Jenna sat at her desk trying to ease the knots out of her shoulders. After last night's fiasco she had kept them hunched all day in anticipation of the hand that would fall on them and the authoritative voice telling her she didn't belong. Jenna had only wanted to be like everyone else. She had thought if she only stayed at the party for a little while, just pretended to be normal for a few hours everything would be fine. Then there had been the boy. This boy had actually wanted to talk to her. A real conversation. She had heard the snickering behind her as the other girls noticed him and had lead him down the garden path hoping for a little privacy not caring what they would think. She just wanted to make this moment last a few seconds longer.
She had looked up shyly into his face and had seen the look of confusion turning to horror on his. She didn't understand it at first. She looked around to see what had frightened him. And that's when she saw it. She was standing in a patch of clover. She looked back at him knowing now what he must be seeing. She put her hand out toward him trying to think of an explanation. He took a step away from it. His look of horror turning to revulsion.
"Stay away," he stammered backing up out of her reach, "Just stay away from me. What are you? What's wrong with your skin? Why do you have wings? You're... not... human."
"I'm just a fairy Kyle. Please calm down and stop yelling," She made a shushing gesture with her hands and tried to peek over the bushes.
"Don't touch me!" he had screamed.
"Hey freak," the boy in front of her sneered slamming a paper down on her desk making her squeal, "wake up!"
Jenna swallowed past her heart and tried not to hear the laughter as she looked down at the paper the boy had given her.
"What is it that makes you different from the people around you? Write an essay in 200 words or more."
Jenna put her head down on her desk and still couldn't tell, when the school counselor came to lead her away, if she was laughing or crying.