Little girls grow up...
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It makes you wonder where time has gone.
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Teenage Girls Nowadays
Phoebe
She was too quiet, so much so that hardly anyone noticed her. She was also shy and somewhat of a scaredy-cat, according to the guys. And according to the same guys, she was no fun. She supposed that could have been due to her upbringing - when Marianne Terese (or Melena, as Phillip had affectionately called her) died when Phoebe was eight, Phillip - who had always been introverted - became more timid and languid, and Phoebe unconsciously moulded her own character to fit her father's. Even their physical resemblance was uncanny. Both Phillip Terese and his daughter had that same shade of auburn hair, tall and somewhat fragile bony structure (Phoebe somehow looked the most fragile out of the girls, despite her being the tallest), dark blue eyes and constantly looking anorexic (Phoebe especially, although at times Phillip looked more emaciated than anyone else).
Their family life was confined to the two of them, living together as a family but in separate worlds. Being alone was no fun, so whenever she met up with the guys, she wouldn't really have fun. A common theory was that she had never really had fun, and it was too late too start now.
But although she was introverted, she was more sentimental than romantic. God knows she wasn't pondering about the meaning of life; she simply spent her time in quiet solace. Dorothy Ann and Wanda were romantic and idealistic enough for that, heaven knew!
One thing was for sure, though, she was also Melena's daughter, for although she didn't know what she wanted, if and when she wanted something, she wouldn't be afraid to go all out for it.
Keesha
She was the most practical of the three girls. She always knew what to do. She was Miss-Always-Prepared Keesha. Tim, although he, too, was level-headed, had nothing on her. Dorothy Ann, despite the books she devoured and her intelligence, was more neurotic than anything. Hence, Keesha was the regular go-to girl for problems, although Dorothy Ann was more likely to have a solution. They made quite a pair, which was probably why they had been best friends since infancy. The only other people who could truly handle a neurotic Dorothy Ann was Tim, who was so bland that even a neurotic Dorothy Ann wouldn't frizzle his nerves, and Carlos, who was enjoyed having a neurotic Dorothy Ann around, if only to tease her playfully in an effort to lighten her up (although Keesha knew if Dorothy Ann actually stopped being neurotic he wouldn't quite like it).
See, Keesha wasn't half that bad in analysing.
She supposed it had something to do with her parents dying in a car crash, and her being sent off to live with her paternal grandmother. She had first analysed the possible reasons for her parents' death (she knew that it said that it was drunk-driving on the fault of the other driver - who escaped with little more than a scratch and a broken leg, more was the injustice! - but people don't just die for no reason. Of all people, why had it had to be her parents?)
Perhaps that was why Keesha grew up looking more like Grandma Franklin at a young age than either of her parents? Although D.A. the killjoy said, no, it was genetics, Keesha was still holding on to her theory. She could be stubborn when she wanted to. In fact, that was it - she was strong and stubborn.
She also had a figure to match. She became tall and lithe (although Phoebe with her hardy Irish blood would be the tallest) - and curvy, very much like the Lynches, who were her Grandma Franklin's family from Kentucky. She wanted to pursue communications, partly because she knew what to say and partly because she knew how to analyse each and every situation (sometimes she over-analysed, but that was beside the point). She knew what to say, when to say it, and she knew how to get guys/girls to tick exactly the way she wanted. She became a media queen, and joined cheerleading. The years she was a cheerleader together with Wanda, the Walkerville Warriors were state champions in the majority of sports.
Keesha was considered by many to be the hottest chick in Walkerville - strong and stubborn, but drop-dead gorgeous. If she wanted, she could do femme fatale, and give Halle Berry a run for her money. But that was only an act. She dressed immaculately, was the pinnacle of popularity and laughed always at school, to hide her broken little girl's heart and dreams, which was to have her parents back together.
Wanda
She was tired of being made fun of because of her Chinese eyes.
She hated being called midget, simply because she was petite.
She despised it when she was made to feel ugly, simply because she knew she was beautiful. She'd grown (not so tall, mind you) to be beautiful, in her unique Asian way. Despite playing sports so much in harsh weather conditions, she still maintained her beautiful porcelain skin, lustrous jet-black hair and sparkling eyes. And she knew her figure was to die for, despite her height. She'd never go Mischa Barton, like Phoebe, nor would she be Tyra Banks-figured, like Keesha, or even have that girl-next-door appeal ala Reese Witherspoon, like DA (despite her constant complaints about her looks) but she was toned and trim, like - Shakira? Shakira was a belly dancer (which sounded a lot like ballet dancer, to the non-discerning ear), and Wanda was probably Shakira meet Zhang Zi Yi.
Because of her petite stature, she, like Phoebe, was considered fragile, and guys treated her like an Asian China Doll. Wanda despised that. She wasn't really competitive, but she was a rebel, and she would rebel against all the labels people gave her. Humans were too complex too be simply labelled, and Wanda was out there to prove it. After all, just because she loved ballet didn't mean she could show up Ralphie at baseball (and football too, if damned Ralphie would just lend her the gear) and Carlos the speed demon at athletics and soccer (but she couldn't because Carlos would always let her win, and then say she wasn't playing fair - the loco!), and be a complex person overall.
Her parents were unorthodox, which encouraged her to be unorthodox as well. After all, her mother, Sarah Chen, a prolific science fiction writer, brought home more than half of the bacon, whilst her father remained working for pittance as a social worker. That's why she probably went against the grain, and she joined hockey and cheerleading and did ballet, a weird mix.
After all, you didn't have to be traditional to turn out a decent human being. And Wanda Li was proof of that. William was less unorthodox, and always made fun of Wanda's somewhat strange behaviour, citing bad genes and the crazy factor as the reason Wanda was feckless and wild.
Wanda would retort, what was wrong with that. She was a good person, she didn't have any problems.
(None except for mental, at least, William quipped.)
She was a good person and she knew it. And sure, she wasn't the most conventional person, but that didn't mean a person couldn't be good.
Now all she was going to do was to prove that to the world.
Dorothy Ann
She was the most intelligent of the girls. She read voraciously, studied every day, and appeared to have no faults.
But then puberty hit.
She'd always been a swan, but after that, she became the ugly duckling of her family, in her mind. She was constantly stressed trying to prove herself to the world. She felt not as beautiful. And Janet had to annoy her, annoying 'know-it-all' (Keesha said that Janet - who prided herself on being the 'know-it-all', was threatened by Dorothy Ann's intelligence).
That, in itself, was enough to drive an academic-driven girl like Dorothy Ann into neurotic territory.
Sometimes, she wished she wasn't born to a family of overachievers. Richard Slater was a prominent businessman, his wife Claudia Joy was a socialite from the prominent Walker family (after whom the town of Walkerville was named), and was head of a local charity organisation, and whose brother Jonathan was a senator - the only one who had yet to shine was Dorothy Ann and Evan (not Evangeline Lynn), and now, when it was most important for her to shine, she faded into the background. Not that she'd always been glamorous to begin with - she'd been decidedly feminine, if elegant. She couldn't help thinking that Keesha was more suited to the Walker/Slater family life. She felt oddly out of place amongst the glitzy surroundings, the glamorous personages, even though they looked decidedly normal when with Dorothy Ann and her friends, when the occasion called for it, Richard Slater looked every bit the portly businessman, Claudia Joy looked every bit the socialite, and even Evan dressed herself up to perfection.
But she was determined to keep her family proud of her. So she put her books aside, and spent every hour making sure she was perfect. Everyone (teachers, that is) praised her hard-working, perfectionist attitude, and were sure she was going to be a success, but little did they realise that she was insecure under it all.
She was afraid to fail, and she was afraid of what people would think, despite the fact that she was strong-minded and passionate in her beliefs.
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Fin
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Author's Note
It's another quick story I came across, when trying to clear up space on my sister's MacBook, a portrayal of my idea of the girls during their teens.