Before Anabells mother began her battle, she was always quiet and some what blended in with her friends. She never felt like she had any real friends. Real friends wouldn't leave you out when other people were around. Real friends wouldn't whisper your name around, telling the whole world your secrets. But after Anabells mother lost her battle to fast spreading monster, she had no toher choice but to be "friends" with those girls. She was afraid of being alone, of being an outcast, of being a loner. She felt trapped and held back. Held back from her own self. Her mother had already left, and it was as if her father were gone to in his drunken tirades aimed at Anabell and later pass out where ever he was. His best friend was the bathroom floor.
But one day, her fear subsided when she met a new person. She wore a bright yellow dress with worn out shoes. One green sock on the left foot and a blue on the right. Her hair was red a tomatoe an she had tight curls that didn't go past the middle of her neck, the kind that look like pigtales. As she enterd the room, the class stayed silent until one boy made a rude remark "Hey when did they let clowns come to school!?" The class roared with laughter with the exception of Anabell.
She found nothing funny. Instead she found the girls with the bright red hair, interesting . Anabell found her odd but in almost an envious way. Anabell had always wanted to wear clothes that no one else had worn. She wanted to wear her off red skirt that almost touched the floor that her mother had made her. She wanted to wear red stockings with black boots.
Anabells attention was quickly diverted to the teacher when she informed her that she would be showing Clarice around school.
Anabell was filled with silent excitment when she heard that. She wanted to get to know Clarice. Get to know how she could wear the clothes she wore, and not let peoples side line remarks effect her.
Class passed by and it was finally lunch. Anabell waited for Clarice outside the classroom to avoid the congestion at the front of the class. As Anabell was going to say to Clarice, Clarice quickly said hi to her with a big grin on her face. Anabell asked her " Why do you wear your clothes like that? Why dont you wear what every one else is wearing. Clarice replied "Well Im not everyone else, Im me. I want to wear what I want to wear. Im the one who dressed my self in the morning." Anabell thought to her self and realized she had a good point. Anabell quickly added " And don't you care about what people, what your friends, think of you, being dressed like that? You're not worried that they'll make fun of you?" Clarice answered her question with "No why would I? If my friends made fun of me, then they wouldnt be my friends, they'd be just people I see, they wouldn't have an impact on me". Anabell found everything she had to say facinating. It all made sence of course but that logic had never crossed her mind. She was always trying to think the way her "friends" thought.
The next day Clarice didn't come to school. Or the next day or the next week for that matter. She never came back.
But every remark that she had made had stuck with Anabell. She began drifting away from her "friends" and started dressing different. She would wear mismatching clothes, the opposite of everyone else.
A big dance was coming up at her school and she had been stressing about even before she met Clarice. She was stressing about what she would wear and who she would go with. However, she put the dance on the backburner and delt with it last minute. She knew exactly what she would wear and who she would go with and how she should act around the other kids.
She wore her red stockings and her long skit that her mother had made her. She was going to be herself, the real her, not what everyone else had seen. Not the mask she had been wearing.
At the dance she let go of her inhibitions, she danced. She was finally her self.
