Nobody's Perfect

Chapter 1: Glitter Emergency "Help!" Megan screamed in a voice so loud she rattled the windows. "I'm having a glitter emergency!" Megan had meant to sprinkle purple glitter onto her handmade birthday invitations, but only enough to add sparkle to her name. She had folded a piece of purple construction paper and written her name across it in big gooey loops of glue. The plan was to gingerly tap the bottle of glitter so that tiny amounts tumbled onto the glue. But Megan had been in her usual hurry and had forgotten to put the cap back on the bottle. With one quick flick of her hand she had knocked over the bottle, which she'd bought earlier that afternoon at Stratton's craft store. What a mess! Glitter was everywhere. Leave it to me to buy the giant size, Megan thought as she looked at the mountain of purple glitter covering her desk. Everything was buried in shiny purple flecks, even the notepad where she had written the names of the eleven girls in her fourth-grade class that she was planning to invite to her party. "Did anyone hear me?" Megan called out again. "I repeat! This is a glitter emergency!" Megan went to her bedroom door and poked her head out to see if anyone was coming to her rescue, but the upstairs hall was empty. Where is Mom? Megan wondered. Her mother was always there to remind Megan to do her homework or pick her soccer shorts up off the floor. Now, in the middle of a glitter disaster, she was nowhere to be found. Okay, where's Dad? thought Megan. But then she remembered that it was Saturday and he was probably puttering around in the garage. If Megan tried to talk to him now, he'd put her to work washing the car. Okay, so then, where's Matt? wondered Megan. Her brother was always right in her face when she didn't want to be bugged. Now, in her time of need, where was he? I'll just have to handle this myself, Megan thought with a sigh of resignation as she walked back to her desk. Megan Merrill considered herself a very independent person. She could take the bus to school by herself. She could go away to summer camp and not even be homesick. If she could do all that, she could certainly handle a glitter spill, even if it was one for the record books. It seemed to Megan that it was the biggest glitter spill in the history of the human race. Megan folded a piece of purple construction paper and held it in one hand. She cupped her other hand along the edge of the desk and began to scoop the glitter into a giant pile. Her nose itched but she resisted the urge to scratch. The last thing she needed was purple glitter up her nose -- she'd be sneezing sparkles for a week. After a few more careful strokes Megan had brushed the glitter into a considerable mound. Just as she moved the pile of glitter to the edge of the desk and pushed a chunk of it toward her cupped hand, her older brother, Matt, tapped her on the shoulder. Megan whirled around. The glitter went flying, scattering all over her rug. "Whoa!" said Matt. "What's with the fairy dust?" "Matt! Look what you made me do!" Megan said. "Me?" Matt said. "You don't need my help making a mess. Check out your room!" Matt had a point. Clothes were scattered everywhere and there was still leftover wrapping paper and ribbon on the floor from her late-night holiday gift-wrapping session over a week ago. "At least you could help me clean up this glitter," Megan said. "I could," MattMatlin, Marlee is the author of 'Nobody's Perfect' with ISBN 9780689869860 and ISBN 068986986X.