Eloise Johnston

My name is Eloise Johnston. I've had a few problems and fights, but there is one that really sticks out to me.

A lot of people don't really like my skin. I was always taught black is beautiful. I thought the people who surrounded me liked their skin too. My mother always reminded me that they were just trying to bring me down. I had to stay strong, even if that meant that I had to deal with haters.

My school was full of colored people. I had a large friend group and I was pretty popular. I didn't really listen to the mean girls because all of them were the same. All of them were white and they made fun of weaker kids. My group stood up to them, so the ring leader didn't mess with us. A lot of my friends stayed far away from them, except one of us. She is friends with them, but she usually tries to stop them from doing their mean girl things. Just the average mean girls. They just were annoying.

They didn't actually do anything truly mean until we got to High School. I was sitting eating my lunch and laughing with my friends as we did every day when Stacy, the ring leader brings her little troupe over. My friends and I looked at each other. None of us were laughing anymore.

"Move along scummy little losers," Stacy growled.

"Umm, this is where we sit. You should go move along, Stacy, back to the trash can you came out of," my best friend says. I high-fived her. Stacy looks offended. Brace face Stacy needed to find a place worse than the trash in all honesty.

I watch as a devilish look spread across her face. I knew this was her planning grin. Something bad was happening. "I'm throwing a sleepover. Here are the invites and my number. Call me when you are leaving." Her friends smile, genuinely. I looked at them. They look genuinely excited.

"What are we doing. What's the food going to be like? Will there be music?" The friends look at me. My own friends stare at me. I could not even believe they weren't backing me up. My best friend looked at her suspiciously too. She nods at me.

"Pop music. I tend to put my speaker on my playlist. As for food, there will be pizza and cake. Private to just our friend group. We're going to be playing games and talking. Maybe a movie. Jeeze, ever been to a sleepover?" I frown at her. I then grin. I could expose her, or have the best sleepover. Even if it is trashy Stacy and her goons. But my friends would be there too. Who knows, I could even bring some of them to my group.

"We'll be there. Thanks for the invites. Right girls?" They all nod, my best friend stares at me in shock and disbelief. Stacy smiles broadly. Her little minions all jump up and down, in excitement.

"So glad. can't wait!" My best friend looks at me like I'm stupid. I look back at her. The lunch bell rang. I got up and gathered my things.

"What were you thinking? Saying yes to Stacy and her sleepover. remember the last sleepover we had? We played a few games, watched a movie, had dinner, and still the girl who was hosting ended up in tears in her dining room." I look at her. Yes, that had happened. One time. We hadn't had a sleepover since that. I think we were just too tired. Not to mention that was like, two years ago. I never thought about it though.

"I thought Stacy should have the chance to try to be good. Maybe she's not all that bad. Besides, she's starting to gain popularity. Maybe we can be with her now." What was the point of holding a grudge? She nodded in agreement. We went to class and chose to not speak about it until we got there.

Before I knew it, it was Friday afternoon. I quickly packed my coolest items, put on pajamas, and had one of my friends drive me over. Her mom was excited for us. I noticed she seemed mad while we drove. Then she stared talking. Not saying she is bad about keeping quiet, but I am saying her endless talking can get annoying. I hoped personally that this chat wouldn't last long.

Well, chat was a stretch. More like she was going to talk at me and then expect me to comfort her. She was probably the drama girl when she was in High School. My mom and her are not friends. She also has relationship problems and complains about that a lot. I feel really bad for my friend, who probably has to listen to this everyday, even if she doesn't want to.

Her husband decided that he was going to work late. Originally she wasn't going to let her go, but now she has to go grocery shopping and it was hard enough doing everything. Too much to deal with her daughter. She was quiet. I guessed she was embarrassed, because she didn't say anything and stared out the window. I just agreed with her mom.

We at last got to the party. Her mom would pick us up whenever we called. Probably first thing in the morning of the moment someone got murdered. Seriously, her house looked like her. Cheap wannabe cool trash. It looked ugly on the outside and worse one the inside. We were almost last to arrive.

It smelled worse than it looked. Her mom came to the door to greet us. She was in a bathrobe with slippers on. She looked like she was really trying to be a good person. "Hi there! You must be one of Stacy's little friends. Come on in. They're outside, but they're about to come in. Just wait." We headed in and set up. I saw how dirty it was. I kind of felt sorry for Stacy.

But then she came in. The moment she did she said, "The scum's showed up. Good." I want to push her, but I decide to be civilised about the matter. I just smiled and got something to eat. Her music was trashy and so was the movie. I couldn't believe this was what her friends were so excited about.

We went to bed, but in the middle of the night the friend who's mom drove me here started to have really bad knee cramps, as she has always had that problem which woke me up. I went over to her to soothe her. Stacy woke up. She went over to her bathroom and got her bandaids. She called her terrible names and threw them at her. Which woke everyone up.

I called her mom. But my best friend was on the scene. She grabbed a tennis ball she had next to her and threw it at her head. We got her mom to pick her up, but I had the final blow right as we were leaving. I slapped her hard right across her brace faced ugly head. I went home and told my mom all about it.

I still haven't forgotten that day. She really is the worst person. She may be living in a bad environment, but I made sure that she never got popular, as soon enough I was the popular cool girl. And Stacy, she was so embarrassed she ended up just leaving our school for good.