The Donated Box Of Clothes

My name is Anna and I believe in magic. I want to tell you my story. I went to boulevard middle school and I didn't exactly fit in with the crowd. My hair stayed frizzy and my glasses were not exactly the most beautiful things. I wasn't what the other kids called pretty, I wasn't skinny, and I definitely wasn't like the popular girls at my school. I had always wondered what it would be like to be popular, and then one day something completely strange happened. It was my birthday and I wanted friends. I asked my parents to throw me a party. They said yes and told me to give out invitations. It was just a card that had my name, phone number, address, and a very bad picture of me on it. Some of the girls laughed at the invitation. I just walked away with my head hanging towards the ground, and looking at my feet while gradually walking to my class. I looked up and ran into the boy i had a crush on since like the second grade. I just know my face turned red, i remember my heart pounding, and somehow all of my books were on the floor. I didn't say a word, I was frozen with embarrassment. He helped me pick up my things and I went straight to class. I don't think he even knew my name, much less knew i existed. I have no idea what my teacher was talking about that day , because all I could do is wonder if anyone was going to show up for my birthday. Finally, it was the weekend. The day I had waited for all that week. I dressed up in what I thought was my best outfit. I had wore a black and blue polka dot skirt with a blue shirt that matched the polka dots. I didnt walk so good in high heeled shoes so, I had worn my favorite white sneakers. I got home from school that day to find some presents with goofy looking bows, and a cake that said happy birthday Anna. The house was also decorated along with our stupid looking mailbox with balloons in the front yard. As I was looking at all the decorations and my gifts all I really wanted was for some people to show up. I went to shake some of the gifts my parents had bought me and all of a sudden I heard the doorbell. I remember having the most stupid grin on my face. I ran for the door with excitement and saw them. The three most popular girls from my school had actually showed up for my party. I couldn't believe it. I invited them in and then they told me they couldn't stay and that they came by to drop off a gift. They asked me to step outside and open it. As I was opening the gift with disappointment I started to smell something really bad. The girls had put a stink bomb in my gift with a shirt that said the word nerd on the front. I threw the box and ran back inside. I went straight to my bedroom closet and cried. As I was sitting there I started making a wish that I could be popular. I repeated the same sentence ten times i know of. All I kept saying was I wish I was popular, I wish I was popular, I wish I was popular. All of a sudden I felt rain drops. I could see the little bubbles on my arms, and felt them hitting my skin. I stood up and bumped my head on the shelf in the closet which was weird because I've never been tall enough to reach it, and my old white ballerina dress had fallen on the floor. It sparkled and it was bigger. I had it since I was just a little tiny thing. I got curious so I just had to put it on. I felt crazy! I knew something was going on, but i didn't know what. After i put the dress on i noticed I had grown taller, I was skinny, and I even had boobs. I checked the mirror to make sure it wasn't a dream. Was this real? I looked the same but older, prettier, my hair was different, I was thinner, and I noticed that I could see without my glasses. Maybe it was just me and all of this was some kind of delusion. Then i had the thought that it could be the dress. I didn't know what to think. I couldn't stop staring at the mirror. I can remember playing with my hair, and doing makeup. I looked like I had changed from a little girl to an older woman. Well, minus the ballerina dress I was still wearing. So I took the dress off and put on some pajamas since nobody had showed up for my party. I looked in the mirror one last time before going downstairs. I gasped, it was gone. I was shorter, my hair was frizzy, and things were kind of blurry. I had to know if I was crazy. So I put the dress back on and it came back. It was the dress! Was it magic, was it all in my head, or was I just seeing what I wished to see. I had to pretend I was normal and nothing was going on. I went downstairs to open my gifts as my mom and dad were trying to comfort me about no one showing up. My gifts made me feel better, but all I could think about was that dress and what was happening to me. I played around in it all weekend with stupid smiles on my face. It was Monday morning. I hated school, but it was time for another week. I wore my same clothes usually do, but I had took the dress with me. I went straight to the bathroom when I got there. I put it on under my clothes and stuffed the tutu part in my pants as much as I could. I thought if I was prettier than people would like me. The next thing I knew the three girls that had gave me that God awful gift was talking to me. They were asking me questions, and telling me all about the gossip. It was almost like we had been friends forever. Again I had to ask myself was it real. Then they had asked me how my boyfriend was. I was in shock because i didn't have a boyfriend. I stood there with a dumb look on my face and asked what boyfriend. They said it, it was him, the guy I had dreamed about being with since the second grade when he sit in front of me in Mrs Kapoofs class. I always thought she had a strange name. Nevermind that, my only thought was I was popular. I was really popular. I had friends, I had a boyfriend, and I had never felt better in my whole life. I had a feeling it wouldn't last though. Was this dress magic had it put me in a different time zone? I had all sorts of questions. Was it real? What happens when it stopped working. I tried not to think about it and enjoy my life different for a change. I fit in with everyone. People liked me and wanted to be me, and wanted to talk to me. As time went on the girls that were my friends now were not as glamorous as I thought, and my boyfriend was a bully. I started to ask myself did I really want to be like these people. I didn't want to make fun of people and push people around because I was more popular. I told the girls I had to use the restroom. They insisted that they come with. I went in and heard this girl crying in the bathroom stall. It was a girl like me. A girl I used to be. The other girls were making fun of her and telling her to go cry somewhere else and that she was in the way. I didn't say anything at all I just felt bad. As time went on and I continued to wear the dress everyday at school I realized more and more that things aren't always as good as they seem. Was the dress magic? Indeed it was, but was it magic I wanted to keep? Did I want to finish out the rest of my school days being someone I wasn't. I knew if I stopped wearing the dress I would go back to being invisible, but that girl in the bathroom had told me that I didn't want that dress as much as I thought I did. Im positive she felt the way i used to. One day after school I was just sad. I had hated who I became. Was I a bully too? I had became someone I didn't like. That day I looked in the mirror and I still didn't like what I saw because of how I was acting. I thought about the girl in the stall. What if she needed to see the things I did to realize it's not as good as it seems. The next day when I went to school without the dress. Nobody really noticed me. I wasn't surprised. I went and found that girl I saw and told her I wanted her to borrow this dress and wear it for a few weeks and give it back. The next day at school I saw her with the girls I was friends with and noticed the jerk of a boyfriend had just moved on to the next. I was still the same old me. The outcast and the smart girl with glasses that wasn't popular anymore. A couple weeks later the girl in the stall had given me the dress back and told me she didn't want it anymore. I asked her why and she replied things are not always as good as they seem. She and I became best friends. We never told anyone about the dress. We decided to keep it in the back of my closet locked up incase we ever saw someone that needed to realize things aren't as good as they seem. I still felt insecure and unpopular that didn't change. One day I decided to go home and take all of the clothes that I wore when I was popular and donate them to someone who cared more about their appearance than how they treated someone. That is exactly what I did, and I went back to my old clothes and I finally was ok with just being myself. That box of clothes wasn't me. I had what I needed I just needed something to remind me. I needed something that said you are perfect the way you are. I will never forget that dress, and I still have it. My best friend and I share the secret to this day and we let girls that were like us borrow it to also realize that it's not about how popular you are. It's about how you treat people and what kind of person you choose to be.