From Geek to Goddess

Chapter One "Good-bye, life." I sighed as I looked down from my bedroom window toward the bus stop at the end of the street. Everyone was there. All my friends. Lucy. Chloe. Ellie. Jess. Charlotte. They were messing around, laughing and shoving each other as usual. There's been some almighty humongous mistake. This so isn't right. I should have been with them. I should have been going with them. A new start for all of us, into high school. >p> I stared down at Jess, willing her to look up. She was my best friend, but she'd probably be Charlotte's from now on. I bet she would. She'd soon forget me. It was bound to happen if we went to different schools. She'd said that she'd wave to me from the bus stop, and she hadn't even looked up. Not once. She'd been too busy laughing with Charlotte. Instead of me. Not going to cry, not going to cry, I told myself as the bus came rattling down the road and Jess stuck her hand out to wave it down. It was too late-tears stung the back of my eyes, and I knew I was going to blubber. Again. I watched my friends get on the bus and disappear off around the corner. And now the street was empty. I was alone. Well, almost. Bertie, who had been standing, watching with me, paws up on the windowsill, looked up at me sympathetically and let out a soft whine. I ruffled his black silky head. "And soon I'll have to say good-bye to you, too." I sighed as I turned away from the window. My suitcase was ready on the bed. Mom had packed it for me over the weekend. New clothes. New uniform. Everything I'd need for my new school. I shoved it off the bed and onto the floor, where it landed with a loud thud. "Well, that's what I think of you," I said as I stuck out my tongue at the offending case. I took a quick glance at myself in the mirror. A ginormous zit stared back. "Go away," I said to it, but it took no notice and glared back at me defiantly. I'd been lucky so far-I never usually got zits, but this one appeared over the weekend to make up for all the months without. Right in the middle of my forehead. If there was a prize for pimples, I'd win it hands down. You couldn't miss it, no matter how much concealer I plastered on. And it was one of those ones that you couldn't pop; it was an under-the-skin, lumpy one that just glistened red and shouted, Whee, LOOK AT ME! Just what you needed on the first day of school when you want to look your best. Not. "Yuck," I said as I made a face at myself and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Big mistake. It only showed off my Award-Winning Zit more. Maybe I should get bangs? I wondered as I pulled my hair loose again. Even my hair was misbehaving today. I so wished that I had straight, blonde, fine hair like Jess's and Lucy's, but no, I had a mass of boring, brown, kinky hair. I'd tried straightening it, but it had still managed to get curly again. Great impression I'm going to make. I look like a geek. A pimply geek. "Gemma, GemMA," Mom called up the stairs. "Almost time." I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This was almost it. Good-bye to my friends. My dog. My cozy bedroom. My life. I took off my nightgown and put on the uniform that was hanging ready on the back of the door. Prison outfit, more like. Black skirt, cream blouse, yellow- and-black tie. I took another look in the mirror, hoping that by some miracle in the last five minutes I had turned into Britney Spears and looked like a hot babe, like she did when she wore a school uniform in that old viHopkins, Cathy is the author of 'From Geek to Goddess ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780753458952 and ISBN 0753458950.