Saturday, January 12, 2013

“I’m not going to Prom.”

Ever since his accident Payton had not been to a single school dance, and he planned to keep it that way. Even prom.
But Payton’s girl friend, DaeRi a junior who’s prom wasn’t until next year, assumed that he was going, and bringing her. And after listening to her rant for hours Payton knew what kind of person she was, the kind of person who put popularity above all. And what would make her more popular than Harriette and Tamarai? Going to prom first.
But of course Payton had no plans to go to prom, and after listening to DaeRi rant about how stupid it was to buy your prom dress in january when there was still a lot of time till prom Payton thought he should probably tell her about his stand on prom.
“Yes?” she asked when he tapped her on the shoulder.
Payton wrote down in his notebook “I’m not going to Prom.”
“What?” she said, shocked. “Why? You’re a senior, it’s like the last thing good about school.”
“Not for me,” Payton wrote.
“But what about for me?” DaeRi asked.
“You’re gonna go next year,” Payton wrote.
“That’s not the same,” DaeRi said, “I want to go with you.”
Payton almost laughed. “No you don’t, you want to go before Harriette and Tamarai,” he wrote.
“Why would you think that?” DaeRi said.
“Because that’s just how you are,” Payton wrote.
“Good to know you think so terribly about me,” DaeRi said.
Payton just shrugged and put down the notebook.
“You have nothing else to say?” DaeRi asked, looking miffed.
Payton nodded.
“Maybe something along the lines of ‘sorry that I just assumed that you’re a shallow person,” DaeRi said.
Payton just shook his head and stood up. DaeRi glared and him and then briskly turned and walked out of the room.
If Payton could talk maybe he would have called her back.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Becky, Tiffany, and Purity

Becky
Becky’s parents were strict. Well, not strict, more like overprotective so there were a lot of rules. She had to introduce all her friends to them before she could go anywhere with them, even if it was just out to get ice cream or something like that.
One of the rules was that she couldn’t wear makeup until she was sixteen. So for her sixteenth birthday her older sister got her a basic beauty pack with all of her faves. Becky had no interest in makeup though, she was fine without. But after her sister showed her how to apply everything she noticed that she looked a bit better with it.
Becky was not superficial or shallow. She had always thought that makeup was useless, why wear it if you look good without it. But after seeing herself with it on, the brown eyeliner, because black was too heavy on her light complexion, lip gloss, mascara and a little blush, it all just enhanced her looks.
So she was inspired to change or whole view on makeup and started wearing it everyday. This worried her parents, they thought that the only reason she would wear makeup was to try to pick up boys.
But Becky was smarter then that, she didn’t do things for other people. She started wearing makeup for herself, but it wasn’t like she didn’t notice the different stares. The good stares, unlike the ones she used to get because she was a “nerd.”
It almost felt like because of her makeup she could be popular. Which was dreaming high, obviously since she was a nerd. That was her group, the group of people who spent free time in the library, catching up on their studies.
So you could imagine her shock when Bachelor Carter, a jock and actually popular, walked up to her after school a few days after she started wearing makeup.
“Hey, are you new?” he asked.
“Uhm, no,” she said.
“Oh, never seen you around before,” he said.
“Well, I don’t really hang out with your crowd,” Becky said.
He looked confused for a moment, then suddenly Terrence came running over to them.
“Becky!” he exclaimed.
Bachelor looked Terrence up and down and laughed, “you hang out with the nerds? You’re way too pretty for that.”
And with that he turned and walked away.
“Hey, isn’t he a football player?” Terrence asked, momentarily forgetting what he came here for.
“Yeah,” Becky said, “He thought I was new.”
“Well you sure do look different with that makeup on,” Terrence said, “But not in a bad way.”
“In a really good way,” Barry, who has seemingly just appeared, said.
“Oh, Barry!” Terrence said, “Big news.”
“What?” he asked.
“The movie theatre downtown is playing ‘The history of Aliens.’” Terrence said.
“No way,” Barry said. “We gotta go.”
Becky tuned out a bit, aliens weren’t really her thing but lately Terrence and Barry had been obsessed with them. Plus she couldn’t shake Bachelor’s reaction when he saw Terrence.
“You’re way too pretty for that,” he had said. That line kept repeating in her head over and over for the next few days, sometimes she started to believe it. But she always pushed that thought away, she wasn’t gonna become one of those shallow popular girls.


Tiffany
Tiffany was a follower. She followed trends, nothing was her personal style. Last year she was into Japanese style so she mimicked lolita style, now she was into K-pop so she mimicked whatever they were wearing, especially Girls’ Generation. They were her idols, she wanted to be just like them. So she was.
She wore the same makeup, the same clothes, the same shoes, accessories. Anything they were wearing she was wearing too. She was a mirror of her current obsession.
She was always like this, so the real Tiffany/Sakura/Belle is a mystery. She doesn’t even know.


Purity
Purity liked the simple things in life, like going to lunch with a couple of friends, getting an A plus for a essay she worked all night on, pretty pink nail polish, and the vintage book bag she found at the thrift store for a steal. She didn’t need much more than that.
And really Prom was as simple as it gets, sure it was a big deal and everyone went crazy over it but Purity wasn’t like that. She thought of it as simply the big end of high school dance. So was she going crazy looking for a date, scouring online for the perfect dress?
Yes. She was.
Because she might be simple but after going through her whole high school life hidden in the corners with Payton, this year was different, this year she was going all out.
That’s why even though it was only January Purity and some girls from the A.L. News Committee, or ALNC for short, were gathered together on Jessica Perry’s laptop at lunch and looking at prom dresses.
“Pink is so cliche,” Amanda Leon said, the funny part was that Amanda always wore pink. Today she was wearing a pink t-shirt that read “What are you Looking at?” Amanda thought she was unique, but she really wasn’t.
“Hey, I’m going pink,” Jessica said, “My mom’s stylist said it was my color.”
Amanda and Purity groaned, Jessica always talked about what her mom’s stylist told her. The other day she promised that she would give all of them official reports on what color suited them.
Purity already knew she wanted white, maybe a creamy white so it wouldn’t look so wedding dress-ish.
“What about this?” Jessica said, clicking on a light purple floor length dress that has little rhinestones going down the the skirt.
“Ew,” Amanda said, “My dress is not gonna have a single sparkle on it anywhere. Talk about cliche.”
“It’s prom,” Jessica said, “It’s okay to be cliche. I’m going with glitter, Patricia says it’s okay to go big for prom.”
Patricia was her mom’s stylist.
“What are you looking for?” Amanda asked Purity, who had been silent up until then.
“White, maybe short. Some black details maybe,” Purity said, “Maybe vintage looking. And definitely not wedding dress-ish.”
“Of course,” Jessica said, “When girls come to prom looking like they're about to get married I just shake my head.”
Another thing about Jessica is that she had already been to two proms. Last year and the year before that. She was typical pretty and an easy choice for boys who couldn’t find dates. She never dated these guys, she just went with them so they wouldn’t look like losers, even though bringing a sophomore to prom wasn’t ideal.
“Oooh, look at that one,” Amanda said pointing to a short pink dress that had everything she just called cliche. Realising this she seemed to backtrack, “It’s like so cliche.”
But Purity and Jessica knew better, Amanda was a cliche person trying not to be.
Just then the bell rings and they have to get back to class.
“Hey come by my locker after school,” Jessica said. “You guys can come over after school and meet Patricia. she should be there since Mom has a gala to go to this weekend. Patricia is always there the friday before an important party.”
“Okay,” Amanda and Purity said. And they split up to go to their respective classes.
So yes Purity liked the simple things but to her Prom was pretty simple.