Your Life, but Sweeter

by Crystal Velasquez

  “There you are!” she says, and sweeps Lena up into a twirling hug. Ah. She must be Amanda. So much for the three-piece suit and briefcase, though. If she is interning at a law firm, she’s taking casual Fridays to the extreme. “I’ve been looking for you for a while, but I think I got turned around somewhere near the Temple of Dendur and ended up back in the lobby. I forgot how big this place is!”

  “That’s okay,” Lena says quickly, giving her cousin a final squeeze. “It’s so awesome to see you!” After Lena introduces you and Jessie, she grabs Amanda’s hand and leads her to Ms. Darbeau to let her know she’s leaving.

  “Oh well, there she goes, off to see real live people while we’re stuck in here with the mummies,” Jessie says glumly.

  “Aw, come on, it’s not so bad,” you offer. “At least we …” You were going to make a joke about not having to battle an army of skeletons or anything like in the Mummy movies. But you’re distracted when you see Amanda handing Ms. Darbeau two sheets of paper and pointing at you and Jessie. Ms. Darbeau reads them, nods, and calls you two over with a quick wave of her index and middle fingers. Uh-oh. Are you guys in trouble or something? Has your giggling disturbed the ancient mummies and now you’re being kicked out?

  With Jessie inching along just behind you, you walk haltingly over to Lena, Amanda, and your art teacher, fearing the worst. “Y-yes?”

  Ms. Darbeau hands you the two letters—one from your parents and one from Jessie’s. “It seems that Amanda here has obtained written permission from both your parents to leave the school trip and go with Amanda and Lena if you like. I did speak to your parents earlier but they wanted it to be a surprise, and I would not allow you to go without permission in writing. Now that I have that, the choice is yours.” Amanda is beaming. If you didn’t know better, you’d think Lena looks a little less excited, but maybe you’re imagining that.

  “Seriously?” Jessie squeals and jumps up and down. “Sweet!” Realizing that she might seem a little too gleeful in front of Ms. Darbeau, who you all know worked really hard to plan this trip, Jessie quickly calms down and tries to wipe the broad smile off her delicate face. “Oh, uh, I just mean I’d rather see this whole place or none of it at all, so maybe I’ll just come back another time when I can spend loads and loads of hours.”

  “Mm-hm,” Ms. Darbeau says shortly, not buying a word of that. “And what about you?” she says, turning toward you. This might have been a no-brainer for Jessie, but as usual, for you it’s a little more complicated.

  At long last you’re in New York City! Even better, you get to be here with your closest friends in the world, Lena and Jessie, and your longtime crush, Jimmy Morehouse. Sure, you’ve had fantasies about ditching the trip and exploring the city on your own, but you never thought you’d actually get to. But now that the opportunity has presented itself, you’re just not sure. At least with your school, you know what you’re in for. But who knows how your day will go if you leave with Amanda? Are you a free spirit who can handle the unexpected, or would you rather stick with the routine and avoid the pitfalls that might come? Take the quiz and find out!

  QUIZ TIME!

  Write down your answers and tally up the points at the end.

  You and your friends want to go see the latest blockbuster movie that’s coming out in a few weeks. You’re in charge of securing the tix. What do you do? A. Scope out which theaters will be playing the flick, research which one has the best snacks and sound system, order the tickets weeks in advance, and arrange to be at the theater at least two hours before showtime to make sure you and your buds are the first ones in and can have your choice of seats. Your friends think it’s overkill, but they’ll thank you later!

  B. Buy the tickets over the Internet the day before the movie opens and have your friends meet up an hour before the start time to snag a good place on line.

  C. Show up at the theater a little early to buy your tickets and hope your friends can all find decent seats. (You might have to sit in the dreaded first row!)

  D. Go to the first theater you see and show up right at start time to buy tickets. You hate to wait around and it’s more exciting to do things at the last minute. Sure, the show might be sold out, but if it is, you’ll just see something else.

  If you had your choice of any kind of vacation, you would choose: A. a preplanned guided tour in Europe. That way you wouldn’t have to worry about figuring out where to go each day, how to get there, or when to go. Everything would be planned out in advance, so all you’d have to do is sit back and enjoy.

  B. a trip you and your family have taken many times before. You always stay at the same place and do the same things, and it’s always awesome.

  C. any one of the itineraries in a travel book. Someone else has already tried them out so you’ll know exactly what to do.

  D. going to the airport and getting on the first plane out. Then you’d stay at whatever hotels you come across. It would be so fun to fly by the seat of your pants and just see where you end up!

  Your parents have finally broken down and gotten you the puppy you’ve always wanted. But he’s a little wild, running around everywhere and chewing up everything he sees. What’s your doggy-training style? A. You ask to get the puppy enrolled in obedience school as soon as possible. By the time he comes back, he should be trained almost well enough to be a police dog. A new puppy is most fun when he’s perfectly behaved.

  B. You train him to do the basics so that he won’t be a neighborhood menace. Thanks to you, the puppy will be able to sit, speak, and roll over on command—and won’t even think about biting the mail carrier.

  C. You train him to let you know when he needs to go out and if he’s hungry. Everything else is gravy.

  D. Training? That’s so formal. Why try to stifle a new puppy’s spirit? It’s way more fun to see him jump and play with no boundaries at all (even if that means cleaning up the occasional puddle).

  When it comes to your Facebook profile, you prefer to: A. keep it private so that only a select group of friends and family can see it. And you customize all your lists so that only some of those people can see your pictures and interests. And you only post things that you don’t mind the whole world seeing—which isn’t a lot. And …

  B. add all your friends from school and your family members. But don’t add friends of friends who you don’t know. You don’t want your friends list getting too out of control and you definitely don’t want any apps like Farmville that you’d have to depend on other people to maintain.

  C. keep your profile private, but add almost everyone who asks. The more the merrier!

  D. keep your profile public and add anyone who wants to be friends, even if they’re strangers. Why limit yourself? The world would be better if everyone were friends.

  Because you’ve gotten the best grades in the school, your principal asks you to speak for about three minutes at this year’s graduation ceremony. What an honor! How do you prepare? A. You read up on other graduation speeches, collect some meaningful quotes you can use, plan out everything you’re going to say, and time your speech so that it’s exactly three minutes long. You even write in your notes when you should make certain hand gestures or when to pause. You don’t want to leave anything to chance!

  B. You write your speech in advance and practice a few times in the mirror, but then don’t stress too much about it. You don’t want to seem too rehearsed.

  C. You jot down some general notes the night before so that you remember to say a few important things. But then you’ll just speak from your heart.

  D. Why prepare something? It’ll be a lot more heartfelt if you just go up there and wing it, saying whatever it is you feel at the moment.

  Give yourself 1 point for every time you answered A, 2 points for every B, 3 points for every C, and 4 points for every D.

  —If you scored between 5 and 12, go to this page.

  —If you scored between 13 and 20, go to this page.

  You’re a free spirit!
You go with the program when you must, but you’d much rather be set loose to discover the world on your own and you’re always up for an adventure. You don’t like to tie anyone else down with rules because you don’t want to be tied down either. It’s wonderful to be so open and flexible. Just remember that sometimes a little preparation can help you avoid trouble along the way.

  You hem and haw … for about twenty seconds. Of course you want to go with your friends! Ms. Darbeau’s itinerary sounds good, but getting to see the rest of the city without having to stay in a single-file line like a soldier in Mr. Nocera’s army? Well, you just can’t pass that up.

  Before you go, though, you tap your favorite artist on the shoulder.

  “Huh?” Jimmy turns around. He’d been staring at a row of hieroglyphics behind a thick glass case. When he sees you, he smiles sweetly and rubs the back of his head. “Oh, hey. This is pretty cool, huh?” he says. “Can you believe they had to make their own paint back then by grinding colorful objects? Crazy …”

  “Yeah, it is.” You smile back, loving the fact that Jimmy is so into learning. For a moment, you’re tempted to stay again. But when you glance back at Jessie, she is bouncing up and down on her tippy toes and pointing at an imaginary watch on her wrist. Hurry up, she mouths.

  Okay, you mouth back.

  “So … I’m taking off now, Jimmy.”

  His sweet smile wilts a little and he furrows his dark eyebrows in confusion. “Taking off? Where?”

  You point back at Amanda. “Lena’s cousin got permission to take us out for the day. I don’t know where to, but it should be fun.”

  “Oh.” He looks down at his Nikes so you can’t see his face. “Okay, well, have fun, I guess.”

  “Thanks,” you say. “I’ll talk to you later, though, right?”

  “Yeah, later,” Jimmy mumbles and turns back to the hieroglyphics. “I hope you have a blast.” The words are right, but you can tell by the way he says them that he’s a little disappointed, maybe even a little mad?

  Oh well. Even though you can’t stand the thought of Jimmy being upset, you can’t worry about that right now. New York City awaits!

  After retrieving your coats, you, Lena, Jessie, and Amanda leave the massive museum and cross Fifth Avenue heading for the train station a few blocks away. You and your friends are loving this.

  Poor Amanda can hardly walk two feet before one of you begs her to stop and take your picture in front of something. First you wanted to pose with one of the doormen from a swanky apartment building. He was wearing a black uniform with gold tassels and shiny leather shoes, and he seemed only too happy to say “cheese.” Then you took a picture of Lena eating a real New York City hot dog from a street vendor. And just before you ducked into the Lexington Avenue train station, you saw a man dressed as Santa Claus ringing a heavy brass bell. Lena smiled as you snapped a picture of her throwing change into his bucket for the Salvation Army. You know you’ve walked only a few blocks, but your first impression of New York City = love at first sight!

  The three of you are still buzzing as you walk down the steps into the dark train station on Eighty-sixth Street. Amanda stops at a MetroCard machine to buy you all subway passes for the day—apparently, all of your parents sent Amanda enough money to entertain you for a few hours, within reason, of course—and one by one you swipe the thin plastic cards through a slot and walk through the turnstiles that lead you onto the crowded subway platform.

  “Cool! Our first ride on a subway,” Jessie gushes. “I heard a lot of celebrities in New York ride the trains because it’s more environmentally friendly than taking limos everywhere they go.”

  “That’s actually true,” Amanda agrees. “I saw Drew Barrymore on the N train once.”

  “Get out!” Jessie yells, startling the people standing near her. You all laugh.

  Amanda smiles and says, “Listen, I’m going to go buy a paper from that candy stand at the end of the platform.” She points. “That way we can read up on the events going on around the city today. Do me a favor and stay put.” She turns to Jessie. “And don’t scare away the other passengers.”

  “Who, me?” Jessie bats her eyelashes innocently. “Not a chance.”

  Amanda grins and walks away, shaking her head.

  “Lena, your cousin is so cool,” you say sincerely. “Not many college kids would want to spend a whole day with a bunch of thirteen-year-olds. Especially a loud-mouthed troublemaker like this one,” you add, throwing your arm affectionately around Jessie’s shoulder. “It’s really awesome of her to do this. Why didn’t you tell us, though? You must’ve been in on the surprise.”

  “Actually, I wasn’t.” Lena shrugs. “I kind of thought it would be just me and Amanda. But this is cool too.” Lena smiles, but did you detect a hint of sadness just now? Before you have a chance to find out, you feel the platform start to rumble.

  “Uh, guys? New York doesn’t have earthquakes, does it?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jessie answers. “But it sure feels like one.”

  “Relax,” Lena says smoothly. “It’s just the train. It’s headed this way. See? Look at the light coming down the tunnel.”

  Honestly, you can’t see much of anything, there are so many people standing all around you. And as the train gets closer and closer, the wall of people starts to close in, moving you toward the platform. Finally the train darts out of the tunnel and pulls into the station—at first with lightning speed, and then slowing to a crawl until you hear a puff of air as the doors slide open. What happens next goes by so quickly, it’s almost like you’re dreaming it.

  After the doors open, there’s a trickle of passengers getting off the train, and then the crowd of people on the platform surges forward, spilling into the car like a tidal wave—and the wave is taking you and your friends along! All three of you are swept into the train, squished between men in suits and teenagers in down-filled coats.

  “Amanda!” you hear Lena cry out. “Help!”

  You have been pushed toward the center of the car near a long narrow window, and you can see Amanda look up from the newspaper she just bought. She sees what’s happening and comes running to the rescue, but just as she reaches your car, the bell dings again and the doors close abruptly, right in her face. She yells something, but none of you can hear it over the roar of the train as it goes sailing off into the tunnel to who knows where.

  So how are you enjoying your trip to New York City so far? It’s only been a couple of hours and already you’ve visited a museum that’s bigger than thirty houses put together, you’ve seen some quintessential New York sights, and oh yeah, you got hijacked by a speeding train and separated from the one person who had any idea how to get around the Big Apple. Not to panic you or anything, but YIKES! You have total faith in yourself and your friends, but big cities can be dangerous and the truth is, you’re all newbies here. Anything could happen! In this situation, you clearly need help. But can you admit that and actually ask for it? Or are you convinced you can figure this out on your own? If you need help answering these questions, you’d better take this quiz.

  QUIZ TIME!

  Write down your answers and tally up the points at the end.

  You have been struggling with your science class for months and your big final exam is coming up. What do you do? A. Ask your parents to get you a professional tutor ASAP. It’s obvious to you that you’re going to need to bring in the big guns if you want to pass this class.

  B. Ask a group of kids who are doing well in the class to help you after school. In exchange maybe you can help them in a class that’s giving them trouble.

  C. Try to study on your own and then have your best friend quiz you to see if you’ve gotten it down.

  D. Study hard and just do the best you can on your own. You don’t really want it to be public knowledge that you’re having such a hard time with the class.

  You’re in a store searching for the perfect Mother’s Day present, but you can’t seem to find
a thing. Finally a salesclerk asks you if you need help. You say: A. “Yes, please!” The salespeople know this store inside out and can surely help you find the perfect gift for your mom. What’s the use of struggling on your own?

  B. “Maybe.” You tell her the kind of thing you’re looking for and take her advice into consideration, but the final call is yours.

  C. “Not yet.” You’d rather look at every single thing in the store before you give up. You want to be able to tell your mom that the gift was all your idea.

  D. “No, thanks.” The salesclerk can’t possibly know your mom better than you do, so there’s no sense in wasting her time or yours. If you can’t find a gift in here, then you’ll figure something else out. (You hope.)

  You are typing away on your computer when all of a sudden the screen goes blank and it looks like all your files are gone! So of course you: A. call the computer tech support guys immediately. They’ve gotta help you get all your stuff back!

  B. have your dad take a look and try to fix it. He knows a little about computers. Hopefully he can handle it.

  C. consult your computer’s guidebook. There’s a whole trouble shooting section and the answer has got to be there.

  D. press every button and reboot a hundred times to see if it helps. You have absolutely no idea how to fix it, but you’d hate to have to confess to your folks that you broke your computer somehow.

  You are having a pretty serious problem at home and it’s starting to affect your schoolwork. How do you handle it? A. Request a meeting with your school’s guidance counselor and tell her the situation. Her whole job is to help kids like you with whatever they’re dealing with. And you definitely need the help.