Heather Lynn Finds Her Groove

Heather Lynn Stone was a Caucasian female, as well as an albino. The white eyebrows accented the icy blue eyes and her many, various tattoos accented her beliefs.  With a face full of metal piercings, there was something freaky about the teenager. Her hair, usually worn in braids, was also white.  

She often looked into the mirror and cried.

“Why was I born such a freak?”

She hailed from Compact, which had been named the most racist place on the planet and the international criticism was duly hailed on the town.  The mayor and town council in order to shake that particular label, decided to take one white student and put them in a totally black school and take one black student and put them in a totally white school.

There had been a very emotional assembly at both schools and everyone clapped and cheered when Heather Lynn’s had been selected. The rebellious girl had responded by flipping the entire school assembly school assembly — students and teachers — the double international salute.

Mr. Harris, the principal calmed everyone down; it took a few minutes.

“Heather Lynn we know that you will represent the school with pride.”

He smiled at the girl who returned his cheerfulness with total hostility.

“Why would I be proud to be part of this stupid school full of morons and losers?”

Nobody had an answer to that. The girl glared rudely at everyone and then stormed off.  

The hatred had begun since the first day she had walked into the place. Being a teenager and being physically different wasn’t a great way to make friends. She had covered her body with numerous tattoos and had put enough metal in her face to raise the shares of surgical steel.

In her first week, she had been walking down the stairs and someone had fallen ahead of her.  Instead of seeing if the person was okay, Heather Lynn simply walked over them and continued on her way. The injured student had ridiculed and bullied the girl.

The rumours started to circle that she had pushed the person after they had made a comment on her frightening appearance.  Others claimed that she had stepped on the person. Some even said that she had kicked them in the kidneys before proceeding.

At the all-black school, Rodney Johnson had been chosen and there were cries of anguish and disbelief.  He was the president of the student body, a prized athlete and someone who had halted fights and brought peace and calm to the student body.

Heather Lynn walked into the all-black school and everyone was a little in shock.  

“Man that chick is white on white,” said one boy. Luckily the comment hadn’t been heard.

When Heather Lynn walked down the hallway looking straight ahead, the whispers behind her back were strong and vicious. One day, she stopped and glared with total hostility at a group of black girls encircled to give them strength.

“You got something to say to me? Are you sacred to say it to my face?”

“We don’t want any trouble,” said Felicia Brown, one of the toughest girls in school.  Everyone was taken aback. Usually, she didn’t back down from anyone.

“You’re all pathetic.” Screamed the albino girl and walked away slipping inside the bathroom. There was only one girl inside and at the sight of the ‘white witch,’ as Heather Lynn was quickly called, a name that had carried over from the old school, booked out of the bathroom quickly.  

Heather Lynn stared at the mirror and tried not to cry.

“You’re a freak in the all-white school and you’re a freak in the all-black school. I wonder if they have a freak school?”

Suddenly, she saw a black face standing over her shoulder.  Heather Lynn turned around and was ready to face the girl.  

“I don’t think you’re a freak,” said Kayla Moore.  She was a pretty girl with frizzy hair and glasses and an inviting smile.

“Oh, really, then what do you see?”

“I see a young girl that has a strong spirit, the type of spirit that can handle any situation in life including being different and unique.”

“I don’t want anything to do with anyone in this place.”

“I really don’t blame you. It must be really hard to be transplanted from your comfort zone into a place where everyone zones in on you because you are different.”

“Is this conversation done?”

Kayla shrugged her shoulders.  

“I don’t know, is it?”

Heather Lynn marched past Kayla.

It was the next day and the assembly was staged in order to welcome Heather Lynn. She had wanted to stay home, had pleaded and begged, but her mother wouldn’t let her.  

The announcement came over the P.A. system and the student body moved toward the gymnasium.  Heather Lynn walked alone and nobody dared to look at her for very long.  

She sat in the stands alone and everyone stayed clear of her.

The principal Mrs. Clay, stood at the podium and overlooked the situation.  

“This is not going to be easy,” she said to one of the teachers. 

Once everyone was settled in, she smiled.

“Hello, everyone, I hope that you are all well today. As you know, we have a new student for the next month.  I would like to ask Heather Lynn to please come on down.”

The albino girl just sat there defiantly arms crossed with an icy stare that could have turned lava into ice instantly.  

Mrs. Clay feigned a smile.

“Heather Lynn, please come down,” she said with a shaky voice.

It took a long minute before the girl moved. She walked down the seating and made it to the floor, with all of the attitude and sass the teenage girl could muster, Heather Lynn arrived in front of Mrs. Clay.

“I’m here.”

“I can see that.”

There was a lot of silence punctuated with a couple of coughs and a burp.

Suddenly, Kayla popped out of her seat and rushed over to Mrs. Clay. She waved at Heather Lynn and smiled, which was not very well received or returned.

She whispered in the principal’s ear and the middle-aged woman nodded her head.  

“Bring it in guys,” shouted Kayla.

Two rather large boys slowly and carefully wheeled in a giant mirror on wheels. It was placed almost in front of Heather Lynn.

“Hi everyone, as you know I am the president of the welcoming committee in school and it is my job to make everyone new feel welcomed.”

Mrs. Clay smiled and nodded her head.

“Heather Lynn, I just want to say that on behalf of the entire student body it is really nice to have you be part of our community. We want you to have a great month at our school.”

Heather Lynn didn’t change her demeanour. 

“As part of being part of our community, you have to be initiated and it is nothing bad. I just want you to look in the mirror and tell me what you see.”

Kayla smiled and everyone looked at her like she was a little crazy.  The white girl looked like a cat that had been throw into the pool against her will.

“Please, Heather Lynn this is just harmless,” gently spoke Mrs. Clay.

Heather Lynn walked in front of the mirror and stared for a long minute before she started to cry.

“I see a freak. I see someone that doesn’t belong here or anywhere else. At my old school, that hell hole, they called me the ‘White Witch.’ I hated those people.”

She stepped away.

Kayla was still smiling.  She grabbed the microphone.

“Would someone like to say what they see when they see Heather Lynn in the mirror?”

Felicia Brown slowly moved down trying not to step on anyone.  She waved at everyone and nobody knew what to expect.  She smiled at Mrs. Clay who tried to smile back at the girl that had spent a fair share of her time in the principal’s office.

“You have to stand in front of the mirror,” said Felicia.

Heather Lynn glared at the nice looking black girl and slowly moved in front of the mirror.  

“What I see is not an ugly girl but a breath of fresh air. Look around you, we’re all black and to tell you the truth it is kind of boring. Sorry, guys, no offence. I always thought I was tough, but tough is your spirit. You are different and I just love that.”

There were a few people clapping throughout the auditorium.

“It is like looking at a parking lot and all the cars being red or blue or green. It is boring. But, if you have a hundred cars that are blue and one that is red, then that is cool. It is different. There isn’t anything wrong with different. I like different.”

Heather Lynn looked at her and shrugged her shoulders.

“I guess I am different.”

“You are different only because you are an individual.  You are the only one that isn’t afraid to self express their feelings or their beliefs. That takes guts.  You are fierce and true warrior princess.” Kayla smiled at Heather Lynn.

“I never looked at it like that.”  She looked in the mirror again.

“Anyone else want to say something?”

“I do,” said Mrs. Clay.

She walked behind Heather Lynn and placed her hands on her shoulders.

“My father abandoned us when I was just a little girl. When I was eleven, my mother died. There was no family member wanting to take me and my three siblings in. But, mom was friends with this white couple and they took us in. They had a boy and a girl.  It was the true meaning of a blended family; six kids as different from each other as possible blended together to make a family. I always wanted a black child and a white child.  As some of you know, I married a white man and we have one of each.”

Slowly everyone started to clap and then it got louder and louder. Mrs. Clay had not taken her hands off of Heather Lynn’s shoulders. Everyone stood up and they clapped for five minutes.  

Eventually, everyone stopped clapping and sat down. There were smiles all around.

“I want to welcome you to our school. You are not a freak, you are not a blemish, you are one of us. You can look in that mirror all day and think all the negative thoughts, but I see a spirited girl, a bright girl who has a nice smile if she ever smiled.”

Heather Lynn wiped the tears from eyes and shook her head. She took the microphone.

“I am not a freak.”

Everyone started to clap again and stood up. They cheered: ‘Heather Lynn is not a freak!’ ‘Heather Lynn is not a freak!’

“I am not a freak!” She shouted over the clapping and whistling and cheering. She put her arms up in the air and screamed it.

The louder the cheering began the wider her smile grew.

The next morning, Heather Lynn walked into school like she owned it. She greeted everyone.  

“Good morning, how are you?” She hugged everyone and they all hugged her back.  There were high fives and hands holding hands and the widest smiles ever.

There were no whispers behind her back anymore. There were just laughter and friendship.  

She became involved in school activities and made friends with Felicia and Kayla. At the end of the month, it was time for her to leave.  There was an assembly organized to send her off. Everyone looked a little sad.

“Well, it has been a very different month in this school. Do you realize that none of you have visited me once?  Is everyone feeling okay?”  Mrs. Clay asked and everyone laughed.

“Heather Lynn it has been a joy to have you in our school. Actually, I have to correct myself, the one person that has visited me is Heather Lynn. I will sorely miss our chit chats.”

Heather Lynn walked up to the microphone and hugged Mrs. Clay.

“Hello, everyone,” she smiled and waved at everyone. They all waved back. “I have some very interesting news. I am not going anywhere. I don’t care what the deal was because if they try and send me back, I will go to court and fight it. I have already talked to the school board and told them that this skinny white girl would sue their sorry asses all the way to the supreme court if they tried to remove me from my home.”

The entire school body exploded and they ran out of the stands taking turns to hug her, spin the girl around and jump around.  

Someone put some really cool dance music on and the entire student body danced including Mrs. Clay and the teachers. The spontaneous celebration was a celebration of the variety of human spirit.

Heather Lynn Stone graduated from the school and went to the prom with Rodney Johnson.  They were voted prom king and queen.  

The teenage girl had found a permanent home and the experience left a positive permanent mark on her and everyone’s soul.