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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Outgoing (05/05/11)
She sits alone during lunch break, buried deep in her novel about some teenage heroine who saves the planet from destruction and then wins over the popular boy. She hears laughter coming from a few tables in front of her and for a brief minute she dares to glance their way. It was the girls from the cheerleading squad; so pretty and well put together – each one of them. Sandra wished she were like them, to even glance at these girls and get noticed could cause undo pain and humiliation. Sandra wasn’t smart, or outgoing like they were and as for her looks – well let’s just say she bore a striking resemblance to a giraffe. Her neck was long and lurched forward when she walked, her eyes were bulgy and her legs were disproportionate to her body. Everyone made fun of her, calling her Sandy Giraffe or Daddy Long Legs. She felt like a freak of nature.

Her gym teacher, Mrs. Wallace tried to encourage, saying that with her legs she’d make a great ballerina if she’d put in the effort to learn. But she was 14 years old all ready – what dance studio would want a gangly girl for a student?

Once she was invited to a slumber party, but when she got there she found out she was just invited on a dare – the others teased her all night long. When she asked them to stop, they said they would tell everyone she was a crybaby.

She sighs now as the Quarterback, Don Maloney; blonde hair, blue eyed wonder – approaches Greta, his female counterpart. They hug and kiss and act so madly in love with each other. Sandra wonders what will become of her – nobody dates a giraffe, nobody likes a loser it didn’t matter that she was smart and talented. She was tops in her oil painting class and first in the debate team, but these things spelled out nerd.

She leaves for her next class; no one even acknowledges she exists. It hurts to be invisible. She wonders how much more she will endure before she falls completely apart. Her parents say to ignore it and concentrate on her school work that someday those kids will be nothing and she will be successful and there will be a young man who will find her worthwhile. She wants to believe them, but somehow those days seem too far out of her grasp – what she really needs is a miracle from God – one that will make her beautiful and outgoing with one touch of His hand, but for now she’d have to just hope God didn’t find her invisible too
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This article has been read 607 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Dee Yoder
05/12/11
You've captured the angst of the teen who doesn't fit in very well. Touching story. The last line got me!
Ruth Tredway 
05/12/11
Fortunately, God does see even the most awkward of his children. I want so much to give her a hug and tell her this is not forever.
Cheryl von Drehle
05/13/11
This could be autobiographical for a lot of us writers! Very compelling piece, and I love the movement in it
diana kay
05/14/11
lovely....i wish you had given her a name... she repeated seemed so sad and maybe this as deliberate to make her that generic character.... but personally prefer named people in stories.... and the writer can have such fun thinking them up!
Mildred Sheldon
05/15/11
It is hard for a person who is confident in themselves to understand why someone who is tall and smart to feel such rejection, but if someone teases a young child they can end up seeing themselves as everything you described in your story. The ugly duckling syndrome is what I call it and they usually become introverted instead of outgoing. Thanks for sharing.
diana kay
05/19/11
well done on the HC :-)