The New Girl

Winner---8/8/08

ID: 896794   (Rated: 13+) Daily Flash Fiction Challenge  Enter your story of 300 words or less. Note new starting time! by arakun the twisted raccoon

         Beth put her books on the table. “There was a new girl in school today.”

         Her mother asked, “Did you get to meet her?”

         “Not really. She’s kind of strange.”

         “Strange?”

         “She was wearing really funny clothes, like they were somebody else’s clothes, that didn’t fit her.”

         “What grade is she in?”

         “Seventh, same as me; her name is Helen.”

         “Did you talk to her?”

         “No. Nobody did. She’s so different.”

         “So nobody talked to her? That must have made her feel terrible.”

         “We didn’t know what to say.”

         “Because she looked different? In funny clothes?”

         “I guess.”

         “Sweetheart, when I was in seventh grade there was a new girl in school. She was something like Helen I guess, she was wearing old clothes and looked different from everybody else. But one girl talked to her and made friends with her. It made her feel a lot better.”

         “You think I should talk to her?”

         “What is the Rule?”

         “To do to other people what I want them to do to me.”

         “So what do you think?”

         “I should talk to her.”

         “I think so too. The girl I was telling you about wore the old clothes because it was all she had. Her father died and she was sent to live with an aunt who didn’t know about girls and school clothes. She thought if the girl had something to wear it didn’t matter what. Other people saw her clothes and thought she didn’t know any better. They judged her without knowing her.”

         “That was awful! Are you still friends with her?”

         “You could say that.”

         “Who is she? Do I know her?

         “She is me.”

         “I’ll talk to her! She could be someone wonderful, like you!”


288 words