May 2, 2000

Tomorrow is the 8th-grade trip to New York City - I'm so excited! I've been looking forward to it all year. I have the best bus - Steven, James, Jacob, Louis, and Tyler are all on it, as well as Laura, Shauna, and Stacy. I was supposed to be on a different bus, but my mom called the school and got them to switch me.

That's because a couple weeks ago, while James was sweeping the hallway, he found a note from Steph. I should explain why he was sweeping the hallway. He had detention for something, I forget what, and that was his punishment: to hang out with the janitor and help him sweep after school. Anyway, he found a folded up piece of paper that was a note from Steph - it's unclear who it was supposed to be written to, but basically it was a "Kill List" and I was on it.

It had like, six or seven names of people with a little description next to them. Most of the people were high schoolers, I think, because I didn't recognize their names. The only ones I recognized were me and Kaylee. Next to my name, it said "fucking slut" and next to Kaylee's name it said, "snob."

Anyway, James showed me the note and said he was just going to throw it away, but I took it and gave it to the Vice Principal, Mr. Jones. After Columbine and everything, I wasn't taking any chances. I mean, Steph is not a social outcast or anything, but she can get pretty freaking scary when she's mad. I don't think Steph knows I was the one who turned the note in because only James knew and he wouldn't say anything, but she got suspended for a week.

Anyway, all that is only important because I was supposed to be on Steph's bus for the New York trip. [Right. Let's get back to what is really important here: bus assignments.] But my mom didn't feel safe with me being in such close proximity to Steph on a bus for so many hours, so she called Mr. Jones and got me switched to a bus with my friends. So it all worked out! I can't wait!

[If the "Kill List" had surfaced at a middle school in 2013, I feel fairly certain the consequences would have been worse for Steph. At the very least, she wouldn't have been allowed to go on the class trip.]