Popularity

I walked down the hall and tried to fend off my adoring fans, “I have to get to class. Please, can I have some space?”
  Since I was their “queen”, they all moved out of the way. My best friend, Raegan--the only one who liked me for who I was, caught up with me. The reason I knew she was a true friend was because we had been friends since the 1st grade--actually maybe even before that... yeah, we were friends since we were in kindergarten. She had been with me through good and bad. She had even seen me with braces and glasses at one point. I got nightly contacts to stay away from the glasses, and the braces went away as my teeth became straight.

“Hey Taylor!  Can I have your autograph?” A few kids behind me joked.

A few others exclaimed, “Yeah Taylor! Sing a song for us!”

I speed-walked away from them.

“Stop bothering her!” Raegan yelled.

“Hey thanks,” I replied to her.

Raegan smiled sweetly and said, “You know I’m always here for you.”


“Thanks, Raegan. You’re the best best friend anyone could ask for,” I replied honestly, and we did our handshake and waved goodbye as we walked to our next classes.  
After the bell rang, Mrs. Skift started lecturing us on the dangers of social media. Blah, blah, blah. I couldn’t concentrate anyway. Every time I tried to focus, all my mind would tell me was, You have no real friends... Make some real friends... You don’t deserve popularity... If you weren’t like Taylor Swift, you would be a nobody... and on and on. I doodled my face, except not my face. It looked more like Raegan’s or one of the girls who follow me around all the time... What’s her name again? Mollie, yes that’s her. I had drawn myself as someone else by “accident”, but my brain insisted it was on purpose. I didn’t want to be someone else; I just wanted to be who I am, not Taylor Swift.

“Sailer! Sailer!” Mrs. Skift snapped in my face.
“Huh?” I blurted loudly.
“You seem to be daydreaming while I am trying to teach,” she said with a strict voice.  
I looked down at my lap, and I sighed, murmuring, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Skift.”


“Now, since you are one of my favorite students, I’ll let you off the hook this time, but I better not see it again,” the teacher said with a wink. Ugh, even the teachers love me for being like Taylor. I’d rather live a normal life and not get special treatment.

“Okay, Sailer, to get you caught up, what do you know about the dangers of social media?” Mrs. Skift asked.

“Uhh... well, people can stalk you and kidnap you?” I took a wild guess, my face becoming red. I crossed my fingers under the desk.

The teacher had a surprised look on her face, but I couldn’t tell if it was because I had said the wrong thing or if she was surprised that I actually knew that.

She exclaimed, “Good job, Tay-oh, I mean Sailer!” She gave me a big hug full of fake love. Yes, my life is filled with fake hugs--it sucks.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, looking down at my desk.
“Well, you’re all caught up. Great job!” She exclaimed, emphasizing the “great.”
 Just then, the bell rang, and everyone, including me, scrambled to gather our things and raced out the door to lunch. I grabbed my binder, pencil, and book and headed to my locker. 12-30-02... 12-30-02... I thought as I did my locker combination. With a creak barely heard over the loud chatter of students, my locker opened up. I shoved my things inside and took out my lunchbox and water bottle. I slammed my locker door shut with a bang.

As I walked into the big, open hallway, the gang approached me. They giggled and walked alongside me as if we were having fun--which we were not. Smiling awkwardly, I walked with my head down to try and stop attracting attention to myself.

When I got home later that day, I went to Novo salon for a makeover to make myself look less like Taylor Swift. I usually do this once every month for good effect, but it usually goes back to looking the same within a few days. My mom drove me over to the salon and dropped me off. She supported me, because she understood how hard it was for me at school, but she didn’t want me to permanently change my look.  As I walked in, a light jingle greeted me at the door. I walked over to the station for my appointment, but my hair stylist wasn’t there. Instead, there was a tall, slim woman with pink and purple streaks in her beautiful blonde hair.

“Hi, I’m Sailer, and I’m looking for Mrs. Kim,” I told her politely.

“Ah, so you’re Sailer. I’m Ms. Smith, and I will be covering for Mrs. Kim today. She is out sick,” Ms. Smith explained, “Have a seat.”

“Oh okay,” I replied, taking in the information. I plopped down into the squishy swivel chair. “So today I will be changing your look as I’ve heard?” Ms. Smith asked.


I answered, “Yes... please.” 


With that, the artist got started.

“Can I please have my hair dyed brown?”

“Are you sure this is okay with your parents?” Ms. Smith asked.

I answered, “Yeah, she’s totally fine with it.”

She then dyed my hair a darker brown than Taylor’s. As it was drying up, she applied self tanner to my face to make me have tanner skin. Once my hair was dry, she straightened it to look unlike Taylor’s original hairstyle. Then, she swept my bangs off my face using a gel that made them look longer and could help them stick to the side. Soon, my bangs weren’t there anymore, and I looked nothing like Taylor Swift! I was so excited for school the next day! This artist had done a better job than Ms. Kim or anyone could do! I felt like a whole different person.

I walked into school feeling confident.

The wannabes didn’t even notice me. I ducked into my first period classroom without having anyone follow me around. I squealed with delight. The rest of the day went by smoothly until I saw Raegan.  Raegan had told me I should change my look if that’s what I wanted to do, and she definitely recognized me. When she was about to walk up to me, she turned and started talking to the new popular kid, Courtney. She was the most beautiful girl in school now that I had changed my look.

In case she really didn’t recognize me, I called, “Raegan! Raegan!”


She looked over at me, but just turned back around and started talking to Courtney.
  I couldn’t believe Raegan would betray me like that! After all we had been through together, she now only cared about being popular. I walked away with tears in my eyes. I tried to hold them back, to keep them in, but they poured out. I ran to the bathroom, locking myself in a stall. I knew I shouldn’t have been so upset, but the one person who was supposed to care about me turned her back on me--literally. The bell rang, signaling 8th period to start, but I didn’t care. I let the tears fall from my eyes, down my face, and finally plop onto my shirt, soaking it with the salt and water. I grabbed onto the wall to stablize myself. I was running out of tears, but I couldn’t seem to stop crying. When I finally tricked myself into thinking maybe she hadn’t heard me, and she hadn’t recognized me, I laughed at myself, thinking how silly I was. I wiped away the tears and blew my nose one last time into the tissue paper. Just as I walked out, the last bell of the day rang, dismissing everyone from class. The hallways went from silent and empty to loud and crowded all in a few seconds.

I grabbed my backpack from my locker and headed out the big doors to my bus. Raegan sat in our usual seat, but she was laughing with Courtney by her side. I stood by the seat, waiting impatiently.

As if just noticing me, Raegan looked up at me and exclaimed, “Oh hi, Sailer! Is it okay if I sit with Courtney today? She’s going to my house so we can study for the vocab test tomorrow.”

“Um... yeah, sure. I guess that’s fine.”

“Oh, by the way, sorry about today when I went to talk with Courtney, we had important gossip to catch up on.”

“Oh... uh... yeah okay,” I replied, shocked.


A boy behind me yelled, “Hey, kid! You’re holding up the line! Move it!”


I scrambled to get into an empty seat. After I sat down, I wondered what made Raegan change on me all of a sudden. The thought came to my head so quickly I felt faint; Raegan only wanted to be popular. She didn’t care about me. She cared about only herself and the popular group.

“Um, hi,” a shy girl interrupted my thoughts, “Can I sit here?”


“Oh, uh, sure,” I replied, moving my heavy backpack and lunch box onto my lap.


“Thanks,” she smiled.


I smiled back, “Yeah, no problem, have I seen you at school before?”


“Probably not. I just moved here from India a few days ago,” she answered.


“Wow, that’s cool. What’s your name?” I replied.


She answered, “Thanks, my name’s Kisha.”


“I’m Sailer,” I told her, and we high-fived.
“Mind if I take a look at your schedule?”

Kisha asked, “I really need someone I know in at least a few of my classes.”


“Yeah, sure let me just get it out of my backpack,” I answered, reaching into the depths of my backpack.
  After I handed it to her, she exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! We have eight classes together!”

“WOW! I’m so excited!”

.................


A week later, Raegan approached Sailer nervously.

“Hi,” Raegan said quietly.

Sailer replied, “Hi.”

“Listen, I’m really sorry for how I treated you the other day, I was being a jerk.  I’m really really really sorry for how horribly I was treating you, I never should have ditched you for Courtney,” Raegan said, “I hope you can forgive me for my mistake.  I realized you should really just be yourself.  I really hope we can be good friends again.”

Sailer paused for a moment, Raegan looking at her with hope in her eyes.

“Yes, of course we can be friends.  Just because you made one bad mistake doesn’t mean I’m going to ditch you,” Sailer hugged Raegan.

Raegan added, “By the way, I know you might not like Courtney, because I ditched you for her, but I think you should give her a chance.  She’s really nice and she didn’t know I was ditching you.  She would’ve said something if she had known.  If anyone should be blamed for this, it’s me.”

Sailer replied, “Okay, I think we would all make great friends.”