Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life

At school, there are posters everywhere for the annual art contest, and Nikki is determined to win because it could transform her from “a ‘socially challenged ART DORK’ to a ‘socially charmed ART DIVA’ practically overnight” (52). She gets in line for an entry form, but MacKenzie’s presence causes her to chicken out and sign up to be a library shelving assistant instead.

One day in French class, Nikki drops her perfume bottle on the floor, and the nozzle comes off so that the entire bottle sprays out. Nikki’s French teacher asks if she’s trying to kill him, and Nikki imagines an entire scenario in which MacKenzie frames her for the murder of their French teacher, ending the chapter thinking that “[her] pathetic life is SO UNFAIR” (64).

The next day, MacKenzie hands out invitations to her birthday party and is annoyed when Brandon Roberts, a cute boy, barely acknowledges her. Nikki has a crush on Brandon and writes a poem about him called “THE BIOLOGY OF MY HEARTBREAK” (69), in which she details how her feelings bloomed when he took a picture of her dissecting a frog in biology class.