Jane Waleski and her best friend, Emily Zuckerman, are average achievers on a good day and losers on a bad day, but they're quite proud of it! Or so they try to convince themselves. They read only the shortest books for book reports and always have the worst project for science class. On top of that, they are hopeless romantics. So Jane and Emily form Loser Club: an exclusive club of two. But when a new science teacher shows up at their school, Jane tries to impress her and suddenly finds herself trying to be not so average. Will she have to resign as vice president of Loser Club?
View MoreEmily pounded Jane's front door, panting. When her best friend opened it, she collapsed to the hallway, still panting.
"Let's be honest," she said to Jane. "You and I are losers."
Jane laughed because she thought both Emily and her already knew that for a fact. Besides her best friend always had a way of making it funny. But Jane hadn't been completely hopeless. She did make a few shots during basketball practice and sometimes got a C+ on her tests. She might not be as good in sports and school as Caroline, but she wasn't as bad as Emily either.
"We could form a club," Emily went on. Jane pulled her friend to a seated position and dropped down to her level so that they could talk better and to find out what silly idea Emily had come up with this time.
"A club for what?" she said, cocking her head to the side.
"A club for losers," Emily said, which made Jane laugh again. "It would be open only for people like us. Like, you'd have to be bad at a certain number of things to qualify for a membership. You'd have to miss the most baskets in P.E, and read the shortest books for English class, and have the worst experiment at the science fair."
"And we'll call it..." Jane prompted as if waiting for a brilliant name, but brilliant names don't come easily for them.
"Loser Club!" Emily grinned. "You know like the 'Breakfast Club', or something like that."
"Do people have to eat breakfast together to be a member though?" Jane wondered, getting distracted.
"I don't know, I just heard about it somewhere, so I stole the concept," Emily said with a shrug. "So I'll be the president, and you can be the vice president. Well...unless you want to be the president?"
"Nah." Jane shook her head. "The club was your idea."
Besides, Jane figured, it was more loser-ish to be a vice president than a president, even of a loser club for two.
The school bell rang. Jane was weaving down the hall. She was late to her club meeting."Hey Jane!" Naomi, who was one of her classmates called out to her. "Are you free this Friday for a math tutoring session?""Yes! I'll be there at three!""Hey Jane! Lucy is waiting for you at Room B!" Chris said as she ran passed him."Okay, thanks!"Jane had turned the corner and then she opened her locker and checked herself in the mirror one more time.At the meeting room, Lucy was sitting the table with a book on her lap, reading a passage from a book.When she saw Jane, her whole face brig
In English class the next Monday, Ms. Reeds assigned another book report. Jane was sitting anxiously at her desk for some reason she hadn't known.Then the teacher said, with her usual big smile, "Boys and girls, I want to share some exciting news with you. Lucy told me after class yesterday that one of her poems, 'Snow Bird', has won the first prize in the national writing contest!"Ms. Reeds led the class in applause. Jane sat frozen like a block of ice. If she could take back only one minute in her life, it would be the minute when she had agreed to go along with the evil scheme. Or maybe the minute when she had told Lucy about it.Jane glanced fearfully at Lucy. She wasn't crying, but there was something in her face that was more terrible than tears.
Mr. Monroe read the names of all the science fair winners during morning announcements. Caroline's name was first. Jane didn't know any of the tenth-grade winners; she felt foolish for ever having dreamed she could be one of them.On top of that, the report cards would be handed out at the end of the day. Great.Lucy didn't speak a word to Jane during science class. In fact, she didn't even look at Jane at all. But at least she lit the Bunsen burner for the day's experiment, as calmly as if she had been lighting Bunsen burner all her life. Nobody called her stupid. But Jane's triumph over the Bunsen burner was empty now.She wanted to talk to Ms. Anderson after class, to try to explain to her why Lucy had been crying, but the teacher was deep in conversation with Mr. O'Hara. And beside
Jane lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Her mind was still humming from the day's activities. Though she did not win the science fair this year, something different clicked within her. It might sound cliché, but for the first time, Jane realized that she could do something and do it well. She wasn't the loser she thought she was. As long as she put her heart into it, she could do it. She didn't know that all it took was someone to come along and wake her up.Someone like Grace Anderson.Someone like Lucy Adams.Staying there, Jane reminisced over what happened in the past few months. She couldn't help feeling indebted to Lucy. And she was restless again thinking about the horrible prank she was involved in.Jane sat up and wen
The science fair was over. The judges had gone, but Jane still hovered by Lucy's display. People had already filed out from the gym. Jane had waited until Lucy went to the bathroom. Jane looked around herself to check if anyone was looking, but there were just a few groups of students and teachers talking among themselves.Jane quickly took a look at Lucy's poem 'Snow Bird'. Of course, it had nothing about romance. It was about a bird rejoicing over the winter, because no cage with bars keeps her from walking on the snow, imprinting it with her tiny feet.Jane was actually impressed by the imagery expression and creativity. Lucy Adams was indeed a talented poet. If only she had won a real contest and not that dumb one from Jonas and Mary. Jane felt the guilt kicking in again, and without thinking, she reached out and plucked the poem fr
All afternoon classes were canceled for the science fair. Hundreds of students and dozens of teachers filled the gym, plus any parents who didn't have to work that day – and the judges.Jane's display attracted more attention than any of the other displays nearby. Over and over again she bounced her demonstration balls and explained her results. Hers was definitely the most popular display with the students. And several of her teachers lingered, too. Even Mr. Putnam took a turn bouncing the basketball. He looked a bit like a basketball himself, with a black-and-white bow tie painted on one side."By the way, Jane," he said in a low voice as he handed the ball back, "I'm in the process of grading last week's math tests, and I must say you did very well."Jane was surprised, but no
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