Quiet

Alice Brooks lived in the town of Greenwood, Ohio. Greenwood was a small town with an old vibe. It was cold and filled with fog the majority of the time. This town rarely saw the sun.  She was a 5’3 blonde with bright green eyes. Alice would usually wear plaid flannels or striped sweaters with baggy jeans. She never cared about how she looked. She wore glasses and her hair up in a carefree bun. Alice lived in a big white modern house on Casanova street. Like Alice, her next door neighbors were Sophomores in high school. Sophie Davidson lives in the house next door and Logan Richards lives on the other side of the Brooks’ house. She would sometimes invite Sophie over to watch movies with her but, overall, Alice wasn’t very social.  She never participated in any extracurricular sports or activities. She never went to any dances. She always stayed home and preferred looking at the stars and planets through the telescope her dad gave her before he died from lung cancer. Sophie enjoyed the things Alice enjoyed. Sophie also had a widowed mother so they had some things to talk about like missing their fathers. But other than that, she didn’t have any friends. She was close to her mom and spent most of her time with her. Almost every night when Alice didn’t have much homework, they would watch romantic comedies like Grease as they ate Chinese takeout.    

Alice was comfortable with being introverted. She liked playing it safe when it came to being social. One day when she went to school,  she noticed kids staring at her. They whispered to each other as they were checking out her outfit and her looks. One day a girl named Rachel Davids walked up to her and said: “Where do you shop? In your grandma's closet?” Alice felt her heart sink to the floor. She ran into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She started getting disgusted as she looked at her imperfections. Her nose was too small, her forehead was too high, her lips were too thin, her hair was turning brown, and her nails were short and stubby due to nervous biting. Alice ran out of the bathroom in tears fighting the urge to scream. She felt as if no one understood her; she was broken. As the tears streamed down her face, her rage was building up like bricks, starting to suffocate all of her emotions building inside her.

Alice woke up the next morning feeling the pillow beside her which was wet from her tears, remembering what happened the day before. Alice decided this would be the last time she cried herself to sleep because of Rachel Davids. Suddenly, she felt confidence she had never felt before. She walked into her closet and started throwing the clothes she usually wore into a box. She grabbed a bunch of clothes that she never wore, thinking they were too girly and uncomfortable for her. She put on some skinny ripped jeans and a tight long sleeve pastel pink shirt. She put on a white fishnet cardigan over it and let her hair down and curled it. She put in contacts instead of putting on her glasses and put on silver hoop earrings. Alice wore a black thin choker connected with a silver hoop just like her earrings. She put on some mascara to brighten her face. She looked in the mirror with that same confidence she woke up with. She put on her white sneakers with three parallel black stripes lining the sides and went to school.

As she walked towards her locker she felt eyes on her. She looked around and noticed people were frozen as if time stopped. They all whispered to their friends. Rachel walked up to her. “I see you decided to fix yourself up. What did you do? I'm totally loving it! You should so hang out with me and my friends tonight! Meet us at Rico's at 6:00!” Alice stuttered but managed to say ok. Alice and Rachel exchanged phone numbers and walked to class. Alice was so excited she couldn’t concentrate the rest of the day.

At 5:55 her mom drove her to Ricos. Alice walked in holding her phone in her right hand which almost slipped out of her grip because of her nervous sweating. She didn’t see Rachel or any of Rachel’s friends. In fact, she didn’t see anyone. No cashiers. No waiters. No customers. Just as she pulls out her phone, a french fry nails her in the head. Lettuce, french fries, ketchup, hamburger buns, and even pickles are being thrown at her. A hamburger patty with loads of ketchup hits her right in the face. A ton of girls and boys walk out and start laughing. Rachel walked right up to Alice and took a picture. She said “Did you actually believe we would be friends with a loser like you? You're pathetic.” She then saw Sophie in the corner standing alone and scared. Right then, a wall of anger built up inside her. Having cleaned her face with a napkin she had dipped in a water glass, Sophie grabbed Rachel’s arm. Looking directly at Rachel’s startled face, she said “The only pathetic loser here is you and your fry-throwing army of rude kids. To think that you would do this to someone who doesn’t deserve it is pathetic.” Sophie ran over to Alice and stood there holding her hand.  She looked at Rachel with a fearless face. Rachel scoffed and said “What? Do you think you guys can lecture me out of this!?” Alice started to feel that confidence well up again. Alice said “No, but I will show you what karma does to people like you.” She grabbed Rachel’s phone and dumped it in the water. Rachel screamed at the top of her lungs with an ear-shattering pitch. Alice stared into her eyes and said “You deserve it!” Rachel stood there in complete shock as Alice and Sophie walked out of the restaurant.

As Alice and Sophie walked home together, Alice invited Sophie over for some Chinese takeout with her mom. Ever since that incident, she and Sophie became best friends and she was the happiest she had ever been.

From that day on, Alice was respected. No one messed with her. No one talked to her except Sophie. And she was okay with that.