Michelle's Reading Log

Chapter one

In chapter one of the novel a new girl comes to Portland High. Her name is Cathy. She often has changed schools so it is the third school she visits in the past years. She knows that it is hard at a new school so she uses to make a good impression. For this she changes her character and plays her part as a nice girl. She knows when she doesn't do this she will become an outsider and never be part of a group. After Mr. Deedles, her homeroom teacher, introduces Cathy to the class and after the lesson is over, a boy comes to her and asks her for an interview about her school history and her hobbies for the school newspaper. His name is Jamie Hanson. At the interview, Jamie asks Cathy a lot of questions and also asks her to work for the school newspaper. Cathy wants to work for it. Also she wants to know Jamie better.

Chapter two

In chapter two of the novel three boys come to Cathy after the final bell has rung. One of the boys has a small head and empty eyes as a snake. Also he is tall and thin. He says to Cathy that she is a member of his club. She has to come to a short meeting once a week. The meetings will be next to the lockers. Also she has to pay five dollars a week for be a member of his club. When he speaks he hisses, so he sounds like a snake. Cathy doesn't want to be in the club. But when she says that the boy should go away he seizes her arms and throws her against the locker. She hurts herself when she brings up her knee betweet his legs to hurt him because he wears a cup. He wears it because he is a catcher. The boy warns her and says that he will hurt her and her little brother when she doesn't pay the dues. After this she has to give him the first payment. The boys go away and let Cathy alone. She stands there a while till she walks down the corridor to the main door.

Chapter three

In chapter three of the novel Cathy is in the school bus and thinking about what happens in school. At home her brother Mike asks her how her first day at school was. She doesn‘t tell him something about the boys who impended her. After Mike rides off to the park to play basketball Cathy wants to tell her mother what happened in school. But she knows that Eileen has been under a lot of pressure because of her new position as a manager for the new branch of a computer company. So Cathy will wait a few days till she tells her mother her problem. So when her mother comes home Cathy first listens to the problems her mother had had on her first day at her new job. Then she tells her that she will go in her room to finish her homework. But in her room Cathy sits on the floor and spends two hours there to think about how she can deal with her enemy. She finds a good strategy to sort out her problem.

Chapter four

In chapter four of the novel Cathy gives the Snakeman the money which he wants every week. Her strategy is to be non-resistance. But after a few weeks, the Snakeman comes to her and he not only wants the money. He sees that Cathy wears a necklace and wants that she gives it to him. Just after he pulls on it harder, Cathy gives him the necklace voluntary althought it is very important for her. She knows that she needs a new strategy. She forgets her thoughts about the Snakeman for a short time because Jamie calls her to ask if she wants to work for the school newspaper because one of their reporters is sick. Cathy plays her old role so it takes some minutes until she agrees. After the call she is concentrate on the Snakeman again. She realizes that her enemy is too strong to be beat alone so she wants to find help. But she must to be careful about which people she talks to because the Snakeman has many friends, also in high places.