True Beauty, page 1

Sorry I haven't been blogging much in the past few months... I've had to use a different computer, and that makes things all "scrambled". (As I like to say.) But anyway, the other day I realized I hadn't put my new short story here yet, and while it's not very good at all, at least it's something, I guess. I don't even know if anyone reads my blogs, LOL; but anyways, here it is! ;)

13-year-old Erikah grabbed her pink backpack and raced out the door as the school bus screeched to a halt in front of her house. She moved to the back of the bus and tried to block out all the noise so she could study her spelling words one last time. “I buy all my clothes from designer boutiques.” One of the cheerleaders said smugly. “Where did you buy your outfit, Erikah?” Surprised, Erikah looked up from her spelling paper. She didn’t want them to know she shopped at thrift stores. “I don’t remember.” She replied. Cheerleader Girl flipped her movie-star blonde hair with her manicured hand and began texting away on her cell phone. “Probably some lame local place.” She said as she rolled her sapphire eyes. Erikah slid down further into her seat and ran her fingers through her plain brown hair. “Why didn’t God make me rich and beautiful like them?” She thought.

During science class when everyone was choosing a lab partner, all the popular kids scrambled for each other, leaving her with Carl Smitty… the geekiest kid in the whole school. Erikah sighed as she made her way over to his table. “Big surprise...” She mumbled to herself. “Aaaaalright students, today we will be studying bacterial growth.” Their teacher, Mr. Clarkson said. “Oh, cool!” One of the boys shouted. “Thank you for your enthusiasm, Jason; now please be seated.” Mr. Clarkson said firmly. “This is fascinating.” Carl said as he looked up from his microscope. The class immediately broke out into an eruption of laughter. Some prankster had put something black on the eyepiece of the microscope, leaving a dark ring around his eye. “Hey Smitty, did somebody punch you in the face again?” A boy named Mike yelled. “Order! There will be order in this classroom!” Their teacher bellowed. “Carl, go and wash that off and come right back.” Carl’s face glowed red with embarrassment as he trudged out of the room.

Nearly all the kids spent the whole bus ride home making fun of Carl and some of the other less popular people at school. Erikah didn’t find it the least bit funny, but she laughed along with them anyway.