All about Jessica

Jessica was an ordinary little girl who lived in an ordinary house
with her ordinary parents. She had an older brother called Nicholas who
was an ordinary teenager, which meant no one saw very much of him, and
if they did, he would be in a bad mood.

Jessica and her family all lived in a big city in a small house that
was only a short walk from Jessica's school. Jessica liked school,
especially reading, but she did not have many friends. In fact, she
only had one. His name was Edward.

During break times, when all the other children were running about,
Jessica and Edward would sit in a quiet corner of the playground and
talk. And they would make up stories, many, many stories about anything
and everything.

Edward liked to imagine he was a space captain, flying around the
galaxy, visiting new worlds and meeting all manner of aliens.

Jessica was usually a princess who would have to sort out all of the
problems caused by her brother, the lazy prince, but sometimes she
would be the kings' magician and battle with dragons.

At first Edward had tried to tell her that he should be the magician
and she should stick to being a princess.
"Why?" Jessica had asked.

"Because girls can't be magicians, they have to be witches."

"Why?" Jessica asked again.

And because Edward could not think of a reason, he eventually gave in,
just like he always did.

Jessica's' teachers would say she was a determined young lady; her
parents described her as headstrong. Her brother thought she was
stubborn and a pain in the bum. The children at school would point and
whisper that she was weird and even Edward thought that she was a bit
odd. That was why he liked her.

Jessica was a very tidy girl with a very tidy bedroom, unlike her
brother whose bedroom looked like a rubbish tip. Their mum said that it
was just a phase, that Nicholas would grow out of it and that, most
worryingly of all, Jessica's room would look just as bad once she was a
teenager.

It was for this reason that Jessica was not looking forward to her
birthday. It would mean that she was one whole year closer to becoming
a dreadful teenager.

"Why do I have to grow up?" Jessica asked her mum one-day.

"Because that's what people do. We're born then we grow up."

"I know that mother," said Jessica, folding her arms, "but I don't want
to be a teenager. Nicholas is rude and untidy, he's always in a mood
and he smells really bad."

"You're not Nicholas though are you. Just because your brother behaves
one way does not mean that you have to behave the same way. Lots of
teenagers are perfectly nice human beings."

Jessica gave her mum a look that said she did not believe a word of
it.

All of the teenagers she knew were just like her brother, even the
girls. In fact, Jessica thought that the girls were worse. This was
because whenever Nicholas and his friends were with girls they would
act stupid and try to show off. Obviously teenage girls were a bad
influence on teenage boys.

As far as Jessica could see there was only one thing for it; she would
have to jump straight into adulthood.

To do this she watched the adults to see what they did differently from
children.

The first thing Jessica discovered was that her parents found it hard
to wake up in the morning, though not as hard as her brother found
it.

Secondly, they had to wear deodorant all the time or else they smelt
bad. Her brother also wore deodorant although it was usually too much
or too little.

Thirdly, when you are an adult, you have to go to work.

Having a job did not seem to be as much fun as going to school; her
parents never brought home pictures they had painted or certificates to
say how good they were at spelling.

Lastly, Jessica noticed something very strange.

Usually, grown-ups behave like adults when they are with children; they
tell them to behave, tidy things away, not to swear and to act their
age. However, when a group of adults got together they sometimes
behaved worse than their children.

Teenagers, on the other hand, tended to always act like grumpy old
people - unless of course they were teenage boys around teenage
girls.

After some careful thought, Jessica decided against being an adult.