Once upon a time there lived a girl. She didn’t have a name, not really...She was just one of the crowd. She grew up in a town where she knew everyone, and everyone was the same. She had average looks, average grades, an average family, and an average lifestyle.People only knew her Because they were her.
As the girl grew older, She only did what the other girls did. She started liking boys and pretended to care about make-up and clothes. She didn’t really care about make-up or clothes, But she was afraid of being shut out of the crowd,The girl lived this way until she realized she was no longer a little girl, she was a teenager. She graduated from her life-long school and into reality. The reality of change.
In high school, she saw races and religions that she had never heard of. Her group evaporated from her and she found a new group that would take her. The girl had to work hard to be part of the new group. She had to be smarter and prettier. She had to take classes the group was taking. This transition was hard at first, But then the lie became easier and easier to live.
One day the girl was working on an extra-credit project that she was doing only because of the group. She saw an odd boy working on the project too. There was something about the boy that intrigued her: He was different. He acted like he wanted to, in spite of the opinions of others. He didn’t know the girl, but he talked to her anyway. They became friends and he taught her to do what she wanted, not what the group wanted. He showed her things she wouldn’t have known in her protective circle. He taught her about friendship, pain, and real happiness. He taught her to make her life what she wanted.

And she loved him for teaching her.

01/20/1998

Author's Note: I wrote this for my first boyfriend and gave it to him for Valentine's day. It's not really a poem, more just a story, but it's from my history. I can really see a difference in how I write now compared to then.

Posted on 07/02/2003
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