Emileeeee sat in the swing one day and closed her eyes and dreeamed of days gone by.She remembered the days she was back in school wearing her blue tunic. Her yelllow stained white blouse was not crisp, not white, not clean, just smelly. The cat had mistaken her uniform for a litter box last night and she had found it beside the toilet not smelling so hot. No, not like a rose, nor a carnation, nor daisy nor even a gladiola. She just smelled. Smelled like a garbage can, smelled like a litter box. She just smelllllllllllllllllled.
Since she only had one, and only the one, she had to wear it or the laws of the high school would come down on her. Come down on her hard. Come down on her strong. They would make her sit next to Dalton Granier, age 19, in the hall. Dalton was still in grade 8 and could not seem to pass. No, not grade one, nor two, nor even three, no not a one. It did not matter what grade it was, Dalton repeated his grade. Once, twice, thrice and then they just gave up and sent him on. Sent him on to another teacher for another few years. Emileeeeee never knew if he had learning problems or he just did not care. The fact that Dalton was dating girls from Grade 6 made her really wonder what his master plan was. Oh she knew what his master plan was. He KNEW what his master plan was.
So all day long Emileeeeee smelled like a kitty litter box. Emileeeeee decided she would try not to breathe all day. No, not breathe at all. Not one puff of air. She thought in her own small mind that if she did not breathe, people would not smell her. No not smell her at all. No, not one smell. No siree, never EVER. Except maybe the cat when she got home. Yes, he would figure it out. He was smart. Smarter than Dalton Granier. Dalton was not smart at all. But the cat was, and he did not date girls in grade 6. No, not at all.
She was forced with the rest of her class to watch the pretty 'kitty kat' girls try out for cheerleading in the gym. Every blonde headed girl was trying out except her. Emileeeeee had blonde hair but she wanted to be as blonde as the kitty cat girls because everyone loved them. So she dyed her hair. She went up to the Continental store every Friday night and bought a twenty nine cent bottle of peroxide and put it in her hair. Yes, every week. Every week without fail. Trying to look like a kitty kat girl, the perfect kitty kat girl. Every week she prayed she would miraculously look like them but forgetting she weighed 100 pounds more than 5 kitty kat girls put together. But her hair was blonde - almost white. It was white - white , VERY white, snow white. Surely someone would ask her to try out for the squad, because after all, her hair was blonde, magazine model blonde, no, kitty kat girl blonde.
Alas, no one ever asked her. She was never ever asked. Not even Dalton Granier tried to ask her out. She would never be a kitty kat girl.
Never, ever, ever.
The closest she would ever come to being a kitty kat girl was smelling like one. She would forever smell like that darn cat. That darn cat smell was foul.Foul.Foul.Foul.
So Emileeeeee decided if the kitty kat girls did not want her to cheer she would seek her own team. She would seek far, she would seek near, and she would find her own darn team. And she did. Yes SHE DID.
On the outskirts of town she found a very small group of girls.They cheered by the railroad tracks and were a broken down team. They were small, they were tall, and bottles of peroxide were strewn all about. They smiled when they saw her, they gestured really hard. They wanted her to try out, to cheer, to become part of the fat cat squad.
Emileeeeee may have been large but she did have the beat. She had the beat down pat. She cheered with the best, she jumped tall in the air. She was good and they knew it and was loved by the fat cat squad. The team that they cheered for was a broken down team. They had never won a game, no not a one, but Emileeeeee loved them and missed not one game. It did not matter that she looked different, yes different from the rest. You see, there was not one uniform anywhere that fit her in the west - or any other direction for that matter. They had looked long, they had looked far. So, they had to take two uniforms and sew them together. But that did not matter, they did not care, for Emileeeeeee was the best. The best cheerleader they ever had.
The fateful day came; there was no turning back. They had to cheer against the kitty kat girls and there was no talking smack. So Emileeeeee and her team cheered long and they cheered hard. And there was not one bottle of peroxide amongst their pack. The kitty kat girls tried hard, as hard as they could. But there was no beating the girls. The girls from the fat cat squad.
So you see you can be large and you can be small, but Emileeeeee proved that day that you do not need to be blonde to stand strong and stand tall.
Yes,kitty kat girls can be taken down. By doing your best, that's all that you need,and wishing them well. Godspeed.
The End
I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth
JANIS IAN "AT SEVENTEEN"
Linda Seccaspina
copyright 2010
SAVANNAH DEVILLES
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