Hey everyone! This story was actually an assignment for English. We were to write a paragraph about how a group of people could easily influence you. The writing assignment COULD be something from a real life point of view... I'm not saying that this story is fiction, nor that this story is true... let's just say that it showed a lot of meaning to me, and to a lot of other people... so here's my story. Hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to give me feedback
J E W E L S
I remember my first couple days in Jr. high. My friend Ashley and I walked down the crowded hallway and saw a group of “Cool and popular looking” girls, all wearing an ID bracelet. Some other students I’ve met told me that they’re from a club called JEWELS. They’re an exclusive club, and it was very difficult to join it. The other girls told me that they choose their members, and they will only pick the special girls, with a lot of potential. Going though almost every female seventh grader’s minds at that time, is the thought of making into that club.
Why? It’s because Jr. High could make you, or break you. In simple form, your life in Jr. High could scar you for life, if you make the wrong choices or hang with the wrong group.
The next day, Ashley ran up to me, her face totally flushed, with a really excited expression on her face. She told me that the girls told her to join JEWELS. I was totally crushed; thinking that Ash is going to leave me all alone. Then she told me that the leader, Angelica is thinking of asking me to join too. I was really excited then, asking Ashley about the members and stuff. I don’t really remember all the names of the members, but I do remember several. Angelica was the leader of the whole entire pack. Her “assistance” was Shannon, Anna and Kerri. The four girls had total power over the seventh grade girls. Even the eighth and ninth grade girls envy their power.
The next day, Angelica and the other JEWELS asked me to join their club. I was so happy! When I ate lunch with them, or even walking with them in the halls, I felt so important, so special and so well liked. I liked it when the people stared at me in envy. It made me feel good. I proudly wore my own JEWELS ID bracelet on my wrist. JEWELS really boosted up my confidence and made me walk down the hall with my head held high, and a very confident smile on my face.
For the next few weeks, it was fantastic. Cute boys started to pay attention to me, and I got set up with the one that I liked, with JEWELS’ help, and it really made me happy, until my grades started to slip, because I hung out with them for so much after school. I’ve decided not hang out with them after school anymore, until my grades went back up. When I told Ashley that, she started to scold me, telling me that JEWELS is very important in my life, and I should not leave the group. Who says I was going to leave JEWELS? Another member of JEWELS, Jamie, overheard me, and immediately went to tell Angelica. I didn’t know that, of course, until after school. Shannon and Kerri came up to me and told me to hang out with them. I told them no, because I had a test the next day. They started to get really annoyed at me, telling me that I didn’t need schoolwork to survive. All I need is to hang out with JEWELS and I’ll feel alive. Yeah right. I told them no, and I went home. When I got home, the phone started to ring. It was Kerri, checking up on me, and still giving me the “talk” about not hanging out with JEWELS. I got so annoyed at them! I told them to leave me alone. That was a really bad move.
The next day, when I got to my locker, Kerri, Anna, Angelica, Shannon, Ashley, and several other JEWELS were already there, waiting for me. In one swift move, Anna shoved me hard against my locker; I slid down from the locker door to the floor, clutching my shoulder. Since I usually come to school about half an hour early, no one was there yet, and the hallway was pretty empty. I was the smallest girl in JEWELS, so that shove really hurt, but my two older brothers told me to never show your fear and pain to the person (on in this case, persons) who did it to you. Angelica told me that it was a mistake to not hang out with them. She told me that it could scar me for life, if I turn away from JEWELS. I looked at Ashley. Her face showed no expression. What happened to her? Popularity was very important for her, and I figured that’s why she, my best friend is turning away from me. At that moment, I realized that Ashley is not going to be my friend anymore. Richard, the guy I was apparently with, showed up and asked Angelica what was wrong. When she told him that I was becoming distant from the club, I figured that he’d stay with me, and be on my side. I figured wrong. It turned out that Richard only liked me for being a member of JEWELS. He liked me for my label, and not who I was. That really hurt me and I quickly got my books and went into the washroom. From the inside, I could hear Anna, Angelica, Shannon, Kerri and others debating what they should do. I hugged my books and looked around the empty washroom. When I looked into the mirror, my eyes fell to my wrist. I was still wearing my JEWELS ID bracelet.
This girl named Angela, who’s also a member of JEWELS, came into the washroom then. She looked at me, and asked me if I was ok. I couldn’t tell her anything. I didn’t want Angelica and them to shove me again. Then she said something that made me change my mind about Angela. She told me that she really wanted to leave the group, and that I was brave for trying to leave. At that point, Angela and I promised each other that we’ll stick together no matter what happens to us.
We both walked out of the washroom, and walked straight to Angelica. Together, we unclasped our ID bracelets and handed it to her. More people showed up in the hallway by then, and I could hear the other’s gasps when we dangled the bracelets in our fingers. Speechlessly, Angelica took the bracelets from us. I told her that I didn’t want to be a part of their club anymore, and so did Angela.
For most of the day, Angela and I stuck together. During lunch, I got shoved again by a JEWELS member, into the vending machines, but this time a lot of seventh graders were there. They yelled at me for influencing Angela in the washroom so Angela decided to leave the club too. Angela at the time was just on the other side of the room, buying her lunch. Even with the amount of people in the room, I was still afraid of what will happen to me, because many people feared JEWELS. I grasped my shoulder in pain, because that was the same shoulder they harmed before. To my surprise, Justin, a very, very shy boy came up to me by the vending machines, and asked me if I was ok.
Angelica and the rest of the members looked at Justin in surprise. Justin told the members of JEWELS that their club was incredibly stupid and useless. The eyes of all of the girls grew BIG! It was a pretty interesting sight. Anna was about to do something to him when Kris, a friend of Justin’s came up and told them to go away (in a meaner way). After about 10 minutes of arguing between the two of them, I became bored, so I slipped away from the crowd and sat down at a table, with Justin sitting across from me, waiting for Angela. Afterwards, Kris sat with us too. When Angela showed up, she thanked Justin for standing up for me, and from then on, all throughout Jr. High, Justin, Angela, Kris and I became best of friends. When high school came along, all of us just kind of went our own separate ways. Justin moved to Taiwan, and Kris moved to Winnipeg. Angela and I are still best friends, and we talk to each other a lot. I never joined another group after that. I have friends who respects my own opinion and feelings, and never made fun of my answers and points of views.
Many people would do anything to fit in, and that’s how I was in Jr. High. If they think that some sort of “organization” was cool, they’d try their best to be a part of it. Some people join groups and stuff to be protected, to make them feel important, safe and strong. That’s a really bad idea, because if the special “club” breaks up, they’re going to be left alone in the dust, living life all by themselves, and suffering through all the bad things that will come into their lives…alone.
