My name is Kylie Jackson. I’m not some girl you go up to and you call me your friend on the spot. Before I consider you a friend, I need to get to know you better. You call me picky for all I care, I just need to know if you’re a reliable friend or a friend who turns out to be a complete back stabber in the end. I have been backstabbed so many times in my life by friends, I don’t want it to happen again. If you’re a person who picked this up and suspected it to be a comedy, put the book down now and walk away. I’m a 16 year old, 5’9 girl who weighs 185 pounds. I live in New York City. Scratch that, I used to live in New York City. My dad got a new job in the small town of Willard, Ohio. My dad is a bus driver, cool job huh? Not really. But it gives him money for supplies around the house. I was sitting in my soon to be old room, looking at the emptiness of my room. The holes in the walls where my posters hung, the location of where my bed had been, and the lovely mural on the wall my Aunt Kayla had painted for me before she passed. The mural was a picture of her, surrounded by Japanese cherry blossoms, her favorite flower, dressed in a kimono that fitted her beautify. I am not Japanese, Aunt Kayla just loved learning about Geishas. She had dreamed of one day going to Japan and doing a documentary on how a Geishas day is, but a bad accident took her life before she could go. “Kylie! Come on it’s time to go!” My dad yells from downstairs. I Pull my camera out and take a picture of the mural. I then looked around my room one last time and walked out the door, without looking back. My little sister, Annie, was sitting in the backseat with a blanket waiting for me to sit down. I got in the car and shut the door. Annie, being the 5 year old she is, lays her small body across the seat and her head on my lap. “Everyone say by house!” My dad says as he starts the car. I turn to my left and watched my house get smaller and smaller. Within 12 minutes of being in the car, Annie had fallen asleep. I threw her Hello Kitty blanket over her and watched her sleep. Within an hour after Annie had fallen asleep, I was still up, my mom was in the passenger seat, sleeping….and drooling, and Annie, who was the cutest thing you have ever saw when she is sleeping. I looked out the window to see nothing but darkness, no sun, no clouds, no sign to be seen. Me and dad were the only ones awake. “Kylie, do you want me to turn the radio on? I’ll put on your favorite C.D. You just seem kinda, you know, plain.” I looked at my dad and gave him a nod. He then turned the radio on to the song I adore, Beautiful by Christina Aguilera. As soon as I heard her sing this song, all I think of is my old school. “You’ll never have any friends with the way you look. Just look a you, you look like a deformed, rejected Muppet.”
“You’re a fat, ugly mess and will never make it anywhere in life.” “ Stuff 6 more Big Macs down your throat, you pig. You make me sick just hearing you talk.” Just thinking of them hateful words makes me feel unloved. On the radio, I hear Christina sing “I am beautiful, in every single way, words can’t keep me down. I am beautiful, no matter, what they say, words can’t keep me down. Don’t you bring me down today.” That’s the song that represents me. I am beautiful, inside and out, and I honestly do not care how much the words may hurt me, how much they make me want to disappear from the face of the earth, I’m gonna stay right here, and suck it up. I start to sing the next chorus of the song in the song. Not caring if Annie or mom are sleeping. As I start to doze off, I see bits of my dad’s head swaying in the review mirror, I hear the song fade in the background. “Don’t you bring me down…..ooohh, today.