Beauty

A beautiful purple Techo stood on her sleep lawn, her dark hair flowing behind her in the brisk wind. She had bright red lipstick painted on her lips and her eyelashes were long and thick. She wore a pink mini skirt and a white blouse. She had a red book bag at her feet and a yellow lunch box in her hand. She was ready for school.

      "Hey, Kjersten!" The Techo turned around and smiled at a yellow Tonu that was heading her way.

      "Hi Bright," she replied. Her voice was like silk.

      "How're you getting to school today? Is Ari bringing you?"

      "No, Ari's working today. I guess we'll have to walk."

      Bright smiled when Kjersten wasn't looking. She was glad she had the opportunity to walk to school alongside her role model, even if Kjersten hated getting her high heels dirty.

      "Let's go then, shall we?" Kjersten motioned towards the route to school.

      Bright nodded and they were on their way.

      When they arrived at school Kjersten found multiple pieces of paper overflowing her locker.

      The Techo stuffed them in a paper bag to read at lunch. Every day she received papers like these. They were invitations to others' clubs, sports teams, or events. Everyone knew Kjersten's locker number. Even the nerds.

      At lunch Kjersten went through the invitations. When she got to the thirteenth paper she gasped. She had been invited to join the math team! Kjersten's favorite subject was math, but there was no way in Neopia she would ruin her reputation by telling people that!

      Kjersten received straight A's on all of her report cards. The teachers loved her, but no one dared to call her a teacher's pet.

      She crumpled the math team invitation into a ball and threw it at the nerds' table. It hit the back of Mary's head. The red Moehog turned around and stared at Kjersten, her eyes magnified three times their actual size by her thick glasses.

      "Math freak," Kjersten mouthed. Mary continued to gaze at her with a blank expression.

      "Idiot," she muttered, turning back to her precious flyers.

"Omigosh!" Bright cried, sprinting after Kjersten at the end of the school day. "Guess what!?"

      "What?" Kjersten asked, not particularly excited.

      "I asked Lance if he likes you as you told me to do, and he said yes!!"

      Kjersten stopped walking.

      "Are you serious," she asked. "You promise you're not just lying to please me?"

      Bright put up her right arm to show she wasn't lying.

      Kjersten's face suddenly broke out in a huge grin. Her life couldn't get any better! Lance, a yellow Lupe and the cutest guy in school, liked her! She squealed in delight and walked home with a skip in her step.

"Kjersten, can you answer the question on the board?" Ms. Renee asked the daydreaming Techo.

      Kjersten looked up at the chalk board. Her mouth dropped open. She couldn't read any of the words!

      "It's too small," she simply said. She was not losing her sight. No way, no how.

      "It's written very largely, Kjersten," the teacher said. "I think I need to talk to you after class." Then Ms. Renee continued the lesson as if she hadn't thought twice about it.

      But Kjersten thought twice. She had always been able to read the board from here. What was wrong with her? She finally decided she was tired, which caused her vision to blur.

      After class the purple Techo was called up to Ms. Renee's desk. She had a large piece of paper with random letters written all over it.

      "Stand there," Ms. Renee said, pointing. Kjersten obediently stood where the adult had indicated. "Now read the letters to me, beginning with the top row."

      The Techo got the first few letters correct; they were very large and clear. But she had trouble with the next rows. She stuttered and squinted, and was sure she had gotten them all wrong.

      "I'm just tired, Miss," she said when she was done taking the test. Ms. Renee didn't answer. She simply picked up a pen, wrote something on a piece of notebook paper and stuck it into an envelope.

      "Give this to your owner, please," the teacher said. She handed the envelope to Kjersten.

      Since Ms. Renee's class was the last one of the day Kjersten went straight home. Normally she would've opened up the envelope right when she returned home, but Ari was already there.

      "Whatcha got there, Kjersten?" Ari asked, interested.

      Kjersten threw the envelope at her owner angrily before storming up to her room.

Ten minutes later Ari climbed up the stairs to Kjersten's bedroom.

      "Kjersten, there's something we need to discuss," she told her Neopet. She sat down on Kjersten's bed and began. "That was a note from your teacher about your eyesight. She wrote that you needed glasses. We are going to stop by the store tonight to purchase good ones. Be ready by six thirty." Ari then stood up and left.

      Ari was always like that; quick and to the point.

      Kjersten tried to convince herself that nothing would change; everyone would still like her! Nevertheless she had a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach as she browsed through isles that were full of hundreds of glasses to choose from.

      The next day Kjersten fussed and whined as Ari walked her Techo to school, but it was no use. She would have to go to school, one way or another.

      When Kjersten walked through the doors of the school's entrance that morning the first thing everyone saw was her bright yellow bow that was used to tie back her dark, flowing hair. Then, as her eyes traveled downwards they gaped open-mouthed. Yes, the rumours were true. Kjersten, the most popular girl at school, needed and wore glasses.

      At first the other children weren't sure how to react. They all depended on each other; if the majority wanted to keep worshiping Kjersten like they had always done, so be it. However, that was not the case. The majority of the young Neopets at the school did not like the new look. And so the shunning began. It started in math class.

      "Hey, Kjersten," Carl, a semi-popular Grarrl said. Kjersten looked up and smiled.

      "Hi Carl."

      "What's your favorite subject?"

      Kjersten shrugged.

      "I've never really thought about it," she said, not particularly interested in the conversation.

      "Well, I think it should be math. That way you can be just like the nerds! You'll look the same AND think the same!" He sniggered and walked away.

      That kid thinks he's so funny, Kjersten thought. What a dumb joke. Though she was rather surprised at someone teasing her, Kjersten didn't give it another thought. No one else said anything to her all day long. Nothing at all.

      At lunch time Kjersten sat down with her tray in her usual spot, waiting for Bright. After about five minutes the Techo was confused. Bright never took this long! She looked around and almost cried out. Bright was already sitting… next to Lance! They were talking and chuckling together like old friends.

      Kjersten tore a piece of paper from her binder and scribbled out, "What is wrong with you??" on it. She finished her lunch and dropped the note on top of Bright's oversized head and stormed out of the lunch room. Her life couldn't get any worse!

      The next morning Kjersten only received one invitation: the math team again. However, instead of crumpling it up and throwing it at someone, she neatly folded it and dropped it into her bag.

      "Hi, Kjersten." Kjersten turned and saw four girls. They were all either wearing braces or glasses. The nerds. It was Mary who had addressed her.

      "Hi, Mary," the Techo mumbled, embarrassed. "I got your invitation and was considering joining… That is, if it's okay with you guys."

      Mary smiled.

      "Sure," she said. "Meet Sally, Lanny and Cathy. Everyone, meet Kjersten!"

      "Hi Kjersten," they all said in unison.

      "Hi," the Techo replied, looking at her feet.

From that day forward Kjersten hung around with Sally, Cathy, Lanny and Mary. After all, having unpopular friends is much better than not having friends at all.

      Of course she was teased unmercifully. She was called names, and classmates played mean tricks on her. But life was good; especially when Lance came to school with braces.

The End

      AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi everybody! I hope you enjoyed 'Beauty'! Just to let you all know, I have NOTHING against glasses OR braces. Most of my friends have braces and I have glasses. If you get either one you will NOT become unpopular, it just happened in this particular school. Remember: this is a pretend school and a pretend world; it's not real life! So don't get mad at me for this story. ;) The moral is that unpopular friends are a million times better than no friends any day. That is not pretend. Please feel free to Neomail! Thanks for reading guys! *Rose*