Karen had always been the stupid one.
Every day of preschool she would skip over to the tiny, red plastic stove, hoping that this time the plastic cupcakes she put in the oven would become soft and sweet. Needless to say, she spent a lot of time with the kind fifty-something nurse.
In kindergarten during naptime whenever Ms. Kindle told her to count sheep if she couldn't sleep, Karen would become quite confused. Where were these elusive sheep, Karen wondered, and were there such thing as pink sheep? She asked her father for one who chuckled and said he'd get her a pony. Karen liked talking to the pony, which she named Angel Princess. Angel Princess wouldn't laugh at Karen's many questions or ask Karen questions. She told Angie-her nickname for the pony- about the 4th grade boy with tousled blond hair and thick glasses- always with books! - and how he could make people laugh so easily. Karen was amazed that by simply tripping the whole room would giggle at him. She tried this technique once, when trying to impress Ashley, but it didn't work quite right. She felt all fiery and extra stupid and Ashley simply walked over her to talk to Courtney. Not until 6th grade did it fleetingly occur to Karen that the 4th grade boy had not exactly made a joke, but been the topic of one. This disturbed her, so she simply pushed it out of her mind, as she did with such matters, and thought of flowers. Karen learned by eighth grade that most things she said or asked, people thought were jokes. This, too, confused her. Why was it funny if she asked Dameon the spelling of orange? So Karen made an executive decision to keep her mouth shut. She was lonely and wary when Regina discovered her. A beautiful blond airhead, perfect for Plastics.