THE PLAIN GIRL
Written by Kit
Once
upon a time, there were three sisters. they were very happy, just the
three
of them and their mother and father. But one day, their mother decided
she didn't
love their father anymore, so she moved far away and took the three
sisters
with her.
Their mother finally married a kind man, and he brought with him two
sons and
two daughters.
The three sisters, who were quite a bit younger, did not like their new
brothers
and sisters, and the brothers and sisters moved away and started
families of
their own.
After a while, the mother had a baby girl. The three sisters, maybe because they were oh-so much older than the baby, or perhaps because they missed their real father and were closer to eachother, smiled and played with the baby, but secretly didn't like her.
As the girl grew older, the child of her oldest sister (who was only a few months older than she) was growing up too, and it was plain to see that her sister's daughter was going to be the prettier and the favourite of the two.
As
the two grew older, the pretty girl gained three younger sisters and a
younger
brother. the plain girl, as far as she was concerned, stayed an only
child.
In her sisters' eyes, the plain girl couldn't do anything right. Her
mother
gossiped to her sisters about the silly things the plain girl had done
in her
own effort to be accepted and loved.
Everything the plain girl did, the pretty girl could do better. the
plain girl
suffered in silence, and quietly listened as her mother and her sisters
criticized
her, until one day, the plain girl decided she wasn't going to be so
plain anymore.
She
wasn't going to try and be prettier than the pretty girl. She was going
to be
noticed for herself. So she began wearing strange clothes and carried
her possessions
around in a tin lunchbox.
She
would shut herself in her room for hours at a time, putting on makeup
to hide
the plain, ugly face her sisters had judged her on for so long. As her
sisters
and the pretty girl noticed this change, they began to laugh at her.
Her mother got confused and angry and said how the plain girl was
embarrassing
her. How the pretty girl looked oh-so much better. How the pretty girl
WAS oh-so
much better.
The
plain girl was determined not to let it get to her, but eventually it
began
to break her. She hid behind the mask of clothes and makeup and wore
long sleeves
to hide the criss-cross scars on her arms which spelled out her
insecurities
and hatred of everyone and everything. Soon, the sisters and the pretty
girl
grew tired of poking fun at her, the mother dismissed it as 'just a
phase' and
the plain girl was treated the way she was before.
But
it was then that the plain girl realised she liked dressing and being
the way
she was. It wasn't a case of trying to be different, and impress those
who depressed
her, it was a case of being herself. And if that was different, and if
it impressed
people, or scared them, or put a smile on their face-as long as it
wasn't hurting
anyone, it made her happy.
And slowly, the plain girl became prettier because she was finally
happy, until
one day, she was prettier and happier than the pretty girl, even if it
didn't
show itself in the same ways.
Her
mother still told her how the pretty girl was more successful and
things, but
the girl didn't listen. She was happy how she was. And eventually, she
found
other people just like her, and she was finally happy. And not so plain
after
all.
The End