Unique

Different

  Being the new girl in school is hard. Being the new girl in school, with a heavy African accent, curly afro hair, and weird sense of style, is even harder.

  When me and my family first moved to America I remember being so scared thinking about what everyone was going to say about me. So to avoid the problem all together, I changed myself.

   On the first day of school I wore American clothing, flat ironed my hair, and tried my best to not speak with my accent at all. That part didn't really work out right. But even with my accent I was able to make friends. 

   Yes, they were friends who didn't know the real me, but at least they were friends that would stick with me through thick and thin. That's what I thought anyway. 

    After at least 2 months of staying in that school and acting American, I thought maybe, just maybe my friends would accept me for who I really am. So with a little push from my family, I went to school full on African.

    My hair was out in its afro, my accent was strong and thick, and my outfit, even though it was not full on African, it was a mix between African and American.

    I walked into school my head held high and full of confidence. I walked up to my friends and they all just stared at me confused. I guess they didn't recognize me. I didn't blame them, I looked different too. 

    But I was wrong.

    They knew who I was and their faces quickly morphed into disgust. They started shouting and asking what was wrong with me. "Nothing's wrong with me," I answered quickly, "I just decided to embrace who I truly am."

    Yeah, maybe, just maybe I shouldn't have did that. They all shouted in my face then walked away laughing. At me. I just stood there shocked. Out of nowhere I felt something dripping down my face. 

     I thought they would accept me, for me. I guess I was wrong.

     For the rest of the day, they laughed anytime they saw me and I tried my best to stay away from them. Some of the other kids in my school that I talked to briefly sometimes, noticed my change in mood.

     They pulled me away during lunch and asked what was wrong. Out of nowhere I burst into tears just to explain what happened earlier today. They were all really sympathetic and told me to not listen to what those girls said.

      That I'm beautiful just the way I am.

       What I'm trying to say is, be yourself. Don't change yourself to please others and make other people happy. I promise you, if you be yourself from the very beginning, people will be so accepting of you and won't try to change you into something you're not. 

        And if they try to, don't listen to them. You're beautiful just the way you are.