Laura Finnegan's diary entries from Bittersweet Sixteen

Diary of a Main Character

The Diary of Laura Finnegan from Bittersweet Sixteen

September 10th know I should feel lucky to be at Tate. it's a great school, will give me a quality education, blah, blah, blah. But what good is that when all I talk about in the locker room is not as, but how to develop my abs?

It's like that old Alanis Morisette song: "Isn't it ironic." Isn't it ironic that your designer handbag was made in a Third World sweatshop, but you're volunteering to save the poor to boost your resume for Harvard? Thank goodness I know where my clothes come from -- my sewing machine! Just a few stitches and some quality fabric and I can make something that looks like designer duds for a dime!

September 23rd

So my parents always say -- stay focused. Remember, Laura, it's all about goals and your future. Which is great and all if you're a middle-aged NYU professor with a kid, right, and married? But when Whitney Blake goes vamping through the room, it's hard to not to just want to be like that -- to be like Whitney.

6. October 17th

Okay it's official. I am Whitney Blake's friend and research assistant. Whitney is going to have the blowout Sweet Sixteen party of the century. Who would have ever thought that the fact that I can SEW my own fashions would impress a girl who YAWNS at haute couture? I'm taking notes for the best dresses, bags, party favors, SHOES, starting now!

7. October 23rd

Big confession here: when I was ten, I had a party at my parent's. Store-bought cake with pink icing, Snoopy paper plates, pinata, games, favor cups, the whole middle-class nine yards. And I liked it.

8. November 3rd

My dad says I'm changing. While slurping his spaghetti this evening he couldn't understand why I wasn't that excited about some dumb award he won for an article he published in a journal but I thought it was majorly cool that an/the Olsen twin(s) were in his class.

9. December 1st

Sophie M -- at first I didn't know what to think about the Hollywood connection, and I know Whitney thought even less about it, but now that she knows that there can be two queen bees (in different ways) at Tate, things seem to be going a bit smoother. Just call me the peacemaker, okay? Hey, maybe someone will send ME a prize tulip via private jet from Holland to say thanks -- ha, a girl can dream!

10. December 3rd

Now I'm getting totally excited about the major blockbuster it is going to be! I just hope my fingers don't fall off with all of the sewing between the Sweet Sixteens and the Gold and Silver Balls!

11. January 20th

As the countdown to the big party begins, I ask myself, is it all worth it? I love the beauty, the glitter, the glam, I want to be a design student at the Fashion Institute of Technology maybe, or maybe an architect someday, who knows, but when I look back on high school, is this what I want to remember?

12. January 27th

The day before D-day. My parents have taken my picture a zillion times since I've tried my dress on, and it's not even the day of the party! I can practically hear the collective tears and shrieks through my window as every Tate girl is waxed, exfoliated, and done up for the coming event!