White Lies and Music Notes

Introduction

Hi.

My name is Leah Withington.

I am 14 years old.

I'm going to live in Oklahoma, in the USA. I don't speak with an American accent, as I lived in the UK, in Europe, all my life.

Why am I moving, you ask? Well, most people move here for business reasons - oil and agriculture mainly - but I? No. I'm moving there on my own, for a different reason.

I'm moving there because of school, and I'm leaving my parents behind.

You see, I'm a horse-rider. One of those people who spend more time building a connection with an animal than with real people.

I spend more time in a jogging suite, mucking out a stable, than going to parties in a nice pair of jeans.

Call me different, I don't care. I guess I'm used to it by now.

Primary school was okay, I guess. I wasn't the only one with a strange love for horses, but now, in secondary, I am the outsider.

The girl who does nothing but dream about her horse all day.

Everybody seems to think they know me.

They think they can judge me.

They think I am what I seem to be on the outside - I don't have much style, I don't wear make-up and I try really hard at school.

But that isn't who I really am.

I am quite self conscious and I still want to look nice, but I think nail polish and make-up doesn't make me who I am.

It changes me, makes me someone different and I don't like it.

Everything I do is all circled around my life with my horse - Harris.

In Art, I will draw him.

In English I write about him.

In Maths I measure the hight and angle of a new jump or my racing track.

In Geography I dream about the places I will take him.

In Sports, I exercise my muscles to get stronger and more flexible.

Yeah. That's basically my life story.

So this is why I'm moving. I need to get away from my life in England, and go somewhere where my talent will be recognised.

Somewhere where I am not the outsider. Somewhere where I fit in.