.

Not much else to report so . . .

With love,

Lottie x

P.S: Swimming was very tiring but the pool was fantastic!

Friday 5th September

Dear Diary,

Sorry I haven't written in ages, I've just been so caught up in boarding school life.

Lots has happened since we last spoke. Firstly, Kat and me have agreed that we will be best friends. It's so nice to have someone to chat to all the time, although Miss Sharp does have to shout at us sometimes to make us quiet. Secondly, tomorrow is my first weekend in Year Seven and we get to go home just this once to see our parents before we come back on Sunday night. Last of all, I have decided that this will be my last entry. I know I only wrote for a very short time and that I was supposed to record all that happened at St Ada's, but I don't feel like I need to any more. Now I have a friend to confide in and I know all the people in my year, I can settle down and just live 'the best years of my life' one moment at a time.

So for the last time.

With love,

Lottie x

A Reader's Poem

I received an email from a reader who had seen my poems and been inspired to write one of their own. I found it very touching and think you will too.



It's a worrying thought when you become invisible.
I'm not sure when it happened, and it's now a new lifestyle.
I now smile at everyone that I pass, but few respond.
More often it's the infants in their mother's arms,
who still possess the magic senses of the new-born.
The youthfulness of life never dies.
It remains inside, hidden by the aged exterior.
Which like the bark of the tree, few notice or examine.
The thought that all that past never really happened, 
is too terrible to accept.

The consequence that the end can only be a lesser experience
of what we may have imagined has gone before, leaves one request:
Please smile back.

If you would like to write something for the blog, just send me an email at rapunzeltheblogger@gmail.com

Book Review - One Million Lovely Letters

After watching one of Carrie Hope Fletcher's YouTube videos on the channel ItsWayPastMyBedtime, I added the book One Million Lovely Letters to my reading list. It sounded like an intriguing idea which I hadn't ever heard of before, so, trusting Carrie's recommendation, I got round to reading it. 

The author is Jodi Ann Bickley whose life was turned upside down after contracting what her GP at the time thought was meningoencephalitis from a tick bite. This illness severely affected what she could do and made her feel upset quite a bit of the time. 

So, in 2013 she set up onemillionlovelyletters.com. People from all over the world could now email her with their address and why they would like a letter. Jodi would send them a "hug in an envelope" to cheer them up and make them feel loved.

Jodi seems like one of those people who genuinely prefers giving to receiving. When people are asked whether they prefer to give or to receive, most people try to respond 'correctly' with, "Giving, definitely." Even though deep down, they prefer receiving. Yet, Jodi explains in her book how writing the lovely letters gave her as much joy as it did the people who received them. I think it is a beautiful thought that helping others can often give you more pleasure than anything else in the world.

Her book tells the story of her life before and after onemillionlovelyletters.com. It shows how, by small acts of kindness, you can brighten your own day and other's at the same time.

I wanted to give this book a five star review to show how much I appreciated what Jodi was doing after what she had gone through, yet I'm only marking the books on the quality of writing, general concept and whether they would stick in my mind long after I had read them. I can't say that Jodi is the best writer I have ever come across, or that I will always remember her book. What I can promise though, is that I will never forget her remarkable story and even more amazing personality.

I would recommend this book to an age range of 16+, as I think its audience is supposed to be adults, but you don't need to be 18 to read it.

Overall, this book tells an inspiring story and compels its readers to do good.

Poem - Anticlimax

It all begins with ...

"Come on! We're going to be late!"
I know that call only too well
So I slip on my shoes and rush out the front gate.

I watch our car swallow up the road and,
Of course, it is raining.
Slithering, sliding, like a snake on roller blades,
I make my way gracefully to the front door.
Everyone has already arrived,

Eating what looks like a canapé, but I couldn't be sure.
All of these people seem to know me by name,
I have no idea how, but I play along with their game,
They ask, "How's school?"
I reply, "Fine thank you" and quickly move on.
Others state, "What long hair you have!"
What to say to that? I just smile and whisper to mum, "Who is she?"

Making small talk to lighten the mood,
"So ... how are your children?"
Or maybe not, one of them just failed their degree at Uni,
"Are you enjoying the food?"
Yes, better, I can surely say that without any awkward silences,

No.
Wrong again, she's allergic to every food under the sun,
Oh well, I tried, I'll leave the chit chat to the grown-ups.

And this is where it ends, at home, peace and quiet. On an anticlimax.