Confessions of a Nerdy Girl

Wilhelmina Shisbey is unlucky number thirteen.... She's the thirteenth person in the world to be documented with H-SAM, (highly superior autographical memory). But Willa's reality only grows worse when her adoptive family moves from a Chicago suburb to Huntington Beach, California. That is, until she befriends the super-smart Marley Applegate, editor of the troubled school paper, and intentional under-achiever Cody Cassidy, who also happens to be the hottest boy at Triton Middle School.

As if starting a new middle school isn’t bad enough; now, I’m pretty sure my adoptive mom wants to send me back to the orphanage, my evil adoptive sister is trying to ruin my life, and the entire eighth grade thinks I’m a total dork because of an unfortunate beach experience involving a poisonous jellyfish. (OK, it was only a waterlogged plastic baggie that I mistook for a jellyfish, but still.) All of that, and more, recorded on the pages of this diary, and dedicated to “M” - the mother who gave me away.

My birth mom missed them all. She should have been there to tell me it was fine, to reassure me and hold my hand when I got scared. Instead, now I'll never get the chance to meet her because my dad's moving us 2,000 miles away - to California. But she needs to know what's happening. She has to understand what's going on in my life, what's important to me, and why I act like I do from time to time. That's why I started this diary. It's a collection of my thoughts, wishes, fears, and desires.