She walks the hall, her long blonde hair cascading down her back. It swishes back and forth as she laughs at something her friend says, her brilliant white teeth shining. She stops at her peeling, puck-green locker and concentrates for a moment on typing in the combination, and her friend continues down the hall. Her hair falls in front of her face, hiding her blue-grey eyes and button nose from view.

She throws her head back, flipping her long hair away from her face. As she does this, her blue eyes meet my dark brown ones for one fleeting moment, and she smiles slightly before turning back to her locker to grab her calculus book.
I stand there sheepishly, knowing that everything she wears, from her pounds of mascara and eyeliner to her Prada shoes and Kate Spade bag, is simply a facade. A fake face put on for show. Everything about her is for the pleasure of those around her; her wanna-be girlfriends and her jock boyfriend hang out with her only for her popularity and status in the high school jungle we live in. Without all of her "stuff", she is absolutely nothing. She is just like the rest of deep down inside, just like me.

Still, she pretends. She could be a normal girl, happy with her self. Not starving her body or destroying her natural beauty. She could be with me. But instead, she destroys herself inside and out and dates a jerk of a guy.

She shuts her locker and stands for a moment by herself, looking vulnerable. For just a second, I get a glimpse of the girl she could be, the average, caring, simple girl I know she really is. For just a second, I know she has noticed my presence, and might even like it. But the second passes all too quickly and another friend comes bustling along, chatting loudly and grabbing her hand.

I stare at her as she is dragged down the hall, and she looks back for a moment at me. That long blonde hair of hers swishes back behind her as she turns her head, and those blue eyes bore into mine, begging for help. Begging for love. But it is too late for her; she has already been swept up and taken away.