Status: Currently on Hiatus
The Breakdown of Natalie Whitman
Ella Weiss
When I met Natalie, it was in freshmen year. She seemed like a big bookworm and seemed like she knew almost everything about anything. I envied people like her, but by some stroke of fate, we actually became the best of friends. Now in junior year, I guess you can say we are tighter than ever. It hurt me to see Natalie cry out of the room like that. Ms. Alden followed her and we stayed by ourselves. Of course people made comments, and nasty they were.
“What a baby, I haven’t cried over a grade since like first grade” or “Maybe the baby needs her mommy” and possible the most malicious one: “Take that you show offy bitch, try being perfect now.” I stayed silent and did not breathe out a single word, not even in defense of my friend. It was hard because if I were to defend her, they would probably label me like baby-sitter or something as equally stupid. High school was like a zombie run. You run away from the zombies and if your best friend sprains her ankle, you leave her to become lunch for a bunch of undead monsters. That was high school, eat or be eaten.
Ignoring the vicious comments, I stared at my A- paper and wished I could give it to Natalie. It was the highest grade in the class and Ms. Alden even read it in front of everyone, but the truth was…I didn’t write it. This paper in front of me was the work of my thirteen-year old brother, possibly one of the smartest kids I know. Twenty-five bucks was all that took to get my brother to write about the book we had to read over the summer. During that time, I went shopping for new clothes. Natalie probably spent hours on that paper and she still loses. I could imagine her typing away on the computer, keys clacking to the sound of her thoughts. Life was not fair, but I needed the grade, it was probably the only A- I was going to get this year in this class. I must have been nuts for taking AP English, but I kind of wanted to prove to Natalie that I could be just like her, at least in this class.
After English, I wanted out of the classroom and there was still no sight of Natalie. What the hell did Ms. Alden do with her, dump her outside? However, I did see Nicholas Rogers, a boy I’ve had my eye on sometime. We were mutual friends, but I wanted more than just that. That was another thing about Natalie; she never had an interest in boys. I mean it was a normal part of high school.
One time, I tried to set up Natalie on a date, secretly. It didn’t work out because she immediately cancelled it and told the poor kid to buzz off. It was Johnny Benson, one of the AV nerd. I had to pay him like 10 bucks, but of course Natalie doesn’t know that. I was only trying to protect her from the vicious rumors. I mean, Natalie had to be on the go get or else she runs the risk of being labeled a nerd or an asexual or worse: a lesbian. I understand her mom makes her swallow that entire religious BS about staying pure before marriage, but a boyfriend is fine. I mean, it’s kind of hard to believe that Mrs. Whitman’s first boyfriend was Mr. Whitman. It’s unnatural; we have to go through several people in order to find our soul mate. As I thought about this, Natalie came running towards me, rubbing her cherry red nose. She kind of looked like Rudolph, except she wasn’t cheery. I asked her if she was alright and she answered that she was as good as she could get. I kind of didn’t want to ask her where she was. I don’t know if she caught a glimpse of my paper but for some reason she squinted and turned her face away.
“Congrats on the A-, it was…a good paper…I wish I could have gotten an A-. See Ella, you…are a talented writer.” More like a talented cheater. I chuckled weakly and could feel my face getting red. Hopefully, she wouldn’t see. Quickly I tucked away the paper, out of sight, out of mind. If only it were that easy for Natalie. Poor Natalie always beats herself up over everything, even when it’s not her fault. Like last year, we had a debate in History about if whether Andrew Jackson could be viewed as a king or as a president. Natalie was on the side of as a president along with some other kids and her team lost. It wasn’t her fault; her argument was the strongest of all. However, her team was filled with jackasses and she lost. She called herself stupid and became really upset; she couldn’t eat for the entire day. It’s all her mother’s fault, that woman is the most uptight woman I’ve ever met. She was ultra-religious and very strict about Natalie’s grades. An elegant woman and she dressed in elegant clothes which made her look even more uptight. That woman has to relax and let Natalie relax because Natalie has been this tense since I met her.
As Natalie and I sulked through the halls, we ran into our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Torres. This was my first year with Mrs. Torres, but it was Natalie’s second. After a week of classes, I liked her. She was fun and didn’t make Spanish drag on like my previous Spanish teachers. She was also very spunky and could relate to us and if you ever forgot your lunch, she would give you money to buy your lunch. However, for some reason, Natalie didn’t like her. She said that Mrs. Torres was nosy and a fraud. I don’t what happened between them, but I guess it must have been bad. However, this time, Natalie stopped and stared for a while. She just stood there with an empty glare, staring at Mrs. Torres. It was creepy and I quickly pulled her with me. I figured that she still must have been upset over what happened and gone into one of those freaky blank stares.
In order to cheer Natalie up, I bought her an ice cream sandwich at lunch and we sat with a group of friends, all of which tried to cheer her up. Unfortunately, Natalie didn’t even touch her food and the ice cream sandwich slowly melted in its wrapper. One of the girls at the table eventually took ownership of the ice cream sandwich. Eventually, I just decided to let her be and I dedicated my time to staring at Nicholas Rogers. After a short while, Natalie just grabbed her bag and walked out of the cafeteria and again disappeared. I swear that girl is a weird one sometimes.
“What a baby, I haven’t cried over a grade since like first grade” or “Maybe the baby needs her mommy” and possible the most malicious one: “Take that you show offy bitch, try being perfect now.” I stayed silent and did not breathe out a single word, not even in defense of my friend. It was hard because if I were to defend her, they would probably label me like baby-sitter or something as equally stupid. High school was like a zombie run. You run away from the zombies and if your best friend sprains her ankle, you leave her to become lunch for a bunch of undead monsters. That was high school, eat or be eaten.
Ignoring the vicious comments, I stared at my A- paper and wished I could give it to Natalie. It was the highest grade in the class and Ms. Alden even read it in front of everyone, but the truth was…I didn’t write it. This paper in front of me was the work of my thirteen-year old brother, possibly one of the smartest kids I know. Twenty-five bucks was all that took to get my brother to write about the book we had to read over the summer. During that time, I went shopping for new clothes. Natalie probably spent hours on that paper and she still loses. I could imagine her typing away on the computer, keys clacking to the sound of her thoughts. Life was not fair, but I needed the grade, it was probably the only A- I was going to get this year in this class. I must have been nuts for taking AP English, but I kind of wanted to prove to Natalie that I could be just like her, at least in this class.
After English, I wanted out of the classroom and there was still no sight of Natalie. What the hell did Ms. Alden do with her, dump her outside? However, I did see Nicholas Rogers, a boy I’ve had my eye on sometime. We were mutual friends, but I wanted more than just that. That was another thing about Natalie; she never had an interest in boys. I mean it was a normal part of high school.
One time, I tried to set up Natalie on a date, secretly. It didn’t work out because she immediately cancelled it and told the poor kid to buzz off. It was Johnny Benson, one of the AV nerd. I had to pay him like 10 bucks, but of course Natalie doesn’t know that. I was only trying to protect her from the vicious rumors. I mean, Natalie had to be on the go get or else she runs the risk of being labeled a nerd or an asexual or worse: a lesbian. I understand her mom makes her swallow that entire religious BS about staying pure before marriage, but a boyfriend is fine. I mean, it’s kind of hard to believe that Mrs. Whitman’s first boyfriend was Mr. Whitman. It’s unnatural; we have to go through several people in order to find our soul mate. As I thought about this, Natalie came running towards me, rubbing her cherry red nose. She kind of looked like Rudolph, except she wasn’t cheery. I asked her if she was alright and she answered that she was as good as she could get. I kind of didn’t want to ask her where she was. I don’t know if she caught a glimpse of my paper but for some reason she squinted and turned her face away.
“Congrats on the A-, it was…a good paper…I wish I could have gotten an A-. See Ella, you…are a talented writer.” More like a talented cheater. I chuckled weakly and could feel my face getting red. Hopefully, she wouldn’t see. Quickly I tucked away the paper, out of sight, out of mind. If only it were that easy for Natalie. Poor Natalie always beats herself up over everything, even when it’s not her fault. Like last year, we had a debate in History about if whether Andrew Jackson could be viewed as a king or as a president. Natalie was on the side of as a president along with some other kids and her team lost. It wasn’t her fault; her argument was the strongest of all. However, her team was filled with jackasses and she lost. She called herself stupid and became really upset; she couldn’t eat for the entire day. It’s all her mother’s fault, that woman is the most uptight woman I’ve ever met. She was ultra-religious and very strict about Natalie’s grades. An elegant woman and she dressed in elegant clothes which made her look even more uptight. That woman has to relax and let Natalie relax because Natalie has been this tense since I met her.
As Natalie and I sulked through the halls, we ran into our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Torres. This was my first year with Mrs. Torres, but it was Natalie’s second. After a week of classes, I liked her. She was fun and didn’t make Spanish drag on like my previous Spanish teachers. She was also very spunky and could relate to us and if you ever forgot your lunch, she would give you money to buy your lunch. However, for some reason, Natalie didn’t like her. She said that Mrs. Torres was nosy and a fraud. I don’t what happened between them, but I guess it must have been bad. However, this time, Natalie stopped and stared for a while. She just stood there with an empty glare, staring at Mrs. Torres. It was creepy and I quickly pulled her with me. I figured that she still must have been upset over what happened and gone into one of those freaky blank stares.
In order to cheer Natalie up, I bought her an ice cream sandwich at lunch and we sat with a group of friends, all of which tried to cheer her up. Unfortunately, Natalie didn’t even touch her food and the ice cream sandwich slowly melted in its wrapper. One of the girls at the table eventually took ownership of the ice cream sandwich. Eventually, I just decided to let her be and I dedicated my time to staring at Nicholas Rogers. After a short while, Natalie just grabbed her bag and walked out of the cafeteria and again disappeared. I swear that girl is a weird one sometimes.