A Beautiful Book
By Anna Heaton P. 2

Everyone is always saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover" but they do not realize how hard that can be sometimes. I had an experience with this in my 6th grade year. There was a girl who neither my friends or I liked. For the sake of privacy, I'm going to call the girl Suzie. Suzie was just a regular girl who kept trying to make friends, but wasn't very successful. If anything, though, she was persistent. At the time, we didn't know this about her so we only associated with her when it was required.

Then, gradually our view of her changed. It's like when you look at a painting for the first time. At first it seems insipid, and lacking in detail or color. Then, when you take the time to truly understand it and the care that went into creating it, you realize that it is beautiful, vibrant and amazing. This is what happened to us. We started talking to her more in class and actually considering her an acquaintance. One experience sped up that process.

We were ice skating for a field trip. We had all been put in the same level except for her. She seemed disappointed but we didn't really notice. We thought she would be okay because she was with one of her other friends. We didn't see the whole conversation but her "friend" ended up making her cry. You could see the crystalline drops creeping down her cheeks and the red surrounding her cheeks from far away. We made a mental decision then and there that we would be friends with this girl. She needed someone to hang out with and we thought that we could fit the bill.

Looking back on that now I can tell that this girl Suzie was a true "diamond in the rough." At first, we didn't want to associate with her but when we realized her true beauty, we could look past our original thoughts about her. I'm glad for that day because if it had not happened, we would have let a golden opportunity trickle through our fingers like water through a pipe. And now I am sure that "reading" Suzie was the best decision that my friends and I ever made.