The Last Straw

2590 Words6 Pages

Analise looked out the car window on her way to school. The sun had not yet raised, but the weatherman had said it would be a sunny day. She dreaded arriving to her small school, in her small town, in her small state of Rhode Island. It was a quiet town and not much happened, but word traveled fast. If the Wisner’s air conditioning wasn’t working, for instance, the whole town would know by the end of the day, along with who would fix it and how much it would cost. “I hope you have a great day at school!” her mother cheered, peering through the rearview mirror. Ana quickly snapped out of her funk, smiled big and replied, “Thanks, Mom. I will.” Her mom was her best friend, but she didn’t know how bad things were at school. Analise walked into homeroom and sat down in her spot, right in the middle of the room. She’d hoped sitting there would get her noticed, but even with her unusually bright red hair and abundance of freckles, she was amazed by how few people could tell her name, if asked, in a town where everyone knows everyone. She listened to some of the other kids’ conversations, since she didn’t have one of her own. “Want to come over after school?” “Sure, but I have to ask my dad.” “How lame.” “I know, right?” She cupped her chin in her hand and wondered how people could have such silly conversations as her teacher, Ms. Finkler, began to lecture the class on proper hygiene. Apparently the boys had been having toilet paper fights in the bathroom again. Analise’s mind began to wonder. I swear, someday I’ll run away from this place. I’ll run and run and I won’t look back. I’ll just keep running until I get to a big town with lots of people, lots of friends. Ana often thought like this, but she knew in the back of her head it w... ... middle of paper ... ...me to school a few minutes early. She was wearing her usual, a T-shirt and jeans. As she walked through the hallway she didn’t hear anymore mean names. Nobody tried to make her fall, or embarrass her at all. Instead she heard a “Hi” or “Hello” from every few people she passed. She said hi back to all of them. Why is everyone being so nice today? She thought. She met up with Zack and his friends, who had all, began to like her. The day went on as normal, at least normal to everyone but Analise, who loved her new life. Every day Ana went to school more people talked to her. Now that they had noticed her they realized that she wasn’t so bad. She began to make more and more friends. She forgot about all the bad things that had happened and just focused on how great things were right then. Analise knew that after all that had happened, everything was going to be alright.

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