June 15, 2000

Well, today was the last day of school. There was a graduation ceremony for the 8th graders in the new gym from 8:30-10:30am. Then we signed yearbooks from 10:30-12:15, when we went to lunch. At 12:45, we went back into the new gym for more ceremonious stuff, which lasted until school ended at 2:15.

At the graduation ceremony, each teacher gave out awards to their students who did the best. I received a Certificate of Excellence from the music, theater, science, and algebra teachers, the Middle School Language Arts Award for writing, and a Certificado de Mérito from the Spanish teacher "por su excelente trabajo en español." [Man, I cleaned up at that middle school graduation awards ceremony.] And then everyone received a "Certificate of Award" from the principal for "Completion of Studies."

Anyways, I'm very sad that school's over, but I'm also excited for the summer. The year book is cool, because the 8th graders got to write a little "bio" next to their picture. But we wrote them in February, so they're a little outdated now. Mine says:

Emily Lindin

Quote: "Right... do your thing." [I guess I wanted people to think I said this a lot.]

Memories: parties, summer99, vids, gr7spn, VSS, LinsCasa, SB, s7 [Parties, summer99, okay... and you lost me. I have no idea what any of those other things mean.]

All in all, I got 69 signatures. Last year I got 70, which is counting stupid ones that just say, "Have a good summer" and nothing personal. I hate those, cause where's the memory there? In 6th grade, I only got 29 signatures because everyone hated me.

High school seems so scary! And there will be so much more responsibility, and... I don't know. I can't do anything except deal with it. Oh, well.

[This concludes the portion of my diary that I'll be posting online. Once I got to high school, I was able to continue focusing on academics, music, performing, and my friendships enough to overcome the reputation of the school "slut." I dated Steven until senior year of high school, when we broke up to go to separate colleges.

I graduated from Harvard University and moved across the country to pursue my dream career. I live with my husband, our baby daughter, and our adorable puppy in California. Life got so much better for me, and it can get better for every girl who is sexually bullied and "slut" shamed.

As of December 29, 2015, an updated, expanded version of this story is now available as a BOOK! You can check it out and purchase it here: http://zestbooks.net/unslut

I'm currently working on my first novel, "Night, Forgotten" and posting as I go here on Wattpad. My goal is to be done by the end of November - check it out and let me know what you think in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Emily