Becoming Popular

Making the List

A/n: Thanks you guys for reading :) So I was thinking of adding a cast to the story except i can't really picture any famous people because in a small way it is about like me so if you guys can think of anyone you think will fit then please tell me. I'd really appreciate it :D Oh and I promise i will introduce all the rest of the characters soon too. Even the boy ;)

So I guess that's all from me for now. Byee x

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Chapter 2

I walked home from school that day with the wind blowing my hair and the leaves rustling in the trees. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. I was wearing my usual clothes. Nothing flashy, just some jeans and a sweater with my old scruffy shoes, it was kind of my style I guess. It’s kind of funny when you think about it, my style was no style. Well, not funny in a ‘laugh your socks off’ kind of way but funny in a ‘how peculiar’ kind of way.

Anyway, I was walking along the street thinking about what I needed to become popular. In my head I made a list of what I had to change or what I needed to buy. As I got closer and closer to my house the list seemed to become a never ending list of tasks. I was determined I was going to change.  I was going to make myself into the kind of person I wanted to be and I didn’t care how long the list was going to be.

Finally, I reached my house. It’s the sixth house on the left side of a small but tidy street. Not unlike myself, the house was nothing spectacular either. It was by no means a mansion but it was big enough that we all had enough room to breathe. My house looked exactly like every other house on my street. I laughed to myself as I thought ‘Poor house, bet it wants to change too. I bet it want to be popular and have millions of friends. It’s probably sick of not standing out’. It’s sad, I know but, hey, who knows? I could be right.

I opened the mahogany door and dropped my bag just next to the hall table. I made my way into the kitchen where my parents sat, drinking coffee and looking as though they had just been fighting. Then again, they seem to always look as if they had just been fighting, probably because they always are.

‘Karina! How was school, love?’ my dad asked, tearing his concentration away from the newspaper in his hands. He smiled slightly. He asked me that question every day. I can even remember him asking on my first ever day of school and he still asks me now.

‘Fine’ I mumbled back as I rummaged through the presses to find some snacks to bring to my room. After all, I did need sustenance if I was going to write out that long list of mine.

‘Hey, try to leave some food for the rest of the family’ my mom laughed. I have always loved my mom’s laugh. There was something almost melodic about it. For someone who couldn’t sing in tune to save her life, the wonderful musicality of her laugh amazed me.

I laughed back, partly because I didn’t want to start another fight and partly because it was the right thing to do. When my parents fight they always try to act as if nothing has happened when either my brother or I walk into the room. I think it’s because they think they are protecting us but I don’t think they realise we can hear the whole thing anyway.

‘See you guys later’ I yelled over my shoulder as I ran upstairs and into my bedroom, closing the door behind me. I threw myself on the bed and dropped all the food I had brought from the kitchen. I opened up a new document and began typing.

     Becoming Popular.

1.       Change my clothes to something more fashionable.

2.       Haircut.

 

3.       Buy make up

 

4.       Learn how to apply make up

 

5.       Learn to walk in heels

 

6.       Learn to flirt

 

7.       Confidence

 

8.       Become skinny.

 

9.       Use all the ‘cool’ phrases.

 

10.   Become friends with the cool girls.

 

11.   Have 1000 friends on Facebook.

12.   Get a car/motorbike.

 

13.   Start hanging out at the mall.

 

  

Once I started I couldn’t stop myself. The list didn’t just stop at thirteen. It went on and on and on. When I was finished I looked back over my list. Scanning over all thirty seven things I had to do to become popular. I looked at number eight and I immediately felt bad. My eyes glanced at the chocolate bar in my hands and I felt even worse. I threw the bar across the room and looked at it like it was poison.

                I wasn’t fat but I wasn’t exactly skinny either. Okay, so I was a small bit chunky. I couldn’t wear short shorts because I felt my legs looked like elephants legs. I never wore tank tops or anything thigh fitting because I had love handles.

I stood up and walked over to my mirror and pulled up my top to show my tummy. Until that day I had never been repulsed by how I looked but at that moment I couldn’t even bare to look at myself in the mirror. ‘That’s it!’ I thought to myself. ‘No more eating junk. I’m going to lose weight and I am going to become skinny, no matter what it takes.’

Looking back, I can’t decide if all the things I decided to do were good or bad.  I guess, they brought me here today. Again, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. All I can say for sure is, that day was my last day of ever being just an average girl.

It was my last day of being plain little Karina P. Jones.