New Girls, New Town

• Erin-Lee Winter, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2008

Gabriella and Sabrina Storm were spoilt and rich, but happy twins. They had everything they wanted until one day their parents told them that they were all moving to a small, country town. They were shocked so much that Gabi and Sabrina ran up to their bedrooms and sat there quietly crying for ages.
The twins were upset because they knew that they would have no friends and they knew that they wouldn’t fit in at all. One reason for believing this was that they were posh, city girls and they knew that they would not make good cowgirl material. Their excuses though were no match for their parent’s reasons for moving.
When they arrived, the two girls unpacked, set up their bedrooms and then went for a walk down town. On their walk they the girls both realised that they would definitely not fit in at all. Some of the things that they noticed were that everyone wore country clothes such as jeans, long sleeved shirts, boots and cowboy hats. They also noticed that what the locals were wearing was the exact opposite to what they would usually wear.
At their first day of school they met up with the ‘cool kids’ and tried to fit in. As they suspected they were rejected, and made to feel unwanted for the first time in their whole lives.
The next day at school they went to the ‘cool kids’ again and were told that if they changed who they were they would be accepted. As the result of the conversation the twins tried to change.
The two girls started doing drugs, smoking, shoplifting and most of all lying continuously to their parents. The two girls hated doing what they were doing but they knew that they had to do it otherwise they would have no friends.
“How can we stop the lying and stop doing all our wrong but still have friends?” asked Sabrina.
“I don’t know, but I think that we should keep doing what we’re doing so we still have friends,” said Gabriella.
The girl’s obsession to fit in became so bad that one day they got caught and had to appear in court next week. The girls were scared and unsure of what to say and do. The girls had never been to court before. The twins didn’t know whether to tell the truth straight away or go to court, lie as usual and still have friends.
“What should we say? I’m scared, what are you going to say?” asked Gabriella.
“I don’t know. I’m too scared to think it through. Maybe we will have to lie so we still have friends,” said Sabrina.
“Maybe we should start praying for help and maybe that will settle down our struggles, just a bit,” said Gabriella.
So they did. They both started praying and in their prayers they would 90% of the time ask for a form of guidance, help and a sense of direction, and indeed they got it.
The night before they had to appear in court, a mystical dragon named ‘Mushu’ arrived in their bedrooms whilst they were praying and helped them make a decision.
After a long and tiring conversation, they came to a decision. Their decision was to tell the truth to everyone the next day at court and not to worry about having friends and not to worry about being accepted into the ‘cool gang’.
The next day came and the twins were off to court to tell the truth to everyone. This included why they changed their nature and why they wanted to be popular. The only difference this time was that they told the truth and nothing but the truth. Although it was difficult the twins felt better afterwards and also learned that you can’t change who you are and also that you should always tell the truth.