Popularity Lies

"I believe I wrote this short story in 8th grade when my ELA/Reading teacher assigned us to write a short story about lying. Reading it now, I'm amazed by how great this story is. I like it a lot and I hope you guys do too! Please tell me if you see any mistakes. I was typing through this pretty fast (I spellchecked, but you know, the computer isn't always 100% correct on editing)."

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Lying. All of us could remember a time when we told a lie or when we really wanted to, but didn't. Everyone has told a lie at least once in their lifetime, whether it was a big lie or a little one. I, for one, remember a time when I told the biggest lie of my life that I should never lie about again.

It was two years ago when I was in 6th grade, entering middle school for the first time. To some people, it would be jubilant and fun like an adventure. But to me, it was a horror movie. During the summer, my family and I had just moved to California from New York. I didn't know anyone in school or in the area nor did I have the guts to go look for someone to help me around the area. my mom kept telling me "it'll be alright." But I didn't believe her.

The next morning, my mom drove me to school in her green Honda Element. We drove along the long narrow, bumpy street. Apparently, the area had load full of hills and slopes and as we exited the neighborhood, I spotted what was probably the biggest hill in the city that I've seen. The hill was fenced in, but the main thing that caught my eye was the enormous mansion at the top. It was like The White House, but it wasn't. There was a sign outside saying,"For Sale" and then"SOLD" at the bottom. Why couldn't we get a house like that?

My mom finally reached my new school and dropped me off at the front of Mayfield Middle School. "Have a nice day, sweetie!" my mom shouted out to me, then drove off. Standing at the front walkway of the school, countless questions were just bouncing around in my head. "What if no one notices me" What if they tease me? What if I didn't fit in? What if--" That was all that ran through my mind. My legs and body then felt like they wanted to melt into the sidewalk, but I just continued walking through the doors into the halls.

The school bell rang, the tardy bell I presume, and it was time to find my classroom. "Room A-17... A-17..." I searched about the empty halls with my new class schedule in my hands, looking for my homeroom. Not even thinking about what was in front of me, I then bumped into a buff, tall figure. "Oof!" and we both collapsed on the linoleum floor, papers flying everywhere.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you!" I exclaimed.

"Calm down! It's no problem," the man chuckled. His big wide smile showed all his great pearly whites. And right away, I knew things were alright. we both then started to gather all the papers scattered all over the ground. "Are you new here? I could help you around here if you want."

My mind was whirling like a tornado again. You're just fine. You can do this yourself. Don't act like you're a clueless new kid. Don't even look like a new kid. All I was afraid of was being labeled as "The New Kid." If they didn't accept me, what would I do? I had to be smart, but not too smart like a nerd; just smart enough to know my way around. i had to be cool and popular. No one knew who the real me was yet.

"Oh, no, I'm just fine. i know where my homeroom is. My mom and I just got stuck in the morning traffic jam. So, that's why I'm late. Many apologies." I exaggerated. The man eyed me suspiciously as we both got back up.

"Alright, then. By the way, my name is Mr. Elliot. I'll see you later then. I have to go drop off this stack of papers to the office. By the way, Room A-17 is just two rooms before you reach the end of this hall over there." Mr. Elliot sneaked a peek on my schedule and pointed out the classroom for me. I felt petrified for a split second, but then just walked on ahead on to my new class.

"Why...thank you." I felt like a complete idiot: he saw right through me. Will my exaggeration work for the other people here?

I turned the knob on the door labeled Room A-17: Ms. Ashmore, opened the door, and entered the classroom.

"Well, you must be the new student! My name is Ms. Ashmore!" I looked up and saw a cheerful lady, around her thirties or so, in a dress coming up to me surprised. And looking around I would tell it was a class of about thirty-two or so students. I then felt a shiver racing up my spine. I freaked out. With a big school like this, there must be more than a thousand kids here! I really hoped the name "The New Kid" didn't catch onto one another, or, even worse, all the students at school. "Takkaria was it?"

"Huh?" I snapped back into reality.

"Takkaria? Is that your name?" Ms. Ashmore asked me. A quiet murmur flowed throughout the classroom. Whispers like "what a strange name" and "is she foreign?" were heard. I looked at the students for a moment and gulped. Remember: cool and popular, Takka.

"Yes. That is my name. But I also prefer to be called Takka. Either way, I don't care." I said proudly. And then I remembered the big mansion up on the big hill that was sold. "Sorry for being late. Even with my dad's brand new Hummer, it just took awhile to get here from my new mansion up on that hill far over by McCallister Avenue, especially with all the usual morning traffic jam. My family and I just moved here in Palmdale from the big city New York, New York!"

Technically, my family didn't have a Hummer at all and, obviously, I just wished that I lived in that "White House" mansion. My family and I just moved here from one of the smallest towns in New York--Cheery Creek. But the whole class fell for it and an explosion of exclamation boomed throughout the classroom.

"No way! She's the one who lives in that mansion now?"

"How cool is that?"

"Dude, she must be rich. Her family must have won the lottery!"

I saw fireworks in my eyes now and my mind was sure in a state of wanting to party around like a monkey. Yes! This is going out great! Surely, I'm going to be popular.

"So, Takkaria, willy you please choose your seat in class?" Ms. Ashmore asked. Right away, as I looked into the crowd of desks and students, I could recognize which group was which--the popular group was there, and the nerdy group here, and so on. One group of popular girls around the front had one open seat and were just wanted to drag me in with them. Me, part of the Popular's on the first day. Pinch me, I must be dreaming. I then took my seat in the middle of all the popular people. I truly felt like heaven. They were all smiling at me and drooling all over me like I was a sitting million dollar bill. Everyone else was also staring at me all period; Ms. Ashmore had a hard time getting them to pay attention to the lesson, but it wasn't their fault. I was popular and "rich." How could they help themselves?

Throughout the whole day, I was leading the popular people in the halls with all my fellow followers behind. I felt like a queen. One blond popular girl though, just eyed me with suspicion as she tagged along. And passing by, Mr. Elliot just seemed to turn his watermelon smile to a frown. Oh well, forget about him. he's not going to be a bothersome.

It was around the end of the day and I still had my followers with me. The news was spread all throughout the school by then. I truly was popular and I couldn't have felt any happier. I was sitting at the front in the middle at the last period of the day, acting all innocent and boastful about how "great my life really was" and almost everyone was just begging to listen. My last class apparently was with Mr. Elliot; so he did tell us all to be quiet at times, which annoyed me. This is my first chance to be popular; I can't let him ruin it for me. But I wasn't the only one getting annoyed. The other blond popular girl, whose name happened to be Kathy, sat at the desk behind me to the right, hands clenched tight into a fist. She eyed me like a hawk with complete suspicion and scanned for any weak spots that showed my obvious lying. She stared at me for a couple more minutes, but I look away uncomfortably to avoid her eyes. Suddenly, she then spoke out interrupting the silence.

"Takkaria, it's only your first day here at Mayfield and you're already popular. Here, that is extremely rare for any of us to get so popular so fast. How about if we celebrate your popularity? Kathy suggested. As I looked back at her in here eyes, I sensed some evil plot behind this.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Carrie, another popular girl exclaimed. And everyone else agreed with her.

"Um, yeah, sure...that sounds...great," I responded, sounding half-assured. Kathy stood up from her seat and placed her hand under her chin.

"Hmm, well, we don't usually have a great part house anywhere here in Palmdale city...Ahhh!" Kathy exclaimed as though a light bulb had just went DING! and switched on. "Ho about we have the party at your place, Takkaria? A mansion party would be great for this celebration!" She evilly smiled at me and waited for my response. I felt that knife stab into my back and my mind screamed. AHHHHH! What am I going to do? What would happen if they fond out? What do I do? What do I do?! What do I do?!?! "Well?" Kathy smirked. Everyone's eyes were on me now, waiting for my answer. Mr Elliot stopped with his writing on the board and also eyed me. He knew what was going to happen next and o did Kathy.

"uh..." I stammered, trying to get a word out of my throat. It felt like I was being choked by Kathy's invisible hands. "Uh..." My heart was beating faster and faster and I couldn't take it anymore. It was silent for a long time in the classroom and everyone began to grow suspicious. "Alright! I can't take it anymore! I'm not popular! I'm not rich! I don't live in that mansion! I lied! I liked about everything, EVERYTHING!"

Everyone around me gasped and was in dropped jaws and wide eyes, gaping at me. Kathy was smiling, cross-armed, satisfied. She might as well have said, "Ready, aim, FIRE!"

It was my first day at middle school and I went from The New Kid to Queen Popular to Loserville. But after that day, I realized: I didn't need to lie to fit in. I started being little bit lonely at first after all the popular people and zombie followers ditched me and when almost the whole school started to shun me. but I eventually made new friends, and, this time, they were real friends. I didn't need fans or posses. I also began to befriend Mr. Elliot and we began to gain trust between each other. I understand now that real friends will accept the real me any day, rather than fans who want popularity, as long as I don't lie about myself.

Lying. All of us could remember a time when we told a lie or when we really wanted to, but didn't. Everyone has told a lie at least once in their lifetime, whether it was a big lie or a little one. But no mater whether a lie is a big one or a little one, any kind of lie will lead to conflict and trouble eventually that you will regret no matter how much you try to avoid the truth.