Wasted Effort

• Aiesha Kilgannon, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2021

A wave of anxiety crashed over her as she walked through the school doors. Navigating the endless stretch of hallway, she approached her locker, head down. It’d been months since she moved into a resort-style home in this beachy town. She still didn’t have any friends and had felt invisible on her first day. No one was welcoming or nice to her. She’d spent her entire morning before school in her family's spacious bathroom. Nothing worked, not even when she decided to dye her brunette hair blonde at the salon minutes away from her house. She was confused as to why she didn’t fit in. Sitting alone in the cafeteria, she closed her eyes, dreamt and hoped. As expected when they opened, nothing had changed. Instead, she’d noticed the most popular students in school observing her and laughing.