The Attention Seeker

• Mia R, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2013

THE ATTENTION SEEKER
BY MIA ROBINSON
Let me tell you a story about my best friend, Eloise Parker. People don't call her by her name though.
Well they do now but let me tell you the story:
It was an average school day in class the year five classroom. The class had just finished our maths
sheet on algebra. Miss Silver (our teacher) called us to the mat so she could explain our next task. Eloise
sat next to me sighing a deep sigh. I looked at her and then looked back at Miss Silver. Miss Silver
explained to us that we were going to do art and (YAY!) it is my absolute FAVOURITE subject. When we
got back to our desks 15 minutes passed by in a flash! Everyone was asked to show the class their
drawing and of course everyone clapped (as it is the polite thing to do) but when it came to my turn
everyone violently applauded and clapped and oohed and ahhed! I smiled at them and sat back down in
my chair. Eloise gave me an unnecessary death stare and huffed and puffed at me: 'Why do you gat all
the big claps and the cheering?' I stared back at her (of course not the death stare), shrugged my
shoulders and looked away.
This silly old huffing and puffing and sighing and crying went on for weeks. She was being totally
unreasonable and why was she getting jealous about how I do at school? I finally told myself to go up
to her and ask her why she was acting so selfish and stupid (sorry Eloise). But no matter how hard I
tried I couldn't do it. So I went to Plan B. Tell everyone in year 5 to give her credit and applaud and
compliment her about what she does. But not like that (if you're thinking what I'm thinking). Stuff like
complimenting her on how well she opens and closes her lunchbox and compliment her on how amazingly
she holds her pencil and stuff like that. I could tell it was going to be great! So as soon as I could I told
all the year 5s about my master plan (not bragging or anything) and everyone got to work. Oh boy, it
was amazing! When it came to lunch at 1 o'clock my two friends Ben and Logan were walking over to eat
their lunch when they blurted out to Eloise: 'I love your lunch box, Eloise! It's very stylish!' Eloise looked
at me and raised and eyebrow. I shrugged at her but smiled. She looked at the boys. 'Thanks!' and
started eating her lunch.
When she finished her lunch (I had finished mine earlier) we went down to the oval. We decided to play
a game of tag. I walked slowly then turned to her and said: 'TAG! Your it!' I tapped her on the shoulder
and ran off. When she finally tagged me our friend Tia nearby yelled out to her: 'I love the way you run!
Such great technique!' 'Thanks so much!' Eloise yelled back running away from me.
Two weeks had passed and finally Eloise got annoyed. Eloise was happily tying her shoelace before sport
when Sheila commented: 'I love the way you tie your shoelaces! Such perfection!' Eloise huffed and
puffed in annoyance. She stormed off. She finally realised we were doing it on purpose. 'Thanks for
trying to help but its getting annoying now. I have always appreciated you for who you are. I shouldn't
of got jealous.' We smiled at each other, laughed and hugged in happiness. Every since then everything
has gone back to normal. Well, Eloise's attitude has changed at least.
And that was the story of my best friend 'The Attention Seeker', aka Eloise Parker. The (happy) End!