A Little Bit Salty

Life is like a Bag of Chips

                       Hey... My name is Tara Dymond- Greek for "the lone star" - it's okay, you can laugh; I'm used to it. The truth is, it has been a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I've had to sit in the loser center of the cafeteria for seven years. No one wants to sit with a book reader. But. Books have always been my escape from my dark reality. Whenever, I feel bad, I cuddle with a good book. Many of the other girls don't like it. They scold me with their thick lip gloss and skin tight lulu lemon pants. I'm perfectly fine with a hoodie and sweatpants, I only weigh 95 pounds at 5'3 so I'm practically overlooked everywhere I go. I guess you can say I'm not like other girls. I don't conform to the sickening popularity contests or school dances, and you will NEVER see me on Instagram twerking like all the other sluts in my class. Christie Jenning is the most popular girl in Dallas High. She's everything you'd want to be; or at least what those girls would want to be. She's your average preppy cheerleader, rich, big breasts, skinny, and... did I say rich? The truth is, ever since my parents died in the Vietnam War, I've had to live with my abusive grandma whose belt is basically glued to her right hand only ever supplemented by a bottle of hard gin. Her alcohol stained lips are never not tightly clenching a fag and, on occasion, a hookah pipe. Sometimes she invites over her twenty year old boyfriend who likes to make passes at me. When I confronted my grandma about... well let's just say I wont confront her anymore. Okay but seriously, I don't even know why he makes passes at me, I'm literally just your typical girl. Actually, SCRATCH THAT. I'm NOT your typical girl. I'm a freak. I'm a misfit. I mean who enjoys reading books? I know, I know. Call me what you want, I've heard it all before. Nerd, loser, dork, geek, bitch, womanizer.  Maybe one day I'll conform to your standards but for now, Jane Austen.  has a book with my name on it .

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April 24th, 2024

As I open my locker to get my books, my head bashes into the locker giving me a terrible bruise. 

"Stupid book nerd", calls out the blonde in a little pink dress. Her friends cackle with her. 

You might be thinking, report her to the authorities, but like I said, I'm used to it. 

As I walk into class, I see my English teacher handing out our To Kill a Mockingbird reports. I know I aced that! Books are in my blood. As I approach my teacher, 6'6 football captain Tyler Bussle steps in front of me. He's every cheerleader's dream guy. As I look in front of me, I see my teacher hand him his report with a big fat F on it. 

"This is friggin crap", he yells.

Then I take my report from the teacher. An A! Of course it is! Tyler looks at my grade and then up at me. 

"Wow" he says to me "You're pretty smart".

Wow, he's never even noticed me in the past. To him, I'm just a background character and he's the star. 

"Th-hanks," I muster. Social interaction isn't really my forte, besides he probably wasn't even being genuine, he probably just wanted to get a reaction out of the quirky girl. 

How I see it, people are like a bag of chips, some, including the whole cheerleading team,  are sweet and then salty, some pack a little unexpected punch. The thing is, you never know what flavor you're gonna get until you... open up. 

I proceed to take my seat, book in hand. I'm especially excited because today is popcorn reading. 

"Abigail," the teacher says "Will you start off chapter 7 on page 144."

Abigail is one of my bullies, a big boobied air head, who couldn't even tell you the difference between a verb and a noun. 

"Then there was darkness," she starts " an ab-n-omid-a-bell darkness" 

I sigh 

"Abominable" I say with perfect pronunciation. 

The whole class stops and looks at me. I freeze. I just said that out loud.. didn't I?

Abigail looks up at me with a face that reeks of animosity, my teacher seems to be confused. Well, if the whole class is going to look at me, I might as well work my magic. 

"Abominable,  adjective; causing moral revulsion" I recite... did I mention that the dictionary is one the books I frequent in my free time? 

The class looks even more confused 

"I knew that!" says Abigail. 

"ENOUGH ARGUING GIRLS", screamed my teacher. I swear I could see a vein popping out of her forehead. "One more word out of you, Dymond and that will be a detention. I can't have any smartasses running their mouths".

I sighed a familiar sigh, full of irritation but also consumption. For people have always hated me although I don't know why. I welcome this hatred because its better than being ignored. I guess you can say I've always been invisible to people. I looked in front of me and saw Abigail smirking her devilish grin - salt and vinegar.