Skin Deep

I stared into the bathroom mirror at my homely face. Painfully plucked a stray eyebrow hair. Squeezed a pimple. In spite of faithfully washing my face twice a day I still had acne sprinkled across my face. I pulled my thin brown hair into a ponytail and grabbed my toothbrush.

"Cassandra, hurry up, or you'll be late for school." My mother's voice called from downstairs.

"Okay," I tried to yell through my toothbrush and toothpaste. Not easy. I stuck my head under the faucet to rinse and bumped my head on the medicine cabinet.

"Ouch!" Great, now I'd have a bruise to add to my zits and big nose. I threw down my toothbrush in disgust and hurried out of the bathroom. I grabbed my backpack and scooted downstairs where Mom already had a bowl of my favorite cereal poured.

My little sister and brother were already there arguing over who got the last of the Lucky Charms.

"Hey, why don't you guys split it?" I asked as I poured my milk.

"There's not enough." Travis said while trying to pull the cereal box out of Jenny's hands.

"There would be if Travis hadn't spilled half of it yesterday." Jenny scowled at Travis.

"Shut up, you two, I'm trying to memorize this formula."

All eyes turned to the doorway. There stood my 17 year old sister in all her glory. It seemed to me that Tayla had inheirited all of my parent's good points and I had gotten all thier bad. She had Mom's bright, sky blue eyes. I had Dad's brownish green hazel eyes, like a mixture of mud and grass. She had Dad's tall, slim figure. I had Mom's short, sturdy figure. She had Mom's small, straight nose, while I had Grandpa Moran's large, bumpy one.

Tayla tossed back her long, thick, blonde hair(another trait from Mom) as she sat down and poured herself a cup of orange juice. She never ate breakfast. She said it was disgusting.

Jenny and Travis had grown silent the minute Tayla appeared. Tayla was notable for her quick and terrible temper. I wasn't notable for anything. I mean, I could get mad but every one just ignored me. Nobody ignored Tayla when she got angry.

I flinched inwardly as her cold gaze fell upon me.

"My Gosh, Cassie, is that another zit? You're 15 years old for crying out loud. Why don't you take care of yourself?" She bent her head over the formula she was supposed to be memorizing, pretending not to notice the angry tears scalding my eyes. I scraped back my chair and grabbed my backpack.

"Bye, Mom." I called, keeping my voice steady as I went through the living room.

"Bye, Honey. Don't dawdle after school," she called from the kitchen.

I slammed the front door behind me, and started down the walk. What was Tayla's problem, anyway? I mean, there she was, beautiful, popular, all the boys wrapped around her little finger, and she was picking on me? Did she think I wanted to have acne, or be ugly?

"Hey!"

A voice broke through my thoughts. I looked up. There was my best friend of, like six years. She was chubby, with glasses and freckles, and a little turned-up nose that I would've died for.

"Hi, Jessie."

"You don't sound very chipper today."

Jessie was always using these weird old fashioned words, like chipper. She watched a lot of old movies.

As we walked to school I told her about what Tayla had said. By the time we got there I was feeling a lot better. Jessie could always make me feel better.
_________________________

"All right, Cassandra Moran, will you please stand up and read your report?"

I had been sitting at my desk practicing deep breathing to calm my pounding heart, but when Mr. Wilson said my name, a jolt of adrenaline shot through me, making my heart beat harder then ever. I always got like this about reading out loud in front of the classroom. I stood, gripping my paper in sweaty palms.

"The..." my voice squeaked. I cleared my throat. I heard a titter behind me, then another. I decided to ignore them.

"The Making of the Declaration of Independence."
They were getting louder.

"Benjamin Franklin and..." The laughter was starting to drown out my voice. Mr. Smith rapped on his desk.

"That's enough class. Please continue, Ms. Moran."

Somehow I got through my report, and when the bell rang I bolted for the door. Laughter followed me into the hall. My mind was in a whirl. What in the world were they laughing at? I mean surely my voice squeaking hadn't been enough to send them into hysterics.

I stormed down the hall, the tears in my eyes almost blinding me. Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed my elbow. I turned around and looked into Jessie's warm, brown eyes. The sight of a friendly face sent me over the edge.

"Oh, Jessie," I sobbed, "It was terrible! They acted like, like..." I sputtered for a moment."Like I was Pokey the Clown or something! Then they..."

"Wait a minute," Jessie interupted me. She stopped me and reached behind my back.

"Look, you had a candy wrapper stuck to your butt."

I stared at the incriminating blue and white Almond Joy wrapper in her hand.I could feel my blood pressure rising.

"Why didn't you tell me BEFORE I went in there and made an idiot of myself?!"

"I didn't know until this very minute!" She looked rather hurt.

I had to admit to myself that I was being unfair. I sighed.

"I know, it wasn't your fault. I've just been having a bad day."

I didn't know it then but it was going to get worse.

Jared Coolidge called me "lard bottom". Josh Darnell tied my shoelaces together and I fell flat on my face in front of Alex Stackhouse, the cutest boy in school. In lunch Lisa Jones spilled Jello down my shirt, and to top it off, in band, Larry Card emptied the spit thingie on his trumpet onto my knee.

By the end of the day, I looked like I'd ran a 20 mile marathon. And lost.

I was standing front of my locker, dejected and alone, (Jessie having left school early for a dentist appointment) when I heard a stir down the hall.

It was Kayla Berry, Brittany Chase, and Lina Carlson, the three most beautiful and popular girls in school. They were walking down the hall, thier arms linked, popping bubble gum and giggling.

I stared with awe and envy at thier smooth, golden tans and sparkling white teeth.

Alex Stackhouse had been leaning on a locker up the hall, and now he straightened and swaggered toward the girls.

They met in front of my locker. Lina was standing so close to me that I could have reached out and touched her Tommy Hilfiger purse.

Alex grinned at them,"Hello, ladies. And where are you going on this fine afternoon?"

They giggled and Brittany said,"Ignore him girls, and maybe he'll go away."

They linked arms again and started walking, Alex following and saying,"You know, I was just let out of prison. I was in for pouncing on sweet, innocent, young girls." He smiled an evil, sinister smile and put an arm around Brittany.

I stared after them, still smelling thier perfume and hearing thier effortless banter.

How did they do it? Was it fate? Were they just meant to be beautiful and cool, while I was meant to be ugly and geeky?






This story is not complete. Hopefully I'll be adding on soon. Please tell me what you think!