Samantha heaved a big sigh and dumped her textbooks on the table. She was currently in the library and had a major test to study for. She was known as The Nerd just because of how she dressed: sweaters, jeans, sketchers, glasses, cheap watches, old baggy t-shirts, etc. Her brown hair was always put into a messy bun or a sloppy ponytail; she barely wore any make-up, and only had her ears pierced once (as if that was a bad thing). Just because she had amazing grades meant that she was automatically considered a “nerd.”
She sat down, opened her textbook, and took her pen out. But before she could do anything, Stacey (A.KA Queen Bee of the school) stood in front of her. Stacey was the exact opposite of Samantha. Stacey wore skirts, tank tops, dresses, boots, pumps, expensive jewelry, leather jackets, etc. Her blond hair was either always flowing down past her shoulders or in a neat high pony tail. Her face was also drowned in make-up but she always managed to pull it off. To Samantha, Stacey was just “The Rich Snob.” Pretty but probably dumb.
Pushing her negative thoughts away, Samantha looked up and plastered a fake smile on her face. “Um…do you need something?” she asked politely, trying not to be rude.
Stacey rolled her aqua blue eyes and shoved a paper in Samantha’s hand. “You dropped this!” she exclaimed with a scowl on her face.
“Whoa,” Samantha thought as she took in The Rich Snob’s annoyed features. “Why the attitude? What did I do?”
“Anyways, stop being stupid!” Stacey fumed. With that she stormed out of the library leaving a speechless Samantha.
Snapping back to focus, Samantha looked down at the paper. “Oh, my God,” she said to no one in particular. There were sparkling pink pen marks on her paper; they circled the math calculations she had gotten wrong, and arrows pointed to the correct ways to solve the different problems.
Samantha did a double take and nodded. This was definitely the work of Stacey: Smiley faces on top of the positive notes, sad faces next to remarks in the like of “Are you dumb? I thought you were supposed to be the school nerd?” Or: “That’s wrong. X = 2 not 3!” Or: “Were you even paying attention in class?”
Samantha smiled a genuine smile and looked at the door that Stacey (A.KA Queen Bee) had just walked out of. She was smarter than Samantha…who was supposed to be a nerd.
Samantha shook her head and looked back at her paper.
You know what they say… Never Judge a Book by its Cover
***
Elizabeth is a 7th grader who lives in South Florida.
