Stargirl

"She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew" (Spinelli).

The night of the prom was a night I could never forget. I didn't go, but I did ride my bicycle around the area, sneaking a peek here and there. Then she showed up. Everyone froze as she stepped in, in her bright, rich yellow gown. I stopped to watch. Soon she began dancing through the night. Everyone was still staring at her in amusement, but she didn't care. Stargirl never cared what they thought. She went right on dancing. Before I knew it, most of the people joined her and with Stargirl in the lead, they danced the night away. It was because of Stargirl that they had the time of their lives. And that was the last anyone's ever saw of her. It was... depressing... to lose such a wonderful girl.

Stargirl won the state speech contest. Her speech was unlike anything anyone's ever heard of. She didn't prepare it, but it sounded amazingly beautiful. She wore a big smile on her face-- until the moment she returned to her school. Stargirl expected the whole school to crowd around her, cheering for her. But, no, the opposite was true. The school was barren, except for two teachers and Stargirl's friend, Dori. I felt really bad for Stargirl. This just wasn't what she had been expecting all this time.

Haha, forget everything I said before. Everything didn't go back to normal. Susan tried to change her wardrobe and, well-- almost everything, but the looks didn't really matter to them. People still gave me the "silent treatment". Even now Kevin, my best buddy, was backing away. Nothing made sense to me anymore.

Okay. So then I decided to try to make Stargirl "normal" and be like "the popular people". I tried explaining that she didn't fit in, and soon Stargirl transformed into a girl a rarely knew: Susan. She changed her name to Susan because I told her that Stargirl isn't a normal name. And now, instead of her yellow flowered dress and a ukulele with Cinnamon, her rat, on her shoulder, she now dressed like any other girl in the school. She totally blended in. I was really happy that moment. No, wait, not only happy, I was proud. It felt like a was a lost piece of a jigsaw puzzle who found his way back to its spot. I no longer felt separated, ignored, or uncomfortable being with Susan. For once, she was "NORMAL".

Stargirl was always so unpredictable. In the beginning people were wondering wether or not she was real. (She was homeschooled... until high school!) Every day, at lunch, Stargirl would always have her ukulele and sing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday boy or girl in front of the entire school. Another time, she was cheering for the school's basketball team at a game (this rarely happened since we almost never get fans... Oure team's just not that good...). Then, enexpectedly, when the opposing team made a point, she also cheered her head off. Everyone thought she was really weird. Then, when my school's team lost, the whole school blamed it on her. I felt really bad, and before I knew it, I was friends with her. I guess she's just not afraid. And I wonder how she knows whose birthday it is everyday. Oh, and last time I got so curious that I followed her almost all the way to her house. I saw her dropping homemade cards at people's houses. But that's how Stargirl always is. She is very caring, wanting to make people's days. Ever since I became friends with her, though, not only is she getting hated and ignored; I was too!!!! It felt horrible. I really liked her. She taught me thing I never even took one second to think about or realize. On the other hand, I really wanted my friends and schoolmates back. Getting the "silent treatment" from them for one whole school year was definitely not cool. I felt invisible to the world. I knew I had to make a choice. My friend Archie, who was also an archaeologist, said, "Whose affection do you value more, hers or the others?" This was the question that bugged me for days, for weeks, maybe even months.

I just looked up on Youtube to search for me and my "friend", Kevin, on our TV show called Hot Seat. And guess what, Kevin and I decided to put Stargirl on Hot Seat. But don't even think about asking what happened. It was a total disaster. We never aired it. Well, anyways, you should watch some of the episodes we did. You can watch to see how my "friend" made fun of Stargirl's uniqueness. I just don't believe Kevin would be this rude. We've been friends for a long time, and we've always agreed on everything. Now our friendship is just completely ruined.

By the way, in case you don't know, I'm Leo, Stargirl's friend. Stargirl was a pretty abnormal girl. She wasn't mean or anything-- in fact, she's the most friendliest person I've ever met. It's just weird how she's never aware of how other people think of her. Well, I guess she's just... DIFFERENT. You see that huge, bright star in the sky? I named it Stargirl. Guess why? :)

This is a basket of flowers. But not just any flowers; they're yellow flowers. Stargirl's favorite color must have been yellow-- she almost always wore a yellow flowered dress, and she wore a bright yellow gown to the Ocotillo Ball. Yellow reminds me of sunshine and happiness, and that was exactly how Stargirl was.

This is Stargirl's rat, Cinnamon. He always loved to tickle me.

This is the enchanted place Stargirl and I used to always go to. It doesn't look really that special, but Stargirl made everything more interesting. She always did.

I miss Stargirl and her ukulele. She used to always strum it and sing "Happy Birthday" to people.

These are the porcupine ties Stargirl gave me as birthday presents. Now I have three porcupine ties in my collection!