THE END OF THE END

Finished it. And I got a title I can live with. The book is 33,600 words long. I did two chapters this morning (been up since 3 AM) and the rest at work (It was a very slow teaching day at my school ... thank goodness).

I started off this morning writing chapters 23 and 24. Then I decided I had to do something about the title. It has been bothering me since I first titled it. In the story, Mr. Aleen, the alien, whose name I changed this evening to Mr. Etee, previously called all girls “Earth Princesses”. So, I decided to play on that and came up with Eric Dasher, Princess of Planet Earth. That seemed too long, so I changed it to Eric Dasher, Earth Princess. I liked it and went on with my day.

This evening, sitting in Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant waiting for my handicapped daughter to get off work so I could drive her to her apartment, I decided that the two halves of the new title should be more similar. As it stood, it was ED, EP, and I thought it should be EP, EP … and more poetic. So, now I had to change Eric’s last name. I decided his last name should start like the word “Princess”. Since I’m studying the Romanian language for my return trip to that country to get my sequel for To Be a Gypsy, the Romanian word prinzul popped in my mind. That sounded like a good last name, so the book will be called, Eric Prinzul, Earth Princess. And, oh, by the way. Prinzul means ‘lunch’ … no connection since the alien isn’t here to eat anyone.

In Chapter 23, Eric’s mother drives her to the movies. She kids Erica about her date until Erica can’t stand it. Then Jared and Erica go inside. While Jared buys popcorn and a drink, Erica uses the girls’ room. Chazity, from Erica’s old school, the girl he pestered to get into trouble with the alien substitute, recognizes her and tells the other girls in the restroom that Erica’s a boy in disguise. They force Erica out and she tries to get Jared in the movie before Chazity comes out, but when she sees Chaz and her sister coming toward the same movie, she bends Jared over and gives him a long kiss trying to hide herself. Too late! Chaz lets the cat out of the bag, and Jared runs out of the movie theater. Mission failed … again.

In Chapter 24, Mr. Etee returns to Erica’s room at night, but he is not angry. He understands that it was Chaztity (a slight name change here … just for the spelling … Chazity is the name of a real high school student I know) who came on the scene and broke up the date. He tries to calm Erica down, tucks her in, and tells her he will be making a big change in her life for the next day. (No, he’s not changing her back to a boy.)

In Chapter 25, Mrs. Prinzul comes in and finds Erica sitting at her vanity table. She asks to help her daughter, and finds her very cooperative. A bit shocked, Mrs. Prinzul, selects the choices of clothes Erica would have made yesterday. Erica turns them down and selects the clothes her mother selected the day before … clothes she had turned down. Accepting her mother’s offer to help her with makeup, unlike the day before, Mrs. Prinzul leaves. Her brother barges in, as before, but Erica’s attitude is filled with love for her brother, not like the day before.

In Chapter 26, Erica waits in his last period class after school with Meredith talking up a storm. She’s detected the change in Erica. Jared comes in, sees Erica, and leaves right away. Erica chases him down the hall and begs for another chance. Jared still thinks she’s a boy, and Erica proves she’s not by forcing a long kiss on him. He becomes convinced as he and Erica hear Meredith scream from the classroom. They run back to discover the same boys taking another kitten back in the woods. This time, Erica freaks out with Meredith and Jared don’t get it. The girls run out of the room.

In Chapter 27, Erica and Meredith arrive on the scene where the four boys are hitting the kitten with sticks. The girls rescue the kitten, but the boys attack Erica. Jared shows up and a fight breaks out. The boys are defeated, but not before Erica is knocked out. When she comes to, she’s turned back into a boy.

In Chapter 28, Eric meets his mother at the new school. She is a bit disappointed, but they bond and promise to be closer from now on. They know that Eric will have to change back to his old school now. In front of Miss Kornbaugh’s class, Eric meets his friend-in-crime, Frankie. He thinks Eric was forced to wear the girls’ clothes after being hypnotized by Mr. Etee. Three of the girls he shot spitballs at come by. Frankie waits for Eric to let them have it, but instead Eric kisses their hands and pays them compliments. Frankie tries some mischief, but Eric stops it and threatens Frankie. Frankie claims he’s skipping class and walks off. The girls believe the change in Eric and go into the classroom. Chaztity comes along and he sweet talks her and asks her out to the movies. She turns him down, and he tells her to ask the other three girls if she should date hi. They both go inside and see a different substitute teacher. When they sit, after Chaz has had a chance to talk to the other three girls, she agrees to date him. The principal drags Frankie into the classroom. When he leaves, the substitute asks Frankie to step into the supply room.

I ended the day at Sweet Tomatoes proofreading a second draft on the last half of the book, since I never got a chance to proofread from there since Saturday. I concentrated of finishing the first draft before Feb 6.