True Beauty, page 3

Girls, time to get ready for school!” Erikah’s aunt called. Daina and Erikah hurriedly got dressed in their uniforms and ate breakfast, and then Aunt Kay drove them to the little middle school in town. “It looks a lot like my school.” Erikah thought. “Maybe this won’t be so bad.” But as soon as they walked through the door, she knew there was something very strange about it.

She rubbed her eyes and took another look around. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Everyone looked exactly the same! “W-what’s going on?” She asked her cousin wide eyed. Daina cocked her head to the side. “My mom didn’t tell you? Our president is running a scientific experiment. He wants to compare the differences of a normal town to a town where there are only two sets of DNA.” A girl identical to Daina waved to them as she walked by. “Come on, we’d better get to class.” She told Erikah as the bell rang. When their social studies teacher (who, of course, bore a striking resemblance to Aunt Kay) introduced Erikah to the class, they began furiously whispering to each other and giggling. She tried to ignore the stares from the other students as she shyly walked to her desk.

During lunch, Daina pointed to a girl and whispered, “That’s Amberly, the most popular girl in the whole school.” To Erikah’s surprise, Amberly began walking over to their table. “Hi! Mind if I sit here?” Daina scooted over to make room for her. “You must be Erikah.” She said smiling. “I’m Amberly. It’s nice to meet you.” Erikah was taken aback. This girl seemed genuinely friendly, but how was that possible? “This month I’m volunteering at an animal shelter. If you like animals, maybe you two could come with me sometime. The kittens are so cute! Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’d better get going. I have to help pick up all the empty cups and wrappers because the poor janitor broke his leg. My mom and I are going to visit him in the hospital after school. See ya later!” After she left, Daina sighed. “I wish I could be more helpful and friendly like her.” She said.