chirp chirp - sang a bird. I glanced up in time to see it fly away.
Ugh. Streams of sunlight poured through my window. Raising an arm to cover my eyes, I lay still. Lifting my arm a little, I look towards the clock sitting on my nightstand. It is six-o-clock. Placing my arm back against my eyes, I lay there thinking about yesterday. Pamela, the bullying, my glasses. Why should I be the one bullied? I have never done anything to her. It is not like I bother her. Out of all people, why does she pick on me?
Once again, I could feel tears forming. Using the arm resting on my eyes, I wipe away some tears. Hugging my pillow now, I sniffed away other tears and slowly drifted back to sleep.
When I woke again, it was ten-o-clock. I feel all groggy , like I haven't slept in days. "ughh", throwing the covers off, I shuffled my way to the bathroom. My reflection in the mirror looked horrible; red puffy eyes, messy hair, oily skin. Not a good way to start a morning.
After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I headed down the stairs towards the kitchen. No one seems to be home. On the table, there was a note that read:
'Natalie, your father and I went to the grocery store. - Mom'
"Whatever", I mumbled, crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it in the waste basket. It missed but I didn't bother to pick it up. "Whatever," I mumbled again. I grabbed the cereal box off the shelf and poured it into a bowl. Then I searched the refrigerator for milk, but when I lifted the carton, it felt like it was almost empty. Still, I poured what was left into the bowl which only ended up filling it one-third of it. Grumbling to myself, I felt like the whole world was against me. I slammed the carton into the garbage can, grabbed a spoon, huffed my way to the den, flipped on the television, and plotted myself down on the sofa.
Nothing good was on, but I didn't care. Munching away on my mostly dry cereal I watched some morning kid show that had some ugly puppets played by people using their hands.
"Oh, don't cry dear," said the grandmother puppet.
"But I feel so sad," said this puppet that looked like a little boy, "no one wants to play with me".
That's exactly how I feel, I thought.
"Don't worry dear," said the grandmother puppet, "how about a nice story and song?"
I sat there watching, partly with interest, and another with self-criticism asking myself why on earth am I watching this. The story cheered me up a little, but as soon as the song hit a high note, I couldn't help but turn it off. I was finished with my breakfast anyway.
Dumping the bowl into the sink I headed upstairs back into my room. I plopped on my bed. The jump felt good, like I had released some blocked energy. I laid they for a moment and then grabbed the book on my nightstand and started to read where I left off. Glancing up from my book, I could see my graduation ceremony dress hanging in my open closet. I put my book down and headed towards the closet. My dress was light blue. It had a bow at the end of each sleeve and another bow at the neck.
I sighed. If Hannie saw this dress, I am sure she would say it was for babies too. I slammed my closet door shut. I didn't want to stare at it and start thinking about people laughing at me. I picked up my book and started to read again.
"Everybody settle down!" said Mr. Curtis. It was Wednesday, the day of our graduation ceremony. I had bought new glasses over the weekend but they were cheap and bothered my eyes a bit. I took them off for a second to rub my eyes.
"Well, I guess the ugly duckling got some new glasses". That voice.
"I guess we'll have to give it a special welcome later?" Pamela smirked. She was wearing a very slim black dress. Behind her, Jannie and Leslie were giggling. They, too, were wearing black dresses.
"Of course," Leslie replied.
"oh, and by the way Natalie," Pamela went on, "nice dress".
"Thank you," I replied, but only to be countered by harder giggling and laughing.
"sure Natalie, no problem," and they walked away arm in arm still laughing.
"Everybody settled down!" said Mr. Curtis again. But like before, no one paid any attention. Everyone was talking busily, or was running around fixing each others' dresses or suits.
"How's my hair?" asked Nancy flipping her braided red hair over her shoulders.
"It looks fine," replied Karen, but she too fidgeted with her own straw blond hair. She had decided to wear the lavender dress.
"Do you think my make up is too much?" asked Hannie. She was busy looking at herself in her compact mirror. Her rosy shade of make up matched her chestnut brown hair and pink and white flimsy dress.
"No, you look fine too," replied Karen. Then she added "why do you wear so much make up anyway Hannie?"
Hannie turned to look at her. "Well, unless I wanted to look ugly, I wouldn't wear it."
Karen looked at her angrily, "I don't wear make up, so what's that suppose to mean?"
Hannie rolled her eyes, "nothing, forget it" and snapped her compact shut.
"Guys, stop fighting," said Nancy.
"Alright, Everyone!" Mr. Curtis's voice boomed through the classroom, "I want you all to sit down - in - your - seats - NOW!" Everyone scrambled, making an even bigger noise then before. Some chairs were knocked over, desks knocked into, but at last, everyone was quietly in their seats.
"Alright," Mr. Curtis started, "we will be going into the auditorium soon so I just want to give a few reminders." Mr. Curtis's reminders went on to be about 5 minutes. Just as he finished up, someone came over the intercom in our classroom.
"kkzzt, Mr. Curtis," a woman spoke, "please bring your students into the auditorium now".
Everyone began to talk all at once, excited that we were finally graduating.
"ok everyone," our teacher spoke over the voices, "line up in the alphabetical order we discussed. Those who are honour students, please line up alphabetically also, at the front of the line"
In about another 3 minutes of frantic searching, we were all in a line. I was near the end since my last name began with an "S". I didn't make the honour roll so I didn't get to march proudly at the front. In our class, only Karen Brewer, Nancy Dawes, Ricky Torres, and Liddie Yuan had made it.
"haha, Ricky Torres, you're a nerd!" teased Bobby.
"shut up, Bobby," Ricky replied. Ricky and Bobby are best friends, but Bobby always seems to make fun of him about his marks. I think he's a little jealous.
"Okay, you two, settle down," Mr. Curtis stepped between them.
Soon, we took our seats in the dimly lit auditorium. There was much murmuring from the audience, our families and friends, behind us. Ms. Campbell took the stage then.
"Welcome," she began, " to this years graduating class." Loud cheers and applause broke out. Hank, who sat in front of me, gave a loud whistle, followed by Ricky who did the same. After everyone had settled down, Ms. Campbell continued. "This has been a wonderful year," and her speech went on for another 5 minutes. Afterwards, there were two more speeches given by the vice-principal and the superintendent of the school board. Then, the real ceremony began, and one by one, we lined up behind the curtains to receive our diplomas.
Shifting uncomfortably, I leaned against the wall. There were still about five people in line before me. With a sigh, I looked around. Some, like me, were leaning against the wall. Others were making last minute adjustments to their outfits and hair.
"…pringer. Natalie Springer!" called someone. I looked up to see that it was already my turn. Slightly embarrassed that my name had to be called twice I walk towards across the stage. As I did, I faintly heard something.
"geek" someone had said softly. I look around but couldn't find where it came from. I started walking again.
"geek, loser" that someone said again. I kept on walking, but slower. I looked around but I still couldn't tell where it came from.
"haha" that someone laughed. It sounded like it came from behind me so I whipped around. Then it happened. I tripped and fell on the stage. Laughter burst in the auditorium.
"haha! What a loser!" I looked behind me to see Leslie curling over in laughter. But what was worse was when I looked at the laughing audience: classmates, teachers, parents. I picked myself up and hurried across the stage. I grabbed the diploma and quickly went back to my seat. Tears started overflowing.
There I was, sniffing and silently crying on my graduation day.