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Last time on Starry
Love Dream! Melanie’s narration: Melanie: “My name is Melanie!
I’m 9 years old and I attend Grade 4 and I would like to become
a singer!” Melanie: “This is the strangest
bunch of stuff that’s ever happened in my life. And what’s even weirder is that they all happened
in less than 2 months! I feel
like my head is spinning out of control!
Aaaaaahhhhh! Phew! Okay, Melanie, take it easy now…” Melanie: “My father won the election
to become the Premiere of Ontario! But
it meant that I had to leave all my friends behind in Melanie: “And to make things
much, much worse…my Papa was accused of a bunch of political stuff that
I don’t even understand and to protect me from the press and all that
unwanted attention, I had to move into Grandma Annabelle’s house. It’s the first time I ever met my grandmother,
but…I think she’s really scary. And
I don’t think she likes me either. And,
you know what…I don’t think she likes my Papa either…so I wonder what
that is all about.” Melanie: “Anyways, it’s time
for Starry Love Dream! I wonder
what’s going to happen next. Stay
tuned!” Opening theme song “Starry Love Dream”
by Starry~en~Luv (Happy dreamy love, wings like a dove) (To the starry night, in the starry light) A dream can’t just stay a dream in my mind It would just be a waste and I would be
in a bind No matter where and how far you have to
go You’ve got to chase your dream so much so Never ever lose sight of the love, of the
dream Let your dream flow like the never-ending
stream I know things are tough and it’s easy to
get sad But as long as we’re together, even if things
go bad I want to sing like a lovebird and touch
your heart (touch my heart) Please stay with me and stay close to my
heart (close to my heart) Starry love dream! I wanna be your
happy dreamy love I wanna spread
my wings like a dove Fly with me all the way to the starry night
Fly to the sky and bask in the starry light I wanna be your
happy dreamy love (happy dreamy love) I wanna spread
my wings like a dove (wings like a dove) Fly with me all the way to the starry night
(to the starry night) Fly to the sky and bask in the starry light
(in the starry light) Starry love dream Hold my hand tight and always stay by my
side Let’s hold onto the dream as we go along
the ride Stay with me, my love, and don’t try to
look back If we lose our way, we’ll always try get
back on track There are so many obstacles to fight your
way through But as long as you believe, your dream will
come true Oh, my love, even if things don’t always
go right We have our love, our dream, never lose
our sight I want to sing like a lovebird and touch
your heart (touch my heart) Please stay with me and stay close to my
heart (close to my heart) Starry love dream! I wanna be your
happy dreamy love I wanna spread
my wings like a dove Fly with me all the way to the starry night
Fly to the sky and bask in the starry light I wanna be your
happy dreamy love (happy dream love) I wanna spread
my wings like a dove (wings like a dove) Fly with me all the way to the starry night
(to the starry night) Fly to the sky and bask in the starry light
(in the starry light) Starry love dream (Happy dreamy love, wings like a dove) (To the starry night, in the starry light) Starry love dream, I love you! The Prologue The alarm clock was ringing and it was very
loud. In fact, it was so loud
that it could probably wake up the sleepiest animal in the world very
quickly. But this morning, Melanie Thompson felt even
sleepier than the sleepiest animal in the world. She reached out to stop the alarm clock from
ringing and she struggled to sit up on her bed. She
felt the warmth of the morning sun entering the room and shining on
her. Her eyes opened a little more and she yawned
and stretched her arms up above her head.
She sighed and she got out of bed and she walked over to the
window. Today was going to be
a regular school day and she was going to the school that she has been
going to for the past one and a half months, called “It’s
morning. It’s a beautiful morning,
too. The birds are chirping and
the sun is shining,” Melanie whispered.
She put her hands upon her heart and she sighed and closed her
eyes. “But my heart is aching. What else is going to happen to me anyway?
I wonder how worse things can get from now on…” There
was a knock on her door. The
door opened and Grandma Annabelle appeared wearing a long white nightshirt. Melanie wore a pink silk nightgown. Melanie
smiled at her grandmother. “Good
morning, Grandma. Did you sleep
well?” But
Melanie stopped herself. Grandma
looked very strict. Melanie began
to wonder if she had any other facial expressions at all. “Breakfast
will soon be ready. Make sure
that you get ready to come downstairs soon.
That is all,” said Grandma Annabelle, and she started to walk
away. Melanie
sighed. “This is my mother’s
mother? My mother is very kind
and nice. But her mother…I don’t
know what to think about her. What
a scary woman…” she said to herself. Starry Love Dream Episode 2: It’s
so sad, nobody here likes me Melanie brushed her teeth and washed her
hair and took a very comforting shower.
She changed into her school uniform and did everything to make
her self fabulously beautiful, as she always does every single morning. She
went down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. She parked her schoolbag near the front door
as she was on her way to the kitchen, walking with slippers because
the bare floor felt cold to her feet.
She stopped at the entrance of the kitchen and saw that her Grandma
was sitting down having her breakfast as she was reading a newspaper.
Her breakfast was ready as well. “Are
you going to stand there and wait for your breakfast to get cold, Melanie?”
asked Grandma, rather coldly. Melanie
gasped softly, for she was startled.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, and sat down at the kitchen table. She began to eat her breakfast, which was scrambled
eggs and buttered toast. She
tried to eat a little more quickly than usual because she felt uncomfortable
sitting at this kitchen table with a grandmother who did not say anything
to her. It
was uncomfortable sitting at the same table with someone who is a family
member that seemed to dislike her very much. She
thought about her friends in “Melanie?”
Grandma called out. Melanie
was a little startled again. “Yes,
Grandma?” she said softly and shyly as she looked up. Grandma
stared at her for a while, looking as if she disapproved of something. “Must you always get so startled whenever I
call you by your name?” Melanie
suddenly felt even more uncomfortable.
“I’m…I’m sorry, Grandma. I’m
just…” “You’re
just what?” She
did not know what else to say. “It’s…it’s
nothing. I don’t know.
But I’m sorry.” Grandma
Annabelle sighed and shook her head slightly.
“Anyway, while you are at school, be careful with people who
are around you. Your father is
a fool for not changing your school again.
Doesn’t he know that there are people in your school, I’m sure,
who already know who you really are?
They know you are the Premiere’s daughter.” “Yes,
some people in my school know that I’m the Premiere’s daughter.” “I
guess I was right.” She sighed
again. “He went to such great
lengths to bring you here, but he didn’t bother to put you in another
school?” Melanie
did not want to go to a new school.
In fact, she made sure that her father knew about it. There was a day when she was very sad about
changing schools once again. The day when Melanie had to leave the new
home of her parents in a very upper-class area of Toronto, her father
Mark was talking to her mother Sarah about switching Melanie to a different
school, one where no one would know who she was but still a reasonable
distance from where Grandma Annabelle lived. “I’m
just not sure which school we should place her in. There are not very many prestigious private
schools in the north of “That
could work, but you still have to know which school to put her in,”
said Sarah. “As long as she can
get there easily, it should be no problem.
Maybe I can have Mr. Peters pick her up from my mother’s house
and drop her off in the morning, and in the afternoon, he can go pick
her up at the school and take her home again.
What do you think?” “That
sounds like a good idea, Sarah. I
guess that gives us more options as to which school we should put Melanie
in.” Melanie
overheard the conversation and she stood at the doorway of the living
room. Mark and Sarah noticed
her immediately and they stopped. “Melanie…”
Sarah started, but Melanie looked like she was about to cry. “Mama…Papa…”
Melanie whispered. She closed
her eyes and clenched her fists at her heart.
“I…I can’t do it! I can’t
go to another new school!” she exclaimed as tears came down her cheeks. Mark
saw that and he sighed. “I’m
sorry, my dear. But it’s something
that we must do. We have to place
you where very few, or if we’re very lucky, nobody, would know about
you. That’s the best way to protect you.” “I
can’t! Maybe you’re strong enough
to do it, but I’m not!” Melanie cried out, but her voice started to
break and became very silent very quickly.
She leaned against the wall and Sarah quickly walked towards
her. “But,
Melanie…” Sarah started, but she was not sure what to say. “It
hurts to keep changing…” Melanie whispered.
“I left my friends in Melanie
slid down the wall and ended up sitting on the floor and Sarah knelt
down with her. Melanie looked
up at her mother. She looked like she was about to cry, too. “I
know it hurts, sweetheart. I
know…and it doesn’t even have to…” Sarah whispered. Mark
was quiet for a while as he thought to himself.
He could not bear seeing his daughter in so much emotional pain. She’s been through enough already. He approached her slowly and knelt down in front
of her as well. “Melanie,
do you want to stay in your old school, even if people there might know
about you and judge you the wrong way and hurt you?” Mark asked. Melanie
kept her eyes down and was thinking about that a little longer. She looked up at her father, her tears streaming
down her cheeks slowly. “It wouldn’t
matter what school I go to. People
will eventually recognize me and think about you and start hurting me.
Am I supposed to keep changing schools every month if that happens?” Mark
smiled slightly. “No, of course,
you don’t have to do that. You’re
a very courageous girl for wanting to stay in the school you’re going
to now. Constantly changing schools would be more hurtful
than staying in a school where people might dislike you.” “The
one that’s less painful, that’s what I want to do, because I know both
will hurt me,” said Melanie, with a very soft voice, but it was also
much calmer. Mark
nodded slowly. “Very well, Melanie. You’ll stay at the school you’re attending now.” Melanie had to change homes, change lives,
and change schools at least once already. And she’s had to do two of those things again.
She did not want anymore. Her father gave in and promised Melanie that
he would not put her in a new school.
But Melanie did not say anything about it to her Grandma Annabelle. “Well,
I guess nothing else can be done about that.
If I were him, I would have put you in another school, but he
is the one in charge of your schooling, unfortunately.” Grandma
put down the newspaper that she had been reading before and folded it
neatly. She stood up and removed
her breakfast platter from the table.
Melanie looked up at her as she headed for the kitchen sink. She looked down at her breakfast and realized
she should hurry herself. “Make
sure you are not late for school today.
You won’t have a driver to drive you there anymore, especially
since the school is only 10 minutes away by foot.
Children walk this road all the time, and some of them walk with
their parents or other responsible family members.
You should have no problem.” Melanie
nodded slightly. “Thank you,
Grandma…” she said softly. Her
grandmother was washing kitchen utensils and pots and pans. Soon, Melanie was finished with her breakfast
and she stood up and was about to leave as quickly as she could, but… “Kindly
place your dirty dish, glass, and utensils in the kitchen sink, Melanie!”
said her Grandma, without looking back at her. Melanie
was startled and she felt like her entire body went red. That’s right.
She did not have a maid to do such things for her. “I’m so sorry, Grandma,” she said quickly, and
she hurried back to the table and gathered the plate, glass, and utensils
and placed them gently in the kitchen sink beside her grandmother. She hesitated, and then began on her way out
of the kitchen. She
felt so guilty and embarrassed and she sighed as she was about to leave
the kitchen. She turned around
towards her Grandma and took a deep breath. “Grandma,”
she said, but her Grandma did not turn around to face her. “Thank you so much for having me in your house.” Several
seconds passed by, but for a second, Grandma seemed to stop what she
was doing. After that very short
moment, she resumed what she was doing.
There was no other reaction, and Melanie felt even more embarrassed
as she walked towards the front door. Melanie
took her schoolbag and her lunch bag.
She was about to leave for school. “Grandma,
thank you so much for the breakfast.
I’m going to school now,” said Melanie.
However, she did not hear anything.
She looked down, feeling like she was doing something wrong somehow. She
opened the front door and then closed the door behind her as she exited. She stood at the front porch and closed her
eyes and she sighed. “What
am I doing wrong?” she asked herself. “Normally,
a nice, sunny day like this one would make me so happy, and I would
want to run like the gentle wind, basking in the sun’s warm glow! But, today is probably the first time in my
whole life when a nice, sunny day did not make me happy at all…” Melanie sat at her desk, listening carefully
to the English lesson that Miss Langley, her Grade 4 teacher, was conducting.
She was taking notes with two differently-colored pens.
She was the only one in the class who used differently-colored
pens while they were taking notes. And
she was also one of the very few students who actually did take notes. Everyone else just used their lesson books and
followed along with what the teacher was telling them. “Okay. So who can tell me how you can spell this word?
The word is establishment. Anyone?” asked her teacher. Melanie
was about to raise her hand, but she stopped herself halfway. No one else wanted to raise their hand. And even if she raised her hand, her own teacher
was not going to acknowledge her. Miss
Langley seemed almost disappointed.
“Oh, that’s too bad. How
about if I pick a volunteer? What
about you, Justin?” “Yes,
ma’am,” said a young boy who was at the back of the class, whose name
was Justin Lagazo, a small Filipino boy who held no emotional expressions
on his face. He spoke calmly
and coolly, but confidently at the same time.
He stood up from his chair and began to spell the word that Miss
Langley gave. “E-S-T-A-B-L-I-S-H-M-E-N-T. Establishment.” Melanie
suddenly remembered a word that Janice had told her about and it was
the longest word in the English dictionary.
However, when she tried to find it in the dictionary, it was
not there. Perhaps Janice had
made it up? She wanted to ask
Miss Langley. But she would ask her later. At
the start of morning recess, the students filed out of the classroom. Melanie was about to leave as well, but she
turned around and faced Miss Langley, who was writing something at her
desk. Melanie hesitated but she really wanted to know
and her curiosity took hold of her. “Excuse
me, Miss Langley?” Melanie called out with a soft voice. At
first, Miss Langley did not seem to respond, but after a few seconds,
she looked up at Melanie, sighing slightly.
“Yes, Melanie? What is
it?” Melanie
came closer to her a little. “Um,
when that boy named Justin spelled the word ‘establishment’, I remembered
a word that one of my friends told me once.
She said it was the longest word in the English dictionary, but
when I looked it up in the dictionary, it wasn’t there.” Miss
Langley hesitated again. “What
was the word?” “It
was ‘disestablishmentarianism’. I’m
not sure if it’s a real word,” said Melanie.
Miss Langley looked at Melanie for several seconds and she wondered
why she was doing that. Melanie
felt like she was just bothering her.
“I’m sorry. You’re probably
busy right now.” “No!”
said Miss Langley. “No, I’m not
busy right now.” A smile slowly
appeared on Miss Langley’s face and Melanie was a little surprised. “Yes, your friend was right. That is the longest word in the English dictionary.
It is a real word. It was probably not printed in your dictionary
because they misprinted it.” “Oh.” Melanie smiled slightly as well. “Do you know what it means?” “No,
I’m afraid I don’t.” Miss Langley
lost the smile so quickly and looked away.
“Why don’t you look it up in a dictionary that does have that
word?” Melanie
suddenly felt uncomfortable again. “Yes, ma’am. Thank you,
miss,” she said softly. She left
the classroom and proceeded to the outside for morning recess. Miss
Langley looked up at the little girl student with a sour face. “Premiere’s daughter, indeed.
The daughter of a crook.” Melanie was walking across the school park
slowly. As she passed by, she
could hear what the other students were saying about her, but she did
her best not to pay attention to it.
No matter how much it hurt deep inside her heart, she pretended
not to notice what they were saying. “Hey,
there she is. Isn’t that the
girl?” “Yeah,
that’s her. I can’t believe she’s
a student at this school.” “She
shouldn’t even be here. Doesn’t
she know that people don’t like her father?” “Her
father is the Premiere of Ontario. He’s
nothing but a common criminal, isn’t he?” “My
parents said that, too. They
said her father is a crook.” “Her
father should go to jail.” “Maybe
she should go to jail with him. I
don’t like her.” “Look
at her, just walking around like she was the queen of the school. Who does she think she is?” “Who
cares about her? She’s probably
going to be just like her father when she grows up.” Melanie
closed her eyes and felt them become misty when she opened them again. She began to start walking much more quickly.
She ended up running towards the farthest part of the school
park, where she stopped at a tree and tried to catch her breath.
She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and shook her head, as if
to shake out of her mind the mean things the other students said behind
her back. After
a while, Melanie just started walking in circles. She ended up from once side of the school park
to the other side, but she did not pay attention to where she was going.
Children would pass by her occasionally but they just ignored
her. A
tiny little girl, who was probably a Grade 1 student, was running across
the school park. She was running
probably a little too fast when her foot struck a stray root that was
partially in the ground. She
was just a few feet away from Melanie when that happened.
Melanie gasped as the little girl tripped and fell, and the little
girl started to cry. Melanie
approached the little girl quickly and knelt down beside her. “Oh,
no, are you okay?” Melanie said to the little girl, but she did not
say anything. She shook her head
as she continued to cry and sob rather loudly.
“There was something in the grass and you must have tripped over
it. But you’ll be okay. I know you’ll be okay. You’re not bleeding or anything.” Melanie
talked to her with a very soft voice and she tried to smile. The little girl’s sobs began to quiet down and
she looked at her knees and saw that there was no blood on her. “See? You’re okay,” said Melanie, being as sweet as
she usually was. Melanie smiled
and the little girl started to smile at her, too. “Hey,
you!” someone shouted. Melanie
looked up and saw that a boy was coming towards her. He appeared to be one of the slightly older
students, probably in Grade 5. “You’re
that girl, aren’t you? The one
whose father is the Premiere of Ontario?
He’s a criminal! You get
away from my little sister!” shouted the boy and Melanie gasped.
The boy took hold of his little sister and had her get up. The boy glared at her again. “You made my sister cry, didn’t you? You’re just like your father! You’re a bad person just like him!” A
horrible pain shot through Melanie’s heart.
The boy began to walk away with the little girl behind him. His sister looked back at Melanie, who was still
kneeling on the ground, her hands at her heart, as if she was feeling
the pain physically. Melanie was walking down the hallway towards
her classroom. She noticed a
small group of girls who were the same age as she was talking and looking
at her. They were whispering
things to each other’s ear as they all looked at her.
It made Melanie feel extremely self-conscious. She stood at the entrance of her classroom and
there were two girls and a boy who were standing at the door. Melanie looked up at them, and when she did,
they all looked at her as well and then began to walk away. She
entered her classroom but someone brushed past her roughly while entering
the classroom at the same time. “Get
out of the way, you,” said the boy who walked past her. This
school had a strange atmosphere to Melanie. All
the students were taking their seats and Melanie took hers as well. When everyone was sitting down, everyone was
still talking to each other. That’s
when Miss Langley stood up from her desk and she stood in front of the
class. “Everyone
settle down now, please,” she said.
The entire class soon stopped their social chatter and listened
in on what their teacher was about to say.
“I don’t normally do this, but…it’s time for a pop quiz, boys
and girls!” “What?!”
said several students at the same time. Melanie
looked up at her teacher and wondered what she meant by that. “It’s
just a short little quiz. Don’t
panic now,” Miss Langley said with a smile.
“It doesn’t count for anything, so don’t worry about it. I’m going to start handing out the question
sheets, so I hope everyone has a piece of paper they can write their
answers on?” “Yes,
ma’am,” said some of the students. A
pretty girl with long blonde hair who was sitting on the desk to the
left of Melanie was frantically looking for some paper through her binder,
but she could not find any. She
began to look rather stressed and frustrated at the same time. And she looked embarrassed as well. Melanie noticed that immediately and took out
a sheet of paper. She offered
it to the girl. The
girl looked up and saw who was offering her a sheet of paper. She seemed like she was about to thank her,
but a frown appeared on her face. “I
don’t want your stinking paper,” said the girl. Melanie’s
heart broke again, as it had several times today already. She took back her sheet of paper and placed
it inside her binder. She took
out another sheet that she was going to write on herself. The teacher gave out the question sheets to
everyone and the pop quiz began. After
about a half hour, Miss Langley marked all the quizzes and she began
to hand them all back to the students. “Remember,
everyone. This doesn’t count
for anything. It’s just going
to show you how well you’re doing in math class,” said Miss Langley. Melanie
received her quiz and she saw a big A-plus on it. The girl that was beside her, the one who did
not want the sheet of paper that Melanie was offering her earlier, looked
and saw the big A-plus on Melanie’s quiz.
The girl looked at the score on her quiz and it was A-minus. She looked a little bit annoyed by that. “Hey,
Kelsey, are you okay?” said another girl.
Melanie looked up at the girl to her left. Her name was Kelsey Rayne and she was the one
with long beautiful blonde hair. “Yeah,
I’m fine, Natasha,” said Kelsey. She
looked at Melanie, who was looking at her.
“What? What are you looking
at? You think you’re better than
me or something?” Melanie
gasped and looked away. “I’m
sorry,” she said very softly and very shyly.
She was too shocked and scared to say anything else.
Kelsey just smirked as if she had just won something. It was lunch period now in the cafeteria. Melanie went to a table that was in a far corner
and she took out a simple tuna salad sandwich and a little juice box.
She began to eat but she did not feel like eating at all.
After about 10 minutes, she had only eaten half the sandwich.
Her appetite was non-existent.
It’s been a horrible day for her, and it’s only halfway done. She
put down her sandwich and wrapped it up, for she could not finish it
anymore. She sighed and she looked
around her. All the students
were talking and eating together and they seemed to be having a good
time. All of them were from Grade 1 to Grade 6, hanging
out together like the friends that they were. But friends were something that Melanie did
not have in this school. But
she just kept quiet about it. A
slightly chubby boy who was in Grade 6 was carrying a rather precarious-looking
tray of food that he had bought from the counter area where students
could buy lunch. There were two
other boys with him, who were telling him to be careful because he looked
like he was about to drop everything as he struggled to keep himself
balanced. “Oh,
my God, Danny, you should really be careful with that,” said one of
the boys. “I
know, eh? That looks really dangerous.
You might spill it on yourself or someone else,” said the other
boy. Danny,
the slightly chubby boy, shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it, Adrien, Erin.
There’s nothing to worry about.
I have everything under control,” he said with a big smile on
his face. He seemed quite proud of himself. Erin
and Adrien looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “Is that so?
I hope…really hope…that you’re right about that,” said “Seriously,”
said Adrien. Danny
was about to pass by the part of the cafeteria where Melanie was sitting. Erin and Adrien were behind him, hoping he wouldn’t
spill anything. Melanie did not
even notice him. However, she
most definitely noticed him when he cried out. Danny
tripped. “Look out!” he shouted. Adrien and The
tray of food fell forwards, spilling all of its contents, including
the very tall glass of grape juice that was on it.
Melanie closed her eyes as the food and drink spilled all over
the table in front of her and all over her as well! Erin
and Adrien looked on with surprise.
The slightly chubby boy named Danny, who had spilled everything,
got up from the floor and he looked like he was okay.
He looked at Adrien and Erin and he smiled and laughed in a slightly
uncomfortable and embarrassed way. “See? I’m okay. There’s
nothing to worry about,” said Danny. But
Erin and Adrien still looked quite worried, and they were not laughing
at all. “I think you better look
behind you, Danny,” Adrien said uncomfortably. When
Danny turned around and saw Melanie, it was obvious that she was not
okay at all. There
was food and juice all over the front of her school uniform! Some of the juice was on her face as well, and
her sleeves were totally soaked! What
a mess! Melanie stood up and
frantically brushed the food off of her clothes as the students that
were nearby began to laugh at her. She
got the food off, but the juice had soaked right through her uniform. Danny
looked embarrassed. “Um, sorry
about that!” he said quickly. Melanie
felt small as the laughter around her pounded at her and crushed the
broken pieces of her heart. Her
hands went to her mouth to try to cover her shock.
And then she tried to cover her ears and close her eyes to try
to filter out the images and sounds of laughter. Danny
looked very uncomfortable and looked at Erin and Adrien. “I
think you just made her cry…” said “Shut
up, Someone
grabbed Melanie from behind and began to escort her away from the laughter.
It was Miss Langley. “I’m
bringing you to get yourself cleaned up, Melanie,” said her teacher,
as she led the poor little girl through the cafeteria.
Melanie kept her head down and felt like she wanted to disappear. There
was a little girl who was her classmate who stared at her, and she had
the look of pity on her face. She
had medium-length dark hair and she wore a red ribbon in her hair. She covered her mouth in disbelief as she looked
down. In one of the storage rooms, Miss Langley
was looking through some of the closets that contained spare school
uniforms for the students. It
looked like there weren’t very many of them either.
She looked back at Melanie, who was sitting on a chair, completely
wrapped up in a blanket. Melanie
looked quite pitiful sitting there with a sad look on her face, her
face downcast. The school uniform she was wearing was hanging
on a hanger. Miss
Langley got a hair dryer and turned it, and she used it to dry off the
clothes that Melanie was wearing. She
did not look like she was in a good mood at all. “Honestly,
letting something like this happen to you…” she whispered. “Being the daughter of the Premiere, you should
know better.” She closed her
eyes and she shook her head. Melanie
looked up at Miss Langley, feeling an ache in her heart because of what
her teacher said. Miss Langley
continued to try to use the hair dryer to dry off Melanie’s uniform. “I’m…I’m
sorry for the trouble I caused you…” she said very softly. Miss
Langley stopped for a second and she sighed and turned around towards
Melanie. “Yes, well…what’s done is done, right?” she said.
She turned towards the uniform again and took a look at the tag
that told her what size it was. “Come here.
Hold this dryer and dry off your clothes with it. I’m going to try again to look for a uniform
that’s the same size as this.” “Yes,
Miss Miss
Langley looked into closet after closet but she hasn’t found anything
yet. Melanie was starting to worry about that, especially
when she held her school uniform and found that parts of it were still
quite wet, and also the fact that it smelled like grape juice, and there
were stains on it as well. A
mere hair dryer wouldn’t be able to get rid of those. Melanie
looked down and sighed. “I have
to wear this the rest of the day…” she said. “No,
you don’t,” Miss Langley said with a stern voice and Melanie gasped. Melanie
turned towards her teacher. “Um…did
you find one?” “No,
I didn’t. I didn’t find a school
uniform that’s your size, but I did find one that is 2 sizes bigger
than that one. Do you think you can wear it? It’ll be quite loose.” Melanie
seemed worried about that. She
did not want to be embarrassed again.
“Is that okay?” “Well,
as long as you wear it properly, it’s not going to fall off. And I don’t think you have much of a choice
right now.” Melanie
thought about that for a moment and it seemed that Miss Langley was
totally right. It was either
a loose school uniform or one that was stained with cafeteria food and
smelled like grape juice. Which
one of them would be less embarrassing? “I’ll
take it, Miss Langley. It should
be okay…” she said softly. “Good.” Miss Langley took out the school uniform from
inside the closet and she went over to Melanie and took the hair dryer
from her. “You might as well
put your school uniform away so you can have it washed at home.
Here you go.” Miss
Langley offered the new school uniform to Melanie, and she took it. She looked down at it for a while and hesitated,
but there was no other choice. “So
what are you waiting for? Put
it on already. Are you going
to stay here all lunch period?” Melanie
was startled by that. “I’m so
sorry,” she said softly. She
proceeded to put the school uniform on while Miss Langley folded up
Melanie’s real school uniform. The spare school uniform really was 2 sizes
too big for her. It was quite
uncomfortable, because she had to constantly adjust the waistband of
her skirt and pull on her sleeves to make them seem shorter. It
was still lunch period. Melanie
sat on a bench that was in the school park.
On her lap was a pad of paper and she held her pen. She was writing on the paper pad. There were words on the top of the page that
seemed like a title. It said
“My Heart”. It
was a song that she was trying to write.
She had completed about half of it and she was trying to think
of some things to write for the second half of the song. She closed her eyes, trying to dream of herself
singing that song and how it would look like. She also dreamed of how it would sound like
as well. She wondered if there
should be background vocals as she dreamed of herself singing the song. A sweet little smile appeared on her face and
she opened her eyes. “Well,
well, well. Look at who’s here.” Melanie
was startled. It was a girl’s
voice, but a girl who was older than she was.
Two young girls who were in Grade 6 came from behind the park
bench she was sitting on and appeared in front of her.
She suddenly felt very shy and looked down. “So,
you’re name is Melanie, right?” said the second girl. Melanie
tried to say something, but the words would not come out. “Hey,
answer her! You’re Melanie Thompson,
aren’t you?” said the first girl. She
nodded her head slightly. “Um,
yes, I’m…I’m Melanie,” she said very, very softly.
Her voice was very soft and very shy and the two girls could
tell that she was a little scared as well. The
two girls smiled but they did not look like friendly smiles at all. “I see. So,
Melanie Thompson, what are you doing here all by yourself?” “Oh…um,
nothing important, really…” said Melanie. “Is
that so?” The second girl smirked
as if she had an evil plan up her sleeve.
She grabbed the paper pad from Melanie’s hands.
“What’s this you’re writing?” Melanie
gasped a little and was surprised. The
two girls began to read what she was writing on the paper pad. She looked down. “What
is this, anyway?” said one of the girls. “It’s…it’s
just a song…that I was thinking about…” Melanie whispered. “A
song?” said the first girl. They
both looked at each other and they started laughing.
“This song totally sucks! What
kind of crap is this? Look at
this!” “’My
heart, oh, my heart, I feel like it’s been broken’?” said the second
girl and she started laughing as well.
“’Shattered pieces blown away, forgotten and forsaken’? What the hell kind of song is this? Is this some kind of love song?” Both
of them were laughing. “Gosh,
it really, really sucks!” They
tore the sheet Melanie had been writing the song on out of the paper
pad. Melanie gasped and her hands flew to her mouth,
her eyes wide open. Another horrible
pain shot through her heart, just like so many times before, but this
time, it felt much worse. “What
do you think you are anyway? You
think you’re a singer? This is
what I think of your song.” The
two girls ripped the paper in half and began to tear them into tiny
little pieces. They threw the pieces into the wind, and the
wind blew them all away. Melanie
stood up quickly to try to catch a large piece that was about to fly
away but she was unable to catch it, and she fell on the grass on her
knees. The
two girls laughed and began to walk away. “What
a lame geek,” said the first girl. “I
know. Let’s get out of here,”
said the second girl. The two
of them walked away. Melanie
looked down and caught a tiny piece that was already on the ground. She looked at the only thing that was written
on it and it was the title of the song, “My Heart”. The wind blew it out of her hand and tears began
to stream down her cheeks. That
same little girl, with medium-length dark hair wearing a red ribbon
in her hair, from Melanie’s class who had seen her in the cafeteria
all covered in juice was close by, hiding behind a tree. “They
tore up my song. I was only halfway
in finishing it, but they tore it up.
Is that really how bad my song was?
It seems like everyone’s against me in this school. From morning until afternoon, when school was
over, people made me feel bad. I
wish…I wish I could just disappear and never be seen by anyone alive
again…” Melanie was walking home from school slowly
with her schoolbag and lunch bag. The
sun had stopped shining and dark clouds were moving in quickly from
the west. It looked like it was
going to rain any minute. She
wondered if she brought her umbrella with her and she remembered that
she did. There
were some birds on the sidewalk in front of her, so she stopped and
opened up her lunch bag. She
opened the wrapper that contained her half-eaten sandwich and she began
to pick little pieces of it off and threw them to the grass.
The birds began to eat those pieces of bread. Melanie
knelt down beside the sidewalk and threw more pieces of bread. The tiny little birds ate them quickly. “Birds
are so free. They can do anything
they want. They can fly high
in the sky and they can almost touch the stars,” she whispered to herself. She threw the last piece of the sandwich and
the birds ate it up very quickly. Very
soon, it was gone. Melanie
stood up and sighed and looked up. “I
don’t know what to do anymore,” she said very softly, and then she felt
a drop of rain on her cheek. Rain
drops began to fall from the dark clouds above her and the birds that
were feeding close to her had flown away to try to find shelter. Melanie
reached into her schoolbag and pulled out her umbrella. She walked towards the home of her Grandma Annabelle. Oh, wait, she had to remember that this was
now her home as well. She walked
slowly as the raindrops tapped gently on her umbrella. “I’m
all alone. My friends are so
far away. My mother and my father
left me here. My own grandmother
doesn’t seem to like me. My classmates
and my own teacher don’t even like me.
I’m all alone. I’m all
alone. It’s like…I’m the only one here and no one sees
me.” Melanie
stood in front of Grandma Annabelle’s house. “I’m
all alone…” she said softly. But
she didn’t realize that she had been standing there for several minutes,
thinking to herself. The front
door of the house opened and Grandma Annabelle appeared. “Melanie!”
she called out. Melanie
immediately came out of her trance-like thought processes. She blinked a couple of times and saw her grandmother. “How
long are you going to stand there? Are
you planning on day-dreaming the rest of the afternoon standing in the
rain?” her grandmother said to her with a very strict tone of voice. “Grandma,
I’m so sorry!” Melanie said, and quickly walked towards the house. Once she in the front porch, she collapsed her
umbrella. “Leave
the umbrella outside. Do not
bring it inside!” “Yes,
Grandma,” she said. Melanie put
the umbrella on the wooden floor of the porch and she went inside the
house. She felt Grandma Annabelle’s intense stare piercing
into her back, but she dared not look back because if she did, she had
a feeling that she would be extremely angry at her. “What
is wrong with this child?” said Grandma Annabelle. Grandma
shook her head and took the umbrella that was on the floor, opened it
up, and made it lie on its side, so that the water would drip away from
it. Then she went inside as well. Melanie drank a glass of water. She just came home about 15 minutes ago. She wondered what she was supposed to do with
the glass that she had just used. She
looked around and went towards the kitchen sink. She remembered what Sylvia had taught her about
dishwashing and so she took a soapy sponge, ran some water, and began
to wash the glass. She
hoped that she did things right. Melanie
came out of the kitchen and saw her Grandma Annabelle sitting down on
the couch and reading a book. The
television was on. Suddenly,
a newsflash came and it was about Premiere Thompson.
Melanie looked up and gasped and Grandma Annabelle looked at
the television as well. “Allegations
continue to surface left, right, and center against the new Premiere
of Ontario, Mark Thompson. The
allegations accuse Premiere Thompson of defrauding the Melanie
stood near the stairs, staring at the television with shock. Grandma
Annabelle sensed that she was standing there and looked behind her. She sighed and shook her head. Then she stood up. But she stopped. She stared at the television screen for a minute
and then threw down the book she was reading on the table loudly and
Melanie was startled. “Your father! The Premiere of Melanie
felt frightened. “What
a horrible mess! It’s a totally
horrible political mess, Melanie! And
it was your father who started this whole political mess!” Melanie
felt like she was shrinking even smaller as more pain shot through her
heart. “His
dream was to lead the province into a better future? What is he thinking? Your father is quite the man, isn’t he? He would talk about promises like that, and
look at the political mess that he got himself into!” More
pain, more shards of a broken heart. “This
whole political mess is your father’s fault!” Melanie
gasped and her hands went to her heart, as if her heart really had broken
into little pieces literally. It
certainly felt like it did! “And your mother! Your
mother did a stupid thing marrying that pathetic excuse of a man who
calls himself your father!” Melanie’s
knees felt weak and she grabbed hold of the railing that was at the
bottom of the stairway that led upstairs.
She felt a little bit dizzy as her Grandma Annabelle turned off
the television and walked away towards the kitchen. “Mama…Papa…”
she whispered, her eyes becoming misty. She
was alone in the living room. She
was alone in the world as well. Melanie had escaped into her room. But it did not feel like her room at all.
She felt like it belonged to someone else.
Perhaps, at one point, it did belong to someone else, and she
did not feel comfortable taking over the room of that mysterious someone. She
sat on her bed, holding her doll in front of her. “Hey,
Melanie, come outside and play with us!” shouted Janice. “Yeah! And then after that, we can go get some ice
cream!” shouted Jenna. It
was just a memory now. She closed
her eyes and looked down and hugged her doll even tighter. “That’s
what you must do, too, Melanie. It
may not happen now, but it can happen in the future. You must believe in yourself. That is what I want you to do. He fulfilled his dream. Now you must fulfill yours, even if you have
to leave us at this music school. I
have taught you so much already. I’m
not sure if there is anything left to teach you.
You’re a great singer to me, Melanie.
I hope you’ll keep on singing and touch people’s hearts like
you have touched mine.” Melanie moved forward and embraced Miss Tran,
who patted her on the head and smiled. “Be
strong, Melanie,” said her father. “Grandma
will take care of you. She has
agreed to help us protect you from the press, from the unwanted attention
that they will give us. In this
house, you will always be protected.” “We promise that we would visit as much as
we can, Melanie,” said her mother. “Let’s
write letters to each other so that we can always keep in touch.
And you know our phone number at home so you can call us anytime,
okay?” Sarah’s eyes were starting
to become misty as she embraced her daughter. “Oh,
Miss Langley, how could you say something like that? You thought I didn’t hear you, but I heard you
loud and clear, even if it was just a whisper…” Melanie said very softly. Miss
Langley looked up at the little girl student with a sour face. “Premiere’s daughter, indeed.
The daughter of a crook.” Melanie
was walking across the school park slowly.
As she passed by, she could hear what the other students were
saying about her, but she did her best not to pay attention to it. No matter how much it hurt deep inside her heart,
she pretended not to notice what they were saying. “Hey, there she is. Isn’t that the girl?” “Yeah, that’s her. I can’t believe she’s a student at this school.” “She shouldn’t even be here. Doesn’t she know that people don’t like her
father?” “Her father is the Premiere of “My parents said that, too. They said her father is a crook.” “Her father should go to jail.” “Maybe she should go to jail with him.
I don’t like her.” “Look at her, just walking around like she
was the queen of the school. Who
does she think she is?” “Who cares about her? She’s probably going to be just like her father
when she grows up.” Melanie closed her eyes and felt them become
misty when she opened them again. She
began to start walking much more quickly. She ended up running towards the farthest part
of the school park, where she stopped at a tree and tried to catch her
breath. She wiped her eyes with
her sleeve and shook her head, as if to shake out of her mind the mean
things the other students said behind her back. “Hey,
you!” someone shouted. Melanie looked up and saw that a boy was
coming towards her. He appeared
to be one of the slightly older students, probably in Grade 5. “You’re that girl, aren’t you? The one whose father is the Premiere of A
pretty girl with long blonde hair who was sitting on the desk to the
left of Melanie was frantically looking for some paper through her binder,
but she could not find any. She
began to look rather stressed and frustrated at the same time. And she looked embarrassed as well. Melanie noticed that immediately and took out
a sheet of paper. She offered
it to the girl. The girl looked up and saw who was offering
her a sheet of paper. She seemed
like she was about to thank her, but a frown appeared on her face. “I don’t want your stinking paper,” said
the girl. “What
do you think you are anyway? You
think you’re a singer? This is
what I think of your song.” The
two girls ripped the paper in half and began to tear them into tiny
little pieces. They threw the pieces into the wind, and the
wind blew them all away. Melanie
stood up quickly to try to catch a large piece that was about to fly
away but she was unable to catch it, and she
fell on the grass on her knees. The two girls laughed and began to walk away. “What a lame geek,” said the first girl. “Even
Grandma Annabelle, too…” she whispered. “This
whole political mess is your father’s fault!” Melanie gasped and her hands went to her
heart, as if her heart really had broken into little pieces literally. It certainly felt like it did! “And your mother! Your mother did a stupid thing marrying that
pathetic excuse of a man who calls himself your father!” Melanie
opened her eyes. She sighed and
she wiped her eyes of the mist that was forming, and she put her doll
aside. She
remembered that she was supposed to write a letter to her two best friends
who were living in She
went to the study table and took out another paper pad and she began
to write something. “I
have to write a letter to them,” she said softly. Melanie
started to write a letter to her friends.
She decided to write the letter by addressing both of them. What she planned to do was copy the letter once
so that she would have two copies of the letter and she would mail one
to Janice and mail the other one to Jenna. Dearest
Jenna & Janice, How are you doing? I’m writing this letter at night. Jenna, you’re probably reading a book or studying
really hard. Janice, you’re probably
playing video games. I know that’s
what you like to do by this time of the night. I miss you both! I miss talking to you on the phone. I miss our 3-hour long telephone conversations
where we talked about everything and sometimes about nothing at all. It was always a lot of fun and I miss the good
times. Right now, I’m living with my grandmother,
Grandma Annabelle. A lot of things
have happened that made me really confused and scared. First, my father won the election and he became
the Premiere of Please don’t worry too much about me. I know that you both are busy and have lots
of things to do and you have your own lives.
There are a lot of things that I’m dealing with, but I know that…maybe
someday things will get better. I’m
still going to try to follow my dream of becoming a singer. I haven’t forgotten that promise. It’s a promise I made to myself and to you and
to my vocal teacher Miss Angela Tran at the music school. We’ll see each other again and we’ll be together
again! I promise you that. And when that happens, I’ll be a singer and
my dream will have come true! I
can’t wait for that day. I hope
that everything is going well with the two of you.
I’ll be okay so please try not to worry about me. Let’s just do our best in fulfilling our promise
to each other that someday we’ll be together again. I miss you, Jenna, Janice. I miss you and I love you both very much. Please take care! Your
loving forever best friend, Melanie Melanie
read the letter again and as she read her own letter, her eyes felt
misty. She closed her eyes and she signed and she wiped
away the tears that were building up with her handkerchief. She missed her friends so much that she wanted
to cry. She put the letter aside.
She would try to mail the letter tomorrow when she gets the chance. Then,
she remembered the song that she was trying to finish earlier today
at school, the one that was destroyed by two girls from the Grade 6
class. She had been working on that song for just a
short time. Last night, she had
completed the first half. But
that first half was destroyed already.
She tried to remember what she had written in the first half
of the song so that she could try writing it down again.
She thought about it as hard as she could. On
another paper pad that she took out from the drawer, she wrote down
“My Heart” on top of the page and then wrote her name down. She closed her eyes and thought about what she
was writing last night and earlier in the day. The
sounds of people cheering filled the air and the sky was filled with
twinkling stars, little tiny stars that floated upwards from a stage,
some kind of lovely special effect.
On the stage were a few young people, maybe in their teenage
years, playing different musical instruments, such as guitars and keyboards.
Different-colored laser beams shot up into the sky in different
directions. On a large screen
above the stage was the face of a famous pop singer. Melanie was singing on the stage and dancing
at the same time, the ribbons of her costume flying around her. Her costume sparkled like diamond dust as she
danced and sang, holding a microphone in her hand. Her costume was pure white and one side of her
skirt was much longer than the other.
She wore a brightly jeweled necklace around her neck and there
was a golden and diamond tiara on her head.
She sparkled like the stars as she sang like a beautiful angel. I wanna
be your happy dreamy love I wanna
spread my wings like a dove Fly with me all the way to the
starry night Fly to the sky and bask in the
starry light I wanna
be your happy dreamy love (happy dream love) I wanna
spread my wings like a dove (wings like a dove) Fly with me all the way to the
starry night (to the starry night) Fly to the sky and bask in the
starry light (in the starry light) Starry love dream (Happy dreamy love, wings like
a dove) (To the starry night, in the
starry light) Starry love dream, I love you! As she finished her song, people cheered
and applauded loudly. Melanie
curtsied adorably and she smiled at everyone who loved her music. “Thank you so much! I’m so happy that you came to my concert tonight!
I want to keep on singing and continue to touch the hearts of
everyone in the whole world! Thank you so much! I love all of you!” said Melanie to her audience. Melanie had fallen asleep, her head resting
on the table, still in her borrowed school uniform. On the paper pad that she had been trying to
re-write her song on… the song was halfway done already. She was able to remember the entire first half
of the song, word for word, and she was able to write it down once again. The End (to be
continued) Ending theme song “My Heart” by Starry~en~Luv My heart, oh, my heart, I feel like it’s
been broken Shattered pieces blown away, forgotten and
forsaken Carried away by the cold wind of the winter
storm That took my life away, too much pain to
form I feel like the whole world has crashed
around me I want to hide away, to a place where I
can be free But it might be nothing more than a cruel
illusion The cold world’s chill has broken my concentration If only there was a way to pick up the pieces
and move on (If only there was a way) If only there was a way to dream again and
carry on (If only there was) Why does my heart continue to dream despite
it all? (Why does it continue?) The starry love dream, I hope would give
me a call (Oh, the starry love dream!) (My heart must love again…) Why do I still dream when my heart has been
broken? Will my dreams be nothing but a memory forgotten? Please help me find another way to realize
my dream Push away the cold currents of the torrential
stream (My heart) This is my life, my wish, my
world, and my heart (My heart) Help me find a way to mend the
pieces of my heart My heart must love again! So far away, even if you’re so far away
from me I‘ll never forget you, I’ll fulfill my promise,
you see I feel sad and I feel lonely, like I’m the
only one here But I know that you’re here, to chase away
my fear My heart is longing for you; I don’t want
to be alone We have to bear the pain, the sadness, the
hurt, all alone Oh, I want to keep dreaming, oh, I want
to keep singing Diamond dust flying in the sky, my broken
heart is crying There is a way to pick up the pieces and
move on (There is a way) There is a way to dream again and carry
on (There is always a way) My heart needs to continue to dream despite
it all (My heart must continue) The starry love dream, I know it will give
me a call (Oh, the starry love dream!) (My heart must love again…) Why do I still dream when my heart has been
broken? Will my dreams be nothing but a memory forgotten? Please help me find another way to realize
my dream Push away the cold currents of the torrential
stream (My heart) This is my life, my wish, my
world, and my heart (My heart) Help me find a way to mend the
pieces of my heart My heart must love again! (My heart, oh, my heart!) This is my life,
my wish, my world, and my heart (Love again, oh, love again!) Help me find
a way to mend the pieces of my heart My heart must love again! Preview for Next
Episode Melanie’s narration: Melanie: “I had such a rough
day at my school…It was the worst school day of my life. My teacher doesn’t like me, the other kids don’t
like me, and some girls even ripped up a song I was trying to write!
It was horrible. It made me cry so much.” Melanie: “So many kids in this
school totally hate my guts! I
don’t know what I’m supposed to do!
I feel like I just want to run away and hide somewhere, but there’s
nowhere to go! Even those kids who don’t know me don’t like
me, so I’m not really sure how is it that they don’t like me. Hey, wait a second. There’s this other girl in my class who’s been
looking at me a lot lately. She
wears this red ribbon in her hair. I
hope she’s not a stalker or anything.
No, wait, I don’t think she would so something like that. When I saw her…she seemed…like a really good
person. I wonder who she was…hmm,
let me think. Let me try to remember. What did my teacher Miss Langley say anyway
when she was taking attendance? Oh,
wait, I remember now!” Melanie: “Next time on Starry
Love Dream! Episode 3: I met a new friend! It’s
Hazel!” |
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