Lindsay Macraff is a fourteen year old girl that feels like she is still what she likes to call a caterpillar. It’s the last day of eighth grade year and it’s still not any better than the rest of the year. She is still the nerdy girl that sits in the back of the classroom by herself. She vows to herself after hearing the laughter of her peers as she pulls the piece of freshly chewed spearmint gum out of her frizzy blonde hair, that she will blossom into a beautiful butterfly over the summer, and it all starts tomorrow. As she is walking out of the Middle School for the last time that school year she can’t resist from being excited for it to start again.


Immediately after Lindsay got home she began ripping through her closet. Throwing everything away, the only thing she couldn’t part with was the “Ramones” tee-shirt that her dad left behind the day he walked out. She decided then and there that, that would be what she based her new style on. Her mother then walked into the room, looking around wondering what was going on.

“Lindsay Elizabeth Macraff! What in the world are you doing?” Meredith, her mother exclaimed.

“Mom I’m changing the way I dress, so I’m throwing away all my clothes.” Lindsay says quietly.

“Oh honey why would you want to change the way you dress?” Asked Meredith. “You look fine in what you wear already,” She smiled sweetly.

“Mom, Nobody else thinks that, everyone makes fun of me and you know that.” Lindsay frowns.

“Honey you don’t need to change for other people just be who you are, It shouldn’t matter what other people think!” Meredith says.

“I’m not doing this for other people mom, I’m doing it for myself.” Lindsay whispers looking down at the “Ramones” shirt in her hands.

Meredith sighs. “Why do you still have that shirt Lindsay?”

“Because mom it’s all I have left of him. I just can’t throw it away, it’s all i remember of him and I’m going to keep it.” Lindsay says looking her mom directly in the eye.

“Okay honey sorry for asking, it’s just, I don’t understand why you want to remember him, he walked out on you when you were eight years old. But if you want to keep it go ahead.” Meredith smiles softly.
“I’m sorry mom, I love you.” Lindsay says as she gets up to hug her mother.
“I love you too honey. Now lets get these clothes into some boxes, we will take them to Goodwill.” Meredith hugs her daughter back.
“Oh, mom can I have a little bit of money for shopping?” Asks Lindsay.
“Yes, Here you go hun, do you need a ride to the mall?” Meredith asks while handing over two hundred dollars,
“No I’ll walk thanks mom. Bye I love you!” Lindsay screams heading down the stairs.

Lindsay walks the short twenty minutes to the mall in a very good mood, trying to decide what to buy first. Clothes, Make-up, Or getting her hair done. She decides on getting her hair done first. She walks into the first hair salon she sees, Betty’s Barber Shop.
As soon as she walks in she sees a lady in maybe her mid twenties walking towards her.

“Hello my name is Angie. What would you like done today?” She says with a smile on her face.

“I want a surprise!” says Lindsay. “Whatever you think will look good.” Lindsay smiles.

Angie smiles. “Okay sweetheart have a seat right over there it’s going to look great!”

Lindsay does as instructed and sits in the purple salon chair. Angies comes over shortly after with a can of Pepsi for Lindsay. Lindsay thanks her and sits it down on the table beside her. As Angie starts to cut Lindsay’s hair all she can feel is excitement. Thirty minutes later full of scissors, hair dye, and various other hair products it’s finally time to look. Lindsay looks up in the mirror and can’t believe her eyes. Her once long, frizzy, blonde hair is now cut up to the top of her ribcage, with beautiful velvet colored curls.

“Oh my gosh.” Said Lindsay quietly. “This is amazing! Thank you so much Angie!” She smiles brightly.

“No problem sweetheart, come back if you ever need anything.” Angie says with sincerity in her voice.

Lindsay decides to go buy clothes next. She walks into the first store she sees and instantly falls in love with a dress. The dress is black and on the front it has a rib cage on it. She has to get it, so she picks it up and goes to look for more clothes and accessories. She picks up a couple more things throughout the store. Some skinny jeans, oversized sweaters, band tee-shirts, a couple dresses, and a pair of black studded combat boots. She is so excited to change the way she dresses, that after she paid, she runs to the bathroom to put on one of the outfits. She decides on rib cage dress with some dark knee high tights and her combat boots. When she looks in the mirror she is surprised by the way she looks in the outfit, but she realises that she is missing a couple things, make-up, and some beanies.
Lindsay walks out of the bathroom with her shopping bags in her hand, looking for a shop to get some beanies. Then she see a store and can’t look away. So she enters the store and loves what she sees. Hats and beanies on every wall. She goes over to the section with the beanies on it and picks five or six in different colors. She pays then walks out of the store, putting on her new turquoise beanie. She decides it’s time to get some makeup and goes into the MAC makeup store. She buys some pale foundation for her fair skin, some black eyeliner,some mascara, and some dark eyeshadow.
Then she is on her way back home.

As she walks in she sees her mother sitting on the couch with a cup of peppermint tea in her hands waiting for Lindsay.

“Hey honey, how was your trip to the mall?” Meredith asks.

“It was awesome mom!” Lindsay practically screams. “Do you like my new outfit?”

“It is very cute hun, I’m going to be late for work if I don't start getting ready so I better go.” Meredith said with a small sigh.

“Okay mom bye, Love you!” Lindsay says walking up the steps to her bedroom.
When Lindsay gets up stairs she starts hanging up her newly bought clothes. She decides to go out on a walk after her mom leaves, so she puts on a pair of frayed, ripped shorts over her tights, with a oversized dark blue sweater, and a grey beanie. She decides to wear her contacts while she is walking, and thats where it all began. She was on the intersection of King Street and High street when she saw a cute boy walking towards her. He was tall, tan and had brown shaggy hair. She started getting nervous as his stride got closer to her, she was scared he would stop just to make fun of her. But in just a couple of moments that bad nervous feeling turned into a good one. He looked up from his phone and smiled at her with his perfect white teeth.

“Hello” The boy said.

Lindsay looked around to see if there was someone behind her that he was talking to before she responded. “Hi” She said nervously.

“What’s your name beautiful?” The boy said looking right at her.

“Umm, My name is Lindsay.” Lindsay said looking at the ground finding sudden interest in it.

“Well hi Lindsay, My names Greyson Boyce. It’s nice to meet you.” Greyson said while offering his hand to shake and smiling wide at her.

She takes his hand and smiles slightly. “Nice to meet you too, Greyson. Well I better get home, bye.” She pulls her hand away and scurries away as fast as she can. When she gets home she plops down on the couch. Sitting there for a minute she decides to watch a movie. She gets up and goes to the kitchen and puts a bag of popcorn in the microwave, waiting for it to be done she goes to pick the movie, Pitch Perfect she decides. She sits on the couch after the popcorns done and she pushes play, but she isn’t really paying attention to the movie. She kept replaying the conversation with Greyson in her head, he called her beautiful, no one has ever called her beautiful before.