Under the Little Black Hoodie

Dannie wondered what it would be like to be her sister.Paisleywas the kind of person who everybody loved, and she had all of the guys throwing themselves at her. Every Friday night, she was at somebody’s party, and she always looked incredible. She was every girl’s role model. She could even say no when she needed to, unlike most people in the school.

            And today was one of those days. No, it wasn’t Friday, but Thursday’s close enough, right? But on Dannie’s end of the world, there were no parties to go to, no gossip to spread, and no boys to scale. In Dannie’s world, there were alleged siblings who needed to hunt and kill their own father. That is, until Ms. Danforth decided it was okay to take her out of it.

            “Earth to Dannie! Can you please rejoin us on this planet?” Ms. Danforth wasn’t exactly happy with her student reading instead of listening to her talk about the French Revolution.

            Dannie silently nodded as she heard the whispers and the laughter from the rest of the bored class. She knew what they were saying, even though she was in the back of the room. They always said the same things about her.

“Maybe she’s depressed?”

“I heard that she cuts herself!”

“She must be emo or something.”

Even though none of them could even imagine why Dannie was so quiet and the way she was, she secretly wished that they knew what happened, all those years ago. Then, maybe, they would understand. And maybe they wouldn’t judge her by her black hoodie.

            With her books in her hand, she stalked out of the room. Dannie was always the last one out, on purpose. She didn’t want to hear those whispers surrounding her. Otherwise, she just might…

            “Danielle Parks, please report to the principal’s office. Danielle Parks to the principal’s office, please.” She mentally scolded the lady’s voice behind the speaker. Of course they would call her right after her last class ended. More whispers were about to come her way.

            Inside of the small office, Dannie’s eyes wandered around, searching for something interesting—something that wasn’t beige. Unfortunately, all she had to look at was the small of a window, but all she could see was the chaos of the leaving students. Some rushed to their cars, others to the buses. Among others, there wasPaisley, going to her friends to gossip and go to the mall.

            “Miss Parks,” The very tall Mr. Olive said, beginning to sit at his desk. “It is to my understanding that you don’t pay attention very well in, well, any of your classes.”

            The sophomore girl in front of him shrugged.

            “Well, we need to make sure that that doesn’t happen, okay?” He spoke to her like she was in kindergarten again, “You need to keep your noses out of your books and into your notes and textbooks. Unfortunately, this is the last week of school, so I can’t make you stop now, since your grades are good. But, keep this in mind, Miss Parks; I’ve got my eye on you.”

            Dannie nodded as she was dismissed from her holding cell.

            Outside, she was pointed and laughed at, by the leftovers of the student body; those who missed the bus, their rides weren’t there, or the ones who simply hadn’t left yet. Within that group of leftovers, was her sister, laughing and gossiping about her. How she didn’t come out of her room until it was time to eat, that she listened to the creepiest music, how she wore something black everyday, and how she always wore her black hoodie, no matter what. “Why does she wear that hoodie, all the time?” One of her friends would ask. AndPaisleywould simply shrug and answer back that she might be in come sort of cult or something. They all laughed at that. They all knew that she didn’t have any friends. They all knew that she wasn’t social.

            They all knew that, somehow, she was different.

At home, like usual, Dannie rushed to her room. Knowing that she wouldn’t get anything back from her, her mother didn’t bother to say hello to her daughter. In her uncharacteristically blue room, Dannie jumped to her computer, and sat on her black bed. As her computer loaded, her eyes scanned her room; though, there wasn’t much to look at. She had her closet and her dresser and her desk, but, other than that, there was her iPod speaker and a few scattered pictures of her family—Paisleylooking incredible, as usual.

            She typed in her password and just stared at her computer screen. There they were—Three Days Grace, one of her favorite bands. She tapped their song, It’s All Over, on her iPod, and continued to work on her story for English. With the required ten pages done, her fingers kept on typing. As Adam Gontier sang the line, “And now you’re dead inside, still you wonder why,” Dannie realized that the song spoke to her. She wasn’t exactly dead inside, but she felt like it, every time there was the hint of a whisper about to happen, or when people laughed at who they thought she was. The rumors that people come up with, and who actually believes them still baffled her, even though she could see why they came up with them.

            “And they were never heard from again,” she said to herself, typing the end to her horror story. The “print” button was clicked, just as her mother called down for dinner.

“Daddy, please!” There was her famous line. WheneverPaisleywanted something, and she felt like she needed it—which was every time she asked for something—she pulled out the little, innocent line that their father couldn’t say no to.

            “Okay, sweetie, we’ll look tomorrow.”

            “Thanks, Daddy!”Paisleyexcitedly announced, right before kissing him on the cheek, practically throwing her plate into the sink, and running to her pastel room to tweet about it.

            “What is she getting this time?” Dannie managed to squeak out.

            “She wanted a car, honey. And, thanks to your father, it looks like we won’t be able to get the concert tickets that you wanted. I’m sorry, honey.” Mrs. Parks genuinely was sad about her youngest daughter not being able to do the one thing she asked for. When she asked Dannie, last month, what she wanted for her birthday, she had told her mother that she would like to go to an Escape the Fate concert. That was all she wanted, and now she wasn’t going to get it.

“It’s okay Mom. All of her friends have one. I can see why she wanted it…” she trailed off, not knowing what to say next. Dannie swallowed her food hard. There was a large lump in the way. Her heart was lodged in her throat, but still let her dinner go down.          Letting the pain take over, she excused herself from the table, and started to wash the plates that were in the sink. It wasPaisley’s night, but she was too busy tweeting, again. She could feel a few tears urging to come down her face. A few fell, and landed in the dish water. She couldn’t tell what was worse, Paisley getting what she wanted, again, or the fact that her own father would rather pick her over Dannie.

            At least her mother somewhat cared about her.