I'm posting this in parts, start at the bottom
“… which is why the Mycenaean civilization died out.” She could hear the rest of her class tittering as she finished answering the question.
“Thank you Allison, for giving us a summary of pre-Doric Greece,” Mrs. Greene said sarcastically. “For those of you who missed it, the question was “What was the name of the capitol of the ancient civilization on Crete” which Allison kindly pointed out was Knossos.” I know I ramble, but at least I answer, she thought. Not like everyone else who just sits there like vegetables. Sheesh, you’d think Mrs. Greene would appreciate that I know the answers, Allison thought.
On her way to lunch, Allison could hear the murmurs of her classmates as she passed. Grabbing her lunch from her locker and going to her normal spot in the far corner of the cafeteria, Allison pulled a heavy book from her bag and lost herself in King Arthur’s court as everyone around her laughed and shouted while they ate. Merlin, Arthur and Gwenevere kept her company; no matter that the rest of the school shunned her.
As usual, Brett and Joshua tripped her and knocked her books to the ground on the way home. The three of them had been friends growing up, until they got to school and Allison started being the most unforgivable of things: smart. Since grade school when she had asked for extra work to take home, Brett and Joshua had begun their daily ritual of knocking her and her books to the ground as they passed her on their bikes.
Whoever said high school is the best four years of your life should be sent to a torture chamber, Allison thought. The last two years were unbearable, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better any time soon. Why couldn’t I have been born then? She stared forlornly at the cover of her book, The Mists of Avalon, as it lay bent and sad where it had landed. “Stupid boys,” Allison mumbled, “stupid everybody.”
Dinner with her parents was Allison’s own personal nightmare. Every night it began the same, “How was your day dear?” Every night, the same answer, “It was…” before her brother would interrupt her. At 17, one year older, Brian was popular, good-looking and athletic. Mater Dei, the best private high school in the county, had offered him a full scholarship just to play on their football team. Allison could never understand why she, the smart and studious one with a 4.5 GPA was stuck at the crummy public high school while her brother got to go to the best school in the county, just because he could catch a ball and run fast.
Sitting down to dinner meant hearing Brian talk about how great this catch was, which cheerleader had a crush on him this week, blah, blah, blah. How her parents could sit there smiling brainlessly at him was beyond Allison. No one cared that she had the only A in her advanced English class or that she got an A+ on her history test. Allison ate her food as quickly as possible to escape back to her bedroom and her books.
Lying on her bed, Allison turned to look at the dress hanging on the back of her door. It had taken her all winter to save up for the materials, and all summer to make it, but it was worth it. The biggest Renaissance Fair of the year was this weekend and she had the perfect dress. The bodice was embroidered with silver thread and strewn with real Swarkovski crystals, not the cheap plastic rhinestones everyone else would have. The full skirt alternated between the same silver-threaded material and a magnificent gold-threaded material she had convinced her mom to buy her, instead of a new computer; it was that expensive. Allison planned to wear her grandmother’s pearl necklace and borrow her mother’s emerald earrings and choker for the day.
Allison thought for the thousandth time, I was born into the wrong time. Picking up her book, she lost herself in the world of King Arthur.
I bet if I was born then, it would be just my luck to be a peasant and have to do grubby, hard work my whole life, she thought, laying down her book. Knowing my luck, I’d be a servant or something. Wouldn’t be surprised if Brian was some rich young knight, who’d win all the prizes, Allison thought bitterly. But I bet I would be so smart that I’d find a way to be a lady of the court, Allison reasoned, the sight of her dress cheering her. No, I wouldn’t be stuck in a pig-sty, I would be a lady of the court and all the knights would fight each other for my favor. Imagining herself a wealthy lady, Allison drifted to sleep.
posted by Robynne @ 1:27 AM
0 comments
