Shelby White

Part I

A fairytale

I walked into the girls' bathroom and immediately saw the popular girls standing in front of the mirror gossiping and applying their third layer of make-up that morning. I walked over to the sink to wash off the paint that had gotten all over my hands as I helped paint the banner to buy prom tickets. I couldn't believe it was already the end of April; it felt like the school year had just started.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" A girl named Melanie exclaimed as she applied more eyeliner.

"What!?!" Annabel asked in a voice that was most definitely too cheerful for eight o'clock on a Monday morning.

"Did you see what Amy was wearing this morning? It seriously looked like it was something her mother wore in high school. And did you see her face? I mean, has she never heard of the word 'make-up' before?"

"Seriously," Amanda was quick to take back her role as queen bee, "like, she should totally be arrested by the fashion police."

Her friends started laughing, while I took a look at myself in the mirror. Looking back at me was an average girl with wavy brown hair, rectangular glasses, and no make-up what-so-ever. I sighed and turned around just as girl named Brittany bumped into me, sending my glasses askew.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." She said, not bothering to sound apologetic.

Yep, that's me, the invisible student at Princeton High School, one of the most successful high schools in the state. In response I shook my head and walked out the door. I looked at my watch and saw that I still had ten minutes before Latin, and decided to go see if Leah was here yet.

I've known Leah forever, ever since a kid named Brad threw his peanut butter and jelly sandwich at me in second grade, but missed and hit Leah. She is my best friend, and she's pretty enough that she could be in Amanda's group, but she turned them down freshman year and they pretty much hate her now. I saw Leah over by the vending machines talking to her boyfriend, Eric, so I walked over to the two of them.
"Hey guys!"

"Hey Shelby!" Leah exclaimed.

"What's up?" Eric asked.

"Nothing much, except Amanda and her group spreading rumors about everyone."

"Yeah, well what else is new?"

"You'd think they would actually discover some juicy gossip and spread that around, but all they do is spread nasty rumors and lies." Leah added thoughtfully.

"Yeah well, all the juicy gossip is about them isn't it? They don't want that stuff getting spread around."

"True." Leah nodded in agreement.

Just as the bell rang, Leah and I began our trek up the stairs to Latin. Pushing our way through the crowd of people gathered in the courtyard, we finally made it to the stairs and could have an actual conversation again.

"You guys going to prom?" I asked casually.

"Yeah, it's going to be so much fun!" Leah replied enthusiastically, "You should come with us!"

"And be the third wheel the entire night? No thank you. I'd rather spend the evening in my pajamas with Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio."

Leah sighed, "If you find a date, will you come with us?"

"I don't know, maybe… why?" I asked getting suspicious, "You're not going to try to set me up with someone are you? I guess it doesn't matter, no one wants to go out with me anyway."

"That's not true, you have to think positively."

"Well the only think I want to think about right now is Latin." I said walking into our classroom and ending the discussion.

I couldn't concentrate throughout Latin, I kept thinking about my conversation with Leah. If she can get someone to agree to go with me to prom, should I go? Do I want to go? Of course I want to go! Agh! Stupid hormones! When the bell rang I couldn't get out of my seat fast enough, I just wanted to be left alone so I could keep thinking. Unfortunately, Amanda had other plans.

"Hey Shelby, did you hear who this week's number one Diamond is? Who the most popular girl in school is?" She asked referring to the column in the school paper called Diamonds and Duds. Basically it's a stupid column run by prissy girls like Amanda who have nothing better to do in their time but humiliate their hard-working peers.

"Gosh," I pretended to be stumped, "You… Congratulations." I said with fake enthusiasm in my voice.

"Just wanted to let you know." She replied with a smirk.

"Thanks, my life is now complete!" I responded with sarcasm.

The week continued in pretty much the same fashion, and by the time Friday rolled around I was getting excited for the upcoming weekend. I talked with Leah at lunch on Wednesday about getting contacts over the weekend, and she agreed to come with me to my eye appointment this afternoon. Then, after my eye appointment, we were going to get our hair done.

"You look great in your contacts!" Leah exclaimed as we walked out of the eye doctor's.

"Thanks. I feel more confident too!"

"I can tell. Imagine what will happen when you walk down the hallway at school like that. You'll have guys falling at your feet."

"Yeah right," I replied, "They don't notice me now, why should they notice when I don't have my glasses anymore?"

"Because, right now all they see is a girl with no self-confidence, but when you walk into school on Monday, they're going to think 'Wow, this girl knows who she is. She is going to be someone someday.'"

"Okay, maybe you're right." I reluctantly agreed.

"I am right." Leah declared.

Standing in front of the mirror on Monday morning I started to believe Leah. Looking back at me was the reflection of a stranger. She had short, wavy brown hair that was layered and angled, contacts, and she looked… confident.