This journal belongs to: Talia Zargari I''m starting this notebook to help me figure out middle school. Getting things out of my head and onto the page always helps me think--or at least it''s fun to do. Problems seem smaller once you can draw them. And 6th grade is full of problems! 1 Middle school is not what I expected. Sixth grade was supposed to be great--a new, big school, getting a locker, having real science classes and labs instead of just a handout on caterpillars becoming butterflies. The end of being a little kid! Elementary School: How it is MATH Baby problems, like 1 + 1 = 2. Or worse, memorizing the times tables--again! SCIENCE Plant a seed. Wait.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Finally, a sprout! ENGLISH Read a book. Sometimes good, sometimes boring. Middle School: How it is MATH Complicated, challenging problems--finally more math fun for me. SCIENCE Build a robot. ENGLISH Write .

and publish your own story! Some of that stuff is true, but there are other things about 6th grade that aren''t so great. One thing I didn''t expect at all. 2 The things you don''t worry about can turn out to be the worst things of all. My (maybe) best friend Dash! For the first couple of weeks of middle school, everything was fine with us, just the way it should be. Dash was in most of my classes, so I always had someone to sit with. Then this happened: I''m sorry, we can''t be friends anymore. Everyone teases me. They say you''re my girlfriend.

First I was shocked. Then I got mad. What do you care what "they" say? And who are they anyway? So what?! I knew I shouldn''t yell. I mean, who wants to be friends with someone who screams at you? But I couldn''t stop myself. We can be secret friends--at home, not in school. That could be cool. NO!!! That''s terrible! It felt like Dash was ashamed of me, that I embarrassed him in front of his other friends. And the way I was screaming, I was pretty embarrassing.

Luckily we were walking home, far from other people. I could see Dash was miserable. But I was even more miserable. I told him that he was talking the way a grown-up does when they try to convince their kid something awful is really neat, like getting a shot or going to the dentist. Calling something rotten a secret doesn''t turn it into something cool. And this was definitely NOT cool. I started imagining lunch all by myself, not having an instant partner in our shared classes, not walking in the hallways together. I was deep in imagined misery, not even noticing where I was walking, when Dash grabbed my arm.

Please! I know you''re upset, but can we try it my way for a while, just so I have time to show the guys I''m OK, like a regular guy? A regular guy? Since when do you want to be regular? Please! If you really are my friend . Just give me a chance, Talia. We can still walk to school together until we get to Echo Park. After that, we should walk on opposite sides of the street. I''m not trying to be popular. I just want things to be easier. Middle school is tricky. He''s right about that! And he was making it even trickier.

I needed my best friend around more than ever. It was our first big fight since 2nd grade, when I accidentally broke his new Nerf gun and hid it in his closet because I was too embarrassed to admit what I''d done. Have you seen my Nerf gun? Me? Nope, no way. I was so ashamed, I finally had to tell him. This seemed a lot bigger. 3 Dash was desperate. All week, I couldn''t stop thinking about what Dash had said . and how he had looked.

The Dash Spectrum happy dash sad dash normal dash mad dash desperate dash.