I was sitting in the back row, with my head on my desk. I was so bored I would rather watch grass grow. We were learning about DNA. It was extremely dull and I extremely dislike science.
“DNA is a chain of nucleotides twisted into ladder called a double helix,” said Mrs. Hope. She kept going on about how they worked and how they make us who we are. I wish I could change my DNA so I that look better then I do now.
I looked around; nobody was paying attention to Mrs. Hope. But, she didn’t notice, she just kept rambling about genetics and DNA. I looked at Maddie Wellington. She was sitting in the front row, near the door. Maddie was listening intently to Mrs. Hope. I hate her, she’s beautiful, can do about anything, and everybody likes her.
Maddie came to our school about two years ago. She walked in to my first hour with bright pink high heels, a short off-white ruffle skirt, and a pink and white tank top. Her skin was flawless, her hair was like silk flowing down like a waterfall on her perfectly shaped head, and she was so thin that if you would touch her, she’d break. Not one imperfection. Not one! A couple of the boys whistled. My jealousy raged! I know I should be happy for the life I have, but I wish I could be her. And guess who got to sit by me that day? Thanks Mrs. Sanders! Maddie glanced at me with a disgusted look plastered on her face, and I gave her one right back. Well this was going to be a fun year isn’t it?
She completely ignored me at first, which I was pretty happy about. But then, that became a problem. Maddie would “accidently” run into me, or trip me. She would say in a little Miss Innocent voice with her eyes fluttering, “ Oh I didn’t see you there.”
In a sarcastic voice I would reply, “Oh it was probably my fault anyway.”
Maddie would respond, “Yeah, you should watch where you’re going.” She aggravated me! We had lot of those kinds of confrontations. We were both very sarcastic people, which is probably the absolute only thing that we had in common. It really put me over the edge when she started to date my brother.
I have a twin brother, Shawn. We get along pretty well, except that some of his friends liked me, and he would get pretty annoyed by them always wanting to be around me. But, I guess he was just protecting his sister. I found it pretty hilarious, most of the time. I like having him as a brother.
When I first saw Shawn holding hands with Maddie, I thought my heart stopped for a few seconds. I had fell flat on my back nearly missing the wall. My brother ran over to me to see if I was okay. I asked him if I was dead, he laughed at me. I wanted to be dead if he was dating her. Which I knew was pretty drastic, but I did not like her at all! “Are you dating that thing over there, I mean Maddie?” I asked, hoping the answer would be no.
“Ummm.. Maybe, why is there a problem?” Shawn replied with innocence.
“Is there a problem? Mmmmm.. Well now that you mentioned that, YES. ARE YOU BLIND? I hate her! She always “accidently” runs into me or trips me. That’s why I have so many bruises! She calls me fat, ugly, little Miss Nobody all the time. She makes my life miserable, so yes there is a problem!” I said, running out of breath because of how much energy I had put into my last few sentences.
“I’m sure its not that bad, Sammy,” he said in scared voice.
“Well it is, so good luck finding a new sister as long as you are dating her,” I said getting up not turning back to see if Shawn was going to say anything else.
“ But, Sammy…” he called after me as I walk quickly down the hallway, practically bursting into tears. Why her? Why her? She made every single day pure torture for me. Now dating MY BROTHER? I thought my brother was better than that. I guess not. I had enough problems before she got here. I was going to totally brake down if she did one more thing.
Finally, it was Friday, my favorite day of the week. Usually, I am happy on Fridays. If I am not you know something was wrong.
I was having a good day, until I saw Maddie. I’m not going to let her ruin my day. She’s going to do something that’s going to get me mad, I just know it. I walked by, and nothing. Not one mean comment, and she didn’t even try to trip me. Maddie was just probably planning to do something bigger this time. So next hour I went to her locker. She wasn’t there yet. I waited, and finally Maddie came with a depressing look on her face that looked like she had just seen a puppy get run over. She glanced at me, and then started to open her locker. “Maddie?” I asked.
“What do you want Sammy?” she said like she was about to cry. Wow, she actually said my name.
“Ummmm.. Oh nothing. Just wondering if you were okay? You don’t seem like yourself today.” I said with my voice high-pitched.
“Why just because I’m not being mean to you?” she replied softly.
“Yeah, kind of.” Darn, she caught me. Even though I figured she would.
“Well today’s just not a good day for me, okay?”
“Okay, ” I said, wanting to know what was wrong. I stood there awkwardly.
“What now?” she said, getting annoyed with me.
“What happened?” I asked a little hesitant. She looked like she about to cry again.
“My mom walked out on my dad,” Maddie said bursting into tears. I didn’t expect that. I thought she had a perfect life. “I know you think I have a perfect life, but I don’t believe me. I’m not who think I am. I think I’m ugly and my personality sucks.” she said breathing quickly and uneven in between each word.
“Wait, wait you think your ugly?” Which I thought was ironic. “Are you serious? You’ve got to be kidding me!” This it is ridiculous, she’s….she’s Maddie?
“I’m not kidding you. I’m jealous of you. You are so pretty and everybody likes you for who you are. I wish I could be half the person you are.” She sounded sincere, so I took her seriously.
“Wow, really? I am jealous of you!” I said extremely surprised. It turned out that we had a lot more in common than we both thought. We both have divorced parents, like to be outside soaking up the sun, and we think exactly alike. It is almost scary sometimes. I always wanted someone who gets me completely. Maddie is the ideal person. We have been best friends ever since that day. Now we both know that you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover and don’t be afraid to be yourself.