Teale Blue

• Caitlin Keenan-Dunn, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2015

Hi, my name is Teale. I am 13 years old and as you all may know, young girls my age, like to do everything that ends in the word pretty. Smell pretty, act pretty but more importantly look pretty. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m one of those girls.
It all started the day I was born because my mother is obsessed with the colour BLUE. Our walls are blue, our furniture is blue, even our dog is blue. So of course my name had to be connected to blue too. Thanks Mum!!!!
Some kids also think my mum and dad are PRETTY STRANGE because my Dad runs a fish feeding business and Mum is a French Frog Catcher, not really what ‘normal’ parents do. So I sometimes get teased about that which can make me feel sad.
Lately, I have been a bit of a loner. You see, I have an eye disease that causes big lumps to form on my eyes. They get red and are REALLY sore. People are always asking me what is wrong with them and am I contagious!! Then some girls teased me about my eyes, saying they were really disgusting and how they were so much prettier than me. The worst thing was I thought they were my friends!! I thought they cared about me!!
It has left me feeling so worthless and depressed. Seriously why would anyone want to be my friend when I look like this? I feel like the world is crumbling before my eyes and I can’t do anything about it. I just want to crawl into a small hole and hide.
Sitting at the back of the classroom one day, so nobody would notice my eyes, our teacher walks in the room and with her is a young girl with strawberry blonde hair, dark brown eyes and pouty lips.
“Class, meet Blue. She is new to the school and I would like you all to make her feel welcome. Teale, do you think she could hang with you today?” She said it, like she expected me to do it.
“Sure,” I said quickly. I looked at Blue. My heart is beating like a drum as she is told to sit next to me. Will she find me gross too?
“Hi. Are your Mum and Dad obsessed with blue as well?” I asked her.
“Yeah, but at least yours isn’t that obvious.” We both giggled.
From that point on, Blue and I have been super tight. We were partnered in everything, playing together and just doing things that normal besties do. She doesn’t tease or judge me about my eyes and I no longer worry about what I look like. You see I have found through Blue the value of true friendship. It’s not what I look like that matters it who I am that’s important.
So just when you think your world is ending, don’t despair, you too might have a TEALE BLUE friendship waiting for you.